Like A Boy

"" is the second episode of CD Projekt RED and Studio Trigger's series.

Characters
In order of appearance:
 * David Martinez
 * Doc (Ripperdoc)
 * Katsuo Tanaka
 * Lucy
 * Maine
 * Dorio
 * Pilar

Description

 * With his newly enhanced body, David heads to the Academy seeking revenge on his bully. Later, he meets a mysterious woman who wants to recruit him.

Summary
The beginning of this episode is a continuation of the events from episode 1 Let You Down. David Martinez is in Doc's ripperdoc practice and demands to be updated with James Norris' Sandevistan. Doc warns him, that the cyberware is too much for his body, but then reconsiders and begins the painful surgery.

From this second episode on, the show received an intro animation directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, with the song "This FFFire" by Franz Ferdinand.

After the intro, David returns to Arasaka Academy and enters his class room. The AI teacher is in the middle of a lecture and chides David again. When David turns around, one can see the blood stains, resulting from the surgery, on the back of his EMT jacket. Katsuo begins to mock David again, but before he can say more, David kicks him out of his chair and challenges him to a fight. Katsuo aggressively shows his fighting stance, and David activates the Sandevistan for the first time. The implant slows down time, making it possible for David to walk around Katsuo. He finishes him by violently punching the boy into a glass panel, breaking Katsuo's nose. Katsuo whimpers and begins to throw slurs at David, threatening him to tell his dad. David only leaves.

In the next scene, David can be seen with his blood stained EMT jacket walking the sunny streets of Night City. He arrives at a plaza and bursts into laughter. The bystanders are surprised when he suddenly seems to disappear into thin air. The scenery switches to his mother's old apartment, and David pops into the scene in front of the washing machine to clean the jacket. Exhausted, he tries to relax on the couch.

A video recording of David's attack on Katsuo is shown in the next scene. Katuso's father is watching the video, but questions why it should interest him. A man named Marcus explains to him, who the attacker of his son is, and mentions Norris' cyberpsycho incident and the implant. They are aware the implant is now installed into David, but he seems not to be affected by any side effects, as Norris was. Marcus is sure David could be sufficient candiate to test their "product". Katsuo's father seems interested and wants Marcus to find David. In this conversation the audience is also informed about that David was expelled.

When it comes to his own son, Tanaka doesn't seem to feel much compassion and puts the company first, which he demands of his son as well.

David is still on the couch in the appartment and receives a call from the principal of Arasaka Academy. He denies the call and takes a shower, before he walks the Night City streets again. David uses the NCART, and suddenly has the weird feeling of something going on behind his back. He recognizes the girl with the white hair on the train picksocketing passengers and uses the implant to slow down time to grab her hand. She quickly pulls him aside. After a conversation, she forcefully grabs and slams him into the wall of the train and curiously checks his data.

She becomes aware of the illegal Sandevistan, and proposes they could also work together. It turns out, she especially is looking out for Arasaka suits to steal from. David joins her now as her "trainee" (she calls him that a bit jokingly) and introduces herself as "Lucy". Both begin their picksocketing venture using David's abilities. Lucy challenges and tests him with a variety of different victims, before they get out of the train.

When they discuss their cut, David collapses on the stairs and is bleeding from his nose. Off screen, Lucy called for an ambulance, and David finds himself strapped to a stretcher in the next scene. The present EMT discusses his case and asks for David's immunosuppressants. Lucy seems to care little and has no idea about David's insurance, but eventually mentions Arasaka Academy. The EMT then obviously wants to check the data and disappears for a moment. Lucy realizes, the ambulance passed the hospital and the EMT returns and threatens them with a gun. It turns out, David wasn't insured and the EMT now wants to make some quick eddies with the illegal implant.

Lucy kicks the stretcher with David in the EMT's gut, opens the door and both go on a wild ride on the road. She stops the stretcher with David on a Plaza, but David begins to collapse again and wants to be taken to Doc. The scene turns to black.

Doc checks David and is amazed he even could fire the implant eight times in one day, which means extreme stress even for an adult. Lucy insists, that Doc should sell the boy the right medicine, but someone with this advanced implant demands more exclusive drugs. Lucy pulls out the stolen chips, but they can only pay for two days of meds. Doc suggests to better remove the implant again, because David probably can only cope a few more days with it. He warns him about the psychological dangers posed by the implant. David leaves Doc's practice.

Lucy is waiting for him outside. They sit down on a bench and talk about their further business to pay back his debt to her. After the conversation, she invites David home to her apartment and serves them a beer. She makes him take off his mother's jacket, puts it on herself, and reprograms it to display the letters "Edgerunners" on the back. Lucy explains to him it's another word for "Cyberpunk". David admits, he is a fan of JK's Edgerunners series. He then tries to change subject when drawing her attention to a poster on her wall, advertising a new life on the moon. He somewhat sneers at the idea of going to the moon, but Lucy seems hurt by his comment. David then opens up about his mother and why he attended Arasaka Academy, although he never felt comfortable there. He comes to the conclusion, his mother wanted him to live her dream, and Lucy suggests he should rather fulfill his own. Lucy then hints at her own dream, which really is to leave Night City and fly to the moon. She then invites him to join her to link themselves into a simulation. They enjoy a few minutes in this moon sim, before David is kicked from it by a call from Maine, telling him "You fell over the edge, punk!".

David returns to reality, just to stare into the faces of Maine and his gang members.

Maine is not amused about that David has the Sandevistan installed and demands it back. Lucy sits next to him completely unperturbed. Maine threatens David and punches him in the face. The episode ends with a rocket rising into the night sky.

From this second episode on, the show received an outro animation featuring Lucy, supported by the song "Let You Down" - by Dawid Podsiadło and Magdalena Laskowska.

Soundtrack

 * "This FFFire" - Franz Ferdinand (opening song)
 * "Acid Breather" - by Mastiff
 * "Blurred" - by Earth Trax
 * "Sustain/Decay" - by Piotr Maciejewski/Drivealone
 * "Friday Night Fire Fight" - written by Jacques Barbot, performed by Aligns
 * "Retrogenesis" - by Private Press
 * "Lithium" - by SLG
 * "I Really Want To Stay At Your House" - by Rosa Walton
 * "Let You Down" - by Dawid Podsiadło, Magdalena Laskowska (credit roll song)

Trivia

 * The episode is titled after Ciara's song "Like a Boy" from her 2006 album Ciara: The Evolution.