Ballad of Mattias Juno

Part. 7 The Primm Time of Our Lives

Mattias groaned as he accidentally put too much pressure on his leg. "Well what'd you do that for?" Silas was acting rather cocky thanks to his recent confrontation with the convicts on the road, and it was seeping out in every arrogant statement that came out of his mouth.

"I didn't do it on purpose you damn fool" they were walking along the road, or rather, Silas was walking and Mattias was hobbling on a makeshift crutch he had made out of two of the shotguns left behind by said deceased convicts. They were heading towards Primm, according to a bullet-torn road sign they passed a half mile back, but night had fallen and neither men could see past the light of the single flashlight Silas was carrying. It was dangerous for them to stay on the road like this, especially with Mattias injured, but it could prove even more dangerous if they were to make camp in the dark, just to find out it's the spot on an enemy patrol in the morning. Their best hope was to get to the town and hope to find a bed or at least a hospitable patch of floor to stay on.

They eventually found Primm, coming across it's derelict highway exit as they walked under the partially broken overpass bridge. After a swift debate on Mattias' current ability to climb, Silas ascended onto the bridge to get a better look of their surroundings, glad it was able to support it's weight considering it's age and disrepair, right as he firmly got himself onto the still warm asphalt he was nearly blinded by a flashlight fixed on him as a voice behind the light shouted out the most cliche line possible, "Halt! who goes there?"

"A lonely boy from out west just trying to make a name for himself and find true love." Silas put on his best drawl as he uttered the sarcastic line, "And just who might you be, cutey?" Silas's hope was that the sarcasm would disarm the person. He realized he was wrong about that when the unseen guard came closer and whipped him in the skull with the butt of a rifle, leading very promptly to slight bleeding, drooling, and incapacitation.

"... No I was stationed at Shady Shands my whole career, this is my first time out this way." Silas slowly regained consciousness to find himself in a well lit tent. Mattias was there, sitting at a small table with some guy in an NCR uniform, chatting it up. As Silas slowly sat up, reaching for his head to find gauze wrapped around it, Mattias turned to look at him. "Well, looks like our idiot is finally awake"

"Ugh, well, at least I'm not a cripple" Silas felt groggy as all hell from the blow.

"I'm not either, I've been telling the LT here some war stories in exchange for some hydra." Silas finally focused on the man at the table, judging by his uniform and the fact that he was called LT that he was in fact, an NCR Lieutenant… such a shocking revelation. He looked at Mattias's leg, the bandages were off and it looked healed. "Anyways, Silas, I need to talk to you about the reason I came out east."

"I figured you just wanted to go to the casinos like a lot of people, maybe change of scenery." This caused a slight head shake from Mattias, not of disappointment just disagreement.

"So, those convicts we fought earlier, turns out they didn't escape the prison here, there took it over, and a large group of them have holed up in one of the casinos here in Primm. They killed the sheriff and they've been acting as the law, which means all the other citizens are practically trapped in the other casino, surviving as long as they don't try to directly attack them."

"And what's that have to do with you getting to New Vegas?"

"Because, Silas, I only do one thing really well in this world, one way to help the weak of the wasteland."

Silas was fairly certain what this was after Mattias near effortlessly traversed the Divide, but he felt he had to ask because it was expected of him, "And that is?" Mattias stood up, taking off his trench coat and donning his helmet, which he had recently decorated with royal purple racing stripes down the face plate, which matched the pattern also now adorning the chest plating, he grabbed his Sequoia off the table and holsters it on his belt, as well placing his sawed-off in it's holster on the small of his back. Lastly his axe found it's home in the sheath on his back, the handle sticking past his shoulder for easy access.

"All I do well Silas is kill, I did it for a long time for the Republic before I retired. Now, perhaps to late, I realized that sometimes that meant I was on the wrong side of things, and while I'll always say my home is where the two-headed bear flies, but that doesn't mean the NCR is flawless, and I've done alot of things I regret.

The real reason I came out east was to atone for some of those regrettable actions. There were a lot of small clans and tribes that we bullied into joining the NCR, and I was often the one who did it, for them, I made us out to be villains even though I saw us as saviors. Now I'm free of those orders, and finally have the opportunity to truly dedicate my life, and even my death, to ending tyranny. So now, you're gonna stay here, rest up that arrogant little brain of yours, and I'm gonna go kill every mother-fucking convict in this town, and do what I was meant to do"