From here on all writing pertains to the cannon backstory of Cara attacking Verner. Any ERP character can join in but keep in mind experiments besides Viktor, Cara, and Biwix will have little opportunity for interaction. Also Potato I'll say this is a month or so before my second scientist joined so Theda's not in this. Once this story is finished a vote on chat will commence and a new long-ish short story/RP will take place.
If you have a 1-2 post short story to put in you may, but please write at the top of your post something along the lines of 'Interruption', 'Detour', or 'Deviation'.
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Verner Wallace | Male | 23-24 | Scientist | Power: Ability Senser | Location: ERP Labs| Mentions: (Directly) Cara, Ignatius / (Indirectly) Nancy

"Come on Cara, a pigeon? You can do better than that." This test had taken weeks of planning and scavenging to arrange. A stack of animal carriers were pressed up against a wall on the right side of the room. The rats, raccoons, and pigeons had been the easiest for the weapons to catch. All they had to do is set down food and close the carrier when the animals walked in. The dogs and the majority of the cats they had captured still wore collars around their necks and had been all too trusting to their captors, simply walking up to the weapons for the false promise of food and affection. What he hadn't expected them to bring back was a fox and a bobcat. Usually they avoided cities but ever since the virus struck and the city quieted these types of critters became all the more common. The room was filled with the cacophony of whines, yowls, hisses, gickering, squeaking, cooing, and worst of all the barking of the critters. There was no way to keep them quiet, he had tried handing the most vocal animals scraps of cloth and useless rubber to play with and destroy but still they continued their ruckus.

The only animal missing from the room was Zodiac. Nancy actually needed that dog to function efficiently so it was best that animal wasn't present. She was still welcome to come into the lab, just not her dog. If she wanted to come in it would be best she had one of the weapons assist her. There was some dangerous equipment in the lab that was moved around often making it hazardous for his fellow scientist to wander around blindly.

Cara was seated on an operation table that had it's back propped up as far as it could go. She wasn't tied down as she had shown no signs of hostility and her power seemed harmless as long as the animals remained contained. The only purpose for this specific chair was so she had something to fall back on should she lose consciousness. In the past she had informed them of headaches she would get or a feeling that she would pass out when they pushed her near her limit. Never before had they assembled so many animals and he was dead set on seeing just how many animals she could control. This was important information for both her and them to know once she advanced to being a weapon. "Why don't you try the fox or," the scientist stuck the blunt end of his pen in the bobcat's cage, "this guy." The animal hissed and batted at the pen until it was removed from her cage. She didn't seem happy about her situation, yowling and clawing as a demand for freedom. Surely the bobcat would prove more challenging than the typical animals they presented to her.

Ignatius was already present in the room. Hopefully he was present because he was actually interested in seeing the extent of Cara's ability and not because he planned on snatching more of Nancy's candy or the AR glasses again. In an emergency he actually needed those. Verner had already recorded the behavior and condition of the animals before this test on notes attached to the clip board beneath the arm he wasn't holding the pen with. Each animal had a number written above it's cage with marker just to make things easier for himself. If past tests with her were anything to go by no real damage would be done. At least not the physical damage he was trained to recognize and treat.

[ Ignatius Cross ]
Male | 25 | ERP Vice President | Codename: Mindfog | Powers: Hypnotism + Psychometry
Location: ERP HQ - Labs | Mentions: {Directly} Verner, Cara

The persistent noise of domesticated and wild animal alike had Ignatius’ pen tapping against his clipboard impatiently as he recorded data concerning the experiment. Cara had failed to excite thus far and he found himself more interested in the animals themselves. There was a ginger cat a few cages down that reminded him of his beloved childhood pet Peaches and a tri-color scent hound mix he liked the looks of. All the barks and meows filling the room pulled at him and he stared at a few of the confined beasts with sympathetic eyes. “Worry not friends. I will pet each and every one of you when this is over,” he assured in a soothing tone, uncaring if Verner or Cara overheard his one-sided conversation. The bobcat let out a screech of defiance, more likely aimed at her imprisonment rather than his words, but Ignatius took it as such anyway and smiled. Yes, he would pet that one too. Even if he had to drug her first.

His awareness finally returned to the other people in the room as Cara attempted to communicate with the fox, after many long minutes of silence he grew bored once again however and his thoughts drifted elsewhere. Which dog should he pat first? Which cat deserved to be brushed the most? There were so many possibilities. His gaze landed on a rather ragged looking Persian and he decided then and there she was in most definite need of a makeover. The fox suddenly barking and spitting rage had him snapping back to attention and his eyes narrowed as Cara’s face briefly mirrored the fox’s before she seemed to regain some composure. Interesting… He glanced in Verner’s direction and decided for once he would let the scientist decide whether the experiment continued or not.

Verner Wallace | Male | 23-24 | Scientist | Power: Ability Senser | Location: ERP Labs| Mentions: (Directly) Cara, Ignatius / (Indirectly)

Finally, one of the dogs had been silenced. The animal's deafening calls, the bright lights of the lab, and the taste of charcoal, pennies, and crackers was almost too much for his brain to process all at once. As a result of this overstimulation he already had a headache forming which had made him slightly irritable. Having a more sense based ability was only useful if you could process the information you were receiving. While jotting down any changed behavior in the animals he did catch Ignatius' comment. It was odd just how stark the difference was between his behavior towards animals and people. Luckily none of the animals in this test should be harmed, he wasn't entirely sure what his superior would do if they were injured. Most of these animals were captured for the sole purpose of testing Cara's abilities and it wasn't likely that they'd ever be put into harms way. They certainly couldn't eat these animals either for health and ethical reasons, that didn't mean that the experiments couldn't though. It was hard to feed so many experiments that spent their time in cells instead of being able to scavenge.

Verner lifted his head when the fox had seemingly hissed out of nowhere but he seemed to miss Cara's mirrored expression. He turned to Ignatius figuring he was higher ranking than him and that he'd wish to decide but nope, the vice president was looking in his direction. Well this decision was obvious to him and he turned back to Cara to give his response. "The weapons went through a great deal of effort to bring it here. If you don't try then the poor thing would've gone through all this stress for nothing. I'd like to see you make an attempt at the bobcat before I stop this test." From previous tests it seemed unlikely that pushing her further could do any permanent damage to her, but then again they hadn't pushed her this far before.

Verner Wallace | Male | 23-24 | Scientist | Power: Ability Senser | Location: ERP Labs| Mentions: (Directly) Cara, Ignatius / (Indirectly)

Verner thought that the bobcat's screeching simply signified that she had failed to control the animal. At the least she had made an attempt. Well it was best to tell the girl she had done her best for the day and send her to her cell. Or that's what would have happened had she not charged at the bobcat's cage hissing. It was then he picked up on how the two of their features mimicked each other. Had he not been concerned she would be stupid enough to open the cage and try taking on the cat he might've had time to realize it was the cat influencing her, and not her just imitating it. This was very odd behavior she was exhibiting but he thought she was just messing with them. "Are you trying to scare the cat? Because you're not doing a very good job at it." The clipboard was set down on a nearby counter for now. It seemed that the cat had upset her in some way and he was about to 'offer' to take her to her cell and away from the animal.

As soon as that girl glared at him he realized she wasn't joking. The moment she lunged at him he felt his blood run cold. He had maybe a few feet of leeway to run from the girl. Maybe a second after turning around to bolt away she had tackled his side and toppled him to the floor. When the side of his head made contact with the tile there was an abrupt ringing in his ears. He instinctively pressed a hand to the general area to try and blunt the pain. It took a moment to regain his composure but once he had he was quick to reach for the nearest object, a broom. His only power was to sense other's abilities and he apparently wasn't strong enough to knock a girl that was both shorter and lighter than himself so of course he went to grab a makeshift weapon. Well not so much a weapon as it was a shield. He wedged the broom between Cara and himself to hopefully put some distance between the two of them.

[ Ignatius Cross ❇ Mindfog ]
Male ❇ 25 ❇ ERP ❇ Vice President ❇ Hypnotism + Psychometry
Location - ERP HQ / Labs

Ignatius’ amber gaze remained trained on Cara this time around as Verner requested she try again on the bobcat, brushing aside her protests. He could sense things were about to take a turn, for better or worse he wasn’t sure, but he was certainly eager to find out. If he’d had any sense he would have called the experiment off right then and there after witnessing Cara’s lips curl up like a wild animal, but he was far too invested in seeing how this all worked out. He watched her body shudder, various emotions twisting her face and a haggard nose escaping her as she tried to communicate with the feral feline.

The screech of the bobcat and returned snarl that left Cara’s mouth caused Ignatius to drop his clipboard and pen in alarm. She lunged toward the cat’s cage, clawing at the bars and shrieking in fury as if she wanted to tear the offending beast to shreds. Not even a minute later her head abruptly snapped toward Verner and she charged at the scientist with clearly malicious intent. Ignatius froze up, unsure whether he should feel afraid or exhilarated. He tried to run over what could be going through her mind in his own and concluded Verner must be the object of her wrath since she couldn’t reach the bobcat, her consciousness lost to something wild.

His lack of a response to the attack ended when things became physical. “Cara, that’s quite enough.” he ordered tersely, though he didn’t expect she would obey and wasn’t surprised when he received no response. Verner was knocked to the ground, a broom being the only thing between him and the enraged woman as she attempted to maim him. Ignatius wasn’t exactly a fighter himself and for once in his life he experienced a very unexpected emotion, helplessness. He reached for the pager clipped to his belt, turning it on and speaking into it with an urgent, shaky voice. He wouldn’t remember what he’d said later, but it was more or less a thinly veiled request for assistance in the labs, his tone holding an edge of distress.

Cara was fended off by the broom momentarily, leaping away only to circle back and aim for the throat with her next strike. In that moment Ignatius did the only thing he could think to do and that was tackle her. He attempted to force the smaller woman to the ground despite her flailing limbs and ungodly shrieking. If he could pin her down and force her to look at him for long enough this would all be over, but part of him knew that wasn't happening with the state she was in and he could only hope to hold onto her long enough for help to arrive and tranquilize her.

Verner Wallace | Male | 23-24 | Scientist | Power: Ability Senser | Location: ERP Labs| Mentions: (Directly) Cara, Ignatius / (Indirectly)
The second time Cara had lunged at him she had attacked at such an angle that his arms weren't able to hold the broom. With his shield now useless he was forced to use his arms to prevent her from mauling his face and throat. His arms received numerous scratches but it was better his limbs than his jugulars. Shortly after she attempted to maul his neck Ignatius had tackled her to the ground and he thought at the time her whole attack would be over and that his friend had a better hold on her.
Verner stopped for a moment to check his arms and throat for any damage. His arms were pretty scratched up already, a multitude of her nails having broke skin. Luckily the few scratches she had done to his throat were harmless. Seeing no damage that required immediate attention he picked himself up and looked around the room. They had to have tranquilizing medicine somewhere. He moved over to a drawer he thought they might be and unlocked it. These were scalpels so he simply closed the drawer deciding that his continued search for that medicine was more important than relocking them up, which he would soon decide was a mistake. The next drawer contained needles. Great, he'd need those too. The next drawer contained the tranquilizing medicine's bottle but when he went to pick it up the bottle was empty. He quietly cursed himself for having left this here instead of getting more from storage. Great. There was no way he could leave Ignatius alone with Cara. "The tranqualizer's in storage," which was way down the hall.

Verner Wallace | Male | 23-24 | Scientist | Power: Ability Senser | Location: ERP Labs| Mentions: (Directly) Cara, Ignatius / (Indirectly)
A large figure moved out of the corner of his eye and he attempted to reach for the drawer with scalpels. Cara was faster and had opened the drawer not hesitating to snatch one of them. Shit. There were too many places she could scratch or stab with that little knife that could result in his death. Verner wasted no time trying to scramble away from the girl. She lunged at him from just out of his view before scurrying away to crouch by the crates. Why did she lunge at him if she was just going to run off? Thus far the girl's behavior had been unpredictable. The last thing they needed was for her to have a potentially lethal weapon.
"Cara, I need you to drop the weapon before someone is critically injured." At first although there was an obvious tremble in his voice he forced himself to sound stern. Towards the end of his sentence his voice cracked and gained a whining quality to it, and he winced as he started to register a sharp pain in his side. When he looked down the contrast of the red on his white labcoat let him know exactly where the damage was. There was a long oozing gash in his side. It wasn't deep enough to do any lethal damage, but the laceration was large enough that it would need to be sutured. Something he couldn't do himself without causing even more damage due to unsteady hands.
It was best to stop the bleeding as soon as possible. He reached for a box of gloves toward the back of the counter but was forced to stop halfway. His injury protested any movement in the form of a sharp stabbing pain and in response he gave off an abrupt yelp. For a few moments he froze hunched over the counter. Once the worst of the pain had subsided he slowly reached for the box avoiding any sudden or jarring movement. He took out and put on two gloves and applied what pressure he could on the injury which at the moment was very little. The gauze was on the other side of the room which he would've preferred to aid in stemming the bleeding but at the moment he wasn't able to move much. This injury would slow him down for sure and he could only hope she wouldn't attack again. Ignatius certainly hadn't been able to stop her so if she attacked he was defenseless. After noticing a medical tray he slowly reached out for it, setting it closer to himself. Well at least now he had a makeshift shield when he needed it. Not that it would be of much use.

[ Ignatius Cross • Mindfog ]
Male ❇ 25 ❇ ERP ❇ Vice President ❇ Hypnotism + Psychometry
Location - ERP HQ / Labs

"The tranquilizer's in storage."

Of course it was. Once this was all said and done with he would be giving all of the scientists a good scolding for not keeping the supplies properly stocked. In the meantime Ignatius struggled to maintain his hold on Cara, proving surprisingly tenacious for a man who often claimed himself delicate and unfit for battle. Her sharpened nails tearing through the fine cloth of his lab coat and the shirt beneath into skin had him silently seething and he tightened his grip until he was sure the girl would be bruised from how much force he was applying before an unbearable pain down below had him losing all concentration. Easily pushed aside by the rabid woman, he curled on the floor for a moment, blinded by his own momentary agony. By the time it dulled enough for him to roll over onto his hands and knees the situation had grown worse. Cara now had a scalpel in hand, Verner was bleeding and no one was coming to save them.

Rising back to his feet with a subtle wince, Ignatius quickly scanned the area for anything he could use as weapon and the only things within reach were another medical tray and a large unused beaker. He snatched up both, noting Verner's idea to use the tray as a shield was worth a shot and smashed the beaker against the table until it shattered and left behind a jagged piece of glass in his hand. If she wanted a fight she was getting one now. He wouldn't have any regrets if she didn't make it through this. The unruly beast. Cara had enough human sensibility left to grab a scalpel, but not to obey orders? How typical. Despite the threatening posture he took as he circled closer he hesitated to make the first move. She was clearly quicker than him and he was certain he'd miss.

((RIP Ig it was nice knowing you.))