Zarek led the way through the exhibits, which ten minutes before would have been pretty incredible to Enzo. There were animals of every variety, from furry four-legged creatures with pointed ears who lived in forest enclosures to great, big, six-legged creatures with long, slim necks that lived in massive water tanks. There were zoos all over the galaxy, and, so far as that went, Menagerie’s place seemed to be one of the better ones. The animals looked happy, at any rate, and all of them had plenty of room. He couldn’t stop thinking about the people, though, and it left a sour taste in his mouth. He wondered how many more humanoids Menagerie was keeping.

Their path ended at a massive building with tall, spiraling towers made up almost entirely of what looked like glass, glinting beautifully in the sunlight. There were vibrant green vines creeping up the whole thing, stretching damn near to the top, and it was surrounded by tall trees with thick blue foliage.

“So is this a museum or a visitor’s center or what?” Enzo asked as they approached the tall iron gate out front and Zarek waved his hand in front of a scanner.

The gate swung open without so much as a creak and Zarek waved them through. “This is his house, actually.”

Enzo snorted, because there was nothing about the place that said ‘house’ to him. ‘Pretentious mansion’, maybe. “A house - what, does he have five hundred people living here or something?”

“Nah, Menagerie doesn’t like people much. Visitors aren’t even allowed in here unless they’re selling him something.”

“I’m sorry, one guy lives here? Is he compensating for something, or..?” They were walking through the courtyard in front of the house, and a winged, scaly creature about the size of Enzo’s torso skittered across their path, its nostrils puffing out white smoke. It had some kind of collar on with a blinking red light. “Was that - “

“A fire drake, yup.” Jaela interrupted. “You should see what he’s got in his backyard. This guy’s wild.”

The towering front doors swung open as they walked up the eight steps leading from the courtyard to the house. They stepped into the foyer, a long room lined with glass cases which, Enzo was relieved to see, didn’t hold creatures. Instead they held mostly weapons, ranging from wood tools to blaster rifles. When the door shut behind them the sound outside was cut off entirely, and the echoing silence was nearly oppressive. “I thought you said this wasn’t a museum.”

“I am a collector, Terran, and my interests vary greatly.”

Enzo yelped and drew his blaster, spinning towards the new voice in the same movement. He hadn’t seen anyone approach, hadn’t heard so much as the step of a boot. There was a man standing behind them, though, whom Enzo was pretty sure was a Terran himself. He was a few inches shorter than Enzo, bald as a newborn, with a short black beard shaped in elaborate spirals. He had light brown skin, and his eyes were a dull blue. One dark, bushy eyebrow was raised at Enzo’s blaster.

“Are you going to shoot me?” Menagerie asked, bored in the face of Enzo’s weapon.

Enzo lowered it but didn’t take his finger off the trigger, glaring. “I might. What’s with the drathonians, huh? How many people have you got trapped here?”

Zarek groaned, but Menagerie’s lips stretched in some approximation of a smile. “How sweet. A chivalrous pirate. If you must know, my short-sighted friend, the drathonians in my collection are paid handsomely for their participation, part of a rotating exhibit of rare humanoids.”

In my collection. Like they were objects. Enzo still didn’t stow his blaster because, well, this fucker just rubbed him the wrong way. So maybe they were paid - it didn’t matter. He got the feeling that Menagerie was ten seconds away from crazy. He made Enzo’s skin crawl.

Zarek jabbed Enzo in the side until he stowed his weapon back in its holster, and then the captain stepped in front of him. “Sorry about him - he’s new.”

Menagerie turned away from Enzo to fix those creepy eyes on Zarek, and Enzo was relieved. He hadn’t realized how jarring that gaze was until it was off of him, hard and piercing as if it could see right through him. “Yes, well, if he’s to be accompanying you on deliveries it would be prudent for you to get a better handle on him.”

Enzo bared his teeth, and Jaela pinched his side hard enough that he was sure there would be a bruise there. When he turned to glare at her she mouthed zip it. His nostrils flared, but he rolled his shoulders and tried to relax. Everything about this place put him on edge, including the creepy fucker who ran it. What kind of sick fuck kept people in a zoo?

“If you’ll follow me?” Menagerie was saying, and they trailed along after him as he led the way to the back of the exhibit room.

At the end of the room was a tall door, which blended so perfectly into the wall that Enzo might not have seen it if it hadn’t swung open upon their approach. The room beyond was almost sterile, chromes and whites and flat blacks dominating the color scheme. There were sleek glass cases in here, too, stacked neatly on top of one another and stretching almost to the ceiling. Each one held some sort of weapon with a number hovering over it, price tags.

Enzo caught Zarek staring longingly at a pair of ornate knives, elegantly curved blades made from a glinting pink metal Enzo didn’t know the name for. The handles were made of something like pearl, ending in a loop meant for a finger to slide into so that they could be easily spun.

Menagerie approached a large, sleek white desk at the center of the room and walked around until he was standing behind it. He sat down in the chrome wing-backed chair - which looked horrendously uncomfortable if you asked Enzo - and steepled his fingers. “I assume you have the creature?”

“Yeah, about that,” Zarek drawled. “In light of the current physical condition of two of my best men as a result of this retrieval, I expect hazard pay.”

Enzo grinned, sauntering over to the case with the pink knives to get a closer look. It was in a bottom case, and he knelt down to see the price tag hovering over it. Ten thousand. He whistled and stood, clasping his hands behind his back. That was steep. He wondered what they were made of to fetch such a price.

“Well, maybe if you would have warned us that this little thing turned into a godsdamn poisonous giant we could have come better prepared!” Zarek was snarling, and when Enzo turned his back to the case he’d been examining he saw that Menagerie’s composure was slipping. There were beads of sweat on his forehead, and his cheeks were flush. He’d seen that loong before, that nervous, squirly look like he was busy calculating where the closest exit was. Zarek was not one to be trifled with, and his reputation must of preceded him even here with this cocky jackass.

“It’s not my fault you didn’t research, and I - “

The words were cut off abruptly as Menagerie sucked in a breath, because Zarek had disappeared and reappeared behind him faster than you could blink. There was already a drop of blood at Menagerie’s throat where the glinting tip of Zarek’s blade was resting against the hollow of it. That was the hazard of hiring hot-tempered pirates to do your work. They were damn good at what they did, but fuck if they were going to take any shit from you.

“Alright, alright! Perhaps I should have given you a warning. I’ll give you another two thou - “ He squeaked as the knife dug in, drawing another drop of blood which dribbled down into the collar of his shirt. “Three thousand, then. Really, Cando, that’s one thousand more for each of you and more than reasonable.”

Zarek cocked his head to the side and stroked his chin with his other knife as if in thought. Menagerie was leaning back in his chair as far as he could get, the knife pressed so tightly against his throat that even swallowing looked hazardous. Jaela was standing behind the captain, obviously trying to contain a smirk. They made the man sweat for a second longer before Zarek’s face broked out into a wide grin and he stowed his knives, clapping his hands together. Menagerie breathed a shaky sigh of relief.

“Well, thanks much. That’ll do just fine.” Zarek and Jaela came back around to the other side of the desk, and Zarek held out his hand for a shake. “Great doing business with you, as always.”

Once the money had been transferred over, the three of them left the shop and Enzo breathed in relief. The animal chorus seemed louder after that strange silence in Menagerie’s home. They made it to the ship in no time, and as they approached the ramp Enzo’s eyes wandered to the drathonian exhibit as if of their own accord. The couple was swimming in the pool of water just inside the treeline, and even though they seemed normal and happy, even though they were apparently being paid for their servitude, Enzo couldn’t help the way his fingers itched with the need to let them go. He absolutely believed there had to be some coercion involved in their employment.

“Don’t even think about it,” Zarek said, suddenly so close that Enzo could feel the heat from his body all along the left side of his back. “Menagerie may be afraid of me, but that fear won’t stop him from tearing you apart if you do what I think you’re doing. They’re fine. Get your ass back onto the ship, Zo.”

Enzo just barely stopped himself from leaning back until his back pressed against Zarek’s front. Despite his ire with the drathonian situation, he was immediately and wholly distracted by the feeling of that warmth behind him, too close even by Zarek’s ‘I don’t know what personal space means’ standards. Instead of making an idiot of himself he pulled away and began trekking up the ramp, pausing once more at the top to watch the drathonians in their exhibit.