Video

[excessivehubris]

[ This was not the route Charles wanted to take with this. But his attempt to handle it privately and internally had been met with the same level of dismissal as the conversation he and this version of Tony Stark had back in April.

Which was to say, complete dismissal.

After speaking with Peter, Charles had spent a few hours on the top of the roof considering his next move. Tony was … Tony had been his friend. One of the first he’d made upon coming to this new world, second only behind Erik and at times a support for him when Erik had been … Erik.

He didn’t want to have to do what his gut was telling him needed to be done, but if Charles had learned anything from tangling with En Sabah Nur; if he’d learned nothing else from Raven, Hank and Erik … he’d learned that he couldn’t just bury his head in the sand and hope for the best. Hope was important, hope was vital but it could be just as destructive when not balanced with the resolve to do what needed to be done, when innocent lives were on the line.

Though he had now been awake for almost two days straight, a fact that might be noticeable to anyone who knew him well, the professor was sharply dressed (three piece suit and all) and looked resolute from behind his desk. He had been busy, from well before dawn and up to this point.

He had shifted pieces all across the chessboard and while he did not delude himself in to believing that Tony was even in check, Charles knew the next moves would require aid from the imPort community as a whole. ]

Good morning.

It is with great regret and sincere apology, we must announce to the world that an internal investigation has revealed that the StarkTech “4” application is an abomination and an expression of the weakness and failure of its creator; Mr. Anthony Edward Stark.

[ Peter Parker is standing behind Charles and to the right, leaning slightly on the desk to keep himself in frame. Where Charles is dressed to the nines, Peter looks like he’s come straight from the lab--rolled-up sleeves, goggle hair and all. He sways forward as though he’s about to cut in, then just as visibly bites it back before he waves Charles to continue. ]



Though many of our customers believe themselves to be ‘the be the best you possible’; this is a false impression, that you are paying dearly to experience. Both financially and emotionally.

The founder of StarkTech, Mr. Tony Stark has been found to have developed the “4” app, outside of company resources, specifically in order to market it, hook users and gouge them for monetary gain. But worse than that, he is manipulating them into believing a false image of both him and themselves.

The powers we’re seeing across the various cities are not real. They are the product of the application. They include mental as well as physical alteration, that leaves people desperate to be the best, while in truth they are being manipulated by a man who is attempting to play god.

[ Peter cuts in: ]

Our best guess is that he’s using a variant of his proprietary Extremis technology--nanite chains that he seeded into the environment somehow, maybe by contaminating the food or water supply, and got into people’s systems. From there, it’d be as simple as activating the app, and he could rewrite its users--from the DNA on up--as easily as you or I would rewrite a grocery list.

[ The interruption is actually timely, as Charles found it more difficult than he’d expected to vocally challenge his friend with ’playing god’. Though he maintains a professional air, anyone familiar with him might see the hints of strain; particularly around his eyes.

Once Peter has said his piece, the professor squares his shoulders and continues, in a strong, business like tone. ]

Mr. Stark, you will find that I have seized control of all StarkTech assets, including your bank accounts. Yes, even those bank accounts, and those. I have also taken the preventive measure of seizing your personal assets and we are disabling all electronic access routes into these buildings.

[ Because trying to keep Tony from electronically accessing his property? Yeah, good luck with that one, but they could still pull the plug. So to speak.

However, after he makes these statements, a small crack appears in the emotional armor, and Charles sits forward, directing his next words to his friend. A last ditch attempt to reach him. ]

Tony if you are hearing this, and I know you are, I beg you … again to cease with this madness. This is not the ’future’. This is not how people grow and develop. You are attempting to change the face in the mirror and I tell you now, that this is not the way to find what you’re looking for.

[ After a pause, he leans back. ]

To the rest of the imPort community, I beg you to understand that these natives you are encountering, the ones with powers, they are under the effect of this application and not in their right minds. Please consider them victims in need of our protection, rather than enemies to be harmed.

Until we can disable the app, they’re as good as under Tony’s complete control.

[ They’ve said just about everything that needs to be said, but Peter can’t bring himself to leave it at that. Tony is more than a client-slash-boss or his oldest associate here. Sometimes, maybe most of the time, they barely even like each other, but he is family. Peter leans in close enough to the camera that he almost shoulders Charles aside, and adds, voice low and intent: ]

Tony, I know this isn’t you. Whatever our history, whatever disagreements we’ve had in the past, I know you’re not a monster. If there’s any part of you that understands this, and still has control, turn yourself in. I can help you. I will help you.

But we’re also going to stop you.

Comments

Video;

[pyrogue]

Lemme get this straight –– all this bullshit is 'cause of a phone app?

[ Beat. ]

Wish I could be more surprised, honestly.

Video;

[excessivehubris]

As I understand it, it's a combination of the application and nanite chains that Mr. Stark appears to have seeded into the population. [ He shot a quick look at Peter, who could probably give better details. ]

video;

[shutterbugged]

It might help to think of the app as the remote control for a booby trap, which is the Extremis nanite chain. We're still not positive how he got it into people, but we know he did and we can make a few educated guesses as to how.

Video

[liverletdie]

Whoa, whoa, okay.

First off, you freeze my accounts... [ Like that isn't familiar... ]

Second, you're accusing me of things like this? What gives you the right to spread lies around the network with no consideration for who's affected?

Video

[excessivehubris]

[ Oh my God, Tony ... just stop. ]

Stop with this charade, Tony. You may believe that what you're doing is right but drop the games and accept that this is your doing.

Video

[pretendtoneedme]

Fucking shit not again. [There's a few muttered words which could be curses, though they're probably in another language, likely Russian - it's a habit, now. Clint's been keeping an eye on the madness but his new powers aren't good for subduing anyone and having them walk away, so he'd kept out of it as much as he could. This, though... this is different.]

[But he needs to be certain.] You're sure about this? No joke, one hundred percent sure?

[excessivehubris]

I wish I could say I wasn't certain. [ And for a long time, Charles realized he'd been trying to convenience himself that everything was as it should be.

Which had probably allowed Tony to go much further than should have been allowed in the first place. ]

But I am. [ He glanced over at Peter and amended. ] We are.

[the_caped_crusader]

[He's not going to respond, but boy isn't this interesting.]

video;

[trigeminalheadache]

[ Caitlin hasn't been blind to the swathe of locals who seem to be looking better, feeling better. Sporting powers like imPorts. There's been chaos and she's been wondering when the other shoe would drop.

And this seems like a pretty big shoe. ]

I can appreciate that you have the tech side of this in hand, but what about further measures? Some way of either flushing these nanites out of their systems, or rendering them inert. Otherwise, someone could reverse-engineer a mechanism of control over them again.

video;

[shutterbugged]

The priority would definitely be to flush them out. Because like you said, as long as the nanites remain in their systems, they may as well all be strapped to ticking time bombs.

I think it's doable, but not something to experiment with blindly.

video;

[carrieskryptonite]

What, precisely, is Extremis?

[Nanotech with the capabilities implied? Interesting at minimum.]

video;

[shutterbugged]

I say "nanite chain," but technically it's a bio-electronic complex packaged into graphite nanotubes suspended in a carrier fluid. You could call it a serum, or you could call it a virus.

video

[superposition]

[Meanwhile, through a lot of digging through the machine code (he's gonna be seeing 1s and 0s in his sleep), Qubit has just arrived independently at the same conclusion. And he's furious, although at this point it's still a seething rage.

He warned Tony. He warned him not to make Qubit his enemy. Mr Stark done fucked up now.]

I can confirm the nanite theory. It's all there in the binaries.

[and a heavily encrypted private text to Charles's comm:]

Xavier - psi me.

video

[shutterbugged]

It's good to have some independent confirmation. Though I almost wish I'd been barking up the wrong tree, as embarrassing as that'd be.

[video]

[timecapture]

Holy shit.

[And for a good few moments, that's all she can think of to say; while she's never spoken to Tony Stark, or dealt with his company, she's certainly heard of him.]

Is there anything I can do to help?

[video]

[excessivehubris]

Hello, my dear. [ Charles said, his tone tired but welcoming. ] Right now we're still sorting out what there is to be done.

The hope is we can stop and reverse this with as limited casualties as possible.

video;

[helpline]

Oh good. [ said with a grin that's a little too maniacal. ] I've been a bit bored lately. Who's ready to debug and possibly explode phones!

video;

[excessivehubris]

[ Well that's certainly one of the more ... upbeat responses they've gotten.

Charles gave the Doctor a wary look but he certainly wasn't going to turn down the man's expertise. ]

I believe Mr. Parker will have the answers you need, Doctor.

telepathically because obvious

[incogneto]

That explains why he didn't want to show me the beta.

What's the next step?

Telepathy

[excessivehubris]

Hello, old friend. [ With Erik he can let some of the exhaustion of the past forty eight hours leech into his tone. ]

That's a very good question. I believe Mr. Parker has some ideas of how to approach the nanite/application combination and he is getting in contact with others who can help.

But I don't expect Tony is simply going to stand by and watch. His cover has been blown now, he's going to react.

video; ID: Ted Kord; (out of costume)

[deadkord]

Wait, Stark is to blame for all this insanity? With an app?

[ He was just shit talking that guy a couple weeks ago, and now he's apparently evil.

Well, that figures. ]

[excessivehubris]

To be fair, the application is only part of the scenario. It is the nanitechain he was able to introduce into the environment that appears to be the main culprit.

[ At least, that was his understanding but he shot a quick glance towards Peter to confirm or clarify. ]

encrypted | id reads "power girl"

[boobwindow]

[ Just when she thought she and Tony were getting along better... and he was staging this the whole time? That makes her livid. ]

Have you been able to make any progress with the disabling of the app?

encrypted; also oops sory

[shutterbugged]

[ Oh boy, Power Girl, does he feel you right now. ]

I wish I could say yes, but we've only just gotten started. And there's still the nanites to deal with.

voice; ID reads Robin

[performance]

[ Boy if this doesn't just make him feel stupid. Dick works at StarkTech. He — he should have known something was wrong, shouldn't he? His stomach's churning as he responds. ]

How do you know what'll happen when the app's disabled?

[shutterbugged]

We're not going to do anything drastic until we know for sure. But in principle, it's a program like any other. We'll know what it'll do because it'll be in the code.

[Video]

[caduceusvalkyrie]

[Angela is more than a little worried when she's seen their announcement and angry towards the man they talk about.] What exactly is this Extremis technology?

If the app is a way for Mr. Stark to control these individuals, then perhaps finding a way to first deal with what's essentially infecting them, rather than to disable the method. Unless you know for sure that disabling the app wouldn't cause any injury to them.

video

[shutterbugged]

A bio-electronic complex packaged into graphite nanotubes suspended in a carrier fluid--a synthetic retrovirus, if that means anything to you. Tony's used it for his own body modifications in the past, but it looks like he's branching out.

The app is probably the least dangerous part of the whole setup, at least once it's disabled. The nanite chain is going to be harder to deal with, and the last thing we need is for him to push through a code update while we're working on that. But we're not planning on taking any drastic chances, either. These are people's lives at stake.

video;

[garrick]

[ Okay this is amazing. The chaos itself is good fun to watch and there's a moment where Hunter has to wipe the amusement off his face before switching the video on.]

So let me get this straight. Everyone is up in arms because this app modified people? Gave them powers? Is it that wrong, or are you just upset that other, "normal" people are becoming the same as imPorts?

video;

[excessivehubris]

Actually the powers come with a cost. [ Charles clarified. ] Think of it like a drug. He gave them a taste for free, then he shut off "4" until they paid an exorbitant amount of money to re-establish it.

So no one was 'given' powers. Those who couldn't pay, have resorted to stealing, looting and other crimes in order to get the money and when that runs out, they suffer the consequences.

There have also been reports that those who are under the affects of "4", have attacked people who aren't "4" users deeming them lesser beings.

Voice

[thegriffinofdeath]

[Anastasya isn't still technically savvy enough to really understand this. But she can put some of the pieces together.]

...Can he do this to other imports?

voice

[shutterbugged]

We're looking into that. So far, I haven't heard of any cases--but if you know something different...

voice

[curada]

I will say this explains the cases we've had great difficulty in containing.

[He remembers the model at Kanaya's show - and sighs his disappointment.

He cannot pretend the technology itself is an abomination. Certainly, it may be repurposed towards some work that may prove beneficial. But he agrees this is no way to progress mankind towards the future.]

There is a considerable question of whether a complimentary app of some kind might hastily be designed. I would observe that modern technology can be repurposed from its original aim. It might be possible to wean people off it more steadily if there is some kind of substitute...

[shutterbugged]

Who would you put in charge of that counter-app, though? Whether it's his or someone else's, that means there's a person--or a committee, I guess--who could override a whole population's bodily autonomy at will.

Text

[pummelgranite]

Wow. What a dick.

text

[shutterbugged]

You said it.

video.

[glowsferatu]

[ Kanaya may never have been a fan of Stark, but this is far from what she would have expected out of him. When the video cuts on, she's carefully cracking the knuckles on one of her fist. ]

For something this outlandish, I'd normally ask for some kind of evidence or confirmation. But then, his answer to you is about as good an admission as one can get.

So, what are going to do to take him down?

[shutterbugged]

If you're hoping for a fight, I'm pretty sure you're going to get your wish sooner or later.

id says blue beetle ; text!

[khajidont]

I'd like to help, if I can. I've met some of the people with powers. Even if some of them have been trying to hurt other people, most of them are just confused, and scared.

Do you guys need any help tracking him down or something? It sounds like we have to fix this at the source.

[shutterbugged]

Nobody deserves to have this done to them without their consent, no matter what they do with their abilities afterwards.

We're working on it, but with everything that's going on, we can use all the help we can get. Do you think you can find him?

private; voice

[hisheartsdesire]

So, what you're saying is that he made some sort of application that not only gives natives powers but also makes them feel like they have to use them? As in, it's something very different from when I sired native fledgelings over a year ago?

private; voice

[shutterbugged]

Uh... I'm not sure exactly how vampirism works where you're from, but I'm guessing not. Unless you can also make hundreds of people into vampires at once without asking.

anonymous text;

[pillz]

hey professor
thats not yo friend.
well i dunno it might be tony "billionaire playboy constructz phallic corporate structrues in the downtown" stark, but its not your tony stark
you fought the russians beside a different one
he stole your boys monkey suit

2/2

[pillz]

did you already figure that out with your brain melo nball powers
i dunno
its some shit