Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 4: Arrival

“I… Packing? Now?” Reno asked, surprised by the suddenness that was expected of him.

Tseng nodded. “Yes. Now. Our ride will be here in twenty minutes. It takes five to get to the pickup site from here. That leaves you with fifteen and counting.”

“Uh… R-right. Yeah. Packing…” the teenager stammered. He looked around somewhat frantically before spotting his backpack hanging on the doorknob of the closet. There really wasn’t much he needed to pack. His clothes and a few small items that had some sentimental value. Really, that was about it. Tseng glanced at his watch, as Reno began dumping the better-looking contents of the closet and dresser drawers haphazardly into the bag. The stuff that was so ratty and worn that he didn’t even bother wearing it down here he ignored.

That done, he started grabbing the few other things he wanted. A picture of himself and Lira in a battered, cracked frame, his cigarettes and the remaining cash Tseng had given him… and of course – when Tseng had happened to glance down at his watch for a moment – Mr. Foo-foo. Silly as it was, he couldn’t bear to leave the little toy behind. It was too special to him.

A few other random odds and ends, and finally he zipped the now-bulging bag shut, frowning slightly as it occurred to him that the entirety of his life fit in such a small container. He shook the thought from his head and slung it over one shoulder, carrying it over to Tseng.

“Is that everything?” the Wutaiian asked, one eyebrow arching in what Reno could only assume was surprise. The redhead shrugged.

“Most of this shit was already here when I moved in. I don’t have much to pack.”

Tseng nodded, and ushered him out the door. Neither of them said a word as they made their way down the stairs and out into the street. Reno obediently followed the Turk as he led him down an alley, and out past the sector’s pillar. At last, they stopped in an open area near a toppled building.

“… So… H-how exactly are we gettin’ out of here again?” Reno asked, a little suspicious of this particular development. There was nothing of any particular interest out here. Certainly nothing that could take them topside. Tseng must have noticed his discomfort, because he chuckled quietly and pointed upwards.

Reno looked up and spotted… well, he wasn’t quite sure what he was looking at, at first. After a few moments, however, it became obvious, as the sound of rotor blades met his ears. He watched, slackjawed, as the helicopter descended and set down a short distance away, it’s blades churning the air and sending up a cloud of dust. Tseng placed his arm around Reno’s shoulders, guiding him forward and escorting him aboard.

The redhead looked around the inside with no small amount of interest. He’d seen Shinra’s copters from a distance a few times, but had never had an up-close look at one. And he’d certainly never been inside one before. Tseng pressed him down into one of the seats in the back and strapped him in before taking a seat himself across from him and pulling on a headset that hung on a hook beside him. He motioned for Reno to do that same.

“This will be a short trip, I’m afraid. I had hoped to show you a bit of the city while we were airborne, but unfortunately the weather isn’t being especially accommodating today,” he said, his voice taking on a strangely electronic quality over the intercom. If the pilot could hear them, he gave no indication of it. He simply directed the craft back into the air.

As they swung out from beneath the Plate, Reno saw what he meant. Dark, ominous clouds lined the horizon, and as they climbed, droplets of rain began to spatter the helicopter’s windows. As the edge of the Plate slipped past them, Reno found himself awestruck.

“Whoa…” he breathed as the city came into view. He’d lived under it all his life… but he’d never actually seen it in person. Seeing it on television was nothing like looking out over the real deal. Everything about Midgar was huge. The city was huge… The buildings were huge… Even the roadways, in comparison to the crumbling streets down below, seemed huge. It was beautiful. The copter swung low, skirting past the Number Two reactor and heading towards the city center.

“Back to the office, sir?” the pilot asked.

“No. Drop us off at the main Sector One station.”

“Yes, sir.”

They swept inward, away from the reactor, and Reno found himself gazing almost longingly at the city below. This was really happening. He still almost couldn’t believe it. The wind was picking up now, and the aircraft occasionally shuddered as it fought it. Lightning flashed in the distance, followed by a low rumble of thunder that the redhead felt more than heard. No wonder Tseng wasn’t taking him on a tour… it looked like Midgar was in for a storm.

It wasn’t long before they were hovering over a small helipad on top of what, Reno belatedly realized, was a train station. They descended, setting down again with a soft bump, and Tseng was quick to unclip his harness. Reno hurried to do the same, fumbling awkwardly with the unfamiliar hardware. After a few embarrassing seconds of struggling, the Turk’s hands calmly brushed his aside, and released him.

The redhead flushed slightly at needing help with something that ought to have been relatively simple, but Tseng was already moving again. He hurried to hang up his headset where he’d found it, and grabbed his bag, hopping out of the door close behind the Turk. Once they were clear, the helicopter lifted off again, leaving them behind.

“This way,” Tseng said, “Quickly, if you please… I have a feeling we’ll be getting rather wet if we linger too long.”

And indeed, almost as soon as they made it down the narrow staircase and into the station proper, the skies seemed to open up and pour a deluge of water down on the city. Reno jumped slightly as thunder crashed, louder than he could ever recall hearing it before.

“… Is it always like this up here when it rains?” he asked.

“Not usually… As I understand it, this is the remains of a small typhoon that struck near Costa del Sol over the weekend. We’re in for a day or two of this,” Tseng replied, somewhat sourly. “I should have retrieved you yesterday, before it hit. Midgar is far more impressive when it’s not being drowned.”

“Looked pretty fuckin’ impressive from where I was sittin’…”

Tseng didn’t comment, but the redhead was fairly certain he saw an amused smirk briefly flit across his face. The Turk led him through the throngs of people boarding and disembarking the trains as they pulled into the station. Reno’d thought Wall Market had been crowded. The redlight district had nothing on this place. Everywhere he looked, there were more people. Once or twice he came dangerously close to losing sight of Tseng in the crowd, and for a few panicked seconds had to rush to catch up… but finally, they emerged in a large parking deck.

“I have to admit, I’m impressed,” the Wutaiian commented as the door swung shut, blocking out the noise of the crowds. “Usually when I take a new recruit through there like that, I lose them within the first hundred yards or so.”

Reno stood speechless for a moment as he realized that the little game of chase he’d just been forced into playing had been done on purpose. His eyes narrowed as he went to voice his annoyance, but Tseng cut him off.

“Don’t take it personally. I was only curious to see if you could keep up… and you may as well get used to being evaluated early on. There will be a lot of it in the near future.”

He opened the passenger side door of the sleek, black sports car they’d found themselves standing beside, and motioned the teenager inside. Reno’s previous complaints were quickly forgotten.

“… Do I get one of these?” he asked, hopefully, as he climbed inside. Tseng smirked.

“No. My car is one of a kind.”

He shut the door before Reno could say anything further, and circled around to the other side, letting himself in and taking a seat behind the wheel. He started the engine, and the next thing Reno knew, they were tearing through the city streets as the rain pelted the windshield. The redhead unconsciously tightened his grip on the armrest, vaguely terrified by the breakneck speeds. He glanced over at the Turk, who appear to be perfectly calm as the buildings whizzed by. He was beginning to think that ‘calm’ must have been Tseng’s default state, and wondered briefly what it would take to piss him off. He quickly decided that he probably didn’t want to find out.

The rain was coming down steadily now, and Reno found himself growing used to the speed of the car – enough to switch his gaze from the next potential hazard in the road to the sight of the torrents falling from the sky. It didn’t rain in the slums. Occasionally it flooded… but that wasn’t quite the same thing. The rain was oddly calming.

Lightning lit up the sky again, and a loud crash of thunder shook the city. The rain was nice… but that he could kind of do without.

“I suppose that now would be a good time to introduce myself properly,” Tseng said as they cruised through the streets… at a slightly slower pace now, and Reno couldn’t help but think that the initial wild ride was another of the man’s ‘evaluations’. “My name is Tseng Itsudake and I am second in command of Shinra’s Turks. As such, I am largely responsible for the training and care of all new recruits. It’s my job to monitor your progress and ensure that your immediate needs are met.”

“Second in command? So… then who’s in charge of you?” Reno asked.

“That would be Veld. You’ll be meeting him tomorrow, along with anyone else not currently out of the city on assignment. He answers to the head of our department, Heidegger. You probably won’t be meeting him tomorrow. He generally only makes an appearance when he’s particularly annoyed with us. Heidegger is a member of the company board of directors, and answers exclusively to the President and Vice President.”

“So basically you’re sayin’ he’s someone I should avoid pissin’ off at all costs,” the redhead said, easily reading between the lines.

“It would certainly be to everyone’s benefit.”

Several more blocks passed by in silence as Reno tried to get his bearings. By then, though, he’d thoroughly lost track of where he was, having only a vague idea of which direction the train station was in. He hoped the next evaluation Tseng decided to spring on him wasn’t going to involve navigating the city… because he was fairly certain that if he had to attempt that on his own right now, he’d wind up on a whole other continent somehow.

Which brought another point to the forefront of this mind. What, exactly, would happen if he failed one of those evaluations? Tseng had said that most recruits didn’t do so well at the station… Did that mean that they got another chance if they fucked up? Or was this his way of weeding out the weak before they got to be a problem? If he failed, would he be booted back down to the slums?

The thought unsettled him. As soon as people figured out his place was empty, someone would snatch it up. And Wilfred… The guy was pretty forgiving, but he hadn’t even had the chance to tell him that he wouldn’t be coming in to work tonight… or ever… which pretty much meant his job, meager though the pay may have been, was gone. Where exactly was he going to go if he didn’t measure up?

“Reno?”

The redhead jumped, startled out of his thoughts, and noticed that the car had stopped. His head swiveled around to look at Tseng, questioningly, and was met with an amused expression.

“We’re here,” he said. He reached behind the seat and found an umbrella before climbing out of the car. Reno looked up at the large building a short distance away. Where was ‘here’, he wondered, taking in the surroundings and realizing a moment later that ‘here’ was apparently where Tseng lived. His door was opened and Tseng sheltered him beneath the umbrella as he got out, clutching his backpack to his chest.

“This is all yours?” Reno asked faintly. Being a Turk really had to pay well if the guy could afford all this. Tseng chuckled and placed a hand between his shoulder blades, urging him forward.

“Only the first floor,” he replied, “Come on. I’d prefer not to be soaked.”

He ushered the teenager up the walkway and unlocked the front door, showing him inside. Reno hesitated just inside, eyes roving the living room.

“Shoes off, if you wouldn’t mine. Then you may make yourself at home.”

The redhead obediently toed the worn sneakers off of his feet and nudged them over to the side of the entryway before daring to set foot on the carpeted interior. He let his bag drop from his fingertips next to the couch, and took a seat, glancing back at Tseng again, uncertain of what exactly was expected of him. ‘Make yourself at home’ was pretty vague, after all. Besides which… he wasn’t at home. And the last thing he wanted right now was to do something that would immediately put himself on Tseng’s shitlist.

The Turk took a seat in a plush armchair a few feet away.

“Tomorrow I’ll be officially introducing you at headquarters. But for today… we’ll simply go over what is expected of you, and then you’re free to settle in and relax for short while. Once we get a break in this storm, I think a quick lunch is in order, as well as a little shopping. You’ll need proper attire for your first day.”

Reno felt some of the tension in his body ease a little and nodded his understanding. He didn’t have to figure out how not to fuck up on his own. Tseng was going to tell him. He could handle that.

“First and foremost… You’re still a minor. That particular detail may have little significance in the Slums but on the Plate, it means that you require a legal guardian until your eighteenth birthday. As you’re to be under the command of the Turks, you’ve been named a ward of Shinra Company, with the immediate responsibility for your welfare falling to me,” the Turk lieutenant explained, “It also means that you will be staying here with me for the time being. We’ll see to getting you your own apartment in a few months, once you’re a bit more acclimated to life on the Plate.”

The redhead nodded again and tried to conceal his surprise at that revelation. He hadn’t expected to be so… taken care of… for lack of a better phase.

“As we will be living together for awhile, there are a few rules I expect you to follow. And you will be punished accordingly should you break them. I trust that’s clear?”

“Yeah… Got it,” Reno replied, sounding somewhat resigned. He knew there’d be a catch. Sounded like he was going to find out what it was at last.

“Rule one… What I say goes, both on duty and off. If I tell you to do something… or not to do something, for that matter… I expect you to obey, and to do so without complaint.”

That seemed a little excessive… at first, anyway. Until Reno remembered that he was up here to work… not to fuck around. From what he knew of the Turks, they were professionals. And if he was going to be one, he’d be expected to act like one. He finally nodded.

“Rule two… You may do as you please, within reason, on personal time, but you will return home no later than ten p.m., or have an overwhelmingly good excuse as to why you failed to do so,” Tseng continued at his acknowledgment.

“… What would you consider an ‘overwhelmingly good excuse’?” Reno queried, with the faintest hint of challenge in his voice. He was used to doing what he wanted, when he wanted… for the most part, at any rate. That was going to be a hell of a change to get used to.

“Things beyond your control. A power outage on the trains… An injury that requires immediate medical care… Being stranded at some other location due to weather. I’m sure you’ll be able to figure out what does and does not constitute an acceptable excuse.”

“So… I’m guessin’ bein’ out drinkin’ and not wantin’ to leave yet isn’t gonna cut it.”

“You guess correctly. Which brings up rule three,” he said, smiling somewhat evilly, and Reno visibly cringed. What in the nine hells was he going to do if Tseng said no drinking? Or worse… no smoking? Or even worse than that… no sex?!

“And no… I am not prohibiting you from indulging in your vices,” Tseng allowed… but only after a lengthy pause that the redhead was utterly certain was intended to make him think the worst. It had worked. “I do, however, expect you to do so with some level of responsibility. I trust you know your own limits. I will not tolerate you showing up at work hungover, nor is drinking while on duty permitted. I should also point out that bars on the Plate and the city police are not nearly as tolerant of underage drinking as you’re likely used to. Should I have to retrieve you from the police station for that, or any other offense… I will not be pleased.”

“Heh… Understood,” he said, decidedly relieved that his new legal guardian wasn’t banning him from alcohol. “Uh… what about smokin’?”

“Not inside the apartment, and it’s also universally banned inside the Shinra Building as a matter of company policy. Otherwise, though I discourage it, it’s entirely your choice. And though from what I’ve been able to observe, you don’t use… as long as we’re on the subject of prohibited substances, I will impress upon you that the Turks strictly forbid the use of recreational drugs unless it is a matter of maintaining cover on a mission.”

Reno shook his head. “Trust me… I’m not about to get into that shit. I’ve seen what it does to people.”

“Good. Then I suppose that just leaves a few minor house rules. Clean up after yourself, no guests without my permission… and if you value your life, don’t touch my car.”

Reno pulled his knees against his chest, making himself more comfortable on the couch and laughed at that last bit. Tseng, however, let a cool smile creep over his face.

“That wasn’t a joke.” Reno’s laughter very quickly subsided… and Tseng smirked as he stood up. “Come with me, and bring your things. I’ll show you your room next.”

He followed the Turk across the large living room and into a short hallway near the kitchen. Tseng opened a door and gestured for Reno to go in. He grinned widely at the sight that met him. The walls were painted a cool, light gray, and a ceiling fan spun lazily above the bed. The bed was neatly made, and the room itself was spotless. There was a small television on the dresser, and two long, narrow windows looked out over a small park behind the building.

“You’ll find the bathroom and linen closet down the hall, and my own room at the far end. Why don’t take some time to unpack and settle in, while I see if this storm is going to let up a bit in the near future?”

“… ‘kay…” Reno replied, his attention more focused on the room than the Turk. Tseng left him on his own, shutting the door as he withdrew, and Reno set his bag down on the end of the bed. This was by far the nicest place he’d ever been allowed into… and somehow, it was his.

~end chapter 4~