The judges head off to Mitterand Maisons. Holmes calls her stoolie Vinny the Spiv and leaves a voice message
"Hey Vinny, it's Holmes, tell me what you know about the career perp Pepe Le Peu and any rumours about some missing Nitro 9."Two hours later the patrol arrives at Mitterand Mansions level 300 Plaza 4a, a wideopen rec platform dominated by a 3/4 scale replica of the Eiffel Tower, a famous landmark which stands in the center of Paris or as it is now know Euro City.
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| Judge Dredd World Map Showing all the Mega Cities |
Judges Wallace and Que spot a couple of suspicious looking characters around the side of the block, but before they can investigate a strange figure leaps in front of them and proceeds to grab their attention.
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| Original Background art by Neil Miller (http://www.neilmillervfx.com) |
He is dressed in a stripy black and white outfit with a white painted face and a black beret. He appears to be mute and is trying to tell the Judges something. After a few minutes the judges realise that this is in fact a mime and he is trapped behind an imaginary glass wall.
Annoyed with the delay Judge Steel attempts to arrest the mime for Obstruction of Justice (Code 1203: 6 months to 3 years). He is reminded by Judge Hiro that, under local cultural laws, miming is in fact legal as long as you have the required Comedic Association of Mime Performers (CAMP) license. The mime promptly shows his CAMP ID card.
The patrol enters the block and takes the lift down to level 258. When the doors open they are greeted by a fetid smell. This level is in some disrepair with moss covering the walls upto waist height and a steady drip, drip, drip of water comes from exposed ceiling pipework running the length of the corridor. What was once a fine carpet is now a soggy mess of puddles. Traversing the corridor towards apartment 33 their footsteps make unmistakable crunching sounds as they crush hundreds of tiny snails who seem to have taken up residence. Many of them gathering around balls of synthi-lettuce which appear to have been strategically placed at intervals along the hallway. Clearly someone is running a snail farm Illegal Experiments (Code:1602 10 Years to Life).
Hiro fails to breach the door with the standard issue judge boot and Wallace shoots out the lock. The element of surprise long gone, the well trained Judges rush the room and instinctively assume firing positions covering every corner. The room is spotlessly clean unlike the exterior and the only signs of habitation are an overly ripe synthi-camembert in the fridge with a huge bite taken out of it. Holmes pulls out her hand-held DNA scanner and fires off an ID request to BARNEY.
The Judges are puzzled, there doesn't seem to be anything of note in fact the apartment doesn't look lived in at all. It has all the usual furnishings and a large vid screen which has been left in standby mode. They decide to engage in a bit of old school house to house enquiries with the occupants of the neighbouring apartments.
Apartment #31 is occupied by a child who says that his mum is out shopping and that he is not allowed to open the door to strangers. Steele threatens the child with summary detention in Juvenile Hall and the child breaks down wailing in tears.
Apartments #32, #34 and #35 do not answer.
Hiro and Wallace knock at #30, the sounds of a raucous group of at least 3 individuals can be heard along with the unmistakeable ratatattat of automatic gunfire. Hiro shoutsthe magic words:
"Judge Inspection, open up citizens"A juve in his late teens opens the door sheepishly and the judges enter. Inside are two other male juves of similar ages sitting on the couch surrounded by a plethora of synthi-soda cans, bags of recycled-carbo-chips and sump candy wrappers. They are both wearing game-gloves and Tri-D glasses. An out of focus image of a block war ridden street shimmers a rainbow of colours on the vid screen with the words GAME PAUSED in the centre. One of the more popular virtual vid games BLOCK MANIA is now in its 35th edition and is often prescribed to treat those unfortunate sufferers of Future Shock Syndrome.
The Juves are Franc, Percy and Emil La Rue. They say they know Mr Le Peu but he's some kind of gangster so they keep away from him. He always has people coming to see him, but he's not been around for some days now. They tell the Judges that the other apartments are empty but Mr Le Peu's younger brother used to live at #32. They thank the boys for being good citizens and remind them to "Stay out of Trouble".
Assault on Apartment 32
Assuming a standard breaching position on either side of the door, Hiro shoots out the lock on apartment #32. Wallace kicks the door in and Steele is first into the room. This apartment has been stripped to it's bare plascrete bones and in its place stand various military flight cases emblazoned with IDs linking them to Citi-Def units throughout the Eurozone. Two of the cases are marked Explosive Ordnance Nitro-9 but are empty.
The only signs of domestic life are the stacks of unfolded pizza boxes and the functioning Vid screen on the wall which is showing an image of the interior of apartment #33. A cable dangles from the TV to a small radio transmitter with a flashing red light. The Judges seal the door to the apartment with crime tape and call for a Tek Judge squad to bag the evidence. They decide to head down to the security station near the entrance to Plaza 4A.
Reviewing the corridor cam footage from the last week and there is a significant amount of traffic to apartment 258-33 including a visit from Nigel Faraway's right hand man Tom Vampire a few days ago. When Le Peu answers the door to visitors he invariably crosses the corridor to #34 and returns with a pizza box which he gives to the caller. They shake hands, the guest leaves and Le Peu retuns to his apartment.
Their focus is interrupted by a call from Sector Control. There has been a report of an abduction at Thatcher Towers, apartment 202-47, occupant Iona Skye.
Judges Holmes, Hiro and Steele head to Thatcher Towers and arrive on foot 7 minutes later. The security station is bustling with concerned residents including a couple of Iona skye's elderley neighbours. Betty Corker and Stanley Unwins. The CCTV shows 4 well built perps dressed in black wearing balaclavas come out of the lift on floor 202 and progressively disable the CCTV cameras as they move down the length of the corridor. The final footage shows one perp reaching up for the camera and the other 3 standing outside apartment 202-47. This wanton Criminal Damage (Code: 901 2 to 6 Years) will not go unpunished and supplement the much more serious charges of Kidnap (Code: 302 30 Years to Life).
Heading up to the scene of the abduction it is clear that Iona Skye put up a struggle, there are several pieces of broken furniture and smashed bottles of urine. Judge Steele's attention is drawn to an old fashioned picture frame lying on the floor. He picks the photo out of the smashed frame reading the handwritten message on the back.
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| "Beautiful Bertha, we couldn't have done it without you. May 2134" |
There was no sign of the black clad oldienappers leaving Thatcher Towers but Betty Corker mentioned that she spotted them carrying a large orange sack past the lift. The only thing past the lift is an emergency stairwell. It is possible that they changed clothes and left via another floor.
Holmes and Hiro head for the security station whilst Steele investigates the stairwell.
NEXT PROG -> Royal Rumble at Le Teeny Eiffel Tower
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