Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 25: What Goes Around

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Fuck, Tseng, let go already! I get it, alright?! Ya don’t have to rip it off…”

The Turks second-in-command finally released his grip on Reno’s ear, and the sixteen year old clapped a hand to it protectively. He’d seen other boys dragged off like that as a child… usually by an extremely angry mother… but no one had ever done it to him before. It hurt a lot more than it looked like it should have. Tseng stood, looking more than a little irate, arms crossed over his chest and staring the rookie down. It took the redhead a moment to realize he’d been dragged into the men’s room.

“That was was a decidedly stupid thing to do, Reno.”

“Ah, come on… It wasn’t that bad,” he replied, rolling his eyes. Tseng continued to glare at him.

“Not that bad? You and I seem to have a very different definition of what constitutes ‘bad’,” said Tseng, “This recent behavior of your needs to stop. I truly am glad to see that you’re finding a bit more confidence, and I do realize it was a joke… but you can’t go around saying whatever you feel like around the people who Run. This. Company. I don’t particularly care if you dislike them personally… I don’t even care it it’s entirely warranted. You simply do not refer to Heidegger as a ‘fatass pig’ when he is within earshot. That your head is still attached to your body right now is due only to the fact that Veld and I were able to convince him that he misheard you. One of these days, you’re going to push your luck too far, and there won’t be anything I can do to protect you.”

“Fine… so I’ll watch my fuckin’ mouth, alright?” the teenager sighed, leaning back against one of the sinks and gracing Tseng with yet another roll of his eyes.

“Oh… you most certainly will.”

At his superior’s tone, the younger Turk realized that he may have taken that a bit too far. There was acting confident… and there was just being a jackass. And it looked like he’d just stepped over that line. He suddenly lost much of the haughty, confident expression he wore. It was replaced by an unsure and vaguely frightened look. He swallowed nervously, wondering what he was in for. Tseng turned to the supply cabinet in the corner, removing a small item and tearing away the wrapper.

“I’m sorry… but if you’re going to insist on behaving like a child, I’m afraid I’m just going to have to treat you like one,” he said, covering the distance between them in two long strides. “Open.”

“W-wha – ” Reno couldn’t even get a single word out before the little bar of soap was shoved unceremoniously between his teeth. He immediately gagged and pulled away. “Gah! What the fuck, man?”

“I’ve warned you…several times, in fact. If you’re incapable of controlling yourself on your own, there are going to have to be consequences. This will be the result any time there is a repeat of this afternoon. Now… Open. And this time, don’t spit it out until I give you permission to do so.”

The redhead reluctantly obeyed, the taste of the soap still coating his tongue. He visibly cringed as it was reintroduced, and his tongue instinctively fled to the roof of his mouth in a desperate attempt to avoid it.

It was easily one of the worst things he’d ever tasted… and he’d eaten some pretty questionable shit to get by over the years. Tseng stood calmly, watching him suffer, and occasionally glancing at his watch. He didn’t seem to be in any particular hurry to release him from his punishment. Reno’s eyes watered slightly as the taste began to make its way dangerously close to his throat. He desperately needed to swallow, but knew if he did, things were going to get about ten times worse than they already were.

And still Tseng refused to release him.

Reno squeezed his eyes shut, a soft whimper escaping, unbidden. The taste was positively vile. At last, after what felt like hours – but was probably only a minute or two – Tseng took pity on him.

“Alright. That’s enough.”

Reno spat the bar of soap out and turned to the sink, violently twisting the faucet handle and sticking his head under the stream of water to rinse his mouth out. He spent nearly a full minute alternately gulping down fresh water and gagging on the lingering taste.

“Ah, god… I can still fuckin’ taste it…” he lamented, finally raising his head again. He braced himself with his hands on either side of the sink, panting softly. Tseng smirked and offered him a paper towel, which the redhead angrily snatched, drying his face. “You’re a real dick sometimes, ya know that?”

“Perhaps… But I suspect you’ll think twice about what you say next time. And if you don’t… we’ll repeat this little exercise until thinking twice becomes second nature. Is that understood?”

“Yeah,” he replied. Tseng raised a challenging eyebrow and Reno very quickly adopted a more conciliatory tone. “Yes, sir. I understand.”

Tseng’s expression softened a bit, as did his voice. “And do you also understand that, if I didn’t care very much what happens to you, I wouldn’t bother with such tactics?”

The redhead looked awkwardly down at the floor. “Yeah…”

“Good. Then let’s get back to work, shall we?”

---

Veld was waiting for him in his office when he returned, and Tseng bit back a sigh. He should have expected this.

“I trust our youngest has been disciplined?” he said, clearly unamused by Reno’s antics. Tseng couldn’t blame him. Since his run-in with Rufus and his peppers, the rookie had become more and more comfortable in pushing the boundaries of his new role with the Turks. Unfortunately, in addition to a rapidly escalating prank war between the two teenagers, that had also resulted in the teenager taking several liberties that weren’t quite so easy to overlook. Today’s was, perhaps, the worst of his transgressions.

“Yes, sir,” the Wutaiian Turk responded. Veld still didn’t look appeased.

“Reign him back in, Tseng. Sooner rather than later.”

“… Yes, sir. I will.”

Tseng honestly wasn’t sure if he should be furious… or worried. At present, he was a little of both. On one hand, Reno’s overly laid-back attitude – not to mention his newly discovered penchant for practical jokes – was making his mentor look bad. And Tseng hated anything that made himself look bad.

On the other… if this continued, it was going to get Reno into serious trouble eventually, and no matter how annoyed with the young man he might have been, Tseng had begun to care deeply for his rookie. The last thing he wanted was to see any kind of harm come to him.

“Take him with you this afternoon. Maybe a trip down below will remind him just how fortunate he isto be here… instead of there.”

---

“So… what exactly are we doin’, anyway?” Reno asked as the train spiraled downwards into the slums. “And why the hell are we takin’ the train? Why not just take the copter?”

“We’re looking for pair of company assets,” Tseng replied, “And we’re taking the train because the helicopter is entirely unnecessary for this. Sector One is a relatively short walk from the Wall Market station. Besides which… there’s no need for such a dramatic entrance. Coming and going unnoticed is far preferable and to our advantage.”

The rookie gave a long-suffering sigh of resignation and leaned back in his seat.

“Tch… fine. So what’re these ‘company assets’ we’re after, anyway?”

Tseng chuckled softly.

“It’s more of a who, actually. A woman and her child. They were… volunteers… working with Professor Hojo until very recently, when they left and never returned. The biologics department wants them back. They were part of a particularly important experiment… one that has apparently been in progress for many years now and would be difficult if not impossible to begin anew.”

He withdrew a photograph from his pocket and handed it to the rookie. The woman was very beautiful, with long, cascading brown hair and emerald green eyes. In her arms, there was an infant, wrapped in a pale yellow blanket.

“The photo is several years old, unfortunately. The little girl would be about six by now,” Tseng added.

“Ya know, I’ve been wonderin’… Who is this Hojo guy, anyway? I mean… I know he’s some high up fuck in the biologics department, but how come we’re goin’ after some poor kid ‘n her mom just on his say-so? No one around the office seems to like him a whole hell of a lot… What’s with the favors?”

“Hojo is not merely ‘high up’ in the department. He runs the biologics department these days. And personal opinions aside, the Turks are expected to accommodate hom. His research is of great value to the company. Among other things, he’s responsible for the existence of the Soldier program. More importantly, however, he has the ear of President Shinra. If Hojo is unhappy, the President is unhappy. And if the President is unhappy, everyone is unhappy.”

Reno frowned slightly as he considered that, and Tseng knew what the next question was going to be even before he asked it.

“… and yes. If keeping him happy means kidnapping a girl and her mother and returning them to headquarters against their will, that is precisely what we are expected to do.”

“Tch… That’s fucked up, man.”

Tseng snorted a soft laugh. “If you’ve only just now realized that about our job, then I have clearly been overly lax in your training.”

Reno rolled his eyes, but laughed softly. “Yeah… Okay. Ya got me there. So… you think they’re over in One, then?”

“Tres seems to think it’s as good a place as any to start. To be honest, though… we don’t yet have a solid lead on them. Unfortunately, company politics must be considered in this instance, and Veld wants to be able to say that we’re actively looking, even if it’s highly unlikely we’re going to be returning home successful today.”

The redhead groaned.

“Seriously? So we’re just gonna wander aimlessly around the fuckin’ slums all day and ask random people if they know ’em…”

“Essentially.”

---

By the time they returned to the Plate, Reno was tired, hungry, and his feet ached. Tseng hadn’t been joking around. They’d come back with exactly nothing to show for the effort. No leads, no rumors… no so much as someone who thought the woman in the picture had look vaguely familiar. Nothing.

It had been a complete waste of time.

The redhead flopped down in the chair behind his desk, grateful to have finally been given someplace in headquarters to call his own. Sure, he had to share the little closet of an office with Rude… but somehow it made his status as a member of the team that much more real.

“… Long day?” his officemate queried, not looking up from the report he was filling out.

“Uggggghhh…” Reno moaned by way of answer. Rude only snickered at the response. The redhead sat up slightly and opened the drawer of his desk, pulling out a bag of gummy worms. He popped one in his mouth, savoring the sweet artificially-flavored goodness for a moment before attempting actual conversation. “Hey, Rude… You busy tonight?”

“… Not really.”

“You wanna do somethin’? I desperately need to get out on the town for awhile.”

“Got something in mind?” Rude asked, at last looking up from his paperwork.

“Concert over in Sector Three?” Reno suggested. “Some group called Zero Matter is playin’ at the Wendigo. If nothin’ else, there’ll be cheap beer, and I hear they don’t look too close at IDs.”

“Who told you that?” Rude asked, curious.

“Sato…” the redhead replied with a grin, “… who also got me one of these last week…” He held up a driver’s license… clearly fake, given that it stated Reno was twenty-two, but convincing enough that he could probably pull it off if he didn’t draw too much scrutiny to himself. The other rookie hesitated a moment, thinking it over, before collecting his reports and standing up. He nodded as he made his way to the door.

“Sure. I’m in.”

“Awesome. Meet ya in the lounge at five?”

“See you then.”

---

Reno grinned widely as he and Rude walked into the club in Sector Three. Music was already blaring from the stage. They hadn’t missed much, he knew, but the crowd was already into it. Zero Matter, as it turned out, was a hardcore thrash metal band… a genre of music he’d only recently discovered, and quickly realized that he seriously enjoyed.

Tseng… not so much. The Turk lieutenant had gifted him a set of headphones within twenty-four hours of learning that he liked it.

They hit up the bar, first, and Reno let the older Turk order for them both. As much as he wanted to try out his new fake ID… Rude actually looked the part. No one gave him a second glance when he claimed to be of age. Beer in hand, they joined the crowd.

By the third song, they were on their fifth beer. By the eleventh song, Reno had given up paying much attention to the music in favor of making out with a gorgeous young woman with long hair that had been dyed a deep shade of blue and a tattoo of a koi fish on the side of her neck.

“Hey! Wanna get outta here?” she asked, having to shout to be heard, even though they were mere inches apart. Reno glanced back toward the bar… where Rude, much to his surprise, was talking animatedly – well, for him – with a curly-haired brunette. He smirked, and silently wished his friend luck before nodding to his own new acquaintance and letting her lead him out the side exit.

They found themselves in an ally, and the girl immediately had him against the wall of the club, her lips hungrily claiming his own before drifting to his throat. Her hand slipped in between his thighs, and the redhead moaned enthusiastically against her shoulder. He liked a woman who knew what she wanted. Especially when what she wanted happened to coincidence with what he wanted.

And at the moment, what he really wanted was to get his pants off.

“Come on, honey…” she said, when she came up for air a moment later. “My car’s around back.”

She pulled him down the ally and around the corner, leading him through the parking lot. A small red convertible was parked in the back corner, and she hurried to unlock the door, climbing into the backseat. Reno didn’t hesitate in joining her.

---

The redhead pushed upwards, trying to lift his bedroom window, and swore when it didn’t budge. He was sure he’d left it unlocked. What the fuck was he supposed to do now? He looked furtively around the darkened block. Tseng’s car sat in its usual parking space… which meant that the Turk lieutenant was definitely home and not out looking for him. And if he was home, Reno had no doubt in his mind that he’d hear him if he came through the front door.

Hell, the son of a bitch was probably staking out the living room, waiting for him to come in.

It was his own fault… Abigail – as he’d found out her name was somewhere between doing her in the backseat of her car and nailing her while she was bent over the hood – had kept him busy. For almost three hours. They’d just finished round four, and she had been eagerly attempting to get him ready for another when he’d realized what time it was. Turning her – and her extremely talented tongue – down had been almost painful, but he had to work tomorrow. And Tseng wouldn’t be forgiving if he overslept.

Unfortunately, that also meant that he’d missed his ten o’clock curfew by a wide margin… which left him in the somewhat desperate position of trying to slip into the apartment undetected, a little before one in the morning. The effort wasn’t going well.

It was times like this when he envied Rude and his own private apartment where he could come and go as he pleased. Speaking of whom… he had no idea what had happened to his friend after he’d run off for some fun in the parking lot, but he hoped that Rude’s evening had ended as as well has his had. The chick the other rookie had been talking to had been pretty hot.

But he’d have to wait until tomorrow to find out. Right now, he had more immediate concerns.

He’d nearly resigned himself to walking through the front door and taking whatever punishment was coming when a thought suddenly occurred to him. If Tseng really was sitting there waiting for him… then he wasn’t in his bedroom. And if he wasn’t in his bedroom, the teenager might still have a chance at saving his ass after all. Assuming, of course, that one of those windows happened to be unlocked.

Reno grinned to himself and slipped around front to peer through a small gap in the curtains. The senior Turk was, indeed, seated in his favorite chair, calmly reading a book. There was only one reason he’d be up this late… and that was to catch his rookie breaking curfew. The redhead smirked…

“Not gonna make it that easy for ya, Boss…” he snickered softly, and hightailed it around to the east wall of the building, easily finding his way to one of Tseng’s windows in the darkness. He tried to open it, but was met with resistance. Shaking his head, he moved on to the other window, and laughed softly at his good luck. Not only was it unlocked… it was open a crack to let in the cool night air. He slowly raised it just far enough to climb through, careful not to make a sound, and hoisted himself up and over the sill.

Just when he thought he was free and clear, a heavy hand clamped down on the back of his t-shirt, roughly dragging him backwards and throwing him to the ground.

“Hands where I can see ’em!” a voice ordered, and Reno’s eyes widened slightly as he suddenly found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. His eyes then locked onto the badge on his assailant’s chest, and the redhead groaned. He slowly lifted his hands.

“Uh… heh… I know this probably looks pretty bad from where you’re standin’… but I swear it’s not what it looks like…”

“Hands above your head, and roll over onto your stomach,” the police officer replied.

“Seriously, man… I wasn’t breakin’ in!” Reno protested even as he complied with the officer’s command. “I mean… I guess, ya know… technically… I was. But I wasn’t! I fuckin’ live here!”

His arms were unceremoniously seized and forced behind his back, and a pair of handcuffs snapped into place, securing them there.

“Got any ID on you to prove that?”

“… Uh…” the redhead stammered, remembering that he’d left his company credentials in his bedroom. All he had on him at the moment was his fake ID that claimed he was twenty-two years old and named Devron Inaris. Somehow he didn’t think showing that to a cop was going to get him out of trouble.

“Mmhmm… That’s what I thought,” the officer replied, hoisting the rookie Turk to his feet. He began prodding him toward his patrol car.

“W-wait! I’m not lyin’… Just go knock on the door! My… guardian…” he sighed softly, feeling decidedly babyish referring to Tseng as such, “… is inside. He’ll vouch for me.”

“Oh, he will, will he? Let’s just go and see about that.” With that, Reno found himself being marched around to the front and up the walkway to the door. The officer knocked loudly, and the young Turk shuffled in apprehension. Tseng wasn’t exactly gonna be happy about this… but, he supposed, it was better than spending the night in jail. The door opened a crack and his mentor peered out, looking distinctly displeased.

“Yes?” he answered.

“I’m sorry to bother you so late, sir… But I caught this young man attempting to break into your apartment through one of the back windows. The boy claims he lives here and that you’re his guardian.”

Tseng’s attention shifted almost imperceptibly to the redhead, and for a brief moment Reno was absolutely certain he saw him smirk.

“I’ve never seen him before in my life,” Tseng said, calmly, and Reno’s jaw dropped.

“I thought that might be the case,” the officer said, with a tip of his hat, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this little miscreant. You have yourself a good night, sir. And be sure to lock those windows.”

“B-but… I… hey, wait!” Reno sputtered, as he was dragged off towards the patrol car. He was quickly installed in the back seat, and the door slammed shut, trapping him. He turned toward the apartment, where his mentor still stood in the doorway, watching him, and saw him remove his PHS from a pocket, typing something into it briefly, before tucking it away and stepping back inside.

A moment later, Reno’s own phone chimed in his pocket. The police officer climbed into the driver’s seat, and started the engine. As they were pulling out of the parking lot, the redhead finally managed to maneuver the device out of his back pocket and open up the text message. He was forced to bite back several curses as he read it.

“Next time, don’t miss curfew. I’ll see you in the morning.”

~end chapter 25~