History[]
Treasure Steel is a supporting character from the Judge Dredd Megazine strip Armitage who sometimes has her own strip. A veteran Detective Judge in Brit-Cit, she is the longtime partner of Detective Judge Armitage, being one of the few people alive who can actually stand him. Unlike Armitage, Treasure is a generally fairly relaxed and positive person, though you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of her.
Treasure's wife, Terry (short for Theresa) is an installation artist. They have a son called Callum who was conceived using futuristic technology which combined their DNA, randomised so that they didn't know before he was born whether he would be a boy or a girl. Armitage provided the spermatozoon, which was first stripped of his DNA. (No, I don't know where Callum's Y chromosome came from either. It's a science fiction series featuring sentient robots and dimension jump technology, so it's best not to get pedantic about such matters.) Treasure and Terry have a somewhat rocky relationship, because Terry thinks that Treasure takes her and Callum for granted, and Treasure thinks that Terry doesn't understand her and how difficult her life is.
Having spent most of her life believing that she had grown up in an orphanage in Manchester, Treasure was shocked to discover that those memories were false and she was, in fact, a bespoke assassin manufactured by Biomorph™ Industries. She and those like her had been custom-bred from Thai genetic materials, force-gestated and then put in a huge warehouse and left to fend for themselves. They were given food supplies that weren't enough to feed all of them, so they had to fight each other for nourishment. The survivors faced a second cull. The ones who survived that were put through rigorous training so that they would be the crème de la crème of killers. However, having gone through all that, Treasure was deemed unsuitable for an assassin's life because of "an innate sense of morality that fell outside acceptable parameters." She had her memory wiped and was sent to Hendon police academy instead.
The collapse of Treasure's cover memories as an adult caused her to exhibit violent, impulsive and irrational behaviour, such as dropping a suspect (fortunately caught by Armitage) out of a window. At least, that was what Armitage said. Whether or not he was bending the truth to protect her from losing her job and her sanity is unknown. Once Treasure knew the truth about her origins, she was able to make peace with herself and return to being a competent and reasonably well-adjusted Detective Judge.
Powers and abilities[]
Abilities
Armed and unarmed combat. She once overpowered two armed Detective Judges using nothing but her bare hands.
Strength level
Peak human female.
Weaknesses
Kebabs.
Paraphernalia[]
Transportation
Police vehicles.
Weapons
Carries a big gun and knows how to use it. Has also been known to carry a switchsword (like a switchblade, but bigger).
Notes[]
Treasure has also featured in her own series (Megazine Vol II issues # 34-35, by Dave Stone and Adrian Salmon) and teamed up with Judge Hershey (Hershey and Steel: Degenomancer, by Dave Stone and Charlie Adlard, in Megazine Vol III #35-36).
Trivia[]
- It took Treasure 2,500 extra hours of work to qualify as a plainclothes Detective Judge.
- Treasure once 'hacked' an AI by threatening to smash it with a hammer unless it gave her the information she wanted.
Links[]
- Appearances of Treasure Steel
- Character Gallery: Treasure Steel
- Images that feature Treasure Steel
- Fan-Art Gallery: Treasure Steel
- Treasure Steel quotations
Discover and Discuss[]
- Search News for: Treasure Steel · Treasure Steel