Conspiracy Theories

[geeky_agent]

Chris is pacing in her room.

Something isn't right here.

She knows Chloe mentioned there was some tension but she couldn't think of what could cause people to act so oddly. Almost every conversation she had had since arriving had ended abruptly and badly.

Kim had actually run away from her!

Maybe this bar does something to people. It's sentient and psychic. Who says it's benevolent? In fact why even assume that? Maybe the bar just makes people think that.

But why? Why takes people from all over the world and bring them here? The bar doesn't seem to need them for anything. Unless it's some sort of Matrix-situation where it feeds off of the people and creates a little play-world so they don't notice they're being used as batteries.

Chris realizes this sounds insane but so does the idea of magical bar at the end of the universe. With demon bunnies.

What are the bunnies there for? To keep people out? What's in the forest?

She made up her mind to check it out later.

Chris stopped as another thought came to mind.

Aliens?

It makes sense. Bar at the end of the universe. People from all over the world and every time. What if they were in some sort of alien zoo?

Or a research facility, she thought with a shudder.

Thankfully, a knock at the door interrupted her thoughts.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

Ryan hears his daughter pause near the door.

"Who is it?" she calls.

What is going on here?

"It's me."

She opens the door and smiles at him. But despite her smile she looks a little wound-up.

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"Hi dad." Chris moves to let him in.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

"Are you ok, Chris."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, just, people here are kind of weird, dad." She shakes her head. "How did you ever work with them?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

He knew about Jack's odd behavior from the questions Chris had asked later that night but he wasn't sure where she was getting the rest of this from.

"Weird how?"

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"I talked to Kim and she was okay until suddenly I said something and she ran away. Then I was talking to Chloe and the same thing happened."

Chris looks at him seriously. "I think this bar is evil."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

Ryan furrows his brow.

"Evil? What were you talking to Kim and Chloe about?"

He can guess but he just wants to be sure.

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

Chris tries to remember. "I was talking to Kim about field work I think and Chloe said something about Division. I'm not even sure."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

"I assumed as much," he says while rubbing his forehead.

"Their reactions have nothing to do with the bar. Chris, sit down, please. There's something I need to tell you."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

Chris looks at him and sits down because it seems like a good idea. "This is like that episode of X-Files, isn't it, I'm really being operated on somewhere and this is all in my mind. I knew it."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

Ryan sighs, "No, it's not."

Except for the part about the government cover-up of my death.

"I want to talk to you about the day I died."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"Are you telling me that people are acting weird around me because of how you died?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

"Yes."

He thinks about sitting down but realizes he's a little too on edge to do that.

"I don't know exactly what the official report said but I can assure you, it was all falsified. The way I died was very different from whatever was in those reports. OR what you may have heard."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

Chris had poured over that report for hours so to hear her dad say that it was all a lie was...a surprise to say the least.

"Why would they do that?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

"Because the truth was very damaging to a lot of people in the agency and the government."

Ryan begins the story the same way he has every time.

"The day I died, Stephen Saunders was in control of the Cordilla virus. You know that. You also know that he had already released that virus into the Chandler Plaza Hotel resulting in the deaths of almost a thousand people. And you also know that Saunders was using the virus as leverage against the President. He was threatening to release a vial of the virus in cities across the country if his demands weren't met.

That day, I was at CTU-LA trying to track down Saunders through his finances. I was getting close and apparently Saunders discovered this. He contacted President Palmer and told him that my body had to be at the trainyard in an hour - at seven am - or else he would release two vials of the virus."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

Chris knows the first part of the story but the second is a shock. She can only stare.

"President David Palmer let you die?" She feels nauseated and horrified that her baby sister had campaigned for that man.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

"It's--" he pinches the bridge of his nose, "It's not as simple as that."

"Palmer contacted Jack Bauer almost immediately after he received the threat. He told Jack, Saunders demand and Jack told me. We - along with the rest of CTU, although most of them didn't know - tried to find Saunders before the hour was up but we were unable to."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

Chris can only listen now because the enormity of what her dad's telling her has rendered her speechless.

She nods numbly, waiting for him to continue.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

"We were at the trainyard already when we heard that our last chance of finding Saunders before the hour had fallen through."

He takes a deep breath before continuing in a quieter voice.

"I-I tried to do it but couldn't. So, just before 7 AM, Agent Bauer killed me."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

She stares and it feels like the world has stopped for a moment. Yes, she's heard stories about Jack Bauer but this is beyond anything she could have imagined.

"Jack Bauer, as in former head of Field Ops at CTU-LA, as in someone I talked to downstairs, killed you?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

"Yes," he says simply.

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

She opens her mouth but words aren't coming out. The man who killed her father is downstairs. She's talked and laughed with his daughter, she supported another man who ordered her father's death.

She can't speak.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

Ryan sits down on the bed next to her.

"I don't know what this must be like for you to hear," he says before turning to face her, "But it's important for you to know that everyone at CTU tried to find Saunders before the deadline was up. And that I knew what was happening and what was at stake and was willing to make that sacrifice."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

She swallows and looks down at her hands. "For so long I've blamed a nameless sniper for taking you from us. But now I know who is really at fault."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

He has a feeling the answer to this question is going to cause a lot more problems.

In a resigned voice he asks, "And who who would that be?"

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

She turns to look at him. "The person who pulled the trigger."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

"Chris," he begins softly, "I realize you're angry. But Jack didn't have any other choice. It was me or millions of other people. It was me or possibly you, your brother, Jeannie, Caitlin and every one you know dying horrible deaths. At that moment, it was the only thing to be done."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

But Chris has just been told her dad was murdered and he just gave her the name of the killer so she's not really listening to his explanation.

But she nods anyway.

"I understand." She doesn't but she needs time to think.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

He sighs. He can tell Chris isn't even listening to him.

"When I chose to work with the CIA, I knew what the risks were and I knew that I would be asked to kill or die for my country. You know that. We talked about this before you joined with West Point and I asked you if you understood what was being asked of you and you said you did. Chris, I was asked to do my duty just as Jack was asked to do his."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"The only difference is he got to go home to his family and you didn't." Her eyes are brimming with tears, but she's angry.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

There's nothing Ryan can really say to this. Instead of words, he puts his arm around her shoulder and pulls her closer.

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

Chris leans her head against his shoulder and closes her eyes so he won't be able to see what she's thinking.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

Ryan wraps his other arm around her and pats her back a little even though it doesn't seem like she's crying that much.

Probably in shock.

He was going to have to keep an eye on her. Just to see how she handles this. He almost hated telling her because - aside from him - she was completely alone in sharing this knowledge.

She was better off believing the lie.

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"I think I just need to sleep." She says after a few moments.

Her dad, killed by Jack Bauer. A man who worked for the Secretary of Defense, whose life was great, who never paid for what he did...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_chappy_/]

"All right," he says and looks at her.

He could tell by the set of her jaw and her posture that she was angry. But she wasn't really talking to him and there was nothing he could say to her right now to help.

Ryan giveshis daughter a kiss on the forehead and tells her he loves her before he leaves.

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

She mumbles an, "I love you too," in return and watches him leave.