Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Interludes – Scene 20

Scene Notes: Tseng found Reno in the slums when he was just 16. This is how they met.

From Chapter 25: The Games We Play:

She paused a moment, looking at him curiously. “How is it you always seem to know when something’s bothering me?”

“I’m good at readin’ people. Always have been.” He sat up, sitting cross-legged on the bed. “That’s actually how I caught Tseng’s attention in the first place. Not the only reason he recruited me, but it’s definitely what got me a second glance.”

---

It was fortunate for him that black tended to hide blood stains. Otherwise, he would have drawn considerably more attention than he already had when he’d staggered in. With any luck he’d be dismissed as just another drunk who’d been run out of one bar and crawled into the next, and likewise ignored. It was what he was counting on, in fact. He sat down at the far end of the bar, as deep in the shadows as he could get.

It wasn’t all his blood, of course. But enough of it was that he’d finally had to concede defeat and make a run for it. He just hoped he’d lost them. If he hadn’t… well… he was injured, outnumbered five to one, and out of ammunition. The odds weren’t exactly in his favor.

He was ashamed to admit that he’d somehow missed all the signs of the impending ambush. If he managed to make it back up to the Plate, Veld wasn’t going to be amused when he told him how foolish he’d been. Tseng held back a pained yelp as he shifted his arm. At least one of the two bullets that had hit him was still lodged somewhere in his shoulder. The other, he was pretty sure, had gone straight through.

Before he could do much more than wonder how long this was going to have him stuck on desk duty, a shotglass was set in front of him with a soft thump. He looked up in surprise… at both the drink and the bartender.

The boy couldn’t possibly have been out of his teenage years yet, with fiery red hair that stuck up wildly, and a lazy grin that seemed to belie a singular alertness.

“Ya look like ya need it,” he said, with a casual shrug, before turning away to tend to other customers.

Technically he was on duty, and regulations very strictly forbid drinking while on duty, save when it was a matter of maintaining one’s cover. At the moment, however, he didn’t much care what the regulations said. If Veld had a problem with it, he could chew him out at headquarters… assuming he made it back.

Tseng downed the shot, grimacing as the harsh liquor burned the back of his throat, and coughed slightly. He hadn’t quite been ready for whatever the hell that was… It was strong. But it certainly took the edge off of the rapidly spreading lethargy he was feeling as a result of the blood loss. Head a little clearer now, he pulled his PHS from an inner pocket in his jacket. The screen was cracked… badly. He wasn’t certain when that had happened. Hopefully after his emergency message had reached headquarters.

“Those guys lookin’ for you?” the teenage bartender suddenly asked, voice so low Tseng barely caught it over the din of the bar. The Turk shifted his gaze as innocuously as he could towards the door and swore under his breath in Wutaiian. He’d really thought he’d shook them. “Heh… Yeah. Thought they might be,” the kid added upon seeing his reaction, and he found himself just a little impressed by the boy’s perceptiveness.

“Is there a back door to this place?” Tseng asked. If he just could slip out before they had a chance to spot him…

“Tch… ‘Course. Ya won’t make it, though,” he replied, nodding toward the doorway leading into the backroom. It was on the far side of the bar. He’d never get there without being seen. “Ah, hell… I must be outta my fuckin’ mind…”

The redhead swung open the gate at the end of the bar, and subtly waved him back. A moment later, Tseng had disappeared behind it.

He found himself crouched beneath the counter. It was awkward and decidedly undignified and his injured arm protested sharply… but it was better than ending up in a fight he had little to no chance of winning. The sound of angry footsteps met his ears as the group stormed up to the bar.

“Hey! You!” Tseng heard one of his pursuers growl at the young bartender. “We’re lookin’ for someone. Wutiaan bastard… long hair… dark suit. Probably bleedin’ all over the place. Seen him?”

“Nope.”

The kid could lie… that was for damn sure. Even Tseng had almost believed it. A moment later, though, he cringed at the startled cry from the boy as one of the men reached across the bar and seized him by the front of his shirt.

“You lyin’ ta me, slum rat?”

The redhead squirmed as he was lifted a few inches off the ground. “Fuck, man! I told ya… I haven’t seen anyone like that! Check the fuckin’ back room if ya want…” The man shoved the kid backwards into the shelves behind the bar. Two of them collapsed, showering the boy in glass and liquor.

“Hey… Hands off the staff!” a new voice shouted from across the bar, and Tseng had no trouble identifying the distinct sound of someone racking the slide of a shotgun. The boy caught the hidden Turk’s eye and smirked before scrambling to his feet again. “You alright there, Reno?”

“Yeah, boss… I’m good,” he answered, voice calm and unworried. Tseng had to hand it to him… the teen certainly didn’t frighten easily.

“You assholes get the fuck outta my bar,” the shogun’s owner said angrily, “‘Fore I take the cost of that booze outta your sorry hides…”

There was some murmuring amongst the small group of thugs, but when it became clear that the bar’s proprietor wasn’t backing down… and that quite a few of his regulars were backing him up… they finally bid a hasty retreat.

“Pain in the ass street scum…” the owner muttered, “Clean up that mess, then ya can take off for the night.”

Tseng waited in silence for the man to retreat back to wherever he’d come from before finally coming out of hiding and sitting back down at the bar.

“It seems I’m in your debt…” he said, watching the teen sweep shards of broken glass into a pile.

“That actually worth anything?” he asked with a joking grin. The Turk managed a quiet chuckle in spite of his shoulder’s renewed pain.

“Perhaps…” he replied. “You could have saved yourself a great deal of trouble and simply told them where I was. Why help me?”

The redhead shrugged. “Just had a feelin’ I’d be better off helpin’ you than them…”

Tseng nodded slightly, more to himself than to the kid. For some reason, he had a feeling this wouldn’t the the last he saw of Reno…

~fin~