S05E16 - Inferno

"Inferno" is the sixteenth episode of Season 5 of We Can Fix Pawbert and a crossover with 9-1-1.

Synopsis

Twelve military-grade incendiary devices detonate simultaneously across the Rainforest District, killing thirty-four mammals and destroying entire sections of the canopy. The pack joins Station 118's response, where they learn that Bobby Nash died six months ago. Pawbert runs into a burning building to save Mika, triggering Luther's complete emotional breakdown. Icener, enraged that ZSI has cut off his access to Milton, orders Roskova to destroy ZSI headquarters.

Plot

Twelve points of light ignite simultaneously across the Rainforest District at dawn. Military-grade incendiary devices planted during the chaos of previous weeks detonate in a pattern too precise for accident, and the district's dense vegetation—its greatest strength—becomes fuel. Within five minutes, the entire eastern quadrant is ablaze. At the CTU operations center, O'Brian immediately identifies the coordinated pattern and Bauer calls a mass casualty event, dispatching every available unit. Every ZFD station from 100 through 120 mobilizes—twenty-one stations for a single incident.

The pack is driving to the CCC for a morning briefing when four phones vibrate with IPAWS emergency alerts. Luther sees smoke rising from the district border less than a mile away and turns the car hard toward the fire, declaring that the CCC can wait. At the perimeter, Luther takes Nick and Judy into the fire zone and orders Pawbert to stay and help with evacuation coordination. At Station 118's staging area, Nick spots Chimney—now wearing a captain's insignia—directing his crew: Hen treating burn victims, Eddie gearing up for another run, Buck helping civilians onto evacuation transports, and Athena working the sector in ZPD blues. Nick asks where Bobby is, and the question lands like a stone. Athena delivers the news: Bobby Nash died six months ago during a virus outbreak and lab containment breach. There was one dose of antidote, and Bobby gave it to Chimney because Maddie was pregnant. Chimney pulls himself together and keeps the crew moving.

At ZCF, two polar bears in civilian clothes attempt to visit Milton in person after days of denied requests. A guard triggers ZSI protocol, and agents intercept them before they reach the interior. Shaw arrives to oversee the arrest, recognizing Icener's operatives and reading the simultaneous events as a message: Icener is demonstrating that blocking Milton does not make him powerless.

Pawbert works the evacuation perimeter until he spots the fire advancing toward Mika's studio above Zen Noodle. Despite Luther's instructions, he runs into the burning building and finds Mika frantically trying to save canvases. He grabs her and they flee as the ceiling groans above them. Eddie and Buck spot them emerging from the smoke and pull them to safety just before the floor collapses behind them. Eddie's fear is fierce—he has seen too many mammals die today. The paintings—both Mika's work and everything Pawbert created over two years of rebuilding his life—are gone.

Hours later, the fire is being contained. Luther emerges from the smoke after pulling civilians from buildings for hours, his borrowed coat ruined, his paws burned. He sees Pawbert standing with Eddie and Buck, covered in ash, and hears Eddie telling Chimney that Pawbert ran into a burning building. Something breaks. Luther walks toward Pawbert, shaking, breathing wrong, and the accumulated weight of weeks of crisis crashes down. He howls—a real wolf's howl, anguish made audible—then crumbles to his knees, sobbing. The entire staging area goes still. Nick and Judy stand frozen. The 118 crew watches, stricken. No one has ever seen Luther Pawthorne fall apart. Pawbert crosses the distance, drops beside him, and holds on. Nick places a paw on Luther's shoulder. Judy takes his arm. Athena steps forward and speaks from experience—she knows what it means to love someone who walks into danger, and she tells Luther the fear never goes away, but Pawbert is here and alive. The 118 crew forms a protective circle. Chimney tells them to take all the time they need. Eddie, Buck, and Hen handle the debrief so the pack can go.

Athena finds Judy at the staging area's edge and shares what Bobby's death taught her: it is not about being fearless, it is about showing up anyway, every single time. At the mansion that evening, Pawbert sits beside an exhausted, hollowed-out Luther and asserts what the day forced into the open. He is not twenty-four anymore, not the mammal Luther pulled from the safehouse. He gets to make choices about risk, the same way Luther does. He needs Luther to see who he is now, not who he was six years ago. Luther cannot speak, but his expression softens—the beginning of understanding. Downstairs, Nick and Judy process the same fear. Judy admits she is terrified every time they go into the field, and Nick promises that when this is over, they are taking an overseas vacation—just the two of them, non-negotiable. In the tag, Icener stands over maps of the city in a Tundratown warehouse, learning that his visitors were arrested at ZCF. He orders Roskova to destroy ZSI headquarters—the building that coordinates everything, the building that protects Milton.

Key Moments

• Twelve incendiary devices detonate simultaneously across the Rainforest District at dawn
• Bauer and O'Brian identify the coordinated arson pattern from CTU operations
• The pack diverts from their morning briefing to respond directly to the fire
• Luther orders Pawbert to stay at the evacuation perimeter
• Nick asks where Bobby is; Athena reveals Bobby Nash died six months ago
• Chimney, now captain, keeps the crew moving through grief
• ZSI arrests two polar bears attempting to visit Milton at ZCF
• Shaw identifies the fire and ZCF visit as a coordinated message from Icener
• Pawbert runs into Mika's burning studio to save her
• Eddie and Buck pull Pawbert and Mika to safety before the building collapses
• All of Pawbert's and Mika's paintings are destroyed in the fire
• Luther breaks down completely at the staging area—howling, collapsing to his knees
• Pawbert holds Luther through the breakdown; Nick and Judy join them
• Athena counsels Luther from her own experience as Bobby's widow
• The 118 crew forms a protective circle around the pack
• Athena tells Judy that showing up anyway is what matters
• Pawbert asserts his autonomy to Luther at the mansion
• Nick promises Judy an overseas vacation when the crisis ends
• Icener orders Roskova to destroy ZSI headquarters

Key Lines

Locations

• Rainforest District — Eastern quadrant canopy; twelve ignition points; evacuation perimeter; Station 118 staging area
• ZSI Headquarters / CTU Operations Center — Bauer and O'Brian identify the coordinated arson
• Luther's car / Meadowlands — Pack receives IPAWS alerts en route to morning briefing
• Zen Noodle / Mika's studio — Middle canopy; Pawbert rescues Mika; building collapses after evacuation
• ZCF - Maximum Security — Visitor entrance; two polar bears arrested by ZSI agents; Shaw oversees
• Pawthorne Mansion — Master bedroom (Luther/Pawbert conversation); living room (Nick/Judy conversation)
• Tundratown staging area — Icener's warehouse; maps of the city; Roskova receives ZSI HQ assault order

Items

• Incendiary devices (12) — Military-grade accelerants; planted during previous weeks; twelve simultaneous ignition points
• Captain's insignia — Chimney's; confirms his promotion to captain of Station 118
• Mika's paintings — Destroyed in the studio fire
• Pawbert's paintings — Two years of work; destroyed in the fire
• Luther's borrowed coat — Spare coat from 118 staging area; ruined during rescue operations

Notes

• Bobby Nash's death is acknowledged per 9-1-1 canon. His sacrifice—giving the only antidote dose to Chimney because Maddie was pregnant—is consistent with his character and his established principle that if someone had to take the risk, it was always going to be him.
• Luther's breakdown is the first time anyone has seen him fall apart. It is witnessed by the entire pack, the 118 crew, and the staging area—making his vulnerability public in a way it has never been before.
• Pawbert's assertion of autonomy at the mansion is a defining moment in his character arc, establishing that he is no longer the mammal who needs constant protection.
• The destruction of Pawbert's paintings represents the loss of physical evidence of his rebuilding—but the growth those paintings represented still exists in him.
• The thirty-four deaths bring the cumulative civilian toll of the Icener crisis to its highest point.
• The IPAWS alerts the pack receives en route to the morning briefing are modeled after the real-world Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) used in the United States.
• Judy's line "Don't make a girl a promise if you know you can't keep it" is a reference to Halo 3, where Cortana says the same line to Master Chief. The line fits thematically with the episode's exploration of the fear of losing a partner who walks into danger.