Fanfic: Chapter 2 of "Some Pretty Bad Things"
I rewrote the first chapter, so this now takes place after the events of Day 7 have subsided. To recap, following Bill’s advice, Jack took Tony to a restaurant to have a last taste of real food and give him a chance to tell Jack his whole story before he turns himself in. This chapter now takes place right after the last one.
“I don’t even know where to begin,” Tony says.
“Start at the beginning,” Jack encourages. “What’s the first thing you remember after you woke up away from CTU?”
Tony takes a deep breath before he begins to answer.
“The beginning part is a little blurry, but I vaguely remember waking up at one point and hearing someone tell me to relax, then telling someone else to sedate me. I don’t know how much time went by but hours later I woke up in an unfamiliar warehouse somewhere that was probably an hour or two outside LA. I was confused and disoriented and for a second I thought maybe the entire day was just a really bad dream. But my injuries were still there, and they had the news on so it became clear pretty quickly that it wasn’t.”
FLASHBACK - 6 Hours After Season 5 Ends
Tony wakes up on a cot in a large warehouse, clearly disoriented. He looks around and has no idea where he is. He closes his eyes again, hoping that maybe the last 24 hours were just a bad dream and if he goes back to sleep he'll wake up safe at home next to Michelle again. But the scars on his face start to sting, and he opens his eyes and feels his face and it becomes clear that it wasn't all just a dream. He still does not know where he is, but he hears the news on a nearby TV, so he gravitates toward it in hopes of figuring out what the hell is going on.
"It began this morning with the assassination of former President David Palmer," the anchor is saying on TV. Tony's stomach lurches as hearing this confirms that it was all real.
"Until I heard that on the news, I was holding out hope that it was all just a nightmare," Tony tells Jack.
"I know the feeling," Jack says sympathetically.
RESUME FLASHBACK
Tony looks around and tries to get his bearings about.
"Tony, you're up," an unfamiliar British-sounding voice calls out. Tony turns and sees a tall skinny man with grayish hair approaching him.
"Who the hell are you?" he demands.
"Name's David Emerson," the guy says jovially. He extends a hand, which Tony shakes warily.
"You're probably wondering how you got here, right?" Emerson asks.
"Among other things, yeah," Tony replies.
"No problem. I'll answer all your questions. What's the last thing you remember?"
Tony thinks for a minute, struggling to piece it together. "I was at CTU, and I was in the same room with the bastard who killed my wife. I was going to kill him but for some reason I hesitated...I was holding a needle with poisonous chemicals and I was about to inject him but for some reason I couldn't do it...then the next thing I know I was on the floor and sharp waves of pain were going through my body...for some reason I think my friend Jack was there at some point..."
"Jack Bauer?"
"Yeah, do you know him?"
"Heard the name."
"Is he here? I need to talk to him."
"Nah, nobody knows where he is."
"What are you talking about?" Tony demands.
"Disappeared a few hours ago. He told his girlfriend he'd be right back and then he was gone. Apparently he told the president earlier today he would disappear again when this was all over...at least, that's what the government wants us to believe. I think what's happened today proves you can't trust anything the government says or does."
"You mean because of Christopher Henderson?"
Emerson chuckles.
"What's so funny?" Tony snaps.
"Sorry, Tony, I forgot you'd been asleep the past few hours. This goes way beyond Christopher Henderson. What happened today goes all the way up to the President."
"What???"
"See for yourself," Emerson says, taking the TV off mute.
"President Charles Logan is expected to announce his resignation within the hour. It's unclear at this point whether he'll face criminal charges for his alleged role in the assassination of former President David Palmer."
"What the hell? You're telling me President Logan ordered the attack on David Palmer?"
"It looks that way, yeah. Or it looks like he knew about it and didn't stop it, at the very least. He staged the shooting at the airport this morning to try to give him an excuse to invoke the terms of the treaty he signed with Subarov. David Palmer found out about it and that's why they killed him. They went after you and your wife to try to provide a distraction, a cover story for why he was killed."
"So you're telling me the bastards who killed my wife report to the president???" Tony asks with disbelief.
"Looks that way, yeah," Emerson says with a sigh. "I knew the government was corrupt but until today I had no idea it was this corrupt. It makes what we're doing feel that much better."
"What the hell are you doing? Who are you, and how did I get here?" Tony demands.
"Relax, Tony, one question at a time. I told you before, my name's David. That guy over there by the computer is Tom, and that's Morgan over there. I've got a few other guys out on assignment, but they should be back soon."
"What do you mean, out on assignment? Is this some covert military unit or something?"
"Not exactly, no. It's an independent operation...all of us are ex-government or military who have been screwed over by the government just like you."
"So what, you plan missions to get revenge?"
"Sometimes. Depends what our clients want. Or sometimes we take on missions on our own...we're working up a plan to make sure Logan is held accountable for what he did today."
"Who are your clients?"
"It varies. Independent groups, governments, individuals within the government who have other agendas. You'll be amazed when you see how much corruption there is, how many of the people you've reported to over the years when you thought you were serving your country had other objectives."
"Is that why you brought me here? You thought I'd want to help with your illegal business to get revenge?"
"I wouldn't quite put it like that, but I have been watching you for a while, and after what happened today I thought you'd make a good recruit."
"Yeah? Well, I'm not interested," Tony says, and starts to walk toward the door.
"Where are you going to go?" Emerson asks.
"Back to CTU...I'm going to help them find Jack and find out what the hell is going on."
"That's a mistake, Tony. You go back there, and they're not going to tell you anything. They know you tried to kill Henderson earlier and they won't trust you near any of their information knowing you might use it to go on a personal vendetta. You'll have a much better chance of being able to find Jack and take care of the people who are responsible for your wife's death if you stay here."
"Why's that?"
"Because aside from us, everyone thinks you're dead," Emerson says with a grin.
"After that he explained how he'd brought me there, and he encouraged me to at least hang out for a few days while I recovered, and to see how things played out with Logan and whether you turned up," Tony explains to Jack. "I started to walk away but I had no idea where I was, and I was still in pretty bad shape physically from the car bomb and the chemicals Henderson injected me with, and I realized I was in no shape to go anywhere. And as far as I could tell you were gone, and I didn't know who else I could trust."
Jack sighs. He knows it's not his fault that he was on a boat on the way to China, but he can't help but feel bad for not being there for his friend, just as he felt bad for telling Audrey he'd be right back and having to break that promise.
"So after a few days, what happened?" Jack asks.
"After a few days it became clear that Logan was barely going to pay for his crimes. As the reality of Michelle's death started to sink in I was consumed with rage...I kept watching the news and hearing them whitewash Logan's crimes and they had people actually claiming that he was just doing what he thought was best for the country and that he was forced to resign because of partisan political maneuvering, if you can believe that. It was more than I could take and I was determined to make Logan pay for what he did to me and to the country. Like he said before, Emerson listened to me, and he understood. He had lost most of his men in Afghanistan because the US government refused to provide intelligence to the SAS, so he knew what it was like to feel betrayed by people you'd devoted your life to serving. All of the other guys on the crew had similar stories of getting screwed by the government in one way or another. So I stuck around because I didn't have anywhere else to go, and I guess it was comforting being around people who understood on some level what I was going through. Meanwhile, Emerson started working on a plan to get us inside Logan's retreat."
"What, you were going to take out Logan yourself when it became clear he wasn't going to jail?"
"I almost did, Jack. Emerson gave me a fake ID and uniform for one of the Secret Service agents assigned to the roof and I was in position to take him out with a sniper. Morgan was impersonating another Secret Service agent and he buzzed the Secret Service agent who was with Logan to try to distract him. But just as I took the shot the agent with Logan turned and saw the bullet coming and got in the way, so I ended up killing him instead. I managed to get away but I was shaking...I knew what I did was wrong and when I got back I told Emerson I wanted out, but by that point he had a new job that he knew I'd be interested in."
"What job was that?" Jack asks in an interrogating manner.
Tony looks away, nervous about how Jack is going to react to the next part.
"Emerson had gotten a lead from a contact who claimed to have information about where you were. In exchange he wanted some information from DOD about Russian nuclear technology."
"And one of your crew members was former DOD and able to get it for him?" Jack asks suspiciously.
"Not exactly, Jack." Tony hesitates, knowing Jack's not going to like what he has to say next. "He thought I could convince Audrey to give him what he wanted if it would lead to information about where you were."
"Hold on a second," Jack says with a mixture of anger, fear, and disbelief. "You're telling me Audrey knew you were still alive?"
"Yeah," Tony says quietly, looking away. His tone makes it clear that Jack isn't going to be happy when he hears the rest of the story.
Like it so far? Hate it? Either way, please let me know. I'll try to have more of this up sometime this week, so stay tuned.
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