Nails and Kneecaps
is a fanfic by That One Psycho, and is a crossover between Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Magic: The Gathering.
On his way home with his mom from Arasaka Academy, an Animal attack causes David's spark to ignite, sending him to another plane of existence. Several months later, with Phyrexia bearing down on the multiverse, David and his new friends return to Earth to make their stand.
This fic displays examples of:
- Adaptational Badass:
- On account of David being presumed dead for a few months, it's Gloria who was implanted with the Sandevistan.
- David himself becomes a powerful magician after his stay in the Magic universe, being able to control magic fire.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: David becomes a planeswalker instead of a cyberpunk, so he trades out his Super-Speed and other cyberware powers for magic, namely Playing with Fire.
- Alien Invasion: David and the Riveteers arrive on Earth just as Phyrexia is starting to invade. Word of God confirmed that it isn't just Night City that is getting hit - the entire planet is under attack.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: In In A Shock Goes Through The Herd, David ends up fighting several Phyrexians alongside Adam Smasher and actually talks down to Smasher. Smasher promptly asks David who he thinks he is, to which David replies "the guy who knows what's going on". For his part, Smasher even decides to take David's advice of using fire against the Phyrexians.
- Eviler than Thou: Phyrexia is this to everyone on Earth - the Corpos like Arasaka and Militech might be greedy Corrupt Corporate Executives and the relevant Mega Corps that they own, but they can't compare to Phyrexia being a horde of cybernetic alien robots that want to enforce an Assimilation Plot. Case in point, David actually fights side by side with Adam Smasher against several Phyrexians.
- Experienced Protagonist: By the time of the present segments of the story, David has gotten the hang of his new powers and been fighting Phyrexia for some time.
- Outside-Genre Foe: Phyrexia is this to the Magic setting already, but they still manage to be this to Cyberpunk as well - Edgrerunners and Corpos are normally concerned with either each other, gangs, or AIs behind the Blackwall, so the arrival of cybernetic alien insects is a notable shock for everyone.
