The AI assistance system designed for Iron Armor had been an inevitable developnt.
Even as a heavily simplified derivative of JARVIS, the system remained extraordinarily capable.
Within Stark Industries, several executives had proposed expanding its applications far beyond powered armor. After further developnt, the technology proved capable of handling countless routine office tasks. Compared to existing AI programs, it was faster, more efficient, and significantly more user-friendly.
Tony Stark still had shareholders and investors to answer to.
From his perspective, there was no logical reason to prevent the technology from entering the civilian market. Widespread adoption would undoubtedly accelerate social and technological progress.
But progress always ca with a price.
As the AI revolution advanced, countless jobs disappeared.
The woman speaking to the caras was only one example among many.
Facing both the reporter and the audience watching at ho, she vented years of frustration.
"I worked my whole life."
Her voice trembled with anger.
"I never learned any other skills because I never needed to. Then this AI technology showed up and I was thrown out of my job."
"I can't find another one."
"I still have healthcare paynts. I still have bills. What happens to when I get older?"
She gestured toward the cart filled with aluminum cans.
"So now this is how I survive."
"My house is gone. My car is gone. The bank took everything."
"I don't even have a place to sleep anymore. Every night I sleep under overpasses surrounded by rats and cockroaches."
She pointed accusingly toward the cara.
"This is your new era?"
"I hate it."
"I want my job back."
"I want a bed to sleep in."
The woman was furious, bordering on hysterical.
Even the reporter seed unsure how to respond.
And she was far from alone.
Many of the protesters shared similar stories.
So had been displaced by AI automation.
Others had lost their livelihoods after the rise of arc-reactor energy and the collapse of industries built around traditional fuel sources.
To be fair, Tony Stark had anticipated so of these problems.
Before introducing arc-reactor energy to the world, he had spent an entire year preparing. Stark Industries established training centers across multiple regions and offered retraining programs at little to no cost.
Tony genuinely wanted the transition to succeed.
He wanted society to adapt.
The problem was that people weren't machines.
So individuals could learn new skills quickly.
Others couldn't.
Not because they were lazy.
Not because they lacked motivation.
Simply because everyone had limits.
So people spent their entire lives mastering one profession. Asking them to abandon decades of experience and suddenly reinvent themselves wasn't always realistic.
The protesters filling Tis Square reflected that reality.
So certainly preferred not to work.
Many others desperately wanted to adapt but simply couldn't.
It was no different from how so people never learned to cook, paint, or perform advanced mathematics no matter how hard they tried.
Then ca the energy revolution.
Arc-reactor power spread across the world at astonishing speed thanks to Stark Industries' aggressive promotion and dramatically lower costs.
Oil prices collapsed.
The consequences rippled through the global economy.
Entire industries built around petroleum suddenly found themselves in crisis.
Oil still had value for chemical manufacturing and industrial production, but once it was no longer the dominant energy source, its economic importance dropped sharply.
Unemploynt surged worldwide.
The effects spread through every link of the petroleum supply chain.
Businesses failed.
Investnts evaporated.
Families lost everything.
So people jumped from buildings.
Others declared bankruptcy.
Entire regions that had built their wealth around oil woke up to discover their fortunes had vanished almost overnight.
Even though Tony had spent a full year preparing the market, the scale of the disruption was unlike anything in modern history.
Watching from the sidelines, Urd couldn't help feeling uneasy.
Fortunately, Drex Valen had firmly rejected the idea of selling Umbrella's advanced energy technology directly to the public.
Instead, Umbrella distributed its energy cores through bundled War Machine sales.
Had they followed Stark's path, Umbrella might have found itself under the sa storm of public outrage.
At this point, many people viewed Tony Stark as the most destructive killer in modern history.
Not because he had murdered anyone directly.
But because the societal consequences of his technological revolution had affected far more lives than his old weapons business ever had.
Perhaps that was one of the reasons behind his growing anxiety.
The pressure from public opinion alone would have crushed most people.
"When you climb that high, sooner or later you're going to get burned."
Drex Valen swirled a glass containing ice-cold cola.
Iron Man had spent years standing at the top of the world.
Now he was discovering how quickly admiration could beco hatred.
anwhile, the protest continued escalating.
"Burn him!"
"Burn him!"
"Burn him!"
The chant spread through the crowd.
Thousands of people who shared similar grievances found themselves feeding off each other's anger.
The atmosphere beca increasingly volatile.
Then soone produced a giant photograph of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers.
Gasoline was poured over it.
A match followed.
The crowd erupted as flas consud the image.
But that was only the beginning.
Effigies dressed as Iron Man and Captain Arica were dragged into the square.
Monts later, they too were set ablaze.
Cheers exploded from every direction.
For a brief mont, it seed as though burning those symbols could sohow restore the lives people had lost.
Then the mood turned even uglier.
"Get rid of their enforcers!"
"They're all Stark's lapdogs!"
The shout ca from sowhere within the crowd.
People grabbed anything that could be used as a weapon.
Wooden clubs stolen from stores.
Mop handles.
Folding chairs.
Baseball bats.
The mob surged forward like a tidal wave.
Reason vanished.
Violence took its place.
Police units arrived quickly and attempted to contain the situation.
They failed.
The riots spiraled out of control.
By the ti order was restored, more than a hundred people were dead.
Thousands more suffered injuries ranging from minor wounds to life-threatening trauma.
Worse still, the violence wasn't limited to a single city.
On the sa day, similar riots erupted across major urban centers around the world.
Paris.
Tokyo.
Shanghai.
And countless others.
People who felt abandoned by the future gathered together and unleashed their frustration on everything around them.
The destruction beca an outlet.
But destruction always carried consequences.
"We will identify whoever is responsible for orchestrating these events."
Director Rogers stood before reporters during an ergency press conference.
His voice was firm.
His expression harder than steel.
"Major cities across the globe experienced nearly identical outbreaks of violence."
"I refuse to believe that's a coincidence."
"Soone is coordinating this."
"Soone is pushing these events from behind the scenes."
"We will find those responsible."
"And when we do, they will face justice."
The room erupted into a storm of questions as cara flashes illuminated the stage.
A worldwide investigation had begun.
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