I apologize for not updating this story for so long. I've just been busy with other stuff. However I'm not abandoning it, and a new chapter is here now.

As always the standard disclaimer applies: 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 66:

66 – KLURE'S CURSE

Far away in the middle of the main Marauder camp Klure sat in bemusement. Even though he had switched off his side of the feed so the Council could no longer see or talk to him, he continued to monitor what was happening on the other end until the explosion occurred. He knew that Splendid had disposed of the bomb, but wasn't really surprised by that since he was well aware of what the flying squirrel could do. He wondered for a moment if maybe he should have kept the explosive a secret and let the Council take its chances, but upon reflection decided that he wasn't sorry he'd told them. He knew full well that the bomb in Zarkwon Du's implant was only designed to destroy its carrier; the Council wasn't in much danger from it. However it gave him a certain amount of macabre satisfaction to pretend otherwise, and the looks on their faces had been very amusing for a moment.

Klure got up from where he was sitting, made his way out of his tent, and headed for the central command tent to let XL-Jack-3 know what had happened, and to see if there were any new orders for him. As it turned out, there weren't, so after briefly conferring with his leader he returned to his tent and lay down to take a rest.

Nobody knew exactly how old Klure was; there were records of his appearances in battles going back a good many years, but where he came from, who he was before he joined XL-Jack-3, no one knew, and Klure certainly didn't share that information. There was no doubt that he was very, very old; as Loco had said, he was, after XL-Jack-3 himself, probably the oldest Marauder alive, and he had achieved a legendarily fearsome reputation of his own. It was often said among Metramegopolis soldiers and field intelligence agents that if you were captured by the Marauders and taken for interrogation that you should pray with all of your being to be taken to XL-Jack-3 himself for questioning rather than be sent to Klure. XL-Jack-3, coldly logical thing that he was, would do whatever he needed to do to get you to talk, and after he was done he would kill you. The same was true of Klure, but the one critical difference between the two (and it made all the difference in the world to the prisoners) was that XL-Jack-3 would do his torturing and killing with emotionless logical efficiency, doing what was needed and no more; if you talked freely he didn't torture you; when he killed you he did so in an efficient, business-like, and above all quick, method. Klure, on the other hand, would draw out his victim's sufferings, and he did it (so it was said) simply because he enjoyed it. He was often thought to be perhaps the most evil, vile person alive, with a reputation for gratuitous cruelty that was unmatched and absolutely no redeeming qualities of any sort. In short he was supposed to be the quintessential evil person – one who knows he's evil, doesn't care about that, and actually takes pleasure from his evilness.

The truth wasn't quite so simple. XL-Jack-3 was the only one who knew any of Klure's background, and even he didn't know all of it – nor did he care in the slightest; it just didn't matter to him who or what his underling might have been in earlier days.

Klure first came to his attention nearly two centuries earlier. It was after a particularly big battle between a Marauder force and a large army sent from Metramegopolis (which, at that time had not made its most recent flight before this current one). On that day both sides had suffered heavy casualties and the outcome had been an inconclusive stand-off. XL-Jack-3 himself had not been present for the actual battle, as he was traveling from a different camp to the battle site when the battle occurred. By the time he arrived the battle had subsided.

XL-Jack-3 had gone walking around the battlefield that night under cover of darkness. He could see perfectly well and knew he didn't have much to fear even if there were enemy soldiers still lurking around, but logically he preferred not to take chances. The battlefield was a very uneven place, with lots of holes and hollows all over in which a person could hide or fall into and be missed in the clean-up.

It was in such a hollow under the shelter of some bushes that XL-Jack-3 came across an enemy soldier. The soldier had been very badly injured, so badly that it was a miracle he was still alive. He had wounds in his head, chest, abdomen, and other places. He had lost a lot of blood and it was apparent that death would come soon without immediate help.

It made no difference to XL-Jack-3 if the soldier lived or died; he had no reason to save him. However as he looked at the wounded man he realized that the man's uniform was that of a high-ranking officer; probably someone who had helped direct the battle and had gotten caught in the crossfire. Not a general (a general would never be anywhere near a real battle), but maybe someone of high enough rank who might know things the normal soldier wouldn't. Perhaps that knowledge could be put to good use.

XL-Jack-3 rescued the wounded officer and brought him into his own camp. There he had his medical technicians do everything they could to keep the officer alive. They succeeded but it wasn't pretty. At first the man had to be kept immobilized in total life support systems. It was during this time that he was interrogated by XL-Jack-3 as fully as could possibly be done. He hadn't known all that much that the Marauders could have used – he was a high ranking officer, but he was a field officer and not privy to the real secrets of the command structure. XL-Jack-3 might have had him killed then by terminating all of his life-support but decided that it was not logical to do so after expending so much effort to keep him alive. Instead he ordered that efforts continue towards saving this man, but the medical staff was to do everything it could to turn him from an enemy into a potential friend. There was only one way to do that and it was by subjecting the patient to a complete memory wipe. This was a very risky procedure that could easily go wrong and turn the victim into a complete vegetable. But it didn't go wrong, though it took several sessions to effect; at the end of it the man had no memory of who he was, where he had come from, or of anything that had happened to him before the day when he woke up in the Marauder medical tent with XL-Jack-3 standing over him and looking at him dispassionately.

"State your name" said XL-Jack-3.

There was a long silence as the man tried to remember what his name was.

"State your name" repeated XL-Jack-3 again.

The man made an effort to talk, but he seemed to have trouble even with that.

"Kuh – looo – errrr – " he began, then stopped not even sure if that was his name, but XL-Jack-3 seemed to accept it without probing further.

"Very well" the Marauder leader said, "your name is Klure."

Klure's recovery after that was fairly rapid, although he was shocked the first time he saw himself in a mirror and discovered how many prosthetic and cybernetic items had been put into him. But it wasn't so shocking as it could have been since he now had no memory of ever looking any different. He had to learn how to live all over again and he had to learn how to use his new limbs and organs. Once he mastered the basics of living he was definitely a lot stronger physically than he had been in his previous life, but he didn't know that because he didn't remember that life. He was quickly absorbed amongst the Marauders, starting out among the common soldiers but soon distinguishing himself and rising through the ranks until he landed once again in contact with the being who had found him, eventually becoming his unquestioned second in command.

Right from the start he had shown a capacity for ruthlessness and efficiency. He wasn't particularly cruel at first, but over the years he had grown increasingly cruel, especially toward human victims. This tendency had become even more pronounced during the most recent two decades. XL-Jack-3 had noted this but it did not concern him. If he had known the reason for this growing amount of cruelty perhaps he would have been concerned.

What was happening to Klure was that despite of all of their efforts the Marauders had not been entirely successful in erasing Klure's past from his mind. Although for many decades Klure had no idea of an earlier existence than his life among the Marauders the memories had in fact survived deep in his subconscious. And within the last two decades they had started, very slowly, to make themselves felt again. Sometimes when he was resting Klure would have dreams; sometimes it was just a look from someone or a word someone said that caused a powerful deja vu to flood him. He didn't know what any of these feelings meant; actual memories had not been able to reassert themselves in his mind – at least not yet. However, more and more he had a growing feeling that he had once been different from what he was now, and that things had been better for him then.

This all came to a head nine years earlier when Klure had massacred Barry's family. It was true that he had only been ordered to kill the parents, but when he broke into the family's home and he saw all seven members of the family there, he suddenly realized that THIS was the kind of life he had once had – he didn't remember any of the details or even his own original name, but he knew that once upon a time he'd had a wife, and a family, and a real life. And he also knew that he was cut off from ever having such a life again, no longer being either fully human or fully machine. He snapped at that moment and went off on a rampage that ended as has already been told.

Ever since then his anger and cruelty had known no bounds. He couldn't turn on XL-Jack-3 or the Marauders because they had given him life for so long, even if that existence now disgusted him. So he devoted himself even more to the Marauder cause. The only desire he had left was for the Marauders to finally win the long war. He was well aware of what XL-Jack-3 intended to do after winning,\ and not only didn't he mind he actually welcomed it. The sooner the war was won, the sooner XL-Jack-3 would finally put him out of his misery and he might find peace at last.

(To Be Continued)

A/N: So now you know Klure's story - or some of it. There's a lot more to this character and exactly who he is. You'll be learning it all in due time, never fear.

Cheers for now!