Machine Gun

By: Atomic Kokoro

Storyline

Reno is ambushed and when he wakes up, he finds he being trafficked into slavery. A man named Jock "buys" him and tell him Reno will be used to work in a machine gun factory.

Before You Read

Originally on dA but written by yours truly. Enjoy...I guess...

…

Chapter 1

Reno should have followed his instinct. The second he was asked to follow the man into the alleyway, he should've known something was wrong. Very wrong. Warning lights going off in his head. All the bells and whistles.

He ignored them, however, thinking, What can one man do to me? He learned that day that one man who planned much usually wasn't alone.

As soon as he turned the corner, someone jumped him from behind, wrapping a sweet-smelling cloth around his mouth, chloroform-soaked, and holding it in place long enough for Reno to pass out.

...

When the boy woke from his sleep, the first thing he discovered was that he was unable to see. Then, unable to talk. The chloroform dazed his senses severely and it was difficult to move as well.

Am I dead? one part of him asked. No. It's gotta be late at night. Go back to sleep, one confused part of him insisted. Do I smell cotton candy? a really confused part of him, probably his stomach, squealed excitedly.

Had he been kidnapped? Of course, Tools. Cause strangers like to knock out little kids as a fun little prank to pull, Reno hissed to himself, realizing he had just given himself a new mental nickname.

Reno struggled a bit, trying to break free of his binds. He almost had it. Then, some wailed into the side of his eye so hard, he was surprised his neck didn't snap.

The injury throbbed painfully. He slowly brought himself back right and shook his head to try and fade the daze. "W-who are you?" he asked, his voice barely working due to the chloroform left over in his system.

"Why does it matter? You won't be here long anyway," replied the voice. "Stop struggling so I don't have to hit you. It would be a shame if you were in bad condition when you went up there."

Up there? Up where? "W-What? Up where?"

"You'll see," the voice chuckled mercilessly. "I wonder if sensory torment will affect you're physical appearance?"

Reno shook his head, unsure of what the man meant...assuming his captor was a man. "What does my appearance have to do with anything?"

"I said you'll see," the man growled, sounding aggravated now. "Now shut up and wait. You won't have to wait long." There was silence for a moment and the man spoke again. "Yes. Not long at all. You're next. Let's go."

The man grabbed Reno by the arm and dragged him up two or three stairs. Reno stumbled a bit, trying to regain his balance while walking until he was stopped. The man tugged on something behind his head and suddenly he could see. Well, white and black spots at the least.

Everything was blurry and his hearing was fuzzy. There was lots of talking, the word "thousand" popping up over and over. He continously adjusted his eyes until he could see outlines and details. Everything came to him so clearly.

A part of that everything was shock.

Reno squinted his eyes in slight confusion and anger, trying to search for the word he was thinking of. T-trafficking? Yes, that was the word. He could began to struggle against his bounds again.

"Hey, hey!" the man hissed. "Settle down."

"What's going on?" Reno demanded, the chloroform completely worn off. "What are you doing? Let me go!"

The man grabbed the rope that tied Reno's fists together and held tightly. "Settle down and relax. Nothing bad will happen unless you fight us."

"Yeah? Yeah!" Reno started, pulling this way and that, occasionally pushing back and pulling forward again. "Something bad will happen unless you let me go!" The man pulled something from his pocket and tried to seduce Reno with another chloroform-soaked rag. "Hey! Hey, no!"

Reno slammed his back against the man's chest, knocking the air from both their lungs and sending the man flying back. Reno caught a whiff of the chloroform and his body threatened to give way. Enough chemicals. One more sniff and he would out for hours.

The ropes were already loose and were broke in a matter of seconds. Reno glanced up, surprised to find that no one had moved to stop him. He chuckled, finding his escape much easier than expected. "Thank you, thank you! You've been an amazing audience, but every performer has his exit. And mine...?"

Being a robot circus performer, entrances and exits were everything to Reno. He jumped into the air and grabbed a pole, swinging around and around until he found enough momentum to leap into the air and onto a ledge which lead him to the roof.

"Fifty million," one man said, adjusting his dark sunglasses. No one objected.

Back on the roof, Reno laughing and dusting his hands off. "Stupid people." He walked over to the edge of the roof. All relief was lost. "W-what?" As far as the eye could see was barren wasteland. Nothing but sand and dirt. "O-oh, no."

He turned and ran to the other side of the roof and gasped. Again. The same scene. All around the building. Even if he did manage to get off the roof, he wouldn't know where to go or how to get there or how close the closest city was. He could die out there.

How long had he been missing? Was there satellite around there somewhere? Reno looked down at the small communication device clipped to his jacket. He clicked it and called into it. "H-hello? Anyone? Can anyone here me? Hey. Hey! I need help. I don't know where I am! These guys...they're after me!"

There was nothing but static. No help. Not for miles. He was as good as dead. Or sold. He backed up fearfully, only to bump into the chest of the man he had knocked over. The man grabbed him roughly by the arm and placed one hand around his mouth. It still smelled of chloroform and Reno was sure he was going to faint.

The man dragged the screaming and kicking boy back inside, whispering into his ear, "I would beat you if you weren't such a high price."

High price? Oh, no. It had happened. He'd been "sold". Into what? Slavery? Prostitution? Both of them were terrible. Was there anything else to be "sold" into?

The man tossed Reno to the ground and walked away. Reno got to his knees and glared revengefully at the man. He looked back down and noticed a pair of shoes. He glanced at them and his eyes trailed up the rest of the person. He blinked and slowly backed away still on his hands and knees.

This person reached forward, grasped the boy's shoulder, and pulled him close to his face. "I'm Jock," the man growled. "You'll address me as Sir."

Reno rolled his eyes. He knew where this was going. As soon as he got into a city, he was as good as gold and as gone as the wind. "Yeah. Sure," he replied.

Jock backhanded Reno and shook the boy roughly. "'Yes, sir,'" he demanded. "Say it!"

Reno spit in the man's face. "You don't scare me. I've been through worse," he taunted. It was half-true. He wasn't that scared of Jock and being captured by Zade wasn't any walk in the park. Heck, growing up as a Robot-fake earned disrespect from every single person that wasn't his family; humans and robots alike.

"We'll see about that," the man growled, pulling the reluctant Reno outside. Reno refused to go anywhere. No, he wasn't going easily. Giving people a hard time was a past-time of his. All his life. "Come on. Come on."

Jock pulled Reno into the back of the large van and shut the door. Reno pulled on the door handle and tried to open the door but the door remained shut. It was locked from the outside. He wouldn't be able to escape that way.

He folded his arms and sank back into the corner. Jock started the van and drove away from...whatever that place was. Half an hour of silence blossomed in the van. "What for?" Reno said finally.

"What for what?" Jock asked.

"What do you want me for?"

Jock was quiet for a moment, as if he was still deciding. "I don't know," he said after a moment.

"You don't know?" Reno repeated. "If your gonna spend a lot of money, I don't know how much but, if you're going to spend a lot of money, I have to have some use...right?"

Jock agreed. "You used to work at the Ministry of Science, am I wrong?"

Reno glanced up at the man in shock. "How do you know that?" he demanded.

"They announced it. I suppose they found an I.D card on you or something."

Reno was quiet for a moment. "Yeah," he said. "I'm a robotics engineer. I'm still in school, yeah, but I'm still pretty good."

Jock nodded. "So, where'd you learn the moves?"

"Huh?"

"You know. The flips and tricks you decided to perform for us."

Reno 'oh'ed in understanding. "For the first eleven years of my life, I was in the robot circus. Abandoned by my real parents at a young age, so these performers, you know, adopted me."

Jock chuckled. "Are you good at what you do? Both the performance and the engineering?"

"Yeah," Reno said. "I can patch Astro up when I need to."

"Astro...you mean the robot kid, right?"

Reno nodded. "Yeah. I live under the same roof as him. I guess you can say he's my brother. We both have the same guardian."

Jock coughed. "You're kidding."

Reno suddenly smiled, realizing he could use this to his advantage. "No, I'm not kidding. He can find me. He'll come and get me. And you'll be arrested." Jock said nothing then Reno sighed. "Why am I telling you my life story?"

Jock chuckled. "I can't decide what to use you for yet. I need to know what your good at. I assume you're no good at cooking." Reno rolled his eyes. "You can fix stuff, I guess. You won't get along with the others, though. Too much...spirit."

"Others?"

"Of course. I couldn't run a machine gun factory without spending tons of money every week, right?"

Reno felt sick. "How much is tons of money?" he whispered.

"About five hundred million."

Reno felt really sick. If people got paid that much to make one machine gun, he could only imagine labor of those who actually made it. "Are you the only one running it?"

Jock laughed. "Of course not. They're the others that you won't get along with. They won't like you. They'll try and break you."

So much for the 'good as gold and gone as the wind' scheme. Escaping may have been tougher then expected. If it was an illegal machine gun factory, it would be placed somewhere far from civilization. "Are there...slaves there?"

"Yeah. And you'll be joining them."

It was then Reno got sick. The windows wouldn't open so he was stuck with throwing up all over the floor of the van. A mixture of vomit, spit, tears, and sweat trilled between his knees as he held his stomach.

He had been sold into slavery.