undergrounds | 02 ❄ When Meta-Humans Attack [semi-open, see OOC note below]

Working at Redbright, one has a tendency to be privy to conversation about the magical world that the average person would not be. That was how Elsa heard about the dog attacks. It seemed there was a rogue dog attacking people in the streets around Ealing - and it wasn't just the typical rabid dog either. The was a supernatural element to it, as one witness expressed. The dog seemed to be in a trance, as though it was not acting of its own accord. The Night Council had sent out an investigator who was able to determine that said dog was not a werewolf, as that had been an obvious accusation. Mostly this was done in order to quell any type of inter-faction arguments. The investigator surmised that it was a meta-human controlling the animal and not to panic or go off and do anything foolish with the werewolves. That was it. Case closed.

This bothered Elsa for several reasons.

One being that people were still getting hurt, which meant, in Elsa's opinion, that the case was not closed. The second being how casually the investigator blamed a meta-human and then just let it drop. That didn't sit well with her. If it really was a meta-human doing this, she'd quite like them to stop. Meta-humans had a bad enough reputation as monsters anyway. Why make it worse? So she decided to do a bit of investigating on her own.

She obtained a list of the reported victims and went out to see them one by one. Some she knew and some she didn't. To those she didn't know, she posed as a member of animal control.

"Hello. I'm here to talk to you about the dog that attacked you a few days ago."

--

After her interviews, Elsa studied her notes and was able to find several consistencies. The evidence did point to an animal being controlled by someone or something. And as far as she could tell, someone or something lived on Broome Street. Elsa had a hunch, so she hit the archives. Redbright held a catalogue of Britain's meta-humans, where they lived and what their particular gift was. Of course, not all meta-humans were listed. Some preferred to not be catalogued.

But Elsa struck gold with this one. A Mr. Leonard Carter of 114 Broome Street was registered as a meta-human. His power? Controlling animals. Really, the investigator from the Night Council couldn't have done this?

She goes out to his home and is greeted at the door by a large black dog, who actually seems incredibly friendly when he's not under his master's influence. Elsa is upfront with him about the reason for her visit and the look on his face is as good as a confession. Apparently Mr. Carter's wife left him and he's been angry, an anger that he's been channeling through his dog. After talking a bit about the nature of metas and how easy it is to give them a bad name, the deal that they strike is that she won't report him to the Night Council as long as he stops sending the dog out and attacking people. If Elsa hears of one more attack, she's going to have to report him.

She probably should report him regardless, but since the Night Council investigator couldn't be assed to do the actual investigation, Elsa figures they shouldn't get the credit. Case closed.

[OOC: Anyone who would like to be an attack victim is welcome to join in! Please read and respond to this plotting post and then jump right in.]

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"Oh, you heard about that?" Heiji looked none too pleased at the reminder, actually, though maybe that was understandable considering the circumstances.

"Not too out of the ordinary, I guess. Dogs never liked me much."

"Hey, Heiji." She was surprised that he was one of the victims, but then maybe she shouldn't be. He's one of these people who seems to be everywhere. "The dog bit a bunch of other people too, so we're trying to find it and make sure it stops." Elsa pulls out a little notepad and pencil. "Do you remember any details about what happened?"

"Yeah, sure." Animal attack investigations were not his thing, so he was more than happy to hand over what he knew.

"I was in Ealing, right? Thought I'd get a head start on the day. Next thing I know, there's this big old black dog starin' me down. Thought I'd just back off since it looked like he was havin' a bad day, but he up and bit my sleeve. Probably woulda done more, but I figured I'd better get outta there fast."

It does seem funny that the man who so often consults with the police has been a victim of a crime himself. Elsa writes quickly across the page of her notebook. "Can't blame you. Could I have a look at the bite?"

"Sure, but it wasn't much." That wasn't a lie; it really hadn't been a serious wound for someone like him. Heiji rolled up his sleeve and revealed his forearm, where a few red marks from the dog's teeth remained, but were on their way out.

"Dog? Ah, yes. The dog." Faust looked like he had enough problem, honestly, without worrying about getting mauled. He had only a limited number of lab coats, after all, and his encounter had left one of his few remaining clean ones ripped at the bottom.

"Who are you, its owner? A vile beast, that's what it was."

"Ah, no. I'm with animal control. We're trying to track down the dog and its owner." She flips to a new page in her notepad. "And your name is... Mr. Faust?" Her pen scribbles across the top of the page.

"Ah. I hope you catch him, then." Faust muttered something in German that might have been a comment on how lovely the weather was, but most likely was about how that dog was a total jerk.

"That's me. What do you want to know? It was a giant, hairy thing. Other than that, I doubt I could tell you much that would be useful. Perhaps it's long gone by now."

Lancelot had been off duty when he'd run into a man fleeing the animal, but he'd felt compelled to help regardless. It was quite honestly the strangest thing -- well, perhaps not absolute strangest, he's seen quite a few strange things by now -- but certainly something about it told him this was no ordinary dog.

Why should it have been? After everything that's happened he supposes he should have expected more and more supernatural things to come to his attention, especially now he's thought to look for them. To question them.

He's at in a coffee shop where he agreed to meet her. Lancelot is, after all, an official member of Daybreak now. He'd thought to tell them of what he found, so it was easy enough to look him up -- and someone chatting to a local friendly police community officer is not too conspicuous.

"I was off duty in Ealing," he begins, flicking through his notepad for the page, "when the man came tearing out of an alleyway. He looked quite frightened, so I managed to slow him down and ask him what happened. He told me he'd been attacked by... some sort of huge dog, black."

02 ❄ When Meta-Humans Attack [semi-open, see OOC note below]

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