Season 8 Canon update
May. 18th, 2012 09:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
out_of_timeDay 8 put Jack through a complex series of events revolving around a peace agreement about to be signed at the United Nations between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran Kamistan. The agreement would have resulted in Kamistan giving up its nuclear program in exchange for normalized peaceful relations with America, a prospect that did not sit well with many. Initially, Jack wasn’t involved- at the beginning of the day, he was retired from government service after recovering from a bioweapon infection. He was in New York for treatment and his family was visiting him. The day opened with him playing with his granddaughter and considering moving back to Los Angeles to be closer to his daughter and son-in-law. All in all, he was happier and more peaceful than he had been at any time since his wife was killed.
Obviously it couldn’t last. An old contact came to his door for sanctuary, being chased by assassins, with information on an assassination plot against the Kamistani President by a faction of the Russian Mafia. After some convincing, Jack agreed to escort him to the New York Counter Terrorist Unit, and nothing more because he was done. Of course, it didn’t play out that way. The informant didn’t survive the trip, and CTU was left chasing the wrong trail of evidence.
Jack’s old friend Chloe O’Brian begged him to get involved in the investigation. Jack initially refused despite all Chloe had done for him in the past. It took his daughter Kim to convince him to once again get drawn into CTU activities. Despite how much pain Jack’s work had caused their family in the past, Kim knew her father would never forgive himself if he sat this out and something happened that he could have stopped. She gave him her blessing and encouragement to get involved one more time. Just one more day, one more crisis, and he could completely retire with his family and be at peace.
This was the last time Jack would see his daughter.
Once Jack was committed to helping CTU, he didn’t hold back. He hurled himself into the crisis, thwarting the assassination plot against Kamistani President Omar Hassan. The Kamistani splinter cell behind the plot then went to their backup plan- detonating a radioactive ‘dirty bomb’ in New York unless Omar Hassan was surrendered to them. A complicated series of schemes, ploys, and counter-plots ensued. During the night’s events Jack was brought back into contact with Renee Walker, a former FBI agent he had met during Season 7. Renee had ruined herself personally and professionally adopting Jack’s tactics during that day, and Jack’s already-strong connection with her intensified as they once more found themselves working with each other to save the day. Jack told her that once this was over, he wanted to be with her.
The terrorists eventually put America’s back against the wall: the bomb would detonate within the hour in the heart of New York unless Hassan was surrendered. With no other option, a faction within the American government went against the President’s orders in an attempt to abduct Hassan, surrender him to the terrorists and save potentially millions of lives.
It’s worth noting that this is exactly the kind of thing- disobeying authority and breaking rules to preserve innocent life- that Jack had done throughout his career. But this time, he was having none of it. For one thing, the rogue Americans crossed a line Jack had never crossed, gunning down Secret Service agents to achieve their objective. Also, Jack’s views and methods had changed during the last terrorist crisis he’d faced in Season 7, when the costs of his extreme actions had been thrown in his face during the day until he was forced to admit his failings. Jack took down the rogues and made it clear he was following the President’s orders. He would not surrender Hassan, even to save innocent lives.
However, Hassan was a noble man, and he was willing to sacrifice himself to keep Manhattan from becoming radioactive. He escaped Jack’s protection and turned himself into his extremist countrymen. They in turn kept their word and deactivated the dirty bomb with less than ten seconds to go. The success of the peace treaty now depended on Jack and Renee rescuing the Kamistani President before his death could be broadcast on the Internet. They failed. By the time they took down the terrorists and reached the room where Hassan was held, the hostage was executed.
Jack took the failure hard, but immediately prepared to move on. It looked like his last day of counter-terrorism was over, and now he could claim the happy life he wanted. He told the rest of CTU he was going home for the day, and headed back to his hotel to consummate his new relationship with Renee. Meanwhile, the peace process began to move forward again, as Hassan’s widow moved into her husband’s place to keep finalizing the agreement. Despite the bittersweet ending, for Jack it seemed like it was finally over.
Then some asshole sniped Renee through the window minutes after they had finished making love. She was killed by a Russian agent who feared she had information that could implicate the Russian government as the primary mover behind the day’s events. American-Kamistani peace was not in Russia’s interests, and the Russians had tried to derail the process to secure their influence over the Islamic Republic.
Jack was furious. Once again, love, peace, and happiness had been snatched away from him. Once again, a woman he cared for was dead as a result of his work. After everything he had gone through, after all the suffering he had endured in his long and tragic career, it was just too much. He swiftly uncovered the Russian connection behind the assassination. However, American President Allison Taylor then moved to quash his investigation. She explained that the revelation of Russia’s treachery would doom the historic peace agreement. For the greater good and for world peace, the truth had to be hidden.
There was a time when the logic of the greater good was absolute for Jack, when he might have accepted the cover-up for the people it would have saved. Not this time. Within an hour, he had gone rogue on a one-man mission to make the truth known to the world and get personal revenge against everyone involved in Renee Walker’s death.
In the hours that followed, Jack’s private war would take him further than he had ever gone before. He cold-bloodedly executed a helpless Russian mole as she begged for mercy. He tortured and disemboweled the man who pulled the trigger on Renee. He fought against his former CTU colleagues. He killed American military contractors. He stormed the motorcade of a former US President involved in the conspiracy, shooting (nonfatally) several Secret Service agents who tried to stop him. He murdered the Russian Foreign Minister and his bodyguards. And when he found out that the conspiracy and Renee’s death went all the way up to the Russian President, he didn’t hesitate to plan an assassination.
It took Chloe O’Brien, Jack’s most trusted living ally by this point, to talk him down with the Russian President in the crosshairs of his rifle. Chloe made Jack realize he was possibly about to start World War Three for the sake of personal revenge. Jack remembered who he was, how his entire career had been about putting innocent lives above personal passions and principles. He realized how far he’d gone and took his finger off the trigger. Shortly after, he was finally taken into custody by CTU.
It seemed that he had lost. The corrupt ex-President involved in the conspiracy, Charles Logan, arranged for Jack to not survive his custody: he would be executed within the hour. The corrupted peace treaty moved forward. Yet at the last moment, President Taylor watched a video Jack had recorded for his daughter before embarking on his assassination scheme. The recording had been confiscated after his capture and found its way into her hands, and it reawakened the President’s conscience. She too realized how far she’d gone and how quickly. When the time came to sign the peace treaty, she handed back Omar Hassan's pen, faced, the cameras, and told the entire world that Russia was full of crap, that she had disgraced herself as a President, and that peace would happen when it was based on trust, justice and honesty.
Meanwhile, Jack had a date with a black van, men in masks and an unmarked grave. He was ready. After one last attempt at a heroic struggle, he knelt and told his executioners to get it over with. Naturally, that was when President Taylor intervened personally. Jack was granted a reprieve, but the things he had done over the last 24 hours could not be erased by Presidential order, especially a disgraced one whose remaining time in office was likely to be short. From that point on, Jack would be a fugitive both from the American laws he had broken and the infuriated Russians. Wounded, exhausted, and with little left to live for, all that Jack Bauer could do was thank Chloe one last time for all she had done for him, then set off running with the whole world after him.
And that’s how 24 ends!
Jack will be returning to the City with the knowledge that his life in his own universe is effectively over. There is nothing left for him there except constant fleeing and almost certain death or imprisonment. He has accepted that he will never see his family again. This is important because during all his time in the game, the hope of returning home has always been in his mind, his fondest wish. That’s gone now. From this point forward, Jack is fully committed to the Cityverse. There is less than ever to hold him back. Combine that with being a rogue cop sprung from jail, and a lot of bad guys are going to die.
Jack is also going to be deeply conflicted and divided once he returns. He was brought to the game after events that led him to question his career of extreme tactics, and slowly fell back on old ways over his two years with the City Police Department, returning to doing immoral things to save innocent lives. Now he is coming back after a day where he became the opposite kind of extremist, doing horrible things in service to principle regardless of the greater good. More than that, he is returning just after he has realized he’s gone too far and is once again questioning himself. Regaining his City memories and development and trying to reconcile those experiences with the hellish day he’s just gone through... it’s going to be a very tumultuous time for him.
Physically, Jack will be regaining his Cityverse body upon return, i.e. one that is two years older than his canon one and that hasn’t been shot twice, stabbed twice, electrocuted, bruised, and put through 24 hours of constant stress and peril without lunch or bathroom breaks (it was a seriously bad day). However, Jack will still be feeling his wounds and exhaustion mentally even if he isn’t bleeding anymore physically.
Obviously it couldn’t last. An old contact came to his door for sanctuary, being chased by assassins, with information on an assassination plot against the Kamistani President by a faction of the Russian Mafia. After some convincing, Jack agreed to escort him to the New York Counter Terrorist Unit, and nothing more because he was done. Of course, it didn’t play out that way. The informant didn’t survive the trip, and CTU was left chasing the wrong trail of evidence.
Jack’s old friend Chloe O’Brian begged him to get involved in the investigation. Jack initially refused despite all Chloe had done for him in the past. It took his daughter Kim to convince him to once again get drawn into CTU activities. Despite how much pain Jack’s work had caused their family in the past, Kim knew her father would never forgive himself if he sat this out and something happened that he could have stopped. She gave him her blessing and encouragement to get involved one more time. Just one more day, one more crisis, and he could completely retire with his family and be at peace.
This was the last time Jack would see his daughter.
Once Jack was committed to helping CTU, he didn’t hold back. He hurled himself into the crisis, thwarting the assassination plot against Kamistani President Omar Hassan. The Kamistani splinter cell behind the plot then went to their backup plan- detonating a radioactive ‘dirty bomb’ in New York unless Omar Hassan was surrendered to them. A complicated series of schemes, ploys, and counter-plots ensued. During the night’s events Jack was brought back into contact with Renee Walker, a former FBI agent he had met during Season 7. Renee had ruined herself personally and professionally adopting Jack’s tactics during that day, and Jack’s already-strong connection with her intensified as they once more found themselves working with each other to save the day. Jack told her that once this was over, he wanted to be with her.
The terrorists eventually put America’s back against the wall: the bomb would detonate within the hour in the heart of New York unless Hassan was surrendered. With no other option, a faction within the American government went against the President’s orders in an attempt to abduct Hassan, surrender him to the terrorists and save potentially millions of lives.
It’s worth noting that this is exactly the kind of thing- disobeying authority and breaking rules to preserve innocent life- that Jack had done throughout his career. But this time, he was having none of it. For one thing, the rogue Americans crossed a line Jack had never crossed, gunning down Secret Service agents to achieve their objective. Also, Jack’s views and methods had changed during the last terrorist crisis he’d faced in Season 7, when the costs of his extreme actions had been thrown in his face during the day until he was forced to admit his failings. Jack took down the rogues and made it clear he was following the President’s orders. He would not surrender Hassan, even to save innocent lives.
However, Hassan was a noble man, and he was willing to sacrifice himself to keep Manhattan from becoming radioactive. He escaped Jack’s protection and turned himself into his extremist countrymen. They in turn kept their word and deactivated the dirty bomb with less than ten seconds to go. The success of the peace treaty now depended on Jack and Renee rescuing the Kamistani President before his death could be broadcast on the Internet. They failed. By the time they took down the terrorists and reached the room where Hassan was held, the hostage was executed.
Jack took the failure hard, but immediately prepared to move on. It looked like his last day of counter-terrorism was over, and now he could claim the happy life he wanted. He told the rest of CTU he was going home for the day, and headed back to his hotel to consummate his new relationship with Renee. Meanwhile, the peace process began to move forward again, as Hassan’s widow moved into her husband’s place to keep finalizing the agreement. Despite the bittersweet ending, for Jack it seemed like it was finally over.
Then some asshole sniped Renee through the window minutes after they had finished making love. She was killed by a Russian agent who feared she had information that could implicate the Russian government as the primary mover behind the day’s events. American-Kamistani peace was not in Russia’s interests, and the Russians had tried to derail the process to secure their influence over the Islamic Republic.
Jack was furious. Once again, love, peace, and happiness had been snatched away from him. Once again, a woman he cared for was dead as a result of his work. After everything he had gone through, after all the suffering he had endured in his long and tragic career, it was just too much. He swiftly uncovered the Russian connection behind the assassination. However, American President Allison Taylor then moved to quash his investigation. She explained that the revelation of Russia’s treachery would doom the historic peace agreement. For the greater good and for world peace, the truth had to be hidden.
There was a time when the logic of the greater good was absolute for Jack, when he might have accepted the cover-up for the people it would have saved. Not this time. Within an hour, he had gone rogue on a one-man mission to make the truth known to the world and get personal revenge against everyone involved in Renee Walker’s death.
In the hours that followed, Jack’s private war would take him further than he had ever gone before. He cold-bloodedly executed a helpless Russian mole as she begged for mercy. He tortured and disemboweled the man who pulled the trigger on Renee. He fought against his former CTU colleagues. He killed American military contractors. He stormed the motorcade of a former US President involved in the conspiracy, shooting (nonfatally) several Secret Service agents who tried to stop him. He murdered the Russian Foreign Minister and his bodyguards. And when he found out that the conspiracy and Renee’s death went all the way up to the Russian President, he didn’t hesitate to plan an assassination.
It took Chloe O’Brien, Jack’s most trusted living ally by this point, to talk him down with the Russian President in the crosshairs of his rifle. Chloe made Jack realize he was possibly about to start World War Three for the sake of personal revenge. Jack remembered who he was, how his entire career had been about putting innocent lives above personal passions and principles. He realized how far he’d gone and took his finger off the trigger. Shortly after, he was finally taken into custody by CTU.
It seemed that he had lost. The corrupt ex-President involved in the conspiracy, Charles Logan, arranged for Jack to not survive his custody: he would be executed within the hour. The corrupted peace treaty moved forward. Yet at the last moment, President Taylor watched a video Jack had recorded for his daughter before embarking on his assassination scheme. The recording had been confiscated after his capture and found its way into her hands, and it reawakened the President’s conscience. She too realized how far she’d gone and how quickly. When the time came to sign the peace treaty, she handed back Omar Hassan's pen, faced, the cameras, and told the entire world that Russia was full of crap, that she had disgraced herself as a President, and that peace would happen when it was based on trust, justice and honesty.
Meanwhile, Jack had a date with a black van, men in masks and an unmarked grave. He was ready. After one last attempt at a heroic struggle, he knelt and told his executioners to get it over with. Naturally, that was when President Taylor intervened personally. Jack was granted a reprieve, but the things he had done over the last 24 hours could not be erased by Presidential order, especially a disgraced one whose remaining time in office was likely to be short. From that point on, Jack would be a fugitive both from the American laws he had broken and the infuriated Russians. Wounded, exhausted, and with little left to live for, all that Jack Bauer could do was thank Chloe one last time for all she had done for him, then set off running with the whole world after him.
And that’s how 24 ends!
Jack will be returning to the City with the knowledge that his life in his own universe is effectively over. There is nothing left for him there except constant fleeing and almost certain death or imprisonment. He has accepted that he will never see his family again. This is important because during all his time in the game, the hope of returning home has always been in his mind, his fondest wish. That’s gone now. From this point forward, Jack is fully committed to the Cityverse. There is less than ever to hold him back. Combine that with being a rogue cop sprung from jail, and a lot of bad guys are going to die.
Jack is also going to be deeply conflicted and divided once he returns. He was brought to the game after events that led him to question his career of extreme tactics, and slowly fell back on old ways over his two years with the City Police Department, returning to doing immoral things to save innocent lives. Now he is coming back after a day where he became the opposite kind of extremist, doing horrible things in service to principle regardless of the greater good. More than that, he is returning just after he has realized he’s gone too far and is once again questioning himself. Regaining his City memories and development and trying to reconcile those experiences with the hellish day he’s just gone through... it’s going to be a very tumultuous time for him.
Physically, Jack will be regaining his Cityverse body upon return, i.e. one that is two years older than his canon one and that hasn’t been shot twice, stabbed twice, electrocuted, bruised, and put through 24 hours of constant stress and peril without lunch or bathroom breaks (it was a seriously bad day). However, Jack will still be feeling his wounds and exhaustion mentally even if he isn’t bleeding anymore physically.
