//------------------------------// // Ch. 4: Pancakes and Bullets // Story: A Party Went Off In Liberty City // by KingDaddyDiscord //------------------------------//         Niko awoke after a troubled sleep. In his dreams, every turn somehow put him face to face with the girl’s glare, a look which sent shivers down the Yugoslavian’s spine. But when he awoke, he realized it was only a dream.         There is no way that she would hurt me somehow. Right? He shook his thoughts away as he smelled… bacon? And eggs, and something else, something that reminded him of staying with Roman and Mallorie for a night. Could it be…?         “Niko! Come and get your pancakes!” Pinkie called. The man scrambled out of bed like when he was a boy, running into the kitchen and dining room area. Pinkie Pie herself was scrambling eggs, making bacon, and flipping the fluffy circles of breakfasty goodness.         “How did you do this without me knowing?” He asked. “In fact, how did you know where everything was?”         “Oh, it’s easy! I found a bit of powder on the cupboard door with the pancake batter, eggs in the fridge, and this ‘bacon’ of yours. I don’t know what it is, but it smells delicious!” She sniffed the air wafting from the sizzling pieces of meat. Sighing with a grin on her face, she flipped the pancakes and pieces of bacon onto two plates, then scraped even amounts of egg on the side.         “Eat up!” She said gleefully, before whipping a piece of bacon into her mouth before Niko could stop her. His face twitched as she pondered the flavor. A smile burst on her face that was so wide and bright, Niko was blinded for a moment.         “Mmmmmm!!!” She licked her lips. “Oh my Celestia, this is the best thing I’ve ever tasted! What’s it made out of?” Niko was about to tell her (hesitantly, of course) the answer before she hushed him.         “Never mind, it’s not important. All I need to know is if I can get more of it somewhere!” Niko nodded and explained supermarkets to her.         She doesn’t need to know where they came from. Considering she was pink and a pony, I wouldn’t be surprised if she ate bacon, but just in case pigs are sapient as well…         Niko ate in silence while Pinkie shoveled food into her mouth and talked. Any other person would have been annoyed to no end, but compared to some of the slobs of soldiers the Yugoslavian had met in the war, this was nothing.         Just as they had finished washing off their plates, Niko’s cellphone rang. Excusing himself, the man answered.         “Hello?”         “Niko, cousin!” Roman’s voice came through the speaker. “Mallorie and Kate and I wanted to go to the park today, and we were wondering if you and Diane would like to come?”         “You can call her Pinkie, and I will see if she wants to. If she does, we’ll meet you there.”         “Excellent, excellent!” Roman laughed merrily. “We will be at Meadows Parks, be there at 3!” With that, the Serbian hung up.         “What was that about?” Pinkie asked, nearly scaring Niko out of his skin. He briefly wondered how she was able to sneak up like that, before explaining.         “Well, Roman invited us to spend the afternoon with his family. Do you want to go?”         “WHAT?” The girl gasped. “He has a FAMILY? Of course I want to go!” Niko laughed before looking at the time. It was around 11:30 AM.         “Well, we have a few hours, I think I’ll go on the internet for a bit. Maybe I can find a job or two.” He walked over to his laptop and logged on to Craplist, simply browsing through the jobs list.         “What’s the internet?” Pinkie asked after a while. He looked up.         “The internet is… well, it’s a bunch of signals shooting through the air, carrying data that can be shown on computers like these.” He gestured to his laptop. “People use it daily, now. You can post job requests, sell things, contact people, and much more.”         “Oh! So it’s like newspapers that travel through the air?” The girl asked, causing Niko to laugh a bit.         “Yes, you could look at it like that.” Without a word, she grabbed the laptop from his hands, pressing her face against it like she was a child next to a shop window.         “Derpy! Are you in there?” She called. Obviously, the laptop made no response. Pinkie looked the device all over before setting it down with a pouting face. The look took Niko by surprise, compared to how she was usually so perky… that, or being downright intimidating.         “Who is this… Derpy?”         “Oh, Derpy was our mailmare in Ponyville.” She sighed at the memory.         “So… you are homesick?” Niko guessed, to which Pinkie nodded. Sighing, he awkwardly pulled her into a hug. He wasn’t good at comforting people, but he decided to do his best, if he could.         “Don’t worry, Pinkie. I’m sure that they miss you as well, and will throw you a party or something when you go home.” She sniffed and looked back at him with a smile. Smiling back, Niko looked at the clock. The time made him jerk from the hug.         “Crap! We have to go!” He dashed out of the penthouse, with Pinkie close behind. The pair ran out of the building and jumped into the Banshee out front, buckling and speeding away. As the whizzed through the streets of Liberty City, Niko glanced at the girl who wore a grin on her face, sticking her head out the window. Her energy seemed to be getting to him, and he put on a smile as well.         It was an unusually sunny day in the park. The Mayor had finally fulfilled his promise of getting a clean-up team to all the parks in the city, so there was very little trash on the grass. The fountain was working perfectly, and the Monoglobe stood proudly in the center of the pond, despite it being rebuilt recently after an Asian gang destroyed it.         Niko chuckled to himself at Pinkie’s awe at the giant structure. As the two walked closer, the Eastern-European saw his cousin, sister-in-law, and niece, the latter playing around the water. At least, he felt like they were his sister-in-law and niece, due to Roman being like a brother to him.         “Hey Roman, how are you doing?” Mallorie said as she pulled the Yugoslavian into a hug. Then she noticed the girl standing nearby, with stars in her eyes at the sight of the globe.         “And who’s your friend?” She asked in curiosity. Niko grimaced at having to explain Pinkie again.         “Mal, this is…”         “I’m Pinkie Pie! Well, Niko say’s my name is Diane, but you can call me Pinkie!” The girl herself interrupted. Looking over, Niko found her kneeling and speaking to none-other than Little Kate.         Kate was Roman’s and Mallorie’s daughter. Shortly after killing Jimmy Pegorino, Niko had been called by Roman, saying that his Puerto-Rican wife was pregnant, and promised that if it was a girl, she would be named Kate. True enough, they had been given a daughter, and she had become more like Kate every day since she had been born.         The girl’s eyes lit up at Pinkie’s hair, and she unexpectedly hugged the teen, who returned the favor.         “It seems your friend and Kate are already friends!” Roman laughed. Mallorie smiled as well, and, well, Niko couldn’t help but smile with them. Kate was looking more like Mallorie every day, but her personality was reminiscent of Niko’s late girlfriend. She always seemed to have a positive outlook on everything, even for a six-year-old.         “I think she likes me!” Pinkie giggled, scooping up the girl in her arms, which elicited a squeal of delight from the girl.         The group sent the rest of the afternoon there, enjoying the summer light. In the 80s and 90s, Liberty City often had been full of rain. Nowadays, however, sunshine and clear skies were much more common. None of them noticed the black car that watched them.         “Is that her?”         “Yeah, her description matches the one the boss gave us.”         “So she’s got to get whacked. It’s a real shame, she’s so young.”         “Keep it down, numbskull, we don’t want her to hear us.”         After a few hours, the group decided to call it a night. As they walked to their individual cars, Roman walked closer to his cousin.         “Ah, Niko. Today was nice. We never would have been able to do this with Pegorino alive. I guess I’m trying to say thank you.”         “I didn’t do it for the good of the city, Roman.” Niko said with a sigh. “I did it for Kate. But you can’t thank me, because if it hadn’t been for you, I would never have been able to catch up to him.”         “Still, it is nice, not having to worry about any piece of crap trying to shoot us at every opportune moment.”         Suddenly, a black Buffalo roared up, and the window rolled down to reveal the barrel of an assault rifle.         “Oh no…” Niko muttered, before whipping around and covering Kate. Roman got in front of Pinkie and Mallorie just before the bullets ripped from the muzzle. In an instant, the vehicle was gone again.         “You јебачи!” Roman yelled angrily. “Ја ћу те убити и пошаљите ваше крваве остатке вашим породицама!”         “Cousin! This is not the time, I think something’s wrong with Kate!” Niko shouted. The color drained from Roman’s and Mallorie’s faces, and they rushed to the Yugoslavian’s side. Kate’s breathing was shallow and raspy, and her eyes were completely out of focus.         “We need to call an ambulance! NOW!” Roman roared. Niko pulled out his cellphone, dialing and waiting for the receptionist to pick up. Every second seemed like an instant, until the woman on the other end finally picked up.         “Liberty City Emergncy Services, state your business.”         “There is a little girl here in Meadows Park, and she might be injured! We need a paramedic over here now!” Niko shouted angrily, taking the woman by surprise.         “R-Right away, sir. An ambulance is being dispatched to your current location!” The call ended, and the man rushed to his niece’s side.         “Stay with us Kate! Please, don’t leave! Not again…” ~~~ ~~~ ~~~         The doctor entered the waiting room, causing Niko, Roman, Mallorie, and Pinkie to all stand up at the same time. Niko had noticed that Pinkie’s hair was flatter now, almost straight.         “How is she?” Roman asked worriedly.         “She is fine, Mister Bellic. For a drive-by shooting, she was lucky not to be hit.” The doctor folded his glasses and put them in his pocket.         “No, she is only suffering from shock. It’s temporary, and she’ll be fine by the end of the week.         “Good, good! My baby girl should never be put through something like that!” Mallorie seethed.         “Actually, only one person in your group was hit at all. Miss, may I see your arm?” The doctor reached out for Pinkie’s arm, who reluctantly gave it to him. There was a wound in the flesh, nothing to deep, but still bleeding a deal.         “Why didn’t you tell us?” Niko asked. She looked like she was about to cry.         “Kate needed help more than me! It doesn’t even hurt!” She sniffed, wincing as she realized the doctor was wrapping gauze around the wound.         “Keep that bandage clean, and you should be fine around the same time Kate will be. But it would seem, if only you got hit, that they may have been targeting you.” The man’s clear eyes seemed to bore into the girl.         “What? Why me?” She asked in shock.         “I don’t know, miss, but I do know that in this city, if anyone targets you, you had better know how to take care of yourself.”         “I will protect you, Pinkie. Trust me, I’ll find out who’s after you.” Niko said reassuringly. Pinkie nodded. Satisfied, the doctor led them all to Kate’s room. ~~~ ~~~ ~~~         “Well? Is she dead?”         “No, boss. It was in an instant, but when we saw who she was with… oh God…. it was that Niko Bellic guy, the one who took out Pegorino. We had to get out of there, and fast.”         “Interesting.” Teal eyes flashed. “It seems that our target has made a powerful friend. I believe that the playing board just got a little more interesting…”