Authors Note & Disclaimer; Unfortunately, I do not own 24. If I did, I guarantee this story would be 10x better. I attempted to make my own season, as I've always had a few ideas going through my head. Reviews = EXTREMELY appreciated!
Another note: everything that happens within each chapter has a reason behind it. There will never be something useless and unnecessary.\

So I hope you enjoy, and I'll keep updating...if I get enough positive reviews, I'll probably post the entire story.

Day 2 ½: 9:00 A.M. – 10:00 A.M.

9:00:00 A.M.
All was hectic within the Counter Terrorist Unit of Los Angeles, California. Hands typed away on the keyboard as fast as they could, and everything went out of control while all its workers tried to uncover whether the day's events were that of a terrorists, or just an unfortunate coincidence.
"CTU, Chloe O'Brian speaking." said the new technical analyst, looking as though she were trying not to explode from the stress. "Uh, yeah, let me patch you through." Chloe pressed a few buttons and was instantly transferred to the director's office.
"Almeida," said a voice through the phone.
"Tony, Ryan Chappelle is on the phone. He says it's about the crashes."
A groan was heard, and the director finally spoke again. "Put him through."

Tony Almeida sat in his office, unable to leave for anything due to all the work he had. He felt all sorts of emotions running through his head, such as confusion, unknowing, anger, and most of all – anxiety. He had walked through the doors that day, the love of his life holding his hand, hoping that it would be just another normal, boring day at CTU. But, of course, his wishes had let him down. He proceeded to reach into his pocket and pull out a square box, opening it with one flick of his finger. Nestled securely in its velvet case, a bright and glorious ring glittered in all sorts of place. Tony looked down below at the rest of his employees and focused on one particular one: Michelle Dessler. Mesmerized by her beauty, he looked back at the ring and hoped she would like the simplicity of it. She loved simple things, as he knew all too well.
Suddenly Ryan Chappelle's voice echoed through the speakerphone, reminding Tony of what he should be doing. He slipped the ring back into his pocket and picked up the phone, avoiding any eavesdroppers lurking on the outside.
"What is it, Chappelle? I'm really busy." 'Yeah, and you were just looking at an engagement ring, what a great way to spend your time.' He thought, rubbing his forehead to try and hold back the massive headache approaching.
"We've got a bigger problem – we found out what the cause of the first plane crash was."
Instantly sitting up, Agent Almeida listened intently. "What?"
"Someone managed to hack into the flight's system. They shut down the oxygen leading to the pilot's cabin, and they went unconscious before anyone noticed. We're assuming this is what happened with the second plane as well." said Chappelle, who worked at division rather than at Counter Terrorist Unit. His position ranking remained ahead of Tony Almeida, but oh no, that did not stop him from being the pain in that ass that he was.
"So, what, is it over or can we expect another crash?"
"That's the thing, we haven't received any demands or phone calls justifying who did this, or why. We have no idea what's going to happen."
Tony's eyes widened at the slightest in worry, and he turned to the TV within his office. A news broadcast speaking of the first crash showed, indicating that there hadn't been any survivors. He wondered what panic would ensue once the second crash became broadcasted.
Ryan's voice came through the phone again. "Almeida, these people have the ability to bring down every one of the two-thousand planes in the sky by tomorrow."
…9:07:32

9:12:15
Jack Bauer sat in his home, trying to get away from the stress of the world. The TV screen showed images of the most recent plane crash, stating that the reasons for the crash were unknown at this point. He knew better. He knew that somewhere in the government, most likely CTU, they were working on something important – this plane crash was no accident. Within the next month, Jack would be undercover with the Salazar family on a special mission. He'd like to spend the last days of normality for a while in peace, and no one was going to take that from him.
Just as those thoughts crossed his mind, the phone rang. He ignored it, leaning back and letting the rings continue on.
'You've reached Bauer, leave a message and I'll get back to you.' said his familiar answering machine, and a voice he knew all too well spoke. "Jack, it's Tony. I know you're there, pick up." It remained silent for a few moments until he finally decided that there was know getting around it, Almeida knew Jack too good for his own liking.
Picking up the phone, he couldn't help but sound aggravated. "What do you want? I have a few days off, if you'll recall."
"Jack," Tony began, and Jack instantly softened. This wasn't just any regular call. "There hasn't just been one plane crash, there've been two. There's a group of terrorists who have the ability to cut off oxygen to the pilot's cabin, and even the rest of the plane. We need your help."
Oddly, he wasn't surprised by what he'd just heard. "You always do, I'll be there in 20 minutes."
After pressing 'end', Jack immediately dialed another number and waited for the dial tone. A few ring passed, and finally someone answered.
"Hello?" said the girly tone; it sounded rushed.
"Kim, honey, are you alright?" His fatherly instincts always kicked in, constantly fearing for his daughter's life.
"Yeah, dad, I'm fine. I have to catch a flight, and it's delayed, and everything is so hectic so –"
Her father cut her off, the sound in his voice pressing. "No, Kim, you can't get on that plane!" Jack's worst fears were coming alive again – this had only happened a few others times; the main one being when his wife, Teri, and daughter were kidnapped. The same day Teri had been brutally murdered…he tried to shake away the painful memory.
"Why not? Dad, I have to take this so I can get into that computer class. You're the one who urged me to take it in the first place!" She was yelling now, and he tried to calm down so she would listen.
"You're not listening to me, there's a threat against all –"
It was her turn to cut him off. "You're so paranoid about everything, I'm going to be fine. My flight's taking off within the next twenty minutes, and I'll be on the ground within two after that. I'll talk to you then." She hung up on her father, and Jack became even more frustrated.
He attempted to redial, only to find that she'd turned off her phone. "DAMNIT!" Jack yelled, throwing the phone down. He could not, no, would not almost lose his daughter again. After he lost his wife, she refused to speak to him because it "hurt too much" and he'd just recently gotten his daughter back.
He rushed upstairs to pack all the things he needed, including his gun and ID badge. If there was any chance of stopping another attack, Jack would be sure that his daughter was safe…no matter what.

Back at CTU, Chloe O'Brian typed furiously away at her computer. It was difficult being so new, yet everyone she worked with seemed so incompetent. Honestly, how difficult was it to work a computer properly? Not difficult at all, but now she seemed to be giving herself reasons to blame her stress on her co-workers, rather than the threats against the country. Suddenly Brandon Hughes approached, he being the last person she wanted to talk to.
"Chloe, could you send the feed of all the planes to my computer?" said Brandon, tapping his fingers on the desk impatiently. She typed away on her computer, ignoring him as if he weren't even there. "O'Brian, are you deaf? I asked you a question."
She turned to him, an irritated look in her eyes. "Uh, that's not going to happen, it's not what you're supposed to be doing."
He glared at her, obviously angry at her blunt personality. "Just do it, okay? I have to make sure that the planes had a normal flight track to confirm the reasoning of the crashes."
"You still aren't getting what you don't really need."
Brandon turned off her monitor with the press of a button and she looked at him, getting more and more irritated. "Fine, I'll send it, can you just go away now?" He nodded and walked away, looking triumphant while O'Brian just looked pissed.
The workers of Counter Terrorist Unit continued to hustle around, not once stopping to fraternize – other than Lindsey Daniels and Brandon. Chloe looked over to see the two of them pathetically flirting, and it made her sick. They had work to do, could they not see that? Well, she would not waste a second of what could be work time.
"Michelle, could you come up here please?" Tony asked over the phone, and she replied with a quick yes before hanging up. He looked at the box within the palm of his hand again, sighing. Part of him wished he could just propose now and get it over with, but that was unacceptable. Michelle deserved the best, so how she fell for a guy like him…he'd never understand that part.
"Yes, Tony?" said Agent Dessler, knocking and then entering without confirmation. "What is it?"
He inconspicuously slipped the box back into his pocket, before standing up and walking over to her. "Chappelle's coming to monitor what we're doing."
She looked at him, her eyebrows crinkled in confusion. Tony almost melted right then and there at how adorable she was, but then recomposed himself after realizing that now was, most certainly, not the time. "But you're the director, you can handle what we're doing."
"Not if there's another crash, and the terrorists create a mass panic."
"You can handle anything, and everyone here knows that."
He smirked and pushed one of her loose curls out of the way. Kissing her on the forehead, Michelle smiled and wrapped her arms around him. Both of them wished they could stay in that moment forever, as if everything happening down below no longer existed. "Are we still on for our date tonight?" That was the only thing keeping her through the tough day; the excitement that she'd have her Tony all to herself later on.
He whispered in her ear, the obvious stress in his voice. "Sweetheart, I don't know…we've got a threat against the nation on our hands, and this day is only just beginning. I have a feeling it's going to get a lot worse."
The box in his pocket suddenly seemed to weigh him down, as if it were a thousand pounds. Oh, shit, today was going to be a long day.
...9:24:49

9:28:24
"Mr. President, Tony Almeida is on line one for you."
"Patch him through." answered President Palmer, his voice flat and emotionless. It'd only been a little over a year since the threat of a nuclear bomb, and he could only hope that today wouldn't be nearly as tragic. Two plane crashes had already sent the white house into a spiral as everyone rushed around, attempting to calm to press and another multitude of things.
"This is Almeida, Mr. President." A voice said on speakerphone.
"Go ahead; is there an update on what caused the crashes? F.B.I. was working on it, if I'm correct."
"It's no longer their concern, sir. The investigation has been turned to CTU now."
"Why on earth is that? You work with things involving terrorists." Silence. "Agent Almeida, are you implying that these crashes are the act of a terrorist?"
"I'm not implying, Mr. President, there's a threat against the nation." Tony sighed in exasperation before continuing. "The reason for the flight's going down is that these terrorists got control of a device that allows them to access the oxygen tanks. They shut off the release of oxygen to the pilots, and they go unconscious before anyone can even react."
David Palmer took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead, realizing what they were dealing with. These people had the ability to bring down any plane they wanted…all within twenty-four hours. "What are we doing about this, Mr. Almeida?"
"Sir, we believe bringing in Jack Bauer is our best option at this point."
And how could the president disagree? Jack Bauer had saved his life on several occasions, and he could only be described as nothing short of a hero. "Anything else?" He tried to hide the frustration from his voice, but he couldn't deny it: any attack on his country felt personal.
"We won't know until Agent Bauer arrives."
"Alright, well keep me updated." David Palmer ended the call and, as if on cue, his chief of staff stepped in.
"David, I think it'd be best if we held a press conference." His chief of staff, however, was also his brother.
The fact that Wayne Palmer had just named the president as otherwise went unnoticed, and David nodded. "If they haven't figured out about the second crash by now, they will very soon. We don't want that panic to spread."
"I'll set it up."

"That's right." A woman said. She and another woman, both dressed in familiar flight attendant outfits, whispered in hushed tones as if they were trying to hide something. Kim Bauer held a magazine in her lap, flipping the pages impatiently with a million thoughts running through her head. First, the feeling of anxiety that she'd yelled at her father. Experience had told her that whenever she argued with her father, something horrible happened – of course, most of the time he partly caused it.
"So, wait, why aren't they shutting down all the airports?"
As one of the women said this, Kim Bauer perked up. What would be the cause for shutting down airports, other than a matter of national security?
"I don't know, but we're taking off either way. I just wish we had some reassurance that our flight or any companion flights weren't the next target."
That was too much, she had to interrupt. "Excuse me, what are you two talking about?"
The two gave her a dirty look, and Kim couldn't help but notice that one of them had lipstick smeared all over her teeth. "Miss, it's impolite to eavesdrop." With that, they disappeared and left her in a daze. Had her father been right?
Without wasting any time, she grabbed her bag and quickly made her way through the isles. She managed to find a flight attendant that wasn't angry at her for snooping, and tried to ask her question without sounding terrified. "Excuse me, but I need to get off this flight." Kim quickly tried to come up with a reason, so as they wouldn't suspect her of any criminal acts of some sort. "It seems my boss needs me somewhere else, he put me on the wrong flight or something. Bosses, right?" She tried to smile innocently, so as to get herself off the plane as quickly as possible.
The flight attendant smiled back, but that was probably due to the fact they always had to smile – that was there job. "I'm so sorry, the doors are closed…is there any way we can arrange for a flight back once you've landed? My apologies for the mix-up."
She could see the fear behind the woman's eyes; every worker on the flight knew. She knew about the terrorist attacks, and just how large the chances were that their plane could be attacked. Defeated, Kim walked back to her seat and sat down with a sigh. Instructions about oxygen masks and etc. came on through the intercom as they began to take off, and everyone else seemed completely calm. Hopefully, as scheduled, they would land within two hours.
…9:40:53

9:44:32
Jack Bauer walked into CTU for the first time in a few weeks, as he'd had to go away in order to prepare his undercover operation with the Salazar's. It felt unfamiliar, especially since he'd didn't know what was going on in every inch of the building. Nothing got by him, and if it did – well someone would inevitably pay. At the current point in time, however, he didn't care about any of those things. Kim had just gotten onto a flight headed for the largest city in America, and if that weren't one of the main targets than he didn't know what was. How did this happen? How did his daughter just happen to get involved in this? The one thing he desired most had become involved in his job again, and that pissed him off more than anything.
Michelle Dessler turned to see Jack and smiled, walking over to give him a welcoming hug as he entered. "Hey, Jack, how've you been?" His nostrils were flared and his eyes were angry, he did not seem amused. Michelle didn't notice until she'd pulled away, and a concerned look crossed her face. "Oh, shit, what's happened?"
"Why the hell are planes still taking off? Every airport in the country should've been temporarily shut down!" Bauer yelled, and a scene seemed to be creating itself. The members of CTU began gathering, interested in what kind of meltdown would happen now.
By this time Tony Almeida had worked his way over to the two of them, trying to calm things down. "What's the problem here?" Though he obviously knew: something had angered the agent.
Dessler opened her mouth to speak, but Jack interrupted her without a second thought. "What's the problem?" His eye twitched in fury. "My daughter just got onto a plane headed for New York City, and I have no idea whether she's even going to land on the ground or not!"
Tony looked at Michelle with a disappointed look on his face; a look that said it all. He was right: this day had just gotten a lot worse.
"Jack, come up to my office." He tried to grab his friend's arm for support, but Bauer thrust it away in anger.
"I can get myself up there, Mr. Director. You just make sure Kim is safe." And with that, he was already going up the stairs.

"Some fight, huh?" said Brandon Hughes, annoying Chloe O'Brian even further. Tony, Michelle, and Jack had disappeared into the director's office above them, leaving all the workers below to gossip about the recent events.
Lindsey Daniels had also shown up to crowd around Chloe's desk, allowing her annoyance to rise up to an unbelievable level. "I know, right? I suppose Jack has the right to be worried, with his daughter on a flight and all."
Then, she couldn't take it anymore. "Of course he has the right to be worried! His daughter may not be alive by this time tomorrow."
Lindsey's eyes rose in surprise and she let out a cool breath of air. "Wow, O'Brian, letting your blunt personality get in the way of work, now, aren't we?"
Chloe looked at Lindsey with an expressionless face, her anger rising by the second. "Just go back to your work, Daniels. You too, Hughes."
They walked away from her desk, only to meet up behind a corner anyway. "What's her problem, anyway?" Brandon asked, looking back over to the agent typing away on her computer.
"I don't know, but she's always been known for having a stick up her ass. At least, that's what I've heard." replied Lindsey, and the two looked at each other with a soft look before smirking.
"You don't have a stick up your ass." Brandon said, wrapping his arms around her.
"No, I don't." And with that, Agent Daniels and Agent Hughes disappeared within a storage closet to do the unthinkable – right in the midst of Counter Terrorist Unit.
…9:51:23

9:54:58
"Would someone just explain to me what the hell is going on here?" Jack Bauer demanded, pacing around Tony's office with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"Jack, calm down." said Almeida – big mistake.
He looked at the director of CTU with such a fierce anger in his eyes, it was a wonder Tony didn't cringe. Unable to control his anger, Jack surged forward and pinned him against the wall, sending papers and all sorts of objects flying everywhere. "Calm down? You do not tell me to calm down when my daughter could potentially be flying to her death right now. You do NOT tell me to calm down!"
Michelle instinctively went for her gun, but realized that would be going way too far and instead just walked over to Bauer and tried to settle him. She needed to stop being so protective of her boyfriend, they could both fend for themselves. "Jack, we understand. You were called in so you could help us, maybe, find a lead. We can't do this without you, and you need to just calm down in order for us to help Kim."
He looked at Tony in fury for a moment longer before settling down. Glancing between the couple, Jack tried not to show the extreme fear in his eyes; the fear for his daughter's life. The only thing left he truly cared about. "If she doesn't make it, her blood is on your hands."
Michelle nodded in response, but Tony stood there with his familiar snarl. "Good, now come on, Jack. We've got to start working on this right away."
"Well have we found out what they're using to get into the oxygen tanks?" He asked as Tony walked over to his computer, getting all the recent findings up on screen.
"No, we haven't found out exactly – but we believe they have a device that limits their hacking ability into the mainframe. That's why it won't show up on the firewall as a breach, they aren't actually in the computers, just part of the access clearance." replied Almeida, following with a silent gulp that led the room to silence. "Chloe tried; we can't back-hack them."
No one spoke for some time, and Michelle and Tony looked at Jack as if waiting for a response. He stared intently at the monitor for a short while and, without warning, walked over to begin typing. "Howard Benson," Bauer began, not giving any further explanation until a member profile was up on the screen. He backed away for his fellow workers to see it. "He used to work for CTU as a technical analyst."
"Used to?"
"Yes. We had reason to believe he was conspiring with terrorists, and it resulted in his torture – he wasn't very happy when we found out we were wrong, and he quit. Benson is the only person outside of CTU who has the capability to build this kind of device."
Michelle looked dazed for a moment and interrupted, coming out of her quiet little corner. "Outside of CTU? What, we have someone who can build this kind of thing?"
Jack nodded, staring out the office through tinted windows. "Yeah, Chloe O'Brian. She came as Benson's replacement, and if there's anyone who knows how to work a device like this – it's her."
A warehouse, unnoticed and unknown, sat within the middle of about twenty other buildings just like it. Surely no one could find them, find what they're doing. A man, the largest and most threatening of them all, walked around to monitor everything going on. Of course, he was the leader of this operation – otherwise, none of the day's events would've occurred.
"Johnston, are the flight patterns up and running?"
The man, also known as Johnston, nodded in response as he typed away on a computer. The image of little green planes all over a satellite feed showing their exact destination lay sprawled across all different monitors, providing the sight for all the workers in the building.
"Good, prepare to take the third one down within the hour. Then we'll make the call." He glanced at the screen one last time, focusing on one particular little green plane: Flight 774, scheduled to take off at approximately 9:32 A.M.

…10:00:00