Judges Stone and Parker, accompanied by Psi-Judge Asaji, move further into Karl Urban block in pursuit of three juves who killed over a movie dispute.
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Stone and the other judges stood in front of the elevator on the fifty-second floor, a space given over to a recreational park. It took up this and the next three stories.
There were fifty-one floors beneath them and one hundred and fifty above them. Three juves who had killed another juve were on one of those floors.
“We can get more judges in here to —” Parker began, but Stone cut him off.
“Not for a dead juve from a block war we should have squashed yesterday,” she said. “If you can’t find them on surveillance —”
“I have an idea,” Asaji said. She walked away from the other judges and back toward the playground.
“Keep looking,” Stone told Parker. She then followed Asaji. The Psi-Judge returned to the mother in the playground, who was gathering her child.
Asaji removed her helmet. Her black dreadlocks shifted slightly around her head. In her experience, revealing her face helped lessen the intimidation factor most citizens felt from Judges.
Also, she had a beauty she found most people, men notably (the dumber, the better), responded to favorably.
“Excuse me, citizen,” Asaji said to get the woman’s attention.
When the mother looked at her, Asaji asked, “You said earlier you couldn’t tell the real gunshots from the fake ones. Where do you live that you can hear all that?”
The mother held her young child in her arms. “Floor one hundred fifty, where the Meg-way passes just outside the western side,” she said. “Between the juves and their movies and the Meg-way gangs firing their guns —”
Asaji nodded. “I understand.”
“Will you take care of the rest of those juves?” the mother asked, cradling her child. “It used to be safe around here. I mean, at least the other gangs kept to the lower floors.”
“We’re judges, ma’am,” Stone said. “If they’re breaking the Law, taking care of them is what we do.”
Stone, Asaji, and Parker left the elevator on floor one hundred fifty. Parker held his tablet in front of him and led the way. Stone had her hand on the Lawgiver at her hip.
Asaji wasn’t as cautious, playing it casually. She had reset her helmet on her head.
“MAC picked our three perps up coming out of the elevator about fifteen minutes ago,” Parker said. “Tracked them to the left of the elevator, but the cameras further down the hall are down.”
“After this, we find the block super and give him five years in the cubes for breach of safety regs,” Stone said.
“Somebody died, Stone,” Asaji said. “Why not life? The broken cameras allowed homicide perps to escape.”
Stone scowled. “Don’t appreciate the sarcasm, Asaji,” she said, adding, “but that is something to consider.”
Asaji rolled her eyes beneath her helmet.
Parker stopped at a T-intersection. He looked either way as the other judges stopped behind him. They all could hear the Meg-way outside.
“Definitely the right floor,” Asaji said. “Meg-way is on the western side of the building.”
Parker checked his tablet to determine which way was west. “This way,” Parker said. He turned to the left and headed down the hall.
The tablet went into a pouch on his belt. His hand went hand on his Daystick.
Stone let Asaji move in after Parker and took a rear position, her hand still on her Lawgiver. She noticed the bloody handprints every few meters on the walls as they progressed down the hall.
Most of the block war had taken place in the park and lower areas. There shouldn’t be any blood up here — especially blood so fresh.
Parker eventually stopped in front of a door. He looked at it, then scanned the six meters across the hall. There as blood near both doors, but none further down the hall.
With the other judges watching the doors, Stone took a vigil watching the hallway. Wouldn’t want any cits getting in the way of what could turn into a violent bust.
“What are you doing, Asaji?” Parker asked.
Stone looked away from her visual sweep of the hall and at Asaji. She had her helmet off and listened at one of the doors.
“The woman in the playground mentioned the perps listening to movies really loudly,” Asaji said. “Nothing from this one.” She moved to the other door.
Fifty meters down the hall, Stone spotted a man stumbling out of a room. He had on his trousers, no shirt, no shoes.
A second later, the missing apparel was thrown out of the room and into the hall. The door slammed behind him.
“Hurry it up,” Stone said as she cautiously proceeded down the hall toward the half-naked man.
Asaji stepped away from the second door. Parker looked at her expectantly.
“Nothing,” Asaji said. “But I still have one trick.” She closed her eyes and concentrated.
“On your knees, creep,” Stone said to the man now sitting in the hall gathering his things to him. He glanced up at Stone as she approached. He looked out of sorts… probably drunk on something.
“What are you on?” Stone asked.
The man gave no response.
Stone kicked the man onto his chest. The man suddenly freaked out, scrambling to get to his knees. Stone stomped on his back, pushing him back down.
“You’re already getting six months in the cubes for being drugged in public,” Stone said. “Keep it up, and you’ll get another three years for resisting!”
“You okay down there?” Parker asked over Stone’s helmet comm.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” Stone said. “May have an additional Code Twelve and Thirteen in room one five zero two three three.”
“If there’s no immediate threat, Asaji may have something on our original perps.”
With the man forced down, Stone drew her handcuffs and secured the drugged man to the door of the room she read off to Parker.
“Stay put or get the Daystick,” Stone told the man. “You find a way to run, you get the Lawgiver.”
“Fascist!” the man yelled.
Stone gave him a kick to the face. He hung slack from the handcuff attached to the door’s handle. Stone walked back toward the other judges.
When she reached them, she looked at Asaji, figuring the woman had used her psychic powers to get some information on their perps.
The Psi-Judge pointed at a door to her left. “Perps are in there,” she said. “When they entered the apartment, they hollered into the room as if there’s more than just the two of them and their injured friend.”
“And we didn’t see any gun left behind at the crime scene,” Parker added. “They may have more.”
Stone drew her Lawgiver sidearm. “Then we do this the hard way.”
Shit’s gonna get real next episode! Come back next Tuesday!
With a little help from EN Publishing’s Judge Dredd RPG!
In addition to the Rebellion comic books “2000 AD” and “Judge Dredd Megazine,” I used EN Publishing’s “Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000 AD” role-playing game to help put this together. Check them out!
