The standard disclaimer: I do not own the Happy Tree Friends; they are the property of Mondo Media. I own only my own characters and this story. Now here's chapter 22:

22 – ACHILLES HEEL

Although Petunia knew quite well what XL-Jack-3 looked like from all of his images, she had never seen him in person before, nor had she expected to. And she definitely had never thought that she would see him from so close (few people on her side of the war did and lived to tell about it). Although she cowered down in her hiding place she still had a good view of him and she looked at him with total fascination, even awe. Yet all the time she kept her paw right by the teleporter control. It was because of her quick escape route that she wasn't as afraid as she might otherwise have been. Her smallness also helped her to stay out of sight.

For a long moment XL-Jack-3 stood motionless just inside the entrance to his tent until Petunia began to fear that he sensed her presence. But then he seemed to collect himself; he closed the tent flap behind him, walked across to the table, and sat down at it. He began to look at stuff on the table. The table was several meters above where Petunia was and she couldn't see what he was looking at but she presumed it was war intelligence. Whatever it was he went through it quite quickly. He then seemed to make a few notes (or something of that sort, Petunia couldn't really see this either) before pushing his chair back from the table and standing up. Then he did three things that Petunia never expected.

First he yawned.

Then he stretched.

Then he went over to the giant bed and lay down on it on his back.

Petunia watched these actions with amazement. It had never occurred to her, or anyone else that she knew, that a being like XL-Jack-3 would ever rest, or even need to rest. As Petunia looked on, fascinated, the giant being reached down to his thigh and seemed to tap something that could not be seen. Then he sighed and became still. After another moment the glow in his eyes dimmed. Then silence.

For a long time Petunia remained where she was, staring unbelieving at what she had just seen. She knew in some vague way that she ought to have teleported away a long time ago and that her friends back at the Animal City would be seriously worried, yet she couldn't move. She just looked and looked at the large figure lying on the bed. Slowly her gaze swept lengthwise down the body, from the head, to the shoulders, to the torso, and so on down the legs all the way to the feet where, after a few moments, she saw something quite odd.

XL-Jack-3's left leg was hanging over the side of the bed at the knee joint. The lower half of his leg was of such a length that the foot was able to lie flat on the ground. Right at what would pass for the ankle joint Petunia noticed a small dark spot, like a tiny hole. Reaching again into her pouch she brought out a tiny pair of field glasses that she focused on the spot. There was no doubt; it was a hole right below the joint. It had probably once been covered by a cap, or had a bolt inserted into it, but now there was nothing. Probably there didn't need to be but as Petunia looked at it a mad idea occurred to her. She stuck her paw back into her pouch and brought out a second bug. This bug was a standard back up for the first one and was only meant to be used if the first one failed. She gripped it tightly and silently slipped out from her hiding place.

Not knowing how much time she would have Petunia tried to move quickly across to the bed without making any noise. This was not easy because the tent was set on stony ground and Petunia had to be careful from knocking her claws on the hard surface and making noise. She had to move a lot more slowly than she would have liked, and always she kept an eye on that towering figure lying above her. But the Marauder leader never moved.

At last Petunia reached XL-Jack-3's left foot. The hole into the joint was right in front of her and it was big enough for her to insert the bug. Cautiously, even fearfully, she reached through the hole to find a good spot. She was almost certain that XL-Jack-3's body must have an automatic defense system of some sort and she expected to be killed at any second. But again, nothing happened.

"What is this?" Petunia said to herself, "can this really be happening? Shouldn't I be dead?" But her own continued breathing showed that she was, in fact, still alive, and, although she couldn't understand how she could be so successful in approaching and touching her people's worst enemy, she realized that such an opportunity might never come again. She hesitated no more than a fraction of second; she felt the inside of the ankle joint, found a flat surface just inside the hole, put the bug on it, and tapped it to activate it. It glowed bright red, as it was supposed to, then went dark again like the first one had.

Petunia didn't stop to experience any satisfaction from what she'd just done. She pulled her paw out of the hole and took a step back from the giant bed. Without pausing a second she hit the control of her teleporter, vanishing immediately from XL-Jack-3's tent. The teleport took her instantly across the continent to the Animal City. She materialized in the Mole's Office where she found the Mole himself waiting anxiously for her.

(To Be Continued)