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 24:

24 – DEADLINE

After Petunia left his office the Mole sat in a meditative silence for a few moments thinking over what he'd heard. Then, coming to a decision, he left his office and went down to the computer surveillance lab where he found Flaky deep in consultation with Nutty.

Nutty was a squirrel of extremely high intelligence; like Flaky he was a computer expert, however unlike the porcupine (and just about everybody else he knew) he went in for a lot of esoteric research involving older models and obsolete systems. Much of his time was spent scouring ancient computer records and databases learning the history of computer design and A.I. technology (at least as much of it as was still available in the After Times), until he had amassed an enormous collection of information. Most of his colleagues and friends took very little interest in his studies; indeed few of them saw any practical value in it, especially when dealing with the very present problem of defense against Marauder attacks. Sometimes they even thought he was crazy to bother with it. That wasn't really why he was nicknamed "Nutty" though; he got that name mostly because of his energy – he was almost hyperactive and could rarely sit still for more than a minute; that and his being a squirrel, with his esoteric interests thrown in for good measure, had all added up to his friends good-naturedly thinking he was "nuts."

The truth, however, was that he was anything but nuts. Every now and then the oh so practical and up-to-date experts would run up against outside systems that they didn't understand. When that happened Nutty was usually the first one they called in for help and he was usually able to set them straight. It was only natural that Flaky called in Nutty when he realized that the data he was getting was from a system he had never seen. The problem, as the Mole found out when he walked in on them, was that Nutty didn't seem to recognize the system either.

"Wow" Nutty was saying when the Mole arrived, "whatever this is, it seems to be arranged in an incredibly defensive manner, as if whoever wrote the program didn't want anyone else to be able to figure it out."

"That" said the Mole, "is probably true. Let me tell you what we're dealing with" and he quickly filled them in on Petunia's mission. Flaky gave a low whistle; Nutty jumped up on to a nearby desk and did a paw stand.

"Wow!" he exclaimed, "an XL-Jack! How I've wanted to study one!"

"Now's your chance" said the Mole, "do you have any data in your library about the workings of the XL-Jack series?"

"I'll have to look" said Nutty, pushing off from his front paws and landing in an upright position on his back ones, "maybe though. From everything I've ever found out about them the original builders of the series were supposedly professional arms dealers. They wouldn't have been as secretive as a national government – at least we know that many nations had XL-Jack models in the Before Times."

"I wouldn't want to have lived then" said Flaky with feeling, "one XL-Jack is more than enough, but a whole series of them fighting each other?"

"Be that as it may" said the Mole, "anything you have could be very important. It's crucial we be able to figure out the technology of these systems. It may be our only chance to finally win this war for good. And we need to do it fast."

"How fast?" asked Flaky nervously.

"Metramegopolis took off this morning. According to all the information we have it's headed east, towards us. We have until it arrives to crack this problem and find something, anything, that we can use to destroy this monster."

There was a silence as both Flaky and Nutty took this in.

"How soon until they arrive?" asked Flaky.

"The city traveled at a speed of 2,000 kilometers per hour for exactly thirty minutes earlier today" said the Mole. "It put a thousand kilometers between itself and the Marauders. But it can't travel that fast very often or for very long. It slowed down almost to a halt at the end of that time, and is now floating slowly eastward. We estimate it's somewhere between 2,000 and 2,500 kilometers west of us at the moment. You have some time, but I don't know how much. They won't arrive today, tomorrow, or probably even in the next few weeks – "

" – But sooner or later they'll be here" said Nutty, getting down on all fours, and preparing to scamper out of the room.

"Exactly" said the Mole seriously, "and when they arrive we have to have figured these systems out. It's the most important thing we can do."

"Then what are we waiting for?" exclaimed Nutty, "I'm on the case, and I won't stop until I find something!" With that he jumped off the desk and streaked out of the room. The Mole and Flaky watched him go.

"Good luck" said the Mole to Flaky as he prepared to go back to his office, "I'll be waiting for good news."

(To Be Continued)

A/N - And with that we conclude the third major section of the story, the "Petunia Arc." In the overall scheme of things the events of this arc are going to cast a very long shadow - but not yet, not for some time. But it will happen.

BTW, in case anyone was wondering, in this story Flaky is male. When I first started this story Flaky's gendered had not been specified by the HTF team. By the time that debate was settled this story was so far along that it wasn't worth it to go back and change it. Not that it really matters of course. This is fan fiction after all, and very AU at that!

So after three story arcs and 24 chapters how do you all think this story is shaping up? Please leave me some feedback and let me know!