Category: 24

24: The Next Day 1am to 2am

Last Time: Julian stopped the zombies by singing songs so bad that the zombies ripped off their own heads. Julian convinced Marwan to leave with him during the middle of a pending attack on Jack on Curtis by saying that he’s looking for a cure for Marwan’s pending zombie-ness. Chloe discovered that RoboEdgar has been having pizza delivered to CTU, and sends him out to help Jack and Curtis. Jack and Curtis head somewhere north of Las Vegas in search of the Marwans, and accidentally end up at Area 51, just in time for the power to all their electrical devices to go out, and a bright white light to shine into their SUV.

The following occurred between 1 am and 2 am – Now, if you’ll pardon me, I have to finish building a tower out of these mashed potatoes.

1:00 am – Blinding white light fills the cab of the SUV. Jack and Curtis smell a strange odor, and hear a loud humming noise. Curtis tells Jack that he thinks this would probably be a good time to freak out, before their faces start to melt and then he looks over at Jack. Jack is simply putting on his sun glasses. The humming gets a lot louder, and Curtis gets a strange look on his face. He says, “Is it my imagination, or is that…” Jack nods.

1:02 am – The humming noise seems to be a tune. Curtis realizes it’s the “Ride of the Valkyries”, and the odor smells like pepperoni pizza with a mix of apple strudel. Jack says, “I hate the smell of pizza in the morning. It smells like…RoboEdgar!”

1:03 am – RoboEdgar lands on the ground, turns down the beacon he was shining into the SUV, and stops humming. He waves at Jack and Curtis, who both get out of the car. Curtis is trying to get his eye to adjust to the darkness. Jack looks at his phone and says that the battery must be dead.

1:05 am – Jack tries to get the phone to work by banging his hand on the side of it. The battery drops out of the phone. RoboEdgar reaches down, grabs the battery, and sticks it into his ear. RoboEdgar’s eyes roll around in is head a few times, a “ding” like a kitchen timer goes off, and he hands the battery back to Jack. Curtis goes to the SUV to try to get it to start. RoboEdgar pulls out a bag of chips, and starts to eat.

1:07 am – Ex-President Manilow is in a tour bus along with his contingent of followers headed down the highway. Manilow reminds the driver of the bus that he wants to take them all to a place that’s low key, subdued, and where he can be well-hidden from everything that’s been going on the last couple of days. The bus driver tells him that he has just the place and not only that, they’ve arrived! They step off the bus in… Las Vegas. Manilow slaps himself in the head, and slides his hand down his face.

Commercial

1:12 am – Somewhere in the desert, Julian, Marwan and the thugs stop at a gas station. It’s closed. Julian and the thugs break into the building and start the gas pumps so they can pump gas. Marwan gets out of the car, says that he wants something to eat, and heads into the building. The thugs see this as their big break, and try and make a run for it. Julian chases after them.

1:14 am – Jack puts the battery back into the phone, and tries to call Chloe. The phone tries to make a connection, but can’t because the reception out here is bad. “You have to have a satellite phone”, says a man in a suit that walks out of the darkness. This surprises Jack so much that he pulls his gun and points it at the man. This surprises RoboEdgar so much that he stops eating. The man doesn’t seem the least bit surprised by seeing RoboEdgar, and ignores Jack’s gun.

1:16 am – The man in the suit introduces himself as “Fox”, and asks if they’re fellow “Aliens are going to take over the world by taking over people injected with black oil”-conspiracy buffs. Jack says they are not. Fox then asks if they’re people that “believe that government has been hiding cars that run on water just to bolster their grip on the nation”-conspiracy buffs.
Jack slowly says, “Nooooo….”, and starts to back away. Fox gets really excited and says, “Are you folks who believe in the world-wide plot to take over the world by squirrels, snakes, and other creatures…..No wait, they’re headquartered in Miami”. He thinks about it, and says, “You’re not the people that believe that by buying baloney we’re going to elect a congress full of Phyllis Diller impersonators are you?”
Jack assures them that they’re not, and Fox says, “Good, because THOSE guys are really nuts”.

1:19 am – All of Manilow’s followers have finally gotten off the bus, and they’re milling around asking each other if this is the “promised land foretold by the great Manilow”. After a couple of minutes of back and forth, they decide that it’s probably just the “kinda-promised land hinted at by the great Manilow”.

1:21 am – Julian has gotten all the thugs back by yelling out lines and scenes from “The Hills Have Eyes”. They’re all walking back to the car, and the thugs are all trying to convince Julian they were just playing around. The group stops when they see Marwan standing by the car, with two Evergreen car air-fresheners hanging from his ears.

1:23 am – Julian speaks slowly, and asks Marwan what he has on his ears. Marwan seems a little out of it, and says that he just wanted to freshen up a little. Julian tells everyone to get back into the car. They drive off. Marwan grabs one of the air fresheners and starts munching on it.

1:25 am – Fox asks Jack what they’re all doing out there. Jack tells him that they’re with CTU, and they’ve been trying to follow terrorists. Jack asks to borrow Fox’s phone, and he makes a phone call to Chloe. He tells her the situation, and she tells him that she’s got a lead that says they need to head to Las Vegas to a plumbing convention. Curtis comes over and says that the SUV won’t start. Fox tells Jack that he can drive them back into town, but that “the robot is going to have to fly”. Curtis starts to ask Fox why he’s not bothered by RoboEdgar, and thinks better of it.

1:27 am – Jack tells Fox that Curtis better drive, because he’s got excellent high-speed driving skills. Fox says, “Trust me, you’ll get there fast”.

Commercial

1:32 am – We see an abandoned factory near the outskirts of Las Vegas. We can tell that because there’s a sign in the parking lot that says, “Abandoned Factory Near the Outskirts of Las Vegas, Inc.”. Suddenly, we hear a loud roar. Wind blows papers in the parking lot everywhere. Out of the sky, we see Fox’s car floating down from above. The base of the car has a ring of lights that strobe on and off.

1:33 am – The car lands, and Fox calmly asks if that was fast enough for them. Jack and Curtis have looks of shear terror on their faces. Fox mumbles to himself that “this always happens”. They start driving in a more conventional manner towards the convention.

1:34 am – Elsewhere in Las Vegas, one of the men with a particularly bad toupee in Manilow’s group starts gushing to Manilow about how he had no idea that Manilow had such great singing capabilities. Manilow looks at him as if he had asked if he could mambo dogface in the banana patch. Realizing Manilow’s confusion, he points up at a sign, and then asks if he can be excused because he really does have to mambo dogface in the banana patch. The sign says, “Tonight Only: MANILOW!”

1:37 am – Fox drives towards town as Curtis and Jack slowly start coming out of their stupors. Fox asks Jack where they need to be heading, and Jack tells him a name of a hotel on the strip. Curtis asks where Fox got a car like this, and Fox tells him he has “some little friends that helped me install the extras”.

1:39 am – Julian finally pulls up to a gate in an area with a forest. The sign says, “Closed”. One of the thugs in the back seat says, “How can a forest be closed?”, and Marwan turns around and shoots him. The other thugs freak out, and jump out of the car. Julian calmly reminds Marwan that if he keeps shooting people, they’re going to run out of thugs again. Marwan mumbles, “Oh yeah…. Less brains…”, but Julian doesn’t hear it.

1:42 am – Ex-President Manilow has finally gotten his group of followers inside of the hotel. He goes to the check-in counter, and asks for his room key, since he was obviously been expected. The clerk appears really confused as he looks up “Manilow”. The clerk’s eyes widen while he reads the screen. He hands Manilow a room key card, apologizes for the inconvenience, and asks for an autograph, which Manilow happily gives.

1:44 am – Manilow opens up his arms wide as he turns to address his followers, but they’ve all run off into the hotel. A little old lady with a bucket of quarters is right near Manilow as he turns, and she kicks him right in the shins. Manilow heads off upstairs to his room.

1:46 am – Fox arrives at the hotel with Curtis and Jack. RoboEdgar hasn’t arrived yet. There are signs for both a plumbing convention and a hot dog convention in the building. Just as the car pulls up to the door, Fox’s phone goes off, playing the music from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. He answers the phone, listens, and then tells Jack and Curtis that he has to leave now. He has some “visitors” that he has to go meet right away. Jack and Curtis thank Fox, and he drives away. Jack and Curtis enter the building.

Commercial

1:52 am – Manilow makes it upstairs to his floor, and tries to slide the key card in the door, but it doesn’t work. He tries it again, and still doesn’t work. Then he slides it through there about 56 times in a row, and finally the door unlocks from the inside, and someone opens the door. It’s Barry Manilow!

1:53 am – Barry Manilow takes one look at the ex-president and punches him right in the face! Barry says, “You’ve nearly ruined my career!” and punches him again! The ex-president runs down the hallway and into the elevator.

1:54 am – Curtis and Jack flash their badges at the guard outside the booth area of the plumbing convention, and go in. They go to a company listing on the wall, and look up “Hokey Pokey Toilet Company”. They run over to where the booth is, and there’s no evidence that anything has been set up. Jack pulls out his phone, and calls Chloe.

1:55 am – Jack tells Chloe that Hokey Pokey never made it to Las Vegas, and wants to know what to do next. Chloe tells him that while they were en-route to Las Vegas, she was able to find out that the Marwans actually headed to the Grand Canyon. She tells Jack that she told RoboEdgar about this as soon as she found out, and he flew after them. She tells Jack she’s worried about RoboEdgar.

1:56 am – Jack and Curtis race out of the convention area into the lobby, just as the elevators open. Manilow is still holding his face from where he got bopped in the nose when he sees Jack and Curtis in the lobby. He freaks out and starts pressing “Door Close”. The elevator door closes. Jack and Curtis don’t notice him as they race outside.

1:58 am – Curtis asks Jack how in the heck they’re going to get to the Grand Canyon without a car. Jack points towards a large vehicle used for the hot dog convention and says, “We’re taking THAT!”

1:59 am – Curtis and Jack are driving with lightning speed down the Las Vegas strip and have commandeered the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, and they’re singing “Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener!”

2:00 am – Time’s up!

24 – The Next Day – 12 am to 1 am


Last Time: Jack and Curtis narrowly escaped a dynamite attack by the Marwan brothers, and survived thanks to the acrobatic capabilities of their SUV. Chloe she tasered Haig to keep her from impeding Chloe’s progress, and set up a command center at CTU to find out how the Hokey Pokey Toilet Company has been involved with the Marwans. Julian and Marwan went to Thugmart to pick up more thugs, since they keep running out of them. Jack and Curtis arrive at Thugmart while Julian is still inside, just in time for all three of them to see Marwan coming over the hill with a LOT of zombies from a nearby cemetery store.

The following occurred between 12 am and 1 am – Oh, no! That’s when the monsters come out! Wait, that’s 10 pm – Anyway, never mind, they’re already here!

12:00 am – Marwan continues toward the parking lot. The zombies following him aren’t going to very fast, which is making Marwan pretty mad. He tries to get them to move faster by insulting the tombstones they were buried under, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Jack tells Curtis to get ready for the incoming zombie attack.

12:01 am – Inside Thugmart, Julian makes a panicked phone call to Hollywood’s headquarters, and demands to speak with Janosz. Janosz, who has a really weird accent, gets on the phone and excitedly asks Julian how Vigo is doing. Julian says, “For the last time, Marwan IS NOT Vigo!” This is still confusing for Janosz, but Julian continues anyway. Julian tells Janosz that what he’s really worried about are the zombies out in the parking lot, and wants to know why Marwan is leading them. Janosz gets really quiet, and asks “What zombies?”

12:03 am – Jack tells Curtis that any minute now, the zombies are going to attack so they should be ready to go.

12:04 am – Janosz laughs nervously, and begins to explain zombies to Julian (click here to hear it and read along!):

“You see, sometimes bringing back the dead from the great beyond works quite well. I can tell you that many members of congress have transitioned quite nicely, with some notable exceptions.

“Now, by ‘sometimes’, I mean that usually what will happen is that the person that gets brought back turns out fine. There is the odd occasion where they start turning pale, they don’t bleed if they get hurt, and then it’s straight to the complaining.

“They’ll say, ‘I’m hungry! Were can I get some good brains around here?’ Then you try and tell them, ‘No! You can’t have any brains!’ and they’re all like, ‘Oh, pleeeease? I really want some! I’m kinda hungry! Can’t you spare a little bit?’ – You know? And it just doesn’t work out, because eventually, you know, they go for you – and that’s not good. They’ll be chasing you around, and they’re not that quick, but eventually they’ll find you. So, what’ll happen is, you’ll be sitting around for a couple of days, minding your own business, watching a football game, and then you’ll hear some scraping on the door. You’ll ask ‘Who is it?’, and they’ll say, ‘It’s me’. And you’ll say, ‘Oh, what do you want?’ And they’ll say, ‘I want your brains’, and you’ll say, ‘No, you can’t have my brains’. Then you have to leave, because if you don’t leave, they get a WHOLE bunch of their friends, and they come over and they start pounding on the windows and the doors, and they’re like ‘Let me in!’, and you’re like, ‘No, I don’t want to do that’. They keep banging on the door anyway, and then they’ll get in the ventilation system – and you don’t want that because it just stinks the whole place up. Then you have to leave. So you leave for a few days, you go some place else. And what happens? Shamble-shamble-shamble. They follow you. And then they find you, again, and it’s the same thing over and over. So pretty soon, you have to do something about it, because they can get a whole bunch of friends. The only way you can really get them is to chop their heads off – cause once that happens, they’re gone.

“But, you know, these are the kind of chances we take when we bring them back. Sometimes it turns out good, like I said – sometimes not so much.”

12:06 am – Jack tells Curtis to get into flank two position, because the zombies will be here really soon. Curtis says he could have put about a hundred perimeters around the zombies by now. He suggests that he and Jack get closer to the zombies and start shooting, but Jack tells him that they should to stay put.

12:08 am – Julian asks Janosz whether or not this is going to happen to Marwan, and Janosz says that if Marwan has the ability to command the dead, then it’s only a matter of time before Marwan starts going after brains too. Julian doesn’t look to happy about this, but asks what to do about the immediate problem of the zombies.

12:10 am – Curtis checks his watch, and Jack tells him to be patient.

Commercial

12:15 am – Marwan has resorted to going behind the zombies and pushing them. That doesn’t hurry them up as much as it makes them fall face forward into the dirt.

12:16 am – Jack and Curtis poise themselves as the zombies finally get into range. Just as they’re about to shoot, Julian setups out of the Thugmart, and starts singing the following to the tune of “She’ll Be Comin’ ’round the Mountain”:

A zombie travels around in circles, yes it does!
A zombie travels around in circles, yes it does!
It rises up from the grave,
It tries to do “The Wave”,
It must learn to behave,
Yes it does!

12:17 am – The zombies have all stopped, started moaning even louder than they were before. It appears that they’re having problems dealing with this tune. Some of them are holding their hands to the ears, while others are trying to snap their fingers and stomp their feet to the beat of the song, but aren’t quite getting it.

12:18 am – Curtis yells at Jack, and tells him, “GREAT! How am I going to get THAT tune out of my head?” Jack calmly replies, “I’m a little more interesting in seeing how THEY are going to deal with it”, and points at the zombies.

12:19 am – Now that about half of the zombies are disabled, Julian switches tactics and sings the following song to the tune of “MacArthur Park”:

Marwan’s Zombies are trudging in the dark
All their feet, and bodies slowing down
Someone left the cakes out with the brains
I’d run, but I don’t think that I can out-fake them,
‘Cause it’d take too long to stake them,
And I’ll never use that recipe again!
Oh, no!

Curtis still has his hands over his ears, and tells Jack, “That doesn’t even make any sense! You can’t stake zombies!”

12:21 am – Now the rest of the zombies are holding their hands to their ears too, trying to figure out a way to make the song stop. Marwans yells at Julian, “What have you done??” Julian shouts to Marwan, “Go for the car!”

12:22 am – The zombies are in between the Marwan brother’s car and where Jack and Curtis are standing. Jack tries to fire at the Marwans and the thugs as they make their way to the car, but the zombies catch the bullets and don’t budge. The tires of the Marwans’ car squeal as the car goes in reverse, turns and drives away. Jack, Curtis, and the zombies are left out in the parking lot.

12:23 am – Curtis and Jack reload their guns and continue to fire at the zombies, but they finally run out of bullets. Suddenly, one of the zombies that has been humming the song to itself pulls it’s own head off! The head has a look of satisfaction at finally stopping the song, and the zombie keels over, dead. Again. For good this time. The other zombies see this happening, and all start pulling their heads off too. There are zombie parts everywhere.

12:24 am – Curtis and Jack run back to their car. A voice over the loud speaker outside of Thugmart says, “Clean-up in the parking lot” as Curtis and Jack drive away after the Marwans.

Commercial

12:28 am – Jack calls Chloe to let her know what just happened, and to see if she has any explanation for that. Chloe says that she can’t really blame them for wanting to tear their own heads off to try and keep those songs from playing over and over again in their heads. Jack asks her why in the world Julian would destroy a zombie army like that, especially one that Marwan controlled. Chloe says she doesn’t know, but she’ll add that to her analysis.

12:31 am – Marwan is yelling at Julian for making them give up on the zombies. Marwan says that some of the zombies were close personal friends of his, and he’s sure that none of them would have done a thing to hurt Julian. At least pretty sure. The thugs in the back of the car are all huddled up together, and they look scared. One of them is sucking his thumb.

12:33 am – Jack asks if Chloe knows where the Marwan’s car is right now. Chloe tells Jack that she has no idea, because she’s been working on information about the Hokey Pokey Toilet Company. Jack asks if there’s anyone at CTU that can help them find the Marwans. Jack hangs up and continues to drive in the general direction that the Marwans were driving in when they left.

12:35 am – A pizza delivery guy comes into the conference room which Chloe is standing in, and asks if she’s Chloe O’Brian. He hands Chloe a $300 bill for pizza topped with apple strudel, and asks for payment. She asks him why she’s the one getting the bill. He tells Chloe that the guy in the next conference room is the one that said she was in charge. Chloe storms out of her conference room into the one across the hall.

12:37 am – Standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by pizza boxes, is RoboEdgar. His face is covered in strudel and pizza sauce. He smiles at Chloe as she walks into the room, and tries to give her a hug, but Chloe tells him to back off. The pizza delivery guy walks in, and Chloe turns to tell him that the secretary at the end of the hall will be able to handle that for him, and to reactivate the Edgar account. He leaves.

12:39 am – Chloe tells RoboEdgar that he’s going to need to help Jack to try to find the Marwan brother’s car. She tells him that he’s not to stop for any fast food on the way, which makes RoboEdgar look really disappointed. She promises him a bacon-wrapped Ho-Ho when he gets back from helping Jack. She tells RoboEdgar to fly off and go help Jack. RoboEdgar does this, and then calls CTU maintenance to repair the hole in the roof that RoboEdgar just created.

12:42 am – Now that Marwan has finished yelling, Julian patiently explains to his brother why he let loose of the zombies. Julian tells Marwan that he might be turning into a zombie. He also believes that there may be a cure for becoming a zombie, but they have to head out of town before Marwan gets the urge to start eating brains. One of the thugs in the back seat passes out when he hears this.

12:45 am – Julian pulls up to a drive-thru to pick up some food, since they haven’t eat in quite a long time. He orders some burgers and drinks for himself and the thugs in the back of the car. Julian asks Marwan what he wants, and Marwan puts his hands up in front of him in a grabbing motion and yells “BRAINS!” Julian looks shocked, and Marwan starts to laugh, telling Julian to lighten up. All of the thugs in the backseat have passed out. Julian tries to laugh off the joke, but doesn’t look too convinced. He tells Marwan that the revenge on Jack Bauer has to end now, because they have commitments to their backers that they must carry out. They drive down the street, and take an exit onto the expressway.

12:48 am – Chloe calls Jack and tells him that RoboEdgar is on the way to help. Jack asks Chloe if she’s mad at him, since RoboEdgar doesn’t seem to be the stealthy type to help secretly find out where the Marwans are heading. Chloe says that she’s sorry, but it is the best she can do at the moment. She says that the research she’s done indicates that the executives from the Hokey Pokey Toilet Company are having a retreat somewhere north of Las Vegas, and there’s every indication that they are going to meet with the Marwan Brothers there.

12:50 am – A sign on the expressway, indicates exits Phoenix, Flagstaff, and “Just if it wasn’t clear, head north of Las Vegas”.

Commercial

12:55 am – After a grueling five minute drive, Curtis and Jack arrive at a large desert area north of Las Vegas. Jack calls Chloe to tell her that there’s really nothing out here but desert, and a really long chain link fence with warning signs on it. Chloe asks Jack to give her the latitude and longitude of where he is right now. Jack tells her that they’re near 37 degrees, 14 minutes North, and 115 degrees and 48 minutes West. Jack’s call to Chloe goes dead.

12:56 am – Jack turns on the light in the car, and looks at the phone. He hits it with his hand a couple of times and Curtis suggests using the buttons would probably make it work a lot better.

12:58 am – The phone rings again. It’s Chloe, and she tells Jack they have to get out of their RIGHT AWAY. Jack asks why they need to leave, since they just got there had haven’t found Marwan yet. Chloe says, “You’re in the wrong place! You’re near Area 51!” The phone line cuts out again.

12:59 am – Curtis says he doesn’t like the sound of this at all, and goes to start the car. The lights of the car flicker and go out just as the engine dies. Jack’s phone is turned off too. They hear a loud humming noise, and then a bright light from above shines through their windshield.

1:00 am – Time’s up!

24 – The Next Day – 11 pm to 12 midnight

Last Time: Jack sent hundreds of AOL reps after the Marwan brothers after pointing out that they were about to drop their subscriptions to AOL. Jack and Curtis discovered a sinister plot by the Hokey Pokey Toilet Company to lobby Congress to pass a law to require low-low-low-flow toilets to be used throughout the country. In an attempt to raise money, both the Marwan brothers and ex-President Manilow and his followers attempt to rob an armored car, and the Marwan brothers are able to pull it off. Jack and Curtis are chasing the Marwan brothers down on Los Angeles’ many unused highways. Jack has just shot Marwan in the arm, just as he threw a stick of dynamite onto Jack’s car.

The following occurred between 11 pm and 12 pm, but no later, because it’s a school night and you have curfew.

11:00 pm – Curtis tries turning the wheel back and forth, but it does nothing but make the dynamite slide around on the windshield and then get stuck on the windshield wipers. After switching on the wipers and pressing the wiper fluid button a few times, Jack finally yells for Curtis to stop doing that.

11:01 pm – Jack tells Curtis to stop the SUV so they can get rid of the dynamite. Curtis tells Jack if they do that, they’re going to lose the Marwans. Jack points out that if they don’t get the dynamite off the SUV, then it’ll be much harder to follow the Marwans if they and the car are in a bazillion little pieces. Curtis agrees that probably would be the best thing for his complexion, and Curtis slams on the brakes. Just as Curtis slams on the brakes, the fuse of the dynamite burns down to the point where it dislodges, and flies off the hood, and lands in front of the car. Jack and Curtis ponder this for a half second, and then they both stamp on the accelerator of the SUV, driving over the top of, and past, the dynamite.

11:02 pm – Jack and Curtis both look revealed, but realize two things: 1) The Marwan brothers have gotten away, and 2) that stick of dynamite must have the slowest fuse ever made in the history of dynamite. Curtis suggests that the dynamite was a dud.

11:03 pm – The dynamite explodes, hurling the SUV back end over front end and through the air. The SUV miraculously lands on all four wheels after the flip. Curtis asks Jack to drive for a while, because he’d like to pass out.

11:04 pm – Julian notices that Marwan’s arm has been shot, mainly because there a large hole where the bullet went. Strangely, there’s no blood. Marwan’s examines this, and realizes that not only is there not any blood, but that he can make strange whistle noises if he blows into the bullet hole.

11:06 pm – After a few miles Julian asks Marwan to quit making those whistle noises with his arm, because Marwan keeps getting the melody to “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain – With A Big Terrorist Gun to Shoot Jack Bauer” wrong. And besides that, the whistle noises are getting annoying. Marwan suggests that if Julian gets shot in the arm too, they’ll be able to play “Dueling Bad Guys” on their arms. Julian doesn’t seem to like this idea.

11:09 – Julian pulls out a piece of paper, and tells Marwan that they have to get off the road at the next exit. Marwan tells him that he should have gone when they had a chance back at the warehouses. Julian tells him that’s not what he meant; they have to stop to get something.

Commercial

11:14 pm – Jack and Curtis continue to drive down the freeway, looking for the Marwan brothers. Jack and Curtis a series of flashing roadside signs, one after the other
– If you’re looking
– Up and down
– Maybe it’s time
– You turn around

Curtis tells Jack he hasn’t seen signs like that in a long time, and wonders what the advertisement means. They pass another two signs:
– They got off at the last exit!
– Chloe

Curtis drives the SUV to the next exit, and leaves the expressway.

11:17 pm – Chloe leaves her workstation at CTU, watching expressway video of the car Curtis and Jack are driving, mumbling under her breath about having to spell out everything. She then realizes she probably should have just called them on the phone.

11: 18 pm – Upstairs at CTU, Madam Haig is standing in a conference room in front of a large white board with many papers taped to it. Chloe bursts in to ask what the decision is. Haig tells Chloe that she’s thinking that Lasagna on Thursday instead of Wednesday is probably the right thing to do, as she switches two of the papers on the white board. Chloe looks at the papers, and they’re all recipes lined up under days of the week.

11:21 pm – Chloe yells at Haig, and asks what the decision is about *Jack and Curtis*. Haig looks baffled for a second, and then says that Jack and Curtis should just continue doing whatever they’re doing. Chloe rolls her eyes, and then excuses herself from the conference room.

11:22 pm – Chloe calls Jack, and tells him that Haig hasn’t decided on how to pursue in the investigation regarding the terrorists and the Hokey Pokey Toilet Company. Jack tells Chloe that it’s really important that the investigation go forward, and that Chloe should work in secret to find out what’s going on, if necessary. Jack tells Chloe they’ll continue to search for Marwan.

11:24 pm – Julian and Marwan’s car is stopped at a red light. Julian is messing around with a Global Positioning Device in the car, trying to find out how to program it to tell them where the store they’re looking for is. The light turns green, and the car horn behind them honks. Julian doesn’t move the car, still engrossed in trying to figure out the device. Marwan says that he’s going to teach this guy in back of them a lesson he’ll never forget.

11:25 pm – The car behind them is still honking as Marwan gets out of the car. The car headlights seem to make him look a lot paler than we’ve seen him before. Marwan lifts his hand up, finger pointing in the air, and opens his mouth to speak. Just as Marwan moves out from in front of the car, the car turns the other direction, and drives around the Marwan’s car.

11:26 pm – Marwan is left standing there with a puzzled expression on his face, apparently never expecting something like this to happen. He gets back into the car with Julian, who just figured out where he wants to go.

Commercial

11:32 pm – Chloe quietly re-enters the conference room where Madam Haig is still rearranging her dinner recipes for the week. Chloe flips the light switch quickly a few times, and Haig turns to stare at the light. Chloe speaks up and says there must be something wrong with it.

11:33 pm – Madam Haig steps on a chair and then onto the conference table in order to reach the light. Just as she reaches for the light, Chloe pulls out her taser and zaps Haig. Haig falls over onto the conference table.

11:34 pm – Chloe hits the button the conference room button which speed dials the CTU infirmary. Chloe tells them that Haig zapped herself on a light fixture and that they need to come and pick her up right away. The person on the other end asks if she wants to order a jumbo dessert with that. Chloe realizes she hit the speed dial for the CTU catering service by mistake, and hangs up.

11:36 pm – The Marwan brothers pull up in front of a huge brightly light store, ThugMart, which is next to a large cemetery. Julian gets out of the car, but Marwan puts his hands up to his face, saying that it’s a little too bright for him, and that he’ll stay in the car.

11:37 pm – Julian enters the store, in time to hear an announcement:

“Attention ThugMart shoppers! Starting a land war in Asia? We at ThugMart have all your anti-diplomatic supplies. Have a need for spies? We have all shapes and sizes to choose from. Don’t go with our competitors, because you don’t know if you’ll end up with a cut-rate double agent! On special now over in the Thugware and home cleaning supplies.”

11:39 pm – Julian walks past a clerk handing out samples of a product with toothpicks sticking out of them. They’re shuriken samples from a company called “Shuriken Japan”. Julian takes a sample and goes to find a clerk.

11:42 pm – Back at CTU, Chloe is directing three orderlies to take Haig down to the CTU infirmary and to have her closely watched. All the orderlies squint their eyes at Haig and stare at her, which makes it a bit hard for them to get her out of the room without bumping Haig’s head. After four tries, they successfully make it out of the room. The trip down the hallway sounds a bit less successful, but eventually the noise fades.

11:44 pm – Chloe takes a quick peek out down the hallway to make sure the coast is clear, and takes down all the recipes on the whiteboard. She starts writing down the current information has on the Hokey Pokey Toilet Company…. Which is the just the name. She runs back down to her workstation to look up as much information as she can about the company.

Commercial
11:49 pm – Julian waits patiently for a sales clerk who’s helping a customer. The customer, who is wearing a black mask, black robes, and a black feather is black hat asks where the villain clothing section of the store is. He says he’s looking to brighten up his wardrobe a bit, but still maintain that whole “sinister creepy” look that’s so popular with the younger villains. The clerk points him to the correct section of the store.

11:50 pm – Julian asks where the “cohorts” section of the store is, and the clerk points him in the right direction. As Julian starts walking to that section of the store, the clerk helpfully points out they’re having a two-for-one special on ruffians.

11:51 pm – Jack and Curtis continue to drive the streets of Los Angeles to see if they can see any sign of the Marwan brothers. They turn down a dark street and see several cars parked outside of the ThugMart store. They spot the car the Marwan brothers were in! Jack says, “You see! This is just the sort of problem I’ve been talking about. Right in the middle of Los Angeles, a place where bad guys can get anything they want!”. Curtis gives Jack a look, and then Jack concedes, “Yes, OK, I realize this is Los Angeles and this shouldn’t surprise me, but come on! We should have at least known about this place!” Curtis agrees.

11:53 pm – Inside ThugMart, there’s another announcement. “I’ve been asked to repeat the previous announcement that we’re completely out of tactical nuclear weapons. We do not expect any shipments for quite some time.”

11:54 pm – Julian now has several people with him at the checkout counter. The check-out clerk asks how long he would like to rent these thugs. Julian tells him that he won’t need them for longer than seven hours. The clerk tries to sell Julian an extended service plan, but thinks better of it when Julian pulls a gun on him.

11:56 pm – Jack and Curtis have approached the car the Marwan brothers were in, but don’t see anyone inside of it. Jack points to the inside of the Thugmart store, and tells Curtis that he sees Julian. Curtis taps Jack on the shoulder. Jack tells Curtis that they have to get to either side of the entrance somehow, so they can gain the element of surprise.

11:58 pm – Curtis taps Jack on the shoulder again, and says they have bigger things to worry about right now. Jack turns and sees what Curtis is talking about. About two dozen people are walking slowly from the cemetery, Marwan himself leading the way. The people behind Marwan are walking pretty slowly, and Marwan’s yelling at them to hurry up.

11:59 pm – Curtis raises his gun. Jack tells him that he doesn’t think it’s going to do any good. Jack says, “They’re zombies!”

12:00 midnight – Boo! Spooky! Um, I mean…. Time’s up!

24 – The Next Day – 10 pm to 11 pm


Last Time: Julian runs away from Jack and company after mistakenly trying to shoot them with a toy phaser; Jack heads back to the zoo, in search of Audrey, but can’t find her; Madan Haig at CTU tries to solve the Marwan Brother problem using PowerPoint slides; Jack, Curtis, and a CTU tactical squad are cornered by the worse enemy they’ve ever faced, Marwan, his brother Julian, and hundreds of AOL customer service reps.

The follow occurred between 10 pm and 11 pm, which is good for you, because we have free unlimited night time calling rates.

10:00 pm – Under the harsh lights of the abandon warehouse alleyway, Jack and Curtis face down Julian and his gang of hundreds of AOL customer service representatives. Julian says, “You see Mr. Bauer? I have assembled a vast army of vicious AOL customer service reps! …. Well, not so much assembled, because I didn’t take them from pieces and put them together from some ACME “Customer Service” kit, because that would have been cost prohibitive and there are way too many people here to have assembled in that time. When I say assembled, I mean that I brought them together from near and far, but not too far, because then they would have had to drive here and then wanted their parking validated since we don’t have any valet parking at this sort of ‘terrorist scrimmages’ as I like to call them.” Marwan punches his brother in the arm and tells him to get on with it.

10:02 pm – Curtis turns to Jack and says, “What is it with that guy and his rambling speeches?” Jack tells Curtis that he has a plan that just might save them, but in case it doesn’t they have to be ready to run like the dickens. Curtis asks what the heck a “dickens” is, and Jack ignores him as he turns to face Julian. Jack yells, “That’s a pretty good group you’ve assembled there. Where did you did you get that idea — on the Internet? I bet you had to use a lot of different Internet accounts to avoid being caught.”

10:04 pm – Julian replies, “It was simpler than you might think, Mr. Bauer! I received many offers for free AOL accounts through the mail, signed up for them all, and used the various accounts to retrieve my messages!” Curtis mumbles to Jack that he wonders why the bad guys always feel the need to reveal their plans and tactics when they think they’re winning. Julian continues, “That is how I was able to meet all of these people with machine guns trained on you right now. Now that the plan is complete, all I’ll have to do is cancel the accounts to completely cover my tracks!”

10:06 pm – With those words, all of the AOL service reps turn towards Julian and run to him, each of them explaining the importance of keeping a subscription with AOL.

10:07 pm – Jack yells to Curtis and the CTU tactical unit, “Get the heck out of here! As soon as those AOL reps finish with Julian, they’re coming after us!” Looks of horror on all of their faces, plus the fact that they’re all satisfied with their Internet service providers, they all run into one of the warehouse buildings, while the Marwan Brothers run in the opposite direction, being chased by the AOL reps.

Commercial

10:13 pm – Jack is on the Jackphone with Chloe, who is back at CTU. Curtis and the tactical units have deployed into the warehouse to find out what’s there. He wants maps of the layouts of the warehouses, schematic diagrams of the electrical systems, and tactical layouts of the entire area. Chloe asks him if he wants fries with that. Jack tells her that, yes, he does want fries with that, and a serving of “Why Are The Marwan Brothers At The Warehouses” on the side.

10:15 pm – Curtis and one of the CTU tactical officers, easily identifiable by his “CTU Tactical Officer” T-shirt, comes in and tells Jack that he is going to have to see something for himself.

10:16 pm – They enter an office. Curtis points to a wall that has a safe with an open door. Curtis says that he put is left hand in to search the safe, and then he pulled his left hand out. Then he put is left hand back in there, and he pulled it out again. This time, there was a piece of paper stuck to it, and so he had to shake it all about to get rid of it. Jack asks Curtis if that’s what it’s all about. Jack looks at the piece of paper. It’s a letter from the Hokey Pokey Toilet company.

10:18 pm – Jack reads the letter, and tells Curtis that it is a letter outlining the company’s plans to lobby Congress to pass a law for 0.8 gallon “low-low low-flow” toilets, and the make them the standard toilet for all new installations, effectively outlawing the 1.6 gallon toilets in standard use today. In the margin, there’s a note, written in pen, that says, “Consult with Marwans.”

10:19 pm – Jack asks why the Marwans would be involved with a toilet company, especially a toilet company that’s lobbying Congress. Curtis says that he’s not sure, but considering he HATES the 1.6 gallon toilet he has now, he’s going to REALLY hate these new 0.8 gallon toilets, and he’s not going to take this sitting down. The tactical officer asks if his tactical team should stay here, hidden, in order to flush out the person responsible for the letter. Curtis tells him that it’s probably too late, and Jack interrupts to say that if he’s about to do another bad pun, he’ll have arrest someone and throw them in the tank.

10:22 pm – Jack calls Chloe with the new information, and tells her to find out where the Hokey Pokey toilet company is located. Chloe tells him that if he would just learn to use all of the features of the Jackphone that she built for him, he’d be able to look this up for himself. She looks it up, and is about to tell him when he interrupts and says, “Let me guess – Flushing, New York.” She agrees that was a good guess, but they’re actually located in Why, Arizona. Jack says, “What?”. Chloe corrects him and says, “Why”. Curtis says, “I thought he played third base?”

10:24 pm – The CTU tactical unit check to make sure that that coast is clear to make sure it’s O.K. to leave the warehouse, while Jack and Curtis walk right out of the warehouse and leave to go back to CTU.

Commercial

10:29 pm – Jack and Curtis arrive at CTU, and Chloe is waiting for them at the door. She tells them that Madam Haig is really upset because Jack keeps leaving CTU out of the loop while he’s out running around. Jack asks Chloe if Haig realizes what he’s actually doing out there is dangerous, and that he doesn’t always have time to call in while he’s being shot at. Chloe said that isn’t the reason that Haig is upset. It was Jack’s turn to bring the donuts to work this morning, and he forgot.

10:31 pm – The Marwan Brothers are driving down the street, and Marwan is ranting at Julian. Marwan is very upset that they haven’t been able to kill Jack Bauer, that they’re running out of money, and that nearly all of the thugs, villains, sidekicks, goons, and hooligans they’ve been using have either fled, been arrested or been shot. The phone rings, and Julian answers.

10:32 pm – The Hollywood Terrorist mastermind is on the phone, and wants to know what happened with the plan to attack Jack Bauer at the warehouse. Julian says, “We had Bauer cornered like a hospital bed’s sheets; I mean that you could have bounced a quarter off of it! The bed sheets, not Bauer. He proved to be a much more difficult person to actually shoot in so much as there wasn’t very much shooting as there was more running away and screaming. The down side of that was that we were the ones running away and screaming and Jack was doing more of the escaping thing. I think next time he should be a lot less ‘escapey’ and a lot more ‘capturey’ or even ‘deady’. The best thing that….”.

10:34 pm – Hollywood interrupts, and wants to know whether how much money they have left. Marwan points out that they’re actually pretty low on cash, and have resorted to checking under seat cushions and handing in bottles to obtain the deposits back. Hollywood suggests that they find some money right away, because hiring more lackeys is going to cost money, and if they want to get Jack Bauer, they need to do it soon, because they need to get to Flagstaff right away.

10:36 pm – Just as Hollywood hangs up, Julian points to a mall where an armored car being loaded up with bags. His brother agrees that’s a great idea, and Julian slams his hands into the steering wheel, saying it’ll never work, because the mall is closed, and that means that the Orange Julius is probably closed too. Marwan smacks Julian on the back of the head, and points to the armored car. Julian finally gets the idea, but looks disappointed when he realizes he won’t be getting a frozen drink tonight.

10:38 pm – The two security guards outside of the mall are continuing to load up the armored car. One of the guards says, “Have you ever noticed that when someone says ‘Nothing exciting ever happens around here’, that it’s that exact time when something exciting happens?” Just as he finishes this sentence, Marwan and Julian, masks pulled over their heads, point guns at both of the security guards. The guard says, “SEE?! I told you that always happens!”

Commercial

10:43 pm – Jack is with Chloe, going over the information they have about everything that’s happened today to see what the Hokey Pokey Toilet company has to do with what’s happening, and more importantly, whether they can make any predictions about what’s going to happen next. Chloe says, “Oh, sure – What am I, a mind reader?” Jack says, if this toilet proposal actually makes it through congress, there are going to be a lot of really mad people.

10:45 pm – The guards have taken all the bags they’ve been loading onto their armored car, and have nearly finished loading everything into the back of the Marwan’s SUV. Julian says, “Well, I bet that’s the last time you say, ‘Nothing exciting ever happens around here’ isn’t it?” Just as he finishes saying this, a group of people wearing dark sunglasses and really bad toupees come out from behind the bushes and point their guns at the guards and the Marwans. The apparent leader of this new group points his gun in front of him, and orders the guards and the Marwan Brothers to put everything in the back of the group’s station wagon, which is just driving up. Someone says, “Psst! His glasses!” One of the other members with a particularly awful toupee spins the leader to face the Marwans and the guards, and the leader repeats his demand. The person driving the station wagon drives it right into the armored car, and the driver starts yelling, asking who’s stupid idea it is to put on dark glasses in the first place.

10:47 pm – Back at CTU headquarters, Curtis notices a blinking dot on her computer monitor, and asks Chloe what it is. Chloe patiently begins to explain that the blinking dot on the computer screen is called a “cursor”, and Curtis interrupts, saying he was talking about the blinking dot on the map.

10:49 pm – Chloe realizes that the blinking dot on the map is a report of a robbery taking place at the mall. She types a few commands into her computer, and tells Jack there is a 95.5815162342 percent chance, based on the traffic patterns in the area, the wind direction and the barometric pressure that the Marwans are at that scene. Jack says, “Wow! Really?” Chloe laughs, and says, “No, we just identified it by their license plates”. She points at the screen, which is zoomed in on a license plate that reads “I H8 JACK”. Jack and Curtis leave.

10:53 pm – The badly toupee’d group at the mall is still pointing their guns at the Marwans and the guards, while the leader of the group is over by the station wagon yelling at the driver. The driver of the car says, “I didn’t mean to do it! It’s these stupid glasses, President Manilow”. Manilow pulls off his dark glasses, and says, “Great! Just great! How in the heck are we going to escape now? You know we’re short on funds and this is the only reason we had to do this!” There are squealing tires, and as the group turns to look, the Marwan Brothers are in their SUV, speeding off towards the exit of the mall.

10:55 pm – The Marwan Brothers’ car goes barreling out of the parking lot of the mall, right in front of the SUV that Curtis and Jack are in. Jack points at the license plate, and says, “It’s them! Follow them!” Curtis says that he’ll get right on that.

10:57 pm – The Marwan SUV finds and exit to the freeway, and drives onto it. The CTU SUV follows. The freeway is completely clear. Curtis tells Jack it’s because this is one of the freeways in Los Angeles that no one ever uses.

10:59 pm – Jack tries shooting the Marwan’s SUV, but keeps missing. Marwan leans out of the passenger side of their SUV, and throws something towards the CTU SUV. Jack takes aim and shoots Marwan in the arm! The object that Marwan threw lands right in the middle of the hood, right by the windshield. It’s a stick of dynamite!

11:00 pm – Time’s up!

24 – The Next Day – 9 pm to 10 pm


Last Time: Julian, who looks remarkably like the doctor on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, has joined forces with his brother Habib Marwan. With the help of Chloe, Jack was able to disarm the bomb on Audrey, and free her from the cage filled with snakes and monkeys, much to the relief of the monkeys and snakes. Chloe, Curtis and Jack arrive on a college campus, where the students are recruiting for their campus club activities. Curtis found out he’s a bit of a perimeter making celebrity, Jack discovered that Manilow’s new job as a TV evangelist has gotten him some followers. Oh, and Julian has a weapon pointed at Jack right now!

The follow occurred between 9pm and 10 pm, but we didn’t get it to you in less than thirty minutes, so this one is free.

9:00 pm – Julian points the weapon at Jack, says “Mr. Bauer, you’re about to die. Die! A horrible death! It’s REALLY going to hurt! Not your run-of-the-mill hurt either. No. It’s gonna be like if you had a whole bunch of paper cuts, and they got some salt in them, and they itched, and got infected, and then you couldn’t find a Band-Aid, so you try to use Bactine, but it really stung, and then you slipped on some gravel, the really sharp kind that hurts when you walk on it with bare feet, and the gravel has had hot sauce recently sprinkled all over it, and it got into the paper cuts after you fell! That kind of hurt!”

9:02 pm – A student walks past Jack, stops dead, and drops his backpack. He says, “Oh, no, not you!” Then he sees Julian, and says, “Uncle Julian??” It’s Bahrooz! Jack sees Bahrooz and whispers, “Bahrooz, listen carefully. You have to go to Julian and whack him over the head.” Bahrooz looks at Jack like he’s crazy. Bahrooz completely refuses, saying he’s isn’t carrying his terrorist killing shovel. In fact, he’s not carrying even so much as a gardening trowel. Julian starts to protest, saying he can hear everything they’re saying, and that he’s going to shoot them both unless they shut up.

9:04 pm – Jack squints at the weapon, and takes a step forward. Julian says, “One more step, and I’ll shoot this phaser at you!” Jack says, “Where did you get that weapon?” and takes another step forward. Julian says, “Oh, the heck with the hurting part. I’m just going to kill you!” He tries to fire the weapon, but nothing happens. Bahrooz grabs his bag and runs away. Juliean quickly looks over at the table where he got the phaser. The people at the table, recruiting for the Star Trek club, all wave at Julian. Julian looks and sees that there are other phasers on their table, all marked “Toy Phaser”. He takes his phaser, throws it at Jack, and says “Until we meet again, Jack Bauer!”. Julian runs away, and the guys from the Star Trek table all run up to Jack to ask for his autograph, blocking Jack from following Julian.

9:06 pm – Chloe and Curtis run up to Jack and ask what all the commotion is about. Jack signs a few pieces of paper, autograph books, and a couple of Spock ears as he tells Curtis and Chloe about the Manilow followers, Bahrooz and Julian. He points in the general direction of where the Manilow followers were, and then sees they’re all gone.

9:08 pm – Jack tells Audrey to call CTU and see what they have on “Julian Marwan”, and what the story is with the television studio they were at earlier in the evening. Audrey doesn’t answer, which is fortunate, because if she did, she’d have some sort of magical powers, since she wasn’t with them in the first place. Jack looks at Chloe and Curtis, and asks where Audrey has gone to. Curtis says that they must have left her back at the zoo, because she didn’t come with them to the college. Jack says they have to head back for Audrey, in spite of complaints from Chloe and Curtis.

Commercial

9:13 pm – Hollywood is on the phone with Marwan. Marwan tells him that he has some good news and some bad news. Hollywood says if the “good news” has anything to do with car insurance, he’s going to shoot Marwan himself. Marwan says that in that case he just has bad news: Jack Bauer escaped Julian. Hollywood asks what he means by “Bauer escaped Julian”. Marwan says that it’s not so much “escaped” as fled…with Julian doing the “fledding”. Hollywood asks if that’s even a word. Marwan ignores that, and tells Hollywood that they have to meet in order to come up with a new plan.

9:15 pm – Jack, Chloe and Curtis arrive at the zoo just as the last of the police cars pulls away. One of the zoo guards is about to lock the gates when the group runs up to him and describes Audrey, and asks whether she’s still in the zoo somewhere. The guard says all the monkey cages are locked and the exhibit is closed. They explain that Audrey is actually a woman, not a monkey, but it still takes a little bit to convince the guard that they’re not lying.

9:17 pm – All of them, including the guard, look in the zoo. They look everywhere. The guard calls everyone over when he finds Audrey, but it turns out it was just an ostrich.

9:19 pm – Marwan arrives at Hollywood’s secret hideout while talking on the cell phone to Julian, and they’re arguing. Marwan tells Julian that he doesn’t care what it costs, he’s not going to do it. He tells Julian to get over to Hollywood’s hideout right away, and hangs up. Hollywood looks at Marwan and tells him that he better do whatever he can to get Jack Bauer, or else. Marwan looks confused for a minute, and then realizes Hollywood’s mistake. Julian wanted him to sign up for the family plan on his cell phone.

9:22 pm – After extensive searching for nearly four solid minutes, everyone decides that Audrey can’t be found anywhere in the zoo. Curtis did find several shell-shocked monkeys, but Chloe attributes that to them being in the same cage as Audrey earlier that night.

9:23 pm – Jack gets on the Jackphone and calls CTU, telling them they need as much information on Julian Marwan as possible. He tells Madam Haig that they’re all coming back to CTU, and to please have a change of clothes ready, because after everything that happened yesterday, and everything that’s already happened today, they really need to change clothes, especially if they expect to sneak up on someone without giving them a warning whiff first.

9:25 pm – As they drive along the expressway, Jack looks up and sees a blimp above the city with a lit sign that says, “Happy Anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. Steve, September 6th, Twenty Wonderful Years”. Jack wonders how they could get that big of a message on one blimp.

Commercial

9:31 pm – Curtis, Chloe and Jack arrive at CTU, grab the clothes laid out for them and go to change. A minute or so later, they all come back out, take one look at each other, go back in the dressing to exchange clothes, since they’re all wearing each other’s clothes.

9:33 pm – Marwan plots with Hollywood while they wait for Julian to arrive. Marwan says his supply of thugs and lackeys is running low, but Janosz is there watching them, so he doesn’t expect anything to happen. Realizing what he just said, he calls Janosz just to be sure.

9:34 pm – Jack, Chloe and Curtis have finally changed into the right clothes, and go to meet with Madam Haig while men in toxic hazard suits go to the dressing rooms to remove their old clothing.

9:35 pm – Madam Haig is in the conference room, and the room is full of analysts. Up on the screen is a PowerPoint presentation on the screen showing a fifty-six step plan to get Marwan and Julian. Haig is in the middle explaining the possible tactical advantages of using paisley instead of camouflage for CTU combat clothing.

9:37 pm – Julian arrives at Hollywood’s hideout. Hollywood asks if he was followed, and Julian says there was a Star Trek: Voyager series, but as far as he knew that had nothing to do with his previous work.

9:39 pm – Back at CTU, Curtis whispers to Chloe that maybe a “PowerPoint Poisoning” attack like this on Marwan would work. Chloe agrees. Jack looks really impatient, and finally can’t stand it anymore. He stands up and tells Haig that unless they act right away, Marwan and Julian are going to do something really bad. Jack continues, “And speaking of ‘bad’, what the heck was that television studio doing?”

9:41 pm – Haig tells the room that in an effort to make CTU “more accessible”, the Homeland Security Department licensed the rights to things that happen in CTU to a TV program, where they can be shown to the general public. Jack asks her what about the word “Undercover” is it that she doesn’t understand.

9:42 pm – One of the CTU agents, Howard, who has been working downstairs runs into the room. Then he gets up, opens the door, runs through the door, and announces they’ve found out where Marwan and Julian are right now! Jack asks where they are, and after getting detailed instructions, Jack asks Chloe to stay behind at CTU because he’s going to need some high powered computer work here. Curtis and Jack leave. Chloe plugs in her taser to recharge.

9:44 pm – Madam Haig calls Chloe into her office for a full report. Chloe goes upstairs, and instinctively tries to grab her taser, but realizes she left it downstairs.

Commercial

9:50 pm – Curtis and Jack arrive at a set of abandoned warehouses along a long street. Jack calls Chloe on the JackPhone, but Howard answers. Jack asks him where Chloe is. Howard says that she’s been ordered to Haig’s office, and that he’s supposed to help Jack.

9:51 pm – Jack doesn’t like this, but he presses forward anyway. He asks Howard which warehouse Marwan is supposed to be in. Howard tells him that he’s at the warehouse just outside of where Jack is standing. Jack orders Howard to get CTU tactical agents to their location right away.

9:53 pm – Ten CTU tactical agents arrive, all dressed in paisley. Jack looks surprised. Jack tells Howard what a good job he’s done. Curtis hands Jack a megaphone, and Jack calls to Marwan, “Marwan! Give yourself up!”

9:55 pm – There’s no sound from the warehouse. There’s quiet a commotion at the other end of the street though, while someone tries to get a stuck warehouse door open. The group turns to see Marwan, Hollywood and Julian walking out of the warehouse. They’re about to get into a car when they notice the CTU group at the other end of the street.

9:57 pm – Jack reminds himself to ask Chloe to train Howard on the basic art of map reading. Jack calls to Marwan, “Marwan! Give yourself up!”.

9:58 pm – Marwan is just about to speak when Julian steps forward, and says something. Jack says, “What did you say?” into the megaphone. Julian yells, “Can you hear me now?” and a LOT of people come out from building doors, pillars, and poles. Julian holds up his cell phone and tells Jack that this HIS network.

9:59 pm – Jack tells his group that everything’s going to be OK, because it looks like they’re a bunch of cell phone company employees. Curtis says, “Uh….Jack? I don’t think so!” and points. Jack looks and all the people pull out machine guns. Jack says, “This is worse than I thought! The Marwan Brothers are using the people who do customer service at AOL! They won’t go without a fight!”

10 pm – Time’s up!

24 – The Next Day – 8 pm to 9 pm


Last Time: Madam Haig has temporarily replaced Bill as the head of CTU, while Bill recovers from singing bad karaoke. Ex-President Manilow has a new career as a TV evangelist. Curtis, Chloe and Jack went to a television studio lot and found an actor that looked almost exactly like Jack. After RoboEdgar played tennis with one of the bad guys using the giant leg of Godzilla, the group rushed to the zoo where Audrey was being held hostage. Snakes and monkeys in the cage also appear to be held hostage by Audrey.

The following occurred between 8 pm and 9 pm, but some of the speeches have been running long, so this might stretch out well beyond midnight if we’re not careful. We’ll try and keep it to the allotted time.

8:00 pm – Jack tells Audrey not to worry, because he’ll get rid of the snakes and monkeys, and everything will be OK. Then he tells the snakes and monkeys not to worry, because he’ll get rid of the Audrey, and everything will be OK.

8:01 pm – Curtis stares at Audrey and tells Jack that she’s the bomb. Jack tells Curtis that Audrey would really appreciate the complement. Curtis says that he meant that Audrey IS a bomb, and points to a device with a clock that is counting down. Jack takes about two steps towards the cage, and someone starts shooting at him! They all dive behind a barrier.

8:03 pm – Jack says they need some kind of diversion. Chloe suggests that she might be able to hook into the zoo’s security system, and release some of the animals. She presses a single button on her watch. Jack asks how long it’s going to take for her to break into the security system to create this diversion. Chloe says she already did it, and points towards the cage.

8:04 pm – The front door to the monkey cage swings open. Very hesitantly, the monkeys inch towards the door, while at the same time trying to maintain has much distance from Audrey as possible.

8:06 pm – Nearly all the monkeys are out of the cage now, and are generally creating havoc everywhere. Jack tries to make a move towards the cage, but more shots are fired as he does so. Jack tells Curtis to move around in the opposite direction to try and find who’s been shooting. Curtis leaves.

Commercial

8:11 pm – Time is running out. Jack wonders out loud if there’s any way of disabling the bomb that’s on Audrey. Chloe says there’s probably a way to do it, but it’s going to be pretty risky, and it could make the bomb explode, taking Audrey with it. Jack tells her that it sounds way too risky, since it could explode. While he’s saying this, Chloe hits a few more buttons on her watch, and then looks really disappointed. Jack asks what’s wrong, and Chloe tells him that she think she must have disabled the bomb.

8:14 pm – Curtis has made his way to the roof of one of the other cages, and is sneaking up behind the guy who’s been shooting at Jack. As Curtis gets within a few feet of the guy, he notices Curtis and starts to turn. Curtis charges him, and they both go over the edge of the roof! Jack sees this, but has to run to Audrey to try and get the bomb off of her. Chloe suggests that he can wait a few minutes since the bomb is disabled, and should go help Curtis, but Jack doesn’t hear her.

8:15 pm – There’s a huge splash as Curtis and the thug fall into the water that was below them. It’s freezing cold. We can tell that because of the “Freezing Cold Water” sign that’s conveniently near the edge of the water.. Below the water, Curtis and the thug struggle as the thug attempts to point his gun at Curtis to shoot him! As they struggle, a large dark shape swims by in the background. Just as the thug turns the gun right to Curtis, the dark shape looms up behind the thug, grabs him and pulls him away! Curtis surfaces, takes a deep breath, and scrambles to shore.

8:16 pm – Jack struggles to get Audrey freed, trying to keep his mind of the snakes. He starts to sing the first thing that comes into his head, which unfortunately, is one of the Barry Manilow songs that he heard at CTU. The snakes start to go into a frenzy, so Jack stops immediately. He finally gets the bomb off of Audrey, they run. They get about 50 feet away from the cage and whole thing blows up. Jack looks up, and Chloe mouths the word “Sorry!”

Commercial

8:21 pm – Fire engines and police are everywhere around the zoo, and several are even trying to help clean up things. Several animal psychologists are with the monkeys, debriefing them about their ordeal. A reporter tries to talk to the zoo director, but is told that the zoo isn’t releasing any information until the snake’s next of kin can be notified, and that it could take a while. Everyone’s ignoring Chloe, Jack and Audrey.

8:23 pm – Hollywood slams down a phone he was just talking on, and he’s furious! People can’t tell if he’s a Hollywood Writer Terrorist Mastermind, a Hollywood Agent Terrorist Mastermind, or just a guy that looks like that. He’s also pretty mad that Jack seems to have escaped harm again. Hollywood calls Marwan. He says that Marwan and Julian better have a good plan, because they’re running out of ways to try and get Jack Bauer.

8:25 pm – Curtis stumbles towards Jack, Chloe and Audrey. He’s completely soaking wet. He tells Jack that there’s something dangerous back there, and points towards the water. They turn to look, and an enormous animal bursts through the surface of the water. Jack yells that it’s a walrus. Chloe takes a step closer, and says that it’s RoboEdgar!

8:28 pm – Chloe runs to RoboEdgar, and asks what he’s doing here. RoboEdgar points to a nearby walrus and says, “Mom!” Chloe patiently tries to explain RoboEdgar’s mistake, and suggests that he fly back to CTU so he can help out there. RoboEdgar looks a bit sad about this, but flies off, headed towards CTU. Chloe looks over in another animal area, and swears she sees a warthog and a meercat singing “Hakuna Matata”.

Commercial

8:34 pm – Madam Haig calls Jack, and tells him that the local college campus’s quad area has got some sort of disturbance going on, and that he better get down there right away. She says there have been reports of some group down there causing trouble. Madam Haig suggests they all wear togas to fit in with the college kids, and Jack asks her how long it’s been since she’s actually been on a college campus.
8:36 pm – He also asks why they should be headed down there instead of campus security handling it. They both pause a moment, and then laugh at their little joke.
8:37 pm – Jack finally says, “No, seriously… Why do I have to head over there? Isn’t there someone that can handle it?” Haig replies that they’re getting reports of some of the students hacking into the computers at the Emmy awards because somehow Barry Manilow received an Emmy award. There’s also really odd student behavior, and that Jack’s team is the closest to the disturbance.

8:39 pm – Curtis, again breaking all land and air speed records and possibly a few of the lesser known and more amusing laws of physics, gets the group safe and sound to the college campus. He’s unable to find a free parking space, so he parks in one of the rental lots.

8:41 pm – Just as they park, a woman in a ball gown runs up to Jack, hands him to Emmy awards, congratulates him for his performance, and for the show, and then runs away. Curtis and Chloe look at Jack. Jack shrugs and puts the Emmy awards in the car. They head for the quad.

Commercial

8:47 pm – There are a large number of students milling around at various student activity sign up booths. Curtis goes up to a booth marked “Perimeter Makers”, and starts looking at some of the literature. The guy sitting at the booth is about to ask Curtis if he can answer any questions, and his eyes open wide. He stares at Curtis while tapping
the shoulder of the woman sitting next to him. Her reaction is the same. She stammers, “Are you… Are you…. Curtis Manning?” Curtis looks a little surprised, but says “Yes”. She grabs a pad of paper and a pen, and asks for his autograph. As he’s signing, she tells him that she’s always admired the perimeters he’s done, and that they’re studying them in Advanced Perimeter class. Curtis signs several more autographs for the students that line up.

8:52 pm – Chloe walks a booth that says, “Fantasy Sports League”. The guy sitting at the booth smirks when he sees her, and asks what she wants. Chloe says she wants to hear about what he’s promoting. He tells Chloe that “a woman wouldn’t understand” what they’re trying to do here. Chloe says, “Fantasy Accounting. You’re playing Fantasy
Accounting! Sure, it looks like you’re talking about sports, but all you’re doing is keeping track of numbers and statistics! You’re in the Accounting Club!” The guy looks stunned as Chloe walks away.

8:55 pm – Jack walks along looking at the student booths. There’s no sign of any serious disruption. There is, however, a sign of completely not so serious disruption, at least from the looks of it. There are a large number of students, both young men and young women dressed up in the same type of business suit, and all wearing really bad toupees. Jack makes his way towards these people.

8:57 pm – Jack walks up to one of the women and asks what their organization is called. The woman answers, “The Manis. We used to be Moonies until we found out about President Manilow”. When she says the word “President Manilow”, the entire group says, “The Great President Manilow!” Jack thanks her, walks a few steps away, and calls Madam Haig, telling her that the situation is even worse than she described.

8:59 pm – Just as he hangs up, Jack hears someone say, “Turn around, Mr. Bauer”. Jack turns, and sees Julian standing there, holding some kind of weapon. Julian says, “I am Habib Marwan’s brother, Julian Marwan! I am here to avenge my brother’s death!” Jack points out that Marwan is still alive, and Julian tells him to shut up, just as
he raises his weapon.

9:00 pm – Time’s up!

Visitor spike!

Wow…. Large spike of new visitors yesterday, after Dave’s posting about 24 -The Next Day episodes page I put together.

I went through the visitors log from yesterday, and saw a lot of visits to that page. I actually get a lot more traffic to the LOST and LOST Spoilers pages, then the “24” pages, usually. The LOST pages are more of those “random neural firings” about what in the heck is going on in that TV show.

Look who found the blog!

I had to run home to take care of a few things today, and while I was out, this posting was made over at Dave Barry’s blog. I was surprised to say the least!

If you’re visiting from there, welcome! If I knew you were headed over here, I would have cleaned the place up first!

If you haven’t checked out Dave’s Blog, you really should. Lots of fun folks over there, and a lot of general craziness.