Welcome to fanfiction in the world of Judge Dredd! Judges Stone and Parker follow a lead to a shuggy hall. Psi-Judge Asaji tracks a potential perp.
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Judges Stone and Parker rode their Lawmasters the ten kilometers to the Tony Montana block area.
Traffic was heavy on the twelve-lane meg-way, typical for the mid-afternoon hustle of people with nothing to do wasting their time cruising the meg-ways.
Though massive in size for a motorcycle, the Lawmasters were able to swiftly dodge traffic even at their moderate rate of speed.
“What is it with you and Asaji?” Parker asked over the helmet’s comm.
“We have a different opinion on how to apply the Law,” Stone answered. Her curt tone gave Parker the impression it was a topic she didn’t enjoy.
“Most of the cits turn to crime from boredom,” Parker said. “There are real criminals in the Big Meg: drug peddlers, murderers, terrorists —”
“Who’s to say one of those bored cits doesn’t become a real criminal?” Stone said. “Those juves went from harmless love of a movie to murder. We don’t stop ‘em, what’s next?”
“I didn’t mean them, and you know it,” Parker said. “They deserved what they got. But —”
“We’re here,” Stone said.
The Judges pulled their Lawmasters off the main meg-way and down an off ramp. The local road had far less congestion, mostly ground cars and foot traffic.
Stone found a place to park on the corner down from Fast Eddie’s Hall of Shuggy. Parker filed in next to her. The pair then walked through the daytime crowd.
Nearly there, Stone stopped to address an eldster with a food wrapper in hand.
“Garbage receptacle three meters down the street, citizen,” Stone said.
The eldster looked at the wrapper in his wizened hand, then at the Judge. With an obedient nod, the eldster headed toward the receptacle.
Stone joined Parker and entered Fast Eddie’s hall.
“Wake up!”
Judge Asaji stifled a giggle as the man handcuffed to the door to room one five zero two three three abruptly came back to consciousness.
The man remained out of sorts; Asaji couldn’t tell if it was due to his sudden awakening or the drugs still coursing through his system.
“You have a name, citizen?” Asaji asked.
The man blinked a few times, still struggling to place his surroundings. “Names are a thing of the past, man, just another label!” the man said. “I man should be judged by his actions, not a label!”
“Fair enough. Then I’ll call you drunk and disorderly. Or six months cube time. You have a preference?”
The man shot a look at Asaji, but his eyes couldn’t focus enough to look mean. Asaji couldn’t hold back the smile.
“I remember one of you fascists chaining me to this door!” Drunk and Disorderly said. He yanked against the handcuff but wasn’t going anywhere. “You can hold us down, but we will rise up!”
Asaji grabbed the man’s face in her hand, forcing the man to focus on her. Using her psi-training, she lowered her voice, so it took on a hypnotic quality. “Who will rise up?”
More blinking from the man. “Obsidian.”
The Psi-Judge studied the man for a moment. She gave him a slow nod and then walked away from him. Asaji put in a call to Control looking for any information pertaining to the word “Obsidian.”
Turning the corner to the hall where the Judges had taken down the Supremacy juves, Asaji made herself comfortable sitting on the floor. She’d get in a quick meditation to recharge some of her psychic reserves.
If the girl in one five zero two three three made a move, Drunk and Disorderly would shout about it and get Asaji’s attention.
Fast Eddie’s Hall of Shuggy was a hole in the wall with a dozen battered shuggy tables and a single bar to the side of the room.
The hall’s patrons were a mix of small-time criminals looking for a new score and blue-collar workers displaced by robots.
The Hall was also home to a juve gang calling themselves the Diamond Honey Badgers.
Four Badgers with meter-long shuggy sticks in hand were in the back standing over a traditionally uneven table. Only three of the nine balls required for the game were still on the table.
One of the badgers bent over the table to line up a dingy white cue ball with a striped ball to put it in a corner pocket.
On the way to the shuggy-playing Badgers, Stone and Parker noticed another set of six Badgers hanging out at the bar.
The Judges may be outnumbered but they had the Law on their side.
Halfway over to the badgers at the table, a glass mug shattered at the Judges’ feet. Stopping, the Judges were confronted by a man in his late forties. He had the look of liquid courage about him.
“You really want a disorderly charge in your life, citizen?” Parker asked.
“All you Judges do is walk around like you’re so damned important!” the mug breaker said. “Pushing us around, just like you let the robots push us around!”
A few blue-collar grunts men equally encouraged by synthol threw out grunts of agreement.
Judge Stone slammed her fist into the complainer’s face. He fell back into a table. The men who weren’t quick enough to grab their mugs of synthol saw their glass mugs slide to the ground and shatter.
Parker stepped in and grabbed the complainer, slamming him to the ground and slapping handcuffs on his wrists.
“This guy is hitting the cubes for six months!” Stone said. “Anyone want to join him?” She eyed everyone in the vicinity, daring them to make a move.
“Hey, now!” a voice called over the crowd. A cit in his late sixties came out from behind the bar. He had a holovid star sensibility about him with his business suit and sunglasses.
“The balls roll funny for everybody,” the man said. “Ya gotta be lucky on the streets of the Big Meg, and luck itself is an art. Now let these Judges do what they gotta do — and then get them outta here.”
The citizens wisely turned back to their drinks and conversation.
Stone exchanged a glance with the suited man, who she recognized as the hall’s owner, Fast Eddie. He acknowledged the Judge with a “hurry it along” hand motion.
Parker moved close enough to Stone to whisper. “What’s the play now?”
Stone pointed at the handcuffed man on the ground. “Take that creep out to a holding station,” Stone said. “I’ll talk to these Badger punks.”
One Judge and a room full of punks! Feel sorry for the punks! What is that mystery woman in Room 150233 up to? What is Obsidian? More questions, more answers on Thursday!
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!
