"Asher, the school called again," Daniel said, faintly, as he opened the door to Asher's room.

Asher just sat on his bed, staring at him.

Daniel continued, "They told me you haven't been to school and now you're failing most of your classes. They said you might not be on track to graduate..."

Asher suddenly became upset, "Our parents just died! Did you know? What does school have anything to do with me right now?!"

Seeing his brother's obvious discomfort, Daniel moved towards Asher. He tried to sit beside him on the bed to comfort him, but Asher pushed him away without hesitation.

Daniel distanced himself on the bed to respect his brother's boundaries. Then, attempting to speak in his most calming voice, Daniel replied, "I know Ashy. I miss them too. I miss them so, so much! But it's been three weeks. You need to get out of your room. You used to be a straight-A student. Mom and Dad would want us to stay strong. They would want us to keep moving forward." Daniel tried to hold Asher's paws, but Asher bared his claws.

"Well, I'm not a straight-A student anymore, okay! Just get out of my room!" Asher began to sob. Of course, the now sixteen year old wolf had learned to control his emotions all throughout his life, but after his parents had passed, he had turned into an emotional mess. A mess that seemed to never recuperate no matter what attempts were made to fix it.

Daniel stood up, he wished he could just leave his brother be for now, as requested, but Asher had to get better. Daniel could not watch him like this anymore. He also dearly loved his parents, but he knew that life required money and a job to get that money. He could not just let Asher jeopardize his education and future because of this horrible, tragic event.

Daniel took the loss harshly, but now he had the responsibility to take care of Asher. He wanted the best for his little brother. He even took off from college early to take care of Asher and live back in their parents' old house with him. But he knew even that would have to come to an end soon.

"Okay, Asher." Daniel made his way to the door. "Just know, I love you." Daniel turned to him, but again, Asher was not facing the older canine.

Then, with his eyes to the floor, Daniel continued, "And... I just found out today. This is important, okay, so listen."

Asher's attention was to the wall.

Daniel tried to compose himself, but before he knew it, he burst into tears, "I'm sorry Asher! So, so sorry! We're being evicted. We got three days..."

The sun rose slowly to mark the end of what had been a tiring day. It was now Saturday morning. Daniel had quickly munched on a granola bar - as he found it hard to focus much on food with Asher missing, and took the subway downtown to the ZPD headquarters in Precinct 1, City Center. As he got on the train at 6 AM, there were only a few other mammals taking part in the trip. However, with the few mammals present, Daniel was able to sense a small amount of agitation among the passengers. Most noticeably, predators and prey were seemingly sitting as far apart from each other as possible. Originally, Daniel had tried to sit next to a young deer, as that particular location on the train seemed to be the most convenient. However, the deer must have had other plans, as she moved further away from Daniel instantly. Daniel thought it was strange.

Daniel's train got him to the station downtown at around 6:15 AM, and from there, he scurried towards the ZPD headquarters. Entering through the front doors, he encountered a familiar cheetah. As they made eye contact, the Cheetah's expression transformed from rather jubilant to reluctantly solemn.

The cheetah greeted Daniel, "Hello, Mr. Fullmoon, How may I help you." However, at this point, the cheetah had a good idea of what the wolf was here for.

Daniel replied, sounding urgent, "Hey Clawhauser, I need to talk to the chief about my brother."

Clawhauser took a sip from his soda cup beside him and monotonously said, "Sir, like I told you multiple times before, "Information is still being processed, and all able officers and ZPD personnel are currently -"

Daniel interrupted, "Please! This is urgent. I have a new development that I feel would be beneficial to the case."

Clawhauser's friendly face lit up, and suddenly his slender tail was swishing around in curiosity, "Huhhh! You mean you found a lead?"

Daniel saved the small talk. He felt he had no time for it. "May I please just talk to chief Bogo?"

Clawhauser finally caved in, "Fineee, If it's as important as you say it is."

Daniel replied, "It is."

Clawhauser then used the radio to notify the chief: "Hello, um, Chief Bogo, Mr. Fullmoon wants to speak with you."

Clawhauser turned to Daniel, "His office is the second door to the left. I don't know how thrilled he would be to see you though. He's normally pretty busy."

Daniel thanked him.

Arriving at the door of Chief Bogo's office, Daniel slowly turned the knob, revealing the cape buffalo sitting in his chair rubbing the bridge of his nose.

The chief did not glance up at Daniel. Instead, he found it more amusing to play with his dark glasses on the table.

The buffalo started, "Yes, Mr. Fullmoon?"

Daniel stood up straight. He knew that he would have to do a lot of convincing. He knew that Asher's fate might just depend on it.

"Sir, I know what happened to my brother."

"Really?" The chief set his glasses firmly on the table. "I remember your brother, the one from Taigasnow Stop, right? You know what happened to him?"

The chief already had a feeling that this conversation would lead to nothing fruitful. Too often he has witnessed that the trauma and shock of losing loved ones has caused many mammals to be desperate. To do anything, to try anything to get them back.

Daniel reaffirmed his statement, "Yes sir. Some random wolves took him. They said they were in some organization called the Canine Anti-Drug Agency. They told me they were taking him to a rehabilitation center for drugs. But the problem is, the organization's fake chief! It's fake!"

The chief once again rubbed the bridge of his nose. Faking interest, he replied, "Really?"

"Yes! And you have to stop them. You and your guys!" Daniel's pitch was increasing, "You have to stop them now! Please, they have my brother!"

The chief's serious demeanor was unscathed. He questioned the wolf once more, "And, you saw this yourself?"

"No sir. A zebra from my work saw it. I'm sure he can testify for me."

The chief displayed a slight smirk for what must have been less than half a second. "A zebra? From work?"

Daniel nodded at the chief.

The chief then declared, "Listen! I know you are worried about your brother. But I am too! The ZPD is working our tails off trying to crack this case."

Daniel became furious, "Lies! I'm done with the ZPD's stupid lies! Since he's gone missing four days ago there have been no updates! None! They just make up some crap about how theres 'no active personnel BLAH BLAH BLAH!' But it's all lies, and I'm sick of it!" The wolf looked the chief straight in the eyes.

Daniel continued, "I'm not here to argue. The fact of the matter is, some super secret organization pretending to be some canine drug agency has taken my brother, and you need to tell me who they are! That's your job! You're supposed to keep the people safe, right? So help me!"

The chief, in order to deescalate the situation, turned back to the original topic of Daniel's testimony, as he realized this bickering was getting them nowhere.

Calmly, and giving the obviously sham facade of being intrigued, the cape buffalo asked, "Why would you even believe your brother would need to go to some drug facility in the first place?"

Daniel became uneasy. He didn't know if what he was about to say would jeopardize his whole case. He uttered softly, "Because... according to the zebra... Asher, my brother, went, well... savage. Presumably, he attacked that said Zebra. He was said to be unreasonably out of his mind, and therefore, it provided a perfect opportunity for this random, on-the-spot, quote on quote 'drug agency' to abduct my little brother. But no! I will not let them get away with it."

Chief Bogo leaned back in his chair, slipping his glasses back on.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Fullmoon, but are you hearing yourself?! This isn't the stone age. Wolves don't go savage. Your zebra friend, whatever he told you, was wrong, or, he had hallucinations. Go savage? Go savage!?" Chief Bogo began to chuckle before his solemn appearance resurfaced, it seemed essentially instinctual for him. "Listen, Mr. Fullmoon, I am a busy mammal, and, as much as I wish to stay professional with you, I simply can not handle these fantastical, fictional stories of yours. I implore you to focus on your mental health. I know it is hard losing your brother. But you need to stay strong. I'm sure thats what he would have wanted. Please, just let us do our job here at the ZPD, get some rest, and I assure you your brother will turn up sooner or later."

Daniel would not accept defeat so easily. "I'm telling the truth! You are talking like he's dead, but he's not! You animals at the ZPD need to do something! It's like you all have already given up!"

Bogo did not meet Daniel's gaze, With a final reply, the chief demanded, "Mr. Fullmoon, please see yourself out of my office, or security will have to escort you out. You choose."

But it was not worth it. Daniel concluded that nothing he could say would change the stubborn buffalo's mind. Daniel made his way out of the facility, with anger apparent on every corner of his muzzle.

He had had one job: to convince the chief. And he could not even do that. He could not even do that if his brother's life depended on it. And unfortunately, in Daniel's mind, it did.

Just one more thing to beat myself up about. Great job, Daniel.

There was one thing Daniel did take away from the confrontation though, aside from the fact that the ZPD would not be of much help. He concluded that he could not go on this journey of finding Asher alone anymore. He needed somebody to count on, to vouch for him, to watch his back at every turn. He needed someone with brains. Someone who would be willing to help him find his beloved brother.

Luckily, he knew a mammal who might be up for the task, but it would be a long shot.

Daniel made his way back to the apartment, so he could freshen up for the day. Luckily, he had bought a year long train/subway pass, so he did not need to worry much about travel costs. Plus, Zootopia's rail system is extensive and highly accessible. The only time it would be inconvenient for Daniel would be when he has to be somewhere in a hurry during a time the train was not scheduled to arrive. In those cases, he would have to take a Zoober, but Zoobers were expensive, and he knew that these now frequent Zoober trips were eating up his wallet. He planned to be more conservative with his spending now that he didn't know when he'd work again. Furthermore, he didn't know if his office job would accept him back after all the ruckus he had caused. He eased himself with the thought that after all of this was over, he would be working again, but only time would tell.

For this instance back to his apartment, however, he took the rail.

Arriving at his apartment unit and being greeted by some torn walls and makeshift furniture, Daniel grabbed a change of clothes and made his way to the bathroom. His miniature apartment only had one bathroom, which included a small, one-mammal shower, a toilet, and a sink. But in honesty, he was just grateful that the bathroom was not destroyed, as it allowed him to take his first shower in a few days. Being a wolf blessed with a great sense of smell, he especially could pick up his own pungent scent, but he had put it aside over the last few days to focus on the panic of finding his brother. However, now, he had to look presentable. He had to look respectable if he were to meet up with an old friend of his.

Daniel let out a deep sigh as he stepped under the warm water the shower provided. He must have spent over ten minutes under the moist, refreshing flow of heat. After thoroughly washing himself and squeezing out the water from his fluffy, gray tail, he put on a light blue polo and some jeans. He combed his fur, just as his mother had taught him eons ago. He grabbed the brick that was his phone and scrolled to the contact of this old friend. His friend had sent him a message eight months ago, but Daniel had not responded. It wasn't that he was on bad terms with his friend, but Daniel simply had too much to focus on after the accident, and the Canine saw their friendship slowly slipping away. It also certainly didn't help that Daniel did not tell his friend about his parents' passing yet, but Daniel didn't want his friend to worry about it.

Taking in a deep breath, the wolf collected his courage and pressed the call button on his friends contact.

The phone was ringing for 15 seconds. Daniel thought he wouldn't pick up. And that would be concerning as the wolf did not know where he could find the opposing mammal. But, finally, as Daniel was about to lose all hope, the ringing stopped. The opposing mammal had picked up the phone.

There was a five second silence.

Then, Daniel started, "Hello, Slush. Can we talk?"

The mammal on the line replied, "I don't know, Daniel, can we? I haven't seen you in like a year. Tried to contact you, but guess what. No response. You know, I would have been excited to get a call from you, but you just left me all alone, in uni, so..."

There was no response.

Slush then said, "Look, sorry, that was rude, I heard the news. I heard about Asher. And, no, I haven't seen him."

Daniel finally spoke, "Yes, I called to talk to you about that, actually. Listen, I'm eternally sorry that I left you during college. I just had stuff going on. Look, I'm desperate, can we talk in person? Please? I know you must hate me now, but this is important. I'm in a mess and need your help. Anybody's help... Plus, I want to get back on good terms. You were my closest friend, and I'm sorry I left."

Slush hesitated until he spoke, "Okay, I trust you. But you better have a good reason for ghosting me. I missed you, you know?..." He paused before remembering that he had to tell Daniel a place to meet up. Slush continued, "My address is 318 Frosty Road. The Tundratown subway basically takes you there. There's actually a stop directly at Frosty Road."

Daniel replied, "Ah yes, I am familiar, I live in the Tundratown district as well, near Taigasnow Stop, close to Flurry Street. I guess it's fitting for you though, to live in the cold, being an arctic fox and all."

"Oh really, I thought you still lived with your parents downtown, old wolf," Slush chuckled, jokingly. "And yeah, I guess I'm an arctic fox through and through, living in the cold and all."

There was a pause, before Daniel feigned some laughter as well, "He he, yeah. Are you busy? Can I come over now?"

Slush replied, "Sure. You're lucky you caught me on a weekend, I'm off work."

Daniel voiced, "Alright, see you in around 15 minutes. Bye!"

With a final response, the arctic fox exclaimed, "Okay, see ya'!"

And with that, the call had ended.