They had done it, they had stopped the tiger army from taking over the world. 3 soldiers from the special operations unit, Flippy, Mouse Kaboom, and Sneaky, had singlehandedly saved the world from being overrun by a military army hell bent on capturing every country they could get their hands on and brainwashing them to either helping them, or embracing their brutal rule. These brainwashed people, be it adults, children, of the elderly, were forced to commit atrocities that were otherwise looked down upon on, or worse, made to fight each other or even those who attempted to save them. Many soldiers have died from this tactic, there was a case where a kid had hid in a closet, a soldier had apparently found them, coaxing him out to thinking it was safe, it was going well until that same kid had dropped a grenade and hiding in the closet once again, and upon being taken by surprise, the soldier's life ended upon the grenade setting off.
But all that was over now, they had made sure every tiger soldier that was in charge either surrendered or died resisting. Some slaves had grew detached to the world around them, even though victory was achieved, it was already too late for those who have lived long enough in that hell hole. Some of them cowered, the mere sight of the friendly soldiers coming to rescue them made them scream and go berserk, not wanting to do with any more pain and suffering. It was difficult to even move them out, attached to their necks were detonating collars, activated through a certain distance so they couldn't get away or hide too far. The general was cruel like that.
Other than the brainwashed slaves, there was another problem that was currently being faced by the 3 war heroes. One that cannot be solved through killing or violence, but one of diplomacy.
"Will the 3 special ops units stand before me!" bellowed a military officer, a mouse tree friend, Many soldiers and high ranking officers had gathered in the base to testify against one fugitive slave that had managed to escape the custody of the tiger army. This slave was also the downfall of said army, yet paranoia took over their minds as to what to do with this very slave that claims to have escaped with his sanity still intact. This slave, a chameleon was being questioned, not for committing a crime, but for being rescued.
This chameleon was Sneaky. Yes, a fugitive slave turned war hero, providing any valuable information about the base, giving the opposing side the advantage of having the insight and knowledge of one of the prisoners. With that info, they were able to infiltrate the island with no casualties, took out many soldiers without alerting them, and most importantly, put an end to the tiger general's rule. But as soon as the mission had succeeded, the military grew paranoid, what if this was all a setup? The tiger general could very well have let them inside, let a fraction of his army get eradicated, and had a body double to impersonate him and have this amphibian make it seem like he was actually helping them, when in actuality, he was to serve as an informant for a probably hidden army somewhere on the island.
"Step forward" said the military officer, Flippy and Mouse Kaboom stepped forward, Sneaky was about to do the same when he was stopped by another command.
"Except for you, Private Sneaky" said the officer, making him open his mouth in surprise, making him step back. He felt all eyes on him, including Mouse' and Flippy's. He had a feeling that this meeting was more than a recognition of their feats.
"Let's start with this one then… Private Flippy!" shouted the officer, Flippy stepped forward and gave a salute. "Sir" said Flippy, staring forward as a sign of respect.
"Private, have you observed any… Suspicious behaviour from Private Sneaky during the whole operation? Were there any inconsistencies in any of the vital information he has provided?" the officer asked him, Flippy wondered why that would be the case, didn't Sneaky prove himself already? Throughout the whole operation he got to know Sneaky more personally, if anything, he didn't have to prove anything, he even enlisted as part of the army even after being tortured there for so long, which fuelled him with anger, but remembered his place.
"No sir! He kept his word to the letter sir!" yelled Flippy, the officer turned toward Kaboom.
"And what about you Private Kaboom was it? Was the information accurate?" Mouse felt the same way about Sneaky, why all this interrogation?
"No zir! Le data provided waz accurate zir!" shouted Mouse, his relatives looked at him expectantly. His family was the one who named the mission, operation KAPOW, and this mission rested on 2 randomly picked soldiers that would prove the legitimacy of the information provided by Sneaky. This plan involved those 2 soldiers not only in proving the plan to be true, but to make sure that this escaped slave was not an inside agent placed by the enemy. Flippy was chosen at random, but Mouse had chosen to go, tired of living under his family's shadow for so long. Their family was respected among the military, their whole generation was put in service of the country at least once, and the next, and then the next.
Mouse' father, a fellow mouse, grew worried for his son, he didn't expect his son to have volunteered for this operation. He promised him that if he made one major achievement in the military, he could live his life the way he wanted, but he didn't expect him to be too eager for it to be over with. Mouse must have had some sort of sympathy for the chameleon.
"Is that so? Hmmm…" the officer walked past Flippy and Mouse, and stepped in front of Sneaky. "You, do you swear you kept your word?" the officer interrogated, Sneaky just nodded calmly, the officer hoped for any kind of nervous body language but he seemed to exhibit none of those. Finally, there was only one thing left to make sure.
"Private Sneaky, will you be so kind as to strip off your uniform?" asked the officer, Flippy and Mouse thought that the officer was going too far now, they gritted their teeth and glared nothing in particular, but remained on their saluting positions.
Sneaky, having been gone through hell, stripped off his camo uniform. The time in the tiger general's concentration camp had removed his shame long ago. With nothing but his bare naked form, the officer circled him, observing every trace of scales he had. Scars adorned his body, and signs of abuse had stained themselves on his scaly hide. After some time, the officer turned around and didn't look back. The officer thought to himself, that this was not an imposter, nor was the chameleon lying.
"Dress yourself private Sneaky" said the officer, reporting to his commanding officers who had lined themselves up in front of them the whole time. They were talking about something, they did not know what exactly, but they knew it concerned their friend, Sneaky.
After quite some time, the officer came back to the 3 supposed war veterans. "As you were" said the officer, making Flippy and Mouse lower their hands and step back in line with Sneaky, who had finished dressing himself back to his uniform.
"Seeing as none of you have betrayed your country, nor were you lying. I apologize for the sudden interrogation but we had to make sure. But, that doesn't mean your friend Sneaky here is off the hook. That is why, I assign Private Mouse Kaboom here, to have you under probation. As promised by his father, he will not be bound to military service anymore if he so chooses, but, he is bound to keep an eye on Private Sneaky, so you two better get along because this is now officially the day you two are eternally bound with each other for the rest of your lives. You're dismissed!" said the officer, leaving the three of them.
Mouse gritted his teeth and was about to knock his father's tooth out with a fist, when Flippy grabbed his shoulder, mouse turned to him to see him shaking his head calmly.
"Sneaky! How could you just let him do zat!? He basically gave you to moi as some kind of mindless slave! We fought for zhe freedom of everyone, yet you couldn't have yours!" said Mouse in outrage. Publicly humiliating Sneaky, denouncing Sneaky's loyalty and taking away his freedom was too much.
Sneaky shook his head again, "I lost my freedom long ago. I… I have no family anymore, they have all died from the tiger general. But… But I have a new family now, y-you guys have given me more than I could ever hope for. To be honest, I was ready to die, just being with you two. But, this actually turned out well, at least I can spend the rest of my days with you. I won't be alone again… Right?" said Sneaky with a bit of longing, Mouse didn't know that was what he really felt. He always assumed that he had grown attached to them, but to consider him as family? He turned to look at his father, who had resumed talking with the leaders of the army, and glared once again at him. If that's what he wants then that's what he gets, he'll treat Sneaky like he was a better family than they ever could, and if possible, cut ties with them, forever.
"You know I won't do zat to you Sneaky, never in my life will I zink about leaving you after ze suffering at ze hands of the tiger general. I swear, I'll make sure you have az much freedom az possible, I won't force you to do anyzing. You'll have az much freedom az me, got it?" asked Mouse, grabbing him by both shoulders.
Sneaky nodded and Mouse smiled at that. "Aaaannnd, kiss each other" joked Flippy, earning a groan from the two.