Both Dredd and Shining Armor walked into the City block dubbed "Peach Trees", as people gave Shining Armor a questionable look on both his looks and the fact he was with the infamoud Judge Dredd.

"Alright Rookie," Dredd spoke "What do you know about peach trees?"

"Sir," Shining Armor answered "Peach trees houses about seventy-five thousand registered citizens. It has the highest crime rate in sector thirteen, unemployment rate is at ninety six percent, and more than half of the residential levels are classed as slums."

"Good. You've been doing your homework." Dredd stopped and turned to what was a homeless man sitting near the entrance of Peach Trees, next to a sign that read Homeless junkie. Will debase self for credits. "Rookie." Shining stopped and turned to Dredd. He turned his head and looked at the homeless man. "Judgement."

"Vagrancy. Three weeks in an isocube."

"Correct." He pointed at the man "Don't be here when we get back." The man nodded. The two judges entered peach trees, hearing a voice of a woman telling people to stand back as a large group of gathered around the crime scene while others bustled around the city block. "What's it like being a judge?"

"Sir, I haven't done anything yet, but it fills in my type of mind."

"And that is?"

"I want to protect & serve the city, to make a difference."

"Make a difference? In a block like this?"

"I don't know anything about these people, but I know I'm not going to drop the nearest orphan at the Justice Department like garbage." Dredd looked at him. With his stern look and no way for his face to be fully seen, it was hard to tell if Dredd was surprised, angered, or annoyed at Shining's comment. "But I know there's good people inside. Good families that are trying to get by." Shining looked back at Dredd, getting a weird feeling in him. "Yes, I believe I can make a difference, even if it is small." Dredd looked away and turned to the path ahead.

"Admirable." Dredd and Armor walked into the crime scene, seeing a paramedic looking at one of the three corpses around them "What do we got here?"

"Three skinned and some fucked up drug use." The paramedic replied, not even looking away from the corpse near him. Dredd lifted the cover, seeing one of the three people, a male, covered in blood as no skin was on him and the back of his head was splattered with his brains splattered across the floor. The sight almost made Armor puked, but he resisted and swallowed his meal from earlier.

"Are you based in Peach trees?"

"Med Center. Lever 25." He stopped and stared at Armor. "Um... are you a mutant?"

"He isn't."

"I may look like one," Armor added "but I am actually a different species altogether. I may have hands & feet, but this is all cybernetics."

"I didn't think they accepted dogs as literal dogs of their ranks." The paramedic joked.

"Laugh it up all you want. You haven't seen what I'm capable of."

"Enough side chat." Dredd interrupted "You I.D'd them?"

"Mostly." Paramedic answered "Two of them are registered to this block."

"And the other?"

"I'll have to run his blood in the DNA profile so I can figure out who's blood is his." Dredd kneeled down to the corpse and lifted it's blanket. The crowd gasped, followed by some women gasping for breath and someone puking. Dredd lifted the corpse's lips up, seeing the teeth are yellow & the abnormal looking.

"What do you think of this, rookie?"

"... I don't know, sir." Armor replied. Dredd looked up to the open roof and stood right up

"It's a side effect from a slow-mo inhaler."

"Slow-mo?" The paramedic walked next to Shining.

"It only just hit the grid." the paramedic answered "It lets off big waves, making the brain feel as if time is passing by slower than normal speed. I can only guess it felt like a long drop all the way down." Armor got a small vision of what was one of the men falling down to their death, then returned to himself. A small beeping was made on Dredd's personal codex. Three pictures of the men were shown, all identical to the corpses near them.

"Small time perps," Dredd listed "junkies, no gang affiliation. What's your analysis?" Shining looked around him.

"Skinned," Armor answered "drugged, shown to the public. It must be a punishment killing. Someone's trying to send a message."

"Yeah," the medic replied "don't fuck with the Ma-Ma Clan." Both Judges looked at the paramedic with the same, confused look.

"Ma-Ma Clan?" They both asked in unison.

The three were in the paramedic's office, looking through the files of people in Peach Trees. It stopped at a woman, who's name was "Madeline Madrigal".

"We have he oldr record from her whoring days." the paramedic explained on the picture "This is old, but that's her: Madeline Madrigal, A.K.A., Ma-Ma. Ex Hooker from the S-9 pleasure district. Quick working when she got sliced up from her pimp, she got him back. Local people said she feminized him with her own teeth."

"Jesus Christ!" Shining commented

"Yeah. She took over his business at first, but never looked back. Anyone else here would say I was bullshitting, but not with Ma-Ma: her trademark is violence. Not so long ago, there were three main gangs hustling for control over peach trees: The Pillar Kings, The Red Dragons, and The Judged. Then Ma-Ma arrived. She took over the top floor and started to work her way down. Nine months later, she had control of everything: Levels 1 to 200 were all her's."

"How did she get away with it?" Shining Armor asked

"Do you know how often we get a judge in peach trees?"

"Well you got one now." Dredd replied, touching the computer's screen, revealing a 3-D model of the city block. "The victims are registered to an apartment on level 39. Likely killed over turf issues. So, perps will be in the facility. Rookie?"

"...Find out where the clan operates on this level and hit it hard." Armor answered. The paramedic leaned over and showed the room.

"That would be here." He simply said.

Both Dredd and Armor went to the 39th level and walked down the hallway, both readying their Lawgivers. Dredd stopped and took cover behind a corner, followed by Shining right next to him.

"I take it this is your first time in outside combat?" Dredd asked.

"Yes sir." Armor replied with some nods.

"Wondering why you made a hole in your helmet."

"Sir, I need protection, but no helmet has anything for my horn to fit through, otherwise, I'd go helmet less and or walk with a helmet not fitted around my skull. It also allows me to use my abilities."

"...better hope no one shoots your horn off." Dredd pulled out one of the varies grenades, a sticky one, and placed it on the door, followed by some beeping in a countdown way. "You ready?"

"Yes sir." Dredd turned his head to Armor.

"You don't look ready."

"Just adrenaline, sir."  The two readied themselves, followed by loud beeps and the sticky grenade exploding!  Dredd opened fire, killing three men with guns: a balm man with a pistol through his cheeks, a large man with a shotgun through the chest, and a young man with a pistol through his cheeks. The rest of the people raised their arms in surrender, most carrying an inhaler with what was Slow-Mo. Shining stared at the sight, shaking his gun while standing.

"Rookie." Dredd spoke, aiming at the criminals in front of him. Shining stared at the corpses around, not sure what to do. "Armor! Judgement!" This snapped Armor out of his trance and aimed at the criminals in front of him

"Crime: possession and usage of controlled substances." Armor answered "Sentence: 2 years in iso-cubes." Dredd looked at Armor

"Don't tell me, tell control." Armor looked at Dredd, then lifted his left hand with it's communicator.

"Armor to control?"

"Copy." A man's voice spoke on the other line.

"Requesting a meat wagon to peach trees, level 39. We have... four bodies for recite and eight live for iso-cubes."

"Copy that. Meat Wagon in bound."

"Alright," Dredd spoke "let's get them cuffed. You! Up!"

In a few moments, all the criminals were hand cuffed. Armor cuffed one criminal, an African american with a yellow t-shirt and a leather jacket over it,but noticed something different about him: a tattoo on the back of his neck of a valentine heart with twin sword going through it, and the word "Ma-Ma" on it.

"Sir," Armor spoke "this one's a gang member. He's-" he stopped as his horn glowed, and a bloody memory appears of the three victims from earlier were getting skinned alive! He returned back to where he was. "Sir... it's him."

"Him who?" Dredd mockingly asked

"His name's Kay, and he's the man who murdered the people from earlier." Dredd and armor turned their heads to each other.

"You sure?" Armor turned the criminal and got a good look at him.

"Ninety-Nine percent."

"We can't execute someone on 'Ninety-Nine percent'." Dredd walked to the man and stared at him, looking very opposing. "It'd save me a lot of paperwork if you just confessed right now. Kay stayed silent. "We'll take him in... see how he holds up after a few hours in interrogation." Armor turned Kay around and walked him out of the apartment.  

Next Chapter: Trapped Estimated time remaining: 32 Minutes