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"Alright... Everyone... Shut it!" Chief Bogo called out. The squad room, which moments before had been a raucous, pulsing concert of pounding fists, growls, yips, trumpets and catcalls went instantly quiet. The cape buffalo scanned the room drawing each police officer's eyes to his. He noted one or two sets that were slightly bloodshot and mentally noted to check and make sure it wasn't due to excessive consumption of alcohol or lack of sleep. Every mammal present was expected to be mentally alert and ready for duty... no exceptions. He glanced over at Hopps and Wilde. Well... maybe two exceptions. The bunny and fox had been pulling double shifts for the last five days trying to track down their elusive vigilante and it was beginning to show. He made a second mental note to give them the next two days off, if possible.

The chief continued. "During the last 72 hours we've had approximately forty-one sightings of the character known to us all as El Kabong! Of these at least half are only rumors or false alarms. Another thirteen are possible, but uncertain because of a lack of either physical evidence or corroborative witnesses. Eight are definitely confirmed, thanks in no small part to the number of 'suspected' criminals littering the area following his activities."

This brought up a wave of soft chuckles from the assembled officers. Bogo turned as Nick pushed a large promethean board to the front of the briefing room while his partner activated it through her laptop computer. "Officers Wilde and Hopps will now continue with the briefing."

The fox pushed a step stool up next to the board then stood at the top so everyone could see him. Judy smiled at seeing him dressed in blue slacks, a light blue shirt, red tie and a black leather flight jacket. Fortunately, Bogo hadn't yet seen the small Mystic Springs Oasis club pin he wore on the collar of his jacket.

A map of the city sprang up on the board with markers for rumored, possible and confirmed sightings. "So far we've figured out that our 'friend' apparently works the streets between the hours of nine p.m. and four a.m., with the only exception being when he intervened in an attempted rape in Happytown two weeks ago. The majority of his activities appear to be random acts where he possibly came upon a crime in progress. Therefore we suspect he often patrols different areas of the city each night. Three of his appearances have resulted in the shutting down a specific criminal activity, such as the midnight burglary at the Diamond Emporium or the whiskey hijacking witnessed by everyone's favorite street hustler, Duke Weaselton."

So many mammals present were familiar enough with 'Duke' that it elicited a collective laugh from the crowd. "How's the Duke doing?" asked Fangmeyer.

"Alas, I'm afraid he's in the process of becoming a reformed criminal, which means he'll undoubtedly be running for mayor next term," Nick replied. This kicked off another round of laughter.

"Shut it, Wilde," the chief growled. "Stick to the briefing." The laughter quickly faded.

The fox coughed into his hand, suppressing his smile then continued. "Physically, El Kabong appears to be a white-furred equine with a black mane and tail, and a well-developed physique. At this time we cannot rule out the possibility he uses some kind of fur dye to conceal his true coloration. Unfortunately, his recent popularity has compounded the problem of identifying him, as many of our city's equine persuasion have taken to dying their fur and hair to match his."

"You mean like the Judy Hopps fan club from a couple of years ago?" offered McHorne.

"I thought we all agreed never to speak of that again," the bunny muttered.

The promethean board shifted to a number of different artist's renderings of El Kabong. "He always appears in the same costume consisting of a black, loose sleeved shirt, silver bolo tie, black slacks, black mask that conceals his head above the muzzle, a black cape and a black bolero hat," Nick said.

"What the heck is a bolero hat?" asked Wolfard.

"Think of it like a flat topped sombrero," Judy offered. "He also wears a dark brown leather utility belt with a holster for his revolver."

"What kind of revolver, and does he carry any other weapons?" Fangmeyer asked.

"It's a .36 caliber 1861 Navy Colt," Nick replied, "and so far he's been reported to have a foil sabre, a very long whip and of course his... uh... kabonger?"

"His what?" asked Bogo.

"The acoustic guitar he uses to knock out the suspects," the fox replied. "I didn't know what else to call it,"

"You might have tried calling it a guitar," the chief offered.

"I could have, but it just didn't resonate with me." For a moment, it looked like Bogo wanted to strangle the officer.

Nick quickly returned to the briefing. "He apparently replaced the first one he used on the train. As we haven't found any more destroyed guitars at the crime scenes he's either collecting the pieces or has found himself a more durable instrument."

"We also suspect he's familiar with the use of a number of other weapons and will use whatever is at hand," Judy added. "For example, with the hijackers he relieved one of their members of some grenades and throwing stars, turning them against his foes. He probably also has access to about fifteen ZPD tranquilizer darts," Judy added.

"How?" asked McHorne.

"When he saved Officer Wilde and Hopps several weeks ago, he helped himself to their darts, though he did leave them their weapons," Bogo replied. "That last piece of information is, by the way, confidential and not to be discussed outside of this room..."

"It shouldn't be anything we need to worry about," offered Wolfard. "Without the dart gun those tranq rounds are pretty much useless."

"Careful about making assumptions," warned Judy. "He's proven himself to be fairly adaptable. I wouldn't be surprised if he found a way to cobble together his own delivery system."

"So how do we go about catching this guy?" Fangmeyer asked.

"Each of the twelve precincts in the ZPD are dedicating a single, three mammal unit as a primary response team for each night shift. They will be operating on one of the tactical frequencies for quicker response and mutual support. Every time there is a sighting at least two or three units will, theoretically, be in positions to respond within a three minute window. Hopefully, if we put enough pressure on him, El Kabong will choose to either lay low or quit entirely," Bogo explained.

"How do we handle our normal patrol duties?" Grizzoli asked.

"We've obtained funding from the police commission to call up two dozen of our reserve officers to full time status for at least the next two weeks. With overtime and help from the county sheriff, we should easily be able to fill any gaps."

"The sheriff's department?" some mammal asked.

A figure at the back of the room which no one had previously noticed stood and began speaking. "About half a dozen sheriff deputies will do a ride along with designated members of the ZPD," said the Deputy Sergeant. All eye's turned as Bogo introduced her.

"Officers... This is Deputy Sergeant Louise Butler of the Zootopia County Sheriff's Department. She will be working alongside myself, Hopps and Wilde to coordinate the ZCSD's end of our hunt for El Kabong."

"I assume," Nick interjected, "no one here needs reminding that when we confront this vigilante, lethal force is NOT authorized. All we want to do is find out who he is and get him off the streets. If we know who he is, then we can probably get him to quit. Vigilante's like their anonymity."

Fangmeyer raised a paw. "Forgive me for asking, chief, but we seem to be putting forth a lot of resources to catch someone who, so far, hasn't committed a serious crime or done anything but help the ZPD."

For a moment, it looked like Bogo was about to explode. Instead he glanced over at Butler, then took a deep breath and exhaled. "Your concern is understandable," he started, much to the surprise of those assembled. "Twenty some odd years ago we had a similar situation involving a trio of wolves who called themselves the Three Lobos. The chief back then decided to let them run amok all over the city catching bad guys and helping the citizenry. It was all well and good until four months later when one of them was shot and killed by a burglary suspect. The other two went full vigilante and before we could bring them in there were eighteen dead mammals. Two were innocent civilians and one was a ZPD officer... my partner." The chief looked out over his officers, a glimmer of regret in his eyes. His voice then increased in strength. "Any questions?"

The room went dead silent.

"All right then. Today's duty assignments are posted on the bulletin board at the back of the room. Check it before you hit the streets. Dismissed!" The buffalo turned and left the room, his shoulders slightly hunched. Judy was tempted to go after him, but stopped when she saw Deputy Butler entering the chief's office.

"Gotta hand it to old Buffalo Butt," Nick said softly. "He knows when to hold them and when to fold them."

"That's why he's chief and you aren't," his partner replied.

The fox nodded in agreement. "It's kind of sad he never remarried, though it does explain why he's so hard on the two of us."