My mind's like a deadly disease

[liverletdie]

WHO: Tony Stark, Iron Suits, Superpowered Humans, AND YOU
WHERE: Near StarkTech :: De Chima, VA
WHEN: Friday, September 23rd Through Sunday, September 25th
WHAT: SUPERIOR SHOWDOWN
WARNINGS: Death possible, violence, it's a superhero fight! Let me know if there's anything else you need!

[ Please use the cached threads below. Refer to these ooc posts. ]

Comments

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 23RD

[liverletdie]

[ Surrounding the StarkTech building, there was tension, taut like a string. In the past day, more and more of the superpowered humans were lurking around, and on Friday -- after a widespread message to their phones -- simply "Don't let anyone into Starktech", not so much a command with no ability to say no -- but a request from their benefactor. And their benefactor gave them something they couldn't refuse: Superpowers.

Who could say no to that?

So they fought, as hard as they could -- and in the midst of it all, they caused chaos, too. They acted out, looted, and generally made it difficult to get into Starktech by virtue of making the area around it chaotic. They were going to have to be dealt with -- and if there was any indication by the fliers... they weren't going to make it any easier to make an aerial assault.

Not without working damn hard to cut through all that mess, anyway. ]

POWER GIRL | OPEN

[boobwindow]

[ Throughout most of her day at Starrware, Karen had overheard murmurings about "strange" people hovering around the StarkTech building. Concerned, she checked over the local news online, but nothing had been updated just yet about any incidents, so using her super hearing she kept an eye out in the case of something.

And, unsurprisingly, chaos does break out. Leaving the office "early due to an emergency", Karen throws on her costume and Power Girl is quick to arrive on the scene, trying to assess what the situation is exactly from above. All she sees is people behaving dangerously — and then they see her, a well-known imPort superheroine, and she gets jumped from above. A couple of the fliers gang up on her at first and she manages to shake them off, but throwing them off doesn't dissuade them from making another attempt. They're persistent and out of their minds; a bad combination for everyone involved. Power Girl grits her teeth, flexing her hand. ]

I don't want to do this, but you aren't giving me a choice.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 24TH

[liverletdie]

[ A man isn't going to let himself be taken that easily, and while Charles Xavier had been right -- he needed to be taken out -- a man with his fingers and brain spread across an infinite, digital space, that was going to make it difficult. Especially when he had a collection of Iron Man suits -- each painstakingly built and created for every sort of situation. He might not have used any of them -- but he had one for every situation. Assault armors armed to the teeth with weapons, stealth armors, giant hulking monstrosities for... well, Hulk -- he'd had one for every situation imaginable.

And why wouldn't he? The man had been plotting these for a long time, hadn't he? Maybe not for this situation, but his entire identity was wrapped in the suit, and while the Tony Stark that was here hadn't exactly remembered what the Extremis had been like -- the original version, not the altered and dumbed down version for the public, but the dangerous, bleeding-edge technology of the original -- He took to it like a fish to water.

Which was how he could pilot each and every one of the suits as if he were in it personally -- and they fought just as hard as he would, to defend that office building -- But what could he do in there that could possibly be so important... What could he be planning? ]

Genos | OTA

[scrap_metal]

A. At the beginning of the fight | OTA

Genos let everyone else handle the chaos of "newly superpowered people" on the streets. At the end of the day, these were normal people, citizens, civilians. Not to monsters to be destroyed on sight.

His weaponry wasn't really made for subduing subjects without harming them. And setting civilians on fire wasn't really his style.

So when the suits - robots? cyborgs? he thoughts at first - started showing on the sky, Genos was ready to jump right into the action.

He'll target the first one in his range, raising his hand to shoot a fire blast in its direction.


B. At least that arm is still attached | closed | to Saitama


Genos doesn't get physically tired, perks of not having an organic body, but he does get worn out in different ways. Mental exhaustion is of course a one thing, but in battle? He's still tied to the ground, so to speak, while fighting airborne enemies

He might have succeeded and shot off the sky an IM suit, but there is more of them. And each one is slightly different, their speed, power and durability differ. Strategy successful for one of them, isn't going to work for another one.

And with Genos bad habit of lowering his guard upon victory, he got hit pretty badly few times. Now that his left arm seems to be out of commission, limp and unresponsive, he chooses his targets smarter--

No, he doesn't. He charges in for the first one he sees anyway.

B

[heroforhobby]

Saitama had no idea what he had recently eaten, but whatever it was it had been racking terror on his stomach. If it was hurting him it had to be some sort of super bug! Definitely had nothing to do with him being giving a giant bag full of candy as thanks for saving someone that he ate in under 2 hours, not at all.

By the time he finally came out of the bathroom, Genos was gone. Not that unusual, but usually he'd tell him where he was going. Unless it was something he didn't want to bother Saitama with, which usually involved a fight of some sort. After turning on the news he saw exactly what was going on, and he crossed his arms and sighed. Genos wouldn't be able to resist going after something that was cybernetic causing destruction, even if it might be too much for him.

That was why eventually Genos' sensei showed up where Genos' fight was taking place, wearing his shorts and t-shirt from the previous day because it was just too much effort to pull clean clothes out of the closet, with hand on his stomach as it grumbled unhappily.

"Hey . . . Genos. How're you doing?" he called out as Genos made a charge.

Jacob vs. Assault Armour | OTA, but keeping it to one thread for continuity

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

Jacob shows up to the fight against Superior Iron Man late, but with guns instead of Starbucks. He's wearing his grey-and-black Protector armour, carrying a futuristic heavy pistol along with regular firearms, and wrapped in a shimmering purple biotic barrier. He's going to need all of it: after the day of chaos between imPorts and Extremis-enhanced minions on the 23rd, the area around StarkTech looks like a war zone.

He hates seeing De Chima hit this hard again. Stark may not be trying to butcher people the way Crane did last year, but the damage being caused by his nanovirus is impossible to deny. Jacob fully intends to fight his way through the rogue technopath's defenses and take him down, not just as an imPort Hero and RISE agent, but also as a former De Chima resident.

Unfortunately the Iron Man has other ideas. Jacob has only just begun to enter the perimeter surrounding Stark Tech when a thickly-armoured and heavily-armed Assault suit swoops out of the sky, picks him off the ground in an unyielding grip, and throws him through the front window of the nearest (thankfully evacuated) Moonbux.

Jacob doesn't even have time to stand up before the suit raises its arms and blasts the coffee shop with rockets and bullets. His barrier is the only thing that keeps him from being torn apart, and Jacob scrambles to take cover behind the counter as the shop starts to catch fire around him.

It's only going to get tougher from here. Jacob grips his gun and braces for a hard fight, wishing he had some backup right about now.

[helpline]

Of course the Doctor's there. He spent the entire network post yelling at Tony Stark, of course he's going to be there to try and stop this nonsense, of course he's going to throw himself recklessly right in the middle of danger and oh, well, they're shooting at him, that's rude. Sonic sunglasses on his face, the Doctor turns to look at one of the robots, sending out a slight jamming signal via the sunglasses before he deftly unlocks some random backdoor (also via sunglasses) and slips inside a random coffee shop before the poor jammed robot runs into a wall or flies into a building.

So surprise surprise, the Doctor finds himself behind the same counter as Jacob is. And thankfully, Jacob looks like he's brought the guns to the gun fight. The Doctor just grins.

"Normally I'm a bit 'no guns' but these things are robots and Stark's an idiot, that's good enough to blow them the hell up." Petty? Absolutely. But it's also helping people, that's what counts! "I'll jam their signals, you shoot them in the head."

OTA!!

[khajidont]

[Jaime - the Blue Beetle - jumped into the fray as soon as he could. By this time, he thinks everyone's energies are flagging, but what are they supposed to do? Let this dick get away with it? Not a chance. So while he'd already spent the bulk of his time fighting off robots, guess what he's doing now?

More evil robots. With a grunt, he punches one's faceplate off and groans once he sees it's empty.] You know what? I regret wishing that all of my problems were as simple as killer robots. These killer robots are - not - that - simple!

[He kicks it down into the ground, wincing as the asphalt breaks and splinters beneath his feet, silently calculating how much all of these repairs are going to cost.]

I just need to get to the real thing, already!

surprise late tagging in!

[scrap_metal]

[ Genos just arrived here too, he fought some of these flying robots/cyborgs things, but so far he made only one of them crash. Airborne enemies, gotta change the strategy. But then he catches the glimpse of one of the enemies having their face, well, punched off- ]

They're empty-?

[ Like armor. Well that's what they are, really, but he didn't connect the dots until now. ]

Kaneda | OTA

[rassera]

[Kaneda was WONDERING when things were going to start picking up again. With August being surprisingly uneventful in comparison to the year prior (which he still believes was and is a fluke), September was looking to be about the same. That is until news about the aquarium being overrun by super powered teens that spread to a citywide 'epidemic'. What started out as a coincidence soon became a problem.

Jut...one of the many problems.


Like this one right here.

Flying metal robots? Not exactly what he signed up for this Sunday, but here he is. Loaded up with all manner of weapons on his bike as he makes another round to try and pick them off from the air. One flies down towards him, Kaneda immediately bracing himself and trying to think of a strategy. These things were made of metal, weren't they? Guns...probably wouldn't work. And he needed range to use his explosives.

Cat and mouse wasn't really his game, either. So when that suit comes barreling towards him, he leaps up ONTO it to try and wrestle it from the sky.

Which...is a lot more effective than it probably sounds. Like a bucking bronco except worth more than your life three times over. Thankfully, Kaneda's brought his wakizashi with, she's going to try and hack away at this thing as it tries to tear him off.]

Damn..bastard!

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 25TH

[liverletdie]

[ The suits took a beating, but there are still a few left -- he wasn't going to just let that be it, how could he? The difference was on Saturday, the man himself flew among the few remaining suits -- distinct in a shinging chrome, the suit shifted, flew faster, like an upgraded version, but the first moment he showed up, at the top of his own tower, without it, the suit came to life -- seeping and crawling over his skin -- seeping over him before it was complete -- impassive, metal face, blue lights everywhere -- and he took off like the lead on a fighter-plane run (or for the nerds among us, Darth Vader on the trench run) with one suit on either side, accompanying him.

The problem was going to be that he had to be incapacitated, and whether or not he could be found before it was too late.

Stark was dangerous, and didn't hold back was the real danger -- he didn't worry about death, after all, death was nothing, when people just came back, right? Nobody could fret if he killed someone. They'd just return.

Or at least... that was his logic. ]

Max Caulfield | OTA

[timecapture]

[Holy shit. What the hell was she doing here?! She wasn't a superhero, she wasn't into fighting (and besides, she only learned self defense because of all the nasty shit that tended to happen here), and she definitely wasn't ready for a psycho in a metal suit to try and screw things up any more than they already were. But here she was, and she'd been here for the last couple of days, too - hopefully out of the range of fighting, snapping pictures whenever she saw the opportunity.

Because if the world was ending, she may as well get a good shot.]

before his fight with Tony

[shutterbugged]

[ Spider-Man is sneaking around the battle zone looking for the best place to lay an ambush when he spots Max with her camera, down below. He changes tack immediately, dropping down next to her with a sudden thump. ]

Ma--[ Wait, has he ever interacted with Max as Spider-Man? Should he know her name? He can't spare the brainpower to remember right now--] Miss, I respect the power of the press as much as the next guy dressed in red, blue, and a smidgen of white, but it's not safe here right now. Those photos won't do you or anyone else any good if you're not around to publish them.

LOCKED TO XAVIER

[liverletdie]

The suits, the man, the scattered humans about... that was all him.

Well, people couldn't be controlled, but everything else? That was 100% Stark. Wired into everything through a digital connection so intense, so ingrained in everything that made Tony Stark who he was, it wouldn't -- shouldn't be surprising that the man was able to pilot multiple suits and direct himself at the same time. That was easy. It was the fact that he was doing so much of it that took so much. He had to be present in a way that most people weren't -- in one place, let alone multiples.

It was a lot of concentration, but it was concentration that he could handle. The man himself, he flew like a beacon of chrome, shining in the sunlight -- like it wasn't someone to fear, like he wasn't the one who'd caused so much destruction and problems.

No, he was flying like he owned it. The world, De Chima, just StarkTech? It didn't matter. He knew what he had, and what he could have. World dominstion was never the goal, just making a future he could be proud of. Guiding it, building it, creating a world where people would thank him, and while the crime was...regrettable, it was a necessary evil -- proof that humans were just as bad as imports, if one just looked.

And next step? Next step he would take care of that, of course. But he wanted the normal people, the natives, to see that they weren't above this fist.

It was all a part of the plan, in the long run.

[excessivehubris]

Charles had removed himself from StarkTech.

It was possible he had even removed himself from the fighting in De Chima. When it came to physical violence, he was more a liability than a help. Men like Peter and others had more business engaging Tony on that field of battle than Charles.

But as the hours, the minutes crawled by so slowly and De Chima continued to burn, Charles found himself unable to sit by and do nothing. No longer could he argue to himself that he had given all the information he had available and had to let those better suited do their part.

He had to do something.

The idea came upon him in waves. Would build up to where he'd been just about ready to try it, only to fall back and hope it wasn't necessary. But the fighting just kept going and Stark looked as inexhaustible as ever.

This needed to end.

Laying back on a bed (or perhaps a couch, who knew it didn't matter) Charles closed his eyes and let his mind turn inwards. He fell away from that physical sensations around his body and put his focus into the psychic world; in a way he rarely allowed himself.

When he had made the most recent contact with Stark's mind, the contact that had allowed him to identify that this mind was not the mental pattern of his friend but rather the man from April, Charles had left himself a small back door. It wasn't much, given the power of the defenses Stark used against psychic intrusion. But combined with how thin Stark had spread himself, and Charles' own power since his return, it was enough.

It began as a grey fog, formless as it rolled in from the corners of the vision but relentless took over. A sense of tumbling away from one reality and into another; in fact Tony might find himself making a hard landing, unless the symbiote kept them aloft. It would be regrettable, Charles truly did not want to hurt the man but Stark had pushed them all to this point.

Now it was the Professor's turn to pull. Reaching deep within Stark's consciousness and yanking him out and onto the Astral Plane. Weakening Tony's connection to his reality (and the suits, the people, the data) Charles reached to grab at Stark's throat, and with a preternatural physical strength he would never possess in the real world, he moved to effortless slam Tony down into the thick fog; grounding him.

"ENOUGH!"

[shutterbugged]

[ Spider-Man knew he was taking a huge risk. Actually, it'd be more accurate to say he was being a huge idiot--not just picking a fight with a genius in in an armored suit that made him exponentially faster, stronger and tougher than Spidey could be on his best of days, but doing so while wearing one of said genius's own suits. But he needed every advantage he could get for as long as he could get it; he just had to hope he'd disabled all of Tony's safeguards and code traps, and try and shake off the feeling that the last six months of his life had been spent retreading all the same mistakes.

One thing the Iron Spider Mark II had going for it over the Mark I--the rocket boots, rudimentary as they were in comparison with the Iron Man models, made it a lot easier to pounce on an airborne target from an unexpected direction. ]

Tony! I just realized I never sent you a thank you card for this nifty suit you made me! You'll let me make it up to you, right? Flowers, singing telegram, maybe a right hook to the jaw?

[liverletdie]

Spider-Man!

[ It's actually jovial, when he greets him, although he does a neat pirouette in the air, spinning to avoid any attempts to grapple and/or punch him in the jaw. After all, he's very good at flying in the air by now, right? ]

Look at this, we match. Hopefully nobody gets the wrong idea, huh?

[ He lifts into the air a little higher. ] Come on, you going to push that suit as hard as you can, or just tip-toe around its capabilities. I know you can jump higher than that.

ALSO OTA if anyone wants to do team-ups, strategizing, w/e!!

[khajidont]

Finally! About time he showed his face! Uh, figure of speech face, anyway, [Jaime bursts out once Tony finally flies onto the scene, and he's quick to jet straight up into the air, an aptly named jetpack having long since replaced his far more delicate insectoid wings. Maybe he shouldn't charge straight at the hyperpowered supervillain, but, well... Jaime's a superhero. He's never been taught any different.

He just hopes he won't get squashed.]

Spider-bug team-up yes yes?

[daughteroftheoriginal]

[Running around the streets is one thing, but Iron Man gone villain is whole 'nother deal. It's funny how she can never stick to staying out of the webs for long, even when she tries to, but now isn't really the time to think about it.]

Well, he's still got a face plate!

[It's such a lucky thing that De Chima has buildings tall enough for webslinging. At least in this part of town.]

Lex Luthor | OTA

[carrieskryptonite]

[Lex isn't fond of wrinkles in his own plans. He's also not very fond of chaos in general. Encouraging people to 'become the best they can be' is one thing- it's the sort of idea he agrees with on a personal level even if admitting to it in light of Stark's actions would be tantamount to political suicide in some way or another.

Giving random people superpowers with no control over the who or when without any particular logic on the other hand... That's plain idiotic. No real sense of ambition, contrary to what the man might have been saying.

Lex is going to have to reconsider De Chima as a headquarters for a version of LexCorp with all of this.

If nothing else, he can attempt to profit off of this in some way or another, which is why Lex Luthor is standing on the grounds before Stark's building, suit abandoned for more practical trousers tucked into boots and a study khaki long sleeved shirt, armed with the laser gun he had been working on idly since his arrival. It still has some... troubling issues to work out, but nothing that would endanger the wielder.

He also has a normal handgun holstered at his side just in case, but that would defeat the purpose of a field test, wouldn't it?

For a businessman, he's still good on his feet.]

[helpline]

[ Oh! It's that bald guy the Doctor decided to be purposefully vague with over the network, what was his name again, Alex something? Maybe? He seemed a bit too nosy for the Doctor's taste but well, giant robots attacking and Tony Stark being an idiot call for strange bedfellows.

Considering that the Doctor's wearing a pair of sunglasses and a hoodie over a band t-shirt, he's the strangest looking of the bedfellows ]

That handgun isn't going to do you any good. Give me that other one, I'll juice it up.

[ Pimp My Gun: Time Lord edition. ]

Spider-Girl/Mayday- OTA?

[daughteroftheoriginal]

[Just after this, Mayday's abandoned her mask for now.

He wants to unmask a Parker?

He can fight against a different unmasked one, too.

She only wishes she was better prepared. Spider versus armor? Tony beat up her dad. A Spider-Man at his prime. She knows better than to think she'll come out of this unscathed. She just has to hope for her luck to hold up for a bit before others come across them.]

[notyourfathersosborn]

[Well hello, small world. Here is someone else with a spider emblem on their chest on their way to confront Tony.]

What were you thinking, Mayday?!

[Yes, they're pissed too, but May's the one in front of them right now.]

LOCKED TO BATMAN

[liverletdie]

[ A man eventually had to land, if just to be heard. Honestly, standing in front of StarkTech, with one left over suit or another flying overhead was enough to make a guy look intimidating.

Which... god, did he feel intimidating right now.

After five long months of hiding, and pretending to be someone other than himself, he was finally free. He could be himself, and just breathe it in. With his helmet up, just for a moment, he closed his eyes, and sucked in a breath through his nose, and then... he released.

This was, undoubtedly, the best decision he ever made. It'd be a shame if someone ruined the moment. ]

Closed to Tony

[morethan084]

[This whole thing had gotten out of hand real quick. Instead of fighting him physically, Daisy took to another way. Something she hoped worked. By hacking into his suit, maybe she could talk him down from this. Or, worse case scenario maybe she could find a way to shut down the suit. Or at least parts of it.

This was Tony Stark though. Daisy was sure he had security measures in place.

Still, she had to try. Which is why, when she thinks she might've gotten through, Daisy finally speaks up.]

Tony you need to stop. Now!