Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Snazzy!

You leave the lounge and see Dredd is already a good distance down the hall as he hurries to the bar brawl Halo tipped him off about. Hurrying after him, you keep him in sight until the sounds of said brawl reach your ears and Dredd enters a door at the bottom of the corridor. It doesn't take you long to get there, but when you arrive the place is already in uproar, the dance-floor area of the bar filled with a mass of angry, shouting, warring characters. Dredd is nearby, calling for order and dispensing some instant justice to the nearest heads with his day-stick. You spot Slaine in the thick of it all, warped into a gigantic lumbering beast, swinging his arms a christmas tree and knocking lumps out of anybody who gets into range.



You see Slaine's wife Niamh throwing a punch at a lumpy-headed mutant, who ducks so her fist plows into the face of a huge man with a half metal skull and a dial on his forehead. The Mean Machine roars, turning his dial up to 4 and charging, scattering everyone in his path. "This is chaos," you gasp, and are about to turn around and leave when your eye goes to a dark-haired woman in a tight dress, who you see hops up on to the bar counter before swinging her legs over and dropping down on the other side. You notice she has a gun in her hand as she approaches a door in the wall, opens it, and vanishes through. Judge Dredd, busy making his way into the thick of the action, doesn't appear to have noticed the woman, who is familiar to you, but who you just can't place. Wondering if this could have anything to do with the Dictators of Zrags' plot you decide to investigate, skirting the dance-floor and the brawling masses to reach the bar and clamber over the counter. A monstrous roar from Slaine is the last thing you hear before you ease open the wooden door and follow the woman into a large store room - immediately ducking to avoid a screaming projectile that is hurtling towards you! "Ay-yi-yiiiiiiii!" screams the strange stick-shaped robot, as it spins through the air and crashes into a shelf full of vodka bottles. "Stogie!" a female voice cries out, and you look ahead to find the dark-haired woman - Samantha Slade, you realise - being held aloft by a four-eyed assailant dressed like a bar man. Samantha's blaster lies on the floor nearby but you can see she got off a few rounds. A number of sizzling, sparking holes in the bar man's head and torso reveal him to be not a man at all, but a robot! This must be the imposter! Becoming aware of your presence, the robot tosses Samantha into a pile of beer kegs and turns to stride to the back of the room, where a Christmas tree is located. Stooping to retrieve one of the gift-wrapped parcels that surround the base of the tree, it turns to face you, holding the box up before its face - and pressing buttons on the electronic device attached to it. "Time, ladies and gentlemen!" the robot cackles, as Samantha attempts to climb free of the kegs. "Last orders puh-leeeze!!!"



Do you...

Run out into the bar to get Dredd, or...

Attempt to do something about this yourself?