Ok, so why am I taking forever to write new chapters. First, I have lost some of the fire. Maybe I need to watch the movie again. Second, we are moving. And not just down the street, or to a new city, or even to another state. We are moving to JAPAN! Woop Woop.
Ok here is chapter 10. Review and I might write the next chapter faster. Next chapter is introducing a new character who is really going to piss Dredd off. More jealousy is coming and this one is valid
Birgitta

10. Messiah.

The night proves painful and long. How could I sleep peacefully when there is a pressing possibility that she could be going against her word and be searching my mind? If I was to dream, and dream of her, she would be able to see it all. Awake, I can somewhat control my thoughts. Asleep, I would be powerless to stop the building needs from manifesting itself into steaming scenarios. Is she was to enter my mind; I would surely show her all the ways I wish to possess her.

It is weakness to want this much. It is weakness to let someone know. It is weakness to act on it. It is too late for the first. I am too far gone. The second, I will both have to trust her in keeping her word and, just in case, attempt to shield my mind from invasion. As for the third… I am Judge Dredd and I am used to fighting. I am used to defeating and winning. I am used to crushing the enemy, moving on, and never looking back. Yet… I have never met an opponent like her and I have never fought this kind of battle before.

"I'm in hell," I grumble and rise off the bed, deeming it pointless to try any longer.

I might as well face the truth which is that sleep will not come. She has taken away all my ability to relax and rest. Instead, there is constant tension and hardness in me. Feelings and physical reactions guide me now. I both hate and love it.

I rub my eyes hard and look over at the time to note that the time is surprisingly 4:47. I have slept. Not a full night but long enough for dreams to have come. What did they entail? Anything revealing, anything secret, and anything I'd rather keep forever unknown? I cannot know. Just as I cannot know if she has made her threat real and trespassed my mind in the night to learn the truth of my recent odd behavior.

'But in an hour or two, I will know. When she awakens and her eyes find mine. If she has learned of my hidden desires, her eyes will tell me.'

Shower, dress, eat, brush, helmet, weapon, wait… wait… wait…

Slightly an hour later the door opens and the waiting is over. Tension as my eyes meet hers and I get ready to deny.

"Good morning."

A plain greeting with nothing other than… than…

I study her normally pale features and there is a flush across her cheeks. She is blushing and her gaze hardly dares to meet mine. I realize that she has not learned my secrets and I have nothing to fear but rather that she has secrets that she fears for me to learn of.

'Secrets about what or who?'

"Good morning," I reply, my eyes trying to penetrate her and dig out the answers to my questions.

Of course, it is useless for I am no mutant and I have no special abilities, or at least, no special abilities on a psychic level. I can shoot a man in the head no problem, pull out my knife and cut the head open, and I can even crush a man's skull with pure blunt fist power. But enter someone's mind and retract information? This, I cannot do. Possession of this skill is what sets her apart from the rest of us. It is this skill that makes her special, unique, and desired above all others.

"I didn't sleep well. Too many thoughts… thoughts of others… like me," she says and reaches for a bowl of oatmeal. "It's been forever since I've come across others. And the ones I have met, sensed…" She stops there to eat and contemplate, her eyes taking on such severity. She doesn't finish until her bowl has been emptied and her coffee drunk past the half point. "We don't exactly acknowledge each other. We try our best to fit in. Being called a mutant and a freak, it's…"

Her voice fades and silence all together. If I could read her mind, like she can read mine, I am sure that I would be drowning in this very instance. I'd be drowning in her pain and heartbreak.

Despite it all, a small smile as she fights past the memories. "Let's just say that it's not easy and it's not pleasant, especially when you are a child. All you want is to fit in. I never thought I would; fit in and be accepted. So you can imagine my surprise when they took me in to the program, and not despite of my mutation, but because of it. It took years until I began to understand… understand my value. In truth, it wasn't until I got paired with you. Working with you have made me realize that I am special… you make me feel special."

'Special.'

The word, which so perfectly describes her, echoes inside of me and I feel myself slip. Soft kissable lips within my reach and an overwhelming desire to lean in nearly overtake me. Nearly…

I clear my throat and dash for the door. If I don't dash I might turn in a fool and do something foolish. There is no time, place, or circumstance where I can afford to be acting like a fool. Too much on the line and too many people's survival counting on me to do the right thing. And acting like a fool, acting on my feelings, certainly isn't the right thing. So I mutter something about seeing what the perp has found and that the corrupt will pay, as I head out to my bike.

I've set the perp up nicely. Better than I should. No matter what Anderson says, he is a perp. He enabled Ma-Ma and her clan's criminal activities with his technological expertise. And now he is to enable our activities. Why I do not know. Anderson has given me a reason but I do not believe it. And because of this, I do not trust him.

"8? You've already found 8?" Anderson gasps and I walk up to the screen to study the names. Anderson lays a hand on the perp's weak bony shoulders and I have to force myself to resist the urge to remove it. "Did you sleep at all?"

Her voice filled with such worry over him and I have to turn around. The feelings welling up inside of me resembles…

'Jealousy? Could it be?'

No, first of all he is no one and second Judge Dredd does not feel jealousy. I stand above such weak emotions. Jealousy comes from insecurity and inferiority. I neither feel nor am either. It is not jealously, it is… is… sense of precaution. He cannot be trusted and it is my duty to protect her. Because of this perp, we were locked inside the Mega Block where we nearly died. Anderson may have the heart to forgive him but I do not. To me, he is a perp and therefore below us and certainly below her. He does not deserve her touch and affection.

'Who does?'

I shake off the question uttered by my annoying innerself. Lately, my inner voice has been pissing me off, asking question I neither want to hear nor answer. Like I don't have enough shit going on: corrupt Judges, new Captain, boarding a perp, locating psychics…

Anderson continues for she has no idea of what battle I am fighting. "You are allowed to rest and sleep. We are not the Ma-Ma clan. You will not get punished for taking a break. No one will hurt you." The perp's technologically altered eyes carefully zoom in on me and I can't resist a grin. Anderson sees and scolding glare freezes the grin on my face. "No one!" She repeats, making it clear for all. She grabs the print out with the names and give his shoulder a last squeeze. "Eat, rest, and sleep. You're safe here."

She hands me the list as we head out and I program in the addresses. Anderson may be a psychic and these may be her people, but I know the streets and I know strategy better than anyone. And I have also learned, the hard way, that even your own cannot be trusted. Mega City 1 is not for the weak, stupid, and gullible. You're one of those things; you're dead.

"I don't know what you are talking about. I don't know nothing about no physic abilities. I'm not a freak! I'm not a mutant!"

We are in the staircase of a Mega Block. Dirt and dust surrounds us and I am having flash-feelings back to when we trapped in Peachtree. Despite wanting to get the hell out of here as soon as possible, I stand back and watch it unfold. Anderson has one of her own cornered like an animal. It's not safe so I don't stray far yet I give Anderson the space she needs to convince. Saying it outloud, admitting, cannot be easy. She has probably been in denial all her life. Like Anderson said; trying to fit in and not being judged as a freak.

"We are Judges and we need you. We need your ability. I can feel your physic power but it is weak, maybe a 4 classification. I can help you. I can make you stronger, faster, and able to read multiple people."

She laughs, a woman of perhaps 22 with long uncombed hair and skinny physic dressed in soiled dress, looking at Anderson as if she is mad. "Why would I want that? Why would I want to increase this curse?"

"Because it is a gift, not a curse." There's another laugh and Anderson steps closer, trapping the woman even further. I grow nervous for trapped animals can often turn dangerous. "I am a class 8 psychic and a Judge. That is Judge Dredd and I am partner. Do you understand what I am saying? It is NOT a curse. It is a GIFT, highly desirable and highly useful. Come with us. Let me make you stronger and you will have a new purpose in life."

A spark of new interest and perhaps hope lights up her pale blue. "What purpose?"

Anderson's features take on her signature smile as she sees victory up ahead. "Once ready, you will be assigned to a group of Judges. You will lead them and they will protect you. You will be part of the new weapon against crime. Are you ready? Do you want it? Or, do you want to stay here?"

The woman looks around and sees what I see: filth, poverty, and a no-way-out future. There is nothing here but more of the same that she has endured for years. The choice is easy… if she has any sense in her.

Proves she does. And as the day goes on, more psychics fall in. It is like Anderson explained; they all want to be a part of something great. They are tired of hiding and pretending they are the same as everyone else. All their life, they have kept their true self hidden because they had believed their gift to be something ugly and something to be ashamed of.

But now, there is hope. Now, there is Anderson. To them she is like a Messiah; here to deliver them from a life of misery and despair. She will teach them, guide them, and make them into weapons more feared than a Judge. She will turn this Mega city around. She will save us all.