S05E13 - Strike

"Strike" is the thirteenth episode of Season 5 of We Can Fix Pawbert.

Synopsis

A van bomb detonates at ZPD Precinct 1's loading dock in retaliation for the Frostbite raid, killing three officers and critically injuring Chief Bogo. Pawbert counsels a traumatized Clawhauser while Captain Hoggbottom assumes acting command, and the investigation reveals the bombing was a pre-planned contingency filed days before ZSI even launched their operation.

Plot

The morning after the Frostbite Processing plant raid, ZPD Precinct 1 feels different. The tension that gripped the bullpen for weeks has eased—officers exchange quiet optimism, and Clawhauser practically vibrates with relief at the front desk. Nick and Judy arrive for the early shift change, tired but lighter. Fangmeyer and Delgato note the first quiet night in weeks. At the loading dock, Officer Marconi reviews paperwork for an unscheduled delivery while Officer Carter helps unload routine supplies. A white van with city government plates pulls in, driven by a polar bear who presents a requisition number for expedited office supplies. Marconi is uneasy—there was no heads-up from administration—but the paperwork appears legitimate.

Chief Bogo, crossing the lobby with Clawhauser, spots the driver through the interior window and stops mid-stride. The driver's posture is wrong—his eyes scan past Marconi, checking sight lines rather than watching the recipient of his delivery. Bogo orders Clawhauser to stay back and moves toward the loading dock. He confronts the driver, ordering paws visible. The driver reaches not upward but toward his jacket and draws a sidearm. Bogo sidesteps into the line of fire between the weapon and Clawhauser, draws with thirty years of instinct, and puts two shots center mass. He grabs Clawhauser—physically lifting the cheetah—and throws him through the interior door while screaming for everyone to evacuate. Carter sees the driver's dying glance at the van and runs toward it, yanking open the rear doors to find a bomb with a light that has just turned red. She radios "BOMB IN THE LOADING DOCK" and puts her paws on the device, trying to find a wire or switch—anything to stop it. Beecher appears in the doorway, drawn by the gunshots, running toward the danger instead of away. Bogo makes it three steps into the lobby before the van detonates.

The explosion tears through the loading dock and the adjacent wall. In the bullpen, Nick tackles Judy behind a desk as windows blow inward. Officers pick themselves up through dust, smoke, and emergency lighting. Nick and Judy push toward the blast site and find Clawhauser on the lobby floor, covered in someone else's blood, staring at nothing. Bogo lies nearby—conscious but barely, his left leg bent at an unnatural angle, shrapnel wounds across his body. His first words are asking how many got out. Marconi never moved—the tiger is still where he stood, frozen at his clipboard, the blast taking him before his brain caught up. Beecher made it two steps into the doorway, running toward the shots. Carter is at the center of the destruction, near what remains of the van—she never let go. Outside, chaos erupts as ambulances, fire trucks, and ZPD vehicles from every precinct converge. At the CCC, Luther gets the call and heads for the precinct. Costa orders all city buildings swept for similar threats.

At Zootopia General Hospital, the surgical waiting room fills with officers who refuse to leave until they know Bogo's status. Nick, Judy, and Luther sit together, still covered in dust. Clawhauser occupies a corner chair, paws shaking, staring at nothing. Pawbert arrives at a run—he felt the explosion from ZRS when the windows rattled. He checks in with his pack, then crosses the room to sit beside Clawhauser without a word. Time passes. Eventually Clawhauser begins talking—the driver looked at him, calculated something, and Clawhauser froze trying to draw his weapon despite twelve years as a cop. Bogo stepped in front of him on purpose, saw where the gun was pointing, and simply put himself there instead. Pawbert does not offer platitudes or rush to comfort. He listens, then shares what a very small meerkat once told him: fear is information, not instruction. The fear Clawhauser feels is telling him something real, but it does not get to decide what he does next.

A surgeon delivers Bogo's prognosis: stable, leg saved, but the damage is permanent. He will walk again with physical therapy, but he will need a cane for the rest of his life and will never return to field duty. Captain Hoggbottom absorbs this and immediately assumes acting command, ordering all able officers to report to a temporary command post at Precinct 3. She tells the assembled room that three of their own died today and they will honor them by doing their jobs. A split-screen sequence shows the parallel responses: Hoggbottom managing the displaced precinct while Officer Grizzoli reports false alarms from other precincts; Costa and Shaw at the CCC tracing the fake delivery requisition back to the same Meridian Shipping shell company structure used in the weather wall infiltration, confirming the paperwork was filed three days before ZSI even hit the Frostbite plant; and Lieutenant Wade Grey at Precinct 7 ordering manual ID verification of every officer and delivery. When Nick and Judy visit Bogo in recovery, the buffalo—horizontal and diminished in a hospital bed—asks only how many died. When told the investigation is ongoing, his response is characteristically blunt: stop Icener, whatever it takes. Then he tells them to get out of his room and go to work.

In a secure briefing room off the CCC floor, the pack meets with Costa, Shaw, O'Brian, and Bauer. The bombing timeline is laid out: the delivery requisition predated the Frostbite raid, meaning Icener had this attack prepared as a contingency regardless of whether ZSI struck first. O'Brian confirms that Icener's administrative infiltration—the systems that generated the fake paperwork—is still active somewhere, untouched by the kill signal that destroyed the weather wall devices. Pawbert reads the bombing as personal: the weather wall attacks were strategic demonstrations, but this was punishment, a message that victories come with consequences. Costa agrees and orders Shaw to contact the ZSI Behavioral Analysis Unit for a full psychological profile. Luther tells the room that they destroyed something it took Icener years to build and that matters. The dead officers died because the team won, and that is a reason to finish the fight, not stop it.

The pack returns to Pawthorne Mansion and sits together in the living room with ZNN footage of the bombing on mute. No planning, no strategy—just existing together. Pawbert observes that Icener will keep punishing them for every victory, that this is how he thinks. Luther accepts the cost and commits to finishing the fight regardless. Nick, still bitter about the day's losses, pushes back but eventually concedes that Luther is right. Judy reminds them that this is what they signed up for—not the dying, but the part where they keep going anyway. When Nick asks what they do tonight, Pawbert answers: they stay together. They do not have to be okay or have answers—they just have to be here. Luther's paw finds Pawbert's and holds tight. Outside, the city tries to sleep with the death toll still climbing. Somewhere in Tundratown, Icener plans his next move.

Key Moments

• The bullpen shares cautious optimism the morning after the Frostbite raid
• Bogo recognizes the van driver's wrong body language and intervenes
• Bogo kills the bomber with two shots and physically throws Clawhauser to safety
• The van bomb detonates, destroying the loading dock and adjacent walls
• Nick tackles Judy behind a desk as the bullpen windows blow inward
• Carter runs toward the bomb and dies trying to disarm it; Marconi freezes in place; Beecher is killed running toward the gunshots
• Bogo lies critically wounded, his first concern being how many got out
• Pawbert arrives at the hospital and sits wordlessly beside Clawhauser
• Clawhauser breaks his silence and describes Bogo deliberately stepping in front of him
• Pawbert counsels Clawhauser using Dr. Fuzzby's teaching about fear
• The surgeon delivers Bogo's prognosis: permanent cane, no return to field duty
• Hoggbottom assumes acting command and orders officers to honor the dead by working
• The delivery requisition is traced to the same shell company, filed three days before the raid
• Bogo orders Nick and Judy from his hospital bed to stop Icener at any cost
• Shaw contacts the ZSI-BAU for a psychological profile of Icener
• The pack sits together at the mansion, choosing presence over answers

Key Lines

Characters Introduced

Locations

• ZPD Precinct 1 — Bullpen, loading dock, lobby (bombing site)
• Zootopia General Hospital — Surgical wing, waiting room, recovery room
• ZSI Headquarters — CCC (CONDITION RED), secure briefing room
• Precinct 3 — Temporary command post for displaced Precinct 1 officers
• Precinct 7 — Security sweep under Lt. Wade Grey
• Pawthorne Mansion — Living room (tag)

Items

• Van bomb — Detonated at Precinct 1 loading dock; destroyed the dock and adjacent walls
• Fake delivery requisition (7355608) — Filed through Meridian Shipping shell company three days before the Frostbite raid
• Bogo's service weapon — Used to kill the polar bear bomber with two shots
• Bogo's cane — Permanent necessity following his shattered left leg; he will carry it for the rest of the series

Notes

• Pawbert echoing Dr. Fuzzby's words demonstrates how therapeutic wisdom has become part of his natural vocabulary—he is now the one providing the comfort he once needed.
• This episode establishes Hoggbottom as acting commander, a role she holds through the remainder of the crisis.
• The three slain officers—Marconi, Carter, and Beecher—are named after characters who died in Person of Interest. Carter's heroic death, running toward the bomb rather than away, is a fitting tribute to her namesake Detective Joss Carter.
• Clawhauser's inability to draw his weapon—a desk officer's paw unused to drawing under pressure—contrasts sharply with Bogo's thirty years of trained instinct.
• The delivery requisition number "7355608" is an Easter egg referencing the Counter-Strike video game series, where 7355608 is the code used to defuse bombs.