"You know something they don't tell you about being a judge?" Hebert Dredd said, flicking his cigarette in his glass ashtray and taking a sip of whiskey from his glass. "They don't tell you just how boring the job is."
Herbert Dredd shuffled a deck of cards, giving himself and the police officer he was playing with seven cards each.
"You hear the same damn arguments," Dredd said. "Insanity for a mass murderer, some far off stretch for injuries to personality. You spend four hours of your day listening to these arrogant assholes using the same damn Latin words and same damn arguments to a group of twelve dumbass jury members who have no idea what's going on and can be easily swayed."
"Why are you telling me this?" asked the police officer.
"Oh, I know I'm going to die," Dredd said. "Made peace with death ages ago. That clown is going to come in and kill me and that'll be that. Figure I got nothing to lose."
Dredd pointed at the cigarettes and the half empty bottle of bourbon that he had at his side. "I mean is this anyway a judge should act, specially when he's surrounded by over a hundred cops and hell, The Batman."
The officer chuckled. "Fair enough."
"I figured," Judge Dredd drank his beer, placing his card on the pile in the middle. The officer stared and then picked a card from the deck. "I figured there must be something, you know? Something that'd make the job more interesting."
Judge Dredd scratched his snowy white hair and chuckled. "Can't believe I'm telling you this," he mumbled.
Dredd cleared his throat. "I figured there must be something I can do to spice things up and the idea came up to me during Harvey Dent's trail."
The officer played two cards card. It was a 2 of spades and a two of hearts. Dredd had to pick four cards from the deck.
"Now, Harvey Dent, that was a district attorney if I ever saw one," Dredd said, chuckling. "Man was on fire in a courtroom and always fought until he got the result he wanted. He made the job a little less boring. But before any major decision Dent made in trial, he did something. Bastard flipped a coin. Before calling an incriminating witness, flip. Before presenting a piece of evidence, flip. He left it all up to chance and I must say, overseeing that trial I was impressed, intrigued even. I didn't tell anybody about the coin so you shouldn't either."
Dredd cleared his throat before continuing. "Now there was this one case. Defamation suit for some company. I knew that the company would win, always happens. Their lawyers always find a way. But before the trial for some damn reason I was reminded of Dent, flipping away at his coin and well, I had a few nickels on me. Heads for the plaintiff, tails for the defendant. I flipped and voila."
There was a sizzling noise as Dredd snubbed the cigarette in his ashtray and smiled. "The thing about juries is that they're stupid. Real stupid and they can be easily misled. When people say that American Justice is a joke well, they ain't lying. I mean just look back at the prohibition and George Remus. The defendant had a hell of a good argument, companies I tell you. Always find a way to win." Dredd took a sip from his whiskey. "But the coin. The coin landed on tails."
...
Peter hadn't gotten any sleep.
The only thing he could think about the entire night was all those bodies and the smell, the smell didn't leave. He smelt the smell of exposed flesh everywhere and could barely stomach his breakfast. He even woke up in the middle of the night to puke cause the image of buried bodies was seared into his brain with a burning stick.
"Peter?" Aunt May said, turning to face him, concern plastered all over her face. "Are you okay? You look a little pale."
Peter flashed her a weak smile. He didn't want her to worry. "I'm fine."
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Batman and Spider-man
FanficBatman must learn to work together with an energetic vigilante as high-tech Vibranium weapons circle around the streets of Gotham. (This story is also on RoyalRoad.com)