Grandeur Defector

XXXII

His name was Truffles.
18 years old when hell broke loose, murdered mentality on September 2nd, the second winter of defection. Last winter had been hardly noticeable— time had passed, confidence had snowballed with Operation: Tiger Bomb, and the day it would end was today. It was just sun-up, the day beginning with September cloudy skies.
It would rain today.
Flippy Ursidae of Special Forces was the leader of the team, Mouse "KaBoom" being the ammunition specialist, and Sneaky as the offensive. They had their silver pistols in tow, shining in the sun rays that managed to shine past the rain clouds. Each one was armed with weapons galore; Mouse was equipped with a massive backpack filled to the brim with equipment for the mission. As the three men stepped forward through the crowd of cheering soldiers, they smiled excitedly to their comrades.
Truffles was among those soldiers, watching his friends nervously, but filled with hope.

All the soldiers know is that this mission is important. They don't know they're about to assassinate my... The Tiger General.
They'll be ok. They'll be fine.
Breathe.

Mouse approached him, his beige uniform and silver dog tag standing out in the crowd. Wordlessly, he handed Truffles the strange gadget he'd been working on for many months now.
It was a dark grey handheld box that had a small vent on the side along with three buttons and a switch. On the front was a big red button and three smaller buttons lining the top, one green, one yellow, and one red. A medium sized wire stuck out of the top of the device, serving as an antenna. The back was plain but polished, a testament to Mouse's true craftsmanship. It looked professional and clean, the metal welded together seamlessly, the buttons clicking with a satisfying noise on each press. The switch moved up and down, changing the antennae side. Truffles took the device in his hands and looked back at his friend, confused, but the rodent already seemed to know what he was about to ask.

"Oi, that's for helping us out, ami."

Truffles blinked.
It LOOKS like a detonator, but I'd like to confirm.
"What... is it, if I may?"

Mouse tapped his temple proudly.
"A detonator! Handheld, wireless, tuned. Just press the side buttons to turn it on, fiddle with the settings a bit, and BOOM! Literally."

Truffles nodded along, both understanding and very impressed.
"And it can connect to explosives that have digital signals, correct?"

"Oi, yep yep!"

Breathless from the kind gesture, he smiled widely at his friend.
"Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Take care of it, would ya?"

"I will," Truffles promised, holding the detonator to his heart with both hands.
I love it. It's fantastically made... when this war is over, Mouse should open a shop to sell his inventions! Me, Sneaky, and Flippy could help him out!

Sneaky was saying goodbye to Corporal Olive, posing seductively towards her to get her attention. The Corporal rolled her eyes but couldn't stop a small, quiet smile from forming. Mouse already had rejoined back with his group, waving to others he considered friends as well. But someone was missing.
Flippy-?

"Hey Stripes."

AGH-?!
Truffles flinched and turned around, facing his bigger friend. The bear chuckled at the sight of him being so spooked, then smiled oddly softly.

"I wanted to ask you if... you wanted to go out sometime, you know. Like... after we get back and the war ends?"

Unsure if Flippy was pretending or not, Truffles snorted and pushed his friend's shoulder lightly— a gesture tiger soldiers often use towards close friends.
"Is that a date, con gấu?"