Dag’Ra

I don’t think the accident context changes too much…except maybe he kills a few people given how fucked the homeless problem in the Cyberpunk world is. Militech likely has some fancy event and he does the usual thing of distracted driving, and this will fuck up the cybernetics in his hands so bad he can’t fix them himself.

I don’t think Militech would fire one of their top docs over something like this given the shit that happens in NC (yet), especially involving a certain Meridith Stout and a potential takeover depending on player life route, but they would have a HELL of a time covering for him. He’s lucky here, his career isn’t 100% over…but he’s not staying in BosWash anymore. They fix him up and ship him out to NC to let the air die down near HQ. The fix up doesn’t leave him with the same hand issues as in marvel canon, but there is a mental impact.

Side-step real quick to the real opening missions of Cyberpunk 2077 “The Rescue”.

When V and Jackie find Sandra our character is mentally shaken, both by the sights in the tub and the body earlier on. They have this optional dialogue after finding Sandra:

“She’s in a tub of ice…crammed in with another. Fuck -like slabs of meat! Heard people who live through shit like this get panic attacks. ‘Thought ever knowin’ why… You’ll be sippin’ a glass of ice-cold water and suddenly your hand’s shakin’.

How does this play into, and imo, guarantee a mental consequence for our man Stephen? Well, why would Militech want one of their brightest to retain access to the memories of a crash HE caused that killed people (remember there’s a lot of homeless in Cyberpunk). Strange ends up with an intense fear of driving, and especially to anything work related. His confidence dips and it impacts his performance. He’s no longer one of the company’s top doc’s and they’re pressuring him HARD to get his shit together or they’re going to 0 his career.

Night City isn’t very walkable either and public transport is shotty at best. The way I see it is it runs like the Metro in Washington, DC…not well.

It takes awhile for the crash to be the cause of his downfall, but Militech can’t have someone like Strange on board. Mental help won’t be of much use since he can’t even think of why everything is happening, and Militech not being able to hold back the emotional and mental scarring with their own work just means they let him go. His company cyberware gets removed and replaced with publicly available ones, although they do him a favor and give him some top-notch shit, this ends up unlocking the crash memories. Fuck.

So there he is, stuck in Night City with no job, limited funds with how expensive things are, and a whole lotta trauma that he can’t afford to get decent help for. Corpo Rat has no health insurance now…and most of NC won’t be kind to him, normal person now or not.

With what he has he decides to gather what eddies he has left to go on his journey to find help in the mystical arts. The “no chrome” monks aren’t an option for him as I doubt he’d want to get rid of his cybernetics due to all the financial risks AND the fact that very few ripperdocs operate without (and likely 0 corpo ones).

Things kinda carry on as per usual from here with the mystical training, although it takes a bit more struggle since I doubt magic and cybertech play nicely without the person knowing what they’re doing.

No more thoughts on that yet.

After that whole shabang he ends up back in NC instead of BosWash as it’s likely cheaper travel and all of his shit is there now anyway. Fortunately I’m kind enough to make it so he had enough money to cover rent all this time, but not enough to make it so he isn’t running out.

With magic his hands are actually under enough control to be a ripperdoc again…but not a corpo one. Back-alley ripperdoc time. He develops a reputation for himself amongst the good and bad people as a fantastic doc and a trusted neutral space. Not to many neutral areas in NC. This helps keep him afloat and eventually gets him enough eddies to take a trip back to NYC where he accidentally wanders into the Sanctum and things proceed from here (except that the overwhelming magic makes his cyberware hurt like a mofo and the cape helps with that too).

Since the building is magic there’s just a new door connecting to his NC home because fuck it I’m lazy, sue me (don’t).

He starts pouring a LOT more time into mystical rather than cyber practices and yadayada the details oh the details.

This both impacts business but doesn’t. Less customers at first, sure, but with some slight time fuckery it’s okay…-ish. And the sanctum spiking his body with pain makes him a better wizard ig idk.

I don’t think he goes full-time into the whole wizard stuff for a bit though, which is alright, and that’s even if he does. He can still do ripperdoc stuff so I highly doubt he’d give that up.

HYDRA Experiment Wanda Maximoff:

I almost called her an ‘Agent’ but that doesn’t exactly fit what I’m thinking. The twins weren’t willing participants this time at all, instead being kidnapped from an active warzone by HYDRA agents posing as humanitarian people or just good samaritans.

The experiments are worse here, and mind stone is used to keep the kids oblivious and under control as much as it is to awaken latent potential. There’s cyberware involved in ways that mutilate bodies beyond recognition, put such strain on bodies the pain is what kills. And she remembers nothing until her subconscious processes it. Every night is endless nightmares and remembering those lost, but when she wakes up nothing feels too wrong. Those beds were always empty.

HYDRA decides to save the most promising ones for the more careful procedures, and install a cybernetic spine that will grow with the twins, although unfortunately for Wanda this causes some MAJOR pain. It makes her uncontrollable and inconsolable by anyone other than Pietro. But she’s alive, so it’s a success, and when she wishes for the pain to stop while accidentally using her magic it does. The outbursts of chaos magic make HYDRA keep a closer eye on her.

Shit does not go well for them for long though, as Wanda’s magic is wild in how it acts or doesn’t, and eventually is undoes the memory fuckery done by the mind stone…and holy shit that facility doesn’t survive, but her wish to bring those that suffered back as they once were *before* the shit happened to them works too. Out of the rubble come her friends.

Shit ain’t staying happy for long as the commotion gets ALL the Corpo attention, and none are more interested than Arasaka and Militech.

But they don’t get them. S.H.I.E.L.D. does. Being based solely in the skies of Cyberpunk they move fast to where everything went down and get all the kids.

Wanda has little interest in being under anyone else’s control though and doesn’t like them undo her cyberware in any capacity. She doesn’t trust them not to do their own thing…and when she does they do their own thing.

This one’s too interesting not to. They gotta know what HYDRA saw, just, a bit more humane about the procedure and the quality.

Wanda is a mutant here however so it’s only a matter of time before Wanda & Pietro get handed off to reps from Krakoa. Krakoa here is an entirely natural island with all of their local flora and fauna, a wonder of the world and constantly wanted by Corps. Still VERY protected though.

Mag’s their bio dad here because fuck it I do what I want.

Not much of interest happens here but as an adult Wanda leaves Krakoa for NC to try to find a ripperdoc that can do something about the cyberware SHEILD put in her. Her magic HATES it. There’s apparently a ripperdoc knowledgable in both cyberware and magic she travels. She definitely doesn’t have too many eddies to her name and in the chaos of NC finding Strange isn’t easy. But hey, she does it, and sob story time it is.

He can’t exactly afford to do free work but he also isn’t about to just send her off back onto NC’s streets, so she stays and he helps. Her ability to deal with the cyberware through her own mental and magic control improves.

Fucks up still happen. I don’t have details on that. I draw. I don’t write…not here, at least, and not really anymore.

Anyway, Wanda is a fast learned when it comes to magic, especially if in an environment where time is slower than the real world. She’s also adept at handling magical artifacts like it’s normal which ends up making her an ideal partner for Strange when he goes to track one down. Yay mission shenanigans.

Eventually all of this good will from Strange leads to her deciding to open the Emporium in NC instead of NYC. It’s a little easier to open a business in Corpo Rat Megacity ig.

Other things:

Clea does exist here and is involved in shit. I’d waged that her and Strange met after he got fired but before Wanda arrived, and are deep in their relationship by then if not married. Clearly just has her own responsibilities and those keep her from going artifact hunting or generally being around as much as she’d like.

When she meets Wanda she’s a little skeptical of her intentions, but those are quickly thrown out with a long conversation.

Honestly I think it’d be funny if it was Clea who started having feelings for Wanda first despite the inconsistent meetings. Strange is too work-focused to acknowledge his feelings and Wanda thinks it’d be awkward…but what if?