Bruce left the Lucky 38 that night and left Boone and Cass alone. Boone wasn't much for conversation, which suited Cass just fine. She finished the last bottle of whiskey and stumbled into the bathroom. The water was clean, and wasn't radioactive, so Cass ran herself a bath and yawned. She figured she might as well enjoy herself.
She stripped down carefully and sank into the tub. It had been a long time since she had been able to enjoy a bath with clean water. Cass leaned her head back and sighed. The water was warm, and felt good against her skin. Her pendant sank against her chest and was heated by the water. She could definitely get used to this. She felt her eyes get heavy, whether by the whiskey or by the warmth of the water against her. She tried fighting it briefly, but slowly her eyes became too heavy and she began to doze.
It was the door slamming that woke her up. She was freezing, the water was no longer warm, and she could feel herself shaking. She climbed out of the tub and dried off, trying to warm herself in the process. Her head was throbbing and she could still feel the whiskey in her blood as she tried to dress herself. She could feel the hangover just waiting in the shadows.
She stumbled out of the bathroom and looked into the hallway. It was Bruce. Cass watched as he staggered down the hallway and into the master bedroom. It made her think of the other soft beds in the suite and she yawned. A bed sounded nice. She wandered into the second bedroom and collapsed onto the free mattress. She barely noticed Boone's snoring before she fell asleep.
The morning came early. Her hangover wasn't as bad as she had anticipated, but Cass still found the headache nearly unbearable. She rolled out of bed with a groan and reached for her hat. She could hear someone humming in the hallway, so she rubbed her head and headed towards the sound.
Cass found Bruce in the hallway, fastening on his leather armor. He was humming the tune of Big Iron, and Cass could hear Mr. New Vegas rambling from Bruce's PipBoy.
"Morning sunshine," Bruce said to her with a stretch, "willing to do some walking?"
"Where to?" Cass asked.
"Nipton," Bruce answered, "I heard one of the NCR officers at the outpost say something about not hearing from Nipton in a few days. Someone saw smoke. They asked me to look into it."
"Well what are we sitting around here for?" Cass asked.
Bruce shrugged and stepped into the elevator. Cass joined him and was glad she was getting a new chance to wander the Mojave.
The sun had not yet risen over the horizon when they left, but the air was still hot and dry. Bruce handed Cass some purified water for later, and the pair of them trudged on the road toward Nipton with Rex at their heels. They were both happy to travel in silence, until they were ambushed by a pair of Powder Gangers.
Cass waited while Bruce looted the bodies, and opened one of the water bottles. She rubbed a handful onto her face and yawned.
"Tired?" Bruce asked, stuffing a handful of caps in his pocket.
"Don't know what to call it," Cass replied, "but this trip is pretty uneventful."
"That will change," Bruce grunted.
"What are you expecting?" she asked.
Bruce shrugged and made his way back onto the road. Cass walked alongside him and waited. She was irritated again, and couldn't figure out why, and several minutes passed before they spoke again.
"I know you don't favor them, but what do you really think of the Legion?" Bruce finally asked.
"I don't deal with slavers," Cass said, "and I've seen how they treat women like Brahmin."
Bruce grunted again, and Cass decided to continue.
"What about you? How many slaves did you take?"
"I didn't," Bruce answered, "I was in charge of guarding Caesar. Sometimes I did special things at his request, like overseeing important affairs."
"Pretty vague," Cass said "but it couldn't have been too bad a set up for you."
"He trusted me," Bruce shrugged, "he liked me too. That's part of why he didn't have me killed."
"Well is that a good thing?" she asked.
"Not if the life you receive is miserable."
His voice took a sharp turn at this, and Cass didn't respond. She figured it was better to leave it.
When they passed Primm, they stopped to rest. The Mojave was scalding, and Cass downed the rest of her water. Bruce stood nearby, looking at his PipBoy. When he stopped, she decided it was a good time to question him again.
"So, you never said what you were expecting in Nipton."
"Well, I'm ready for the worst." Bruce said, "And we may get it too. Just promise you'll keep that knife to yourself?"
Cass laughed.
"Legion, huh?" she asked, "Well as long as I can still use my fists, the knife won't be needed."
"I'm serious." Bruce glared, "That'll get you killed."
"Then I'll get killed giving those Legion bastards what for."
He glared again, and began walking faster down the road. Cass decided to follow at a distance, since it wasn't worth the effort to keep up with him. He wasn't much for conversation anyway. She'd have killed for a whiskey then too, but had only brought two bottles with her. She was going to save them. If she was going to run into Legion, she wanted to have a drink at hand.
Bruce finally slowed down after a while, and stopped to wait on Cass when a large cloud of dark smoke came into view. He turned to her briefly and sighed, and they resumed their walk, until Nipton could be seen underneath the pillars of smoke filling the air.
The air got cloudier as they got closer, but was clear enough for Cass to see two flags erected on either side of the road. Even through the dark smoke, she could make out the crimson cloth, and the golden bull. Legion. She looked around carefully, noting how stiff Bruce became, and the look of disgust that had taken him.
They approached cautiously but even before they could make out the figures in front of the town hall, they could see the fires and bodies crucified along the street.