Once again, Daniel had been volunteered to help one of his siblings with a personal matter. This time, helping Deborah and Jack move into Grampa Phil's studio and move some of the old fox's former belongings into storage. The studio had just enough space to be home to a small family and they hoped it would stay small for the time. In the meantime, Daniel received a call on his cellphone.

"Sergeant Daniel Wilde, I presume?" the voice asked.

Click, he hung up. The caller was persistent though. He debated on whether to block the caller or not before resigning himself and answering the call.

"What?!" he answered.

"Sergeant, I'm with MedTek Incorporated, we were searching through a list of medical discharges with compatible conditions to our newest experimental technology and procedure and your name came up," the voice explained.

"My name? What suddenly you guys are testing experimental medical procedures on unfortunate sods who lost an eye in a combat zone?" he asked grumpily.

"Crude as it is, your assessment is factually correct. We're testing out an experimental cybernetic digital microcomputer-assisted prosthetic optical receiver," the person on the other end explained.

"English, I understood less than half of that," he retorted.

"A fully-functional prosthetic eye," the other end replied bluntly.

"Aren't you scared I'll run away with it?" he asked.

"Honestly, that's what we're hoping you'll do… All we ask is that you report in at least once a month for us to run a few tests to see how it's performing. The military is eager to press this technology to the battlefield but we want to see how it performs in a civilian setting first. What do you say?" the voice asked.

"Before I say for sure, I'd like to meet in person to discuss this further. Mind you, that doesn't mean I'm saying 'yes' that means I'm giving this a fair bit of consideration," he told them.

"Of course, what say Thursday next week at around noon in front of the Zootopia Central Park Fountain?" the voice offered.

"Sounds good to me, I'm not good at setting up rendezvous…" he sighed.

With that he hung up, the caller would be frustrated by his blunt rudeness but figured that he'd caught the fox at a bad time. Daniel in the meantime was lost thought about this new possibility. He continued to clean and move things around when he heard his youngest sibling call to him.

"Danny!" Nick called.

"Nick, what's up?" he asked.

"I have to make a run to the precinct, can you watch Stinky for a while?" the younger tod asked.

"Why, is he gonna' do something?" Danny asked with a dry smile.

"Very funny… He figured out how to get out of his stroller… Just make sure he doesn't play with anything he shouldn't…" Nick replied.

"He figured out how to get out of his stroller?" Danny asked incredulously.

"Clever little snot… I suppose we're getting our comeuppance for having a kit… There's no way a child of mine and Judy's wouldn't be a sly little stinker…" Nick chuckled.

"Alright Nick, I'll keep an eye on him but if Deb gets cranky at me for not doing anything around here, I'm telling her it's because you ran off…" the older fox relented.

"Deb doesn't have any room to talk… She's gonna' have her own pretty soon…" Nick replied as he left.

Danny picked up his nephew and looked him in the eye. Luke had his mother's amethyst eyes, really the only sign of his mother on him. His violet eyes aside, he still seemed like an ordinary little fox toddler. The child babbled in the usual incoherent chatter of a kit his age.

"What do you think, kiddo? Should Uncle Danny get a new eye?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.

Luke for his part continued his incoherent toddler babble. Daniel chuckled lightly at his nephew's attempts to speak. Contrary to how he suspected his sister's reaction would be, she wasn't upset by his lack of volunteer work.

"Holding Luke? And here I thought you were allergic to babies the way you've been avoiding him," she laughed.

"I'm not allergic to anything, except the military maybe… Anyway, Nick said he had to run back to the precinct, he asked me to watch the kid while he's gone," he replied.

"I overheard…" she stated.

"Eavesdropping is a bad habit and it's very rude," he commented with a fake huff.

"And a grown man throwing a temper tantrum in public isn't?" she replied with a teasing grin.

"Touche," he replied with the same grin.

"What was that phonecall about?" she asked.

"Some eggheads heard about my combat injury and want me to be the test subject for their weird science project…" he explained.

When she cocked an eyebrow at that explanation, he sighed, knowing that she was about to ask for a better explanation.

"Apparently they made a working prosthetic eye but they need a person who previously lost an eye to test it," he replied.

"Oh, I see… Are you going to?" she asked.

"I'm thinkin' about it… It'd be nice to have a left eye again but would it be worth the risks? And what if this is some elaborate hoax?" he answered, "I'm fine with making due with only my right but living with one functioning eye has given me a new perspective on life."

"If you want my opinion, I say ya' only live once, go for it. But for all the good my opinion does. It's your life on the line. For all I know, it could be a life-threatening procedure and I certainly wouldn't want you to end up dying because of my bad advice," she concluded.

"Think maybe I should talk to Lucy about this? Maybe that teacher of hers?" he asked.

"That's a great idea! It'll give you a better idea of what to expect and what the risks might be," she replied.

He called Alex and Lucielle to be sure he could get some time to talk to them. Honestly, he still felt uneasy about his younger brother's mink wife. He still remembered that unpleasant dinner night and now often wondered if his rude and unsavory treatment of them was something they resented him for. He couldn't blame them if that was the case but if recent interactions were any indication that was far from being the case. A short while after the volunteer work was finished for the day he headed for Alex's house to have that talk. Of course, showing up at around noon meant that he would be having lunch with them. Today, Alex prepared lunch while Daniel talked with Lucielle.

"I take it this isn't a social visit," Alex mused.

"Yeah. Need some medical advice and I remembered that Lucy is lookin' to become a doctor," he explained.

"Oui monsieur," she replied.

"I got called up by a medical research firm that works with the military once in a while. They said they want me to test an experimental prosthetic eye," he explained, "Said it's supposed to work an' everything…"

"I vould hope zhat you vould be avare zhat such technology already exists… But zhe cost is… not consumer friendly…" Lucielle commented.

"I had a feelin' they were yankin' my tail…" he groused.

"It is still possible zhey are not… I have heard of zhis MedTek and zheir medical research… Mostly it is mere rumors, but zhere vas a medical journal published not so long ago zhat talked about zhis experimental eye…" she explained.

"I can't tell if you're tryin' to talk me out of it or convince me to go through with it," he sighed.

"It is up to you. I am just advising you to be cautious," she replied.

"Cautious huh? That's a given… But I came to hear your what is it 'expert medical assessment'?" he stated.

"You are trusting me to have zhis? I can only tell you vhat I zhink of zhis… My speciality is not in optometry, I am studying to be a physician and general practitioner," she explained.

"So I'd need to consult an optometrist? Don't suppose you know any?" he asked.

"Oui monsieur, I can introduce you to her tomorrow if you please," she answered.

"Sounds good, time and place?" he asked.

"Let me see, I believe in military time it vould be… 1400 hours? At zhe park's entrance vill be fine. It is nearly summer so she vill be looking for zhings to do wizh her children," Lucielle explained.

"That's two in the afternoon, Lucielle. Are they gonna' be out of school?" he replied.

"No no… I vas trying to say four o'clock!" she exclaimed in embarrassment.

"It's ok, you don't need to be embarrassed. Not many people use the 24-hour clock that the military uses and just because I'm a former soldier doesn't mean I don't understand the 12-hour clock," he chuckled.

"Daniel, all I'm gonna' say on the matter is that if you do intend to give this serious consideration, I want to sit in on the meeting as your lawyer. I have to make sure my brother isn't getting yanked around or getting a raw deal," Alex stated from the kitchen.

Four o'clock the next day, Daniel waited at the gate to the park. A female honey badger and her two kids showed up and introduced herself. The kids seemed put off by his presence, probably thinking he was "mom's blind date" or something to that effect. She dismissed that thought by telling them he was an appointment. He walked around with this single mother and her children for the next hour and a half.

"Lucielle told me about her brother-in-law needing a consultation on an optometry matter," she stated after the initial greeting and mess that followed.

"Yeah, I got called by a medical research firm. They're lookin' to do somethin' about this," he replied, indicating the patch over where his left eye would be.

"What happened? If you don't mind telling," she asked.

"I'm former military, I lost it in operation and got a medical discharge because of it… I don't wanna' go into any more detail than that…" he explained.

"I'm sorry…" she replied.

"Don't be… Not your fault and not your problem…" he stated.

"So this medical research firm wants to do what now?" she asked.

"An optical implant to replace my left eye, they said it's experimental so I thought I'd talk to a doctor but my sister-in-law isn't exactly an eye expert…" he explained.

"Are you aware of the risks?" she asked.

"Honestly doc, that's why I'm talkin' to you…" he affirmed, "I need to know the risks before I get involved in this. A medical research firm in need of test subjects are prolly gonna' lie through their teeth about the risks involved and with my luck I'll end up missing both eyes and prolly a heartbeat…"

"Permanent blindness is the worst of it. You lost vision in your left eye due to it being surgically removed following physical trauma, so restoring your sight with a bionic eye implant should theoretically be easy," she explained.

"That's still quite a risk for a guy who's already lost one eye," he sighed.

"No one can make the decision for you, it's up to you to make the decision for yourself. If you're still indecisive about all this, talk to your family and friends. See what they have to say about this," she replied.

"Right thanks doc…" he stated.

"Horner…" she told him.

"Pardon?" he asked.

"My name, Ariel Horner," she told him, "And I'm not a doctor yet…"

"Oh alright, well I guess that's all I needed… Um, how much is this consultation gonna' run me?" he replied.

"You pulled strings so I could bring my kids to this theme park, so we'll call it even," she answered.

"Right… Well enjoy yourselves… I gotta' get back to work," he stated flatly.

He walked off, leaving the badger and her kids to enjoy the park. He went about his workday, thinking about who to talk to first about this new development. He headed to talk to his parents about this.

He found them both in his father's office. His mother was reading a book in that old armchair his father had in his office and his father was doing paperwork.

"Daniel, you seem to have a problem with knocking. You're incredibly lucky you didn't catch your mother and I in the middle of something," John laughed, hoping the implication would be enough to warn his oldest off of barging in from now on.

"Jonathan Wilde!" Lillian reprimanded.

"Relax, hon, I'm just teasing…" he defended.

"Sorry about not knocking, but this is important," Daniel replied.

"You're apologizing to me? Who are you and what have you done with my son?" John asked in faked surprise.

To that Lillian rolled her eyes and Daniel just sighed.

"Anyway, what's so important that you had to barge in?" John asked.

Daniel explained the entire situation, he was getting used to retelling the story already and he hated that.

"Are you going to meet with them? It seems like it might be a scam, if they ask for any money, don't…" the older fox explained.

"I agree with your father, it sounds like it might be too good to be true," the aged vixen replied.

"Well duh! Of course it's too good to be true! That's why Alex insisted I take him along as my lawyer," Daniel explained.

"Just remember to listen to him if he tells you not to go through with it and don't sign anything without making sure you read everything!" John advised.

"I know dad," Daniel agreed.

"We'll support you no matter what happens," his mother stated, placing a caring paw on her oldest's back.