S03E01 - Licence to Claw

"Licence to Claw" is the first episode of Season 3 of We Can Fix Pawbert and a Reacher crossover episode. It is set four months after the events of "Clean Slate".

Synopsis

Four months after the clemency hearing, Luther and Reacher's ZSI team raid a Canal District warehouse and seize stolen ZTA transit hardware and ZCF security equipment. ZSI reactivates Luther's "Rook" cover identity and inserts him into ZCF general population to investigate the conspiracy. Meanwhile, Pawbert notices suspicious activity during kitchen duty and refuses a bribe from a corrupt guard.

Plot

Four months after the clemency hearing, Luther leads a nighttime ZSI raid on an unmarked warehouse in the Canal District alongside Reacher's team. Luther calls the breach from his rooftop position, and the team executes with brutal precision—Neagley neutralizes the personnel door guard, Reacher intercepts a cougar on the loading dock, and Luther scales down from the roof to eliminate a wolverine on overwatch before the sniper can target Reacher. When reinforcements emerge from the back of the warehouse, the team engages: Reacher absorbs two rounds to his vest and shoulder before dropping the jaguar shooter, Luther fights a bighorn with a baton, and Neagley chokes out a knife-wielding hyena. Six criminals are neutralized without fatalities. The seizure reveals two categories of stolen equipment: ZTA transit hardware with scratched-off logos, and ZCF security bypass nodes capable of overriding door locks, cameras, and communication networks.

At the ZSI field office, Director Ramshorn briefs the team on the implications. The ZCF equipment was officially authorized through a maintenance contract signed by a facilities manager who retired two years ago, for a contractor that doesn't exist. Someone is building infrastructure for a coordinated attack on Zootopia Correctional Facility. Ramshorn reactivates Luther's "Rook" cover identity—the same persona he used during the Clawrence operation—and assigns him to infiltrate ZCF general population. The mission is investigation: identify the breach planners, determine the target, and report back. Ramshorn makes the parameters explicit—this is not a rescue mission. Luther acknowledges, knowing full well that Pawbert is inside those walls.

Luther undergoes processing at the DOC Staging Facility, surrendering his weapons, watch, and personal effects. A technician applies temporary tattoos in a different configuration than his previous Rook deployment—shoulder work moved to the opposite side, rib numbers inverted, claw marks down the spine instead of the blade design. This precaution exists because Pawbert memorized the original placement during their time in protective custody together; the wrong configuration could break both their covers. Luther dons prison-issue grays, and the van transports him to ZCF, where intake processing officially transforms Agent Luther into inmate Rook.

In A-Block, Cell 23, Rook meets his cellmate: a massive hyena named Krazek who attempts to establish dominance through intimidation. Rook ends the confrontation in under thirty seconds with a controlled strike to the solar plexus, pinning Krazek against the wall and forcing him into a stress position. Krazek spends the rest of the day kneeling against the concrete with his paws over his ears while Rook reads on the lower bunk. Word spreads quickly through the prison. During yard time, Rook walks the perimeter and observes a weasel courier near the loading dock passing something small to a babirusa guard—Gronckle, badge 117—who pockets it without checking. Luther catalogs the connection. Then he spots a familiar figure crossing toward the protective custody block: Pawbert, leaner and harder than he remembers, moving with purpose. Luther's paws curl into fists, but Rook betrays nothing. He turns away and continues his surveillance.

In the mess hall, a tiger gang leader approaches Rook's table and offers him a position—protection, enforcement, commissary privileges. Rook declines and stares the tiger down until he retreats. Later, Rook leaves his first coded report in the chapel dead drop: Gronckle confirmed as a courier connection, unknown outside supplier, target unclear. That night, lying in the dark cell, Luther thinks about Pawbert somewhere in the same facility, separated by blocks and protocols and the operational security that forbids him from making contact. The wanting is a physical ache, but the mission comes first.

The episode's final sequence shifts to Pawbert's perspective, revealing that the events overlap chronologically. Earlier that day, during kitchen duty, Pawbert observed the same weasel passing folded documents to a beaver vendor—not contraband, something organized, something coordinated. He reported the suspicious activity to Officer Kett, who promised to pass it up the chain. In the PC block corridor afterward, a jackal guard with dead eyes blocked Pawbert's path and offered him a bribe: something big is coming, and all Pawbert has to do is stop noticing things. Pawbert refused, knowing he was painting a target on his own back.

That night in Cell 3C-17, Pawbert opens his STAY notebook and writes his Day 122 entry. He records the threat, the paper exchange, the corrupt guard's badge number. He writes about Luther's three-week absence and the hollow ache of Sunday mornings in an empty visiting room. He writes that he believes the promise—always—because if he doesn't believe it, he has nothing. Both Luther and Pawbert end the episode lying in their cells, thinking of each other, unaware they are twenty feet apart in a facility that's being prepared for destruction.

Key Moments

• Four-month time jump establishes timeline at Day 122 since the clemency hearing
• Luther leads the Canal District warehouse raid alongside Reacher's ZSI team
• The seizure reveals stolen ZTA transit hardware and ZCF security bypass equipment
• Director Ramshorn reactivates Luther's "Rook" undercover identity for prison infiltration
• Luther receives new temporary tattoos in a different configuration to avoid recognition
• Luther dominates his cellmate Krazek within thirty seconds of arrival
• Luther spots Pawbert across the yard but maintains perfect cover discipline
• Reacher advises Luther on undercover patience before the mission
• A tiger gang leader attempts to recruit Rook; Luther refuses
• Luther leaves his first coded dead drop report in the chapel
• Pawbert observes suspicious document exchange between weasel courier and beaver vendor
• Pawbert reports the suspicious activity to Officer Kett
• A corrupt jackal guard threatens Pawbert and offers a bribe to stop noticing things
• Pawbert refuses the bribe and catalogues the threat
• Pawbert writes Day 122 entry in his STAY notebook
• Both Luther and Pawbert end the episode thinking of each other, unaware of their proximity

Key Lines

Characters Introduced

Locations

• Canal District warehouse -- Raid target; ZTA and ZCF equipment seized
• ZSI Field Office -- Ramshorn briefs Luther on the conspiracy
• DOC Staging Facility -- Luther processes into the Rook identity
• Zootopia Correctional Facility -- A-Block (Luther/Rook), yard, chapel, kitchen, PC block, Cell 3C-17

Items

Notes

• This episode begins the three-POV parallel structure of the Convergence act (E01-E03), with Luther's perspective as the primary focus and Pawbert's in the tag.
• Luther changes his tattoo configuration because Pawbert memorized the original placement during the Clawrence operation.
• Both Luther and Pawbert observe the same weasel courier from different locations without knowing the other is watching.
• Officer Gronckle's badge number 117 is a nod to Master Chief (Spartan-117) from the Halo video game franchise. His name references the Gronckle dragon species from How to Train Your Dragon.
• The jackal guard's badge number 1984 references George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984—appropriate for a guard suppressing information.
• The ZCF bypass equipment stamp "ZCF-MAINT-8197" references Jack Reacher's bank PIN from Bad Luck and Trouble
• Luther's cell assignment to A-Block, Cell 23 (Cell Block 23) is a nod to the Walt Disney Company, which was founded in 1923.
• The title is a pun on Licence to Kill (James Bond). All Season 3 episode titles reference novels from the James Bond, Jack Reacher, or Jack Ryan series.
• Luther's prison reading, Jack Rynn by Tom Clawsey, is a pun on Jack Ryan by Tom Clancy. All books characters read in Season 3 are Zootopia-adapted versions of real thriller novels.