Sanctuary for All, Part II

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

Synopsis
The enigmatic Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) recruits an insightful forensic psychiatrist named Dr. Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne) to join her in the quest to track, study and protect the strange, and often terrifying creatures that secretly populate our world.

Plot
Will along with Bigfoot enter the observation cell that Alexei is being held in. Will attempts to connect with the boy, having Bigfoot release him from his restraints. Meanwhile, Magnus is joined by Henry up on the observation deck above. Henry gives Magnus the analysis results of the sample she took from one of the cops at the morgue and notifies her of a working girl being murdered behind a warehouse near Circle Square 4-hours ago, to which Magnus requests the CCTV footage. Henry then leaves the room after requesting server upgrades, leaving Magnus alone to continue to watch the scene below.

As Henry makes his way back through the large building, when the elevator he is in stops at the residential level, he comes across Ashley who is now fully dressed in her biker leathers, with helmet in hand. As they trade places, Henry comments "I thought your mother grounded you?" to which Ashley responds with "She did" as she turns to reach for the down button to take her to the garage. Even though Henry catches her breaking her mom's order, he lets her go so she can get them some new "toys".

Back down in the observation cell, Alexei's appendage attacks Will, shattering the corner of the wooden chair Will is holding out in front of him as form of protection. Will eventually calms the boy through conversation, relating to him through the topic of "fear" being a defense mechanism and the need to feel safe being universal for everyone. Up above, Magnus is remarkably impressed, stating the outcome of the scene below as being "magnificent".

The next scene jumps to Magnus up in her study at her computer station reviewing the CCTV footage she requested from Henry earlier. As she watches, her suspicion and worst fear becomes a reality as she clearly identifies the suspect in the frame of footage as being Druitt. She then checks the status of the protective EM shield surrounding the property, noting that is currently working at 100% efficiency, which gives her a tiny bit comfort knowing that he can't get through it.

On the East Side of town, Ashley and Sylvio Rudd are talking shop in a warehouse as they handle weapons for Ashley to potentially purchase. Their dealings are suddenly interrupted by Druitt as he throws spiked metal balls at Sylvio and his van, hitting Sylvio in the chest making him collapse. Ashley ducks for cover behind a desk and opens fire at the mysterious intruder. When the intruder disappears around a corner, Ashley drags Sylvio over behind the desk, and then at his request, she leaves to track down their assailant.

Back at the Sanctuary, Magnus is joined by Will on the parapets of the south tower located on the roof above Magnus's study. Here, they discuss Will's ability to cope with the hidden world of abnormals he just entered and Magnus eventually admits that she knows his destiny is to work with the Sanctuary Network, revealing that the monster he saw kill his mother when he was 8-years-old was real. Will finally realizes that Magnus knew how all this new information would affect him and asks how she expects him to work along side creatures like the one that killed his mother. Magnus's only response is that it's up to him to take a massive leap of faith.

In the warehouse Ashley and Sylvio are in, Ashley tries in vain to chase down the mystery man who keeps appearing and disappearing from view at a very confusing and unnatural speed. After expending many bullets from her gun's magazine, a frustrated Ashley turns around to come face-to-face with the man, who pries the golden gun from her hand. He comments "That's a nasty toy for someone your age" to which Ashley replies "It's a present from my mom". At the response, he says "Then you better have it back", intentionally letting her grab it and aim it at his head. Immediately, the man and Ashley get into a physical confrontation, forcing Ashley to waste six more bullets. As he then lines up her shot directly at his head for the second time, Ashley is surprised to find that her clip is now empty when she pulls the trigger to try to execute him. At the dismay, she decides to drop the gun to get into hand-to-hand combat with the guy. Unfortunately, the man has more fighting experience and has the upper hand due to his sheer height and reach, giving him a clear advantage over her. Only a few seconds in, Ashley takes a massive punch to the face, cutting her cheek open. Several times during the fight he effectively blocks her punches and kicks, criticizing her ability as having "decent technique, completely lacking in discipline, but impressive enough" as he twists her arm and then releases her. As she tries to catch her breath, she questions who the man is, to which he says "Just someone new in town. Beyond that, I wouldn't want to be the one to spoil the surprise". He then proceeds to angrily declare "Now, it's time for you to learn to respect you elders!" and gives her a massive kick to the stomach, knocking her straight off her feet to land flat on her back several feet away, blonde hair and limbs splaying out all over the concrete floor.

Down in the main lab, the mermaid at the glass wall of its enclosure attracts Magnus's attention as she passes through the area, drawing her over. Magnus mirrors the mermaid, placing her hand on the glass through which they can have a telepathic conversation. Magnus comforts the mermaid, saying they are safe from "him" as the Shield is working, however the mermaid picks up on her other worries, especially presumably Magnus's fear for Ashley, as Magnus then states "If the truth were to come out, consequences would be devastating."

Back at the warehouse, Ashley collects herself, standing back up to take on a defensive stance, swaying a bit as she coughs and continues to breath hard after having all of the air knocked out of her. Her and Druitt exchange words back-and-forth for a bit just before Sylvio shows up behind Druitt, shooting him in the back with a taser gun. As Druitt starts to ramble, Sylvio tells him to "shut up" as he drops him to the floor. Once down, Ashley relaxes, thanking her partner, to which Sylvio returns to their earlier 'shop' comments, saying "Now he's got to be worth something".

Cut to the outside of the Sanctuary, Ashley and Henry arrive at a side loading entrance in a van. When they get out, they open up the back to reveal the man from earlier now securely strapped to a gurney. Henry doesn't really see the guy as a threat, except Ashley knows better, stating "He took 10,000 volts plus a triple-tranq" in order to subdue him. After the two release the gurney from tie-down straps, Ashley tells Henry to put the man in the SHU to let her mom deal with him as she wants to go take a shower.

Henry does as he's told, but unfortunately for Henry, the man was only faking being asleep. After Henry removed the man's restraints and was on his way out of the cell, the man disarms him, and forces Henry to take him on a tour of the Sanctuary.

They eventually reach Henry's small array located just off to the side of the main lab in the lower level. The man then forces Henry to disengage the EM shield. After the EM shield is down, the man then shoots Henry with his own energy weapon, stunning Henry unconscious.

Meanwhile, Magnus finds Ashley in the infirmary tending to her wounds. As Magnus enquirers where she has been for the night as she inspects her facial injuries, Ashley describes her "bit of trouble" with a "super fast psychopathic dude" and gets her mother's absolute attention. When Magnus worriedly asks "How fast?", her daughter's further descriptors of "pretty hot moves for a tall guy" and "he had a great accent too, kinda like yours, only more evil" immediately sets her off. Magnus then tells Ashley to stay in the infirmary, but as she rushes out the room Ashley runs right after her very confused.

Down in the lower level, Will and Bigfoot find Henry on the floor of his array, wondering what just happened to him.

Upstairs, Magnus with Ashley hot on her heels, hurriedly enters her study and goes straight over to her computer station (presumably to check the status of the EM shield and or to also search the security camera feeds for the man in the building). Magnus tells Ashley to grab whatever weapons she can, but Ashley refuses to do so until her mother tells her what the problem is. Magnus explains that the man Ashley brought in earlier tonight will kill them both and had allowed himself to be captured.

Just as Magnus tells her they may have only moments before he finds them, the man teleports into the office, shocking both women at his sudden presence. As the man and Helen greet each other by name, Ashley gives her mother a confused look and asks her "You know this ghoul?" to which Druitt says that they 'go way back'. Druitt then teleports behind Ashley, grabbing her sharply by her arms, making her cry out in pain. Magnus pleads with him to not harm her, as Druitt laments about his troubled and lonely past. During this moment, Ashley struggles and fails to release herself from his tight grip, calling out to her mom, begging her to shoot him.

Before Magnus can act, Druitt then teleports with Ashley out of the room, leaving a severely shaken Magnus to desperately search for her daughter through the camera feeds on her computer.

Druitt and Ashley rematerialize down in the SHU in the enclosure that holds the same species of large humanoid lizard creature that killed Will's mom (it may potentially be the exact same one). Realizing where she's at, Ashley begs Druitt "Please don't do this" as he leaves her in imminent danger. Druitt is seen giving a faint kiss to the back of Ashley's head just as he teleports away.

Back in Magnus's study, her search through the camera feeds is disrupted with Druitt's return. Magnus demands to know where her daughter is at, to which Druitt eventually tells her "where the worst of the worst" are kept, upsetting Magnus. The two of them then go back-and-forth about what's happening and why. Druitt is using Ashley as leverage to get Magnus to cure him with a sample of her blood. Though this conversation, the audience learns that Druitt is Ashley's estranged biological father. Druitt is upset that Ashley clearly doesn't know that he is, to which Magnus defends her position, saying "How could I possibly tell her?". When Magnus tells him that Ashley thinks her father is dead, Druitt gets into a rage, only tempering slightly when he sees the camera feed on the monitor over Magnus's shoulder.

As Magnus turns around, on the computer screen she can see the lizard creature approaching Ashley in its enclosure. Magnus then secretly taps a few keys to enter a command that lowers the screens in the main lab, getting the attention of Henry, Will, and Bigfoot to Ashley's potentially deadly predicament.

In the SHU enclosure, as the creature gets within a few feet of her, Ashley bolts up the wall behind her, grabbing at a railing to try to kick the glass filter cover off an enclosure light. Unfortunately, the creature knocks her down before she can, and then slashes at her throat. Just then, Will and Bigfoot enter the enclosure as the still partially stunned Henry is sent to go find Magnus. Bigfoot attacks the creature as Will goes over to a semi-unconscious Ashley. Bigfoot's fight against the creature doesn't last long as Bigfoot gets slashed in the abdomen, leaving Will the only person still standing. Will then notices the partially removed light cover overhead and a busted enclosure pipe.

Upstairs, Magnus puts a wooden box on her desk. When she opens it, she reveals several vials of blood and a syringe. She then takes a vial, and loads the contents into the syringe and then hands the syringe over to Druitt, claiming it was a pure centrifuged sample of her blood. Druitt then takes the syringe and injects its contents into his vein, telling Magnus "You won't regret it". Magnus can only give him a smile as she responds "I'm sorry I can't say the same for you" as she had lied about the sample, giving him one that wasn't pure, but instead tainted with a poison. Druitt then tells her the rest of "" will come before teleporting out of the Sanctuary. Magnus then runs off to the SHU.

In the enclosure, Will then grabs a busted pipe and breaks it off from its base to jab the creature and to hit the light filter off. The unfiltered light is harmful to the creature's skin, making it rush off in pain into the back of the enclosure through thick foliage. Magnus and Henry then come through the door; Magnus takes Ashley from Will as Will and Henry grab Bigfoot and put him on a gurney. The group then makes their way to the infirmary.

Presumably the morning of the next day, Ashley stops Will in the hallway outside her bedroom as he passes by with some flowers. She thanks him for saving her life and asks if they'd be seeing him around (wanting to know if he's permanently joining the team). Will isn't sure, but Ashley gives credit to her mother to hopefully help sway his decision into staying. She also informs Will that the 'Big Guy' is allergic to the flowers he's holding as she turns to walk in the direction towards her mother's study. Will then thanks her and turns back around to continue on his way, leaving the flowers in a vase at the end of the hallway.

Will is then seen sitting at the side of Bigfoot's bed, admitting his fears and how things have changed for him in the last day; how only two days ago, Bigfoot was a source of nightmares but not anymore, and that maybe monsters don't exist. Bigfoot then summons the strength to tell Will that that isn't true, that there is such as thing as monsters.

Up in Magnus's study, Magnus is sitting at her desk writing in her journal as Will stops by to say goodbye. Before he goes, he confronts her with questions relating to the night his mother died in 1985, and to a John Druitt in the late-1880s, confounding him about how it is possible for Magnus to be involved in both situations; deducing that either one of both of them could travel through time, or that they are over a hundred years old. Magnus then cuts him off to outright admit that she is 157-years-old and provides details about her involvement with Druitt being her first patient. Magnus then thinks back to the time she tried to stop him from killing Molly and failed to shoot Druitt, only grazing his cheek (providing the audience the answer to how he got his scar). Will then figures out that Druitt was not only just her patient, but also her former lover and is Ashley's father. Magnus then admits that she kept the embryo frozen for almost a century until she could bare the loneliness no longer; bringing the embryo to term when she thought that John was gone for good. Will then agrees to stay as part of the team on the condition that she doesn't hide any more stuff from him as he's still trying to get over the lie surrounding his mother's death. Magnus then smiles and welcomes him on the journey of a lifetime, saying "Shall we begin?"

Extras

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