KAY

  See, if we’re talking about my fucked-up head versus your fucked-up head …

  As he’s talking, an invisible force compels Anderson to a kneeling position in front of him.

  … your fucked-up head is going to lose.

  Kay unzips himself.

  Speaking of head.

  We close on Kay’s upper body.

  He laughs.

  KAY

  Figured that would shut you up. Gives me a moment to think up something really –

  ANDERSON

  (off-screen)

  Hey.

  Kay jumps.

  Anderson’s voice came from over his shoulder.

  His head turns, and he sees her. She’s back in uniform, and standing directly behind him.

  ANDERSON

  I can play mind games too.

  KAY

  What the –

  Kay’s head turns again, to see who is fellating him –

  – and shouts with alarm.

  KAY

  Fuck!

  The naked woman fellating him is Ma-Ma.

  Kay pulls back like a scalded cat.

  KAY

  Aaaagh! Fuck! Jesus! FUCK! You sick bitch!

  ANDERSON

  We haven’t even started.

  Cut to:

  INT. ABANDONED PRIMARY SCHOOL ⁄ CLASSROOM – CONTINUOUS

  Stillness and quiet in the abandoned classroom.

  From what Dredd can see, there is no indication of the strange battle of wits between Anderson and Kay.

  They are both in the same positions they were in previously.

  Kay kneeling with his hands cuffed.

  Anderson standing in front of him.

  Both with their eyes closed.

  The calm moment is sustained.

  Then, abruptly, Kay pisses himself.

  As the dark stain spreads across his trousers, Anderson opens her eyes and looks at Dredd.

  ANDERSON

  Peach Trees is the manufacturing base for all the slo-mo in Mega City One. Ma-Ma is controlling the production and distribution across the whole city.

  Kay looks down at the puddle on the floor, then up at Anderson.

  In Kay’s eyes, it’s pure hatred.

  DREDD

  Interesting.

  Cut to:

  INT. MA-MA’S BASE ⁄ CCTV ROOM – NIGHT

  The Clan Techie looks under even more pressure than usual. He’s shaking with fear.

  Ma-Ma is leaning over behind him, with her head uncomfortably close to his, and her right arm around his torso.

  On the monitor in front of him, we can see the exterior of the South entrance.

  And standing by the closed blast door are three Judges.

  CLAN TECHIE

  But Ma, please – I can’t refuse them entry!

  Reveal that Ma-Ma is holding a knife across the Clan Techie’s stomach. Ready to cut.

  MA-MA

  If you want to keep your insides in, you better keep the judges out. So I guess you’d better think of something fast.

  The Clan Techie takes a steadying breath.

  Then flicks a switch on the console and speaks into his headset.

  CLAN TECHIE

  Peach Trees. Can I help you?

  On the monitor, one of the Judges speaks into the intercom.

  JUDGE

  (over intercom)

  We’re responding to a report of judges under fire from within this block.

  CLAN TECHIE

  Judges under fire? I’m not aware of any such activity. We’re actually under a scheduled nuke defence test …

  JUDGE

  (over intercom)

  Not any more you’re not. Open the blast door right now.

  Sweat rolls down the Techie’s face. But he keeps his voice under control.

  Cut to:

  EXT. PEACH TREE BLOCK ⁄ ENTRANCE – CONTINUOUS

  The entrance to the block.

  The video screen has been vandalised, but the Techie’s voice comes through the intercom.

  CLAN TECHIE

  Yes, sir. The problem is, we have a software malfunction and we’ve lost control over the system. We’ve had a fire on level seventy-six …

  The Judge glances upwards, to the hole Dredd blasted in the side of the building.

  JUDGE

  (over intercom)

  You’d better get control. Fast. Or I’m slapping you with an obstruction of justice charge. Five years in the cubes, mandatory.

  Cut to:

  INT. MA-MA’S BASE ⁄ CCTV ROOM – CONTINUOUS

  The Clan Techie. His relief palpable.

  CLAN TECHIE

  Will do, sir. On it right now.

  The Clan Techie hits the disconnect button and pulls his headset off.

  Wipes his hand over his mouth.

  Then glances round at Ma-Ma nervously.

  Beat.

  MA-MA

  Good.

  Cut to:

  INT. ABANDONED PRIMARY SCHOOL ⁄ CLASSROOM – NIGHT

  Away from Kay, Dredd and Anderson talk quietly.

  DREDD

  We have new intel about Ma-Ma, and we’ve managed to get a 10-24 call to Control. Parameters are shifting. What are our options, Anderson?

  ANDERSON

  Find a position to defend, or keep moving and attempt to avoid further detection. Same as before. Except now at least we know back-up is inbound.

  DREDD

  You’re giving us two options. Defend or hide.

  ANDERSON

  Yes, sir.

  DREDD

  What about we attack? Head straight for Ma-Ma.

  ANDERSON

  … Is that an option?

  DREDD

  She’s guilty. We’re judges.

  ANDERSON

  Sir – if back-up is inbound we should wait until the odds have shifted in our favour.

  Beat.

  … Wrong answer?

  DREDD

  You’re the psychic.

  Anderson glances at Dredd.

  Cut to:

  INT. LEVEL 125 ⁄ CORRIDOR – CONTINUOUS

  Dredd exiting from the school, into the corridor.

  He looks left and right …

  … and the corridor is empty.

  DREDD

  Clear.

  Anderson follows, leading Kay ahead of her.

  Cut to:

  INT. LEVEL 125 ⁄ CORRIDOR – CONTINUOUS

  In the recess of two doorways, opposite each other in the corridor, two young Clan, mid-teens, are hiding.

  Amos and Freel.

  They look nervous. Bright beads of sweat on the top lips. Eyes darting.

  They whisper to each other:

  AMOS

  Why didn’t you shoot them?

  FREEL

  Why didn’t you?

  Amos peeks around the recess – and sees the Judges and their prisoner, walking away from them.

  AMOS

  We could do it now.

  FREEL

  Go on then.

  Amos looks back around the recess –

  – and the corridor is empty.

  The Judges have gone.

  AMOS

  Shit.

  Amos wipes the sweat off his face with the back of his sleeve.

  Why’d have to be us that found them? (Beat.) Come on.

  INT. LEVEL 125 SHOPPING ZONE – CONTINUOUS

  Dredd, Anderson and Kay move down the corridor away from the abandoned school.

  Ahead of them, the corridor widens into a lobby area.

  It’s a mini-shopping zone – like the clusters of shops at the bases of large estate tower blocks. Metal grilles over the windows. Everything covered in the ubiquitous graffiti.

  The shops are all abandoned or closed.

  Set into the wall is a machine that looks like a large cash dispenser. It is in fact a block info point.

  There is also an elevator door.

  DREDD

  Wait.
Map point. Let’s get bearings.

  Dredd approaches the info point.

  Taps the console.

  Surprisingly, it works.

  He taps the screen.

  Brings up a map of the block, similar to the map we saw in the med centre.

  He rotates the map.

  A flashing marker reads: YOU ARE HERE.

  They are about two-thirds of way up the block.

  At that moment –

  – Amos and Freel make their move.

  AMOS

  FREEZE!

  Dredd looks round.

  By the entrance to the lobby, Amos and Freel are standing with their guns aimed respectively at Dredd and Anderson.

  A beat.

  Dredd sees –

  – the fear in their eyes. The sweat. The shake in their hands.

  Cut to –

  – Kay, who is standing beside Anderson with his hands cuffed behind him. Next to the elevator control panel.

  Cut back to –

  – Dredd.

  DREDD

  Why?

  AMOS

  … Why what?

  DREDD

  Why should I freeze?

  Amos is momentarily thrown.

  AMOS

  … Because otherwise I’ll shoot you.

  DREDD

  With the safety on.

  Amos’s eyes flick to the safety catch of his gun.

  Which is, in fact, off.

  AMOS

  It isn’t –

  The words dry up.

  In the brief instant that Amos and Freel glanced at their weapons, Dredd and Anderson have drawn their own guns, and are pointing them back at Amos and Freel.

  Amos gulps.

  DREDD

  I don’t like to kill juvies if I can help it. Drop the fucking weapons, kids.

  Cut to –

  – Kay.

  Who can see the way this is about to go.

  And now makes his move.

  The following action is fast and fluid. A surprise.

  Kay’s hands are cuffed behind him.

  In a contortionist’s move, Kay dislocates his left shoulder, then sweeps his looped arms over his head.

  Now, like magic, his cuffed hands are in front of his body.

  It’s an amazing trick, and he’s obviously been waiting for the right moment to do it.

  Anderson is reacting to Kay’s move –

  – but she’s too slow. Kay has grabbed her gun, forced his finger over her trigger finger, and jammed the aim in Dredd’s direction.

  And now Anderson’s gun is firing.

  Almost simultaneously, panicked by the sudden explosion of action, Amos and Freel open fire.

  Dredd dives for cover.

  As he dives –

  DREDD

  Stun.

  The ammo swaps on his gun –

  – as Dredd rolls to upright position and returns fire.

  Amos and Freel are dropped by stun rounds.

  And when Dredd brings his gun to bear on where Anderson and Kay should be –

  – he sees Kay has twisted Anderson’s gun back against her head, and has backed into the now open elevator doors.

  A glimpse between Dredd and Anderson.

  Then the elevator doors close.

  INT. ELEVATOR – CONTINUOUS

  The elevator is rising.

  Still gripping Anderson, Kay slams his shoulder against the side of the lift, popping it back in to place.

  Looks unbelievably painful, but Kay deals with it.

  KAY

  Wow.

  Kay pushes the gun harder against Anderson’s head.

  You are so fucked.

  INT. LEVEL 125 SHOPPING ZONE – CONTINUOUS

  Amos and Freel lie on the floor, dazed, gasping for breath.

  Dredd turns …

  … watching the digital display show the position of the lift.

  The numbers rise – all the way up to 200.

  Then stop.

  On Dredd’s face, cut to:

  INT. MA-MA’S BASE ⁄ LOBBY – CONTINUOUS

  Kay. Back on home turf – and a hero. Dragging Anderson through a group of Clan, who are cheering the capture of one of the Judges, and slapping Kay on the back.

  One of them spits at Anderson.

  Kay throws Anderson to the floor.

  KAY

  Now then. What am I going to do with you?

  MA-MA

  You’re going to do nothing.

  Kay turns.

  Sees, coming through the Clan, Ma-Ma and her Bodyguards.

  MA-MA

  All this trouble is your doing. When you got busted, you should have killed the judges or been killed yourself. But instead, you let yourself get taken. Like the dumb fuck you are.

  KAY

  But –

  Ma-Ma silences him with a vicious blow from the back of her hand.

  MA-MA

  Shut the fuck up. I’d kill you myself, but I already lost plenty today, and I can’t afford to lose more.

  Ma-Ma turns to Anderson. Looks her up and down.

  Sooner or later, the Justice Department is going to come through the blast doors, looking for their judges. And they’ll find their bodies, all shot up. One on level twenty-five, and one in the slo-mo den they took down. Just a bust that went wrong.

  Ma-Ma’s hand reaches back and closes around Kay’s hair, allowing her to yank his head close to hers.

  MA-MA

  That means no torture. No raping. No skinning. Just a bunch of bullets in the head and chest. You understand me?

  Kay hesitates.

  Ma-Ma’s fist tightens so hard we can see the hairs getting pulled out of Kay’s head.

  MA-MA

  Do you fucking understand me?

  KAY

  Yes.

  MA-MA

  Good.

  At that moment –

  – the Clan Techie arrives.

  CLAN TECHIE

  Ma.

  Ma-Ma turns. Wipes stray hairs from her hand.

  The guy looks worried.

  CLAN TECHIE

  You’d better come quick.

  INT. MA-MA’S BASE ⁄ CCTV ROOM – CONTINUOUS

  Ma-Ma, followed by Kay, enters the CCTV room.

  The Clan Techie is hurriedly working his console.

  MA-MA

  Now what?

  CLAN TECHIE

  It’s the other judge. He’s patched himself into one of the terminals. I think he’s trying to access the PA.

  MA-MA

  Can’t you stop him?

  CLAN TECHIE

  I can shut down the whole system. But if we let him talk, I can trace which terminal he’s using. We’ll know exactly where he is.

  On cue, over the Tannoy, Dredd’s voice cuts in.

  DREDD’S VOICE

  Inhabitants of Peach Trees. This is Judge Dredd.

  The Clan Techie looks back to Ma-Ma.

  MA-MA

  Let him talk.

  INT. ATRIUM – CONTINUOUS

  Dredd’s voice echoes down the whole atrium.

  All around the balconies and apartments, the Citizens, many of them armed, listen.

  DREDD’S VOICE

  In case you people have forgotten: this block operates under the same rules as the rest of the city. Ma-Ma is not the law. I am the law.

  Beat.

  Ma-Ma is a common criminal.

  On Ma-Ma’s face:

  DREDD’S VOICE

  Guilty of murder. Guilty of the manufacture and distribution of the narcotic known as slo-mo.

  Ma-Ma’s head snaps round to Kay.

  The look in her eyes silences him.

  DREDD’S VOICE

  And as of now, under sentence of death.

  Cut to –

  – groups of armed Clan.

  DREDD’S VOICE

  Any who obstruct me in carrying out my duty will be treated as an accessory to her crimes. You have been warned.

  The
Clan exchange glances.

  Cut to:

  Ma-Ma.

  DREDD’S VOICE

  As for you, Ma-Ma …

  Cut to:

  Close up on Dredd’s mouth.

  DREDD

  Judgement time.

  INT. MA-MA’S BASE ⁄ CCTV ROOM – CONTINUOUS

  As the Tannoy cuts out, we find Ma-Ma.

  Beside her, Kay, ashen-faced.

  Behind her, the Clan Techie, appearing.

  CLAN TECHIE

  I’ve got him. He’s only ten levels below us. South Quad balcony. Terminal five.

  Cut to:

  INT. LEVEL 190 ⁄ CORRIDORS – NIGHT

  Two groups of Clan, automatic weapons in hand, run down corridors, exiting on to the –

  INT. LEVEL 191 ⁄ BALCONY – CONTINUOUS

  From the point of view of the opposite balcony, either one or two levels up …

  … we watch the group of Clan, automatic weapons in hand, move down the balcony …

  … converging on Terminal Five: one of the information access booths dotted around the block.

  Through the frosted glass of the booth, we can just make out the shape of a tall man.

  We watch them making hand signals to each other.

  Then raise their weapons.

  Then one inches forwards …

  … and opens the door.

  Revealing the body of a Clan member.

  Shot dead. Held upright by the plasti-cuffs that secure him to the terminal console.

  Reveal –

  – we have been watching from the point of view of Dredd.

  DREDD

  Incendiary.

  The setting on Dredd’s gun changes.

  Then he opens up.

  Three phosphorus rounds are fired down to the balcony of level 190. They leave a white plume like the vapour trail of a plane on a blue sky. A few metres before their target, the rounds blossom into a scatter of multiple phosphorus particles which engulf the clan below.

  Dredd walks, calmly shooting. Spreading the flame. Until it is a wall of fire.

  Out of which, a blazing Clan member blinded, panic-stricken, throws himself into the void of the atrium.

  INT. MA-MA’S BASE ⁄ CCTV ROOM – CONTINUOUS

  Kay, Ma-Ma and the Clan Techie look at the devastation on the monitor.

  KAY

  Holy shit. How the fuck are we going to stop this guy?