End of Nights, Part II

"" is the second episode of the second season of Sanctuary, and the fifteenth episode overall in the series.

Synopsis
Dr. Helen Magnus goes head to head with the Cabal and must make the ultimate choice: save her daughter, or risk the survival of the entire Sanctuary Network.

Cold Open
Immediately after their fight with the super abnormal Ashley, Magnus returns to the Old City Sanctuary in anger. She interrogates Kate Freelander again, telling her she wants to talk to her contact at the Cabal right now.

Dana Whitcomb gets a call from Magnus, who wants her daughter back. Dana tells her that she would happily return Ashley in exchange for the entire Sanctuary Network. Having to choose between her daughter and her work, an enraged Magnus throws her cell phone into a nearby wall, causing it to audibly shatter into multiple pieces.

Act I
In Magnus' study, the team discusses what to do next. Magnus orders Nikola Tesla and Henry Foss to devise a weapon to neutralize Ashley's new powers without killing her. Meanwhile, the Network has to be secured against the Super Abnormals. John Druitt disagrees, but Magnus has made up her mind.

Tesla and Henry start working, but Henry realizes Tesla has little hope for success. They plan a localized radiation burst, but it is a difficult process. However, Henry is called by Kate, who needs to go to the restroom. On the way, she meets Bigfoot, who is still suffering from the Lazarus virus.

Meanwhile the Cabal starts the first mission of their new soldiers: an attack on the Tokyo Sanctuary. Ashley and the others kill the house head, Dr. Hiromato, and overwhelm the facility in twenty minutes. By the time Magnus tries to launch a counterattack, the Tokyo facility is already burning down.

Act II
A video conference with Magnus and the heads of house of the other Sanctuaries is held. Medusa, one of the Network's abnormal agents, explains that the Tokyo Sanctuary's EM shield was disabled after the initial breach and before the complete destruction of the place, the Cabal was able to steal all the data of the Sanctuary. Magnus orders an immediate evacuation of all their residents to prevent their death in a possible next attack, declaring that the Sanctuary Network is now officially at war with the Cabal.

In the meantime, Tesla and Henry keep working on the weapon, but without making any progress. They try their radiation solution on a nubbin named 'Damien' injected with Tesla's blood, yet the result is less than hopeful.

Will pays Kate a visit and asks her to help them prepare for the next attack. She explains that the Cabal will go after the heads of house, weakening the global Network, before they come after Magnus herself. Will suspects she knows more, but she tells him she only came because the Old City Sanctuary is likely to hold up the longest.

Later, the Beijing, New Delhi, and Moscow Sanctuaries are hit. After the attack on Moscow, Magnus, Druitt, Tesla, and Will move to the London Sanctuary, which is believed to be the next target of the Cabal. The team meets Declan MacRae, who took over as acting head of house for the UK branch after the death of Dr. James Watson. Will finds out that Clara Griffin, who has now full control over her cloaking ability, refused to evacuate in order to help them in the fight. She immediately takes him aside and persuades him to spend the hours until the attack with bodily pleasures.

In the following hours Tesla tries to complete his weapon, while Magnus and Declan recalibrate the EM shield. Finally, four super abnormal soldiers teleport in front of the Sanctuary and proceed inside.

Act III
The London Sanctuary's alarm is triggered when the four enter. A security team that includes a troll tries to stop them, but the super soldiers easily overwhelm the humans and Ashley kills the troll by snapping its neck. Whitcomb orders them to proceed to the facility's databanks.

In the library, Ashley and two others face off with Druitt, who uses his extraordinary sword fighting skills, but is still overwhelmed by Ashley. During the duel, he stabs her in the chest, and the pain seems to temporarily bring back her normal self. However, after mere seconds, she recovers and comes after him again. He gets away, trying to take them to the main lab, but they decide to split up.

Will then meets one of the Super Abnormals in a hallway, he tags him and then unleashes a black gooey abnormal. It rushes after the Super Abnormal and the weight forces him to the ground, the goo then hardens and encases the Super Abnormal inside, but before Will has a chance to celebrate another Super Abnormal comes and breaks him free.

Ashley faces Tesla, who traps her in a powerful Tesla coil for a time, while Clara manages to save Will from the super-soldiers. She stays behind fully cloaked, but one of the soldiers still seems to notice her.

After all attempts to stop them fail, the soldiers get to the main lab, where Magnus uses the new weapon to stop them, but with little result. They are forced to leave them blocked in the lab and release a fire elemental. It starts burning them, and even their superior cell regeneration levels are too low to compensate, and because the EM shield is still up they are forced to retire. The London Sanctuary is saved, but heavily damaged – and the team soon discovers that Clara has been killed. Druitt inquires what to do now, to which Magnus responds: "We defend our home."

Act IV
Back in Old City, Henry visits Bigfoot, while Will mourns Clara. Magnus lets Kate go, she hesitates and offers her assistance, but Magnus refuses and states that she wants her gone. Magnus and Henry prepare the Old City Sanctuary's defenses, and Henry tells her that many abnormal residents want to stay and fight. She refuses to have more of them hurt or killed, and visits Bigfoot to talk to him. She explains that she understands his feelings, but still leaves the cure for the virus next to his bed.

Magnus next meets with Tesla and orders him to alter the weapon using a sample of Ashley's original blood: she is prepared to kill her own daughter in order to save the Sanctuary Network.

The team prepares for the last stand against an overwhelming enemy, and Will and Magnus have one last talk on the highest tower of the facility. Magnus advises him to leave, but he refuses. The Cabal slip a remote hack past Will's cellphone and it targets the defense system. All cameras are cut off and the EM shield has been lowered.

Act V
Magnus encounters the super abnormals in her study and is able to take one of them out with the weapon. Tesla and Druitt take on three others in a hallway. Will is ambushed by two of them moments later, but Bigfoot, who has taken the cure in order to be able to fight, comes to his rescue. Tesla is ambushed by a female soldier, who is taken out by Magnus.

They all make their way to the main lab, where Magnus defeats another of the soldiers before finally facing Ashley, who almost knocks her out. Lying on the floor with the weapon aimed at her daughter, Magnus realizes she cannot do what must be done. She remembers how Ashley was as a small child. Ashley seems affected by the memory, but attacks her mother nonetheless. At this moment, Kate appears and fires at her with a shoulder-held rocket launcher.

Bigfoot and Will fight the last of the male super abnormals until Henry is able to reactivate the EM shield. The soldier tries to teleport out, and bursts into a cloud of flames and ashes as the shield kills him.

Kate tries to get Magnus out of the main lab, but the last of the other super abnormals, a female, assaults them. Before she can strike the fatal blow on Magnus, Ashley, who has returned to her true self, grabs her arm. Mother and daughter share one last look at each other, then Ashley teleports herself and the other soldier out, and they disintegrate into fire and smoke. Magnus is left behind, crying over her lost child.

Extras

 * This episode has a DVD commentary track. Commentators: Damian Kindler, Amanda Tapping, and Martin Wood.
 * This episode has a podcast commentary track. Commentators: Damian Kindler, Amanda Tapping, and Martin Wood.