Honey's bunker turned out to be an old wartime Quonset hut buried in the roots of a massive old tree, its entrance obscured with vines. Honey looked around him as they approached, scanning the jungle with undisguised suspicion.

"I don't think they're onto me just yet," he said in a dramatic whisper, "now go go go." He hurried Nick in through the dented metal door and Nick very nearly tumbled down a brief flight of stairs before regaining a perilous sort of balance, Hopps held precariously in his arms.

The bunker was lit by candles and a single electric lantern, the crank powered kind. Its light was flickering, the crank abandoned momentarily by a very surprised looking fennec. Finnick, Nick noted with a surreal twinge of amusement, was wearing a tinfoil hat.

"Nick…?" Finnick asked, eyes widening as he stood slowly up, leaving the lantern to go dark behind him. Nick smiled wearily.

"Long time no see Finn…" He said, and let himself sink to the floor, limbs trembling with exertion. Finnick approached, almost tentatively, eyes locked on Hopps, who was stirring weakly, occupying a blurry line between sleep and consciousness.

"So she's…" Nick smiled humorlessly.

"You didn't actually think I'd killed her and dragged her corpse across Tundra Town, right?" Finnick shook his head, looking perturbed.

"No, course not…that would've meant that ZNN was actually right about something…" He trailed off momentarily, "but Nick, she's a ZPD officer, is it really a good idea to be bringing her in here?" Honey shut the door to the bunker and barred it with a satisfyingly heavy clunk.

"No choice," he said sadly, "we had to move quick." Nick set Hopps gently aside and looked his friend over. Finnick had lost his jail jumpsuit since Nick had last seen him, and was now wearing an ill fitting sweater that hung over him like a dress.

"How'd you guys find each other?" Nick asked. Honey tapped a little plastic survival radio in apparent answer.

"I can get police frequencies on this bad boy," he said proudly, "all I had to do was listen to the chase and I got a pretty good idea of where Finnick was heading after the ZPD lost you. And I was right!" Finnick went back to winding the lantern.

"And where was he?" Nick asked. Finnick glowered at Honey.

"Not another word kitty." He warned, but Honey ignored him.

"On the doorstep of his grandmother's apartment, I intercepted him and whisked him away here, where he's much safer. Even if I don't have any of those delicious butterscotch cookies that she makes…" Finnick slumped his head, face burning beneath his fur. Nick smiled. He'd only ever met Finnick's grandmother once and (Finnick was very close mouthed about his family, preferring to maintain a stern, aggressive persona) had a pet theory that Finnick had been raised by her. And just like Honey had said, she made very good butterscotch cookies.

"And what about you?" Finnick asked, giving Honey a defeated but still malevolent glare before glancing over to Nick, "how'd you get out of Tundra Town, where'd Honey find you?" Nick remembered the cold look of dislike in Koslov's eyes and shivered.

"Fell into a garbage truck," Nick said, "after being tossed from a snowmobile…it was kinda wild. I crawled out and was trying to unlock the cuffs when along comes Honey, outta nowhere." Honey beamed, a leaf falling from his fur. He was arraying the rolls of tin foil on a shelf. Now that Nick looked around the bunker he could see that it was lined with shelves, and quite amply stocked with canned and preserved foods of all kinds. There were even some military issue MREs here and there, labels faded with age. It had been a long time since Zootopia had ever fielded any sort of active military, Nick found himself wondering where Honey had dug those up.

"I," Honey said, "was looking for tin foil," he wagged a roll of it at Finnick in mock reproach, "and you said nothing good would ever come of it…" Finnick stewed, Nick smiled.

"Speaking of which, looks like Honey's converted you." Finnick scowled, laying his ears back, rustling the tinfoil cap perched atop his head.

"His condition for letting me into the bunker." The fennec growled. Honey made a sympathetic cooing noise.

"I wasn't being serious," he said, "but you put the hat on so fast I…and you look so cute in it." Finnick let his forehead fall against the lantern with an audibly frustrated thump. Nick chuckled before looking down at the cuffs linking him and Hopps.

It felt good to catch up with his friends, now that they were somewhat safe…but he couldn't relax with the cuff still locked around his wrist. He glanced over to Honey.

"Do you have anything that could break these?" He asked, lifting his paw, bringing Hopps' up with it. The bunny said something faint and indeterminable, eyes fluttering open.

"…not breaking 'em," she said, voice clearer now, drug induced slur almost gone, "cant…illegal." Honey crouched down, watching Hopps struggle back towards consciousness with a simultaneously fascinated and ecstatic look on his face.

"Oh, she looks so adorable when she's sleepy!" He cried and Hopps blinked blearily over at him, making a vague swiping motion with her free paw.

"You cant call a bunny that…" She said sternly and then slumped back to the floor, still waking up. But one thing was for certain, the tranquilizer was wearing off, and fast.

"Honey, get me a file or a hammer or…" Nick trailed off, Honey had produced a pair of bolt cutters, "those will work." Honey fitted the blades around one of the links of the chain connecting the cuffs and tried to cut it. But though the blade scored the metal and crimped the link, it could not cut all the way through. Nick watched Honey's struggles in dismay, holding the chain taut. After a few moments he realized that Hopps was watching this too, looking slightly amused.

"It's a special alloy," she said, "and tampering with it is illegal." She said this last part gravely. Finnick scoffed, leaving the lantern behind once more.

"Yeah? Well, guess what bunny, we aren't exactly in a position to care." He glared at Hopps. Hopps glared right back.

"You head butted Officer Hart in the stomach," she said, "that wasn't called for." Finnick stared, then threw his paws up in disbelief and wheeled around, stalking angrily away.

"Bunnies!" He said to nobody in particular. Nick watched Hopps slowly return to lucidity, her voice clearing, her movements slowly becoming smoother and more focused. Honey managed to make the jagged scrape in the cuffs a little deeper but otherwise didn't make any more progress. He set the bolt cutters aside with a palpable air of sadness.

"We'll get you out of those things," he assured Nick, "one way or another…"

Hopps managed to sit up and winced, putting a paw to her forehead.

"Ugh…" She said, then looked around, "where are we?" There was silence for a long moment.

"Somewhere safe," Nick said at last, he wasn't sure how much Hopps had seen of the route they'd taken to the bunker, but given how groggy she still was it didn't seem likely she knew too much…

"How'd we get away from Koslov?" She asked. Nick recounted the story and Hopps listened quietly before staring miserably down at the ground.

"They think I'm dead…" She said and tried to stand up before toppling unsteadily into Nick. He eased her back to the ground, "we have to clear this up. Right now." Nick, Finnick and Honey shook their heads in unison.

"You think we're going back out there?" Finnick asked, "when ZNN's all but calling for the ZPD to kill us on sight?" Hopps winced.

"What other option is there?" She asked pointedly, "I'm cuffed to your friend for better or worse, we cant sit in this…bunker?" Honey nodded, "bunker forever."

"Oh no, we can. You on the other hand…" Hopps blinked. Nick gave his friend a questioning look.

"What are you saying Finn?" Nick asked.

"When we get these cuffs broken then we ought to blindfold the bunny and lead her someplace far away. That way the world will know that she's alive and that the hacks at ZNN were talking out their tails, and we'll be rid of her." Hopps folded her arms, shaking her head slowly.

"I'm not letting justice go undone," she said, "I've got my perp," she lifted her cuffed arm, bringing Nick's with it, "and I'm taking him back in." The look she gave Finnick made it clear that he wasn't exempt from this justice either. Honey glanced back and forth uneasily at the argument unfolding.

"You're not gonna arrest me?" He asked, slightly confused.

"Who are you?" She asked. Honey blinked.

"You mean…? You don't know me? Honey, the wizard that kept Wild Times' lights on?" Hopps shook her head slowly.

"We…oh goodness, that's a major lapse. We had no idea that there was a third mammal running that…park." Nick chuckled. Honey looked disappointed.

"Oh," he said faintly, "that's not very fun…" Nick shook his head slightly at Hopps.

"You aren't arresting anyone," he said firmly, "because nobody here has done anything wrong. Well…seriously wrong."

"Yes," Honey agreed, "there are valid moral arguments to be made in favor of everything that we've done." Hopps stood shakily up, nearly fell over, but managed to keep her balance. Nick remained seated on the ground.

"You unlocked innumerable Tame Collars without city approval, stole city electricity, committed fraud, tax evasion, assaulted officers, kidnapped officers, colluded with organized crime, resisted arrest, damaged police property…the list goes on!" Her voice was shrill and outraged. Nick folded his arms, not so incidentally dragging Hopps back down to the ground.

"You forgot murder," he said lightly, "unless you've finally come around…" Hopps scowled.

"Koslov himself said that it wasn't you," she said, avoiding Nick's eyes, "so…I guess, yeah, it wasn't you that shot up Wild Times. But that doesn't mean that all of your other transgressions are waived. All of you are still looking at life in prison, easily."

"Progress," Nick said, "finally. But now you must admit that I was framed. Right?" Hopps sighed, unenthused, somewhat embarrassed to be having this conversation.

"You definitely were," Honey agreed, "but…by who?" That concerned Nick. When even Honey, master conspiracy theorist that he was, couldn't think up a probable culprit (Nick had been expecting something about the world banking cartels or maybe even aliens) then the plot was truly opaque.

"My first thought was Koslov," Finnick said, "but that couldn't be the case…he's sunk too much money and time into Wild Times to blow it now."

"Plus," Nick added, "he was there with Morris. He'd never put his cub in danger like that."

"Maybe," Honey interjected, "whoever it was was trying to turn Koslov and us against each other." That seemed plausible, but…

"Who could that be though? Koslov doesn't have any rivals…at least none that we know about." Finnick was right, Koslov had so thoroughly monopolized organized crime in Zootopia that anyone who dared oppose him had to do so from the deepest of shadows.

"Oh," Honey said excitedly, "it's the media! A ZNN operative framed Nick so that they could create the news! Fear sells!" Hopps shook her head.

"ZNN is publicly funded," she protested, "there's no way they'd do something so awful." Nick, Finnick and Honey all gave her a mutual look of incredulous disbelief.

"You've never listened to ZNN before, have you." Finnick said flatly. It wasn't even a question. Hopps bristled.

"I listen to the traffic reports," she said defensively, "I don't really follow the news…I get enough of that at work." Finnick gave Nick a look. Honey turned on the radio and got a rush of police chatter before switching frequencies.

"…very exciting development here Alex, these leaked ZPD documents seem to indicate that Wilde was directly responsible for removing the collars of nearly one hundred predators, in some sort of underground club designed to promote predator supremacy. Mayor Holt has decried these leaks, but honestly Alex, the more information that's available to the public the better. That way we're better equipped to catch this fugitive before he kills again."

"Promote predator supremacy…?" Nick echoed, voice airy with disbelief. Even with everything that he'd heard over the course of the day that took the cake for bizarre. Finnick was simmering.

"You haven't heard the half of it," the fennec scowled, "someone leaked our arrest records and the case files for the Wild Times bust. And that includes the speculation that you were responsible for the other shootings." Other shootings? Nick had heard some of that in the periphery of his arrest, but it hadn't come up again when Hopps had been interrogating him. She had been more interesting in finding out about Koslov's involvement in Wild Times.

"So…they think I've killed other mammals, other than Lieutenant fluffy bunny here?" Hopps elbowed him but Nick ignored her. Finnick shrugged.

"I guess…?" Hopps shook her head.

"The gun you were found with is connected to three other shootings. They injured a half dozen people but nobody was killed, fortunately. There was some speculation that whoever was behind it was targeting prey animals…" She stopped, then glanced to the radio, where Alex the anchor was still carrying on. "But…this cant be representative of ZNN, they're just scared. It'll all calm down once they realize I'm actually alive."

"And we're in prison." Finnick finished darkly. "Or dead." Hopps winced.

"You've committed crimes," she said, "of course that scares people." Nick cocked his head.

"That's not it," he said, "there are plenty of prey criminals who lead the police on chases, but have any of them gotten this much attention?" Hopps' eyes narrowed, almost imperceptibly.

"You cant just pull the predator card," she said firmly, "it's not that." Nick felt a hot flash of anger ignite within him.

"Really?" He asked, "do you really believe that Hopps?" Hopps flinched slightly away as he spoke and Nick realized that he'd been curling his lip ever so slightly, revealing his teeth.

"Can you not…" Hopps began but Nick cut her off.

"Like that, right there. Do you know how it feels to have prey flinch away from you whenever you smile or try to talk to them, like you're some sort of threat?" Hopps was silent, eyes firmly fixed on the floor.

"I'm sorry that you feel that way but…" Finnick cut her off once more.

"He aint alone bunny," his voice was rough with anger, "and it's more than some feeling. It's the truth." Hopps' gaze flickered from Nick to Finnick to Honey. The bunny, Nick realized, was lost for words.

"I know what it feels like," she said at last, Finnick scoffed but Hopps kept speaking, "to be underestimated, ignored by the world. I was the first rabbit to make Lieutenant in ZPD history…and so far I'm the only one. It's not easy to be so much smaller than your co-workers, so easy to ignore." She looked incredibly vulnerable for a moment, then the confident, bluff exterior snapped shut once more. Finnick didn't look convinced.

"We're about the same size," he said, "tell me to my face that if I worked just as hard as you then I could make it into the ZPD as anything more than a traffic cop or some desk jockey."

"Well, you couldn't," Hopps said, "but not because you're a predator," she added quickly, "because of the collar. It wouldn't be convenient for a cop to be getting shocked every time he got angry or scared on the job." She chuckled nervously, glancing around at the three predators.

"You realize that I'm being discriminated against because of what I was born as, right?" Finnick asked, voice crackly with anger, his paws clenched into fists, "because of this thing," he tugged at the collar, "because I so happen to have been born with sharp teeth instead of flat."

"Calm down," Honey said, voice filled with concern, "you're gonna get buzzed…" Finnick shrugged off his concerns.

"A whole facet of life that maybe I might have explored in some other life, taken forever because of something that I cant even control. How is that fair? How?!" A moment later the collar beeped, Finnick yelped and fell back into Honey's arms, tears of pain and sorrowful rage shining in his eyes. Hopps was stunned, nose twitching, visibly unsure of what to say.

"It's not perfect," Hopps said uncertainly, "but…"

"It's here to keep us all safe," Nick finished with a sigh, "I know. I've heard it all before. To keep our savage natures suppressed, or so your people say."

"It has to be here for a reason," Hopps said, "otherwise, what possible purpose could it serve?" Nick straightened his whiskers.

"I ran Wild Times for nearly a year," he said, alongside Finnick and Honey. And in that time I used that city key you confiscated to unlock hundreds and hundreds of collars. I don't know how many, I never kept track, but three or four thousand wouldn't be too much of an exaggeration. Do you know how many went savage while their collars were off?" Hopps turned her gaze to the ground. Nick formed a circle with two fingers.

"Zero," he continued, "and I know you could say, 'well Nick, it's the best amusement park in Zootopia, how could they possibly get angry?' But it happens, people lose at games, break up with girlfriends, have their cubs or kits start throwing temper tantrums…" He smiled sadly, the old memories coming back in a bittersweet flood, "you have to deal with some real jerks sometimes. But none of them ever went savage. Not a single one."

"That doesn't prove anything," Hopps said stiffly, alarmed by Nick's admission, "how…how do I even know you're telling the truth?" She sounded slightly panicked, deeply held beliefs that she had never questioned were being assaulted from all sides, and she had no idea how to defend them.

"Why would I lie?" Nick asked. Hopps opened her mouth but then shut it again. "Because I'm a fox? Was that what you were gonna say?" Hopps shook her head, glaring.

"No! Is that all you think of me as? Some bigot? And besides, you predators aren't exactly perfect in that regard either." Nick and Finnick shared an uncomfortable look.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nick asked after a moment.

"What Koslov said," Hopps said, "about foxes. He said you were untrustworthy, that you weren't a real predator." Finnick bristled.

"He said that?!" Nick nodded. "Next time I see him," Finnick vowed gravely, "I'm gonna do something awful to him, just you watch." Nick had nothing to say to that. He himself hoped never to see Koslov again.

"That's terrible…" Honey said, "Nick, I'm sorry." Nick however felt low and guilty, replaying something he'd said the previous day.

"Maybe if you predators weren't fighting each other then you wouldn't be looked down on so much." Hopps said, and instantly tempers flared back up.

"Why do you think we fight each other?" Nick asked hotly, hooking a finger under his collar and yanking on it, "because of these. Because of this whole messed up system!" Hopps didn't seem to be following.

"But why?" She asked, "you're all predators aren't you?" Finnick gave Nick a look.

"Don't go there." He warned, but Nick was unhappy enough to ignore him.

"There are some species of mammal that are technically predators," Finnick sighed and pinched the bridge of his muzzle, shaking his head slightly at Nick's words, "but they're not…really. Like otters." Hopps blinked.

"Like Mayor Holt?" She asked warily. Nick nodded.

"Yes. Like Mayor Holt. Nobody flinches when he smiles, nobody scoots their children away when he steps close…because he doesn't have big scary teeth or claws, he's small, people don't get scared when they think of otters…" He trailed off and shook his head.

"I said it before," Finnick growled, " and I'll say it now. Don't say stuff like that. It's not helpful." Nick sighed.

"I know it's a messed up opinion, I know it's not right, but it's just…unfair. How come Holt gets to be nonthreatening and…and the first predator Mayor of Zootopia? Why not any of us?" He slumped his shoulders, demoralized and dispirited. The silence lasted for a long time.

"So," Honey said, artificially cheerful, "who wants some lunch?"

Nobody seemed to be especially hungry.