"Officer Bogo? Why in God's name are you playing with yourself?"

Seven years ago, Bogo froze and glowered at the water buffalo standing in the doorway. He felt his glare slide from his face when he realised who it was.

"Commissioner?" He straightened his back and stammered a greeting which petered into a hiss of pain as he slapped a hoof over the spot on his torso where the elephant's tusk had skewered him. The shifting of the sheets caused the cards making up his game of solitaire to slip and gather in the middle of the bed.

"At ease, Bogo." Elba spoke with a gentle smile and stepped into the room.

Feeling self-conscious about the half-finished game of solitaire on his hospital bed, Bogo gathered up the cards and set them down on the bedside cabinet. In his haste to show the proper respect he saluted with the wrong hoof.

Commissioner Elba. The Big Cheese. Second only to the Swintons. Here in my room using double entendres.

Son of a bitch!

"I'm sorry, sir. I… I wasn't expecting a visit from you."

"Hm. Mammals usually dread a visit from me." Elba pointed his cane at one of the empty chairs. "May I?"

Bogo nodded. Now that the shock had subsided, he was relieved that he wasn't wearing one of those silly hospital gowns. And wondering about the purpose of the Commissioner's visit.

Then he remembered the last time someone from City Hall had visited him.

"McHorn told me you'll be discharged in two days. I trust that means your recovery is going well?"

Bogo snorted. "More or less. A couple of weeks of bandages and paid leave. Desk duty and counselling after that…"

"I'll take that as a yes."

The smile on Elba's face was so much like Swinton's that for a moment Bogo's indignance got the better of him. "Sir, I'm not signing an NDA."

"Yes, the mayor told me this morning." Elba rested his upper body weight on his cane. "I pointed out to her- and her father- that a non-disclosure agreement doesn't apply in this scenario."

Bogo smelled buffalo shit. "Give me one good reason why not."

"Because this isn't Cover-up Incorporated, this is Precinct One." His eyes flicked left and right at their surroundings. "Allegorically."

"Why you are getting involved in this?" Bogo couldn't help but ask.

"Because Swinton asked me to talk some sense into you and alas, my cane isn't ten foot long."

Elba didn't try to stop Bogo from getting out of bed. He stood up straight and glared at the commissioner, his anger helping him to tolerate the pain.

"I know what I saw, sir. That elephant was in Musth. I'm not going to enable their hypocrisy."

"So you're going to go through with it?"

"Fifty thousand dollars in damages. Dozens of mammals injured. A minor miracle no-one was killed." Bogo listed of the cost of the market rampage with his fingers. "It's happened before and it'll happen again. People need to know."

"And the world's Elephantidae population will thank you for it, I'm sure."

Bogo grimaced and gripped the windowsill. The leaves of an evergreen tree brushed the glass on the other side. It was strange, truly, how one gruesomely bad day could change one's perspective on things.

Bogo squinted briefly as he watched the branches bounce in the breeze. Had his perspective been changed? Or was his mind still struggling to process how unfair it all was, and was lashing out with irrational, intrusive thoughts that defied his pre-conceived notions? After all, the Tame Collars had been invented for a reason.

What was that reason again?

Elba spoke before Bogo could answer his own question. "I've been aware of the double standard for a long time. I hate it even more than you do. But what good will this do, really? Think about it, sergeant."

Bogo had been thinking about it every day since he'd woken up from surgery. He didn't want to hear a lecture about the greater good again.

"Do you really think mammals don't know about Musth? Four days before that incident, Mr. Trunkle was prescribed medication to handle it. He didn't take the condition seriously, so he didn't take the medicine. Then this happened." He pointed his cane at Bogo's torso. "Assaults by prey happen far more often than attacks by predators. It's statistical fact. Mammals overlook this fact is because that's what City Hall wants. They can't tolerate other mammals attempting to shatter that illusion. They won't."

The leaves brushed against the glass, leaving faint dirty streaks. The sound resembled heavy rain.

Bogo slowly sat back down on the bed, his eyes fixed blankly on the window. Swinton's sugary-sweet bullshit was one thing. Chief Trunchbull's pacifying excuses were another. At least Elba had the decency to acknowledge that they'd put him in a shitty situation.

"Have you ever even seen a predator attack?" Bogo asked.

Elba hadn't expected that question, judging by the long pause that had followed. "With my own eyes? Yes."

Bogo would have scoffed if it wasn't the Commissioner. "You've actually seen a savage predator?"

"Yes. I will never forget it."

Bogo looked away from the window. "Were they high?"

Elba scowled. "Do you want to hear the story or not, Sergeant?"

Bogo shut up. This ought to be good.

Elba laid his cane across his thighs and leaned forward in his chair.

"It was back when I was a rookie in Roarcadia, working my rear off to get that early promotion. This jaguar called Cozaro- Cordaro Garcia, had shot the officer that pulled him over for a busted taillight. We never knew for sure why he did it."

"My money's on Possession."

"Sergeant."

"Sorry."

"Anyway, while we were scouring Roarcadia looking for the bastard, we heard a bit more about him through our radios. He was the school basket case, socially withdrawn, thought females had it out for him, basically raised every red flag in the book. And no, the officer he shot was not a female. That was the first thing I asked."

Bogo had to chortle at the snide tone in the last two sentences.

"Three hours after the shooting, rising star that I was, I was the one who picked up his trail. Thinking he'd given us the slip, the idiot went to his favourite bar, got himself a few drinks, plus a few lines of pounce, and decided to escape the city through the rainforest south of the island."

Bogo felt the corner of his mouth raise in a sardonic half-smile. Of course, the predator was high. Nothing to do with those so-called savage instincts.

"I found him at the edge of the jungle, when it was pitch black and all I had was a flashlight and a single shot tranq gun. Being a fringe nutjob who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn door, he wasted every bullet before running deeper into that cursed jungle. Being a reckless fool, I followed him in, eventually tracking him down to the edge of the Eztli river. I caught him knee deep in the water, squaring his shoulders to cross, and told him to turn around and put his paws in the air. He turned around, but I knew from the look on his face that he had no intention of surrendering or being reasoned with. He'd snorted pounce, and a lot of it. He started to come back toward me, even though I had a dart gun aimed at his face. I took aim at the shoulder, ready to shoot as soon as it was safe to… and Garcia, poor bastard, got snatched by an Animerican Crocodile."

Bogo's jaw loosened. He didn't blink for a long time.

Elba's jaw had stiffened, pressing his mouth into a thin line before he continued. "He didn't even scream. It happened so fast. A great big bloody splash and great long bloody tail and by the time I got the muddy water out of my eyes, Gracia was… he was gone. Just nothing left of him, except for the footprints I used to track him down in the first place, leading all the way to the edge of the river and never leading back out. We didn't have body cameras back then, so when I came and told them what had happened, they didn't believe me. Until a river patrol spotted the crocodile with half of Garcia still in its mouth. They had a hell of a job getting the body back without harming the beast."

"It killed a mammal. Why didn't they just shoot it?" Bogo asked quietly.

"Why would they? It was just doing what it does."

For a good while after that, there was no sound in the room but the rustle of evergreen leaves against the windowpane.

"On that note, there is one more thing I've come to understand about predators and prey in the wild, that may of be some relevance to what we've both been through. If a predator loses a fight, it can always run off and find their dinner somewhere else. If prey loses a fight, they become the dinner. Put them both in front of a perceived threat, and you can guess which one will become the true savage."

There were no trees within ten meters of the window of Interim Chief Bogo's office, on the top floor of Precinct One. Instead he had a clear view of Marlene Street, the stretch of asphalt behind the building, and the line of small stores directly facing him.

Bogo used the coffee shop in the middle almost every day on his way to work, ever since it opened over a year ago. It was cheaper that Snarlbucks, and just as good. Bogo sipped his steaming espresso and watched mammals walk in and out the door. They did close-to-godliness hot chocolate too, or so Ben had said. Bogo had never tried one himself, but he'd bought one for the cheetah on opening day. They'd hung out occasionally in the years since the Red Queen's reign of terror, happier times during a period of gruelling emotional and physical recovery for the city. Its financial situation had not been as dire as anticipated, thanks to the billions Pottermass had willed to Mayor Elba. And Ben.

Officially, the entirety of Pottermass's wealth had been passed on to Elba, but Bogo was one of the select few who knew the truth, that there had been a second beneficiary. Ben had told him, in confidence, a week after he heard the news. Bogo had laughed before he realised the cheetah was serious.

If one good thing had come from Pottermass's actions, it was three; Swinton was dead, the city was on track to becoming a better place for predators, and Ben, the most innocent of Swinton's victims, was set for life.

He'd never thanked Commissioner Elba for that speech he made seven years ago. Trunchbull may have taught him everything he knew about being a good cop, but it was Elba who, whenever Bogo needed it most, had told him what he needed to hear.

Trunchbull… two years later he still couldn't mention his name without a grimace coming to his face. He didn't see how he could forgive him for everything he'd done.

Bogo turned away from the window and sat down at Trunchbu- his desk, and wondered how much longer it would take for the new chief to be appointed. Elba had appointed him for the interim partly out of necessity. The fallout of Swinton's downfall had included a lot of arrests, and a lot of investigations still ongoing to this day. Among them was the arrest of Chief Horace Trunchbull, and the implications that came with it. Bogo had been one of the few high-ranking officers who could be appointed without raising too many eyebrows.

Trunchbull had been vying for Bogo to replace him for years. In a way, he'd gotten what he wanted. Bogo might have been happier about it had that elephant not tried to do away with his feline friend. Numerous times.

Across the desk, a basic model smaller than the one Trunchbull had sat at, Judy Hopps and Nicholas Wilde shared the same large chair. They were wearing the same dishevelled clothes from the night before. After several brief minutes of explaining why Wilde's collar had been illegally removed, and the bizarre events that had required its removal, the bunny had fallen silent. She stared up at her superior, anxiously awaiting his response.

"Son of a bitch." He breathed, pushing back the stream from his coffee. An anonymous someone had given him the abridged version of events roughly two hours before their arrival, but getting the details was even worse.

"Please don't put Nick back in prison." Hopps had her paws clasped together. "Starlight promised to testify that she took off the collar, not him."

"Where is this Starlight now? And her husband?" Bogo was sure it was a codename.

"She's hiding out." Hopps said. "Look, we came here as soon as we gave those guys the slip…"

Bogo cut her off. "I believe you, Hopps. The recovery of eight bodies carrying weapons is verifying enough."

"But I still need to go back to jail, don't I?" Wilde had looked defeated the moment he followed Hopps into the office.

Bogo sighed, but it wasn't a sigh of resignation. "I'll call Elba. He may be in Florada right now, but he knows the judge who handles cases like this. We may be able to get you off with a fine, but it'll be a big one."

"And in the meantime?"

"I'll recommend that you be put into the Swift Justice Program. It'll get your case resolved quickly, seventy-two hours max. In the meantime, like you said, we'll move the two of you to a safehouse. Prison is too risky. There's no telling how far these mammals will go to get to you."

Wilde's ears perked up at that. "I'm not hearing any better suggestions, so perfect."

Bogo picked up his mug with both hooves. "And you're sure you don't know who sent them?"

Judy swallowed. "Positive, sir. Koslov is the only one who may still have a grudge against Nick."

"The only one who's still kicking, unless you count the millions of mammals you've managed to annoy in your three decades of life." Bogo added. He didn't bother pointing out that Koslov Polarnov had left the city with his family eighteen months ago, allowing Mr. Big to assume absolute control over Tundratown after months of gang warfare. In fact, the war had ended peacefully weeks before Koslov's departure; the whole debacle had started because Koslov blamed Mr. Big for the disappearance of his partner, Sedor Valentino. When Sedor emerged as the Red Knight, the Red Queen's partner in crime, and cleared Mr. Big's name, a ceasefire had ensued. That truce was rendered permanent by the announcement that Koslov and Sedor would be leaving Zootopia for good. Bogo was glad to see the back of them.

"I doubt it. The cost of hiring those mercenaries wouldn't be worth whatever I still owe him." Wilde said. It was a sign of how much this situation was affecting him that he didn't respond to Bogo's snarky remark in kind.

Bogo almost said something, but he didn't. Instead he pressed the intercom button on his phone. "Price, tell Captain McHorn and Lieutenant Higgins to get up here right away."

"Right away, sir." Price responded.

The three mammals waited in silence until the rhino and hippo stepped into the office. Wilde did a double take when he saw McHorn for the first time since his incarceration, and the scars Sedor had inflicted on him. Bogo explained the gist of the situation and told Higgins to place Wilde in a holding cell until he sorted things out with Elba. Hopps almost went with them.

"I'm not done with you yet, Hopps."

Hopps froze, one paw still on the leg of the chair she'd dropped down from. She watched Wilde leave with Higgins and slowly climbed back onto the seat. McHorn sat down in the chair beside her, and Bogo realised that he hadn't told him yet either.

Hopps's ears were flat against her head. "Sir, if it's about what Mossberg did to those mammals, I assure you it was entirely in self-defence-"

"We found Boris Antlerson."

Hopps went stiff, and so did McHorn.

"More accurately, the Asitkan authorities found him. He was living up there under a false identity."

"I was starting to think Swinton had done away with him. When did you find that out?" McHorn asked.

"Eight weeks ago. He's been in ZBI custody ever since."

"And you're telling us this now?"

"I was advised against announcing his arrest. It's under wraps until they wring everything they can from him." Bogo crossed his thick arms as he rested them on the desk. "I'm telling you now because slight, slight possibility that his arrest and the incident yesterday are connected. We don't know how many of Swinton's co-conspirators are out there, or how many of them still hold a grudge. Hopefully this attempt on your lives was a last-ditch attempt at settling old scores, and nothing more will happen." He paused. He wasn't looking forward to Hopps's reaction to what he was going to say next. "But unless the mammal who sent those goons is caught… it is likely that the pair of you will have to go into witness protection."