Judgement Day

Look what the world has come to
So now it's time to say 'Fuck You!'
If you care then they drug you
And no one's there when they numb you
Fill you with terror and crush you
Pretend they care as they shove you
So you look to me to find the truth
And what I say is what you do
But everyone you look up to
Is really as fucked up as you
Time is getting shorter
With these enforced disorders
And we get blamed and pushed around
So who's the fucking villain now?

The lyrics blare hard and heavy onto the crowd of young teenagers dancing, grinding, and head banging to the lyrics of the band screeching into the microphone. Fifty-nine rows back on the second level of the mega stadium stands Emily Kasey aged nineteen. She is enjoying the concert, taking shots of whiskey and consuming other alcohol that dulls her senses, unaware of the man in the trench coat watching her from afar.

Looking at her watch she notes it is time for her to begin the journey home if she wanted to get home before one in the morning. Taking one last shot of Ginger Bumpty, a special mix whose ingredients were kept secret and served only in Sector 13, before flipping the crowd off to be showered in praise from other drunken attendees.

Emily walks out of the stadium and barely manages to catch the eleven thirty bus. Paying the five credits needed to board she sits down in one of the front seats. Unaware of the man in the trench coat who had followed her from the concert who takes a seat three seats back from her. Watching her with a keen eye.

Nursing her head, that had started to hurt when she actually stopped partying, Emily begins to rub her temples. Looking up she noticed her stop and pulled the wire, which asked for a stop. A few seconds later the bus stopped and Emily got off of the bus. Wanting to take some mild painkillers and go to sleep.

The man in the trench coat stood up and followed her. Narrowly missing the gap that would allow him into the apartment. Once inside he took out a small black box with a square red button and pressed it, sliding it back into his pocket as he followed her to her apartment. She was so close, soon she would be picked up and he could go home to relax.

Emily stepped out of the elevator and felt for her keys in her pocket. Finding them she put her room key in the lock and was about to push the door open when someone slipped behind her and grabbed her. She let out a scream but was gagged by a rag that caused her to pass out in the man’s arms.
The man in the trench coat slung her over his shoulder and headed to the window at the end of the hall. He was almost out when he saw a neighbor step out, an elderly man in his eighties.

“Hey there! What do you thi…” the man began but was cut short by a bullet to the chest. A round provided by the pistol in the trench coat of the man abducting Emily.
The man stepped out onto the fire escape, which was obsolete considering they were on the forty-fifth story, and waited for his ride. Soon an H-Wagon, stolen from the Judges, pulled up and the man in the trench coat jumped in and drove off scot-free.

********

It was early in the morning when Andrew was called to the Hall of Justice. His head still hurt from being blind-sided by a random protestor yesterday that he had to subdue. Walking through the doors and getting to the elevator he began to hum a little tune he had picked up two weeks ago while watching a perp.

Stepping into the elevator he pressed the button to the sixth floor where the meeting room was. Andrew despised meetings, half the time they were for “serious” crimes that were boring but only got the shove they did because there was very rich people who could push anyway they wanted. The sixth floor came and he pulled his helmet off, knowing that he was in no danger here. A sheen of sweat covered his brow and dampened his short blonde hair, it was a scorching day outside, ninety eight degrees and rising.

Andrew opened the door to the meeting room to see a handful of Judges there, odd. All of them had been on the force for more than five years and the only ones that hadn’t were him and Judge Summers who was sitting to the left of Dredd. Summer’s had been in Andrew’s class and had been one of the thirty percent who survived to day two or passed the exam, the two had chatted since then. Asking how the other was enjoying the job, usually she would respond with fine and he would return her question with something similar.

He took a seat at an empty chair to the right of Dredd and looked at him.

“Dredd.” Andrew said.

“Rookie.” Dredd replied.

Andrew turned to look at Chief Judge Hershey who walked in. Andrew was really getting surprised, first an elite Judge meeting that he had been invited to, now the Chief Judge herself was coming in and leading the meeting? What was next?

“Greetings everyone.” Hershey said as she cleared her throat and tapped her fingers on a podium at the front. A screen unfurled behind her and security camera footage played behind her. “As of eleven ten last night Emily Kasey was kidnapped by this man, who at this point is unknown.” she stopped long enough to pull up an enhanced screenshot of a man in a trench coat abducting the girl.

Andrew squinted his eyes and looked at the person, he knew who he was. His mouth dropped and his skin paled a little bit.

“Drokk!” he yelled out, the famous swear justified in this case.

“Judge Grey do you have something to share with us?” Hershey asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I know who that man is, or not his name but I know what he does.” Andrew said, looking down at the floor when a whole room of Judges started staring at him.

“Oh, and who is this?”

“He works for one of the biggest pimps in the Pleasure District, Kaiser Culverton.”

There is a series of moans and groans throughout the room. Even if the trench coat man was an unknown, Kaiser Culverton was the opposite. He was, infamously, known as the most brutal drug lord and pimp to exist in Mega City One history. The man was so terrifying the Judges had never even attempted to go after them after he skinned an entire class of recruits, hanging their skinless carcasses from the statues and entrance of the academy, because a couple of Judges had taken down one of his brothels.

“Yo, hang on one moment,” Judge Stallion, a veteran Judge of ten years, said in a thick Philly accent while standing up. “How is it that a Judge like youse know more about this punk than us?”
The Judges in the room went from having a slightly scared attitude to one of uncaring. Judge Stallion was known as the second biggest idiot Judge in current service, the first was the one who had allowed him to pass. The man botched undercover operations that had been going on for years, had a record of shooting first and assessing second, and had, on more than one occasion, made the Judges look like jokes to the mass public.

“I mean figger this, some wannabe Judge finds the way into Kaiser Culvie’s giant operation? I mean the rest of us been pounding the paymint for months, hopin’ we win the lottree and we come up with nuttin. I don’t mean to be newsey, but I haffta to say how could smuck face rookie find sumthin none of us could? That’s mighty suspicious.” Judge Stallion finished his complete butchery of the human language, sitting back down in his chair with a smug look.

Andrew was furious, and confused and appalled at the man’s complete lack of grammar even for a Philadelphia Judge, his knuckles gripped the table turning white. Repressing the urge to pull his Lawgiver out and shoot a Hi-Ex bullet at this terrible example of a Judge. He was glad when the Chief Judge silenced him.

“Despite Judge Stallion’s rather nitpicky approach, that is a legitimate question. How is it that you know this man? He has appeared on none of our hotlists.” Hershey asked.
Andrew cleared his throat; he had to be very careful right now. If he was unclear or messed up his answer then everything would come crashing down right on top of his head, even if he had just encountered the perp earlier this morning.

“Earlier this morning I found him attempting to smuggle out a young woman about seventeen years old.” Andrew cleared his throat as he addressed the room. “I confronted the criminal and that led to a small fight that ended up with him escaping after pushing the civilian into oncoming traffic. Before he left I managed to catch a glimpse of a tattoo on his left wrist symbolizing membership of Culverton’s gang. I was about to call it in when the call came for me to attend this meeting, if it had not been addressed I was going to bring it up then.”

Judge Stallion bolted out his chair and pointed his finger accusingly at Andrew. “Ah ha! I knew it! It didn’t expect to be gettin a confession outta youse aready. I skeeve people like youse, you sicken me.” he said while spitting at Andrew and drawing his Lawgiver. “For fraternizing with the enemy, betraying the city, and being a piece of trash the sentence is death!”
Seeing Stallion’s finger begin to pull back on the trigger Andrew rolled to the right as Stallion shot a handful of rounds at him before the two Judges sitting next to him managed to subdue him.

“Drokk!” he yelled.

“Judge Stallion that was unnecessary judging, Judge Grey is no more a traitor than you or I are.” Hershey chastised as Stallion was shoved back into his seat. “Besides that’s not why we are here,” Hershey continued as she cleared her throat. “The girl being kidnapped is why I have called you all here. Her name is Emily Kasey. Her parents supply the Justice Department with a rather large amount of money each year with no strings attached. However if Emily is indeed kidnapped by Kaiser Culverton, than any seasoned Judge sent in will be spotted and the girl will be killed. All senior Judges are now under orders to only patrol the perimeter of Culverton’s territory.”
Andrew began to sweat, he wasn’t very positive as to where this was going.

“A ransom letter was sent to the parents, a rather odd maneuver on Culverton’s part. The ransom was simple; send two Judges in with a year or less experience out on the streets. Then attempt to arrest him. This is why I have called Judge Summers and Judge Grey here today, if you two would stand please.”

Andrew was sweating like it was one hundred degrees in the room. He knew exactly what they were about to ask him to do.

“You two are the representation of the best and brightest of our under year Judges. What we ask you to do is nearly impossible, but your city and your colleagues need your help. Will you help us?” Hershey asked.

Andrew swallowed and stood straight; this was his time to shine. Even if he had the urge to puke all over the floor and then find a corner to cry in until he died of shame.

“It would be my honor ma’am.” Andrew replied as he looked over at Judge Summers.

“Sign me up.” she replied.

********
Andrew was puking in the bathroom, not from any virus but from sheer nerves of what he was about to do. He was insane enough to go and take on a man who killed an entire class of recruits for no other reason than he could. Wiping his mouth and coughing once more he went over to the sink and turned the faucet on. He caught some water with shaking hands and slurped it up and spit it out. Trying to get the taste of vomit out of his mouth.

Judge Chivies had been upgraded from Academy Armory Master to Hall of Justice Armory Master. While Andrew had been down there refilling his armor and polishing off his Lawgiver Chivies had filled him in with all the stories that he had never ever wanted to here, and now he was vomiting in the bathroom.

“Nerves?” he heard Summer’s voice drift from the door.

Andrew looked up to see her standing there. She had her helmet off so he could see her pale blue eyes and brown hair that fell to the middle of her back. Her soft features were contorted into a mashed up facial expression of concern and tough.

“Hey June.” Andrew mumbled as he smirked at her face, despite June’s soft features she was tougher than most of recruits and Judges on the streets. Holding out in torture training for three days straight. When she would attempt to be sincere or comforting she always came off looking mildly confused, something that other male Judges had described as, oddly attractive.

“So do I need to repeat Judge Jorge’s ancient words of wisdom?” June asked as she walked over and patted, or more hit, him on the back.

“Nut up or shut up?”

“Yep. So nut up or shut up.”

“I don’t think you understand what we are about to do, we are taking on a man who skinned children to get his point across. The teacher Judges were so scared of him that’s all they would ever tell us because we were still students there when it happened.” Andrew tried to explain their doomed situation.

“I remember you had to fight your way up a whole block on your first day right?” June asked as she put her helmet down on the edge of the sinks.

“Yeah, why?”

“My first day my senior Judge was killed and I was stuck under the concrete earth of this Mega City for a week. You know of it right? The freaking city that was made from the craved out underbelly of a city that was once here? I saw shit down there I could never ever forget. I don’t care if this guy skinned children, what I’ve seen is much worse. So like I said,” she paused as she pulled her helmet on. “Nut up or shut up.”

June left and Andrew smirked, June had the ability to berate you enough so that you had to prove her wrong. Half the time without actually insulting anyone. Andrew grabbed his helmet and put it on, following June to the bike bay.

Andrew scrawled through the racks and racks of Lawmasters until he found his. Rolling it off the rack he mounted it and fired the engine off.

“Computer,” Andrew began as he cracked his neck. “Input coordinates for the Pleasure District. Things are about to get, interesting.”

“Affirmative.” the A.I chipped as it pulled up the GPS.

Speeding off towards the entrance he meet up with June and the two headed to the Pleasure District. The law was coming.