Season 8 - My version

Posted: Mar 24, 2009 1:10 pm

This is my version of Day 8, what is rumoured to be the last season. I won’t go into too much detail of what happened at the end of Day 7 (obv as we don’t know it yet…) but there will be some linkages in there.

For the record, there will be Day 7 spoilers up to and including episode 14 (9pm-10pm). Please remember, if you are leaving any comments, that the UK are a week behind the USA, so avoid any recent spoilers so as not to ruin it for me if you can!

I’ve decided not to do the ‘hour per chapter’ thing, as much as it is realistic to the show. The pacing wouldn’t be quite right. I hope you don’t mind!

All characters etc belong to Fox. British drama pales into insignificance in comparison.

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Day 7 ending summary

Jack, Tony, Chloe, Renee, etc all successfully halt the bio-threat posed by Hodges and his men. Larry Moss, remorseful for how he treated Jack, manages to cut a deal for Jack and Tony - they are to be released but not given immunity. Effectively, they are fugitives but will, under the radar, be allowed to live ‘normal’ lives, meaning there is no police manhunt for them.

Day 8 takes place approximately 6 weeks after the end of Day 7.

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“It’s another glorious summer day here in D.C. as the warm weather current drifts over from the west-coast. Expect clear skies until mid-afternoon, when a band of cloud will begin to cover much of Washington state, the possibility of light showers by early evening. Temperatures in the region of 35 degrees Celsius, that’s 100 degrees Fahren-”

Tony Almeida shut off the engine of his car, the radio stopping abruptly mid-weather forecast. He clicked off his seatbelt and opened the door, slamming it shut as he absent-mindedly surveyed the surrounding area behind large black sunglasses.

Washington D.C. was busy again. It was to be expected with weather like this; already the kids were out in force, creating a wall of innocent chatter and laughter blocking out the sound of rush-hour traffic. Tony ran a hand through his now longer hair and brushed his fingers over his clean-shaven chin. He looked around him again before spotting a small blue Citroen pull up at the south end of the car park. He chuckled to himself as he headed slowly across the hot tarmac.

Stepping out of the blue Citroen was a slightly-overweight, stubble ridden Englishman by the name of Morris O’Brian. He was waving his hands adamantly, seemingly deep in argument with his brunette wife, Chloe O’Brian, as she emerged from the passenger seat. Tony approached cautiously, but with amusement, as the pair locked the Citroen and continued to argue. Morris did like his European cars.

“Where’s Prescott?” Tony interrupted, earning a small scowl from Chloe but a relieved smile from Morris, “I thought you were bringing him?”

“He’s not very well,” Chloe piped up, still looking in a terrible mood, “Morris fed him something he shouldn’t have, we left him with his childminder at home.”

Morris retorted in argument as Tony lifted an eyebrow with a smile. The pair continued to bicker as Tony silently led them towards the small, family-run café that had become a staple meeting spot for the old friends.

They turned the corner of the small Washington park, the small café in sight. Tony scanned the tables outside the café, all being served by young women in black outfits. The tables were occupied by businessmen reading papers and drinking coffee or young mums trying to keep their toddlers in check. On one table right in front of the door, however, Tony spotted who he was looking for.

Jack Bauer was leaning forward slightly over what looked like a small glass of cranberry juice. His large brown sunglasses covered his eyes, but his forehead was crinkled into a small frown as he clasped his fingers together in front of him. He took a small sip of his juice before continuing to stare over at the park full of children.

Jack was still trying to come to terms with everything that had happened 6 weeks ago, as well as the years before that. He had taken Bill Buchanan’s death very hard, blaming himself for not making the decision to blow the C4 sooner. He had not spoken to Kim since returning from China, as far as she was concerned, he was being held in a prison thousands of miles away. He detested living the semi-secretive, semi-normal life he and Tony had to live, haunted by the memories that plagued him and unable to adapt to a regular lifestyle. That is part of the reason Tony, Chloe and Morris decided to make their Friday morning visits to this café a regular occasion; hopefully it would allow all of them to try and get back to normal.

Jack looked up and around him as the trio were approaching, catching Tony’s gaze from across the way. He smiled slightly and lifted a hand into a lazy wave. Tony smiled back and continued to head towards the white patio table, leaving Chloe and Morris arguing slightly further behind.

Tony approached the café.

Jack stood to greet them.

And then…

A large flash of white light blinded all who were there, and a deafening screech filled the air. Tony was blown backwards upwards of 50 feet by a pulse of heat as the café exploded in a ball of orange and red flames. His head collided with the pavement violently, sending a stinging pain echoing through his body.

His ears were ringing and everything was hurting, but Tony’s instincts took over as he rolled onto his front. He reached up with a tentative hand to fling away his now-broken sunglasses and slowly pushed himself to his feet. He staggered forwards slightly, trying to regain his balance, away of a steady stream of blood dripping down his left cheek. He squinted through his blurred vision; people were screaming and running for help. He spotted Chloe and Morris pushing themselves to their feet, mentally relieved that they were far enough behind him so as to escape the blast.

This thought stopped Tony in his tracks.

“Jack…”

The ex-CTU agent turned slowly on the spot to gaze at the café. A large black cloud of smoke billowed from the large fire that had erupted from the main building. People were strewn all across the floor; Tony flinched as he saw an empty pram just to his right. Right in front of him, however, was something Tony wished he didn’t have to see.

Jack was lying face down on the tarmac, one hand resting beside his head. It looked as if he was sleeping, but the large red-stained singed clothing that stuck to his back suggested otherwise.

“Jack…no…” Tony ran to his friend’s side and pressed two fingers to his neck. Nothing. “Shit…”

Tony turned Jack over onto his back quickly, double taking when he saw the open eyes of his best friend, and began to administer CPR in an attempt to resuscitate him.

“Jack, you son of a bitch…”

Tony continued to pound at Jack’s chest, taking a second to give him some breaths. He had done this before. Last time Jack woke.

He continued relentlessly.

Unaware of the shots being fired from the rooftops surrounding the café.

Chloe screamed as the gunshot ripped through the air. People were running in chaos anywhere they could, and Chloe felt it was in her best interests to do the same. She stopped, however, when she saw Tony giving CPR to Jack Bauer. Her heart sunk and her eyes flooded with tears before another gunshot rang out through the air. She ducked, ignoring cries from her husband to escape the scene. Looking up, she caught the glimmer of a rifle scope in the morning sun. Then another. And another. They were picking off people one by one. It was only a matter of time until they were next.

“Chloe! Where are you going?” Morris grabbed her arm as she tried to run.

“I have to get Tony,” she shrugged him off and sprinted across the tarmac, hands over her head. Closing in on Tony, she spotted a small red laser sight focused on her former-colleague’s temple.

“Tony, look out!”

She grabbed her friend’s arm and pulled him onto her as she fell onto her back. A shot rang out and a cry echoed from Tony’s throat. The bullet had caught him in the arm.

“Tony, we have to move…” Chloe got to her feet and tried to pull her friend up, but Tony was resisting.

“Jack…”

“Tony, we can come back for Jack!” She shouted, well aware of the small window they had to escape. It took around 10 seconds to reload a high calibre rifle such as this. She managed to get him to move as she sprinted across towards the next block, pushing her way through the crowds and into a small alley by the side of a restaurant.

Tony pulled on her grip once more, obviously weak from the blast and from the shot, “Chloe, let me go! There is still time to-”

“He’s gone, Tony!” She bellowed at the top of her voice, a stream of tears now cascading down her cheeks.

Tony turned abruptly towards her, their eyes meeting. He looked confused but Chloe could not mistake that look of despair in his blue eyes, as they themselves began to become cloudy with tears.

Posted: Mar 25, 2009 5:20 pm

F****** awesome. I think even the writers wouldnt dare to "kill" Jack like that.

Posted: Mar 29, 2009 2:53 pm

Haha thanks! Figured it would be a great OMGWTF?! moment!

Will try and update soon, thanks for reading!

Posted: Apr 08, 2009 11:49 am

Holy update Batman!

Tony dragged the chair around in an arc from one desk to another, ignoring Chloe’s flinch as it scraped across the cold stone floor. He tapped on the keyboard’s ‘Escape’ button impatiently, trying to pull the computer out of stand-by mode. His jaw was set tightly as he frowned.

Chloe stood silently in the doorway, her gaze distant, her bloodshot eyes following Tony around the underground ‘base’ they had set up with Bill all those months ago.

“There is nothing on the FBI watch list just yet…“ Tony clicked away aggressively at his keyboard with his good arm, the light from the screen radiating off his face as he rested his injured one on his legs.

“Tony…“ Chloe started.

“I’ll try and get further into their systems, it shouldn’t be too difficult if I-”

“Tony, please.”

“What, Chloe?!” Tony looked straight up from the computer, slamming his hand down on the desk in frustration. Chloe hesitated; Tony looked angry and she didn’t want to rile him further. She bit the inside of her lip before proceeding with caution.

“Tony this isn’t going to do anything.”

“What do you mean?” Tony replied slowly, “Why not?”

“We have nothing to go on, the FBI will be tough to crack, you go shot in the arm-”

“Dammit, Chloe, I just want to find the bastards that killed Jack, alright?!”

Tony stood quickly, sending the chair rattling to the floor behind him. He was breathing rapidly, his hands balled into fists beside him. Chloe watched him, frowning, as he staggered backwards towards the closest wall and allowed himself to slide down it.

“Jack, you son of a bitch…” he mumbled as he placed his good hand over one of his eyes. Chloe stepped towards him slowly, crouching down next to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

“We really need to get your arm looked at, Tony,” Chloe whispered, “It’s still bleeding.”

Tony sniffed and wiped his eyes, “It’s fine, Chloe. Let me just have a go at finding the FBI protocols,” he stood awkwardly, as if embarrassed, “Why don’t you go back to Morris and Prescott?”

Chloe smiled slightly and shook her head, “It’s ok. I’ll stay and help here for a while. I’ll go and open up a socket for you…”

Renee Walker adjusted her sunglasses as she surveyed the chaos that was finally being controlled before her.

Smoke was billowing from the small café as the fire department were finishing controlling the flames. Dozens of agents from the FBI, CIA and Washington police were raking the scene for clues. Health Services and the Ambulance were treating the wounded and gathering the dead. Renee crinkled her nose as she watched the crowds of people collect, eyes drawn to the group of black body bags to the side of the decimated building. She was shocked back into concentration by a rumble and a ringing in her coat pocket.

“Agent Walker, FBI,” she answered.

“Renee, what have we got?” Renee recognised the voice as that of Larry Moss.

“3 shooters on the Grand Plaza Hotel, all escaped. No forensic clues or evidence left behind. Shots were fired with military calibre bolt-action sniper rifles. These guys clearly knew what they were doing. CIA are cross-checking any threats similar to this attack as we speak.”

“Right…and the explosion?”

“Basic C4 planted around the doorframe of the building, designed to engulf those both inside and outside the building. We have 23 dead, double that injured, many of them children…” she trailed off as she relived the stunning details.

“Jesus… so we have no leads?”

“Negative. We are just trying to gather what clues we can. Will get started on eye witness accounts soon. Have you contacted the President?”

“Yes, she will make a formal statement when I give her an update in 15 minutes. I suppose we can safely assume this is some kind of organised terrorist or crime attack?”

“I think that’s the best way to go, yes Larry.”

“Alright… well get the teams sorted, finish up there and come back to HQ. We can try and find some potential leads from here. I’ll update Janis and get her to set a wide perimeter search of our most recent intel. Have CIA send over anything they find.”

“Will do, Larry.”

“I’m going to help Tony with this for a while, alright?”

“Ok, darling, but are you sure you are ok? I mean, we got caught up in an explosion, fired on, Jack’s-”

“I’m fine, Morris, thank you. Remember to check Prescott’s temperature every half an hour and don’t forget to pay Claire for looking after him.”

“I won’t forget. Just make sure you get home safely, alright? And ring me if you find anything or need any help.”

“I will. You just make sure our son is alright.”

Chloe hung up quickly but hesitated before stuffing the phone back in her jacket pocket. She knew Morris would be worried as well as shaken by the events of the last hour, but she still had to be stubborn with him to stop him from getting too over-protective. Shaking off her thoughts, the ex-CTU analyst strolled over to where Tony was working.

“Got anything?”

“I’ve managed to get past their first security firewalls. I used some of their old passwords from the Starkwood situation as parameters and managed to get into their list of protocols,” Tony replied, continuing to click away at the keys with one hand. Chloe smiled slightly at Tony’s skill, remembering that before he took charge of CTU, he was just a normal computer analyst.

“Well?”

“They’ve dispatched a group of teams from all the major departments… FBI, CIA, Police… Bingo!” Tony pointed to the bottom line of the document he was viewing, “FBI headed by Renee Walker. Do you still have your cell?”

Chloe nodded and pulled her cell from her pocked, flicking it open and passing it to Tony.

“She may have changed her number, Tony, you can’t guarantee that she will still-”

“Renee!” Tony started as the phone was picked up.

“…pick up,” Chloe finished, bemused.

Renee did a double take as she heard the voice at the other end of the line, “Tony?”

“Yah. Listen, I heard…somewhere…that you were heading the FBI team down at the café explosion by the Grand Plaza Hotel?”

“I am…wait, how did you find out I was heading the team?” She crinkled her forehead and brought up her spare hand to her hair as she did when she was thinking.

“That’s not important.”

“Yes it is, Tony! What are you doing with our protocols?” She waved a police officer away as she raised her voice slightly, “That inter-departmental memo was agency-only, your access expired over a month ago-”

“Look, Renee, enough of the bullshit,” Tony raised his voice to meet hers, “Have you seen the bodies yet?”

“What?” Renee did another double-take, “I have, but no official ID’s have been made as of yet, why? What’s this about?”

Silence.

“Tony, talk to me!”

“I don’t believe this…” she heard Tony mumble on the other end of the line, “Renee, are you sure you saw all of them?”

“Positive, Tony. What’s-”

“And Jack’s wasn’t there?”

This time it was Renee’s turn to be silent, even if it was just for a moment.

“…Jack’s?” She replied meekly, “Why would Jack’s body be here? You aren’t saying…”

“Myself, along with Chloe and Morris O’Brian, were set to meet Jack outside the café this morning,” Tony explained, with a small sigh, “I was around 50 feet from the café when it blew. Jack was right near the epicentre of the blast. He was dead when I got to him. Shots were fired, and we made our escape.”

“Oh my god…” Renee felt the lump rise in her throat as Tony’s words sunk in, despite her still clinging to some sense of hope, “But…then where’s his body? We swept the entire area. I guarantee everyone here will have been accounted for.”

“I don’t know, Renee, but listen to me. We need everything you have in terms of intel. I’m begging you. I will find the bastards that did this.”

“Tony…”

“If you aren’t going to give me anything, I’ll have to work it out for myself.”

“…Alright,” she agreed, “but I’ll have to run it by Larry first.”

“Are you kidding? Moss won’t let me have a sniff!”

“I can’t just give it to you, Tony. I’m sorry.”

“…Fine. Ring me back on this number when you’re done.”