Meanwhile in Mega City One is a roleplaying game which takes place every Friday Night at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club in Chislehurst, South East London. Games Master is Tony
Cast
- Judge Cully - A no-nonsense female street judge with a penchant for heavy weapons - Kat
- Judge Krush - A hard as nails street judge who goes by the book - Steve
- Psi Judge Pike - A Psi Division rookie Judge - Conor
- Judge Swiss - A rookie street Judge - Alex
One Ugly Pavement Pizza
It's Thursday and in the morning briefing, Judge Belloch congratulates Judges Pike and Swiss on making it through their first day on the mean streets of Sector 55.
"Thursday is where the rubber meets the road and folk start warming up for the weekend. All manner of cooks and crazies will start to come out of the woodwork so don't get sloppy and you won't get dead.
Tensions are rising between Chan and Stallone Blocks again and the Belgian Boys over in JCVD feel like they are being left out of the action. We can expect a full scale block war any day now. The riot squads are on stand-by and anyone who hasn't completed their mandatory 90 day rotation will be called up shout the brown stuff hit the spinny thing.
You know the drill people, Go! Go! Go!"
The Judges are soon out on patrol and on their way to their first incident. A leaper out of Thatcher Towers has struck the pedway and left a mess.
Arriving on scene, a crowd of bystanders has already surrounded the corpse and Max Manus from Channel 55's News Crew is making a piece to camera. Cully dismounts and starts to make her way through the crowd. Manus shoves his mic into her face, "Judge Cully, what makes a person jump to their death on a fine day like to day? Sick of life or did some perp possibly push them?"
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| Judges attend the scene of a leaper outside Thatcher Towers |
"No Comment" replies Cully and orders the media man to turn over his tape. Max obliges and calls his hover-cam over with a whistle. He swiftly ejects the micro data disc and hands it over popping a fresh one in from a stash in his jacket. She pops the disk into her bike computer and reviews the footage. Manus only started his segment after the body had hit the pedway but she scans the bystanders for any suspicious body language. Swiss scans the block for signs of any CCTV which would might have caught the incident. Mitterand Maisons opposite has some better views of the block and he decides to take a stroll over to the french quarter. Pike calls for a meatwagon to pick up the body whilst Krush patiently scans the crowd for law breakers.
Taking the cross-ped bridge which connects the two block plazas, Swiss spots a curious looking fellow approaching from the Mitterand side. He walks right up to the judge and suddenly stops putting his hands out in front of him as though an invisible barrier where preventing him from moving any further. Looking at his feet Swiss notices a yellow painted line which denotes the legal mime zone which surrounds Mitterand Maisons.
Swiss asks him for his mime licence and if he saw what happened earlier at Thatcher Towers. The mime nods and silently conveys a sad face, a jump, a landing, a line across the neck and fluttering wings. Checking the back of the card Swiss spots that this mime is on duty for the next 7 hours and knows he won't get a word out of him until he comes off shift. The mime union are a tough bunch he muses as he strides past the street performer and heads for the block security point.
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| Original Background art by Neil Miller (http://www.neilmillervfx.com) |
Swiss asks him for his mime licence and if he saw what happened earlier at Thatcher Towers. The mime nods and silently conveys a sad face, a jump, a landing, a line across the neck and fluttering wings. Checking the back of the card Swiss spots that this mime is on duty for the next 7 hours and knows he won't get a word out of him until he comes off shift. The mime union are a tough bunch he muses as he strides past the street performer and heads for the block security point.
The citizen hit the ground face first but something about the corpse seems familiar to Cully. It could be the platinim blonde hair or the secquined dress. She searches the bloody pulp that's left and fishes out a blood stained ID card. Her suspicions are confirmed, the leaper was Jocelyn Wildenstein a minor celebrity and ugly pageant contestant. (See Sector 55 Blues - Prog 3)
"What's taking so long?" commands Krush "If there's a pushy perp they will be long gone by now!"
Spotting a nearby servo-bot Judge Pike orders it to guard the body. "Call-Me-Malcolm is honoured to serve" say the robot and the patrol heads into the block and up to Miss Wildensteins apartment on floor 525.
Over in Mitterand Maisons Judge Swiss is reviewing the CCTV and whilst the footage is grainy and low resolution he can see Miss Wildenstein fall from the balcony and moments earlier there was a white object on the balcony parapet. Could this have been the cat Mr Blofeldt? He notes the timecode when Miss Wildenstein fell as 11:16 and returns to Thatcher Towers to rejoin the patrol.
Chez Wildenstein
A short trip in the turbo lift is made slightly less tolerable by "The Girl from Ipanema" and Judges Cully, Pike and Krush are outside the door of apartment 525-32. The door is closed and Pike uses his Access Card to quietly gain entry. Cully strides purposefully into the centre of the living room and begins scanning for clues. Pike follows his Close Quarters Combat Training and checks the bathroom to his left. Satidfied that there is no-one in the room he shouts "Clear". Krush strides into the room and begins perusing the walls for pictures.
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| The Wildenstein Apartment 525-32 Thatcher Towers |
The room is a well appointed single apartment covered in wall to wall white shag carpet and decorated in tasteful shades of pastel blue, silver and white. The walls are covered in photographs and artistic prints of Miss Wildenstein and her cat Mr. Blofeldt.
Judge Swiss arrives and he proceeds to search the Kitchen which is spotlessly clean. In the cupboards are a full compliment of Felix cat food tins in an assortment of 14 flavours. Conspicuously there does not appear to be any human food apart from a supply of synthi-caf pods. Pike retrieves 3 cans of cat food from the kitchen and opens them in a bid to entice the missing cat out from its hiding place.
Whilst searching the area in front of the open balcony doors Judge Cully discovers a broken string of pearls buried deep in the carpet. She bags them as evidence. A search of the bedroom reveals a walk in closet replete with an ample selection of evening gowns and ostentacious wigs.
Despite a thorough search of the apartment there is no sign of Mr. Blofeldt. Pike goes down to the Security Station and reviews the CCTV outside the apartment. At approximately 11:22 A dark figure is seen walking down the corridor with something white under their arm. The vid feed is too grainy and indistinct to make out any features or establish a gender. The security point staff explain that CCTV in the block is outdated and the municipal funds have been redirected on higher priority projects since the infamous Brexit scandal. Pike spends some time trying to follow the individual across the patchy feeds but loses them when they enter the parking substructure on level 250.
Cully puts in an information request to MAC to find any known perps with a history of illegal animal dealing on their records. One record is returned, a Terrence Draper 171-27 Thatcher Towers was released 2 weeks ago after a 10 year stretch in the cubes for trading in unlicensed animals and endangered species. The patrol reconvenes outside Draper's apartment.
Terrence Draper
Floor 171 is typical of the lower rent floors of most citi blocks. The lower the floor, the lower the rent and the lower the standard of living, decor and level of maintenance. Bare concrete walls are slick with mold and mildew and the floors are covered in well worn and shabby synthi-tiles which haven't seen a robo-mop in decades.
Krush knocks on the door of apartment 27 and orders Draper to open up in the name of the Law. Draper is reluctant and Pike reads his mind through the metal security door. He is a strong minded character and his mind is full of memories of his recent incarceration. He does not want to go back.
Pike gives Krush a psychic boost and he kicks the door in to a cacophanous and sudden chorus of animal sounds. The apartment is dark and dingy with a faint smell of machine oil and plastic. Surrounding the walls are cage upon cage containing animals of all varieties who silently stare at the judges with red unblinking eyes.
Draper explains that he's gone legit and switched to the synthi-pet trade. After some intimidation he explains that
"If it's live animals that you want then you need to go see the animals in The Jungle..."
