Burning Vegas Lights
{Chapter Nine: Golden}

She was absolutely beautiful up close, now that he could see her.

Long locks of brunette hair, hazel eyes; small features; her nose contrasted it slightly, but contrasted it in a way to make her have an ethereal beauty. The dying light glowed upon her face and gave a glow to her natural pale skin which was somehow, unburned by the harsh rays of the Mojave sun. The Frumentarius, whom wore a dog upon his head, was interrupted in his musings by the abrupt silence out in the hallway on which he traveled out, but was in danger of meeting face-to-face with an injured, but well-working sharpshooter, who had every intention to let the Legion burn, letting the burn eventually reach Caesar in his little fort on top of Fortification Hill. Boone stood ready, as if the world was going to take him on but it was just the Frumentarius who approached and dared try to challenge him.

The Frumentarius charged at him, fists and teeth glaring straight at Boone, who retaliated as much as he could without any training in hand-to-hand combat, or melee, for all that it mattered. The glint of a machete caught Boone's eye in the power struggle, to which the Frumentarius lunged and grabbed for it. Boone pounced onto the Frumentarius, ripping his dog off of his head with great force and holding him to the ground.

"You…You're a bastard, trying to think you could kill me, to think you could kill Rene!" Boone snapped at the Vexillarius, whose blue eyes looked up at the sharpshooter in spite. He lips played a cruel and perverse smirk at the room in which Rene lay, completely vulnerable to the outside world in her Med-X and Morphine medically-induced coma. Boone punched the man in the mouth, wanting to knock some of his teeth down his throat, and he managed to shake a canine loose.

"The eyes of the mighty Caesar have been upon both of you. Specifically, Rene Ward", the Vexillarius spat out at him, attempting to sit up under Boone's weight, which led to Boone punching him in the mouth again, shaking loose another tooth. The Vexillarius spat blood into Boone's face, and Boone lifted him up by his armor as much as he could and slamming his back to the wall, wondering who the fuck this bitch was. Boone's sunglass-shielded eyes glared into the Vexillarius', demanding answers that were all too common. Seeing as how his cover was already blown and his facial identity revealed, he delivered answers to the sharpshooter.

"I am Vulpes Inculta of Caesar's Legion, and you need not know more to understand the power I possess", Vulpes smirked again, and swiftly kicked Boone in his stomach, causing him to double over and cough wildly as Vulpes left the main lobby, kicking chairs out of the way and stepping over dead bodies, trying to get his way back into the surgery room. Rene, however, had disappeared within the timeframe of Boone confrontation with Vulpes, and was hiding in the shadows with a scalpel. Not a very sharp one, but still something to be used as a weapon. Her nude body crouched, watching Vulpes' feet move around the floor. Slicing the fucker's Achilles tendon was no longer an option, as he was armored.

Vulpes caught sight of the girl crouching, and promptly grabbed for her neck, pinning her against the wall and nearly choking her to death- letting up some as he noticed the stitches between her breast that had been almost healed but left a rather large scar in their fading place. Rene stared Vulpes down, remembering how they took her and her mother from her tribe, and crucified the most of them along the Interstate 40 leading from Dry Wells, Arizona. Since then, her hair was cut off at the age of 10 and had grown back from which the elaborate dreadlocks had once resided among her head- but now was a part of the erased "tribal identity" she once had. New Reno was just the town she had fled to after reaching Cottonwood Cove- and Vulpes was set on tracking her down again- for still an unknown reason why she meant so much. His hand on her throat loosely held her there, but he grabbed tightly every so often.

"Rene, it's been too long. You've… grown, quite a bit", He hinted with delight and the same perverse smirk he gave out in the hallway. He kept his eyes on hers though, watching the girl silently break with fear. Stepping forth, he closed the space between them, and whispered gruffly in her ear.

"You're going to die when I'm through with you, or you will break down to nothing and become my subservience once more, as you were nearly five months ago!", Vulpes growled and slammed her shoulders against the wall. Rene closed her eyes and held her head away, waiting for the abrupt fall as Boone grabbed Vulpes back and slammed the machete into his throat. Rene did indeed fall, and she curled up and watched blood squirt and gush from Vulpes Inculta's slashed carotid artery and jugular veins. Boone promptly turned and went in search of some clothing for Rene, finding some in a cabinet before throwing them to her.

"We're leaving. Now", Boone told her and helped her up as soon as Rene slid on the clothing. Rene was simply silent at this point, knowing she was to be questioned later on about her accounts with Vulpes and her origins which were yet to be determined by Boone. The short walk to Freeside was filled with silence, until they had reached the settlement's gates, alive with color yet provided a hint of downtroddence on the other side- of which Boone and Rene were familiar with.

Boone's façade never wore off, no matter the occasion and this was no different. His eyes looked upon her, almost bearing pity for her but he needed to know how she knew a goddamned Legionnaire, how she could've gotten both of them killed. Rene stared back at him, knowing that he had something to say about Vulpes.

"I… belonged to a tribe. They're a name that doesn't exist anymore but we lived in Dry Wells, Arizona, before agreeing to become scouts for the Legion. They turned on us, and then they enslaved my mother and I and a few others before they crucified the rest of them along the Interstate 40, leading to and from Dry Wells. I escaped from the Legion at Cottonwood Cove, and when I had turned 18 a few weeks before we had met, they were selling women and girls like me, and then something happened. I don't know what, but someone died and it caused a great diversion for me to get away. I had to leave mother behind.. and I don't know my dad- maybe you killed him already", Rene stated in her voice that leaked with nothing but history that was illusive to Boone. He felt his heart drop to his stomach.

Carla and Rene had belonged to the Legion. Carla and Rene... they were both slaves who were in the same grouping.

Boone's throat tensed up as Rene went on, and he eventually stopped her, and crouched down to her level {as she was only about 5'1"} and put a hand on her shoulder. Rene looked at him curiously, wondering what he needed to know now. Her past had been revealed, at least the important parts had been, and he stared firmly into her eyes that threatened to drop some tears. He needed to get every bit of information she had on Carla and he would repay with as much understanding as he could muster.

"Once, there was this woman…"