Jack Bauer fought waking. Consciousness meant pain. He might be too valuable to kill but from his perspective there were worse things than death now. Death would at least be the last adventure. Consciousness kept biting at him, making itself known.

It took several minutes before he realized it was different this time. The handcuffs were gone, so was much of the pain but the sound of the ship's massive engines still vibrated the air. Yet he could no longer feel them through the deck. He was on something padded, something soft. The scent of food nearly made him retch, suddenly sure this was some new torture. It was time for the good guy. Were the Chinese really that far behind?

Gentle hands caught him when he finally gagged hard enough to force him to sit up and his eyes opened at the sound of a woman's low, thickly accented voice. Australian, she was Australian, and she was smiling at him thinly, a cool symphony of platinum hair, ice-blue eyes, and diamond-cutting cheekbones. "It's over, Mr. Bauer. Relax." She jerked her head to the left, her eyes never leaving his.

In the corner was a dark mass, irregular in shape and punctuated by flashes of white, collars and sleeves, he realized, still dazed, white and, of course, red. It took him a moment to realize the mass was what was left of his captors, tossed in a haphazard pile. He shook his head, dreaming again. The woman pushed him back down, her voice still calm, calm to the point of arrogance.

"You're awake, I'm real, and we're taking you home."

Jack stopped thinking and stared. "How could you do this? Who are you?" Able to see better now, he realized she was dressed in black combat gear and was carrying an Uzi. He caught a whiff of sulfur.

The woman put a Glock, loaded, for him on the table beside the comfortable bed. "My name is usually Josephine but we've decided you're special. For you, it's Nikita."

"Nikita? All right, then what are you?"

A twist of regret cooled her sudden smile. "Just another figment of Mr. Surnow's imagination. Mr. Bauer, welcome to Section One."