Dirty basements, dirty noise, Dirty places coming through

[out_of_time]

WHO: Jack Bauer and OPEN
WHERE: Superjail
WHEN: From Saturday evening through the week.
WARNINGS: Probably none.
SUMMARY: Jack Bauer has been arrested. Come visit him.
FORMAT: Paragraph.

The 'Superjail' had been opened specifically to hold prisoners too dangerous or resourceful for containment in ordinary facilities. Its past residents had included alien symbiotes, superhuman sociopaths, vampires. Jack Bauer's abilities hardly put him in the same category, but he was an Import and he was extremely dangerous in his own way. So once he was arrested by Nicholas Angel, the former police Captain and current shame of the force was incarcerated in the police's own facility under heavy guard, pending trial.

Jack had a lot of time alone with his thoughts. Those thoughts were mainly sad, weary, and frustrated. It was fitting in a way: his cell was only a few floors up from the lobby where he and Seras had confronted a Skrull imposter. That encounter had ended in the deaths of two officers sent by Jack's orders into a situation they couldn't handle. Like everything else he'd done, he stood by that decision. Like everything else he'd done, it still weighed on him. Here, the memories of his sins and failures were kept close to him in more ways than one.

The thought of escape hadn't been seriously considered yet. The jail didn't have the greatest track record, but it was still a world-class facility, more than adequate for holding a powerless and downcast former federal agent. Jack knew that if he was going to leave, it would have to be through outside help, and that step would have consequences he wasn't ready to invoke yet. He chafed at the inactivity of his cell, aching with the knowledge of everything he had left unfinished out there, threats looming on the horizon: Vulcanus, Skrull infiltration of the government, killers at large, attacks being planned. He was unable to do anything in here, and that was something he couldn't take even though he knew the City had many defenders- in many ways better defenders- still working outside.

Another reason escape wasn't an option was because on some level Jack knew he belonged here, that this was what he had earned. He had broken his word, set himself above ordinary accountability, hurt a hell of a lot of people. He had changed so far and so fast, since he was Ported in retired and unwilling to return to a life of secrets and bloodshed. The happy life he'd left behind was a thing of the past by now, abandoned bit by bit in the name of necessity. Worst of all for him, more often than not his measures had failed to stem the danger and death the City was so often afflicted by. These were the things Jack brooded over alone in his cell, a busted ex-cop awaiting trial.

Comments

[out_of_time]

Jack snorted. He couldn't help himself. He'd never had anyone act this way toward him before. "Well if you're still respecting my authority, I've got an order for you." He paused. "People are going to be saying a lot of things about me over the next while. A lot of them will be true. Most of them you won't like to hear, but that doesn't mean those people are the bad guys."

Jack sighed a little. "Seras, I don't want you to throw your career away over this. Not over me."

[newbvampire]

She opened her mouth ready to argue with him before snapping it shut. She did respect him enough to still follow his orders at least a little bit. "I'll try Jack, but I'm not forgiving some of them for this. Not the Mayor and not Dent. There's people out there we need to be going after and instead they're locking you up and selling us out so they'll look good."

She sighed and looked down at the floor. "Who actually performed the arrest? I didn't see the report and I can't imagine anyone on the force would be willing to. Did the Mayor have to bring someone in?"

[out_of_time]

He looked at her, thought for a moment. "If I tell you are you going to give them problems? They were just doing their jobs, Seras. Better than me, in some ways." Despite the vast gulf of opinions and methods between him and Nicholas Angel, Jack was quickly forming an immense respect for the new officer. Arrest notwithstanding.

[newbvampire]

She thinks of lying to him for a moment, but she couldn't do that to him. Especially not now. "I'll leave them alone if all they did was arrest you."

[out_of_time]

"Nick did it by the book," Jack said, not mentioning that he had made the book involve a protracted fight thanks to his resistance. "I've got the impression that's the one thing you can always count on him to do."

[newbvampire]

It was Nick? She didn't know how to feel about that. She knew he was very by the book, but it still took her by surprise. Well, at least he was reliable so that was something. "That's...good to know, sir."

She gripped the bars and squeezed them in frustration. "I guess it really doesn't matter now anyway. We need to focus on getting you out of here."

[out_of_time]

"You're not staging a breakout, Seras," Jack said firmly. "That's an order." It just wouldn't end well- even if it worked, the Superjail itself would probably be trashed in the process.

But Seras was right, he couldn't stay here. There was no time to sit and brood, no time at all. "If this goes to trial, it won't go in my favour," he said. "The evidence is too strong." And also completely true, which was kind of a problem.

[newbvampire]

She shook her head. "I wasn't thinking of that. I don't want to hurt anyone, I just want to get you out. I have Joel getting a copy of the report right now. We're going to go through it and make sure Dent didn't fabricate anything. Also Callie said she'd help too so maybe she could get you a pardon like she got Dent?"

[out_of_time]

"Not gonna happen." Jack shook his head. "Dent's crimes were at least partly the result of a mental condition, something curable. My situation isn't the same." Jack had been called insane many times before, but he had never been diagnosed with anything, especially not a condition that might have compelled him to do what he was charged with.

"And I don't think you're going to find any fabrications, Seras."

[newbvampire]

That crashed some hopes she'd been holding out on. She knew all she needed was one inconsistency in Dent's report to at least get things looked at again. "Doesn't it matter why you did it? I know you were trying to save civilians. How come that isn't worth a pardon, but Dent being crazy is? He still murdered innocents."

[out_of_time]

"Dent's problems are supposed to have made it harder for him to be responsible for his actions," Jack said. "I can't say that. I knew what I was doing and why." He spread his hands. "You know how serious the charges are. I can't expect any court to go easy on me because of good intentions."

[newbvampire]

"I know. It doesn't mean we have to just lay back and let them railroad you though. We'll get you a good lawyer and we'll fight this." And if they do convict Jack, well a breakout would be back on the table. "I'm not going to let them take you away."

Those last words might have come out sounding a bit more possessive than she'd be willing to admit.

[out_of_time]

"Seras..." He wasn't sure what to say, so he went with what was most important right now.

"Thank you. For everything."

[newbvampire]

"You're welcome and I know you'd do the same for me. You're a good man, don't let them make you think you aren't okay? And don't give up. You have to keep fighting no matter what." If he ever did though she'd still be there to help pick him up and if that didn't work to kick him until he got himself up.