S05E11 - Climate Control

"Climate Control" is the eleventh episode of Season 5 of We Can Fix Pawbert.

Synopsis

In the aftermath of the coordinated weather wall attack, Mayor Winddancer holds a chaotic press conference as the death toll reaches fifty-three. Icener delivers a seventy-two-hour ultimatum demanding Zootopia's complete surrender, and the city's leadership refuses to capitulate. As O'Brian traces the attack signals to Tundratown, a tactical raid on a relay warehouse reveals that Icener has been recruiting from Mr. Big's own organization, prompting Nick to propose an alliance with the crime boss.

Plot

Mayor Winddancer stands before a crowd of reporters on the steps of City Hall, visibly exhausted, delivering what he knows about the coordinated attack. The press corps demands answers he does not have—a beaver reporter asks about the death toll, an antelope demands to know why there was no evacuation, a wildebeest asks who is responsible. The questions pile into shouts, and Winddancer's composure cracks when a reporter snaps that people are dead. His aide pulls him away from the podium. Behind closed doors in the corridor, the mayor's mask slips entirely before he straightens his jacket and moves to a briefing room where Costa, Chief Bogo, and the heads of ZFD, ZTA, Public Works, and Emergency Management are waiting. Costa reports that ZSI has traced control signals to Tundratown but lacks a specific location. A young badger aide delivers an anonymous package addressed personally to the mayor. After bomb disposal clears it, Winddancer opens it to find a weather wall control chip and a formal document demanding complete and unconditional surrender of the city, transfer of all weather wall control codes, and full amnesty for Icener's forces—within seventy-two hours. Bogo's response is immediate and absolute: they do not surrender. Winddancer, steel in his eyes, agrees and gives Costa his orders: find another option within the deadline.

The CCC operates at crisis intensity, every station occupied, the death toll updating in real time—fifty-three from the coordinated attack, climbing with each new probing strike. O'Brian reports a third probing attack in the Meadowlands, same signal signature as the others, confirming that Icener is testing response times and keeping ZSI reactive. Luther stands at a tactical display in the Standard Ring, still in tactical gear, having not stopped since 0300. Shaw coordinates station security deployments beside him. Nick and Judy wait at the ZPD coordination desk, bloodshot and running on caffeine. The death toll ticks upward—fifty-eight, then sixty-one—as probing attacks and evacuation chaos claim more lives. Shaw articulates the problem: Icener is keeping them so busy responding that they cannot go on offense. Costa demands they find a way.

At the Meadowlands community center, Pawbert's friends have organized themselves into a functioning shelter operation. Lane directs new arrivals with channeled efficiency, Selma distributes supplies with calm competence, Tara helps families with young kits, Mika arrives through a side door with blankets and first aid kits, Brim calls out directions from her shoulder, and Renny sets up rows of cots. Pawbert himself sleeps on a cot pushed against the wall—Lane physically insisted after eighteen hours of continuous work. A split screen contrasts the shelter scene with Icener's Tundratown safehouse, where the polar bear watches ZNN footage of mammals fleeing the city: harbor ferries overwhelmed, Central Station departure boards showing delays on every line, families with kits trapped in crowds. Roskova observes that the population is running, and Icener responds with cold satisfaction that now they know what it feels like. He orders the next phase delayed—let them think they have time to breathe first.

Lane wakes Pawbert in the afternoon with news that Costa has called requesting "the Lynxley expert" for weather wall technical analysis. Pawbert takes stock of the shelter—more crowded than before with new families displaced by probing attacks—and asks if Lane can manage without him. Lane gestures at the organized team around them and tells Pawbert to go where he is needed more. Selma drives him to ZSI headquarters through a city that feels quieter than usual but tense with the silence of mammals hiding in their homes.

O'Brian delivers a breakthrough: she has isolated the command frequency, and every activation—both the coordinated attack and the follow-up probing—traces back to the same origin point near Tundratown's ice manufacturing district. She identifies a relay warehouse with high encrypted traffic over the past week. Costa orders a full deployment: CTU, SWAT, every available tactical unit. The raid is overwhelming—three ZSI tactical vans, two ZPD SWAT vehicles, unmarked cars blocking every intersection, officers on rooftops and in alleys. Bauer coordinates the breach from a mobile command position. CTU operators stack on the main entrance while Captain Hoggbottom's Razorbacks hold the loading dock. Nick and Judy are embedded with Charlie team on the east side. Three doors come down simultaneously, and operators sweep the warehouse to find communications equipment, encrypted transmitters, infrastructure maps, staging supplies—and one polar bear standing in the center of the room with his paws raised. Nick recognizes him: Dmitri, former personal security for Fru Fru's wedding, who supposedly moved back north six months ago. Dmitri says nothing, but his silence confirms what Nick suspects—Icener recruited him, turning Big's own people against him.

Back at the CCC with the death toll at sixty-eight, Costa processes Dmitri's file and recognizes that Icener has been recruiting locally from mammals who know Tundratown's territory. Nick proposes approaching Mr. Big—Icener has been poaching his soldiers, operating in his territory without permission, and Big has both the intelligence network and the motivation to want Icener gone. Costa gives Nick a long look and states that he cannot officially authorize contact with a crime boss. The words are deliberate—not a refusal, but not permission either. Nick understands. Meanwhile, Luther waits at the ZSI entrance for Selma's car. When Pawbert arrives, the tension from their earlier fight hangs between them until Luther admits that he asked Costa to call Pawbert in—the CCC is the safest place in the city. In the lift descending to the CCC, Luther's composure finally breaks. He apologizes for being angry, for trying to control Pawbert, and confesses that watching the death toll climb while knowing Pawbert was out in the city, unprotected, terrified him. Pawbert takes Luther's face in his paws, tells him they are both okay, and pulls him into a tight embrace. Luther asks their word—"Always?"—and Pawbert answers with the nickname: "Always, Lute." The lift doors open onto the CCC, and Luther puts the mask back on, though his paw finds Pawbert's for one squeeze before letting go.

Costa puts Pawbert to work immediately on Lynxley infrastructure patterns that O'Brian has identified in the signal routing—legacy architecture that may trace back to old Lynxley systems. Luther and Nick confer quietly about the Mr. Big plan, with Nick insisting that Big has every reason to help and that they are out of options. Judy joins them. In the tag, she steps apart to call Fru Fru, who answers and reveals that her father has been expecting the call. Fru Fru's instructions are simple: come now, and bring the fox. Nick looks across the CCC at Luther, who nods once, and at Pawbert, who meets his eyes and agrees to monitor emergency channels from O'Brian's station. With the clock ticking down, Nick and Judy prepare to leave for Tundratown.

Key Moments

• Mayor Winddancer holds a chaotic press conference as reporters demand answers about the attack
• An anonymous package arrives at City Hall containing Icener's seventy-two-hour ultimatum
• Bogo refuses to surrender, and Winddancer gives Costa the deadline to find an alternative
• The death toll climbs from fifty-three to sixty-eight through probing attacks and evacuation chaos
• A split screen contrasts the community center shelter with Icener watching refugees flee on ZNN
• Icener watches families struggling at the harbor and says they now know what it feels like
• Costa calls Pawbert to the CCC as a Lynxley infrastructure expert
• O'Brian isolates the command frequency and traces all signals to Tundratown's ice district
• Bauer leads an overwhelming tactical raid on the relay warehouse with CTU, Razorbacks, and ZPD
• Nick recognizes the captured polar bear as Dmitri, former Mr. Big enforcer
• Nick proposes approaching Mr. Big for an alliance against Icener
• Costa states he cannot officially authorize contact with a crime boss—tacit permission
• Luther breaks down in the lift, apologizing for trying to control Pawbert out of fear
• Luther and Pawbert reconcile with their word—"Always?"—"Always, Lute."
• Judy calls Fru Fru and learns that Mr. Big has been expecting the call
• Fru Fru instructs them to come now and bring the fox

Key Lines

Characters Introduced

Locations

• City Hall — Press conference steps; corridor; briefing room with department heads
• ZSI Headquarters / CCC — Crisis command center; Standard Ring, Upper Ring, Lower Ring; lift
• Meadowlands Community Center — Evacuation shelter; Pawbert's friends running operations
• Tundratown Safehouse — Icener and Roskova's staging area; monitors showing ZNN
• Tundratown Ice District — Relay warehouse; site of tactical raid
• Zootopia Harbor — ZNN footage of overwhelmed ferries and fleeing residents
• Central Station — ZNN footage of suspended train services and stranded families
• Mr. Big's Mansion — Fru Fru's room; phone call location

Items

• Ultimatum package — Weather wall control chip and formal surrender demand; delivered anonymously to Winddancer
• Communications equipment — Encrypted transmitters and infrastructure maps captured at the relay warehouse
• Dmitri's file — Former Big family enforcer; disappeared six months ago; money transfers to Vladifrostok family
• Staging supplies — Crates of electronics, city infrastructure maps, shift rotation schedules found at warehouse

Notes

• The death toll rises from 53 (at the press conference) to 68 by episode's end, reflecting both the probing attacks and evacuation chaos.
• Costa's phrasing about not being able to "officially authorize" contact with Mr. Big is deliberate—it functions as tacit permission without creating a paper trail.
• Luther's breakdown in the lift is the resolution to the autonomy conflict established in the previous episode, with Luther acknowledging that his protective instincts became controlling behavior.
• The split-screen contrast between Pawbert sleeping in the shelter and Icener watching refugees on ZNN visually parallels two responses to crisis: compassion and exploitation.
• The warehouse raid features the full Razorbacks unit (Captain Hoggbottom and the complete boar squad), not just the usual Hoggbottom-and-Truffler pairing.