GTA: The Ballad of Rainbow Dash
Chapter 2: Candy Shop
“I'll take you to the candy shop
I'll let you lick the lollipop
Go 'head girl, don't you stop
Keep going 'til you hit the spot (woah)” 50 cent
(Police Station – Broker – Gate to the Back Lot)
Niko pulled up near the gated entrance and waited for a moment while the two officers in charge of watching it talked. Finally he honked his horn and watched as one of them looked toward the car, looked back at his friend, and continued to talk. He started to honk the horn again when Dash rolled down her window and leaned out of it.
“Look, I don’t know about you two, but we’ve got places to be,” she said.
The officer walked toward the guard shed, reached in, and pushed something. When he did the gate opened and he made a grand gesture for them to go inside. She shook her head and looked at Niko who was studying the parking yard.
“Looks like we have a couple of choices,” Packie said from the back.
“Yes, but when have things ever gone this easy for us before?” Niko asked.
“Good point. Normally around now Derrick, or some asshole, would be screwing everything up for us nice and proper,” Packie replied.
“Let’s just grab one of the Stockades, and if at all possible let’s not end up on the inside of this place,” Niko said.
The three of them walked over toward the nearest Stockade and climbed inside. Dash took a seat beside Niko as Packie made his way into the back of the Stockade itself. A moment later he laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Niko asked.
“Looks like the police left us a little present in here. There’s at least two full gun and ammo lockers,” Packie said.
“Good, keep track of it. If this job gets difficult we may need it,” Niko said.
He looked around the inside of the large truck for a moment, but there wasn’t any evidence of a key. Instead he broke the ignition switch, pulled it out, and pulled the tumbler identifier off of it. He then pushed it back in and turned it over. The large armored truck rumbled to life and the three of them began to pull out of the lot. They stopped right before the gate and watched as a different police officer walked up toward the Stockade.
“Taking out the Stockade? You need to be careful, it’s breaks haven’t been changed,” the officer said.
“Thanks, in truth we’re just wanting to cruise around in it a little bit. Don’t see why the N.O.O.S.E. boys should have all of the fun,” Dash said.
The officer laughed and waved them through.
“Good handling of the situation. Okay, Niko my boy, When we get there I’ll stay in the back. It wouldn’t look good for a civilian to go waltzing into the warehouse. Just back the truck into the garage area, and I’ll be ready to help you guys load it on when you open the doors,” Packie said as he sat on one of the benches.
“You really think we’re going to get enough product out of there?” Niko asked.
“There’s quite a bit of room back here, plus at least four lockers are empty. We can fill them, then fill the other space. It should be enough chalk and other illicits to keep her busy for a while,” Packie replied.
Niko raised his hand, and turned into the police warehouse off of Erie Ave. Packie crawled into the back Dash waited as Niko backed the truck up to one of the large loading doors. He stopped and crawled out with Dash. A moment later two tired looking cops came out of a side door.
“Oh… Oh thank God. I thought that they forgot all about us,” one of them said.
“No, we got told to come over and relieve you guys,” Dash replied.
“Good, look, we’re almost through cataloging the stuff. Basically all that’s really left is the three shipments of SPANK that was caught in transport. Once that’s catalogued the stuff can be moved, and I bet they have you guys do it too,” the other one said as the two officers turned to leave.
“Thanks a lot officer,” Niko said as he waited for them to leave.
The both of them walked inside and Niko found the switch to open the garage door. He walked back outside and got into the Stockade and backed it into the warehouse. Once it was inside he closed the door and walked toward the back of the truck. Packie stepped out and looked at the both of them.
“Looks like we have the candy shop all to ourselves,” he said.
“You know, I’d think that they would have better security than this,” Dash said as she helped Niko go down the catalogue list.
“Don’t jinx it girl. We’re getting a pretty sweet deal here, and to be honest it’s not often we get something so easy our way,” Packie said.
“She has a point. There were only two cops, and I doubt that even the police in this city would leave this place unguarded,” Niko said.
“So? Look, we hurry, find the stuff, load the stuff, and get the fuck out of Dodge. I don’t see what the fucking problem is,” Packie said.
“I'll take you to the candy shop, boy one taste of what I got, I'll have you spending all you got, keep going 'til you hit the spot,” a female voice sang from down the hall.
“Fuck… You jinxed it,” Packie said as he pulled his gun and waited.
A moment later a short haired blond woman walked around the corner. She bent over and picked up a file that fell out of her hands and stood up straight. For a moment it appeared like she was going to just walk past them, but then she stopped and looked at Niko.
“Niko? NIKO! OH MY GOD! It’s so awesome to see you! Did you join the police? Who the hell is this another one of your whores? God, no wonder I dumped your ass. You know… This looks a little suspicious to me,” she said as she began to back up.
“Kiki, we’re just here to finish cataloguing the inventory, and prep it for transport. What are you doing in a police warehouse anyway? I thought you were doing pro bono work,” Niko replied.
“I am… I’m just here doing a little research for my current case. I’m friends with the warehouse night manager and he pulled some strings,” she said.
“Friends or friends with benefits,” Packie said with a snicker.
“Hey! I resent that implication!” she exclaimed
“Yeah, well look, we’re busy,” Packie said.
“Don’t… Don’t I know you?” she asked.
Before another word could be said Dash walked toward her and turned her around hard pushing her into the shelving. Kiki gasped as Dash cuffed her hands.
“Look, bitch, what I may or may not be doing with my fellow officer is my business. Besides that we’re here doing official police business and you’re getting in the way. I’ve got every mind to take your ass downtown and let the inmates run a fucking train on you for hours. Then again a bitch like you might like that kind of shit,” Dash said with a sneer.
“Please… Look I’m sorry. I… I just freaked out when I saw Niko…” she said with a whimper.
“Hey, why don’t I take her out of here and get her a drink. I’m not really dressed to be in here anyway, and you two can go ahead and get started. I’ll be back in a little bit,” Packie said.
“Wait…” Dash said.
Niko shook his head and looked at Packie.
“Yeah, sounds like a good idea. Maybe she would like something to eat,” Niko suggested.
Packie reached his hand out to Niko who handed him a set of cuff keys from the uniform he was wearing. A moment later Packie walked out of the door with Kiki. Dash turned toward him and glared at him.
“What the hell was that?!” she exclaimed.
“We can’t threaten her. It’s empty threats and if we didn’t get her out of here there’s a good chance we would have to kill her. I’d rather not,” Niko said.
“What about Packie?” she asked.
“If I know Kiki she’s going to be falling in love with him before they get to the restaurant,” he said.
Dash shook her head and helped him look through the list. A few moments later they found the locations for everything Elizabeta wanted. The two of them began loading it up into the Stockade. Over an hour and a half later Packie came walking into the warehouse. He looked at Niko and shook his head.
“Damn…” he said.
“I know. You think she’s going to talk?” Niko asked.
“Naw, she wants to date though. I told her I didn’t mind,” he said.
“Good luck with that,” Niko said with a grin.
“Glad to have you back. Now, how about you help us load this shit,” Dash said as she pushed a dolly loaded down with several cardboard boxes.
After another hour the three of them climbed into the Stockade. Niko opened the warehouse door and they pulled out. It seemed almost too perfect. The job was practically done, and they hadn’t run into any police trouble. He let out a small content sigh, and moments later a hail of gun fire ripped into the driver side door. He jumped, and felt some relief that the Stockade was bullet proof.
He looked out on the driver’s side to see several of the men who had worked for Mikhail Faustin closing in on them. He gunned the truck and ran two of them over only to have more bullets ping against the reinforced steel plating of the armored truck.
“Shit! Packie, did anyone else know about this job?!” Niko exclaimed.
“Fuck, just my brother Derrick. Oh, fuck. I bet the fucker told his bookie about it. Shit, man. I’m going to kick his ass!” Packie yelled.
“You’ll have to get in line!” Dash screamed as she rolled down her window and unleashed a torrent of hot death toward the group following them.
“Fuck Niko lose them!” Packie yelled.
“What do you think I’m doing?! This thing isn’t built for speed!” he yelled.
They turned a corner and both smaller cars easily maneuvered closer to them. Niko slammed on the breaks causing one of them to ram into the back end of the Stockade. He then gunned it trying to put a little distance from them. The other car pulled around the one that had hit the Stockade and tried to get closer to him. Niko waited until they moved toward the front and slammed hard into the side of the car. He watched as it hit a parked car and kept going. A moment later it was back behind them, and the one that had hit the Stockade seemed to have finally got to moving.
“Woah! I found something to even the score a little bit!” Packie shouted.
Niko looked into the review mirror and watched as Packie opened the back doors and stood with a grenade launcher. He fired the first shot and it went between both cars. The second shot caught the car on the left and it exploded into mangled mess of metal and rubber. The other car opened fire again, but Packie unleashed another bark from the grenade launcher and Niko watched as the car erupted into the same state as the other one. He wiped his forehead and drove toward the meeting place Elizabeta told them about.
He pulled into the ruins of the mechanic shop Mr. Faustin had him destroy four years ago and saw Elizabeta standing there.
“So, how did we do? You got everything?” she asked.
“Yeah, looks like there’s enough snow in here to give you a few Christmases,” Packie answered.
“Good, hey, if you want to earn a little more let me know. I’m going to need some help delivering this stuff,” she said.
“Not a problem,” Niko said.
She smiled and counted out their pay. After she paid them a couple of her boys began loading the stuff into an old U’re Load Mule. Niko grinned and walked outside with Packie and Dash.
“Well, it was fun,” Packie said.
He began to walk off. Before Niko could say a word Dash elbowed him in the ribs.
“What?” he asked.
“What? This is what you’ve been doing and you wanted me to stay out of it. Hell, this was fun!” she exclaimed before she kissed him.
He smiled and called Roman. A few moments later a cab picked them up and took them back toward Elizabeta’s apartment so they could pick up his Dukes. Once there he shook his head and handed Dash the keys.