HELLO! I've finally got Hour 9 finished! Please don't kill me for being so late, but please do review and rate - I'll get Hour 10 up as soon as possible, just as soon as I start it! Enjoy...

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1


9: 12am – 1am (EST)

The following takes place between 12am and 1am, European Standard Time:

00:00:01AM

North Atlantic Ocean

Shortly after making his way out of the elevator shaft, Kurt had carefully snuck into each of the cabins, hoping to find any signs that any one of them had been used to store weapons. After checking the cabins before his own and finding nothing, he turned his attention to the cabin one place down from his own – to his surprise and slight suspicion, it was locked. Which indicated this might be it. Quickly looking left and right, he pulled his cabin keycard out of his pocket and slid it into the gap between the door and the doorframe. After several attempts, he finally got the door unlocked. Quickly moving into the cabin, he picked up one of the two phones and turned on the flashlight app so he could see in the dark cabin. Almost immediately, he found something suspicious under the bed – walking over to it, he knelt down and pulled out a large suitcase, similar to the ones that had been loaded up by Avram and Golea prior to take-off.

As he opened the suitcase up, he was almost taken aback at what he had seen – a detachable gun with several magazines and a smoke grenade. From a second look under the bed, he couldn't find any more suitcases so it was most likely this was it. He looked back at the phone and checked the time; it was two minutes past midnight EST, he had another 13 minutes before he had to surrender or risk countless deaths at the hands of Hermann. He had to act now if he was going to stop any more deaths – at least, that of the hostages. Grabbing the gun and wrapping the magazines around his waist, he placed the grenade in his shirt and headed back out to the elevator.

European Airspace

Looking over at the flightpath instruments, Jack noticed he was now out of the Czech Republic airspace and overflying Southern Germany – if he continued flying along this straight route, he would be over the Bay of Biscay within the next 15 minutes or so. As he kept the controls level, he noticed the radio buzzing – pressing down on the red button, he spoke into it. "This is Bauer!" he said. "Mr Bauer, it's Agent McKaye" the British MI-5 agent replied over the radio. From last talking with the President, Jack knew who he was. "What can I do for you?" he asked, not keeping his eyes off the sky. "I've been in contact with Naval carriers near the European continent and I've found a carrier you can land on! Whereabouts are you overflying at the minute?" McKaye asked. Jack briefly looked at the flightpath instruments. "At the minute, I'm not too far off Munich airspace – I should be clearing Europe and overflying the Bay of Biscay within the next 15 or so minutes" he was essentially repeating what he had been thinking mere seconds ago, but he was confident he'd be overflying the ocean soon – then he would be around possibly two to five hours away from American soil.

"Right, ok.. Well, I've spoken with the Admiral of the CVN Harry S. Truman – at the minute, they're in the North Atlantic Ocean, about halfway between the East coast of America and the Portuguese coast. If you can reach them within the next 50 minutes, they'll be more than happy to let you land and then you'll be escorted by helicopter to DC later on!" McKaye explained. As he finished, Jack sighed in relief – at least he wouldn't have to fly for longer than he needed to do. "Thanks. Also, what's the latest on Flight 681?" he asked. Silence followed for quite a few seconds as the MI-5 agent put his spare hand on his forehead – how was he going to explain this?" "McKaye?" he heard Jack speak again. "I'm afraid the President... he gave the order for Flight 681 to be shot down!" he finally said. Jack could not believe what he had heard. "I'm sorry, SHOT DOWN? Please tell me you're joking!" he almost yelled back and the MI-5 agent almost had to cover his phone so that no-one else could hear him yell. "Look, don't tell anyone this but it's covered. I've got in touch with our contact on the flight and I've given him prior warning – I'd say he has about 20 or so minutes!" he explained. Jack rose an eyebrow at what the British agent had told him – why would he do that?

"I don't follow" he said finally. "Let's just say that whilst I respect your President, Jack, I can't just sit by and watch as he orders the death of 400 innocent people. At least alerting someone on that plane gives them a fighting chance" McKaye explained. Jack knew that whilst the overall logic was debatable, he did have a point – with both Chloe and Belcheck on that plane, if he was in the shoes of the MI-5 agent, he would have probably contacted someone on that plane to warn them. "Ok. Well, I appreciate you letting me know. I'll contact the President as soon as I land on the carrier" he simply said before hanging up. His grip on the jet's controls tightened; he could only hope that this person that McKaye had warned on the plane could successfully stop the hijackers. He then looked out at the clear night sky – apart from a few clouds, the sky was perfectly clear. But little did he know that above him in the clouds, he was being tracked. Hidden in the cloud directly behind him.. was a drone. The same drone that had had its feed hijacked by Krylenko on the Yuri Dolgorukiy and it was still following him.

00:09:43AM

Moron Air Base

Monitoring the feed was Ballester, as she carefully steered the drone over the south of France and up towards the West coast. The two signal icons of both the attack drone and Jack's plane flew closer and closer together. As her eyes switched between the feed and ensuring the drone icon did not move off-route, she noticed her phone vibrating and pressed down on a button on the left side of her headset. "Hola" she said, expecting to be talking with either Benediktov or Krylenko. "Hello, Ballester" a gruff female voice spoke and the Spaniard's eyebrows rose. "Ms... Ms Dimitrijevic! I wasn't.." she said in reply, only to be interrupted. "Expecting to hear from me? I can understand that" the Serb replied. Quickly looking around, Ballester took a few seconds to respond. "Are we on a clear line? Does anyone know about us?" she asked. "We're fine. The line is clear. No-one on my end is aware of this" Dimitrijevic insisted.

"Not even...?" Ballester asked further, clearly unsure at something. "No. Not even him" the calm reply came. The Spaniard gave a slight sigh. "Ok, that's a relief" she said simply. "Are you in position?" the Serb asked next, getting straight to the point. "Yes, I'm currently in the control room – I've got control of one of the drones and am flying it after Bauer as per my instructions.." came the reply from Ballester, who was completely unaware that Higham was stirring behind her. "That's good, but don't get too distracted. Benediktov is eventually going to find out your real loyalties and this has to go according to plan if we're going to distract the President!" Dimitrijevic warned sternly. "I appreciate that, Ma'am and I'm ready for that; the explosives are in place and should anyone on base find out about me.." Ballester insisted. Higham may have been still a bit drowsy from being knocked out, but his hearing capability was clearly working as he managed to hear the words "explosives" and "anyone on base". His eyes widened – what was this woman planning to do?

"Excellent. I have faith in you, Ballester. Make sure you don't mess this up" the Serbian woman added before hanging up. Ballester looked back up at the flightpath navigator – the drone and the jet were closer still. It looked like there wasn't long to go until they met. As the Spaniard moved the control gearstick to the right, Higham looked up at her and then at himself. He had to warn central control without giving himself away to Ballester.

North Atlantic Ocean

Onboard Flight 681, a lone gunman walked down the plane aisle, through economy class and past the area containing the elevator.

"DING!"

As if on cue, the doors opened, which attracted the attention of the gunman – his eyes rose in surprise as he saw the doors wide open. He'd been passing it a few times in the last ten minutes and if a fellow cell member had planned to go down to the cabins, he would have been told. He slowly walked towards the open doors and looked in.. which was his last ever act as Kurt pulled out one of the smaller guns and fired two silenced shots into his head. The gun-man fell to the floor as Kurt emerged, looking both left and right to ensure no other gun-man was in the area. It was now or never for everyone.

00:12:01PM

19:15:42PM

Washington DC

"Alright, thank you" Heller spoke into his phone before hanging up. He looked up at Baylis. "The fighter jets have Flight 681 on their radar – they'll be in sight of each other in the next 10 minutes" he confirmed. The NSA nodded though his face suggested he wasn't too happy – Heller noticed. "I know you think I've made the wrong choice, Brian, but I've got to think about the people of this country first. I'm sure you'd probably be thinking the same thing if you were in my shoes" he insisted and though he still wasn't convinced by what his commander-in-chief was saying, he simply nodded in understanding.

Heller looked around the room and gave a look of confusion. "Where's McKaye? I thought he'd be back by now" he asked, literally just before the MI-5 agent burst into the Oval Office. "Sorry, sir! Sorting out the naval carrier for Jack to land on took longer than I thought – but it's done now" he explained, apologetic in his tone of voice.

Heller rose an eyebrow at the explanation but said nothing. "I've just heard from the fighter jets – they're about 10 minutes from meeting Flight 681.." he explained. "So... there's still time?" McKaye said hopefully. Baylis looked at him, having also risen an eyebrow. "It's possible, but unlikely" he said, suspicion in his voice. Finally, McKaye sensed the suspicion. "What, you think I told this guy on Flight 681? Mr President, I may be vocal in my disagreement on your decision but I would NEVER go against you on this!" he lied through his teeth, feigning anger. Silence fell as he glared at the two men – finally, Heller shook his head. "You're right, McKaye. I didn't mean to suspect you – and with regard to your question, there is still time. Not much, but still time none-the-less" he said apologetically. McKaye nodded before looking upwards.

American Airspace

In the few minutes following Kurt returning to the top levels of the plane, Flight 681 had entered American airspace. But that was all that had really happened as Kurt scanned the surrounding areas one last time. He had to draw as many hijackers in as he possibly could, he thought to himself, as he pulled the smoke grenade from his shirt. With a deep breath, he pulled the pin out and threw the grenade – it stopped right next to the frame covering the entry into the front economy seats and within seconds, smoke started billowing out. Quickly moving backwards, he walked back into the open elevator, where the dead hijacker lay and waited.

The scent and sight of smoke quickly got the attention of the passengers and their surprised shouts got the attention of two hijackers further down the plane – one of them ran down the aisle, forcing his way past a few passengers who were standing up to investigate. As the gun-man slowly edged forward towards the elevator, Kurt also edged forward and just about caught the outline of the gun-man. He moved forward and raised his gun, firing two shots in quick succession – the gun-man had no chance, taking both bullets and staggering backwards, dead. As hostages recoiled in shock, the second gun-man charged forward. Little did either Kurt or the gun-man know, however, that two other gun-men were headed towards the smoke-filled area. As the lone gun-man slowly made his way through the smoke, his gun became visible to Kurt – what then followed, no-one expected as the young American charged forward and threw himself at the gun-man. As the two tussled, perhaps the only advantage was that because of the smoke, neither of the two other gun-men could see what was happening – as they moved forward, guns pointing upwards, Kurt finally started to overpower his opponent and grabbed his gun whilst he was still holding onto it. Finally, he pulled on the trigger.

The sound of gun-shots was heard all throughout the plane as bullets went flying into the two gun-men, who both fell dead. As this happened, everyone in the cockpit were caught off-guard by the sounds of the gun – Hermann in particular, as he grabbed his radio. "AVRAM!" he yelled into it. "I HEARD! GOING TO INVESTIGATE!" the Romanian yelled back as he charged through first-class and down the stairs, followed by Jelavic and another gun-man, whilst two others made their way up from the lower levels. As this was happening, Kurt was involved in a wrestling battle with the gun-man, the gun having been knocked out the immediate research of both men. Finally, just as Avram rounded the corner, Kurt managed to get the gun-man into a head-lock and forced his neck roughly to the right, snapping it and instantly killing him. However, Avram was now mere inches from him and had his gun raised – or at least, it was close to raised as just as Kurt turned his head to see the Romanian, one of his fellow gun-men were pulled backwards by two passengers and forced forwards, sending the other two men flying and enabling Kurt to reach for the gun. In one fell swoop, he managed to shoot and kill Jelavic, before firing the last bullet into Avram's leg.

As the Romanian feel into the floor in pain, he released the grip on his gun and it landed next to Kurt's head – he noticed the same two passengers holding the last gun-man in a death-grip. He threw the gun to a young woman. "Shoot any other hijacker if you see them!" he ordered as he sprang to his feet and ran down the aisle, intending to head up towards the cockpit. Behind him, however, he heard two more gun-shots and quickly turned, fearing the worst, before noticing the presence of two more gun-men – one had been shot dead and the other shot in the foot and surrounded by passengers. Doing a quick count, Kurt realized that nearly all the hijackers were dead or captured. Only Hermann remained.

00:19:45AM

"Hello! Avram, come in! Avram, what's going on?" Hermann said in a demanding voice. No response came and the German put his head into his hands in frustration. Chloe shared a look with Belcheck, hope in her eyes. Finally, there came a slam on the door. "Hermann! We need help!" a gruff male voice said, though it sounded rather strange – it sounded like someone was trying to speak in another accent and was speaking a foreign language, but they weren't even trying to cover up the fact the accent almost sounded American. Perplexed, Hermann slowly walked towards the door and felt around his holster to ensure his gun was there. As he unlocked the door and opened it, he was instantly forced backwards and almost to on top of Chloe by an angry Kurt. Hermann instinctively moved for his gun as he tried desperately to push back the American. However, being slightly younger, Kurt quickly gained the advantage and with one almighty swing of his arms, he slammed Hermann into the wall and he collapsed to the floor. But in that same instance, he managed to fire his gun. It just barely missed Captain Black and hit the radio – with a slight crash, it then flew apart. As Belcheck instinctively rose up to keep an eye on Hermann, Black inspected the damage as Chloe took several deep breathes in relief. "Damn it, the radio's completely buggered!" the Captain swore in frustration.

Kurt's eyes rose in shock as he realized. "That means we won't be able to stop them!" he said with horror in his tone of voice. Chloe looked up in confusion. "Won't be able to stop who?" she asked. "I've been in contact with someone in the White House. The President has ordered for this plane to be shot down in the next few minutes!" came the rapid response and Black looked at him, the colour having more than drained from his face. "Please tell me you're joking..." he begged. Kurt sadly shook his head. "How long do we have?" Chloe was next to ask. "About five minutes! We need to find something, ANYTHING that can tell the fighter jets to call off the attack!" the young American responded, as he desperately started looking around the cockpit. "What about among the passengers? I'd ask over the intercom but..." Black responded rather quickly, realizing time was very much of the essence. Chloe looked out of the cockpit entrance and towards the passengers. "I'll go ask around.." she said and she started to walk out. "There's no time, Chloe! The jets will be on top of us before you've even looked on this level of the plane!" Kurt insisted, deep breathes of worry now overcoming him. Chloe turned around to face him. "We HAVE to try!" she made it clear. Finally, after several seconds, Kurt knelt down to right next to Hermann and picked up his gun, handing it to the former analyst. "Be as quick as you can – I'm not sure if all the hijackers are dead, but if they're not, take this in case" he explained.

Chloe almost eyed the gun up in surprise before she finally took it and ran out of the cockpit.

Moron Air Base

Having spent the last 20 minutes or so with a stony look on her face, Ballester finally gave herself a smug smile. "Almost on top of you, Bauer" she said to herself, completely unaware that Higham was now conscious – he daren't move his body too much but he had to alert his commanding officer. He turned his body slightly so that he could look at the screen and an idea came to mind. He had a friend on speed-dial that worked for the commanding officer and if he could somehow use him to alert those in high command...

Slowly pulling his phone out of his pocket, he turned the sound off and logged in, moving towards the speed-dial option. Clicking on a name that read "Visitor", he activated the option of video-chat and turned it to face the large screen – by now, the hijacked drone was just inches away from Jack or at least, on the screen it was.

European Airspace

In the approximately 20 minutes since he'd spoken to McKaye, Jack had overflown French airspace and was now almost past the Bay of Biscany. Now he was very nearly out of Europe's airspace, he probably needed to contact the Harry S. Truman. To the left of the jet and running almost silently through the clouds was the attack drone – it had finally tracked down the American and was almost on top of him. Inside the jet, Jack had turned on the radio and waited a few seconds, moving the transceiver until he found the right frequency. "This is Jack Bauer calling the CVN Harry Truman; I repeat, this is Jack Bauer calling the CVN Harry S. Truman" he spoke into the radio. Silence. Jack was about to try again, when he noticed something strange – the flightpath instrument was now registering two icons. And the second one was almost to the immediate south-west of the jet's icon. Something was off.

00:22:31AM

Moron Air Base

Inside the main control room, the atmosphere was pretty quiet – nothing was much out of the ordinary as the commander watched over several operatives giving orders to soldiers outside. Suddenly, further back, a young male operative felt his pocket vibrating and pulled his phone out – on the screen read "Higham, Video Call". The operative was the person known as "Visitor" who sighed before looking all around him and clicking "accept". He was about to speak when he noticed that he was looking at the main control panel and the plasma screen. "What the..." he said in a quiet voice before the phone direction changed so that it was now looking down at Higham's head. He put his finger to his lips as so to signal to not say anything, before mouthing the numbers "seven", "zero" and "eight". Visitor mouthed the numbers himself before realizing that Base Room 708 was the main hub for watching and controlling the drones. He looked back at the phone as Higham started moving his hands about and making signals which the young operative recognized as indicating "drone", "hijacked" and "help".

Realizing what was being motioned, Visitor rose from his seat and rushed over to the most senior officer in the room. He wanted to shout to him but then he realized he couldn't make a sound, so he just signaled to him frantically. The officer, shown by his insignia as a Brigadier-General, saw Visitor frantically signaling and watched him run to him with a look of complete confusion on his face. But before the Brigadier could ask, Visitor showed him the live feed on the phone, which was still looking directly at Higham – the moment the Brigadier was looking, Higham moved the phone so it was looking back up at the plasma screen; and now, the drone was almost completely covering Jack's fighter jet. The Brigadier-General looked up in confusion. "But the plasma screen in here says that all the drones are..." he started before stopping. He walked towards an operative. "Refresh the plasma screen" he ordered her. She looked up at him with a face of confusion. "Just do it.." he ordered again, this time more sternly. At that, the operative refreshed the plasma screen. It turned off for a few seconds and when it came back on, Visitor noticed something – the drone icons were one short than from when the screen had been turned on. The Brigadier-General, realization dawning, grabbed the phone and noticed that Ballester was getting ready to fire. "We have a rogue drone! Red alert!" he yelled out to everyone in the room.

Thankfully, the sound had been muted on the phone so whilst Higham got an idea of what was happening, Ballester was still unaware. But then she did become aware as a loud alarm started to sound throughout the air base and in the control room, there was one alarm above the plasma screen. The moment it went off, Ballester was completely caught off-guard and bungled her intended shot...

European Airspace

...and because of her bungling, instead of the drone firing the first missile almost silently, the whole drone veered off to the side before coming back into line with the fighter jet. And Jack saw it. As the missile finally launched, it dawned on the American. "DAMN IT!" he swore as he pushed the flight controls downwards and the jet flew straight downwards, towards the ocean. He heard the missile explode above him and he started to level out the jet.

American Airspace

The two fighter jets dispatched to shoot down Flight 681 were flying at speed through the night sky. There was no immediate sight of the Airbus plane and nothing was coming up on their radar. "Anything on your side, Davis?" one of the pilots asked the other. "Negative, Marriner. Radar seems clear... oh wait, HANG ON!" the second pilot, known as Davis, started but then suddenly stopped with a radar pinging in the background. At the same time, the radar on Marriner's jet started pinging. Another icon had appeared on-screen and Marriner looked ahead, picking up a pair of binoculars to his side. Indeed, ahead of them in the distance and coming towards them was Flight 681. "Move in closely, Davis. We'll have a go-around of the plane and shoot from behind" Marriner ordered as he held firmly onto the controls and pushed them forward for more speed.

Onboard Flight 681, meanwhile, Chloe ran back into the cockpit and holding something white and folded up. "I think I got something!" she said as she unfolded the white object to reveal a flare gun. Black almost did a double-take at seeing it. "But... how the hell...?" he stuttered, surprised that it was found so quickly – flare guns were only allowed to be taken on planes if there were in checked luggage and were stored in the cargo. "I found it in the overhead luggage compartment; looks like it belonged to one of the hijackers!" Chloe explained as Kurt sprung up to investigate. "Where's Belcheck?" she added, having noticed he wasn't in the cockpit. "He's dealing with Hermann" Black added as Kurt picked up the gun. "Ok, we have a means of letting the jets know but where can we fire it where they can see but we won't damage the plane?" Kurt asked. Black thought for a moment. "Fire the gun at the wheel well doors – I'll open them up for you and you can fire below us" he declared before switching a button on the panel. Below the plane, he wheel well doors that were below the wheels with the VX gas opened up. As Belcheck walked back into the cockpit, Black continued speaking. "Ok, they're opened up but I'll give you 90 seconds – one of you needs to get down there NOW!" he explained, knowing time was of the essence.

Within an instance, Kurt grabbed the gun and ran out of the cockpit, pushing past Belcheck. "KURT!" Chloe yelled, but as he continued running, she instead turned to Belcheck. "Go after him, he'll need back-up" she explained – the Serb didn't need telling twice as he ran in the same direction Kurt had gone in.

Outside, the two jets flew closer and closer to the plane – in fact, they were flying so fast that the whole of Marriner's craft was rattling; any faster and it might fly apart, even. At their speed, they were about 40 seconds away from the front of the plane. In the cockpit, Chloe was first to notice. "Oh no.." she said quietly, but loud enough for Black to look up and see for himself. Any hopes that the plane had now lay with Kurt and Belcheck. Speaking of which, the two were now lowering themselves into the belly of the plane, which was made harder by the fact that because of the open wheel well door, there was a lot of blustery air from outside rolling around the area. But eventually, they made it down and towards the open door. The two exchanged a look, knowing that one slip-up could result in the plane being destroyed. Kurt, with the gun in his hand, moved his arms upwards so that he was in a shooting position whilst Belcheck held onto his right shoulder to ensure he didn't fall out of the plane. By now, the jets were literal metres from the front of the plane. "Prepare the missiles" Marriner said over the radio to Davis. The jets rocketed past the plane, with the passengers watching as they flew past. Finally, Kurt got the gun at the right angle.

At first, he showed signs of hesitation but finally... he fired. Had Belcheck not been behind him, there was a chance he would have lost his balance and probably fallen out of the plane but because the Serb was holding onto his shoulder, both kept their balance. Outside, Davis was lining up his jet to fire and preparing to lock on target when he noticed something come out of the bottom of the plane. He looked downwards to see what looked like a green flare, which then exploded. Raising an eyebrow, he then realized – in the military, if there was a green flare of sorts, it probably meant that the danger was over! "Hold off a minute, Marriner! Something's up!" he explained as he started to move the jet forward and flying it to the right of the cockpit. Within the plane, the wheel well door was closing up and both Kurt and Belcheck were heading back into the cabin, their mission accomplished. In the cockpit, Chloe noticed the jet. "Look!" she exclaimed and Black looked up as Davis moved his jet as close as he could to the exterior of the cockpit. Once he was in position, he looked towards his radio. He had a feeling 681's radio wasn't working which would explain the silence, so he hoped to contact them another way.

As he looked into the cockpit, he started to signal with his hands. "What's... he doing?" Chloe asked and Black realized what the hand signals meant. "That's... that's sign language!" he said and he watched it vigorously. "He's asking us.. "Report status. Explain green flare"" he said and he started to signal back. "I'm responding with "plane secure, radio damaged, green flare was launched to stop you" the Captain explained. Realizing what was meant, Davis spoke into his radio. "Marriner, get the White House on the phone! Flight 681 is safe, the danger's over!" he yelled. "You're sure?" Marriner responded. "YES! I'll contact base, let them know" Davis insisted. He then signaled to say "Confirmed. Contacting White House" as if to say to Black and Chloe that they had nothing to worry about. Chloe gave a sigh of relief, happy that the danger was over. As Belcheck came back in, Chloe just looked at him and enveloped him in a huge hug – he looked towards Black for details. "It worked! The jet pilots know we're not in danger!" he explained. Kurt overheard this and his first instinct was to grab the intercom that was just outside of the cockpit – the passengers deserved to know. "Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention please..." he said, giving himself a smile for the first time in hours.

00:28:04AM

00:31:53AM

European Airspace

Ever since he'd spotted the drone, Jack had done everything in his power to avoid being targeted – but no matter where he went, the drone followed. On the bright side, if there was one, the drone's pilot (whoever it was to him) had not been able to line up another missile shot at the jet. That was better than nothing.

Moron Air Base

Outside Base Room 708, several armed soldiers were marching up to the main door very quickly as the Brigadier-General and Visitor followed. Inside, Ballester was still focusing on the drone – she had checked very briefly on Higham and believed him to be still unconscious before deciding the red alert was nothing to do with her and refocusing on shooting down Bauer. However, what she didn't know was that Higham was very much conscious and was in fact keeping an eye on her. The moment he was sure she was not looking, he retrieved the phone from his sleeve and was relieved to see that it hadn't ended the video call, as he was looking directly at Visitor. Visitor signaled to him to indicate he needed to identify who was piloting the drone – after finally understanding what was being asked of him, he started to spell out Ballester's name. He was momentarily interrupted by the Spanish operative yelling and cursing at the screen, presumably because she had again tried to shoot down the thing she was chasing and failing, but he managed to spell out the letters T, E and R.

"E... R... Sir, that's Ballester! She was supposed to take over from Higham about over an hour ago!" Visitor revealed. The Brigadier-General's eyes narrowed. "I see.. end the call, tell Higham we'll have him out soon" he ordered. Visitor nodded and he signaled to Ballester to hold on tight before ending the call and ordering two soldiers to set up something on the metal door.

European Airspace

Through a combination of careful maneuvers, Jack had so far managed to stop the drone from being able to even launch one of its five remaining missiles. But he knew that he couldn't keep this up forever, much like with the Polish Air Lines flight – but at least with this jet, he could afford to be more risky and not feel like he could fly it apart at any moment. Keeping an eye on the radar, he noticed the drone was now behind the icon that was the jet; it was lining up another attempt. "No you don't..." Jack whispered and he pushed the controls of the jet down and the fighter plunged towards the ocean. The drone gave chase in the same direction and Ballester, through the control room, fired another missile. Timing his instincts, Jack kept flying towards before suddenly pulling up – the plane just avoided hitting the water but the missile just kept going downwards until it hit the ocean-bed and exploded, sending a geyser of water into the air.

As Jack began to level out the jet, a thought came to mind – if he could contact the Harry S. Truman, he could get some form of backup in dealing with the drone. He reached for the radio and kept moving the transceiver. "This is Jack Bauer calling the CVN Harry S. Truman, please respond! I am in need of air assistance!" he spoke into it desperately.

North Atlantic Ocean

Several miles down the ocean was the Harry S. Truman. And in the carrier's control room, Jack's voice was heard. "CVN Truman, this is Jack Bauer! Please respond!" the main radio buzzed to life and its operator instantly recognized the name. "ADMIRAL, IT'S BAUER!" he yelled towards a tall, well-uniformed Admiral who instantly turned his head at the mention of Jack's surname and walked towards the operator, signaling with his hand to give him the radio handset.

European Airspace

As Jack heard nothing but dead air, he started to wonder if the Truman had even been contacted. Until finally.. "Mr Bauer?" a gruff voice asked. Jack instantly responded. "YES, it's me!". "Admiral Woodhouse. The White House said you'd be in contact – whereabouts are you?" the Admiral asked him. Jack looked back at the radar. "I'm 270 degrees to the south-west of England. But that's also not why I'm calling – I need assistance!" he added, keeping an eye on the drone as he spoke. "What kind of assistance?" Woodhouse inquired. "Aerial! I'm being persued by an attack drone – I'd say it's got four missiles left and I can't keep flying like this!" Jack responded. Woodhouse's eyes rose. An attack drone? But the only military base near to Jack's location was Moron Air Base; that was US-operated! "Roger that, Mr Bauer. I can get fighters near your location in... the next ten minutes!" he confirmed, checking his own radar. "Ok, but be quick! And just in case, dispatch a helicopter with the fighters!" Jack agreed and added in. Woodhouse rose an eyebrow once again. "Any reason as to the helicopter?" he asked. There was a bit of dead air before Jack finally responded. "...just in case I need to bail out" he said before hanging up.

Woodhouse pressed down on a red button on the wall, which activated a carrier-wide alarm. Grabbing the tanoy, he made his order. "This is Admiral Woodhouse. Fighter jets #CharlieBravo and #Foxtrot and Helicopter G4 are to be dispatched immediately. Co-ordinates will be relayed when in the air" he ordered as the activity on top of the carrier sprung to life.

19:37:19AM

White House

Heller was concerned – he should have heard from the base commander or at least the two fighter jets about ten minutes ago. But there had been nothing. "Perhaps there's a technical fault" McKaye reasoned. "Or if something HAD happened to the pilots, we probably would have known by now" Baylis added. Heller was about to respond when the phone on the desk suddenly started to ring. Heller instantly moved for it. "This is Heller" he said. "Hello, Mr President! I have good news – Flight 681 has been retaken, it is no longer under terrorist control!" Marriner spoke into his radio with a smile. Heller's eyes rose in surprise. "How.. I... I don't understand!" he spluttered. "I don't know myself, sir, but all we know is that everyone is safe. We're gonna fly them back to DC airspace!" the fighter pilot explained and relayed calmly.

Heller's surprise quickly turned to slowly-realizing delight. "Alright, thank you, son! Take care" he said as he put the phone down. McKaye got up, curious to what was going on. "Flight 681 has been re-taken – I don't know the details but it looks like the hijackers have been defeated!" he explained to both men, who shared looks of surprise and delight. Of course, both the President and Baylis had no idea that McKaye had discreetly contacted Kurt and alerted him to the fighter jets heading towards them, but he figured that was no longer important – he'd ordered the switchboard operator to remain silent after all. "If Kurt did survive, we should hopefully be hearing from him or someone on the plane.." the President added and as if on cue, McKaye's phone rang. Baylis looked up at the standing MI-5 agent in surprise, who then pulled his phone out and looked at the number – it was Kurt. McKaye's insides turned, as Heller would want to know why Kurt was ringing on his phone. Which meant that he'd click that McKaye had gone against his orders. Opening up the phone, he spoke into it. "Hello" he said, a bit uneasily. "Hey! We're okay – thank you for alerting us!" Kurt said, as he walked through the cabin and saw all the relieved faces of passengers and crew.

McKaye couldn't help but smile at hearing his voice. "Would you mind if the President spoke to you?" he suddenly said, hoping Kurt would get the slight message and not bring up the fact he had contacted him earlier. "Not at all – put him on!" the American said and McKaye handed the phone to Heller. "Mr Escalona!" he said. "Mr President!" Kurt replied, keeping it simple until the President requested more details. "What's the status of the passengers and crew?" Heller asked, whilst Kurt walked through the aisles of seats. "All good – apart from the few crew-members that had been executed by Hermann, everyone is accounted for" Kurt replied, as he knew that thankfully none of the passengers had been killed. "And the hijackers?" Heller replied. "Nearly all of them are dead – we've got Hermann, his second-in-command and two others in our custody" Kurt explained, having done a headcount of both the survivors and the bodies. "And what about yourself? You feeling ok?" now Heller turned his attention to Kurt's own well-being. "I've been better but I'm alright – and before you ask, Chloe's alright and so is Belcheck" he said, changing the subject but only just, seeing as Heller had inquired about Chloe earlier on. "That's great to hear, son – would you mind if I could talk to Chloe?" came the President's reply. "Of course, bare with me... CHLOE!" Kurt said before calling out to her as she was just outside the cockpit. As she turned to notice, he walked a bit further forward before throwing the phone – despite having not so much time to react, she caught it.

"Hello?" she asked. "Chloe, hello!" Heller greeted, relieved to hear her voice. "Mr President!" Chloe tried to mask her surprise but she couldn't – she was not really expecting to speak with the President. "How you holding up?" he asked, knowing full well that Chloe had not been in a good place the last few years and that the hijacking must have caused some grief. "I'm doing alright – I'm just happy it's over. And sir... I'm really sorry about Audrey" she admitted before stopping; she knew full well that if she started on a touchy subject like this, she wouldn't stop and would say something a bit heartless so it was surprising she managed to just stop there. Heller gave an internal sigh. "Thank you, honey. But that wasn't really the reason I wanted to talk to you.." he said, grateful for the condolences but also trying to change the subject. After a few seconds of silence, he finally spoke. "...I've been in contact with Jack". Chloe froze, taken aback with shock. "How... how is he?" she asked. "He's fine, don't worry.. in fact, he's on his way to Washington as we speak" Heller assured her. "But... I don't understand. I saw the Russians take him – Belcheck saw the Russians take him! How could he have escaped?" Chloe replied, overcome with both confusion and emotion. "I don't know, all I do know is he's just spent the last few hours trying to get out of Russia" he replied.

McKaye stopped – Russia? Heller hadn't said anything about Jack being in Russia, just the Ukraine. Never-the-less, Chloe took it as fact as she gave a complete sigh of relief. "Thank you, Mr President. Do you know where he is exactly?" she asked. "Not quite.. last I heard, he was overflying European airspace. I can try and find out for you" he started but was quickly cut off by a White House aide coming into the room with a sheet of paper. He quickly unfolded it and read its message: "Bauer under attack. Apparently a drone. Reinforcements from the Truman sent, no contact from Moron Base". "Mr President?" Heller was suddenly called out by a concerned Chloe – he had to lie for her sake. "Sorry, Chloe. From when I last spoke to him, Jack was somewhere over France" he spluttered out. Chloe was a bit unsure by this but said nothing. "Ok" she said – she knew he had dementia and whilst she was relieved to hear Jack was ok, she was a bit worried that Heller's condition had impacted his mind and whether he was telling the truth about her only friend. "Listen, I'm gonna put you in touch with one of my aides before you land – I think I'm gonna need your help.." Heller added. Chloe rose an eyebrow. "Ok; what are you gonna need help with, sir?" she asked. "I'll let my aide do all the talking – it's a bit complicated to explain right now" came the reply.

Chloe thought about it for a second – she wasn't too sure on whether she should help the government, especially after what happened in New York, but she just couldn't leave Heller in the lurch. "Ok, whatever it is" she agreed. "Thank you, Chloe. My aide will be in touch, he'll contact you through Mr Escalona" the President said before hanging up. He looked down at the sheet of paper. "Jack's apparently under attack. From a drone several miles off the Spanish coast" he finally said. Baylis gave a look of confusion. "But the only base that uses attack drones in Europe is Moron Air Base – that's..." he started. "US owned, I know. That's what doesn't make sense. Apparently, the Harry S. Truman has tried to contact them but they've heard nothing.." he said, looking out of his window. What was going on in Spain?

European Airspace

About 5 or so minutes from the Truman, two fighter jets sped through the sky, followed by a US-owned Sikorsky MH-60S Seahawk search-and-rescue helicopter. Further down the ocean, Jack pulled the Mig-29 out of its dive and levelled it out as yet another missile from the drone missed it's target and exploded in mid-air.

00:42:15AM

Moron Air Base

Ballester cursed under her breath again as the missile exploded, having missed Jack altogether; she had used up another missile in trying to stop him and now had only two left. She was completely unaware that outside the room, explosives had been secured onto the metal door and everyone was standing back as the Brigadier-General was handed the detonator. "The moment the door goes, charge in. Do not hesitate" he ordered. "Yes, sir" the men agreed. He opened up the detonator. "And... now!" he slammed down on the button and the explosives blew the door wide open – Ballester had chosen that moment to line up another shot, but the impact caused her to bungle her shot up and she fired prematurely.

European Airspace

Having heard the missile launch, Jack performed the same evasive manoeuvres as before – but because of the bungling on Ballester's part, the missile actually launched earlier than expected and as Jack levelled out, the missile exploded in mid-air... and shrapnel actually managed to hit the fuel tank. Alerts came to life in the cockpit and Jack realized what was happening. Instinctively, he pulled back and allowed the drone to get closer to him.

Moron Air Base

Within mere seconds of the door being blown open, Ballester fell in front of her chair in the hopes of playing dead – as the soldiers stormed in, they noticed Higham on the floor and he moved his body so he could see them. "You alright, Higham?" Visitor asked. "Yeah... thank you, sir! I think you stopped her before she could launch the last missile on the drone!" Higham said, speaking to the Brigadier-General whilst referring to the seemingly-unconscious Ballester. "Well, that's the main thing. Get her up and take her to interrogation" the senior officer ordered two soldiers. "YES SIR!" one of them replied and he moved to pick up Ballester. However, the moment he had lifted her upper body clear of the control panel, she opened her eyes and wrestled the gun from his hands before slamming him away and slamming down on the missile controls.

At that moment, the missile was launched... just as Jack released the main fuel tank – the tank fell back and slammed into the missile. What followed was a massive explosion that sent the jet flying from the shock-waves and also destroyed the drone completely; the jet started to pick up speed as it headed towards the ocean and Jack found himself losing control. "Come on! Come on!" he yelled, to no avail. Realizing what was about to happen, he flicked a switch and the canopy of the jet was jettisoned. Finally pushing down on a lever, he grabbed the flare gun and waited what was just a split-second as the seat was propelled out of the plane and into the air. As the parachute flew out and into the air, Jack watched as the jet slammed into the ocean and exploded on impact. Jack released himself from the seat and flew into the air through the parachute as he got closer and closer to the water. He landed on the water safely and instantly made his way to a piece of wreckage he could hold on to.

Moron Air Base

The moment Ballester fired the last missile, two soldiers fired all their bullets into her body. But what was surprising was that she didn't instantly fall down – instead, she slowly staggered around and gave a wicked smile before pulling her own detonator out of her sleeve. "You made the wrong choice, BRIGADIER!" she said as she opened the detonator up. The soldier who she'd attacked got to his feet as she declared, "LONG LIVE THE A.F.E!". Hearing the words and realizing what was about to happen, the soldier instantly tried to tackle her but it was too late. She slammed her thumb down on the detonator and within an instance, her body exploded. Normally, just the people inside the room and anyone just outside of it would have been caught but instead, this one explosion seemed to ignite another as outside the base, a huge explosion ripped through the main warehouse and several army trucks as well as the main base. People standing around had no chance as the shock-waves forced everyone off of their feet. Moron Air Base was all but obliterated.

00:45:19AM

00:49:23AM

American Airspace

Chloe walked back up along the aisle of the cabin, quickly spotting Belcheck who looked up. "Hey – you alright?" he asked as he put his hands on her shoulders. "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess; I've just spoken with the President.." she said. Belcheck rose an eyebrow. "And...?" he enquired. "...He's.. he's spoken with Jack!" she finally said, which surprised the Serb. "Are you sure?" he pushed. "Yeah – he doesn't know much but he has been talking with Jack. He's ok, it seems.." she said. Belcheck kept a stout face but inside, he was revealed – he'd been sincere in trying to keep Chloe going follow Jack's surrender, but personally, even he had questioned the decision in the first place. The news he was ok came as a big relief. "And there's something else too – the President has requested our help for when we land" she added. "Ok, any particular reason?" the Serb asked. "He didn't say – he said he'd contact us through Kurt with more information, but it must be big" the American responded. Belcheck didn't look that convinced.

"I don't get why you're happy to help – it was the government that screwed over you and Jack all those years ago, wasn't it?" he asked. Chloe looked up at him and pulled a face. "I know, but I just feel like I owe it to Heller – after all, he didn't really do anything that screwed me over. It was the governments before him that did that after all.." she reasoned. Belcheck seemed to accept that and the two started to head back towards the cockpit. Further down the plane, Kurt was walking away from the toilet area – within all the chaos that had taken place, he'd forgotten about Gabrielle and was trying to find her. "Kurt?" he heard a voice behind him and he turned to see his girlfriend, bandaged up on one arm and with a big smile on her face. The two hugged. "I'm proud of you, hon – you single-handedly retaking this plane!" she said. Kurt almost blushed. "Oh come on, I didn't do it all on my own – I had help; you, Chloe, that Serb guy. We all retook it!" he insisted. Gabrielle smiled. "So what's happening now?" she asked.

"At the minute, I'm not sure – I think we're still on course to land within the hour and at the minute, I'll take that" the young male American revealed. Gabrielle smiled playfully but then stopped. "What's wrong?" Kurt asked. "Within all the retaking, did anyone think about the VX gas? Or is it still where it is?" she asked – Kurt almost gave her a strange look but then realized she was right. He ran down the plane and towards the stairs leading up to the cockpit, with Gabrielle close behind. "CHLOE! CHLOE!" Kurt yelled and he got the attention of both the former analyst and Belcheck. "What's wrong?" the Serb asked. Kurt pulled both to the side and in front of the entrance to that particular part of the cabin. "We need to get those VX gas canisters off the landing gear before we land – I completely forgot about them until now but we can't risk landing if they're still there" he explained. Chloe's body sank slightly. "I'll go – if we're careful, we can get them off without exposure" Belcheck offered. Kurt nodded. "I'll help you" he said. Then, all of a sudden... "No matter what you do, you won't be able to stop what's coming!" a strange voice said and the four people turned to face Hermann.

"You have no idea what's coming, any of you. By the end of tomorrow, your precious country will be at war – and that just suits me fine. Just picture a scenario, Chloe; the world on the brink. Death and destruction throughout the streets. The people cleansed of those who dare to stand in our way..." he continued and continued speaking even as he saw Chloe's face turn to one of revulsion. "... and no matter what you think, the real terrorists will be wiped off the face of the Earth. Your entire world will fall apart and you will not see it coming!" he finished speaking and gave a smug smile, confident in his belief. Chloe grit her teeth, trying to avoid saying or doing something before she regretted it. Instead, Gabrielle put her arm around her, trying to be supportive. Kurt was the one to speak up. "You really are deluded.. surely this plane being retaken proved to you has proven that terrorism will never win" he retorted. Hermann could only scoff. "Yeah, you believe that. But mark my words, this time tomorrow, you will find yourself in a world engulfed in terror. Not even your precious allies will be able to help you!" he said before turning the other way. The four exchanged a look before Belcheck headed down the stairs towards the area of the cabin that led to the belly of the plane, Kurt quickly following.

00:53:21AM

North Atlantic Ocean

Having gotten himself onto a large bit of wreckage, Jack finally unfastened the parachute from around him and let it fall into the water – the flare gun was mostly intact and he knew that help was not too far away. He could not believe he had just done that; he'd managed to take out an attack drone with a weapon-less fighter jet AND he'd survived. As he looked around, trying to see either one of the fighter jets or the rescue helicopter, he stopped – he could only just see it but to the south-west of him, he could see what looked like large billows of smoke lofting into the sky. If only he had binoculars with him, he could check. But his attention was then distracted by what seemed like the sound of jets – he looked back up and saw not just two fighter jets coming towards him, but also a helicopter. Taking the chance, he raised the flare gun into the air and fired.

Onboard the helicopter, the main pilot saw a red flare launch into the sky. "I think that's him – let the Admiral know, I think we've found Bauer!" he ordered his co-pilot who nodded. Jack watched as the fighter jets flew over him and as the helicopter instantly swayed to the right. He carefully got to his feet just as a ladder was dropped down to meet him. He carefully jumped onto the ladder, making his way upwards until he was pulled into the helicopter-proper – the moment he was in and the helicopter door pulled closed, the pilot started to move back in the direction he had first come in, the jets then following. "MR BAUER?" the main pilot yelled as Jack made his way to the vacant seat. "Steven Wallace!" he added, shaking hands with Jack who sat down. "Welcome aboard Helicopter G4. Out of interest, what happened?" Wallace asked, referring to the plane wreckage. "The attack drone managed to damage my fuel tank; had to jettison it before it blew up. How long until we reach the carrier" Jack said. "Well, it took 15 minutes to get here but it'll take 20 to get back – on the basis the Truman is heading back to DC" Wallace explained. Jack nodded. "Out of interest, what were you doing in the area?" he asked; he hadn't actually met to ask but considering the events of the last few hours, part of him felt like he shouldn't miss anything out. "A military plane got shot down around this area a few hours ago – we couldn't find anyone alive but we did retrieve some of its wreckage" the pilot explained. "Was there anyone important on that plane?" Jack was now really curious.

"Yeah, actually... the President's Chief of Staff, Mark Boudreau" Wallace replied. Jack stopped at that – his jaw dropped in surprise and his blood ran cold. Boudreau... DEAD?! Ok, he really had no sympathy for him as it was his actions that led to America nearly going to war with China and it was his actions that indirectly led to the death of Audrey, but it still came as a huge surprise. "No disrespect intended, but get a move on – I need to talk to the President the moment we land!" Jack demanded. Wallace simply nodded, understanding the situation and moved the controls slightly so they were gathering speed. This was bad, Jack thought to himself. First, Russian soldiers and Ukraine rebels shoot down the helicopter he was in. Then he finds evidence of a planned attack on DC. Then he finds himself pursued by Russians, Ukrainians and now whoever was controlling that attack drone – someone didn't want him to get back to America. But who?

North Atlantic Ocean

Further up the ocean, the Yuri Dolgorukiy was still charging along near the bottom of the ocean bed. "You're sure of this, Krylenko?" Benediktov asked, very much surprised. "Yes, sir! Ballester's tracking signal has gone dead, which can only mean she's dead.." the Ukrainian insisted. "Ok, what else?" the Russian General pushed for more information. "Well, reports are coming in of an explosion at Moron Air Base.." she started but the General interrupted rather angrily. "I didn't mean that – I MEAN ANTHING ON BAUER!" he yelled. But as Krylenko looked up at him with shock, he realized he'd been a little bit harsh. "Sorry, I'm just anxious – have you seen any evidence that Bauer is alive?" he asked again. "...no. It doesn't look like it – the live drone feed doesn't seem to have picked up any evidence he's alive. I was going to check in with Ballester for an update until I noticed her tracking signal was dead..." she replied. Benediktov sighed in relief. "Well, that's something. For now, I think we can safely say that Bauer's dead" he said, before leaving. The moment he was out of her immediate hearing range, he spoke to himself.

"I hope our ally is doing alright..."

16:57:41PM

America

Inside a prison cell was Prisoner #658 or as he called himself, "Jeremy Henderson" - he had been waiting in the cell for about three hours, waiting for when the "time was right" for his prison guard to set off the plan they had come up with. He knew what he had to do – he was just dependent on the guard coming through. As if on cue, there was a knock on the door and the slot opened up to reveal the prison guard holding a tray with a glass of water. Henderson took the tray and nodded as the slot was shot; he quickly moved the glass out of the water to reveal two keys on a chain.

In the room monitoring the security, a guard was keeping a close eye on the activity, or lack there-of when three monitors suddenly went black. Back in the cells, the cell door opened and Henderson emerged, clutching the set of keys as he went down the hallway to another cell. Inside, a Hispanic man sat reading a magazine when he heard a clang and then looked up to see the door open – thinking it was a guard, he put the magazine down and stood up, only to be caught off-guard when he saw Henderson walk in casually. "What's going on?" the second prisoner asked in confusion – Henderson gave a sneering smile before charging straight into the Hispanic, slamming him into the wall. Desperately trying to fight back, he tried scratching at Henderson's face, enabling him to push him back and into the cell hallway. The guard in allegiance with Henderson witnessed this and slammed on the alarm, opening the doors to the hallway. "GET OFF! I SAID, GET OFF YOU IDIOT!" the Hispanic yelled as he tried to push Henderson off of him.

As a second guard ran in, the first guard was able to slam Henderson onto the floor as he helped the Hispanic to his feet. Henderson tried going in for another attempt, only to be restrained by the second guard. "You ok, #719?" the first guard asked. "DO I LOOK OK? This idiot tried to attack me!" the prisoner, known as #719, yelled. "How the hell was he able to escape in the first place?" the second guard asked, trying to get a hold of Henderson. "Look, I'll deal with this. I'll take #658 to medical, you take #719 to see the warden to give his detail of events... that ok?" the first guard asked, looking directly at #719 by the end, who gave both a nod and a shrug. The second guard released Henderson and took a hold of #658, shutting off the alarm as he left – Henderson looked at the guard. "That was probably the worst escape plan I've ever seen. You better have a good plan for part two..." he said quietly and rather annoyed. "Yes, I do... Just bare with me..." the guard insisted as he dragged Henderson out of the cells. This had better work if I'm to meet the deadlines, the prisoner thought to himself.

01:00:00AM


Out of curiousity and for next time, what is everyone's fav 24 season?