Sandevistan came online. David's world slid into slow motion. He tested his legs, loped two laps around the clinic, and laughed under his breath as the room stretched like taffy. Rocky's blink looked like a lazy shutter. Even the skein of smoke from Lucy's cigarette climbed the air in slow curls.
"Awesome. So this is Sandevistan." He could not help cheering.
He stopped before Rocky and waved a hand to see if the man would react in time. Rocky's eyes snapped into sharp focus and locked on him. A small smile touched his mouth. He reached out and lifted David clean off the floor with one hand.
"Having fun?" Rocky asked.
"Huh?" David had not caught up yet. Sandevistan still thrummed along his spine. How had Rocky tagged him anyway?
"You installed one too?" David asked.
Rocky shook his head. "Sandevistan is basic chrome. Do not assume you are strong because you can flip it on. Without the skill to match, you are just a bug that runs faster."
The boost lapsed. Rocky set him down with a casual flick. David pinwheeled, almost lost his balance, and flushed. He had thought a military model would put him on a different tier. In Rocky's hands, he had not even been a hiccup.
Rocky tossed him two auto-injectors. "Immunosuppressant. Keeps the side effects down. Use it on schedule. Also, Sandevistan strains the body. Do not spam it. Understood?"
"I get it." David nodded, serious now. Rocky had just saved his mother and given him power; his words carried weight.
He hesitated. "About the Sandevistan and the surgery. That must cost a lot. I do not have money now. When my mom wakes up, we will figure something out. I will not stiff you."
Rocky had changed out of the suit and back into a ripperdoc's clothes. David assumed Sandevistan was stocked, Rocky sold, that the man would hand him a bill and a number with too many zeros. The answer came from a different angle.
"That Sandevistan was not mine. You do not owe for it. Surgery, yes. I will charge for that."
"Not yours? Then why did you install it on me?"
"It is your mother's. It was in that black bag."
David stared. "My mom's? Why would she have something like that?"
"Ask her," Rocky said, noncommittal.
Gloria had lifted the unit from a cyberpsycho scene while cleaning a corpse. Some things do not explain cleanly. Better she decide what to tell her son.
"I will ask her. And thank you. I will repay the clinic bill," David said. He forced the rest of his questions down. First, let Gloria wake.
"L," Rocky said when David offered his name. He added David's contact, then pushed a clean invoice to the kid's inbox. David filed the name away. If not for this man, his mother might already be gone.
He turned to Lucy. "Lucy."
Lucy gave him a light nod. She still had no particular interest in David, but now she understood why Rocky called him talented. Many hardened soldiers could not drive a military Sandevistan without crashing. David had just woken from surgery and was already moving with it.
"Nothing else here. Take your mother. I will run you home," Rocky said.
They loaded up. The Deluxo slipped across the Night City arteries and rolled to a stop under Megabuilding H4 in Santo Domingo. David blinked at the address.
"Mr. L, I do not think I told you where I live. How did you know?"
Rocky tapped his temple. "Do not forget. I am a hacker."
David replayed the black clinic in his head and found the answer fit. He wondered what Rocky was then: hacker, agent, or ripperdoc.
"You are curious about what I am. You will figure it out," Rocky said. "If you want a job, and if you do not want Sandevistan to go to waste, come find me."