One by One (Suicidal Book 2)

Enslavement

A tall antelope sat at the desk. On it was a lamp with a shade with strange Japanese characters etched on it. A Dell laptop sat open on his desk, the blue glow reaching his face. A gold nameplate on his desk read Director Fisadi. The desk itself was mahogany wood, with red velvet lining the inside of the desk drawers, where many important papers were concealed within their locked vaults. The drawers were open, and a picture sat inside of one of them. The picture was of a short lion and four young cubs around him, with an older lioness who the lion had wrapped his arm around. 

The antelope looked at the picture. He was tall, with light brown fur and a white underbelly. He wore a striped black Italian suit with brown loafers and a gray fedora with holes poked in for his long horns. His eyes were a piercing blue and seemed to reflect no emotion except detachment and the pupils seemed to delve into souls and minds. In other words, he was a total bastardy motherfucking bitch to everyone. 

A knock on the ornately carved door signaled someone's approach, and the antelope thought he knew exactly who. The lion had arrived. The antelope nodded slightly to the big grey rhino in the bodyguard men in black suit standing next to the door. The rhino nodded, and gripped the golden doorknob and growled, yanking open 

The lion from the picture stumbled in, and the rhino shuts the door behind him. The lion gulped and looked behind him, only to see the rhino snort and glare down at him, doing his usual job of intimidation perfectly to the nose. 

"What do you want, Rufus?" Fisadi asked coldly, his eyes glinting dangerously. 

"Y-you wanted to s-see me, s-sir," Rufus stuttered fearfully, as he wrung his paws fearfully and his eyes darted around the room as if he wanted to be anywhere but in the antelope's office. 

"Yes I did, Rufus," Fisadi said, standing up and walking toward the lion, noting with some satisfaction as he whimpered and cringed away from the tall, cold and emotionless antelope. "I wanted to talk to you about something." 

"W-what do you want to talk with m-me about, sir?" Rufus asked, his brown eyes . 

"The children, Rufus. You see, I have noticed you have not been paying your rent recently," said  Fisadi. "Why is that?" 

"W-well, you see, s-sir," Rufus began. "I n-needed that money for the o-orphans, sir."

"And, why?" Fisadi questioned, leaning forward so the lion could smell his minty fresh breath. "In hell's name would I want you to care for those pathetic brats?" 

Rufus remained silent. Then carefully (and ventured: "Because they make good workers, s-sir?" 

"Incorrect." Fisadi stated harshly, his eyes drilling holes deep in to the lion's oh so golden heart. "Brutus, you know what to do." 

The black suited rhino nodded, and grabbed Rufus's arms, yanking them unceremoniously behind the lion's back. "W-wait! What are you gonna do with the kids!?" 

Fisadi looked at him with what the lion could swear was almost a small smile.. "I think they'll fetch a lovely price as child slaves on the market, y'know." 

Rufus stared at him in horror before yelling and calling him many ugly names that his kids would never hear. The antelope tilted his head, an indication for the rhino to hurry up and take the swearing and screaming lion out his sight. 

Brutus pulled the lion out of the room, still screaming words like "fuck" and "bastard" at the top of his lungs, before the big grey rhino shut the door with an ominous bang. The antelope smiled and turned back to his desk. He had a meeting with his new client, the one with the strange name, probably from Eastern Europe like Ukraine or Russia, in two hours. And he couldn't miss that, because he knew how bad the Russians could get. He slowly grinned. Almost as bad as him. 

**In the Main Lobby of the Zootopia Police Department**

Detective Judy Hopps yawns, and stretches her arms. She gives a sigh and leans back in her small plastic chair. Next to her, her partner Detective Nick Wilde, cracks his knuckles and groans. 

"This is boring, Carrots," he said with a sigh, scratching his neck. 

"I know, Nick, but is it our fault that there's zero crime in the streets these days? It just means we're doing our job well." Judy reassured him. "Besides, would you like to go back to the days when Mr. Big ruled the city with an iron fist?" 

Nick gulped and shook his head. "Oh, God, no. But couldn't there be more than just some thieves, jaywalkers, vandals, drunks, speeders, and trespassers, y'know, minor crooks?" 

The doors to the lobby banged open. Two officers, Officer Fangmyer and Officer Delgado were dragging a body between them. Judy and Nick sit up straight as the two drop him in the middle of the floor. 

The room was bustling with activity as Judy and Nick ran over, dodging around other police officers and criminals, as well as visitors and concerned citizens, and apparently a news report for the Zootopia News Network. Officer Clawhouser started calling for Chief Bogo to come quickly, that there was an unknown body in the lobby. 

"What happened?" Nick asked, turning the body over. It's a average looking lion with a short height and brown eyes. He wore a loose red shirt and jeans, with blue sneakers on it. His clothes and mane were damp with water. Nick caught a small flash of black around the lion's ankle as the light's from above hit it. He showed it to his partner. She nodded. Judy leaned down and lifted the lion's jeans, showing a black manacle locked around his ankle, a small chain apparently cut. Like someone had weighted the body down and the lion had drowned, but somebody or something had cut it off, but not before the lion was dead. Like someone meant for the body to be found. 

"Found him in the river by Pride Rock," replied Fangmyer. "No ID on him." 

Judy nodded, as she stood up, now finished with examining the dead drowned body. "Get me the chief of police for Pride Rock on the line. I think he needs to know this."