Nox arched an eyebrow.

“Oh? Do tell?”

I took a second to organize my thoughts, before continuing.

“Ok so, these three cases. Ken the accidental terrorist, city water supply being fucked with, and Werewolves showing up left and right. Now here’s the thing, they’re all linked.”

He nodded for me to continue.

“Ken, just before he died, said that he was ‘coming’ somewhere. Now I don’t know about you, but ‘coming’ normally means someone travelling to where you are. So we know either the guy with black skull tats or the ‘science guy’, was coming here.”

He interjected.

“Or they both were.”

I hadn’t thought of that. Makes sense, if the black skull guy was a junkie relying on the science guy for his fixes.

“So, the terrorist slash thief guys, come to LA, and the werewolf sightings stop in Australia and start here? No such thing as coincidence, you told me that. Then a guy who matches the description of the black skull guy hires a Gnome contractor to put something into the cities’ water supply? And the contractor isn’t allowed to remember what it was or who he was actually working for? It’s got to be the ‘science’ guy.”

Nox nodded thoughtfully, and started flipping through each case file.

“Ok so, the question is, who is high profile enough that they would be easily identifiable, has just come from a foreign country, and is ‘sciency’. Good work Charlie, this is a very lucky find.”

I was about to interject, when I realised he was absolutely right. Pretty much anyone who had seen exactly what I had would be able to piece it together, I just happened to be the guy with all the right information.

“I’ll get on this right away, right now you should go and say ‘Hi’ to Krix, he’s just back from leave, and I’m fairly sure he wanted to talk to you. He’s been made a junior detective too, so you’re still partners.”

Hell yeah, Krix was a radical partner.

“He’s in the bull pen, which you have yet to visit by the way, you should go and check out your desk.”

I mean, it’s fairly obvious in hindsight, but the idea of having my own desk had completely slipped my mind.

Heading back down the hallway leading to Nox’s office, I was greeted by a room I had, once again, never seen. It was filled with people moving frantically about, hustle and bustle comparable to rush hour at a metro station.

A momentary lull in the foot traffic allowed me a glimpse of where Krix was sitting, a twin desk near the back. Pushing my way through the crowd, I nearly stumbled over a witness giving a statement to one of my colleagues.

The old dwarven woman was fine, and she brushed it off like it was nothing. Giving a quick nod in thanks, as well as to the officer taking her statement. Something about a sweet shop specializing in rolls getting robbed. She was flanked by a guy wearing what looked like full old school crusader armour, who eyed me in suspicion as I passed.

I was distracted, admittedly, because Krix was wearing a bandage around his head, reminding me of the day we met.

Roughly one week earlier, Lead Detective Nox’s office.

This was it. I had the certificate to prove it. I had just completed my training and was taking my first steps as an officer of the LAWD. I was sitting in Nox’s office, while waiting for him to bring in my new ‘partner’. Apparently every new recruit was given a mentor for their first while. And I was no exception.

The wooden door opened to reveal someone in an old divers suit, moving slowly as though through deep water. A hand slowly raised to head level, and waved at men. The face was obscured behind the old divers helm, looking like some kind of arcane lantern.

The hands slowly raised to the diving suits head, where they twisted, and a billow of steam clouded the figure momentarily. I was ready to bolt at a moment’s notice, this was some Giger-level shit.

As the steam dissipated, the figure had it’s helmet held in one hand, revealing his face. Unblemished royal blue skin, pulled taut across the face of this person, two fin-like appendages unfurling in the place of ears as I examined him. Vestigial scales lay on the top of his head, looking almost like hair.

He turned his head slowly until he was staring me directly in the eyes, his cold and piercing gaze freezing me in place like a deer in headlights.

“Hi, I’m Krix, Nice to meetcha rookie.”

…

That’s two people now on the list. What list you ask? Just be glad you’re not on it.

“Sorry about that, It’s almost become a ritual hazing everyone they partner me with goes through.”

As he spoke he continued to pull off this old diving suit, the water that I could blatantly see inside it mysteriously not spilling everywhere as he disrobed.

“Uhm, do you mind if I ask why?”

He paused for a second, pulling off the final boot, revealing a black jumpsuit, with a gun holster and a badge clipped to his waist.

“Yeah it’s a long story, but basically, younger merfolk have to be in water a lot of the time, otherwise it can be really bad for us. Back when I first joined the Division, I needed to be in a suit like this one nearly the entire time, while away from home or not at HQ.”

“As time went on, and I got a little longer in the gill, I needed it less and less, and these days I just wear it to spook newbies. Five outta ten reaction by the way, I’ve seen better.”

Huh. My new partner seemed pretty on the level. I was still gonna get him back though.

“Come on, the prank wasn’t that bad, was it?”

What the fuck. Just as I had thought about getting my rightful and just revenge, his weird fin-frill things spasmed.

“What the fuck was that, uh, Kricks?”

He sighed.

“It’s Krix. Like with an X. And that was why I’ve survived so long as a beat cop. Merfolk have a…. Unique nervous system, shall we say, that lets us…. Be more aware.”

“Krix it’s fine, I’m fully clued in on magic, I’m a Seven.”

He sighed again, this time clearly in relief.

“Oh thank fuck, you have no idea how fresh trainee Stutters they send me that didn’t have any magical training during their induction, and it takes forever to explain shit to ‘em.”

“Truthfully, I wasn’t exactly lying, but I didn’t give the full story either. Merfolk are naturally magical, and have a grid of mana embedded across our skin, where we would normally have lateral lines, which makes us really sensitive to electrical impulses.and other more mystical stuff.”

” In a nutshell, some can do really wacky shit with theirs, but all of us can tell when someone in about 50 feet wants to harm us. It works better underwater, and can be used further, but yeah.”

Woah, that’s fucking radical. Wait a minute…. Revenge achieved.

“Wow that’s kinda dumb, a fish with spidey sense.”

He looked at me with those dreadfully cold eyes, piercing my soul with pure ice… before chuckling loudly. It was kinda weird, it sounded fairly similar to gurgling water in your throat. Different strokes for different folks I guess. Get it? Strokes? Like swimming? Because he’s a fish? My humour is wasted on you people.

Nox entered the room as we both finished chuckling, and smirked.

“Well you two seem to be off to a good start, now get out of my office you rabble. You’re on Stop and Check.”

Krix groaned lightly.

“‘Course I get Stop and Check for my first time out with a newbie, goddamnit.”

I frowned.

“What’s.. Stop and Check?”

Two Hours Later, Some Fuckin’ Street or Other.

My feet were fucking killing me. I had put on the uniform, which was kinda cool, and the badge, which was fucking magnificent and…. Got to walking. The streets. With Krix.

For two hours.

Just stopping to see if people were in distress, or if any magic folk who looked shady had their paperwork and sundries. Seemed kinda thought-police-y to me, but if I wanted to change it, I’d be waiting a long time.

We had just checked a known warlock hangout for any illicit activity and were rounding a corner when some kid walking down the street whipped out a stick.

Krix pulled his gun.

“Krix what the fuck du-”

The kid lit up like a candle, burning all over. And then exploded in a cloud of blood and gore. A piece of something I didn’t want to think about shot clean through one of Krix’s frills.

20 seconds later and the shock was starting to wear off. Krix had bandaged his frill with a gauze from his standard issue toolbelt, and was examining the…. Remains.

“Krix what the fuck was that? Why did you pull a gun on a KID? And… and why did he….”

I vomited. A lot.

When I had recovered, I found myself standing a few yards away with Krix holding me up.

“You’ve got some shit luck kid, but I’ve got some good news for you. That wasn’t a kid.”

What.

“It was a.... Well I can’t tell you, because I’m not even meant to know, but basically that was something designed to look like a kid.”

“Oookay, but why pull your gun if you thought it was a kid?”

He crouched down to the ground and pointed out the kids stick on the ground.

“Because this, Charlie, is a Wand. I saw it a lot in Iraq, kids handed wands and pointed at people. It happens now and again that some local crime lord will get his hands on a batch, and try to take out the local division members.”

That’s sooooooo fucked. And I told Krix so.

“Yeah, but that’s what you get with scum like this. At least it wasn’t a real kid, small blessings I guess.”

I thought about what had just transpired for a minute.

“Was the wand meant to blow him up? If so, why was he on fire beforehand?”

He turned his head to look up at me from where he was crouched, and nodded.

“Good spot kid, we’ll make a detective of you yet. This wand is probably cursed. It happens. Either some old wizard forgets to lock the door to his tower, and has anti theft spells on his stuff so they will backfire…. Or worse.”

Huh, note to self, anti-theft magic was doable. And invest in memory charms later in life.

“What do you mean, worse?”

He sighed, whipping out an evidence bag and standing.

“Do you mind? I don’t want to touch this thing. And by worse, well I’m not supposed to know this either, but some people feel that non-magical folks shouldn’t have access to any magical benefits. So they buy magic stuff intended for mundanes, curse it, and then sell it on to unknowing buyers.”

I absentmindedly used telekinesis to lift the wand into the evidence baggie.

This wizard cop business was gonna be tougher than I thought.

The Present, LA Division HQ

I got to Krix’s…. I suppose mine and Krix’s desk and sat in the chair, Krix finishing up a phone call.

“Hey man, listen, I’m sorry abo-”

He stopped me by pinching my lips together cheekily.

“Ugh, you landlubbers, all talk, talk, talk. Charlie, you saved my life, you got nothing to apologize for. I owe you one, partner.”

Yeah. I was fairly sure now. Krix was a hell of a partner.

“Alright, you fishstick, what’s Doc’s orders on your frill-things…”

I finished lamely.

He smiled, before wincing slightly as the muscles near his frills contracted.

“They’re called crests you dork, and… it ain’t great news. I may regain most of the functionality, but it’ll take some serious doing with the repeated damage. The Doc here doesn’t know much about Merfolk anatomy, so I’ll have to take a trip to a merfolk specialist. I may never get full use of my danger-sense again though.”

No. Sorry, I refuse. This is my partner you’re fucking with, Fate. You have been warned.

“Ehh, so what, I’ll just build you an earring or somethin’ that synchs with your natural abilities, and makes ‘em cooler.”

He looked up with a smile on his face, his eyes glimmering.

“Thanks, man. I’ve got to go take a whizz, be back in a minute.”

Charlie’s familiar, quite content with it’s perch inside his backpack, was tasting the air, only to be surprised by the taste of saltwater. It wasn’t near the sea. Fortunately, it didn’t care all that much, and went to sleep.