Dredd took a deep breath as he wandered into his apartment after a hard day's work. He unzipped his flak jacket and unceremoniously dropped it on the couch, removing the rest of his clothing and utilities as he walked into the bedroom.
Now in civvies, he walked back into the lounge room, alert that there was some presence. He heard a small scrape as his lawgiver was picked up from the table behind him. The perp couldn't have made it easier.
No explosion.
Dredd turned around, mouth falling open as he saw the identity of the intruder.
"Rico."
"Ah, you remember me, brother. After all, it's been 20 years since you arrested me and sentenced me to hard labour on Titan."
Joe's mouth tersed at the verbal attack at his lack of familial fidelity. He nodded his head in the direction of the gun. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
"Oh, no, I wouldn't do that to family," said Rico, tauntingly. He walked forward, gun still aimed, and whispered in Joe's ear. "I believe that torture is more in order."
With that, Rico hit Joe on the back of the head, causing him to slump on the ground.
-0-
Joe groaned as he regained consciousness. In addition to the familiar aches in his body from the day's work, his head was also spinning. He realised he was lying on his bed, hands tied in front of him. Rico was lying next to him.
"Just like old times, huh, Joe?" he said icily.
Joe remained silent. In their academy years, they'd slept in the same bed many times, discussing techniques and tactics until they fell asleep. That little bit of extra study time had given them even more of an edge, and put them both in the top two of their class. Invariably, Rico would come first, and Joe second.
Joe sighed. There was nothing he could do.
He waited until the familiar feeling of sleep came over him.
-0-
When he awoke, Rico was standing next to him, dressed in his Judge's uniform. "Let the torture begin," he said with a cruel smile, then wandered into the kitchen. Joe heard the clank and rasp of metallic utensils being accessed.
After a while, he realised that Rico was only fixing breakfast. It became evident that Rico's 'torture' was psychological; to punish Joe for breaking the family bonds through keeping those bonds intact by assuring Joe's physical safety. Also, torture that he was kept from doing his duty as a Judge and was lying there, useless.
Damnit. He didn't need doubt to creep into him. Why did it affect him when others cared about him?
Rico came back with two plates of oats. Joe sat up and ate the simple yet homely breakfast, hands still handcuffed.
Rico was observing him closely, mechanically eating his own food. Joe avoided eye contact, not wanting to make it obvious how dejected he was about the bad blood between himself and the one person he'd trusted in his younger years. Suddenly Rico gritted his teeth, hurling the plate at the wall, causing it to smash. "Just lie there and rot, Joe!" he shouted. With that, he stormed out of the apartment.
Joe was left looking in his direction, stunned. He didn't know what Rico's plan was, but it obviously involved the use of his identity, probably to infiltrate Central.
There were a few whirs and beeps. "Judge Dwedd. Are you OK?"
"Walter. Get me the fuck out of these things."
"Yes, Master," said Walter the Wobot as he smashed the handcuffs. "Apologies for Walter not making his lowly pwesence known earlier, but Walter was worried about being overpowered and dismantled."
"You did well, robot," said Joe, and got into his spare uniform, musing about the situation.
Rico was obviously angry… obviously hurt. Did that mean he could reach him? And to what extent would he bend the law for a chance to save his wayward brother?
-0-
Joe strode into the Hall of Justice. He saw Anderson arguing with the Chief Judge.
"Sir, it's just not him."
"Anderson, he passed the DNA test. An exact match. Give it a rest, and give yourself a rest while you're at it."
Joe came closer. "Rico's back."
The Chief Judge's mouth fell open, and she scrambled to raise the alarm.
"Where did he go, Anderson?"
Anderson pointed to a nearby lift.
Joe ran over and pressed a button, anticipating Rico's movements. Anderson just made it into the lift, doors closing behind.
He didn't look comfortable.
"Sir?"
His mouth twitched. "You are the last person I want to be sharing a lift with, Anderson." No point hiding from a psychic.
She stared, knowing that this was a confession and that he was doubting his own motives. She scanned him.
"I'm not seeing anything other than love and caring for that guy, Rico. You're just being human, Sir," she said gently.
"Well, I'm not a human. I'm a clone, like my brother, Rico."
The doors opened, and he stormed out. He shot an alarm, causing the doors to shut and the elevator system to lock down, trapping Anderson inside.
-0-
"Rico."
His clone turned around, surprised. Joe wandered forward, not making any sudden movements. It was a weird sensation to look at someone identical, almost an out-of-body experience.
Rico smirked. "You're improving, Joe. I would have expected you to take at least another ten minutes to break out."
Joe drew his gun. "Get your hands where I can see them."
"Why don't you just shoot me," he replied sardonically.
"I don't want to hurt you, Rico."
"But you will anyway. You could have turned a blind eye or been lenient towards me, your own brother, but instead you'd treated me, judged me as a total stranger."
Joe remained still, unsure of how to resolve the situation.
Rico huffed. "That's why you always put so much pressure on yourself, always so rigid. Because you wanted to convince yourself that you had altruistic motives in arresting me, upholding the law. Because you didn't want to admit to yourself that you stabbed me in the back, got rid of me, out of jealousy."
"That's not true. You'd helped me so much in the academy. I owe you so much."
Rico sneered. "So you say. But I bet there's a part of you that just wanted me out of the picture so you could be the best."
"Arresting you was the hardest thing I've ever done!" shouted Joe. "I've been pushing myself in order to redeem your name, in order to honour your sacrifice! In order… in order to make up for my own shortcomings."
Rico's eyes narrowed. Suddenly he whipped out his lawgiver. Despite his instinct for self-preservation, he just couldn't bring himself to fire at Rico.
He waited for the disorienting feeling of being shot in the head, but nothing happened. With a sickening feeling, he realised that Rico had never intended to fire at him.
They were at a standstill.
"Lower your weapon, damnit, Rico!"
Rico smiled deviously. "I refuse to be taken captive again." He started to turn his gun towards his own head. "Would it matter whether you shoot me or I shoot myself? After all, we have the same DNA."
"No!" Joe shouted, rushing forward. At the last second, Rico twisted his hand so the gun was directly under Joe's chin. Due to the running, Joe's gun wasn't aimed at Rico, and there was no room to manoeuvre. He was trapped.
"So predictable, Joe," said Rico tauntingly. "So emotional."
He took Joe's gun away, then reached out, bringing him into an embrace. "It's all a lie. A big lie."
"I have to believe that what the Judges are doing is what's best for the city," Joe said in a subdued, raspy tone. "That if we only had more control, more manpower, we could eradicate crime and people could live a better life."
"You're a fool for blindly supporting a system that doesn't work. A system that is abused more and more as it crumbles under the weight of criminality and corruption. A system that takes away a person's freedom to defend themselves, and relies only on Judges to uphold the order."
Joe leant ever so slightly more into Rico. He knew Rico was voicing his own doubts. Doubts that he had to suppress on a daily basis and pretend he didn't have, in order to be an exemplary Judge.
"But don't worry, I'll look out for you, little brother," Rico said warmly, running his hands down Joe's back.
"Why are you the elder one, anyway? We were created at the same time," grumbled Joe.
Rico smiled. "Because I won't let you down. Ever."
Joe sighed, his emotional intuition and guilt wreaking havoc with his confidence and resolve.
Rico released him. "You ready?" he asked cheerfully.
Joe nodded.
He stood there as Rico whacked him on the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.
A/N: Not familiar with the Rico character except from Judge Dredd (1995) and the first story he appears in. I've made it so he looks exactly alike Joe, and hasn't been made into a cyborg from his time on Titan. Not sure if it's obvious, but basically both of them wanted to know that the other cared. I like the dynamic between brothers who have fallen out (thor, loki anyone?) And the ending is simply Joe admitting that the right path wasn't clear; so he let Rico go, faking being overpowered by him. I'm going to assume that Rico also has somewhat altruistic intentions as well, and they both do their own thing. xD