"Move it, you're holding everyone up." "And... posted." "You're not helping." "Helping?" "I don't even know what we're doing here on this kid's obstacle course." "Training." "Training?" "Is there a competition for getting humiliated by 12-year-old girls?" "'Cause if so, you're kicking butt." "You can make fun all you want." "But I'm gonna make sure that I'm in primo shape so whenever I'm needed, I'll be ready." "This is about the vault, isn't it?" "You find out that we work for the same agency, as Davy Crockett and sacagawea once did, and now you're convinced you need to be James Bond." "Alex, they were heroes, all right?" "Legends." "We are not worthy." "Dude, get a grip." "What are you trying to prove?" "You just took down a demonic djinn, and saved a bunch of lives in the process." "Including mine." "Are you saying I'm your hero?" "You know what?" "Next time just let me get absorbed by the djinn, okay?" "I'm a mess." "All right, now." "Will you time me, please?" "Okay?" "Okay." "I'm good, I'm good." "Don't forget, your interpretations of munch's the scream are due tomorrow." "Or else you might see me screaming." "Hey, Molly." "I noticed your past couple of assignments seemed incomplete." "Do you need an extension on them?" "I guess." "Our next unit's gonna be a lot of fun." "I know how you like mixed-media projects." "We're gonna be..." "Molly." "Molly, Mr. David is speaking to you." "That's okay." "I am so sorry about that." "No worries." "I'm used to dealing with some pretty short attention spans." "Yeah." "But if you don't mind me asking, is everything okay with Molly at home?" "I might be flattering myself but I thought this was her favorite class." "No, you're right." "She loves art." "I'm glad." "That's why I couldn't help but notice that she just hasn't been herself lately." "Yeah." "Things... have been a little more complicated for her lately." "I'd love to discuss this further, but I've got a faculty meeting." "Can you come by later?" "Sure." "Great." "Kind of rough back there with Mr. David." "Guess you're right." "School's overrated." "There are a lot of career options that don't require an education." "I'm thinking pirates." "Look, I know with everything going on it seems like school isn't important, but it is." "It's... really good for us to keep some normal in our lives." "It's always gonna be like this from now on, isn't it?" "Monsters disguised as dad." "Logan MacDonald getting sick from a curse." "Visions of Mr. crane, except he's not Mr. crane." "Molly!" "Hello?" "He was so scared, mom, so alone." "We still don't know exactly what it is that you saw." "It could have been a-a bad dream." "Got an idea." "I've been talking to the others about showing you something, but... maybe now's the time." "Showing me something?" "What?" "Welcome to the vault." "What is this place?" "The most amazing library ever." "An archive of the incredible." "A repository of the impossible." "A storehouse of secrets great and small." "This... is the untold history of America?" "This is a collection of weapons from myth and lore." "And this..." "Is classified supernatural information that's only revealed to sitting U.S. presidents." "And now... you." "Hey, kid... catch." "Ooh." "What is this?" "That is a native American thunderstone, created by the Pawnee morning star god." "It's supposed to protect you from lightning." "I haven't tested it out yet, if you want to help." "I know you've been through some dark and scary stuff." "But you also get to be a part of something that only a few people in the whole world know about." "You get to be a part of a secret club." "What do you think?" "I think this is really cool." "Good." "Mr. crane's gonna be here in a few minutes." "You're not staying?" "I have to do some stuff for work, but..." "Jake and Alex will show you anything you want." "Anything that's..." "Not too dangerous, right?" "Yeah." "Okay." "Now..." "Where should we start?" "Are you sure about this?" "Indian ascetics have used this method for centuries..." "In pursuit of their visions." "But you seem to have no trouble accessing your visions." "To a point, jobe." "I've seen the future to a point." "Now I need to push past what I've glimpsed." "I need to extend the limits." "I hope you find what you seek, Malcolm." "Hey." "Don't move." "I'm not finished yet." "I always have so much trouble with your eyes." "Really?" "Would that be because they're so fantastically full of wisdom?" "Well, if I mess this up, then you'll only have yourself to blame when your present isn't perfect." "My present?" "Of course." "It's a little thank you gift for everything." "Can we fly the glider tomorrow?" "A girl after my own heart." "I can't deny you anything, now, can I?" "So... was the future different this time?" "It's still the future I'm destined to bring about." "But it's far superior this time." "How so?" "I'm not alone." "Master Wells and miss Alex will return shortly with our repast." "Cool." "Pizza?" "Something a little more delectable than neapolitan flatbread." "Well, look at that." "You know this was actually worn by Davy Crockett." "True." "Now, legend would have you believe that this was fashioned from common raccoon." "But between you and me, this is actually wendigo pelt." "Wendi what?" "Wendigo." "It's a shape-shifting beast of shawnee and algonquian legend." "Monsters." "Monsters." "Where do they come from?" "Purgatory." "Hell dimensions." "Hidden pockets of existence of which we are only dimly aware." "And they just roam around like wild animals?" "Some do." "Mostly they appear when summoned." "When a person wishes to perpetrate evil." "So bad people means bad monsters." "Now that is very aptly put." "I know a good monster." "A good monster?" "Finally." "Yeah." "I made him up when I was little." "He's one of the first things I remember drawing." "His body was my favorite blanket." "Whenever I was scared or lonely, he'd be there for me." "I call him Mr. stitch." "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. stitch." "He used to sing me this song." "Even as a born-and-bred washingtonian," "I suspect you are unaware of the secret passageways beneath the city." "Whoa, indeed." "During the war of 1812, these were used to transport munitions, and spies traversed them to vital points around the city." "Nowadays, master Wells stores bottles of his Fuller-bodied syrah down here." "Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello!" "Um, what's going on?" "I'm not certain." "Well..." "I-it's all right, I'm sure there's..." "A way to reverse it." "A switch..." "Of some... kind." "Nope." "Well, no, no, no, it's all right, trust me." "There's, um..." "We'll sort this." "This is sort of like the lockdown drills we have at school." "Yes, precisely." "We are locked down." "Not locked in." "Right." "We shall get our sharpest minds on the case." "What are you doing?" "What do you think?" "Morse code." "Crane!" "If you can hear me, tap twice!" "I believe we have stumbled upon a more effective form of communication, master Wells." "Right." "You guys okay in there?" "Yes, we're fine." "In fact, I'd say we're in the safest room in the building." "All right, hang tight, we're gonna check on things, and we'll get back to you." "Well, he's right." "They are in the safest place in the building." "Which is what makes me think that this is a security system of some kind." "What?" "Security?" "How come we never knew about this?" "I'm learning there's a lot about the vault we never knew." "That's the mark of Benjamin banneker." "Right, and we know that he specialized in guards and traps, which makes me think that he's the one that designed the security for this place." "To protect the vault against supernatural threats." "Right, but the question is, what kind of threat triggered it?" "What happened?" "Is Molly okay?" "She's fine." "Crane's with her." "Jenny's scouting the exterior and the tunnels." " All's quiet on all fronts." " Look, it's probably just a short in the security system..." "I mean, it is 200 years old." "A technical malfunction?" "On the one day I wanted Molly to see this world isn't completely dangerous and unpredictable." "Okay, guys, check this out." "It looks like someone decided to beef up the security with their own mystical reinforcements." "These were carved at a later time." "I don't recognize these symbols." "Wait, wait, wait, this number." "It's a federal I.D." "Federal I.D.?" "Okay." "This I.D. Belonged to..." "Got it." "Claudia Russell." "She worked in the office of intelligence and analysis from 2001 to 2003." "She transferred and spent the next seven years..." "In agency 355." "The vault." "She was the last agent to have worked here before us." "Is she still alive?" "Last record of her dates back to 2011." "Last known address is..." "Out by gaithersburg." "We need to talk to her." "She's the only one who can unlock these symbols." "Yeah." "I'm supposed to be meeting with Molly's teacher." "He thinks she's having some trouble at home." "Okay, so go." "We'll find Claudia Russell." "I'm not leaving, not with her stuck in here." "No, they'll be fine, okay?" "She is inside of a fortress designed by the best mystical architect in history..." "Plus, crane is with her." "I had a teacher that sounded the alarm on me a little bit too early, and I had to spend the next year reporting to a social worker." "I'll be a half hour, tops." "We'll get to the bottom of these runes." "You hear that, crane?" "!" "We'll be back soon!" "We are on..." "The... case!" "Do you want me to go talk to Molly's teacher, and you can go with him?" "Pass." "Just, please, call me if anything comes up." "Ms. Thomas, thanks for coming." "Hello?" "Who's there?" "If you're looking for the administrative office..." "Mr. David?" "Yes, I need an ambulance at Liberty elementary school." "A teacher has been attacked." "He's alive, but he seems to be badly hurt." "Thank you." "Okay, okay, just relax." "Help's on the way." "He's gonna be fine." "The police are working under the theory that it was a robbery gone awry." "But that's not what you believe." "No." "Agent Thomas?" "When Molly was younger, she had an imaginary friend..." "It had green hair and his body was made out of her baby blanket." "She used to draw it all the time." "Anyway, she called it..." "Mr. stitch." "How do you know that?" "Molly drew a picture of the creature in her notebook earlier." "So Molly's imaginary friend came to life?" "It is not unheard of." "When my son was but a boy, he found solace in a treasured doll, and at a certain point, the doll came to life." "It became a champion for him." "A golem." "What does this thing want?" "Did she send it to attack her teacher?" "It is my understanding that these beings have a mind of their own." "But..." "I will speak to Molly." "In the meantime, what would be helpful is if you could uncover any information about the creature's provenance." "Okay." "Clues to its characteristics." "I kept all of her old drawings." "They're at the house." "I'll look into them." "Very good." "And, agent Thomas, powers of the imagination are not to be trifled with." "Not exactly a luxurious retirement." "When I transferred to the vault from dhs office archives, that place had been abandoned for years." "Claudia Russell could fill in the gaps for us." "Ms. Russell?" "Ms. Russell?" "We're here from the vault." "We, just had a few questions." "Wait!" "Don't-don't shoot!" "We're unarmed!" "Alex." "It's boobytrapped." "God." "Claudia Russell, I presume." "Hey, easy." "Hasn't anyone ever told you not to sneak up on people, especially armed people?" "It's force of habit." "Sneaky's kind of my default mode." "Crane filled me in." "Said you needed some help." "I checked out all of the protective wards" "I put around the entrances." "Nothing's been tripped." "This is the original blanket." "It's completely intact." "I still don't get it." "How does this thing just pop out of Molly's head?" "Somehow, some kind of spell was activated." "Crane's looking into it." "It might help if you could tell me more about this thing." "Maybe we can figure out why it went to Molly's school." "Molly must have been five, maybe six." "She started showing a talent for art, so..." "I encouraged her." "Told her to draw what made her happy." "At the time, I was pretty focused on my job, so..." "I was away a lot." "Part of me thinks that she just..." "Dreamt up Mr. stitch as a person who could be around when I couldn't." "You know, it's funny..." "As tough as this whole..." "Witness business has been, it's brought us closer together." "It was the same for Abby and me." "Battling the supernatural made us sisters again." "And it helped me get over some serious resentment I had towards her." "Hey, check this out." "If you're watching this, it means they got me." "Don't know what it was." "A monster." "Demon." "Doesn't matter how many hexes or wards you put up, evil always finds a way." "Funny..." "We thought we had all the advantages." "We had the vault, right?" "Washington's legacy." "Centuries of knowledge." ""The last line of defense against all threats deemed otherworldly."" "But the downside of being a secret organization is that people forget about you." "Maybe we did our job too well." "Kept the monsters at bay, which meant people forgot to be afraid." "They forgot." "But I'll never forget..." "About the sacrifices we made, the blood spilled, about..." "Michael... my friend." "That's why I had to leave the vault." "To get away from the demons." "And the memories." "Everywhere I turned," "I saw Michael." "But not here." "I know they'll find me." "They always will, because evil never forgets." "But I'll be ready for them." "I'll be ready." "What you doin'?" "Trying to find an escape route." "One must never sit around and wait for help." "Rescue yourself." "If there's one lesson from today, let it be that one." "And another lesson is book cabinets are lighter without books." "Molly..." "Have you heard of the legend of pygmalion?" "Yeah, wasn't that an animated movie about farm animals?" "An an... what?" "No." "Pygmalion." "P-y-g... pyg..." "Animated..." "Pygmalion was a sculptor, and he created a statue of a woman, who he called galatea." "Now, galatea was so beautiful, exquisite, and pygmalion fell desperately, helplessly in love with her." "So he entreated the gods with all his passion to bring her to life. "Please."" "And they did." "That really happened?" "Well, one thing you learn from the vault is that all stories have a hint of truth to them." "Pygmalion is a story of creation, about how artistic talent and intense emotion can bring beings to life." "Molly, a short while ago, your teacher," "Mr. David, was attacked." "He'll be fine." "I promise you." "But we believe he was attacked by a monster." "More precisely, we believe he was attacked by Mr. stitch." "What?" "I know, I know." "This comes as a shock." "This is important." "Have you dabbled with anything involving magic lately?" "Like the symbols you drew in your notebook." "No." "No, I've been really careful." "Really careful." "I..." "It's all right, it's all right." "I believe you." "Here, let's set aside how Mr. stitch came into being, and together we will focus on where he's going next, yes?" "Why do you think Mr. stitch went after Mr. David?" "Well, Mr. stitch is not evil." "He wouldn't hurt someone for no reason." "And especially not Mr. David." "I like Mr. David." "I-I mean, I really like him." "I wouldn't..." "Well, sometimes the people we like the most are the people who upset us the most." "No!" "I'm not mad at Mr. David!" "No." "Molly, Mr. David is speaking to you." "She thinks she's helping me, but she's not." ""She"?" "She thinks she knows what I'm feeling, but she doesn't." "She says we should be honest with each other, but she's the one who was lying." "Go, go, go, go!" "My god." "Are you okay?" "I think..." "I'm good." "Where'd it go?" "In Molly's stories, Mr. stitch had to go to bed at night, to hibernate at sundown." "Saved by bedtime." "We're okay." "Apparently that thing is gonna lay low for the night." "Yeah, I'll fill her in." "Okay, will do." "So, crane has some theories on this thing's behavioral patterns." "He thinks a basic summoning ritual will draw it out of hiding." "This image comes up a lot." "That looks like shenandoah amusement park." "Molly used to love that place." "Closed down a few years ago." "Okay, well, Mr. stitch could still be drawn to the site." "Well, it's just west of here." "All right." "So, crane talked to Molly?" "Yeah." "He thinks that this is an ID monster." "Something that's motivated by the primal instincts of Molly's psyche." "But she's not controlling it." "But it's acting off of thoughts in her brain, so why did it come to our house?" "Well, it's trying to protect her." "It's going after those for whom she has..." "Negative emotions." "But, look, we're talking about the ID here." "This is a deep, dark stew of impulses and instincts and crazy thoughts." "And somewhere in there, my daughter is thinking that she hates me." "No." "She doesn't hate you." "She loves you." "She loves you so much that she can't tell you about all this that's bothering her, because she knows it would hurt you." "So instead a monster from her imagination's gonna hurt me." "Actually, if you think about it, you're lucky." "Lucky." "Yeah." "Look, it's hard enough for anyone, let alone an 11-year-old girl, to tell you exactly how she feels." "Well, here's something bigger than life sending you a message." "You sure this is everything Claudia had on the vault's infrastructure?" "Yeah." "Everything I could dig out of that mess." "I think I found something." "Wait, these are the glyphs she added." "They're norse-based!" "Wait, hold on." "According to these plans, the actuators are both magical and physical." "Meaning?" "That reading the symbols isn't gonna open the doors." "It'll just allow you to access a servo that controls these barriers." "Where's the servo located?" "In a utility duct, behind the west wall." "There's an entry point from inside the vault." "And there's one other problem..." "Was Claudia Russell a lilliputian?" "!" "Is there any way to widen the opening?" "Not without heavier tools." "Miss Alex, do you have anything that might assist in that regard?" "Well, I have some of that hmx that we used to cut you out of despair's cave, but..." "I wouldn't mess with that in an enclosed space." "I mean, the concussive blast could make your heads implode." "Right." "Well, we'll call that plan b, shall we?" "I can go." "I'll fit." "It's just like the jungle gyms at school." "No." "Absolutely not." "Actually, the servo's only about 30 feet from the opening." "So you'd be able to talk to her the entire time." "I want to do this." "This whole thing is sort of my fault." "No, it is not." "And you must never think that." "Well, didn't you say that we should rescue ourselves?" "That's what we must always do?" "Your mother is going to have my guts for garters." "I'm going down!" "Go ahead, master Jake!" "Permanence." "Hagal." "Protection." "Sig." "Victory." "Fa." "Spirit." "I see it!" "Last one's stuck!" "What's that?" "!" "The last one is stuck!" "Hang on!" "I think there might be another way out!" "Molly?" "!" "Molly!" "Molly!" "Molly, where are you?" "!" "Master Jake," "I believe Molly is making her way outside on her own." "That could only lead to the alley that's on the West Side." "Crane, we're on our way." "Hello, Molly." "Crane says that a simple decomposition spell conducted within a ten-meter radius of the creature should do the trick." "I will never get used to what you guys think is simple." "There." "Do I know you?" "You know, it does kind of feel like we already know each other." "We do have a number of mutual friends." "My name is Malcolm." "Molly." "Yes, you are." "I have heard so much about you." "You are very special, my friend." "I am?" "Yes." "If I have any gifts at all, I would have to say my greatest gift is my affinity for recognizing talent." "And it couldn't be any more evident to me that you are blessed with an extraordinary capacity for creativity and vision." "Um, how did you say you knew me?" "I have been following your progress..." "Your remarkable progress..." "For quite a while now, Molly." "But let me ask you something, my friend." "Would you say you're happy?" "See, I ask because" "I don't think you are." "I think you know, deep down..." "Something's not right." "Something with you, something with your family, something with the world." "And that's why" "I felt such a great urgency to finally come and meet you, because I just wanted to let you know this." "It's gonna get better, Molly." "I think I need to find my friends." "Yes, yes." "Of course." "Of course." "It was so nice to finally get to meet you, Molly." "I'll see you soon." "Molly!" "Thank goodness." "Are you okay?" "Yeah." "Okay." "Come on." "Yeah?" "Your mom... she's gonna want to see you." "She'll be wrapping stuff up shortly, all right?" "Sad to see this thing go." "It's either that, or Mr. stitch lives to see another day." "Once the ritual's finished, we should be rid of this thing." "Clio." "Euterpe." "Thalia." "Keep going." "I'm gonna distract it." "Clio..." "No!" "Stop!" "Molly!" "Stay back!" "I'm sorry I brought you here." "I didn't mean to." "I guess I just needed someone to talk to." "You were always the one who listened." "I guess I should have been talking to you, mom." "My god." "I still need to finish the ritual." "Blanket." "Honey, you can talk to me whenever you want, I promise." "I want to tell you that..." "I don't like it when you say that everything's going to be okay, even though I know that it's not." "I don't like it when you keep things from me." "You're angry with me." "Yes, but I don't want to be." "You can be angry." "It's good to be angry." "Then you can let it all out." "Come here." "Clio..." "Good-bye." "It shouldn't be long now, Mr. crane!" "Jenny's in the duct as we speak!" "You are still not getting the hang of this, are you?" "I await with alacrity." "What do you want to do with these?" "Those are valuable documents regarding the history of the vault." "And a tale of sadness and woe." "Soon to be our tale." "That is dark, even for you." "You saw her tape." "You saw Claudia's tape." "I mean, you can train to be a super vault agent all you want, but that is what is in store for us..." "Holed up in a shack eating canned beans, waiting for the boogeyman to come." "No." "We don't know exactly what happened to Claudia." "Okay?" "And we're different." "We got crane, Diana, Jenny." "She had Michael and then lost him." "No, but that's not gonna happen to us." "Look, you and me..." "We started this together, and we'll end it together." "Right." "Thank you." "Quiet contemplation had grown quite contemptuous." "Do you have the items I require?" "Wonton soup, mushu pork, sesame noodles." "The delights of the far east." "Capital work, master Wells." "Man, crane can really pack that szechuan chicken away." "Guess Chinese takeout was far and few between in the 18th century." "What are you doing?" "Molly left her backpack here." "I moved it, and this fell out." "Yeah." "It's an e-reader." "So?" "Does that mean anything to you?" "It's a wiccan hex." "Do you know what it does?" "No." "What's it doing in Molly's stuff?" ""Courtesy of little readers of D.C."?" "Yeah, I looked it up." "Little readers donated these devices to public schools." "And guess who's head of the charity." "Who?" "Malcolm dreyfuss." "I think Molly was targeted specifically." "Dreyfuss planted a magically charged device on her." "That's what conjured the monster." "But why?" "I mean, what could he possibly want with her?" "Dreyfuss has totally gone off the deep end this time." "I mean, he's always been crazy, but shutting down the company?" "The stock is gonna drop like a rock." "I don't know if he cares about that kind of stuff anymore." "Why not?" "I get the feeling he's got his eyes on a different prize." "You've caused quite a stir." "I've been reading about the philosophy of decluttering." "The idea is to evaluate every possession in your life and ask yourself, "does this still bring me joy?"" "And if not, you got to let it go." "I've seen my future, jobe." "It's time to make it a reality." "No more distractions." "I need every resource I've got to move on to the next phase." "Speaking of which, how is the rest of my team coming along?" "The second recruit is..." "Ready to be plucked soon." "And the girl?" "Now that you've met, do you have a better idea of what to do with her?" "I didn't realize how important she would be until I actually saw her." "I knew she would mean a lot to me, but..." "What I didn't..." "Couldn't know was... was how much I could mean to her." "After all, what little girl doesn't need a real..." "Father... in her life?"