3858/Rising Tide: Speed Call

Rising Tide: Speed Call
Date of Scene:	11 February 2018
Location:	Internet
Synopsis:	Three monsters of business come together about the Rising Tide being in their way.
Cast of Characters:	Iron Man, Gregory Stark, Lex Luthor
Tinyplot:	Rising Tide

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Iron Man has posed:
The video call comes in, seeking Gregory Stark's attention. Which, considering how communications are almost entirely down, is already weird and interesting. Then again, Tony Stark Finds A Way, like a contained dinosaur, to burst free and do things he shouldn't be.

Although on another hand, it's bizarre to get any contact from Tony at all that isn't an invitation to a party or gala that also suggests Greg wear a costume, even if it's not a costumed event.

So this video call may mean Tony's dying. ...Again.

Gregory Stark has posed:
     Gregory is fairly quick to answer the call. As the image comes in it's fairly grainy and it's hard to make out exactly what Gregory is doing as he starts to speak. "To what do I owe the rare pleasure?" His form coming into focus as it becomes clear that he's on his back on a pure white concrete flooring working on something above him. His attention falls squarely on the camera.

     "I swear if this is another invitation where you want me to wear that damn lobster costume I'll" He cuts himself off shaking his head as he grabs for a fancy looking wrench with a flashlight attachment on the side of it before going right back to working.

Iron Man has posed:
Tony's face pops up on the video screen with his usual confident smile. He's looked better, though. He has a dark red hoodie on that entirely reads as something he threw on so that his bandages don't show for the video. He's pale from physical pain, and is pretty obviously in some kind of lab of a medical type based on the poles and tech sort in the background. He's sitting up in his bed though, and looks fired up. The video screen is too high to show his consoles, but there's a clear movement of hand on them and reflection off his eyes that makes it apparent.

"Hi, Greggo," Tony says, cheery. It's only a little heavyhanded; Tony clearly belongs in the hospital bed he's in. "It's about business. Sort of. Hang on, pulling in Luthor..." Tony makes some adjustments.

Lex Luthor has posed:
As the call comes in as Lex sits behind his desk in his office, he hits the intercom to his secretary, "Hold my calls for the next ten minutes, Nancy." Then, Luthor stands, walks out into open space, and places his hands behind his back with a nod to Mercy... who hits receive.

The holographic interface suite built into the office constructs a 3D space for both Gregory and Tony, and gives an accurate 3D model of Lex Luthor himself, if the other two are using holographic technology for their own calls, "Gentlemen. To what do I owe this pleasure? The Rising Tide nuisance, or something else?" Lex Luthor greets and asks, warmly.

Gregory Stark has posed:
     "Luthor, what do you mean lu-" Gregory cuts himself off as the feed is transferred he wasn't exactly in a position to be talking with potential business rivals at the moment, from his spot under the Rolls Royce. "Mr.Luthor." Gregory offers with a wide smile switching out one wrench for another as he works away on the car that's currently above him. "I was just about to ask the same question." His attention falling towards his ailing brother. There's a bit of concern on his expression but at least the man was IN a hospital this time.

Iron Man has posed:
"The same, the Rising Tide of Shit on our doorsteps. Right on target as ever," Tony grins to Lex. Yes, there's some holographic techology, though Tony is deliberately limiting how much of him gets cast. Masking the injuries and all that. "This'll be pretty quick, because I have..." Tony's eyes move a little bit to one side. "Seventeen minutes, and eight seconds, as a somewhat rough guess, so I'll do what I can to keep the jokes to one-liners only," Tony says, as if that was greatly painful to him.

"I'm calling an all hands on deck sort of thing to take control off their hands. And, in the same stroke, pick up huge sections of it," Tony describes. "I probably don't need to detail out the benefits of rolling out on this, the PR alone is massive," Tony continues, charismatic and charming as always.

Lex Luthor has posed:
It's basically a charm and charisma convention in this holocall... but then, these are some of the most powerful men in the world. They didn't get that way by being timid.

"I've looked at the problem from a few angles, but I've been busy with too many other matters to put my nose to the grindstone, as it were." Lex Luthor gets a look in Tonies direction, "Do you have a strategy already, or were you looking to brainstorm?"

Gregory Stark has posed:
     "As much as I love making use of the spotty satellite coverage I've got to agree" Gregory's own holographic image still laying down as he works occasionally grabbing a tool from beside him to work on the car. His eyes narrow somewhat as he adds. "It's high time someone stepped in and took away their toys."

     "I don't see why we shouldn't be the ones profiting from it happening." He further adds leaning back slightly to get a better grip.

Iron Man has posed:
"I knew I could count on you to like money, Greggo," Tony teases his brother. His tone swaps more businesslike to address Lex, though still Tony's casual flavor. "I have a strategy prepped, Mr. Luthor, and I have all the overpowered super-teams of astroid-hurlers fired up. I have files for you on it, exactly what I'm asking for. I didn't write up a lengthy essay to convince you on what you'll gain, though, I'm pretty sure you'll see that on your own," Tony smiles.

"I mean... there's obvious monetary benefit of giving billions of people things they so desperately want. The porn revenue alone..." Tony whistles once teasingly and continues. "As I said, I've some hero teams doing the heavy lifting. Satellites, ships in orbit. /We/ would need to take the opportunity and defend, and, ahem, own -- the communications we regain. I'm good, but being everywhere at once is just /exhausting/," Tony says.

Lex Luthor has posed:
"I can only imagine the pain being omnipresent would cause a man like you, Mr Stark." Lex dryly quips, before he brings up a hand, and swipes it across, starting the download as he begins to read the files. Lex can multitask, after all.

"I'm reading them over now. So far, I'm assuming there's an exploit in the base code they hijacked, and this is to get a clean variant up to upload into the networks." It's stated as a question, despite the lack of tone for it.

Gregory Stark has posed:
     Gregory's own multitasking comes as he too looks over the collected files, his focus split now between three venues with little effort shown to the effect. "Low risk, high reward." He mutters to himself, before motioning with his eyes to scroll through the documentation, his hands already too busy working on the car. "So anyone else you plan on bringing in on the operation or are we looking at a three way split?"

Iron Man has posed:
"Omnipresence has it's advantages, though; everybody wanting your merchandising is very lucrative," Tony answers, obviously assuming 'Mr. Stark' is himself: "Please call me Tony. Greg, do you need to be 'Mr. Stark' on this call?" Tony questions across mildly to Gregory, a brief tease that Tony can never resist.

And then Tony's rapt attention fires back to Lex. Tony's more of an extreme nuclear tunnel-vision most of the time than a multitasker, most evident when he's on a project: good luck derailing that train. "I only have a minute or two left now -- but no, that's the assumption they want everyone to leap to," Tony says. He isn't mocking at all, just describing, quickly now. "We are looking at their fake little world; the real one still /exists/. Think of it like that they are routing everything into their personal box, but our real box is still there. When we reconnect to it, we need to get it stable. As for the 'split' or whatever? Greggo, it's so massive: just stabilize whatever you can. I put some suggestions of areas in your file as priority, but it's up to you if you like banks and credit or not." Tony pauses. "I think ... the Tide-Pod has had it's day as a meme, enough already. And if we are ready to make our 'real' internet stable again, it'll work out the best for everybody."

Money and Heroism is a great combo.

"Any last words? Trying to keep this open, but..."

Lex Luthor has posed:
"They overlaid a sandbox version of the original signal for the various networks, and piggybacked out of it so perfectly most of the worlds technical experts didn't notice. They must be running themselves exhausted to pull this off in real time." Lex Luthor observes as he reads, "it'd be clever, if it didn't rely on such simplistic deception." Lex notes, before he looks to Tony, "Playing whack-a-mole like that will make it very easy to take back the global network, once we work out their pattern." Lex agrees.

Gregory Stark has posed:
     "Personally I was thinking Lord Stark, of the noble house stark, but Mr.Stark works just fine" Gregory comments idly his attention turning fully to the documentation as he begins to type out something on the air in front of him. There's a long pause from him before he adds. "Already working on it." Spoken through his teeth as his fingers move like a blur dancing from one spot to the next as he works. "Once I'm out from under this car I should have at least some functionality returned within the-" And his connection cuts completely.

Iron Man has posed:
"You can be the Stark that's beheaded by a Lannister?" Tony suggests helpfully. Tony makes a finger gun 'bingo' at Lex through the call, then coughs and flinches some, drawing his arm back. He's not as healthy as all this suggests. It's just as well the time is up, really. "I'll pop up another one of these to field any timing issues between us, and to give you heads up on a 'go' time--- Aw, lost Greg. Well, joke's on---" And the last thread of it ends.