The Darkness Inside Me (unfinished)

“Ok motherfucker, you’re gonna tell me who the fuck you work for,” Reno said, towering over a bloodied man in a chair, before picking up his electro-mag rod and immediately slamming it into the man’s nose. “Or, I’m gonna shove the bone shards I just broke up to your fucking brain. Your choice, bitch.”

The man in the chair whimpered, blood pouring out his nose and down his face.

“You’ve got a fucking time limit buddy. If I hit one before you answer, you won’t fucking like it, yo.” Reno told the man, as he started to count down. “Five.”

The man in the chair struggled against the rope.

“Four.”

“Please! I don’t know anything!” The man in the chair begged.

“Three.” Reno grabbed the man’s hair and yanked his head back, hard.

The man in the chair tried to keep himself from screaming.

“Two.” Reno looked down at the man with a sick smile, obviously enjoying this.

“Ok, that’s enough.” Tseng’s voice rang out through the speaker in the room, and the lights in the room were flicked on from some outside source.

“Aw, come on, boss! I was just starting to have fun, yo.” Reno complained.

“We still have three other recruits to put through torture training, Reno. Let’s leave at least one of them in one piece, shall we?” Tseng said through the speaker. “Help him out of the room.”

Reno rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, boss. I got you.” He said as he started to untie the knots that secured the man to the chair.

“I didn’t expect that to be that intense.” The man said. Reno looked at him like he was an idiot.

“First of all, it’s torture training. We ain’t exactly trying to hide what you’re gonna be going through, yo. Second of all, you don’t get to fucking talk to me until you make it through everything and have real fuckin name, Gun.” Reno spat out at the man. “Now get the fuck out of my sight, you stupid bitch.”

The man all but ran out of the room, not risking the legendary wrath of the redhead. Sure, maybe the general public didn’t know much about the Turks outside legend, but if you were recruited, the two people you knew were Tseng and Reno.

Tseng was well known in ShinRa in general, he was level-headed, smart and good at his job. It didn’t hurt that he was a little scary, but that worked out in his favor as the head of the Turks. No, everyone knew the one who would really fuck you up was the tiny redhead who always stood behind Tseng with a mean smirk. Where Tseng was level-headed, Reno was chaotic. Tseng might be terrifying because he was imposing and quiet, but Reno was loud and brash, and just as likely to break your fingers as he was to say hello.

Reno had a carefully cultivated reputation, earning himself the whispered titles of ShinRa Sanctioned Torturer and Marquis de Sade. He was good at his job, completing missions with high success levels and trail of bodies, and he would brag about it to anyone he could.

No one was quite sure how Tseng was able to keep Reno in control. Some said that the only thing Reno was afraid was death, and that’s exactly what Tseng could give him. Other said he played nice so he could keep fucking people up for pay. If you asked Reno’s partner, Rude, it was mutual respect. No one really believed that answer, but Rude was imposing enough that no one would question it.

The only thing people could get a straight answer on was that Tseng held Reno on a very long leash, and was the only person who could restrain him, and they should all be lucky for that.

“You said three more, boss?” Reno asked the empty room.

“Correct.” Tseng answered from over the loudspeaker.

“So you don’t want anymore broken bones? Fuckin’ boring, yo. I don’t know any self respecting person who wouldn’t break someone’s bones during an interrogation.”

Reno could hear Tseng sigh over the intercom.

“I mean hey, boss, isn’t this supposed to be realistic?” Reno asked, hoping that by pushing the question Tseng would give in, and let him do a little more damage.

“It’s barely their second week. Do we want body bags already?” Tseng asked, knowing that the more Reno pushed the trainees now, the more likely they were to lose them. “It’s their first torture session, give them something to look forward to.”

Reno sighed. “Fuck! Fine! Get me some water though, yo. We’re gonna mix it with electricity and see what fuckin happens.” He said as he picked up his electro-mag rod and started twirling it.

Tseng didn’t reply, but a moment later a basin of water was wheeled into the room.

“Hey boss, you ever heard of that old technique with the rat in the bucket? Yo, I wanna fuckin’ do that sometime. Maybe on some rich bastard who ain’t never seen a rat in person. Wouldn’t that be fun?” Reno asked, getting his room set up for the next trainee who was about to come through.

“I find myself questioning your idea of fun quite frequently.” Tseng responded. “Also, this is your last one, I’m going to let Rude do the next two, he needs some practice.”

“Are you fucking serious? You’re taking away the best part of my day because I’m too good? Fuck this, yo.” Reno whined, over dramatic as he was often prone to be.

“You’re lucky I let you help at all. You often tend to be...overenthusiastic about this.” Tseng teased lightly.

“Overenthusiastic? Yo, boss, what the fuck, sorry I’m good at my job, I guess I can stop.” Reno returned

Tseng chuckled.

“Your next guest is ready, don’t go too crazy, please.” He told Reno.

The door creaked open, and a young man walked inside. He looked to be around 18 or 19, with a tough look on his face. Reno was excited to see how easily he could break him.

“Hey there, little shitbird!” Reno looked at the man with a smirk. “Now, we can make this easy, or we can make it extremely difficult. The difficult option has you losing most of your teeth, just a forewarning.”

As quickly as it opened, the door slammed shut, signaling the beginning of the end of Reno’s favorite pastime.