“The way you’re framing things in your mind is holding you back. There are very few techniques that allow stealth for a reason.”
I was sitting in the back of the dojo watching Victor and Jane spar. They would go at it for a few minutes then take a break while I critiqued them. Victor had gone inside and she was sitting on the ground in front of me as I filled out the mass of paperwork Robert had dropped off. I didn't get away from the paperwork after all. She pulled her legs under her and leaned forward, "That's not how we were taught when we were brought up.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled in some smoke from my kiseru. It tasted of chocolate with a hint of vanilla. “They are using you as a scapegoat. If you come back to them with a little bit more knowledge on chi and maybe a technique you will probably be the next supreme elder or whatever it is called.” I leaned to the side and rested my cheek on my fist, “It's the slightly blind leading the blind. If you don't come back at all, well they can try something else, no loss on their part.”
She looked down at the floor away from me, her black hair hooding her face. I grabbed my pipe from my mouth and pointed at the barrels along the wall. They were still there and Victor still used them to train. The one I had broken had been replaced when Jacob saw there was a point to the exercise. “Go slap that barrel. When you can slap one side of it and put a hole in the other side the size of your head you will learn something new.”
She rolled to her feet and walked over to them. Victor stepped out with some envelopes in his hand. He was flipping through them then approached me with a confused look on his face and held one out, “This has your name on it.”
I took it and flipped it back and forth. It was a red envelope with gold trim. It had my name on it and a return address to Doctor Kathor. Owl must have told him about my thoughts on that thing we ran into in Angle City and he wanted a word. I stuffed it in my vest and pointed at the wine barrels where Jane was occupied. Victor let out a deep sigh then marched over there and joined her.
It was early in the morning as I watched them and filled out paperwork. I was almost done when Jacob stuck his head out through the back door. He looked over at Victor and Jane then to me, “Hey. Do you know some lady with a raccoon tail?”
“That's Amanda. One of my neighbors from my apartment building. Why do you ask?”
“She showed up and she's looking for you.”
That was alarming. Amanda was a night owl through and through. I don't think I ever saw her out and about during the day. I stood up, slapped my kiseru empty and walked past Jacob into the dojo. Amanda wasn't far, standing near the entrance. She had deep bags under her eyes and was leaning against the doorway. I sped up when I noticed that, “What happened to you?”
She shifted the hand bag she was carrying in front of her and gave it a gentle pat. It moved around a bit and the baby raccoon poked its head out, “I have to introduce this little guy to some raccoons for socialization at the local zoo. I was supposed to do it next week but it got moved up because some zoologist ended up in the hospital.”
I shook my head, “That explains why your up so early but not why you came here.”
Amanda rolled her eyes and one of her ears folded flat, “The zoo has some enhanced animals. They don't enjoy me showing up.”
“Oh. Hold on then.”
I turned and headed for the back. Jacob and Anthony were teaching a small class. I got Jacobs attention and motioned that I was leaving for the day. He waved me off and I headed back to Amanda. Victor and Jane would keep working in the back until they gave up or realized I had left. Either outcome was fine.
Amanda saw me coming and turned around and exited the dojo. She had a little car outside and as I climbed into the passenger seat she set the raccoon bag on my lap. It stuck its head out as we started moving so I reached over and flicked its ear. It reached up to grab my hand and soon I had it out of the bag in my lap wrestling it.
Amanda and I made idle conversation on the way to the zoo just to fill the noise. As she drove us through the city I realized where we were going. This was the same zoo that I had been dropped off at the day I arrived here. Amanda pulled in and parked. She then reached over and grabbed the baby raccoon by the scruff and stuffed it in the bag before throwing it over her shoulder.
The zoo was massive and spread out. There were paintings of familiar looking animals everywhere and a stone pathway that wandered through it. Amanda turned away from it and headed for a side door. She scanned a keycard she pulled out of her pocket and it opened for us. The back rooms were concrete flooring and brick walls. The ceilings were really tall and the hallways were wide. They must have been able to use these back ways to transfer animals from enclosure to enclosure.
Amanda led us pretty far into the place then into some side room. There were a few different people in the room that greeted us when we entered but most of them were surrounding a cat, pampering it. It was extremely fluffy, very well groomed with eyes that scanned us as we entered. Amanda made a line for the cat, pulling out the baby raccoon from her bag, “Hello Angelica.”
“Come to see more of my glorious self Amanda?” The cat replied.
The cat replied. That stunned me. Hyper intelligent animals. Wonder what other ways animals were enhanced. Amanda reached over and gently patted the cat on the head, “Always Angelica. How are the others doing? Do you think my visit will disturb them too much?”
The cat leapt off the table and headed for the door. Amanda followed with the baby raccoon in her arms. I followed Amanda, staring at the cat. Amanda opened the door for the cat while listening to it rant, “The lions are doing well. Overgrown egos aside. Stephanie had a litter a month ago and it doesn't look like any of them are going to take after her enhancements.”
Amanda glanced at me and saw my confusion, “Stephanie is a female lion with super sharp claws. You can put trees in the enclosure for the rest of the lions to scratch at but she tears through them like butter.”
“We got old metal from junk cars melted down into scratching posts for her. She still tears them up quite fast but the metal is easily repurposed. Amanda, introduce your friend.”
Amanda gave the cat a grin, “This is Suneya. She lives in the same apartment building as me and works at a dojo about a mile or so from our building.”
“You think that will help with Vanessa’s reaction to you being here?” Angelica asked.
Amanda shook her head, “No, her going out at night and doing vigilante things will.”
We were in a different part of the zoo now. It looked more like an aquarium. I saw random colorful fish swimming around in tanks. There were octopusses tucking themselves in holes while changing colors and trying to blend in. We walked past a weird reflective tank with a shark swimming inside. I thought it was lonely until I read the sign on the glass saying laser shark.
“Who is Vanessa?” I had to ask.
Angelica answered me with a scoff, “An orangutan. She's got super strength. Not to an absurd level that she can tear metal but we had to design a special enclosure to keep her safe. Amanda here can talk to them and Vanessa feels threatened by that so she normally attempts to end Amanda's time in this world.”
I chewed on my lip as we walked and watched Angelica and Amanda talk. We passed a few enclosures that were different. There was a giant one fully enclosed that housed emus. One of them was strutting across the air explaining why there was a roof. We climbed some steps and passed a giraffe biome where one of the giraffes was able to stretch itself. It had gotten itself tangled up in some trees and there were a few people out there trying to help it free itself.
“How many animals are there like these ones?”
“Not as many humans but enough I felt the need to set this place up.” Angelica answered.
“You set this place up?” I asked the talking cat.
“Of course. My increased intelligence came with an extended lifespan. About fifty years ago I was owned by an older mage. I played with his daughter as he tried to study me and others like me. Enhanced have always been around but animals like me were a new thing. Eventually he died and his daughter realized I was going to be around for a long time so she set me up and I turned my mind to building a place for animals like me.”
“Do you still talk to the daughter or have you grown apart?”
“She comes to visit with her family once a month. They get free entrance into the zoo. I let them see all the cool things. She herself has a daughter that works here under me.”
“How many hyper intelligent animals are there like you?” I asked.
“There's only one so far. Redford. He is an elephant. He can't speak like I can but his trunk allows him to write things out. He is quite the poet but I set this place up for enhanced animals in general. We can learn about them in a non invasive way. They are safe and we help them when they are in trouble. Take Stephanie for example. She would be able to shed the dead outer layer of her claws if she was not here.” Angelica answered.
“What’s the craziest animal you have found at this zoo? Do the powers generate randomly or is it a survival thing?”
“Enhancements come at random just like in humanity. We have a younger crocodile that can generate stone plating across its hide. He was using it to bully the other crocs out of his territory and he was tricky to catch. We also have a parrot that could clone itself. They had a hivemind link. We had to get him out of the wilds because he was going to drive his species to extinction through overbreeding.”
Amanda cut in, "There's a polar bear in the arctic. She can use ice powers. We don't know what it does exactly, just that she can reach absolute zero. There is also the illusionary zebra. We haven't been able to catch that one yet either.”
“So Amanda, you are doing some kind of socialization for the raccoon. Why don't you just stay away from Vanessa’s place.”
Amanda sighed and Angelica chuckled before answering, “Orangutans are quite smart without enhancements. Even without the enhanced strength they tend to sneak out. You can normally just trick them back into their enclosure with treats and things. Another thing they are is petty. If you do something they do not enjoy they will remember it and try to get back at you.”
“So you think she is going to sneak out while Amanda is here and come try to kill her?”
“We normally distract her when Amanda visits. Its planned ahead of time. We keep them separate. I personally don't think she is going to sneak out. I think she is going to try and throw things. That is Vanessa’s normal frustration outlet.”