David Martinez

This article is about the character in Cyberpunk Edgerunners. For the drink in Cyberpunk 2077, see The David Martinez.

David Martinez^{[X 3]} is the main protagonist of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. He became a mercenary and a member of Maine's edgerunner crew in 2076, when he was involved in a series of harrowing events that resulted in his death and attaining the status of a Night City legend.

Quick Answers

What led to David Martinez becoming a Night City legend?

David became a Night City Legend after his demise against Adam Smasher during a significantly difficult gig. To remember his life and his significance to other Mercenaries—such as Lucy—a cocktail available in the Afterlife was named in his honor.

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What is the significance of David's Sandevistan?

The Sandevistan model David uses in Edgerunners is an experimental Militech model that is obtained after former NUSA Lieutenant Colonel James Norris had gone cyberpsycho and was killed by MaxTac in the City Center district. Norris' body was taken away by David's mother, Gloria, whom removed the Sandevistan from his body in order to sell it on the black market. David obtained the Sandevistan after Gloria and David's unfaithful encounter with Scavengers, which resulted in Gloria's death.

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How does David Martinez's physical appearance change throughout the series?

David starts off as a teenager with a thin athletic build. After Main's crew dissolved, he started his own crew and gained new cyberware implants which altered his physique significantly, gaining a heavier build, height, and muscle mass.

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Appearance[]

David Martinez was an American teenager of Latino descent. He had light brown eyes and dark brown hair that he wore in a quaffed hairstyle, with the sides shaved. At the start of the series, he had a thin athletic build, but developed a heavier build with time. David's typical style was Kitsch, sporting a black t-shirt, two golden chain necklaces (the bottom one with a cross), gray cropped sweatpants with two yellow straps on the sides, and white tennis shoes with blue straps. Later on, he started to wear his deceased mother's yellow EMT jacket, which had a blue luminescent material on the inner lining of the collar, and a bright green Edgerunners emblem painted on the back.

David gradually added more implants to his body, becoming taller and more muscular. While keeping his overall outfit intact, he no longer wore a black shirt, preferring to remain bare-chested when not covered by the EMT jacket.^[2]

Biography[]

Early Life[]

David Martinez was born to an unknown man and his mother Gloria Martinez, who the latter raised him by herself.^[4] He was born in the back of an ambulance, as Gloria's water broke while re-attaching the arm of an edgerunner.^[5] David grew up on the streets of Santo Domingo, living out of an apartment of Megabuilding H4 in Arroyo. Due to his mother putting great effort into her job as an EMT for Night City health services, David was eligible for enrollment into the Arasaka Academy where he achieved top grades. After joining the academy, David began selling XBDs to classmates that he obtained from a ripperdoc and friend of his nicknamed Doc.^[1]

Martinez grew up feeling he was destined for something big, and because of this, he was usually bored of the mundane life. He would keep tabs on everyone in and around his Megabulilding, talk to any new edgerunner he met, and always check the new cyberware Doc acquired. This curiosity had caused Martinez to get beaten up on several occasions, and one time a 6th Street gangoon beat him until he broke his hand and left crying as Martinez laughed, covered in blood. No one in the neighborhood touched him after this incident.^[5]

A Day in the Life[]

One night, David watched a new illegal braindance that Doc obtained from editor Jimmy Kurosaki. The braindance contained the death of the former New United States Armed Forces Lt. Col. James Norris, who went cyberpsycho a couple hours prior.^[1]

The following day, after finding his mother sleeping on the couch, the two talked about money problems regarding his school expenses and watched the news of Norris' death, which included David's mother carrying the body. He caught a glimpse of a young woman on his way to school, who disappeared when he attempted to approach her. During that day's class, his outdated braindance wreath spiked his classmates wreaths due to David having Doc install a faulty software update to save money. This caused an outrage among the students, Katsuo Tanaka in particular, the son of Tanaka, a high Arasaka executive. After the incident, David and his mother met with the academy's principal, whom suggested that David could benefit from a change of environment, as he did not fit in with his wealthier classmates even if his grades were good. Gloria agreed to pay any monetary damages created.^[1]

While driving home, the two were discussing the recent events of his actions and how much Gloria cared about David's future. At that moment, they became bystanders of an Animals assault on an Arasaka corporate vehicle, crashing into the vehicle after it was blown up by a rocket. David saw his mother lying motionless on the road after regaining consciousness. Trauma Team arrived shortly after, but ignored them for not being insured, and only took the corporate client with them. David managed to bring his mother to a back-alley clinic, where she became stabilized. He arrived back at their apartment with his mother's belongings and discovered that she had procured a military grade Sandevistan neuralware implant from the cyberpsycho. David informed Doc about the implant and was told that it was worth around 10,000 eurodollars on the black market.^[1]

The next morning, on his way to Corporate Plaza, David saw that Tanaka and his friends were waiting for him while he was looking for the mysterious woman. They took him to a back-alley, where Tanaka beat him using a martial arts chip. Shortly after the fight, David received a call from the clinic that his mother had passed away and had to arrange a funeral for her. David, not being able to afford the other options, chose to cremate her remains at an automated service that would dispense the ashes in a metal canister. Once home, while struggling with the loss of his mother, David received a call from Katsuo mocking him and his mother's death, which pushed him over the edge. David eventually leaves his apartment to visit Doc, where he demands him to have the Sandevistan implanted into his body. Doc initially dismisses David's request on grounds that David doesn't have the money nor the battle-hardened body to handle such military grade hardware. However, shortly after, Doc changes his mind and decides he will do it, but not before telling David if he'd come back to Doc crying to have it removed again because it will likely drive David crazy, Doc would get the Sandevistan from him for free.^[1]

Becoming an Edgerunner[]

After being chipped in, David — while still expelled — returned the following day to the academy, in search of a rematch with Katsuo. Utilizing his Sandevistan implant, David, with ease, floored Katsuo with a single fist blow to the head and broke his nose. Once David returned home, he stared at the urn holding his mother's ashes, when he received a call from the academy's principal. The principal told David that his expulsion had been formally processed, but before the principal could end his sentence, David ended the conversation.^[4]

The next morning, making his way to the academy, David noticed that the mysterious girl was aboard the NCART train, stealing shards from unsuspecting corporate employees on their way to City Center. The woman — named Lucy — also attempted to take David's shards but was quickly intercepted by David utilizing his implant. David grasped Lucy's arm, which she shrugged off and instead took him with her to the end of the cart, interrogating David on why he was messing with her "job". After a short discussion, the two came to an agreement to work together, resulting Lucy taking on David as her trainee, splitting their earnings seventy-to-thirty.^[4]

After a short confrontation with an ambulance worker who wanted to steal David's Sandevistan to sell on the black market, David stays the night at Lucy's apartment, where she tells him about her dream of leaving Night City to live on the moon, sharing a braindance with him. The two bond during this experience, but while David is asleep, Lucy calls her team of mercenaries to her apartment. Maine, Dorio, and Pilar arrive and confront David about the stolen Sandevistan, which Gloria had originally planned to sell to Maine. David, revealing that Gloria had died and demonstrating an extreme tolerance for cyberware, is given a chance to join their group, on the condition that he proves himself in a small-scale data heist.^[6]

Although David's initiation heist goes south, Maine welcomes him to the crew. David also makes the acquaintance of a fixer named Faraday. Eventually, the team encounters a cyberpsycho after a job, with Pilar taunting the cyberpsycho, resulting in the cyberpsycho killing him and David and the others step into action to eliminate the threat.^[7]

The crew is back on track with Faraday's job and is looking for ways to get to their target, Tanaka. David, who sold XBDs at school, can give the right hint on how Tanaka, whose great fetish are raw BDs from Jimmy Kurosaki, could be lured into a trap.^[8]

David and the rest of the crew try to kidnap Kurosaki to win him for their cause. Kurosaki defends himself and kidnaps David in the process. He then tortures David with the number 32 of the Edgerunners BD series, which features Norris, editing David into the role of him. David receives help from Dorio and Lucy. Kurosaki gets into a short fight and, after losing, does what they ask of him. Before Tanaka arrives, David has a quiet moment with Kurosaki, who warns him about installing too much chrome into his body, but David argues with his special tolerance and ignores it. David is then a witness to both Tanaka's fight with Maine and Kurosaki's death, the latter caused by Tanaka's self-defense.^[8]

Falco joined up with Maine's crew during this time.

Maine's and Dorio's Deaths[]

After Tanaka's abduction, Maine would begin to experience mental issues due to his overreliance on cyberware. Dorio would implore Maine to downgrade in order to improve his condition, but Maine was in denial of the situation and refused to consider it. Maine's personality would degrade and would experience his first episode of cyberpsychosis, during which he would attack Kiwi, removing her cyberware jaw before becoming lucid again.^[9]

Dorio summoned Lucy and David to discuss Maine's deteriorating condition and his risk of cyberpsychosis. David then spoke with Maine privately, resulting in Maine being hostile.

David would return to Lucy's side to guard her during her deep dive into Tanaka's brain. She would uncover her usually carefully hidden deep dive port. David would inquire about it, but quickly drop the subject as he took Lucy's silence for discomfort.

After being injected with several drugs, Maine would become Lucid again. Dorio and Maine returned to David and Lucy's side, just in time to witness Tanaka flatlining. The jammer for Maine's crew was also fried at the same time, forcing Maine's crew to react as Trauma Team was incoming. Dorio would sever Lucy's connection to the deep dive. David would pull Lucy's unconscious body from her deep dive ice bath and flee with Lucy's unconscious body to a downstairs car while Maine took Tanaka's resurrected body for use as a meat shield during the incoming confrontation. Dorio would remain at Maine's side.^[9]

Maine and Dorio would stand back to back and confront a combination of the NCPD and Trauma Team. However, as the fighting continued, Maine would finally break down into full cyberpsychosis, losing full touch with reality and turning on Dorio, killing her with a gun during a full blown episode.

Lucy would quickly regain consciousness and beg David to flee with her, but David chose to return to Maine in an attempt to save him.

Maine entered another period of lucidity and understood he was at fault for Dorio's death, but proceeded to kill more NCPD and Trauma Team members. David returned to Maine's side after securing Lucy, but Maine sent David away despite his protests. Maine constructed a pyre of sorts for Dorio out of explosive canisters. Maine was finally killed along with several MaxTac officers after he detonated the canisters. David used the Sandevistan to escape the blast at Maine's final request.^[9]

David returned to Lucy's car with one of Maine's arms, offering him something to bury, as well as the opportunity to inherit Maine's cyberware within his arms.

Despite Maine's descent into cyberpsychosis, he would be the inspiration behind how David would live out the rest of his life. David would then go on to try and embody both Maine's cyberware physique as well as all of his values.^[9]

David's Rise[]

Several months after the death of Maine, David has taken over leadership of Maine's crew. His new cyberware-enhanced body was enlarged and had added many implants similar to Maine's, including the Gorilla Arms and the Projectile Launch System. His demeanor had also grown noticeably calmer compared to when he first joined the crew.^[2]

David's crew took a job from fixer Wakako Okada, having the crew rescue hostages from the Maelstrom gang. At Wakako's request, David brought along a new recruit named Julio. David would provide the new recruit with a superior weapon to the one he had. David also counseled the new recruit not to rush, and to remain behind him at all times. Despite being a fan, Julio ignored David's advice, resulting in Julio getting himself killed by running into an explosive trap. However, the operation was ultimately complete, with all hostages being rescued.^[2]

David would call Wakako to apologize about the death of Julio, but she chose not to charge anything, citing Julio's lack of experience.^[2]

Lucy would not be present for this job, having withdrawn from David's crew, despite taking up residence with David.^[2]

During a visit to Doc's, he noted David's unique biology, comparing his extensively modified body to that of infamous figure and Arasaka associate Adam Smasher. As David never heard of him, Doc offered him Smasher's backstory, warning David that he could become "Adam Smasher 2.0," which David disagreed with.^[2]

Kiwi got in touch with David to set up an appointment with Faraday at the Afterlife club.^[2]

At Lucy's request, David goes on a trip with her just outside of Night City. It's at this point Lucy would finally divulge her past.^[2]

Tragedy and Concerns from David's Crew[]

During a job, David would kill a secretary, one who reminded him of Gloria, leaving him regretful and beginning David's loss of self.^[10]

David froze up during his next job, still reliving the death of the civilian. Rebecca intervened to keep him alive. Rebecca expressed concern for David, including a suggestion that he goes light on the chrome for a while after being concerned about his mental health.^[10]

Later at David's apartment, he would collapse and be taken to Doc's clinic. Doc would suggest a downgrade, causing rage in the chromed-out and emotionally destabilized David. Frustrated with both his personal circumstances and Doc's long history of financial abuse, David lashed out at him. David then collected himself and apologized. Doc resentfully offered David the drugs he was seeking instead, explaining to David that he was now on a guaranteed path to cyberpsychosis and, ultimately, death, with the drugs offering only a temporary reprieve.^[10]

Lucy confronted David about his overuse of cyberware. David again refused to downgrade but would admit to Lucy about the civilian casualty as well as concerns over his own mental health. David would implore Lucy to come back to the crew, which Lucy would refuse. David then suggested a peaceful break up to their relationship, deeply upsetting Lucy, as this was not something she was seeking. Lucy began to beg David to wait for her. She would continue fighting against Arasaka to protect him, something that she would continue to keep private.^[10]

Faraday's Trap and David's Revenge[]

Unbeknownst to David, Faraday abducted Lucy before sending him on his next job. Faraday tasked David with retrieving inventory from an Arasaka convoy, something part of Faraday's plan to set a trap for David and earn the recognition of his new superiors at Arasaka. Prior to beginning the job, Rebecca would take note of David's deteriorating state and over-reliance on immunoblocker medication.^[11]

David used a combination of his Sandevistan abilities and the harpoon on his crew's truck to stop the convoys truck and seize the goods inside.^[11]

Militech arrived with a massive armada of vehicles, including a Basilisk and a Missile carrier. They had been tipped off about the cyberskeleton which was being used as bait for them as an intentional plot to lure David into allowing Arasaka to conduct a field test to obtain valuable data.^[11]

Faraday would use Lucy to fake a call from her, encouraging David to don the prototype cyberskeleton. She managed to escaped Faraday's trap and contact David, but was too late to stop him from donning the cyberskeleton. Lucy informed David of all of Faraday's plans before being knocked out again. With his foot on her neck, Faraday taunted David with his actions, sending the latter into a vengeful rage.^[11]

At this time, Kiwi knocked out Falco and escaped without interference from Militech, making her betrayal apparent to David's crew.^[11]

Using the cyberskeleton, David managed to dispatch the entire Militech force with ease. He directed his crew to Arasaka Tower as part of his plan to rescue Lucy, before briefly passing out and counted on his remaining crew members Falco and Rebecca to deal with another Militech convoy as well as Arasaka forces. David soon awoke and destroyed the Arasaka forces with the cyberskeleton, though this took a greater toll on his sanity.^[11]

Arriving by shuttle at Arasaka Tower, Faraday would meet with Douglas, who would express displeasure at the events unfolding, as the cyberpsychotic David had caused unpredictable damage to Arasaka. As they argued, David arrived at the tower, and used the anti-grav weapons of the cyberskeleton to cripple Faraday under his own weight. David was about to kill Douglas when Adam Smasher intervened, resulting in a brief fight between the two solos.^[11]

Final Battle and Fate[]

David managed to flee Arasaka Tower with Lucy, with Smasher inadvertently killing Faraday in the process while he pursued them. David continued to slip in and out of sanity until Lucy kissed him, causing David to briefly return to his senses and his desire to see her escape their circumstances and to achieve her dream of making it to the Moon. Lucy expresses her sadness at their circumstances, with the couple being aware that David would not survive.^[12]

David and Lucy would descend to the bottom of Arasaka Tower and reunite briefly with Falco and Rebecca. David would speak privately with Falco and implore him to see to Lucy's safety. The team was interrupted by Smasher, who crushed Rebecca, knocked Falco to the side and tanked Lucy's hacks, before resuming his battle with David. David managed to distract Smasher long enough for Falco and Lucy to escape. Smasher, directing all his attention at David, ripped his cyberskeleton apart with simple brute strength. Before dealing the final blow, Smasher pondered that David could make an interesting construct, a comment that David dismissed. David was executed with a headshot by Smasher, content in knowing that Lucy would be able to fulfill her dream.^[12]

Legacy[]

Lucy fulfilled her dream of making it to the moon, while seeing a vision of David similar to their first braindance experience together.^[12]

Lucy wrote "You didn't take me to the moon, but you were there with me" on David's niche in Night City's Columbarium.^[13]

Several months later, in 2077, a Merc by the name of V would encounter the braindance of Lt. Col. James Norris at Megabuilding H4, with an addendum warning that the BD was a "cautionary tale" that David did not heed. After watching, V, their curiosity piqued, contacted Muamar Reyes, wishing to know more about David. 24 hours later, Falco contacted V via text message, briefly talking about his experiences with David and his crew, noting that David and V share similarities, but stating that his crew's "15 minutes were up" and not to come looking for them. However, Falco then informed V to visit Muamar, as Falco had a left a package with him--David's Jacket, a final parting gift from one Edgerunner to another.^[13][3]

Equipment[]

Notes[]

• David doesn't like carbonated drinks.^[6]>
• In Cyberpunk 2077, a cocktail dedicated to him can be purchased in the Afterlife, honoring his legacy.
  • The cocktail is topped off with NiCola, ironically David disliked carbonated drinks.
• David's one-in-a-million, high tolerance for cyberware is a result of a high Humanity stat and a supportive environment (such as a relatively secure life and loving associates) that buffered — to a point — the repercussions that lead to cyberpsychosis.^{[Reddit 3]}

References[]

X.com[]

Reddit[]