Rae: And a howdy-doody to you all! Hope you're all well and alright. This story is actually going to be multi-chaptered (le gasp!), and I blame it on my Beta because her place just breeds plot bunnies like there's no mañana! One of them must have followed me, because I was on the train home when I got bitten. xD
Anyway, on with the story! Much love and pokes as always to my wonderful Beta xx
Adam shifted a few papers in his arms to free a hand before rapping on the commissioner's door and waiting for the deep voice to grant him entrance. Once he did he turned the handle and stepped inside. His boss of 13 years since he joined the Detroit police force at 18 sent him a reassuring grin from behind his desk
"Don't worry Prowl, you're not in trouble."
"I hardly expected to be, sir, since I don't recall doing anything trouble-worthy as of late." Adam frowned. "And please don't call me Prowl."
"Fits your ability to sneak up on people, Detective McCallen," Orion Arkham smirked and pointed to a file on his desk. Adam raised an eyebrow before stepping forward to pick it up. When he opened it he found the face of a young man with skin just a shade too light to class him as black trapped on glossy paper, easy smile and startling gold eyes framed by dreads staring back at him. A profile that named him as Jasper Miles was paper-clipped behind the photo, which Adam skimmed briefly through.
"I don't understand, sir."
"That is a new recruit I have decided to bring onto our force. He needs some experience with police work before he can go on to anything more like he wants to." Orion leaned his elbows on the desk and steepled his fingers in front of him. "His references are excellent. I believe he'll make a fine addition to our troops, even if it is temporary."
"That's all well and good, sir, but why are you showing this to me?"
"I want him to be your new partner. You've needed one ever since Henderson... left, and you're the best one to show him the ropes." The commissioner sat back, waiting for his companion's reaction.
Adam narrowed his eyes. "Commissioner, I do not need or want a new partner. I work fine by myself, they would only get in my way. I don't care how highly-recommended this Miles person is."
"I was trying to make it a request, McCallen, but that was just a cover for an order." Orion stood up and pushed the profile and a few other folders gently into Adam's chest. "He will be here later, I expect you to take him under your wing. No complaints." Adam stared expressionlessly for several seconds at Orion, before his lips curled slightly in a snarl and he snapped the papers he had come in with onto the table.
"Very well. My reports." He swiftly turned heel and walked out of the door, not bothering with a goodbye. Orion sighed and watched Adam leave, a sad expression on his face.
"You need to let him go, Prowl," he said softly to thin air as he sat back down and pulled Adam's neatly typed and ordered reports towards him. "For your sake if no one else's."
Jasper bit his bottom lip, reading the sign saying 'Commissioner O. Arkham' emblazoned in gold on warped glass. "This mus' b' it," he muttered, and fiddled with his visor as he raised a hand and knocked twice. A deep "come in" was his cue to do so, and he found himself standing before a man with blue-black hair and a weary face that looked like it had seen far too much of this world. It cracked into a tired smile when Jasper came in.
"You must be Lieutenant Miles. Good to meet you." A dry, worn hand was offered over the desk, and Jasper took it.
"Jazz, please sir. 'M not one fer formality."
Orion nodded. "Jazz it is, then. I'm Orion Arkham, commissioner of this precinct. I've already assigned you a new partner. Be warned, he may be a little reluctant to have you around at first, but he has his reasons. His name's Adam McCallen."
"Adam huh? Taken from th'Hebrew t'mean 'man' or th'Akkadian 'adamu' meanin' 't'make'. Strong name." Jazz tilted his head to one side and Orion chuckled.
"I'm impressed," he grinned. "But don't sell your own name short, treasurer." The lieutenant smiled slightly and ran a hand through his dreadlocks, holding them in a ponytail for a few seconds before letting them drop down his back.
"So, where do I find this new partner o' mine?"
"His door's hard to miss. The mahogany-colored one down the hall, second corridor to your left and third door on the right." Orion passed Jazz a few papers, a badge and a gun holster. "You can get your weapon from the security lockers downstairs."
Jazz strapped the holster around his shoulders, taking some comfort in the feeling of the soft leather through his shirt, slipped the badge onto his belt and took the forms or whatever they were from Orion. "Alrighty then."
"Now, go find Detective McCallen. Have fun and good luck, Lieutenant Miles and welcome aboard." Jazz shot him a cheeky smile, saluted smartly with two fingers and slipped out the door. Orion shook his head. He had a feeling things were going to get interesting around here pretty soon.
A sharp rap at his door made Adam jump, and he took off his reading glasses as he called, "come in." The door opened tentatively, and a dreadlocked head poked around it. A sheepish grin slipped across a dark-skinned face, eyes hidden behind a bright, almost glowing, blue visor.
"Yo," he greeted. "I'm lookin' fer an Adam McCallen. You him?"
"Yes, I would be him." Adam rose smoothly from his chair and crossed the room as the man's expression turned into relief.
"Awesome, found ya first time! 'M Jasper Miles, but jus' call meh Jazz. Everyone does. I was told I was gonna be yer new partner, 'm I right?" Jasper stuck out a hand, the same easy grin Adam had seen in his photo offered simultaneously. Adam took it, surprised at the firm grip and confident handshake the other gave. The hand was strong and calloused, muscles supple under the detective's fingers.
"Jazz..." Adam liked the way it sounded, and Jasper himself seemed friendly enough, if a bit enthusiastic. "Like the music?"
"Yeh won't find a bigger music fan than me." Jazz grinned proudly, and for some reason the brunette found for a brief second he didn't want that grin to leave his face. Anything else looked off on him. "And it's Lieutenant," he added as Adam opened his mouth. It shut again with an audible clack of teeth, and the detective huffed. They stared at each other for several seconds, sizing up, and then the spell was broken by Adam's cell going off. He broke their gazes, but could still feel his would-be partner's following him as he answered.
"McCallen." A pause. "Where?... Uh-huh... No, that's fine. I'm on my way and don't call me Prowl." He pressed the end-call button, and turned back to see Jasper's features morph into one of mild curiosity. He sighed. "Well, you might as well start now and I'll see what's what with you. Just got called in for a bank robbery."
"Dude, seriously?" Jazz pulled a face. "Man, bank robberies're such a drag."
"Live with it, Miles. Now let's go." Adam picked up his badge and gun from a drawer, and Jasper jogged after the taller man.
"I need t'get mine from security," put in the dark-skinned man, motioning to Adam's gun, and the detective nodded tightly as he switched course. Jazz found himself in the security lockers pretty quickly, and it took all of a minute to get him and register him with a gun of his own.
"I trust I don't need to recite protocol to you," said Adam as they left and headed for the car park.
"No, but yeh might find I'll ignore it if I think it's fer th'better good," admitted Jazz, cocking the gun and aiming briefly at the wall before snapping the safety on. "Jus' thought it fair t'warn ya now." They reached Adam's car, a Nissan Fairlady Z Jazz noted with some amusement, and both of them hopped inside.
"You won't last long here if you do that." Adam started up the engine and favored his companion with a glare.
"That's what m'last station said too, but when it saved not on'y two o'their own but more civilians than if they'd gone by protocol they hadda thank meh fer that." Jazz leant back in his seat. "See, I wanna go int' Secret Service. They get all th'excitin' tasks, 'n I ain't one fer missin' out on th'action."
"I gathered." Adam peeled out. There was silence between the two for several minutes, and the brunette took the opportunity to look his new partner over, try and suss him out. There was something about Jasper, something he couldn't quite put a finger on, that made him impossible to hate or stay angry at. Already he was finding his resentment and chagrin towards having an unannounced companion was dissipating quickly, being replaced with not only a grudging acceptance but also curiosity. Adam wanted to know more about Jazz, wanted to know as much as he could. And he didn't understand why. He vented a brief bit of frustration by taking his next left turn more sharply and at a higher speed than a normal rush would have him do. Jasper made a noise of protest. "Woah, man, road rage!" Adam was about to say something back, but then recognized the humorous tone dripping off the words. He settled for a grunt instead, turning down the main road leading up to the central bank. Silence reigned again for a couple more minutes, then Jazz piped up with another question.
"Why do people call ya 'Prowl'? Yeh said t'whoever was callin' yeh not t'call yeh Prowl."
"Apparently," answered the detective as they pulled up to the bank, "I have a talent for sneaking up on people. The precinct gave me the nickname 'the Prowler', which quickly got shortened to Prowl."
"An' how come yeh don't like bein' called that?"
"I have a name, and it's not Prowl."
"Huh." Jazz studied the brunette, taking in the high cheekbones and soft jaw, and the red strands of hair that fell around his face. "Yeh don' look like yeh mind it that much, man therefore, I'm gonna call yeh Prowl."
"It's Adam, you cheeky glitch," growled the other, and he got out the car so abruptly that Jazz blinked in surprise when one second he was there and the next he wasn't. The dark-skinned man opened his door and stepped out into the Detroit sun, shutting it with a quick flick of his hips and taking in the scene. The glass doors that made up the entrance were smashed; only a few bits of the shattered covering still clung feebly to their metal frame. Said frame looked still in perfect working order, but tell-tale scratches and dents told Jazz that more than a couple bullets had been fired. Around 4 or 5 ambulances were parked pell-mell, housing several shocked and a couple injured patrons and staff. Sirens leading away from the scene led Jazz to assume some had been seriously injured and were on the way to hospital. Jazz looked back round at Adam, who was talking to a couple of rather flustered-looking officers, and noticed he had his back to the lieutenant. A small grin. He wasn't watching, which left him free to wander without supervision. He made his way gingerly, silently to the bank doors. Inside the bank wasn't any better than the outside. The screens that separated the bank tellers from the customers were nearly all gone, shards of them littering the floor which crunched under his boots.
Jazz caught the scent of something strange towards the back of the main hall and moved towards it, sniffing to find its direction. When he reached the top of a set of stairs, he stopped and peered down them. He couldn't see anything, so he reached up to the side of his visor and twirled a small knob until the blue tinge that normally colored his vision changed to green speckled with blacks and blues. Night vision mode. He continued down, noting the light dangling from one wire and sparking occasionally, which explained why no one had put it on. The smell got stronger the further in he went, until he reached the steel vault door that was supposedly impossible to break through. The door itself lay forlornly in front of a gaping hole in the wall, beyond which Jazz could make out the disarray the vault itself was thrown in. Some of it hadn't gone with the thieves, but the lieutenant suspected they weren't bothered about it. They'd got away with far too much as it was. He studied the scene a bit more, then closed his eyes as he disconnected his visor from the controls either side of his head. The scent which had led him there in the first place immediately sharpened up and grew far stronger, and Jasper wrinkled his nose before settling down to try work out what it was.
"They seem to have blown the door out with something, but we've yet to determine what it was. We're also a little puzzled as to how-" The police officer updating Adam on the situation was cut off when Jasper's warm voice interrupted.
"Nitroglycerine, mon ami." He grinned when Adam raised an eyebrow.
"And how, Miles, would you know that?" He asked tightly.
"Bananas." He began to snicker when their faces registered confusion. "There was a definite smell o' bananas down there, which on'y comes from usin' sommat with nitroglycerine in it. I smelt gunpowder too, which leads me t'thinkin' they used some kinda large caliber gun, quite possibly a .50 BMG, t'hit th'same place over 'n over til they penetrated th'door, then stuffed sommat with nitroglycerine through th'hole 'n detonated it." Jazz shrugged. "That's th'best I can come up with, but it fits th'scene downstairs."
"You can see down there?" asked the officer, bewildered. "It's pitch black!"
Jazz tapped his visor and grinned. "Ain't jus' fer lookin' pretty, y'know. Comes with night vision." He looked surprised then, but followed, when Adam took his arm and steered him away. As soon as they were out of earshot he rounded on the younger man.
"What were you doing down there without me?" He snapped. Jazz cocked his head to one side, frowning.
"I told ya, I have a tendancy not t'follow protocol Prowl."
"It's Adam!" Adam sighed, noting with annoyance his lack of real anger at Jazz for wandering off on his own. "And what do you mean your visor has night vision?"
At that Jasper looked a little hesitant, but shrugged Adam's arm off and unclipped the visor from the holders on his temples. The detective's eyes narrowed when he saw the brilliant golden eyes that had stared up at him from Jasper's photo were just as empty as the photo itself. "'M blind," the man said simply. "Happened when I was 14. I was devastated at firs'. Bein' in th'police was like a life-long dream fer me, 'n m'blindness took that chance away. At first I fell int' a really bad depression, but then 'bout 6 months later I heard about an experiment a local bio-mechanical research facility needed volunteers fer. They said if th'tests were successful, they could make blind people see. I went fer it." Jasper shrugged. "Essentially, th'things I have on m'temples patch straight through t'm'optic nerves. It's jus' m'eyes that ain't workin', th'nerve is fine. M'visor translates light int' electrical pulses that travel down th'nerve t'm'brain, allowin' me t'see artificially. I got it upgraded a couple years ago t'include night vision, infra-red 'n heat detection modes."
Adam nodded slowly. "And you could smell the gunpowder and nitroglycerine because your body amps up the other senses to compensate."
"Exactly." Jazz snapped the visor back into place and gave his partner a funny look. "Now Prowl, will yeh quit demandin' how I know things 'n jus' trust that I do? I don' understand yer attitude towards me. I'm excited t'work with ya, ain't it th'same fer yeh?"
"No, Jazz, I..." Adam trailed off when he saw the mixture of hurt, curiosity and anticipation scrawled on Jazz's handsome features. "I just... haven't had a partner in a long time and I haven't wanted one. You've come too suddenly for me to quite get used to the idea yet." He felt a little relieved when Jasper's face went back to a relaxed grin.
"Fair enough. When yeh wanna talk 'bout it, Prowler, I'm an ear fer yeh. It ain't good t'keep things bottled up." Jasper tapped the detective's chest, flicked a finger teasingly past his nose with a laugh when Adam looked down at the tap and trotted back off to the car to get the forensics kit Adam kept there.
Adam leant back in the booth seat of his favorite café, sipping his coffee with satisfaction. He knew he was addicted to the stuff, but it came with the territory. He wasn't sure he knew any cop who didn't live off the black caffeine fix. That is, he mused, until Jasper. Where Adam had ordered coffee, black with one sugar, Jazz had asked for a low-fat, decaf latte without whipped cream. When it came, he took it with only a quiet thank you and a large first swig.
What surprised Adam was when Jazz took a small vial out of his jacket and added a couple drops to it, and then took off his visor after putting the vial away, setting the strip of clear blue glass on the table near the detective's arm.
"Dieting?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. The darker man made a face, wrinkling his nose.
"Naw, man. Habit o' mine." He took another, smaller swig of the latte.
"And what habit is that?"
Jazz looked sightlessly at where he sensed his partner sat over the rim of the cup, and set it back down with a sigh. "I used t'run with a bad crowd, Prowler. A gang. We got involved in so many turf wars it weren't funny. A popular way o' gettin' rid o'th'competition was t'poison 'em. I built up mah immunity by drinkin' th'stuff, 'n I guess it's a habit that's always stayed with meh."
"So that vial's full of poison?" Adam struggled to hide a horrified expression before he remembered Jazz couldn't see it. His partner was getting weirder and weirder. Not even together for 7 hours and already he was turning into the most unusual man Adam had ever met in his life. And he'd met some extremely strange people.
"Poisons," amended Jazz, putting emphasis on the plural. "But yeah." Silence fell again, more a stunned one than uncomfortable, and then Jasper narrowed his eyes at his partner. "This ain't fair," he declared, making the other look up at him in surprise. "I've told yeh more 'bout mehself in th'past 7 hours than I've told anyone in th'first month. An' I still know barely anythin' 'bout yeh. Care t'enlighten me?"
Adam considered. He did have a point, he shouldn't be so harsh. "Alright, fair enough. What would you like to know?"
"How old yeh are, yer hobbies, d'yeh have a girlfriend..." Jasper trailed off and waved a hand vaguely. "Things like that. Anythin'."
"I'm 31, for starters," mused Adam. "I enjoy anything that taxes my brain and logic puzzles, so I'm not good at thinking outside the box and no, I don't have a girlfriend."
"What 'bout yer partner?" Jazz drained the rest of his drink, grimacing at the stinging the poisons created. He'd be sick later, he knew it, but he just couldn't seem to kick the habit. It was like some kind of ridiculously warped and repulsive bulimia, he noted with distaste.
"What about him?" The brunette's voice gained a defensive edge.
"Jus' wanna know what happened t'him. Yeh said yeh hadn't had one in a while, and sommat tells me yeh'd've gotten over 'em 'n had a new partner by now if he'd jus' up 'n left or got transferred."
The detective turned away for a couple minutes, unable to look at Jazz as memories rose unbidden to the surface of his mind. He realized then how easy it was for him to get swamped by them, and that Jazz was right. It wasn't good to keep things like this bottled up. "His name was Henderson. Kyle. The best partner anyone could ask for." Adam didn't look up, just began twirling his thumbs on top of clasped hands. "He was the one who convinced me to get my hair done like this, you know." A shake of the head to emphasize the bright red strands of hair that fell elegantly around his face. "We were good friends. Best friends. We had the best relationship in the precinct, according to everyone else." Adam finally looked up, locking gazes with Jazz's unseeing one, and gently picked up the blue visor from the table and held it. "It was only a routine thing. One of our own had pulled over a guy for speeding, discovered a crap load of drugs in the car and called in back-up. We got there a few minutes later. The man didn't answer anything, never said anything, just stared at Kyle. It was pretty weird. And then..." The grip tightened on Jasper's visor. "And then he smiled. This really, really creepy smile that held nothing but malice. That's when we were ambushed by 5 other men. Both the cop who'd stopped the man and Kyle were shot. I got lucky, ducking down into the fields next to the roadside and taking cover. After I didn't hear anything for a couple minutes I radioed for an ambulance and back-up units and made my way back. The cop was dead, but Kyle was still hanging on. I stayed with him until the ambulance arrived a few minutes later, but when they got to the hospital he was pronounced DOA." The visor was dropped, hands came up to cover Adam's face. "If I hadn't run away, he might've made it. If I'd stayed, he might not be dead!"
Jazz sat still for several seconds, stunned, and then reached over gently until he found Adam's hands and prised them away from his face, which he immediately got the sense had tears running down it. He didn't let go, and held on more firmly as the detective tried feebly to get out of the grip. "Prowler, listen t'meh. If yeh'd stayed behind yeh woulda been killed as well." When Adam tried to protest, a finger silenced it before it could be voiced. "No, shut up. Look, think 'bout it this way. Th'people yeh've saved 'n th'things yeh've done since then, would they have been had yeh stayed that night? Naw, man. People must owe yeh their lives, believe me when I say stayin' away was th'best thing yeh coulda done. He died doin' his duty, 'n that's a risk we all know we're takin' choosin' this job!" He let go of Adam, and even though Jasper was blind the detective could see the low-lying anger in his eyes accentuating what he was saying. "D'yeh really think Kyle woulda wanted yeh t'lock yerself away like this? Th'best thing we can do fer those who've passed on is to live fer 'em. Trust me, I know." Jasper leaned back and folded his arms across his chest, waiting.
Adam stayed silent for several minutes, processing what his partner was saying. It made sense, but he'd been trying to move on for a while now and it hadn't worked. Maybe though, he thought, settling his gaze back on the lieutenant, just maybe, Jazz could help him through. Maybe having a new partner wasn't a bad thing, maybe it was what he needed all along. Silence for another minute, and then, "Alright. But you're going to have to help me. I can't do this alone, God knows I've tried. And," he added as Jasper opened his mouth, "I'll only do it if you start kicking that habit of drinking poison. It's vile."
Jasper grinned. "You got a deal. But 'm gonna need help with th'habit kickin'."
"Seems like we need each other then," was all Adam said as he drained the last of his coffee. He actually felt a lot better, like a load had been taken off his chest he hadn't realized he'd been carrying. But seriously, what was it with Jasper Miles that made him unable to help himself talking about his issues? It was like an invisible, intagible charisma that seemed to reach out and offer nothing more than support and comfort. Whatever it was, Adam decided his new colleague was special. It could be the start of a very interesting partnership.