London's Burning - Hoax

Written by: Gemma, Nat, Naomi and Ayms.
Archive: Just ask Gemma.
Spoilers: None.
Summary: The Watch put up with a sleepless night as a hoaxer is in the area...

Gemma:

Silence...

Pure silence...

Peacefulness, that was something the Watch definitely needed.

The current count - 6 hoax calls. The first two were to an Electricity generating plant, the second two were to a gas works and the last two... were reported skip fires, which were non - existant.

The Watch laid on their beds in the dorm, most of them asleep, apart from the odd person or the person who was half asleep, half awake.

Then the silence was broken once again, that familar ringing out once again.

"I swear someone out there is..." Charlie groaned as he lept out of his bed, watching Craig sleepily stumble to his feet as he blinked his eyes at different intervals, trying to clear his vision.

"Could be Keith again," Craig stated as he put Charlie into a pondering state.

~True... very true...~

Keith definitely didn't like Charlie, he could tell that from the first time they met, if you call walking into a bloke while carrying a pile of files for the Guv'nor, meeting.

Keith just didn't like the fact that Lisa worked with a load of single men day in, day out, who appreciated her and some of them fancying her.

"If it is Keith I swear..." Charlie threatened.

By this time the other members of the Watch had moved on from the dorms and were making their way downstairs...

Nat:

Frank was the first to the watch room, having been wide awake his responses were alot quicker then the members which had been asleep.

"RTA, Hammerpond Road, 2 cars and a bike involved, both" He called

They all boared the appliances and made there way to Hammerpond Road

^Time laspe^

20minutes had gone and the appliances, had circled the area for 10 of those going round and round in circles

"Does Hammerpond Road actually exisit?" Craig asked,

"To be honest mate i don't know" Mick replied totally confused by the situation.

Naomi:

Mick turned to George, "George, you know the roads round here better than anyone, ever heard of it?"

"No, but it could be a side street or something" George admitted, not taking his eyes off the street ahead of him as he looked for signs saying Hammerpond Road.

"Well, I've never heard of it. And it sounds like a stupid road name anyway, if you ask me. It's probably another hoax" Adam commented, in the back next to Craig.

"We'll go round once more, just in case" Mick said, then relayed the information to Geoff in the following appliance, through the radio. He knew Adam was probably right but couldn't risk missing anything.

--------------

In the other appliance Geoff listened to the radio message from Mick. "Keep following, like the Guvnor said" he told Charlie, even though it wasn't really necessary. All four of them had heard the message and all four knew it was pointless.

"I bet somebody's getting a kick out of this" Sally muttered.

Gemma:

"It's Keith, I know it is," Charlie murmured as the Watch lept out of the appliance in the appliance bay back at the station.

"Probably just kids," Sally butted in on Charlie and Craig's conversation.

"They're up a bit late to be kids," Charlie retorted matter - of - factly.

"Wouldn't it be a bit childish of him?" Sally questioned.

"Didn't stop him before!"

"Ok, ok!" Mick broke up the conversation, "Lets all try to get some sleep yeah?"

Naomi:

"Yeah" Sally and Charlie mumbled, before turning and following others back up to the dorms. They both knew the other could be right and the argument was just down to tiredness.

Mick sighed and also went upstairs. He was sick of the hoaxes just as much as the others were but knew he could do nothing now.

They all settled down in the dorms and tried to get some sleep. Sally, Charlie, and Adam were tossing restlessly, each with something on their mind.

Gemma:

Sally lay cursing Frank's existance in her mind, his revelation of killing people... it wouldn't budge out of her mind...

Charlie lay thinking about Keith mainly and Lisa... how could she even get involved with such a jerk?

Adam kept moving his position in the bed constantly. D.I. Roebuck was a scheming two - faced bastard. Adam thought over what he could do to rid of him over and over in his head. He knew deep down that he had to tell Frank, try to get him to sort it all, he just feared bruising his pride...

Naomi:

Adam sighed and glanced at his watch, but had to squint to see the time in the dark, 12:45.

The rest of the watch, apart from Adam, Sally and Charlie were asleep but were soon woken up when the bells went down again.

Gemma:

"Bloody hell!" Charlie moaned angrily as the Watch clambered to their feet again one - by - one.

"Here we go again!" Mick announced, trying to stay as cheerful as posible as any of them could do in that situation.

"Fire, Rosemary House, Old Thorns Lane... both!" Geoff read after tearing the fax off of the roll.

"That's that posh estate init?" Charlie asked George, who nodded as he agreed.

"Yeah... doesn't some MP live down there?"

Naomi:

"God knows, what the hell do I know about politics.." They laughed as they climbed into the appliance.

The appliances sped off. The watch were unusually quiet in the cabs. All of them were fed-up with the hoaxes and were half-expecting this one to be the same.

Mick was the only one who seemed not to be suffering from the lack of sleep. Even Frank was less alert than usual and stayed quiet.

With little traffic on the roads at this time of night, the watch soon neared the estate.

Gemma:

To the Watch's surprise, nothing seemed to be burning as they drove down the street rowed with huge looking houses which a person really couldn't put a price too.

"See, it's another hoax," Charlie grumbled, parking the appliance on the road, outside the front porch to the house.

"You never know, something could be alight," Mick said positively, as he opened the door to his side, then lept out of the cab, making his way to the front door of the house...

Naomi:

The watch slowly got out of the appliances and gathered on the pavement. They were all tired and frustrated with the hoax calls.

Mick knocked on the door. There was no answer. He glanced back to the watch to see them all looking fed-up.

Geoff walked up to Mick outside the door. "No answer?" he asked.

"No" Mick admitted. He was determined not to give up though and knocked again, waiting patiently.

Frank was stood on the pavement with the others. He stood watching Mick and noticed an upstairs light come on. "Guv" he called, and nodded up to the front bedroom. Mick saw the light and sighed. He turned back to the door where the hallway light had come on, then the porch light.

The door opened slightly, still on the chain. "Who is it?" a sleepy voice asked cautiously.

"Fire Brigade" Mick answered in a voice of authority.

The door opened widely and a middle aged woman stood in the doorway, looking tired and annoyed at being woken.

Ayms:

"Did you call the firebrigade madam?" Mick asked He could see she probably wasn't the one who had called but he had to make sure. It was standard practise.

"No I didn't, Can I go back to bed now?!" She replied sternly.

"Yes, but You have to understand that we are just trying to find out who is calling us." He told her before she shut the door.

He turned back to face the rest of the watch.

"Can I go back to bed as well?" George asked.

Gemma:

"As soon as we've checked the area," Mick replied sternly.

"Agh Guv..." Charlie moaned, "It's probably just someone playing silly buggers..."

"Well it may be, but silly buggers or not, we're checking the grounds."

Moans were apparent throughout the Watch, all were tired and restless and could hear their beds calling.

"George... Charlie, Adam... Frank, Sally... Craig... can you all search in different directions please?!"

Naomi:

The watch wandered off as ordered. If there was a fire it was likely to be rubbish fire but there was no sign of anything unusual.

Geoff and Mick went over to the appliance and waited for reports from the watch.

"It's disgraceful for someone to make hoax calls like this, putting lives at risk" Geoff commented, voicing his anger.

"Yeah" Mick agreed. "Let's hope the police catch them. All we can do is check everything out."

"Mmm. No sign of any fire round here though" Geoff said, looking round for signs of smoke.

"No. But you never know......" Mick told him. He could see a couple of the watch down the road looking around some dustbins. He knew they were probably wasting their time.

---------------

After ten minutes the watch had once again, gathered near the appliance. No fire had been found.

"Right, well, looks like it was just a mickey-take. We might as well get back to the station" Mick told them.

They climbed into the appliances, feeling tired and sick of people wasting their time. Adam was deep in thought as they drove back to the station, while the others just wanted some sleep.

Ayms:

When they arrived back at the station they all once again went and flopped back down onto their beds. They had been here before. Hopefully this time they could get some sleep.
It was getting on for 3am by this time and everyone was knackered. Adam got back up a few minute later and went through into the mess room where he rummaged through the fridge for a few minutes to find something to drink. Coming across a half a carton of Orange Juice he filled a glass and placed it back then went upstairs to the garden. He couldn't sleep that well, probably from all the calls they were getting with Lack or worth! No fires.
He also had a few too many things playing on his mind.

Outside the air was cool but there was very little sound. A surprise and complete contrast from the busy bustling city of the daytime.

He sat down on the bench overlooking the road, and looked across the skyline thinking.

Naomi:

His life was such a mess, but then that was nothing new. He always seemed to get involved with things......people that did nothing but cause him hassle. There was never an easy way out and this time was no exception. He had no idea how he was going to get out of this one.