Steele spots something in the foliage at the side of the plaza, a two foot height yellow rodent. When he pokes about in the bushes a male citizen wearing a trench coat emerges showing signs of emotional distress. Obviously a flasher, he struggles to resist his inner urges even when Steele points his lawgiver at him. He can't contain himself and flashes open his coat to reveal a blue leotard underneath. Out of the corner of his eye Steele spots a young civvo in a red cap enter the bushes and a little later a bright flash. Pushing the kook out of the way Steele investigates the undergrowth further but finds no sign of the boy or the yellow rodent.
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| The 2 foot tall yellow rodent |
The faces of the celebrity citizens are barely recognisable as they contort in expressions of terror. Something is clearly amiss with this maiden voyage and further confirmation is received when the capsule shoots through the station at Mach 7.
Deerscent immediately runs to the chopper signalling the pilot to spin up the blades. The Judges react, calling in a spray of riot foam from the nearby Riot Wagon which coats the tailboom of the chopper and sets hard as rockcrete. The chopper attempts to lift off and rips off its own tailboom. With its counter rotation device gone it corkscrews into the air violently throwing out Deerscent and the pilot before crashing down and exploding in the middle of the crowd.
Within seconds nearby med teams and a water cannon equipped H-Wagon quell the flames and begin treating the casualties. Holmes and Wallace rush to find the pilot unconscious on the ground. Steele and Que rush after Deerscent who has picked himself up and run into the bushes. Chasing him through the undergrowth they emerge to find him standing on the railing which marks the edge of the plaza. Deerscent tells Steele "no further or I'll jump". Steele continues to advance, trying to calm the situation down but the inventor jumps off the railing flipping him off with two extended middle digits. Rushing to the railing the Steele and Que see Deerscent thump his chest and bat wings extend from his arms to his legs. He rolls and flies off.
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| Benny the Bat, a somewhat famous perp who used a Bat-suit to criminal effect |
Fishing out hypo rounds from his glove pouch Steele fires twice, narrowly missing him with both shots. Que is more successful and as Deerscent succumbs to the sedative he loses control slamming into the sloping windows of nearby Steve Woz block and sliding down into a park level which juts out of the side of the structure.
Meanwhile Judges Holmes and Wallace have left the pilot in the capable hands of a medic and run over to the station complex. After relaying events to sector control Wallace tries to negotiate with the station bot who seems to be malfunctioning as he does not recognise the authority of the Judge and proceeds to seal the station behind plas-steel security walls which pop out of the ground. Wallace contacts the Super Duper Lopp Inc's customer centre and is eventually put through to the technical team who successfully cut the power bringing the capsule to a graceful stop.
Steele and Que leap on their Lawmasters and drive off in the direction of Steve Woz block. When they arrive at the block park there is no sign of Deerscent save for a human shaped divot in the grass. Que routes the park surveillance vids to her bike computer and spins back to see Deerscent pick himself up and stagger off in the direction of the block's Med Centre. Soon after the heavily bandaged Deerscent is cuffed to a Med Centre gurney awaiting collection by a Pat Wagon. No doubt he will lawyer up, these rich citizens always think the law doesn't apply to them.
Back to the Euro Zone
The four judges regroup on 5527 heading towards Thatcher Towers and unfinished Nitro-9 business.
Cross referencing all the registered residents with those who have explosives experience throws up 5 matches, 3 of which are already serving time in the iso-cubes. They request forensics backup which arrives shortly after in the shape of Judge Murtagh, a tech Judge with his Sniffer device specially calibrated to detect Nitro-9.
Iona Skye lives at 202-47 a sweet old lady of 92 who serves up a great synthi -tea and tells the judges of the days of her youth after the apocalypse war when they drove this block across the destroyed Mega City along with others which survived the Sov Rad bombs to form what is now the Euro Zone.
Tom Vampire 28 lives in a dingy apartment at 427-95. No one answers the door so the judges force entry and a scan of the filthy interior draws a blank save for a collection of pristine suits and a duffel bag of "Vote Nigel" badges stashed in the closet.
Neither apartment tests positive on the Sniffer and the Judges seem to be running out of leads. Wallace decides to do some house to house enquiries and knocks on the door of 427-96. A juve punk answers the door and tells them that he saw the guy leave this morning whistling a happy tune. He doesn't know where he went but he's one of Nigel Faraways lackeys. The door closes and in hushed tones they hear two voices converse "Phew that was close", "Yeah they almost got us".
Judge Que knocks on the door again, issuing a standard pre arrest declaration. Steele hears the unmistakable click of a stub gun being primed and thanks to his lightning reactions pushes Que out of the way as seconds later the door explodes in a shower of splinters and bullets.
"BUDDA BUDDA BUDDA"
NEXT PROG - Juve Punks, a Vampire and Meg Way Carnage ->
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