David Martinez, meet David Garcia Martinez (One-Shot; Cyberpunk Edgerunners + Lalin's Curse Crossover)

[Repentant_Dragos]

One-Shot - David Martinez meets David Garcia Martinez

David Martinez was having a bad day.

This was not unusual even in Arasaka Academy, and quite frankly, bad days were the norm in Night City and the rest of the world unless you were a Nomad, a Space Colonist, or, strangely, African now that the Space Colonies were investing in that continent.

Right now, David was considering approaching a few of the younger students to introduce them to the wonders of illicit 'braindance chips' for extra cash. Not too young, of course; he wasn't into 'corrupting' middle-schoolers before they grew up into a-hole adults.

It was a surprise when one of those Middle-schoolers; clearly rich, well-groomed, whose sandy blonde hair, gold eyes, and soft pale skin showed he had not worked a day in his life, approached him, asking, "Are you David Martinez? My name is David Garcia Martinez; I'm new here. Mind showing me around?"

David (the older one we all know and love) wasn't stupid; this was obviously a setup for something. So his response was, "Shove off, kid; I'm not a babysitter or a tour guide."

In response, the sandy blond kid said, "I have 100,000 eddies..."

And before the older David could stop him, the kid was already making the transaction to his account, and sure enough, the seventeen-year-old's cyberbrain registered a message saying that 100,000 Eurodollars had been transferred to his personal account.

"Woah, you're loaded!," David's eyes sparked as he looked at his younger, similarly-named counterpart. "All this for a tour? Sure!"

Arasaka Academy was a deceptively bright place whose corridors were designed to minimize dark spaces where illicit activity can occur. The sheen of high technology could be seen all over the place, with holographic keyboards, robotic assistants, and virtual reality pods in the classrooms.

"So, where are you from if all of this is brand new for someone so… rich?" David said to… Younger David. Garcia; if that name stuck in his head. "Let me guess, Spain?"

"Yep!" Younger David then switched to smooth, almost musical Spanish, "I come from Lalin, a small - I mean, small but rich - town in Galicia, Spain. I moved here for, umm…school."

David raised an eyebrow at Younger David's obvious lies, but didn't press - Everyone was entitled to their own secrets plus the kid paid well for just a tour; let him waste his own money.

The tour continued with Younger David checking out the cafeteria and looking at the selection of food with wonder before asking David, "So, pick one for me; I'll pay for the both of us."

David's eyebrows rose high, before the seventeen-year-old said to his much younger namesake, "You sure? Some of the menu can be a bit pricey even for a rich kid like you - "

Younger David smiled and said, "I'm sure! After all, it's my first day here…"

---

A floating surveillance drone had been hacked and was now feeding the scene to a screen in Lalin, Galicia, Spain… in another world entirely.

"What is David doing?!" a black-haired boy with tanned skin and brown eyes said to a light brown-haired, green-eyed boy who was watching the screen as it showed David (theirs') hanging out with his older namesake. His older, potentially criminal, definitely open to violence, namesake. "Doesn't he know he can get himself killed?"

"You worry too much, Felix," the green-eyed boy spoke as he continued to watch both Davids just chat. "Besides, Cyberpunk David's mother hasn't died yet, and that was what got him to join a gang. And if our David succeeds… she might never die, thus sparing Older David a life of crime. Of course, we need to find another way for him to meet Lucy, but Cody and Maria have that arranged…"

"Tobi," Felix Lopez Dorado replied, "We shouldn't even be messing with other worlds in the first place, much less worlds from an Anime not going to be published for a decade."

A reminder that it was 2012 or 2013 in this version of Lalin.

"Oh, come on," Tobi, or rather, Tobias Ruiz Castro (who was also Younger David's boyfriend) replied, "We just took down a conspiracy in the town - A conspiracy your mother was a part of, by the way - just a couple of weeks ago; we have a portal and a lot of supernatural… goodies that belong to us now, and no one's touching us in this world. I think we can let David - our David - have the chance to save someone; Cody and Maria too."

Felix frowned. Deeply. Then he threw up his hands in exaggerated exasperation and said, "Fine! But the moment things go badly, tell David and the rest of the 'Away Team' to head for the portal at once."

The brown-eyed brunette then leaned in closer and asked, "Wait, is that bully from that Anime approaching both Davids with his posse of thugs?"

---

Younger David, contrary to appearances, had experience with bullies. So when Katsuo Tanaka and his fellow rich kids walked towards them, the latter fanning out to surround them in a semi-circle, the fourteen-year-old was already reminding himself that he was posing as absurdly wealthy as well.

"So, who's the new kid?" Katsuo asked Older David, "Didn't know you're offering tours of the school now for chump change. Or did you fool the brat into thinking you're better than the official service programs?"

Older David's eyes flashed with irritation as he said, "Buzz off, Tanaka; we've no time for you."

The response was, "We'll see about that," before the slim, tall youth with a mullet-bowl haircut faced Younger David, the cyberware in his eyes already cross-referencing the latter's face with various databases.

For a brief moment, Older David could see Younger David's eyes flash gold, before Katsuo stepped back, shocked, and said, "You're loaded! Like, bastard son of a top-tier Corpo loaded!"

Younger David smiled at that, before saying, "So, is that all we need to talk about? My new friend and I need to eat before resuming our tour…"

---

"Huh, my boyfriend - Our David' - is laying it on thick," Tobi remarked before turning to Felix and saying, "Set up the second screen, please; we need to see how Cody and Maria are doing trying to find a way to get Lucy, Maine, and the others' trust."

Felix moved to do so before remarking, "Assuming they can do so…"

---

Cody Lozano Blasco knew that his Half-Human, Half-Reptilian Form would be acceptable in Night City as some sort of 'fancy cyber/bioware', but he despised walking around in it; even now, he had issues with the 'monstrous' half of him.

Nevertheless, to help David (his world's), he who had saved his life and self-worth just earlier this year, he was willing to go through a lot of risk, even dying.

So he accompanied Maria (Maria Navarro Beccara) as the latter found some sort of licit but slightly seedy Virtual Reality Cafe in Downtown, Night City, paid for a stay in one of its pods, then stood guard as she began using her technopathy (the ability to instantly comprehend and control tech, which she taught their David, her fellow psychic) to begin putting together a data packet composed of common trivia from Late 2012 that would be extremely valuable in this timeline, where most of the Old Internet was broken and its data walled off in a digital wasteland.

Then, once that data packet was put together, Maria gave a tip designed to be intercepted by Lucy, one of the finest natural Netrunners in Night City, who was part of a gang that would find the prospect of 2010s Internet Data to be a jackpot.

This is the bait that would be used to set up a meeting between Lucy and Older David, while allowing David (theirs') to finally make his exit back to their world.

But, Cody thought, would this actually make things better? Wouldn't this lead to a future where Lucy might wind up killing Older David for the data?

Wait, Older David's mother was part of Maine's Gang and knew Lucy. That would help save his life, right? And get him together with Lucy?

Best to make sure Gloria gets the tip too…

---

Classes finished; for a brief moment, Older David seemed… peaceful, calm.

He had offered Younger David a tour of Memorial Park before both had returned home. The latter accepted, and they were now walking through paths lined with grass, trees, and the occasional flower.

Then out of the blue, he asked Younger David, "So, you're not actually a student here, are you? You're some sort of super-Netrunner who's capable of bamboozling every piece of tech from here to Arasaka HQ…"

Younger David's eyes flashed, not just with golden light, but a little fear, before being replaced with resolve as he said, "Yeah, something like that; I'm here because… Well, we have the same name, I guess. There's more, but you won't believe me even if I tell you."

"Try me," Older David said on instinct, suspicion creeping into his voice to turn it into a growl. "I've seen every low-level grift in this city; even sold some of those grifters' BD chips…"

Younger David's eyes glowed even brighter, and Older David was absorbed into a dream; not a braindance, although it was like that, but a genuine, bona-fide supernatural dream.

His eyes were opened to the kaleidoscope of worlds, timelines, and dimensions, many of which overlapped with each other, making concrete definition almost impossible.

His mind was opened to the possibility of a soul, of ghosts and spirits and psychic phenomena that should not exist in this setting (although with others, it was public and coexisted with technology).

And finally, his soul was opened to the idea that this was not something to be easily bought and sold, that he had been approached not so he can bargain for salvation, but to be gifted it simply because someone thought he deserved it - Someone not blind to his flaws and the possibility of violence and bloodshed.

It was a trip, but to describe it as such was to cheapen the experience and its authenticity.

The world continued on without them; from their perspective, it was a fraction of a second hard to track even with cyberwear. But at the end of that split-second, Older David was at a loss for words, about to do something out of character like fall down in awe - No one wanted that.

Then a small mouse drone zig-zagged on the grass, followed by the most beautiful woman Older David ever saw, one whose green-blue hair and intense eyes sparked new enchantment… only it was concretely in this world.

"If my friends planned right," Younger David said, "That mouse drone has a data packet from 2012; enough to set you, your mother, and that girl up for life. Oh, right, that girl knows your mother; help her catch the mouse drone, please?"

Older David gave a slight nod, then gave chase to the mouse drone; and with that, his destiny, his mother's, and Lucy's destinies changed for the better…

---

Back in Lalin, Felix and Tobi sighed in relief as they saw that the mission was a success. Their David was safe and about to return to the portal site, along with Cody and Maria; they had decided not to confront the gangs whose shootout would leave Gloria Martinez, David's mother, dead, as that would require violating Cody's no-kill law, plus they were all fourteen-year-olds who do not want a repeat of the conspiracy-busting of the past few months and weeks.

"So…" Tobi asked, "Will they really be all right? Not just our David and the Away Team, but the David from that place; it seems pretty… unhappy."

Felix checked a sidebar that popped up in the second screen and said, "They should be. Two years later, someone named V attacks Arasaka Tower and brings it down, but David helps evacuate everyone, even that jerk Katsuo - Not that he'd be grateful - and is praised as a hero. Gloria and Lucy, plus Maine, are also set for life and are careful enough to stay that way for a long time. So, happy ending, I guess?"

A portal opened right behind them and three figures walked through; it was David (theirs'), Cody and Maria, their clothes and fashions once again that of Spain in the early 2010s'.

"No loose ends, right?"Felix asked the three. "I hope that Adam Smasher guy didn't get alerted to the existence of this universe…"

"Nope, none!" Maria said. "However, we did spend a lot of money; thankfully, a few Euros in this world were equivalent to thousands of Eurodollars in theirs', plus we were able to add more funds from various bank accounts from people we know will still die two years later…"

A reminder that their world was not normal either; they had assumed such, but it was never that.

But right now, as Felix watched David - The one they knew - share stories about how happy he was to use his powers for good, part of him knew that as long as he had his friends, he could take it; he could take the world he never wanted to be part of…

Oneshot END