As soon as Charlie passed out, Dr. Watson, Duncan, and Henry, all exchanged glances. Each of them knew they needed to figure out a way to get Charlie to the Sanctuary without him completely transforming into his alter ego in front of FBI personal. That meant all three of them needed to have a talk in private.
"Duncan, Henry could I have a word with you outside?" James asked his two assistants on this mission. Both Duncan and Henry nodded in agreement, knowing it was necessary. "Would you excuse us for a moment? We have something important to discuss outside in private. If he wakes up before we are finished, alert us immediately."
Once outside, the three of them proceeded to discuss their current situation and how to safely get Charlie to the Sanctuary without any un-necessary complications. "He appears to be experiencing a rapid on set of his major metamorphosis, which means, the Cabal likely got to him first," James sighed, laying his keen observations out before his colleagues.
"You think the Cabal induced his metamorphosis?" Duncan asked, following his boss's logic.
"Yes Duncan, which means we have to be even more careful than originally planned," James answered.
"So, how do we get him to the Sanctuary before he completes his first transformative episode?" Henry asked, turning to face James.
"And how much information do we reveal about his condition to them?" Duncan added.
"Only what information is necessary. As far as getting him to the Sanctuary before his first transformative episode is complete, we'll need to convince both him & his colleagues that his best chance of getting through this is with us & Helen at the Sanctuary," James replied.
"It won't be easy and the poor guy has no idea what the hell is happening to him. I mean, I had a rough time coming to terms with this and I had forewarning from Magnus," Henry said, feeling for Charlie.
The three of them walked back to the lab each readying themselves for the ensuing debate that would soon come. When they re-entered the lab, they noticed Charlie was still unconscious and Dr. Bishop had left.
"I see he's still asleep," James commented as he entered, alerting everyone in the lab of their return.
"What exactly is happening to Charlie and why are you carrying that bag around with you everywhere you go?" Peter inquired.
"So that's his name. As for the bag, it contains a necessary component for my survival. Charlie is going through what you could call a major metamorphic phase," James responded, closely watching Peter as he relayed the information.
"Huh. And that's supposed to mean what exactly?" Peter asked, arms crossed over his chest and a little frustration showing through in the tone of his voice.
"Well, without trying to sound too crazy, your friend's not as human as he appears to be," Duncan replied.
"Charlie looks perfectly human to me. What's really going on here?" Peter asked, unconvinced of Duncan's claim and sensing he wasn't being told everything.
Henry, getting a little antsy responded, "He's a werewolf going through his first major transformative episode alright!" Everyone starred at Henry, including James and Duncan, to which Henry responded with an 'oops . . . sorry' look on his face. "Look pal, all we are trying to say is Charlie's best chance of survival even at this point, is with us. He needs our help!" Henry pled with special emphasis on the words "survival" and "needs".
"Well, barging in here making outlandish claims like the existence of werewolves is not exactly that convincing," Peter snarked back.
"Would you like some proof? 'Cuz I can give it to you!" Henry shot back in defense of his kind.
"Henry," James said like a father trying to claim their son down.
"Enough with the suspense, if somebody has any ideas as to what the hell is happening to me, I'd love to hear them," Charlie interjected. He'd awoken a couple of moments earlier to Peter's bickering with Henry, which didn't help his headache and nobody seemed to notice.
"Have you heard of a place called The Sanctuary?" Watson asked Charlie as he turned to face him.
'The Sanctuary? Wait, the business card I found in my coat pocket,' Charlie worked through in his head, getting himself back into reality. "It wouldn't happen to be run by a Helen Magnus, would it?" Charlie asked.
"How'd you guess?" Henry inquired.
"I found this business card in my coat pocket," Charlie explained while handing Henry the card.
"Where'd you get this?" Henry asked because he knew Magnus, as Helen was called by much of her staff, hadn't given Charlie the card. She was too busy with other things. That's why Dr. Watson, Duncan, and he had come to check on Charlie.
As Charlie went through his recent experiences, he remembered that the man whom had found him by his car had likely put the card in his coat pocket. "A man found who me by my car last night must have put it in my coat pocket while trying to wake me up. I think he said his name was Gregory Magnus."
"Gregory found you?" Watson questioned, paying close attention to Charlie as he answered.
"Yeah, and said something about some guys taking me out of a white van and placing me by my car. What would this Gregory person know of this 'Sanctuary' place and how did you find me?" Charlie asked, temporarily forgetting the others in the room.
"Well, you could say Gregory started the whole thing," Watson answered.
"So, he was its founder?"
"Not this one in particular, but yes he founded the concept. Now, you mentioned people taking you out of a van and placing you by your car. You were taken captive then?" Watson asked.
Charlie was a bit taken aback by Watson's inquiry as he was not used to being the interrogated. "Are you one this place's investigators 'cuz I feel like I'm in some kind of interrogation?" Charlie asked in retaliation.
"Yes, I'm one of them," was Watson's reply.
"Any creepy doctors poking you with needles lately?" Henry interjected.
Charlie shuttered as images of yesterday evening re-surfaced. 'How could they have known what kinds of questions to ask unless they had previous experience with my captors?' he wondered to himself. "How'd you guess?" Charlie questioned Henry. He also took note of Dr. Watson's brace like things around both legs as well as the metal rings with tubes running from them on the pinky and index finger of each hand. The tubes appeared to be going to either his neck or chest, Charlie couldn't tell at the moment.
"Let's just say, I suspect we've had similar experiences," Henry told Charlie.
"And by the way, I don't have a bomb strapped to my chest if that's what you were thinking." James paused for a moment to study Charlie's reaction again. He always had a knack for keen observation and when he had injected the Source Blood along with the rest of The Five, those skills as well as his analytical abilities dramatically increased.
"I hadn't gotten quite that far down my list of possibilities, but that's good to know. What is that thing I was looking at then?" Charlie questioned James in return.
James took off his suit jacket and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a mechanical device strapped to or implanted in his chest before answering. "It is a somewhat unfortunate, but necessary component for my survival."
"You still haven't answered my question about how you found me," Charlie pointed out.
James leaned closer to Charlie's ear so that only Charlie could hear his words. "I'm sure there are many, many questions that you'd like answered right now. Here's the problem, because of the delicate nature of the information I can not answer many of them here, in front of your colleagues. It would undoubtedly do more harm than good, although I'm sure your colleagues might be inclined to disagree, at least at first. All and any questions you may have will hopefully be answered soon; however, for that to happen, a change in scenery must occur," James whispered.
"You mean, I need to come to the Sanctuary, alone without any of my colleagues following me?" Charlie asked hushed tones.
"Yes the Sanctuary holds many keys to your understanding of what is currently happening to you and many of these keys the outside world, including your colleagues are not ready or able to understand or except. There's no easy way for me to put this, but you may very well have to leave your job here at the Bureau. However, if that were to happen, you can be assured that Helen or I will offer you a position on either of our staffs," James told him truthfully.
"Well than, I best get home and get packing," Charlie sighed.
"Where should we meet?" Charlie asked James.
"The park near your house, closest entrance to it in an hour and walk, don't drive. I'll inform both Henry and Duncan of our plans later," James requested.
"See you than," Charlie told James. "Look at the time I think I should be getting home. Peter, tell Walter I changed my mind about the hypnosis," Charlie ordered Dr. Bishop's son as he walked out of the lab. He didn't necessarily like what James was telling him, but he needed those answers James clearly wouldn't give to him unless he was at the Sanctuary. This meant he would have to have a chat with Olivia about not looking into where he was going. He could of course just tell her he was going out of state on vacation for awhile but his wife couldn't get off of work in time and had to stay home.