storyline "Too Much Information," David asks Emma Frost and Danielle Moonstar to remove the mental blocks keeping him from retaining the knowledge he absorbs. Unknown to David at the time, it was an illusion created by Dani, which was enhanced by Emma Frost's telepathic abilities to show him what might happen if the blocks were removed. In the illusion, David quickly surpasses all the teachers at the school, having permanently retained all the knowledge they possessed. David leaves the institute, telling Josh Foley (Elixir) that he would use Josh's healing power to heal every disease known to mankind for free. Three months later, David has gained the knowledge of Stephen Hawking, Tony Stark, Henry Kissinger, and many other prominent geniuses simply by passing near them. He announces at a press conference that he has cures for AIDS, cancer and every other known disease. He plans to distribute this cure across the entire country in a matter of weeks. However, these cures come at a high price, as Josh dies during the medical procedure that harvested the tissue from his body needed for the cures. David mourns his friend, but firmly believes that his unwilling sacrifice was just. Eighteen years later, David has married former teammate Surge, been elected President of the United States, eliminated poverty, unemployment, and discrimination against mutants and has nearly created a worldwide government. The only major holdout is China, which he plans to bomb via teleportation. Noriko secretly shares this information with the X-Men in hopes that they can prevent a mass genocide. However, before they can act on this information, David sends them on a false mission to investigate a satellite that he causes to explode, killing them. Seeking a convenient scapegoat, he declares that the already outlaw Hellions are terrorist threats and blames them for killing the X-Men. The Hellions and reformed New Mutants join forces when many of the dark secrets of David's rise to power come to light. The combined groups (Hellion, Mercury, Tag, Rockslide, Wither, Wind Dancer, Icarus, Surge, and Wallflower) stage an assault on the White House, but David's security forces (XSE agents, Bishop, Storm, and Angel Salvadore) kill most of the heroes. In the end, Noriko confronts David in the Oval Office, then uses her powers to destroy the White House and everyone remaining in it. Though an illusion, it had a lasting effect on how he viewed his