#✦ ic: jace strickland

[normaltothemax]

(For Jace) For a moment, the computer screen flickers. A blink and you'll miss it thing. But then a new voice echoes from it. Young, feminine, practically child like. "Excuse me!" Accented... Asian? "I'm very sorry for following you home and entering your devices, please forgive my rudeness. I'm very curious. How did you reach out to me the way you did? I don't mind sitting in a quarantine while your virus protection does its work." (From Sophia)

He’s not paying attention to his laptop, focusing instead on not burning himself as he solders. So, he doesn’t notice the flicker. He does not, however, miss the sudden voice and extra presence, surprising himself enough that he does burn himself. “Ah, fuck!” A finger is shoved into his mouth—gross, he forgot his hands are dirty, grease-stained, and he definitely shouldn’t have done that. His nose wrinkles at the taste as he turns to look at his laptop.

Tabitha immediately bristles, he can feel her outrage at someone bypassing her security, can feel her immediately searching for the source, trying to cut it off. Instead, Jace gives her a little mental nudge, encouraging her to quarantine and scan for threats first. This feels like the little AI he’d felt back at the coffee shop, in some random stranger’s phone. One that said stranger didn’t even seem to know about.

It’s probably a stupid move, but sue him, he’s curious.

“You were in the coffee shop,” he says aloud, after pulling his finger back out of his mouth. Head tilting, he shuts down his equipment and turns fully to the laptop. Fingers fly across the keyboard as he helps Tabitha out, both physically and mentally, searching for any sign of attack, of a threat. “Who are you? How did you follow me?” He’s careful not to actually answer her question.

@personae-obscura

[normaltothemax]

First Meeting Starters ❛ i think our orders may have gotten mixed up. ❜ ( for jace! )

“How can you tell?” Was it the fact that the drink Jace had ordered was just ten incredibly bitter espresso shots poured into one large takeout cup? Maybe that, combined with the large, dark circles under his eyes and his zombie-like demeanor as he shuffled around? Perhaps adding in the fact that Jace had just spent a sixty seconds pulling on a push door to try and exit the cafe, not even noticing that the drink in his hand wasn’t even the correct size?

Jace may be a genius, but three days without sleep had left his mind a little…scrambled.

His eyes moved from the cup in his hand to the one in the other man’s, brow furrowed. With a frown, he looked back at the door and gave it another experimental tug, still trying to figure out that conundrum, before turning back to the man. (He looked familiar, why did he look familiar?) “Did you want to trade? I didn’t drink any.” Probably. Maybe. He didn’t think he had, at least.

@strxngetimes (x)

[normaltothemax]

It's Always Sunny starters “to be honest with you man, i’m a little shocked.” (reese to anyone? an oc? a guest? she’s probably just shaking her head at the moon crew)

“What, that it can be fixed?” Quite honestly, Jace was a little surprised himself. The cell phone had been literally dripping when she’d set it down in front of him. Completely waterlogged. A little puddle had even formed around it by the time he’d picked it up. The slightest quiver of energy he’d felt it giving off had shocked him—it should’ve been completely dead. Instead it was still doing its very best to keep plugging away. To survive and keep doing its job.

Hardy little thing.

Anyone else would’ve called it; time of device death, 8:12pm. But that? That little spark of life…Jace could work with that. “Nah, dry it out, give it a little TLC, and it’ll be good as new.” He’d have to work on it now, while there was still something left to be saved, but yeah, he could fix this. “You can hang around and wait, if you want. It shouldn’t take me too long.” So long as he had all the parts needed in stock, of course. “What happened, anyways? You drop it in a pool, or something?”

@amidnightmission (x)

[normaltothemax]

@undeadunalive from here

The way the man was speaking, no matter how it was intended, felt somewhat condescending. That was the first thought Jace had. He wasn't a child or a stray dog in need of coddling, he just needed people to not assume he wasn't human. Needed to stay under the radar, out of sight and out of mind.

This was not helping.

"Right." He swallowed. Nodded. "Sure. Only problem is, I've got no idea what you're talking about, so..." He raised his hands in a what-can-you-do gesture, eyes just a little too wide, and took a step back and away from the guy. Thankfully (or not, depending on how he looked at it), they were alone, so there was no one else around to hear his (accurate) accusations. Jace had no idea how the man knew about him, but at least no one else would learn, as well.

[normaltothemax]

@brdshwed

"You are actively killing me."

How Bradshaw had even managed to land his poor plane was beyond him. One of the engines was smoking, for Christ's sake! Jace is in pain, actual physical pain, just looking at it. He's half afraid to reach out with his powers, not knowing what sort of damage he'll feel if he does.

He isn't sure he wants to know.

"I said to be careful," he huffs, already pulling his coveralls up from where he'd tied them off around his waist. "Didn't I say to be careful? I think my exact words were 'I'll kill you if you fuck up your plane again, Bradshaw,' and what do you go and do?" He bitches as he walks, eventually reaching out with his mind, mentally assessing the plane. He grimaces at what he finds.

There's something stuck in the smoking engine. He grabs a platform ladder and starts rolling it over, already dreading climbing up to look inside.

"...Did you hit a bird?"

[normaltothemax]

@apexadapted​ (bc you liked that permanent starter call <3)

“I swear to god, if you keep smacking Rusty around, I’m gonna prison shank you.” He’s not even going to look up from his work where he’s wrist-deep in Dusty’s innards, oil somehow already smeared on his face.

[normaltothemax]

@apexadapted​

“What the hell?” He’d just been going about his day (er, night), walking home from work, when he’d felt something strange nearby. Some unfamiliar bit of tech intermittently letting out sharp bursts of electricity. It wasn’t something Jace had come across before, though it did feel somewhat similar to a dog’s shock collar, only larger. Something uneasy settled in his gut with the thought. It was curious enough that he followed the feeling of it, coming upon a dark alley. Not creepy at all. And adding to the not-creepy factor were the sounds of scuffling, yelping, cursing—someone was back there.

“Hello?” he called out warily. Another burst of electricity through his mind, a vocalization that sounded almost like a yowl, emboldened him, pushed him forwards a few steps. He couldn’t see whoever it was very well, but something was very obviously wrong. “Are you alright, back there?”

[normaltothemax]

A nervous laugh, his heart still pounding away in his chest, Jace ran a hand through his hair. Feign ignorance. That was all he had to do. Right? Pretend he wasn't as bright as he truly was and act like he didn't have a clue what was going on. Like he didn't understand what the man had been asking.

Easy.

"Right. Er, nice to, uh...meet you? I'm...Jace." He didn't offer up his last name, not sure he wanted the other man to have that much information if he already seemed to think something was off about Jace. Probably better to give him as little information about himself as possible, in that case. Shit, maybe he should have given him a fake name. Too late now. "Did you...can I...help you with something?"

normaltothemax​:

Like a deer in headlights, Jace froze, eyes widening a fraction as his pulse quickened. Irrationally (and it had to be irrational, because there was no way he could know), for a brief moment, he considered just bolting. As if that wouldn’t be suspicious at all. Instead, he fought to push down the panic that was building and act as if everything was normal. Yep. Totally and completely normal—that was him!

“I, uh…what?” He offered the other man a small, uncertain smile. “Sorry, do I know you?”

Perhaps there were better ways to approach, more gentle ways, slowly inch his way into broaching such a private and often touchy subject – - yet as professional as Jonathan always was, there were still those times when his curiosity got the better of him, particularly when it came to anyone, or anything, unknown to him. If there was one thing that could rival his eternal craving for blood, it was his thirst for answers.

“My apologies, Sir, perhaps I was too bold in my questioning.” It was more of a statement than a question, his head bowing to him with another apology, this one being silent. “I’m Dr. Jonathan Reid.”

[normaltothemax]

What's that? they'd asked.

It'd taken a moment for Jace to realize what, or rather who, they were talking about, never having thought of her as an it before. Wrist-deep in the bot's inners, he didn't look up from his work, a crease in his brow as he focused. "This is Dusty," he replied. "She's a cleaning bot." A gentle pronoun correction. "Say 'hi', Dusty." Dusty gave four little beeps in quick succession as her camera swiveled toward their visitor, her own version of a greeting. "She's been running into walls more than usual, lately. Having a little trouble with her spatial recognition. I'm not quite sure why, yet."

[normaltothemax]

@detectiveconnor from here

“Sit down. Right. Yeah.” He felt shaky and a little bit woozy, actually, so sitting was probably a good idea. Jace would just…he’d just sit right here on the curb. Oh, and there was the pain. As soon as he moved, white-hot and blinding. Lips pressed tightly together, eyes squeezing shut as he sat, because it hurt, oh fuck, it hurt.

Mentally, he reached out for Tabitha in his pocket. Seeking that familiar presence, that comfort. She was right there, warm and calming, but he could feel something else, too.

An Android. The guy (Connor, he’d said his name was Connor) was an Android. Jace could feel him in his mind. Had to try and resist the urge to reach out and probe at him, to explore. Something that normally wasn’t an issue, but then again, he normally wasn’t stabbed and desperate for familiar feelings.

Tabitha. Focus on Tabitha.

“J-Jace. I’m Jace.”

[normaltothemax]

@forthewinn liked for a playlist starter (accepting!)

It felt like all he did, all day, every day, was put out other people's fires. Like he was the only fireman in California in the middle of a drought and everyone around him kept on striking matches. He was so damn tired, and the smoke was starting to choke him—there was only so much he could do before he was completely consumed by it.

So, after another long day of mind-numbing, monotonous tech support, he decided against heading straight home and went for a walk instead. Not heading anywhere in particular, just putting one foot in front of the other to get himself far enough away that he could finally breathe. He must've been walking for a long-ass time, because when he finally pulled his head out of the clouds, he didn't recognize his surroundings. Maybe he just hadn't been to this part of town before, but he could have been in a completely different city, for all he knew.

What he did know was that there was some sort of commotion up ahead. A crowd gathered giving something a wide berth. Whatever it was, he could feel it. Something different than he'd ever experienced before, almost like it was angry. Jace quickly made his way over, pushing his way through to the front of the crowd. Just looking at it, the device was unfamiliar, but given the murmurings of "bomb squad", he could hazard a guess as to what it was.

Panic flooded through him—he knew, he knew that the blast radius would be huge, despite the device being fairly small. Much larger than the perimeter that the crowd had created around it—he could feel it. Knew that it was going to go off soon, too. "They're not going to make it in time." He didn't quite mean to say that aloud, was mostly just speaking to himself, but it was true. The bomb squad would be too slow.

Another fire to fight. Granted, a much more terrifying fire, but he could handle it. He could disarm it. He was certain he'd be able to figure it out, once he got a closer look. That he could persuade the device to wait just a little longer, to give him just a bit more time and not explode in his hands.

He moved towards it.

Fighting Fires - Spencer Jordan

[normaltothemax]

He wasn’t sure what’d prompted him to answer a call from an unknown number. It was probably a spam call, and frankly, after the number of times Stark Industries had called him—it’d gotten to the point where he’d had Tabitha start screening all his calls, eventually blocking any and all numbers they tried to reach him through—Jace should’ve been extra wary. But he was tired. Exhausted. Work had been mind-numbingly boring, as per usual, but with the added bonus of a twelve hour shift and about eight separate Karens sprinkled in, each one more entitled than the last, insisting their tech problem was worse than all others.

Your graphic card was overheating, Linda, it wasn’t the end of the world.

So, slumped back into the couch, head tilted back and eyes shut, he hadn’t thought about it. He’d just patted the cushion beside him a couple times until his hand found his phone (hadn’t wanted to open his eyes) and answered with a weary, “Hello?”

Well, he was sure as hell awake now.

Eyes flew open, a jolt of ice shooting down his spine. The phone was ripped away from his ear and, in his panic, he hung up. Seconds stretched on for an eternity as he stared at his now blank lock screen, his horror slowly growing.

That’d been Tony Stark.

Tony Stark had just called him personally.

Oh dear god, he’d just hung up on Tony fucking Stark!

A strangled, distressed sound was ripped from his throat; he just about dropped his phone altogether with the realization. What…what did he do now? Did he call back? Throw the phone out the window? Move to a new country and change his name? That was the only logical response to a situation like this, wasn’t it? He opened his mouth to ask Tabitha to start looking into the cost of one-way flights to Peru, but instead, what came out was: “Tabitha, please call that number back.”

@normaltothemax

Interns were a staple at Stark Industries, and the positions were, unsurprisingly, highly sought after. People that made it through their program could usually pick their position at companies all over the world, after all, if they didn't decide to just stay on and continue their career route at SI more officially.

With the demand far outpacing the need, even with the generous number of intern opportunities, they usually either held competitions or had lotteries to determine who was accepted (minus a few gifted hand-picked applicants), but by and large, the positions were highly sought after and literally no one, ever, had turned one down once it had been offered.

Which was why this guy stood out like a sore thumb.

Jace Strickland. Tony read his profile again, shaking his head in absent disbelief. The project he'd submitted had been, frankly, brilliant. That alone might not have caught Tony's attention immediately, but the fact that he'd promptly turned down the internship that he'd won, and then stopped returning calls had definitely thrown up enough red flags to draw his eye.

The additional element of his age — he wasn't a kid like the vast majority of the other applicants — was also a curiosity, and Tony found himself invested enough to have FRIDAY run a more thorough than usual background check on their missing intern as he bypassed the usual channels to dig up the man's unlisted personal cell number.

"Yeah, hi. I'm calling for Jace, this is Tony Stark."

[normaltothemax]

"I have an IQ of 163 and even I don't understand how you think that makes sense."

[normaltothemax]

it’s an ambush! (for Jace???? he also sounds fun)

"What? What are you talking about?"

So many questions ran through his mind as he looked around. Who was this guy? An ambush on who? On him? It couldn't be, right? People didn't know about Jace. Jace was no one. He kept his head down, didn't make waves, and kept his abilities tightly leashed so that he didn't get found out. So whatever this guy was talking about, it couldn't possibly have anything to do with him.

Right?

@forthewinn

[normaltothemax]

"He's cute." He stuck his hands in his pockets, a small smile on his face. Despite thinking he was cute, Jace knew that if he touched him, he'd be itchy as hell later. "I never had pets growing up. Allergies. Always wanted one, though." He raised a brow. "People don't complain about cat hair in their food and drinks?"

          "Oh, don't mind him. That's Mochi." Tadashi clicked his tongue and softly rasped his fingers together in the cat's direction. Immediately, the calico trilled and trotted up to him, purring like an engine. "He belongs to my aunt," Tadashi said. "He's always coming out to say hello to people in the café. He's kind of our official mascot."

[normaltothemax]

@detectiveconnor​ said: "Mr Strickland -- Jace," he changed to the man's first name easily, voice level with just an edge of urgency to gain his attention over the initial panic of waking somewhere he did not recognise: "Jace. My name is Connor. I'm a Detective for the Detroit Police, nobody here is going to hurt you."

Jace could barely hear him over the pounding of his own heart in his ears. He didn’t know where he was, or what was happening...now that he thought about it, he couldn’t even remember what’d happened to get him here (wherever "here” was). Why couldn’t he remember?! Breathing speeding up, he squeezed his eyes shut, shook his head. He couldn’t...he needed a minute. Laying down made him feel too exposed, too vulnerable, so he lurched upwards, pulled his knees to his chest. As he hid his face in them, he fisted his trembling hands in his hair. He needed to calm down. He counted what he could feel around him under his breath in the hopes that giving himself something else to focus on would help. Phones, smartwatches, a pacemaker—anything and everything he could get his metaphorical hands on was given a number.

It helped a bit. By the time he’d reached twenty, Jace no longer felt like there was an invisible band constricting his chest. Slowly, he unfolded himself, making a conscious effort to keep his breaths steady and even as he looked around. Eventually, his eyes found their way back to Connor’s face. “What’s going on?” There was only a little wobble to his voice, not as bad as he’d feared it might be. Still, he cleared his throat to try and get rid of it. “Where am I? Why am I...what happened?”