Work Text:
It had been a trap, a well laid, well-planned trap that Reno had fallen into like a sucker. The attackers had struck Reno in the head several times, successfully dazing Reno and causing him to lose his senses. As Reno came to awareness he took in as much as he could as fast as he could, he was almost certainly still in the slums. The room was some sort of all cold storage with empty metal shelving lining the walls. Several grates lined the top of the walls where cold air was once pumped into the room.
The big man stomped on Reno’s ribs causing him to groan in pain and curl up to try and protect himself, but there was a crack as a rib was broken. A kick was aimed at Reno’s side eliciting a cry from Reno. A blow to the head had Reno’s vision blurring and stars shimmering before his eyes. The Turk tried to kick out but the move was clumsy as he was dazed by the blow to his head.
The big man dragged Reno up and onto a plastic and metal chair. The zip ties were removed from Reno’s wrists and he was bound to the chairs by the wrists and the ankles with red rope. As the big man finished securing Reno’s wrists he landed a blow in Reno’s gut chasing the air from his lungs and leaving him lurching forward and gasping.
“We know that you are a Turk,” the big man said his weathered face too close to Reno’s for comfort. Reno could smell garlic and meat on the man’s breath causing Reno to gag and grimace.
“No shit,” Reno said, turning his face away to escape the smell, “What gave me away? My suit? My ID badge? It ain’t exactly a secret.”
The big man stepped back. “As a Turk you would be privvy to many of ShinRa’s secrets and classified information.”
Reno rolled his eyes. “And? You’re just telling me what I know.”
“You will tell me about ShinRa’s new weapon,” the big man said, “the mako-gun that they are developing.”
“Why would I know anything about that?” Reno met the kidnapper’s eyes and glared. “Not sure if you noticed, but I am part of Administrative Research, not Weapon’s Development.” Of course, he knew about the gun. He and Rude had transported parts from Junon to Midgar three weeks earlier. But Reno was not about to tell anyone that, playing dumb was one of his strong suits and had gotten him far through the years.
The kidnapper’s weathered face was back in front of Reno’s, his body odour, nervous sweat and cheap deodorant, invaded Reno’s nostrils. “You’re a Turk. You know the secrets of ShinRa.” The man spoke with a facade of confidence, secure in his certainty that Reno had the information he wanted but also frustrated that Reno was not forthcoming. “So tell me about this mako-gun.”
Spittle flew from the man’s mouth and landed on Reno’s cheek, in disgust the redhead turned and rubbed his cheek against his shoulder. With a glare Reno jerked up and spat into the face of his captor. The backhand it earned him was well worth it.
“ShinRa snake!”
Reno’s face was numb where he was struck and the feeling radiated from his cheek and along his jaw. But the anger and disgust on the face of his captor was worth it. Smirking Reno met the man’s eyes.
“I bite too,” Reno warned, “you ain’t gettin’ anything from me.” Another backhand was delivered causing Reno’s ears to ring.
“We’ll see about that, snake.” The man stepped back before looking over his shoulder at the other man who was in the room. This man was skinny with a drawn wrinkling face, but his clothes told Reno a story of wealth. Not great wealth, certainly nothing like ShinRa, but enough wealth. This man was the boss, Reno knew now that this man controlled the meathead, and likely every other man standing outside the old cool room where Reno was bound.
The skinny man leaned down and took Reno’s chin in his hand. “Don’t spit little snake, listen to what I have to say.”
Reno did not spit, but not because of the man’s order, his ears were still ringing and there was a slight blur to his vision, Reno’s jaw was numb and aching and he was unsure if he could speak or spit. He blinked at the skinny man trying to properly focus his gaze.
“We have been watching this project for a long time. I know parts were transported from Junon and I know that it was you who piloted the chopper.” The skinny man was looking into Reno’s eyes, looking for weakness or a flicker of fear, Reno would not give the man anything. The grip on his chin tightened and the man tilted Reno’s head back. “You will tell me what I want to know, snake, even if I have to start pulling teeth and fingernails.” The threat meant nothing to Reno, he had heard it all before, empty threats, or maybe not empty threats. It did not matter, it would take more to break a Turk.
The skinny man let go of Reno’s chin, but he was too slow in withdrawing his hand. Reno lurched forward in the seat and sank his teeth into the man’s hand biting as hard as he could. It was disgusting and part of Reno regretted the action as soon as he did it, but like an attack hound he did not let up until the big man smacked him several times in the head. The sound of shouting and the taste of blood on Reno’s tongue was more than satisfying. He smirked looking at the skinny man who was clutching his bleeding hand.
“That’s my answer to your questions. Hiss, hiss, bitch.” The punch to the face was worth it, and Reno did not stop smirking even as his face burned and throbbed.
It seemed that Reno was successful in getting his message across, the next thing he knew a gag was being forced behind his teeth. It was hard and sat a-top his tongue pushing it to the bottom of his mouth. Immediately, saliva began to build in Reno’s mouth. Even around the gag, Reno smirked at the two men.
“We will give you some time to think about all of this,” The skinny man said, nodding to his companion before leading the way out. The door to the coolroom closed behind them and Reno heard the lock move into place on the outside.
Three deep breaths and Reno started to work on the bonds around his wrists, they were tight but bound over his sleeves giving Reno something to work with. He twisted and turned in the bonds if he was not gagged, Reno would have used his teeth to pull at the sleeves. Twisting and pulling Reno finally started to feel his sleeves shifting and pulling upwards. Finally, the left wrist was exposed. Reno paused in his work to take a breath, had to keep his wits about him, he strained his ears and listened for any indication of what was going on outside the cool room. But he heard nothing.
‘Right, head in the game, Turk,’ Reno thought to himself, wiping the drool from his chin onto his shoulder.
He stretched his thumb to his pinkie finger and pulled his index, middle and ring finger close together and pulled upwards. The rope met the back of the chair and could not travel any further. Reno winced as he pulled hard. His fingers rubbed harshly against the ropes as he pulled but Reno did not stop pulling as slowly felt the ropes sliding along his hand. It rubbed and burned against his skin but Reno did not stop pulling until his hand was free. He turned and with his free hand started untying the right wrist. The red ropes were just falling away within a moment. A grinding outside warned Reno that his captors were coming back. Reno sprung to his feet pulling the chair up allowing the ropes to slip free of the chair legs. He did not have time to remove the ropes from his ankles or the gag.
Reno ran across the cool room and pressed his back next to the wall by the doorway just as it was pushed open. Reno reached out and grabbed the skinny man dragging him into the cool room. Reno slammed the man’s head against the wall repeatedly until the white wall was covered in crimson blood. Before the big man could grab him, Reno ducked and dived past him. The redhead twisted around and kicked the big man’s knee. There was a satisfying crunch as the man went down with a scream.
The room Reno had come out into was an old kitchen with metal benches covered in dust and grime, there was a deep fryer still filled with oil to one side, dead flies and rats suspended in the liquid. Six men had been standing around one of the metal benches, they came to alertness as the big man screamed.
Reno fancied himself a good fighter, but even he knew that the odds were not that great. With no time to loosen the gag off Reno threw himself into the fight. He swung and kicked with precision that came from years of discipline and training as a Turk, but even with his skills and training Reno was sore from his beatings. Reno grabbed the hair of the man he was fighting and tossed him over the lip and into the oil pit of the deep fryer.
The air cracked as a gun fired and Reno dropped to the ground looking for the source. To his relief Tseng and Rude had entered the kitchen. The room filled with the smell of gunpowder and the ear shattering sounds of gunfire. But within a few seconds it was all over. The six men in the kitchen were dead, the big man was laying on the ground moaning softly. The skinny man, Reno could not see.
While Tseng moved forward and cautiously inspected the area, Rude came to Reno and quickly reached around to release the gag before carefully pulling it out from between the redhead’s teeth.
“You alright, partner?”
Reno worked his jaw a couple of times and wiped the drool from his chin. “Yeah, just a bit battered and worse for wear.” Reno wrapped an arm around Rude’s shoulder and let the other man pull him to his feet.
The big man started shouting out by the door to the cool room as Tseng pressed the barrel of his gun to his temple.
“No! No! I told you everything!” The man tried to get up only to be pushed back down from Tseng.
“I know you did, now I have no further use for you.” Tseng fired two shots into the man’s temple blasting brain matter against the yellow-white door to the cool room.
Reno groaned softly walking towards Tseng. “The other one in there might still be alive.”
Tseng’s only response was to step into the cool room and fired off the last two shots in his gun. Without a word the man turned and made his way towards the door.
Limping and with Rude by his side, Reno left the kitchen. He would have to talk about what had happened and what had gone wrong on his mission. But hopefully, Tseng would let him have a few hours off to sleep and nurse his wounds.