It's Nice to Go Trav'ling

Sierra was pacing around the waiting room, as she was waiting for the doctor, when he finally appeared she almost jumped on him.

"They both survived and are recovering. You can see them, but they are quite weak."

"Thanks Doc."

Sierra walked to Spencer's bed, and stood next to him, and kissed him.

"Spencer, how are you feeling, love?"

Lily walked to the gunman, and watched him.

(Hey Bobby, Sal said I could join, so here we go!)

Duke led the caravan through the outer gate of Westside, he nodded to a few militia members he knew, and continued. Duke hummed tunelessly for a while as he looked for a good place to set up shop. He pulled his pipe out of his pocket, filled it with tobacco and lit it, puffing on it happily. Sandy was walking on the other side of Lightning to him, swinging her hips and winking at anyone she caught staring at her. Crow trudged on silently, rifle in hand, looking for any potential threats. Hunter was talking to a child that had started following them, by the exaggerated movements Duke could tell he was entertaining the child with one of his stories. Growler and Albert were walking at the back with Thunder, where Albert was testing Growler on how to properly attach Thunder to his cart.

Eventually, Duke found a good, busy spot near the hospital. He signaled for the caravan to stop. The group put out buckets of Nevada Agave fruit for the Brahmin to munch on as they stood behind the carts. After a while, people started to amble over and browse the carts contents. Duke and Growler dealt with one cart while Albert manned the other. Crow, Sandy and Hunter situated themselves around and near the carts, watching for any thieves or robbers.

After a few hours, Sandy walked over to Duke

"Hey Pops. I'm gonna go get some lunch for everyone, what do you want?" Duke smiled around his pipe.

"You know, I was just day-dreaming about some food. You get me anything, and try not to get into too much trouble ok?"

Sandy laughed and kissed Duke on the cheek. "Fine, but if some boy follows me home, I'm keeping him!" She bounced off, with the dismay of several men in the area. Crow suddenly walked over "Duke?" It had taken months to get Crow to stop calling Duke 'Master' "That red-headed man there looks shifty, I think he's going to try something". Duke nodded "Yep, I reckon he is. Good spot Crow, stand back, I'll handle him". Duke caught the shifty man's eye and gave him a wild smile, beckoning him over. The man kept his hands thrust deep into his pockets, and shuffled over. His kept flicking from Duke to the are around them.

"What?"

"Sorry to disturb you sir, but I noticed you admiring my wares, and wondered if you would like a closer look"

"What? Oh...oh right, yeah. Admirin'. Sure" He walked closer and glanced briefly at the weapons, armour, ammo, food, drink and other stuff in the cart. Suddenly, he turned on Duke, ripping his hands out of his pockets to reveal a snub-nosed .22 revolver.

"GIVE YOUR UP SHIT OR YOU FUCKING DIE TODAY ASSHOLE!!!" He screeched in Dukes face.

Duke suddenly lunged forwards, slamming his meaty fist into the thugs gut. The thug bent forwards, the wind beaten out of him, to meet Dukes uppercut. The man staggered backwards, winded and bleeding from his mouth. He had lost his gun, and lunged towards Duke. Duke met him in a professional boxer's pose. He sent two quick right jabs into the young man's nose, then a hay-maker into the side of his head. The man collapsed sideways, his head bouncing on the concrete floor. Duke stepped forwards and hefted the man onto his shoulder with a slight grunt. He called out.

"Albert! Growler! Keep an eye on the shop while I get this guy into the hospital" He walked into the building before anyone could reply.

Spencer's eyes opened wide and he shot up, before reeling back in pain.

"What do you mean payback? Jesus, just turn him in to the NCR or the securitrons or something," he said, as he noticed the new patients. He quieted his voice before continuing. "Killing him won't solve anything. What did you do to the rest of the guards? Just leave them there?"

He turned to his new guests, noticing a lack of beds in the small hospital. "Excuse me, we were about to move our friend here," he said, gesturing to the injured guard on the table. "I would give you my bed, but I don't think the doctor would reccomend I move," he said with a slight chuckle."

Sierra and Lily stood next to Spencer, and Sierra introduced their merry band.

"I'm Sierra, this is Lily, and Spencer."

She shook the man's hand, and went back to looking after Spencer. Lily simply sat down.

Duke nodded at this.

"Yeah, the Mojave is a tough place alright. You folks should a seen it before though, whoo! That was rough. Me and my boys come over here from California about, thirteen years I think? A long time anyway. But damn, that was rough."

Duke was spewing rubbish at this point he knew, but he was trying to get his head around who was lying in front of him. Spencer Evans! He knew he recognised the kid, but it had been so long since he had really spent time in the Strip, his old memory had faded slightly. Before he had adopted Sandy, he would take the boys the Strip once or twice a year, to let them blow off steam. Of course, none of them did. Duke and Al were too old for such things, Crow refused to leave Duke's side and Growler would freeze up in terror whenever a whore came near him. They ended up spending time in the Tops, drinking, gambling and enjoying music in the Aces Theatre.

But now the Chairman supposed dead was sitting in front of him. With two girls no less, not an unusual sight around Spencer Evans, Duke thought to himself. Duke had liked Spencer whenever he had visited. They had shared a hand of poker once or twice, maybe bought each other a drink after, but Duke doubted the man remembered him.

Duke had never much cared for the political intrigue of the Strip, but this was someone he liked, and he wanted to help. The doctor had just left the room. Duke checked on sleeping beauty lying next to him, and was satisfied when he hear a snore. He got of the wall, moved to the bed and said very quietly.

"Listen Mr Evans, yes ah know who you are. But don't worry I ain't gonna tell no-one. I just wanted to say, considering your up the Colorado with no paddle, you might want a bit o' help. Me, my boys and my daughter will be happy to help you. I've done tradin' with the Tops before, and you people always gave me a good deal. Now, I reckon my friend is gonna wake up soon, so how about we continue this in a second." He tipped his hat to Sierra. "Missy, you got a mighty fine friend here, but...well, I'm sure you already know".

He turned when he heard a groan. He knelt down and helped the man sit up. When his terrified eyes recognised Duke, he tried to scramble up, but found himself trapped by Duke's arm. "Calm down boy, I just wanna talk to you. There's a little speech I like to give young idiots like you, about what it takes to be a man, your goin' to listen to it, then your gonna leave, right?" The boy wiped swear from his eyes, and nodded. "Alright, here goes."

"Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good. That honour, courage and virtue mean everything; that power and money... money and power mean nothing. That good always triumphs over evil. And I want you to remember this....that love....true love never dies! Remember that boy... remember that. Doesn't matter if it is true or not, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in......got that ?"

The thug stared at him for a second, then jumped up and sprinted for the door. Duke laughed. "One of these days, that speech is gonna mean something to someone".

Spencer's eyes opened wide when Duke the man called him by name. He vaguely remembered Duke, as he has met with several clients over the years. The memory suddenly clicked in his mind.

"Oh- Duke! We had that meeting over dinner a few months ago, right?", he asked quietly. He paused for a moment thoughtfully.

"What could you do to help?"

Before Duke could answer, however, his captive had woken up. He stared quizzically at Duke as he delivered his speech and reached for his cigarettes. Suddenly the doctor entered.

"I'm sorry, sir. You can't smoke here."

"Of course," Spencer said. "How long until I can get out of here?"

"I'm gonna need to keep you here for another twenty-four hours before I can release you, but even then, you'll need to rest for a good while. You're lucky to be alive, you know."

"Yes, I am. Thank you doctor," he said, disappointedly.

"Well," Spencer said, turning to Duke. "Looks like we don't have a choice. Do you have a place I can stay while we make a plan?"

Lily and Sierra walked into the bathroom, outside of earshot of Spencer. They wanted to talk to one another.

"Lily, what should we do about the captive? In my rage I shouldn't have grabbed him, but we need to do something. You need to do something. I'm too much of a coldhearted bitch to handle it."

"Okay, Sierra. I'll handle it."

They walked back out, and Sierra went back to Spencer, while Lily wheeled the stretcher out of the office. She stopped next to Duke, and nervously asked if they could help her.

"Sorry....I don't...mean to disturb, but I....we could do with this man being moved outside of Westside."

Lily nervously stood there.