Another one-off story...
Jun. 10th, 2005 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ffuturesTrying to get some housework done for visitors tomorrow, thought I'd take a break for a while and type a little idea I've had in my head for a while. First time I've tried typing a story directly into LiveJournal, be interested to see if it's coherent.
It's a BtVS / CHiPS crossover, incidentally, and if that doesn't make you run away screaming nothing will...
Assume, for the sake of argument, that all the usual disclaimers are here... No spoilers to speak of.
No Go Area
By Marcus L. Rowland
1977
Ponch has been riding patrol for a couple of days when he hears the rumour for the first time. It's another week before someone gives it a name; Sunnydale, the place where the CHP doesn't go. He finds it on the map, with difficulty, checks patrol routes, and realises that the rumours are true. The whole incorporated area around the city, a few hundred square miles in all, isn't on any route. The closest route takes a long detour through back roads to avoid the place. He asks around, discreetly, finds that none of the other probationers know any more; it's a thing, something the experienced officers never talk about.
About the first thing that happens after his probation ends is that he's taken into a back office and given the "official" version. According to the Captain, the state budget has never authorised funds to extend the patrol routes to Sunnydale; back in the earliest days the whole town, plus a couple of dozen areas that are mostly desert, were specifically excluded for one reason or another. When it was time to modernise things, there was a political argument that left Sunndale out, and things have never been put right. The Sunnydale PD has funding to compensate, and handle things for themselves. It's a matter of "stiff-necked pride" that they never call in the CHP.
Ponch checks. It's more or less true, but for some reason it's never discussed in the state legislature. It's as though the politicians want to forget the place.
It's about this time that he hears the unofficial version. Sunnydale is run by the mob, and they keep things nice and quiet. Any crook causing trouble ends up buried in the desert. The Sunnydale cops are on the take, totally in the Mob's pocket, and won't rock the boat by co-operating with the CHP. If you go into Sunnydale you're on your own. Period.
1979
There's a stolen car hitting 130 towards Sunnydale, a bunch of punks who took out a rival gang in a drive-by shooting. Ponch and Jon are slowly losing ground, Ponch calls for backup. The Captain tells them to break off pursuit and head back; the Sunnydale PD has been notified, it's their problem now. Ponch argues, but ten minutes later they hit a Sunnydale PD roadblock. They say they're inspecting fruit trucks for dangerous insects; they've been there an hour and haven't seen the car. Ponch isn't buying it, there hasn't been a side road since they lost the punks, but when he tries to complain the Sunnydale cops draw their weapons. The message is clear, get out and stay out. He reports it to Internal Affairs, after the investigation he's docked a week's pay for disobeying orders.
A week later an ambulance drops five dead perps at the mortuary. Seems they spun off the road, ended up upside down in a flooded gulley. All of them seem to have neck injuries and multiple fractures, should have been wearing seat belts. Except that the marks on their bodies suggest they were. The other two punks believed to have been in the car are never found.
1983
It's a regular routine, though none of the cops really talk about it. If you're dealing with real scum, rapists and child molesters, let them "escape" towards Sunnydale and tip off the local cops. A few are caught and handed back to the CHP, most turn up dead, a few just disappear. No muss, no fuss. When Ponch quits the force to concentrate on his art it's still going on.
1999
Ponch returns to LA for a few days, ends up working a case with Jon. In the late night bullshit sessions one name is never mentioned. Eventually Ponch asks. Fifteen years, and nothing's changed; Sunnydale is the Patrol's garbage disposal.
2001
Ponch has never been in Sunndale as a cop. He goes in finally as a civilian, taking some paintings to the local gallery. Everyone he meets seems a little on edge, somehow, but nobody seems to want to talk about it, and though there's no obvious cause the place gives him the creeps. He doesn't stay long. A few weeks later there's a call; the owner of the gallery has died, the work that hasn't sold is being shipped back to him by the administrators of the estate. She'd seemed a nice woman; he sends flowers, addressed to her family care of the gallery, and hopes that they're in time for the funeral. A few days later someone called 'B. Summers' sends a thank-you note.
2003
Ponch is painting when he hears the news on the radio. Something strange has happened to Sunnydale, the whole damn town has fallen into caves. He switches on the TV, watches the helicopter view. There's nothing left, just a gigantic crater gouged out of the edge of the coast, rapidly filling with water. It's as dramatic as all hell.
2004
A year to the day after the disaster, Ponch is painting at the edge of the crater, trying to remember the way it looked on TV the day the city fell. There's a small crowd at the end of the old road, setting up a memorial, every now and again someone wanders over to see what he's painting.
"That's not right," says the latest woman. Ponch looks at her, a short blonde with a deep tan. "The whole town was gone before the water started rolling in, you've got waves taking out some of the buildings."
"It's artistic license."
"It's wrong." She walks away again, rejoins the crowd. By the time he thinks to ask her why she's so sure she's gone.
End.
Comments please before I post to archives.
It's a BtVS / CHiPS crossover, incidentally, and if that doesn't make you run away screaming nothing will...
Assume, for the sake of argument, that all the usual disclaimers are here... No spoilers to speak of.
By Marcus L. Rowland
1977
Ponch has been riding patrol for a couple of days when he hears the rumour for the first time. It's another week before someone gives it a name; Sunnydale, the place where the CHP doesn't go. He finds it on the map, with difficulty, checks patrol routes, and realises that the rumours are true. The whole incorporated area around the city, a few hundred square miles in all, isn't on any route. The closest route takes a long detour through back roads to avoid the place. He asks around, discreetly, finds that none of the other probationers know any more; it's a thing, something the experienced officers never talk about.
About the first thing that happens after his probation ends is that he's taken into a back office and given the "official" version. According to the Captain, the state budget has never authorised funds to extend the patrol routes to Sunnydale; back in the earliest days the whole town, plus a couple of dozen areas that are mostly desert, were specifically excluded for one reason or another. When it was time to modernise things, there was a political argument that left Sunndale out, and things have never been put right. The Sunnydale PD has funding to compensate, and handle things for themselves. It's a matter of "stiff-necked pride" that they never call in the CHP.
Ponch checks. It's more or less true, but for some reason it's never discussed in the state legislature. It's as though the politicians want to forget the place.
It's about this time that he hears the unofficial version. Sunnydale is run by the mob, and they keep things nice and quiet. Any crook causing trouble ends up buried in the desert. The Sunnydale cops are on the take, totally in the Mob's pocket, and won't rock the boat by co-operating with the CHP. If you go into Sunnydale you're on your own. Period.
1979
There's a stolen car hitting 130 towards Sunnydale, a bunch of punks who took out a rival gang in a drive-by shooting. Ponch and Jon are slowly losing ground, Ponch calls for backup. The Captain tells them to break off pursuit and head back; the Sunnydale PD has been notified, it's their problem now. Ponch argues, but ten minutes later they hit a Sunnydale PD roadblock. They say they're inspecting fruit trucks for dangerous insects; they've been there an hour and haven't seen the car. Ponch isn't buying it, there hasn't been a side road since they lost the punks, but when he tries to complain the Sunnydale cops draw their weapons. The message is clear, get out and stay out. He reports it to Internal Affairs, after the investigation he's docked a week's pay for disobeying orders.
A week later an ambulance drops five dead perps at the mortuary. Seems they spun off the road, ended up upside down in a flooded gulley. All of them seem to have neck injuries and multiple fractures, should have been wearing seat belts. Except that the marks on their bodies suggest they were. The other two punks believed to have been in the car are never found.
1983
It's a regular routine, though none of the cops really talk about it. If you're dealing with real scum, rapists and child molesters, let them "escape" towards Sunnydale and tip off the local cops. A few are caught and handed back to the CHP, most turn up dead, a few just disappear. No muss, no fuss. When Ponch quits the force to concentrate on his art it's still going on.
1999
Ponch returns to LA for a few days, ends up working a case with Jon. In the late night bullshit sessions one name is never mentioned. Eventually Ponch asks. Fifteen years, and nothing's changed; Sunnydale is the Patrol's garbage disposal.
2001
Ponch has never been in Sunndale as a cop. He goes in finally as a civilian, taking some paintings to the local gallery. Everyone he meets seems a little on edge, somehow, but nobody seems to want to talk about it, and though there's no obvious cause the place gives him the creeps. He doesn't stay long. A few weeks later there's a call; the owner of the gallery has died, the work that hasn't sold is being shipped back to him by the administrators of the estate. She'd seemed a nice woman; he sends flowers, addressed to her family care of the gallery, and hopes that they're in time for the funeral. A few days later someone called 'B. Summers' sends a thank-you note.
2003
Ponch is painting when he hears the news on the radio. Something strange has happened to Sunnydale, the whole damn town has fallen into caves. He switches on the TV, watches the helicopter view. There's nothing left, just a gigantic crater gouged out of the edge of the coast, rapidly filling with water. It's as dramatic as all hell.
2004
A year to the day after the disaster, Ponch is painting at the edge of the crater, trying to remember the way it looked on TV the day the city fell. There's a small crowd at the end of the old road, setting up a memorial, every now and again someone wanders over to see what he's painting.
"That's not right," says the latest woman. Ponch looks at her, a short blonde with a deep tan. "The whole town was gone before the water started rolling in, you've got waves taking out some of the buildings."
"It's artistic license."
"It's wrong." She walks away again, rejoins the crowd. By the time he thinks to ask her why she's so sure she's gone.
End.
Comments please before I post to archives.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-06-10 03:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-10 03:47 pm (UTC)You typed that directly into LJ? That is just freakin' amazing! This story is fantastic! And it believably fits in with CHiPs cannon.
Excuse me while I wibble.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-10 03:57 pm (UTC)I will admit to checking a CHiPS website a couple of times while I was writing it, I don't think we saw all the episodes here.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-10 05:02 pm (UTC)Nice work.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-10 07:29 pm (UTC)As scary as this sounds, I actually just went to "CHiPs" Online, because I didn't remember the art thing for Ponch. I looked at a couple of different episode recaps, but I didn't read them all, so I guess it could have been mentioned at some point. The art thing is mentioned in their recap of the CHiPs '99 tv-movie. However, according to that site, Ponch quit to take care of his son and sick wife. When she died, he "started painting to get his mind off of it."
Despite the slight canon issue that I honestly can't believe I took the time to look up, I think this works very well. Ponch's decision to pursue the bad guys until a gun gets pointed at him is totally in character.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-10 11:46 pm (UTC)"When Ponch quits the force to concentrate on his art it's still going on."
to
"It's still going on when his wife's illness is diagnosed, and he quits the CHP to look after her and his son. After her death Ponch decides to concentrate on his art and doesn't return."
I won't be posting this until tonight or tomorrow, I have guests later, so if anyone can fill in the details I'd be grateful.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-10 10:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-10 11:51 pm (UTC)A Few Challenges
Date: 2005-06-11 06:16 am (UTC)Here's three for you:-
Manimal
Street Hawk
The Fall Guy (my fav show growing up).
Very well-written, and Ponch's method of dealing with demons was interesting.
Re: A Few Challenges
Date: 2005-06-11 06:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-11 11:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-13 02:59 am (UTC)Or not.