The teenage boy spat his cigarette onto the ground and stepped on it with his shoe, grounding it into the dirt. His spiky red hair had been shoved into a ponytail, with some of the front bits sticking over his blue eyes. He stared at the door in front of him and then grinned, shoving it open and walking inside like he owned the place.
The room was crowded. People everywhere shoved past each other in order to move around and get to their own tables. They all chatted with their friends and laughter was the loudest thing that the teenage boy could hear above the talk.
He was at his first bar.
He was under age.
And he couldn't care less.
Making his way over to the front of the room, he managed to fit right in with the crowd as he shoved some people out of his way and shot dirty looks at people who refused to move. He sat on a stool at the bench and slammed his fist down, demanding attention from the bartender.
"What d'ya want?" The bartender drawled, raising an eyebrow at the scrawny kid perched on the stool.
"Something strong, yo." The teenager said, shifting back on his seat slightly to get a better look at everyone else in the room. The bartender moved off to get him a drink and soon set something in front of him.
"You gonna b'come a regular here?" he asked.
"Sure am, yo." The teenager nodded once, still letting his eyes wander around the room. He was taking in everything; the people, the layout, the stench, the noise; everything he could sense he was cataloguing in his mind for future reference.
"You got a name with 'at face?" The bartender moved to hand another drink to someone else and then turned back, tilting his head and waiting for an answer.
"Reno." The red-head turned to look at the bartender finally, his blue eyes piercing through him with an unspoken warning. In that instant, the bartender knew it would be a bad idea to mess with this boy.
"Nice t' meet ya." The bartender said, choosing that moment to walk off and pay attention to some other customers. Reno watched him shuffle away awkwardly and then continued observing the room. He would need to know where the escape routes were too.
Picking up his drink, he took a sip. The liquid burned his throat as it went down and he frowned slightly in distaste. But he had told himself he would go through with this and he planned on keeping to his silent promise. So he sipped some more and ignored the feeling it gave him, continuing to watch as people went about their business in the bar.
He felt a bit like an intruder, and it made him feel smug. No one could kick him out, because honestly no one cared about under age people drinking nowadays. He was safe in here, and he could find out secrets that his friends weren't brave enough to.
The door to the bar opened again, and in an instant Reno had stood up and started heading to the back with his drink in his hand. His heart leapt with excitement as he sat down at an empty table in the back corner and watched what was happening.
The Turks that had entered did not look friendly. In fact, they had come in with their weapons out and were now talking to the bartender with solemn expressions. Reno noticed that the room had gone quiet. The only sound now was the murmur of voices at the front of the room and a few coughs from the people sitting down. Everyone seemed to be waiting to find out what was going on.
Then the voices grew louder and Reno managed to hear a few words.
"We know he's here."
Reno took another sip of his drink and leant forward slightly, interested in what was going on. Who were they looking for? Some other people had started whispering and a word that was spoken near him caught his attention. Avalanche.
"I don't know who yer talkin' 'bout." The bartender shook his head and glanced around the room nervously. The Turk right across from him reached out and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him off the ground and shoving their faces close together.
"Tell me where he is or I'll kill you." he threatened. The bartender struggled, his fear evident in his eyes as he glanced towards the door at the side of the room which lead into the other rooms of the building.
"I don't-"
The man yelped and jerked around as the Turk holding him shoved his Electro-Mag Rod into his side. Reno's eyes widened in interest. That thing looked cool. Where would he be able to get one? Surely some underground group would have some.
"Perhaps you'd like to try again." The Turk brought his weapon back and waited, ignoring the room full of people that were witnessing this horrible scene.
"He's... he's upstairs." the bartender whimpered, slumping to the ground as he was let go. The Turks instantly headed towards the door which the bartender had glanced at before, intent on finding whoever it was they were searching for.
Before they could get there, the door opened and a man stood there, an unconscious girl in his arms.
"There he is! Grab him!" The Turk at the front of the group ordered, rushing forward and trying to grab the man. He slipped past, managing to get beyond some of the tables before he had to stop because of the weight of the girl. He now had a fair amount of people in between himself and the Turks.
"Leave us alone!" he yelled, angry.
"You know we can't do that. We have to stop you." The main Turk said, slowly stepping towards him. "Unless you come willingly, everyone in this room will die." With a simple hand signal, two Turks headed to the exit door to block it off.
Reno watched as the shoulders of the man slumped slightly in defeat. Who was he? And who was the girl he was carrying?
"You'd kill innocent people..." the man mumbled, shaking his head sadly.
"Their lives are in your hands." the Turk said sincerely. He reached to the nearest person and pulled them up into standing, shoving his weapon near them to re-enforce his words with actions. Their eyes were wide with fear, staring at the man pleadingly but too frightened to speak unless the Turk decided to kill him on the spot.
"If I come, will you leave her alone?" the man asked.
"No promises." the Turk smirked.
The man closed his eyes momentarily, trying to gather some more strength. He glanced around again then, his gaze lingering on the doors and windows. Reno could tell instantly what he was considering.
"I won't let you hurt her." the man said finally.
"Then it's her life for all the ones in this room." the Turk slammed the Electro-Mag Rod into his victims head and then dropped him, only glancing down to step over the lifeless body.
Reno downed the rest of his drink in a single gulp, feeling the adrenaline rushing through his veins. He was not going to let these guys kill him. No way!
"You know, maybe you should just let 'em go, yo." Reno slowly rose to his feet, glaring at the Turk who was in charge. All eyes went to him and he smirked, reaching a hand up to push a bit of red hair back off his face.
"What's a kid doing in a bar?" the Turk asked, a look of disgust appearing on his face.
"Felt like it, yo." Reno replied, shrugging. "But let 'em go or you'll hafta go through me too."
The man holding the girl was also staring at Reno, his eyes wide in shock that this kid was sticking up for him. Or maybe he was just so scared that he wasn't thinking about what it was he was doing and just wanted to save himself. Then again, there was also the possibility that he was drunk, seeing as he was at a bar.
Reaching under his suit jacket, the Turk in charge pulled out a gun. Reno's eyes lit up as he saw the extra danger that had been added to the situation.
"You gonna put a hole through me, yo?" Reno chuckled.
"If I have to." the Turk said simply. Reno slowly began making his way towards him, his smirk remaining firm on his face.
"Ya know, I don't like that idea. 'Cause it ends with me dying, yo." He shrugged again and then paused, having made it all the way to the man's side without actually being shot yet.
"You're crazy, don't make him mad." the man begged, obviously not wanting anyone to get hurt.
"My life, my choice." Reno said. "Who are you anyway, yo? Why d' they want you?"
"He's a member of Avalanche." the Turk said for the man.
"Dude, he's got a tongue. Let him talk." Reno snapped. The Turk narrowed his eyes and took yet another step forward.
"He's right. I'm part of Avalanche." the man said softly.
"And her? Who's she?" Reno asked. The man shifted uncomfortably and Reno sighed, shaking his head. "Forget it." he said.
"She's from ShinRa. This man kidnapped her and won't give her back." the Turk said, again answering for the man.
"They were torturing her!" the man exclaimed.
"You had no business in it!" the Turk took more steps forward.
"She would've died if I hadn't gotten her out of there! You people disgust me!" the man spat the words out and Reno noticed a fire in his eyes that had been extinguished before light up again.
"Sickos." Reno mumbled.
"I'm seriously thinking about shooting you." the Turk warned.
"Go ahead! I don't care one bit, yo!" Reno raised his eyebrows in a challenge and the Turk tensed his jaw, taking aim. He was not going to be shown up by a kid!
"Sir, with all due respect." He turned angrily to look at who had spoken to him, and glared at the young bald man.
"What?" he snapped.
The bald man stepped forward. He couldn't be more than nineteen. "Would you like me to take him out for you?"
"Actually, I'd like to put a bullet through his head myself." the Turk replied angrily.
"Why don'tcha let baldy have a few minutes of fame, yo?" Reno chuckled again, staring at the bald man who was also staring at him.
"He takes orders from me." the Turk said.
"And you take orders from someone too. I don't really care, yo. Just let him have a go at me." Reno pressed on.
"Sir, I won't let you down." the bald man said.
"I'm not worried about that, you're the best man we've got!" the Turk said. "I just want to do it myself!"
"What, you're jealous? C'mon, just make your guys promise to say it was you, yo." Reno suggested, trying to be helpful. The Turk frowned and turned to the men standing right near him, whispering to them. Reno smirked and turned to the man beside him.
"What are you doing?" the man whispered.
"Gettin' you outta here, yo." Reno whispered back. "Now stop dawdling and get your butt over to that window. You'll have about five seconds."
"They'll see me." the man protested.
"I'll distract 'em." Reno said. "Just go."
The man glanced at the Turks again and then hurried over to the window, passing all the people who still sat at the tables.
"Hey! Stop him!" the main Turk fired a shot with his gun, but it connected with a plate that had been thrown at precisely the right moment, shattering in the air and raining down on the floor. Reno smirked and darted forward, another plate in his hand as he leapt at the Turk.
"Take this, yo!" he yelled as he smashed the plate over the man's head. He then jumped back and grabbed another object from a table, swinging his arm to throw it at another Turk. His arm stopped halfway, however, as it connected with someone's stomach. In that instant Reno thought he'd hit someone who'd simply been caught in the crossfire. Taking another look however, he was pleased to see that it was in fact the bald man.
"You should be more careful than that." Reno's happiness faded as he noticed the bald man seemed unaffected by the hit, and it disappeared altogether as his arm was twisted up behind him and his face was slammed down onto a table.
"Hey, let go!" Reno squirmed, trying to get free. The bald man was not letting go. "I'm just a kid! You win, yo!"
"I want him dead!" Brushing remains of the glass plate out of his hair, the Turk staggered over to them and shoved his gun against Reno's temple. "I want you dead. I'll have you dead. Do you hear me?"
Reno closed his eyes tightly, shuddering as the cold barrel of the gun was pressed harder against his head.
"He's just a kid."
"I want him dead!"
"He's just a kid."
"I'm gonna shoot him in the frickin' head!"
"He's a child. Like Liam."
Reno blinked his eyes open as he felt the gun leave his head, looking up at where the Turk was now staggering backwards, horror in his own eyes.
"My son... I was going to kill someone like my son..." he was muttering.
"You didn't." the bald man said.
"Shut up!" the Turk pointed a finger at his companion and then spun around, leaving the bar. The bald man allowed Reno to stand back up, but kept a firm hold on his arms.
"We'll take you back to ShinRa." he was saying. Reno blinked his eyes again and shook his head to clear his thoughts. What was going on? Why wasn't he dead? "They'll decide on your punishment then."
"Rude, hurry up!" The Turk's voice shouted from outside and the bald man pushed Reno out the door. "He's gonna be a Turk, Rude. Just like us."
"Sir?" Rude questioned, still holding Reno.
"If he hates us so much, then I'll have fun watching him hate himself. Come on!"
The Turks loaded up into their vehicle, with Rude sitting next to Reno in the back. Reno was still trying to figure out what was going on. Why was everything around him spinning?
Then he remembered the drink he'd had.
Oh great. Just great, yo. At the most crucial moment I gotta have the effects of my drink kick in so I can't even escape. Great, yo.
The last words that Reno heard while he was in the back of the truck were the words of the Turk he'd hit with a plate. "You seem to control him pretty well, Rude. He can be your partner."