Following next morning’s briefing, whilst the other A-Watch Judges
dispersed to their various assignments, Kowalski and Wily grabbed a quick
synthi-caff and considered their next move. As they stood scowling at the
caustic black liquid in their cups masquerading as caff, Muller strode past
them with a grin on his face; to what passed for delight in Muller’s world,
he’d been assigned to crowd control duties at an outdoor ‘Black Spug’ concert.
Fuelled by loud music and the inevitable availability of illegal narcotics, the
juves at these gatherings often became violent and required stern management
before being carted off to the ‘cubes. Or Resyk, depending on how stern the
management proved to be. Tailing Muller’s purposeful stride was another,
younger Judge who’d been newly-assigned to the Sector House named Hurst. He’d
drawn attention to himself by sitting ramrod-straight throughout the morning
briefing and asking a succession of questions, to the increasing exasperation
of older Judges who just wanted to get out on the Slab and crack heads.
‘Academy Chrome’ they called it; they’d all had it when they first graduated,
until time on the streets and the death of colleagues dulled its sheen and
finally wore it away completely. Either to accelerate his integration into the
Judge community, or to temper Muller’s wilder excesses in crowd management,
Hurst had been assigned to Muller to be shown the ropes.
As the pair strode towards the Armoury, Wily and Kowalski
conferred. Although Kowalski had arranged for spycam observation of the dust
zone where the Stookie Glanders appeared to be operating, given the size of the
zone it would probably take a few days before anything significant turned up.
With that in mind, and with the words of their Watch Commander ringing in their ears, they decided to go and ruffle
Agnes Radley’s feathers and see what happened. To increase the pressure on
Radley, Wily contacted Judge-Auditor Gimlet, his Acc-Div contact. As usual, Gimlet
was hunched over a vid-screen, navigating the bewildering flow of financial
data with ease. When Wily suggested a field-audit of Radley’s business
interests, Gimlet jumped at the chance. So it was that a small team of Acc-Div
Judges gathered in the basement garage, loading equipment into a nearby
H-Wagon. As the garage door swung open, even this wan sunlight made the Acc-Div
Judges blink and showed just how pale and pasty they were. ‘Clearly don’t get
out much’ grumbled Kowalski, climbing aboard her bike.
Once more astride their powerful Lawmasters, and with
fully-replenished ammo pouches, the pair and their H-Wagon escort headed for
Kimmi Kardashian Block. As on their last visit, KK Block was a shining example
of shallow commercialism that the Big Meg could be proud of. However, fashion
moved fast in the citizen population; instead of adverts for buttock-implants
and bejewelled ‘bum-wheels’ , the huge vid screens extolled the virtues of synthetic
neck inserts as the new ideal of beauty. Many of those on the bleeding-edge of
fashion now sported what appeared to be huge goitres, and the most dedicated
found that they were unable to talk due the size of their neck implants. As a
consequence, they used sub-dermal electronic screens on their expanded necks that
enabled them to communicate via a sequence of emojis.
The Judges were far past being surprised by how far citizens
would go in pursuing a craze, so strode though the block entrance without a
sideways glance. Whilst the Acc-Div
Judges set about commencing their audit, Wily and Kowalski headed straight for
‘Racked’, the beauty parlour owned by Jennifer Radley, Agnes’ daughter, and of
which two of the missing persons had been customers.
The Judges heard ‘Racked’ before they saw it; as they
approached, they could feel a dull bass thud of borderline code-violating
volume through the soles of their Department-issue boots. The door to the
beauty parlour was black, its handles fashioned from what appeared to be curved
human spines. ‘Realistic, but fake’ whispered Kowalski, ‘but still grud-damn
weird!’. As they pushed open the doors, the noise suppressors in their helmets
kicked in, and Wily made a note to cite the Radleys for a noise violation
alongside whatever else they were tied up in. The foyer of ‘Racked’ was
decorated in a predictably gothic style; lots of dark synthi-wood, black
drapes, skulls and faux occult symbolism. The human receptionist, one Mina
Margolotta, looked up from her nails as the Judges strode in. As Wily used the
full weight of his authority to demand to see Agnes Radley, Kowalski examined
the décor in more detail. Amongst the purportedly occult scrawls, it was clear
to her that someone with actual knowledge of the occult had been involved also.
Given the City’s devastating encounters with extra-dimensional entities in the
past, every Psi-Judge took a mandatory module on Occult Knowledge to allow them
to at least spot the warning signs. It was even rumoured that there was a
special team of Exorcist-Judges tasked with dealing with such activities, but
the Department had denied this.
Turning back to Wily, she noted that the receptionist’s will
to resist had been effectively broken by his unique mix of charm, threats and
appeals to her better nature. Wily was grimacing as Mina showed him a series of
vid-captures of the sort of ‘enhancements’ that customers received. The ‘improvements’
were grotesque, adding spikes, pads and blades to the extent that customers became
twisted and deformed in the extreme. Furthermore, he’d learned that Racked’s
clientele only numbered twelve individuals, and that Eunice Glover and Hilary
Swank had been customers before they’d fallen out with Agnes Radley’s daughter,
Jennifer. As Kowalski reflected that the number thirteen was somewhat ominous,
Wily checked in with Judge Gimlet’s team. She quickly confirmed that such a
small pool of customers would not provide enough income to support the parlour;
it was clearly being kept open for reasons other than profit. As they left to
confront Agnes, the receptionist let slip that Jennifer’s mother seemed more
afraid of her daughter than protective…
As may be expected, Agnes’ hab occupied much of the top
floor of the block and commanded a breathtaking view of the city. Agnes herself
was a surprisingly un-enhanced woman in late middle age; she was clearly in the
business of defining fashion for others to follow (and for her to profit from)
rather than following it herself. As Wily took the lead on a circuitous line of
questioning intended to unsettle Radley, Kowalski again observed both Radley
and her environment. She soon determined that Agnes was in fact frightened of
her daughter, although she clearly still felt some protective instincts as her
responses to Wily were evasive. As she examined the room, she also found jewellery
decorated with actual occult symbols often associated with eternal life. Also
suspicious…
Despite vigorous questioning, Agnes Radley wasn’t about to
give anything further away voluntarily. Therefore, Wily placed Agnes in the
care of the Acc-Div Judges with a view to further interrogation back at the Sector
House. However, they were sure that Jennifer Radley was the spider at this
particular web. With that in mind, they paid a visit to Jennifer’s hab before
leaving. Although Jennifer lived on the same floor as her mother, it was
apparent that the two living areas were placed as far apart as they could be whilst
still being on the same level. Carefully opening the door to the hab, a swift
and professional search showed that Jennifer was not at home. The décor was similar
to ‘Racked’, and had clearly been designed by the same, twisted mind. As Kowalski
toured the room, reaching out with her powerful mind, she realised that although
the room bore all the signs of being inhabited, there was something too artful
and staged about it all; as though someone was trying to make the room look as
though it was lived in.
Finding nothing of interest, the Judges were about to head
back to the Sector House when Kowalski stopped dead. Stepping back into the hab,
Wily watched as Kowalski paced back and forth, mumbling under her breath and glowering
at the walls. Eventually, she approached one innocuous-appearing wall and felt
over the surface. Pressing on two points, Kowalski was rewarded with a muted
click as the ‘wall’ swung open. Immediately, their nostrils were assaulted by an
all-too-familiar stench: rotting human flesh. Engaging their respirators and checking
their ammo status, the two Judges expertly entered the darkened space. Inside, the
hidden room was revealed to be dusty and bare, as were all such block floors before
being partitioned into habs. Moving further into the room, Kowalski leapt back
as a shape dropped from the ceiling, just missing her head. As the form
unfolded from the ground in front of her, Kowalski was faced with a horrifying
sight. Although the creature had clearly once been human, it was now horribly
misshapen. Huge, gangrenous wounds gaped on its skin, and blades and other,
less identifiable things projected all over its body. Stunned, Kowalski whispered
‘Jennifer…?’
In response, the figure hissed and lashed out with its filthy
claws at dazzling speed, driving the Judge backwards. Before she knew it, she’d
taken several deep cuts to her upper body. Reaching a rapid decision, Wily fired
an incendiary shell and caught the figure full on. Although it burst into flame,
it continued to come for Kowalski until it was finally put down with repeated
shots. Calling for backup from Control whilst Kowalski used one of her medkits,
Wily threw a stumm grenade through a nearby door. Instantly, he heard an enraged
howling from within. Grabbing the door handle, he shouted to Kowalski to help
him as he felt a powerful wrench from the other side. Barely, he and Kowalski
managed to hold the door shut. As Kowalski looked around for something to bar
the door, she was rewarded by the sight of another of the creatures creeping out
from a darkened alcove across the room. ‘Backup better get here soon’ she
muttered.
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