Santo Domingo, March 2076
David wasn't sure what it was that made this so captivating. Either it was the lights whizzing past his eyes above them or the way Lucy was laughing so wildly like she was having the absolute time of her life, but something about this whole thing just made her look amazing… She was amazing. However it was right about when they came to a stop that David felt something come up from out of his stomach into the gas mask and he just felt out of it on a whole other level. Lucy then spoke up upon noticing it "Whoops… hey, you ok? Not gonna die are ya?" And David attempted to say "Doc's please." But he was having a little trouble really getting his voice out, he then asked her to get him to Doc's again after she leaned in to hear better.
By the time he managed to get dragged over to the clinic Lucy then came to a stop while holding him up with his arm slung over her shoulder "Hey… something happening?" And that was when he started faintly hearing voices "Look, if we had any idea where to find the kid we wouldn't have come here. You sure you got nothing to tell us?" "I'll say it for the last time, boy hasn't come through here in the past couple hours. I have no reason to lie, you two look like trouble." And David then muttered quietly "Gah… Doc…?" And then he started tensing up like crazy when he felt a spasm, starting to slip out of Lucy's grasp "Gyah! Ah…!" And then Lucy pulled him back up "Hey, easy… ah, screw it." And she walks them both in "Don't know who your visitors are or what their business is but it's gonna have to wait." And then a pair of unknown men in jackets turn away from Doc before approaching, one with black hair in a bun and a cross hanging from an earring speaking as David's vision starts getting all fuzzy "Mierda, what happened to him?" And then the other man who wore a multi-colored jacket David couldn't exactly depict and possibly had traces of facial hair then spoke up "We can figure that out later." Before turning towards Doc and continuing "Better keep him alive." And right about then David faded out completely.
David wasn't sure how much time had passed, and his memory was a little fuzzy, but he managed to wake up, finding himself in a familiar ripperdoc chair as he breathed slowly while seated "Hah… what… what happened?" And though he couldn't turn his head he still recognized Lucy's voice "Passed out a little after we came in, been about 20 minutes since." And then afterwards an unfamiliar voice with accent spoke up, Latino if David's experience from when his mother spoke in Spanish meant anything "Why the hell did you let some kid chip in a high-grade Sandevistan?" Now hearing Doc respond to the stranger "Ey I warned Davey that that Sandi ain't no toy." To which another man responded "Can't change what's happened, as surprising as this was to hear about." And he then heard the sound of someone get up and walk over to a position where David was able to see his face, now vaguely recognizing the man as one of the blurry figures from before "You're David right? David Martinez?" And the young boy took a breath before he responded to the unknown person "Yeah… why? What do you want? You some other creep who's after the Sandevistan?" And the man then said to David "Your choom there mentioned what happened in that ambulance… not the case this time. The name's V, my friend over there is Jackie Welles. Your mom asked us to try and find you."
David groaned a little before he spoke "My… mom? But… I thought she…" and V then responded with an embarrassed expression "Yeah, sorry kid… I saw your mom's car get blasted by those Animals. Found her there injured but I didn't spot you… took her to a ripper though, a damn good one. She's tired but she'll be fine, kinda like you right now." To which David weakly chuckled before the other man, Jackie, spoke up "How many times you use that thing anyway? Five? Six?" And David then responded "Eight… I think." Before Lucy spoke to Doc "Should've given him immunoblockers, could've avoided this." To which the ripper responded "Shit in here won't cut it, different league." And that was when V turned towards the others "I'm gonna step out and buzz Gloria, let her know D's in one piece… we're gonna have to stick around for a bit until he can get back on his feet, no chance we're taking the NCart while he's like this." And he headed outside, leaving David's view as he let the news sink in, a weak smile forming on his face (Mom's alive… oh thank god… really hope she'll take me dropping out of 'Saka Academy well.) and then Lucy spoke to Doc and Jackie "You two mind if we talk in private? We have a talk to finish from back at the ambulance." Jackie then said as David heard somebody get up "Por supesto chica." Before footsteps left the room, Doc then said "Try not to be stuck flat for too long Davey." Before he also seemed to walk off.
David then spoke up after a pause "Unless this is about you docking my cut back down to 20, I don't remember any talk we needed to finish." To which Lucy sighed in response before saying "I'm sorry David, and I don't mean sorry for what happened in that ambulance. The truth is I… had plans for after our biz was settled when I caught onto what you were carrying, the kind that likely involved you getting your ass kicked." Which only led David to ask "What do you mean?" Before Lucy walked over and leaned against the side of the chair's back end so he could still see her at least a little "I don't just run solo, I work with a crew. The leader of it was planning to get that same Sandevistan from your mom… I was going to tell him some gonk kid got his hands on it, and he was probably going to pummel you for seemingly stealing it. But now that the truth is out… well, you might avoid getting pummeled but I can imagine he won't be pleased." And David just says "Well, this guy's welcome to try me… thanks for telling me the truth Lucy… at least now I can't feel like a gonk for basically chipping in the Sandevistan behind my mom's back." Saying that last bit with a weak smile, meanwhile Lucy was prompted to look at him over her shoulder "And what made you decide that?" To which he responded "I can finally stop putting up with the selfish assholes that are gonna get welcomed into Arasaka… I gave the biggest shithead I've ever known a beating he'll never forget… and I got to finally meet you after noticing you around Corpo Plaza." His weak smile now having turned into more of a fond one as Lucy turns towards him fully. A few seconds had passed before Lucy said to him "You can talk more about what was worth it when you're not stuck sitting in a ripperdoc chair." Right before David's holo went off to a very familiar number "Hang on… gotta take this."
He then proceeded to pick up as the image of his mother appeared "Dee? Can you hear me mijo? Are you ok?" And he then responds with "Yeah mom, I'm ok, I'm here… got some things to mention about what's happened today, it's been a bit of a ride." "I'm going to hear every single word David… but first, we should get some things from the apartment when we're both able to really go anywhere, I'm still on the mend and V mentioned you're not in great shape either." The first bit of information had surprised David enough to remain focused on that "Wait… mamá, what do you mean?" And after a pause she answered "I think it's time for us to leave Santo… we almost lost each other today David, we've been through too much to push our luck from there."
David briefly groaned before he spoke again "Yeah… yeah…" a realization then popped into his head before he continued "Mom, whatever we do, please don't start working yourself to death… I know I can be a bit much, but it's not like I haven't seen how tired you've been." Lucy then looked over at the concerned expression on David's face, a little surprised at what he had to say. "I… alright, you're right… I think I may have found another place I could work anyway, we'll figure out the rest after we grab our things from the apartment." "Nova… I love you mom." Gloria then responded over the holo "I love you too mijo." Before the call ended.
David proceeded to sigh before saying "Guess we'll have to figure out where to sleep after we grab everything." Noticing that Lucy seemed to be thinking about something, and after a moment of silence she spoke "It might be a little crowded for 3 people, but I'm pretty sure there's space for at least one addition in my apartment." Which ended up leading to David stammering before Lucy added "Just an offer gonk-brain, don't get ahead of yourself." To which David responded "Y-yeah, right…" and after a moment of silence David finally mustered up the energy to turn his head "So what was that you said about a crew?"
Bonus segment (a few days after Chapter 1): "Wait a sec, you two know that Heywood gonk?" To which Lucy and David chuckle in response to Rebecca's surprise, Lucy then saying "Yeah, the day before I brought David to meet Maine, they're even the reason he hasn't been needing immunoblockers if you can believe it." Rebecca lounging into her seat at their usual booth in the Afterlife "Well shit, how'd that happen?" To which David responded "It's kind of a long story..."
Author's note: Well, here's me putting a wrap on the first prologue of Road to Night City and paving the way for David's alternate path to becoming an Edgerunner. Just to fill in some extra gaps: the timetable of events leading to David and Lucy partnering up got shortened into the same day to avoid complications in the story's timeline, and the in-story reasoning behind it is his mom seemingly being taken for no reason left David a lot more pissed off and eager to start taking his life by the reins sooner. Gloria's been working as essentially an assistant at Viktor's clinic through her implant knowledge since this point (she's given 40% of pay). David's been staying with Lucy at her apartment and naturally they've been dating since probably the day after this chapter. And finally he's now a regular of Vik's instead of Doc's after his first time at Viktor's cause it's highly doubtful Gloria or Vik would let a guy who does his work that way really be trusted with maintaining David's implants.
We'll be popping back into the main story next time so see you all then.
Update: Decided to change the contents of the bonus segment, feel free to check it out.