Cyberpunk Edgerunners: David Martinez With A System

If you want to read some chapters ahead and unpublished fanfics you can check out my patreon or just take a visit.

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….

David stared at the name flashing on his holo-phone screen.

"Huh?!"

A rich brat with a filthy mouth and a dad powerful enough to back him up.

At school, this guy lived like a king—untouchable, surrounded by lackeys.

But beyond his family name, he wasn't anything special.

In fact, he was worse than David in every other way.

Maybe that was why, back at school, Katsuo Tanaka had always targeted him.

Always looking for ways to put him down.

But why the hell was he calling now?

Curious, David swiped the call open.

"Hey, it's me! I heard your mother died."

His voice came through, crisp and artificially smooth—like he was enjoying every second of this.

"I know I should offer my condolences, but—"

"—I honestly just can't bring myself to care."

David's eyes darkened.

But he didn't say a word.

He kept going, his tone dripping with mockery.

"Your dear mother worked herself to death—slaving away at some filthy job, just to send her precious son to school—only to die in a meaningless accident."

A long, exaggerated sigh.

"Tell me, don't you think that was all for nothing?"

"You need to wake up, David Martinez."

"This school? It's not meant for people like you."

"Just drop out already."

"Every person has a path they're meant to walk. Stray too far, and you'll only bring yourself misery."

"Learn from your mother's mistake."

The speech dragged on and on, a monotonous droning that crawled into his ears like a mosquito buzzing too close.

Between the fake sympathy and the barely concealed gloating, David felt his stomach churn.

Like he'd just swallowed something rotten.

It was disgusting.

"…That's all you wanted to say?"

There was a slight pause.

"Huh?" He clearly hadn't expected that response.

"Do you still not get it? David Martinez, your existence—"

"No." David cut him off coldly. "I get it perfectly."

….

"I appreciate the effort you took to call me just to spout this insincere bullshit."

"But there's one thing you should understand—"

"I will never drop out of my own free will."

His voice was calm. Steady. Unshaken.

Even through the holo-call, David could feel the way Katsuo Tanaka tensed on the other end, caught off guard.

Then, just as quickly, his shock turned to frustration.

"Do you even realize what you're saying, David Martinez?!"

"Of course I do. And I also know—"

"—pissing you off is one of life's greatest pleasures, Katsuo Tanaka."

David smirked, leaning back into the couch, letting every word drip with amusement.

"So to make sure I keep having fun, there's no way in hell I'd ever drop out on my own."

"But if you have a way to force me out?"

"Then, by all means, give it your best shot."

"Otherwise… this whole thing would just be too boring, don't you think?"

A long silence followed.

Then, before Katsuo Tanaka could even find the words to respond, David hung up.

Just like that.

He could practically imagine the brat on the other end, seething, probably knocking over furniture in pure rage.

David chuckled.

Not like there was any point pretending to get along.

Their feud was already set in stone.

So why not stir the pot a little more?

As for retaliation?

Let him try.

….

"Still… word sure travels fast."

He had barely been gone a few hours, and the school had already heard about Gloria's death.

That meant time was running out.

If he wanted to survive in Night City—hell, if he wanted to do more than just survive—

He needed to get stronger. Fast.

Dragging his bag over, he carefully pulled out the urn containing Gloria's ashes.

With quiet reverence, he set it down on the balcony.

Then, with one swift motion—

He flipped the bag upside down, dumping out everything else.

A handgun. Four full magazines.

Around thirty detachment chips.

Four Tier-1 Pneumo-Stim injectors.

And the most important piece—

Wrapped in a yellow factory uniform, sealed in a plastic biohazard bag, lay a cybernetic spinal module.

A military-grade implant manufactured by Militech—

The Sandevistan, preinstalled with a Kerenzikov package.

The Sandevistan was an artificial brainstem, designed to enhance cognitive speed and slow down perception of time.

The Kerenzikov?

A reinforced spinal augmentation, meant to increase reflex response beyond human limits.

This was all he had for now.

The detachment chips?

Those could be sold to a trusted ripperdoc for decent eddies—

Enough to afford better cyberware.

With this setup, taking on the Animals—the gang responsible for his mother's death—

That was doable.

But Adam Smasher?

That was a whole different story.

In the game, players had skill points, perks, and augmentations to make fighting him possible.

In reality?

Forget it.

No matter how skilled he got, no matter how many implants he installed—

Adam Smasher was a full-body borg, an unstoppable killing machine, loaded with cyberware worth more than entire city blocks.

And he wasn't just any random cyberpsycho.

He was the final gatekeeper to Night City's hall of legends.

David wasn't there yet.

Not even close.

"…System, you said you'd help me get stronger."

"How exactly do you plan on doing that?"

"And what about the side effects of cyberware? I don't wanna end up like in the anime—where I get fully chromed out, only to die weeks later."

The system pinged in response.

[The host can purchase cyberware plug-ins from the system marketplace.]

[Additionally, the host's body has been fully optimized to resist both cyberware dependency and psychological degradation.]

[No side effects. No cyberpsychosis.]

As the mechanical voice faded, a holographic window suddenly materialized in front of him.

The system marketplace was packed with a dazzling selection of legendary cyberware plug-ins.

Most of them were familiar—ones he had seen in the game.

But some?

Some were just plain weird.

Like… fucking Wolverine claws.

But the prices…

Yeah, those were only good for window shopping.

The long string of zeroes at the end of each price tag made his eyes blur.

Even if he sold himself to a megacorp, he wouldn't be able to afford any of this shit.

A truly tragic story.

[Host can use the recycle function to exchange unwanted cyberware for credits.]

David froze.

"…What?"

Then bolted upright.

"Wait—WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU SAY THIS EARLIER?!"

….

Venom x multiverse on patreon.

Cyberpunk x genos on patreon.

In deadpool on patreon.

Cyberpunk x David with System on patreon.

….

If you want to read some chapters ahead and unpublished fanfics you can check out my patreon or just take a visit.

[P].[A].[T].[R].[E].[O].[N]

http://patreon.com/Kazuma_trash