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Niko and the parade of shadows
Chapter 4: Attire befitting the king of thieves

Chapter 4: Attire befitting the king of thieves

"Ok here's the thing, i know where it is, but....it's currently being held in an evidence locker at the Police department"

"Great... that place has more security than a bank vault" Niko sighed.

"Well, you can always try to sneak in as a cop?"

"Are you kidding me, maybe i could before, but no one is going to believe me when i dont even look old enough to drink"

"Fair point, how about drilling a hole into the vault from the roof or underground?"

"The vault is surrounded by layers of thick steel from every possible direction, and even if i could somehow manage to drill through it, it would take too long and make too much noise to work.."

"How about just doing a hit and run, some explosives to tear down the wall from the outside, that would be both quick and easy, maybe i could have been a thief if i werent so honourable!"

"Gary, you are so much worse than a thief...anyway, an explosion strong enough to take down steel that thick would probably also destroy most of the things inside, and not to mention that an explosion would draw too much attention. No, we have to do this without getting found out, doing things loudly never works out... as i have recently found out.."

Niko raised her palm over her face as she observed it closely while thinking through all of the possible options.

"Hm.. you know, the answer might actually be much simpler than i thought.."

"You got an idea then, thats why you're the expert, do share!"

"No, it's not that great of an idea, i was just thinking, we dont really have to steal it from the evidence locker..."

"What, you're giving up already, come on Niko, this isn't like you buddy!"

"Well my body is also not like me, but thats beyond the point, i am not giving up, i was just thinking.. we can wait until its out of the police department, after all it is an extremely valuable artifact, so someone will come along to take it back, and thats when... the snake will strike it's prey!"

Niko finished the sentence by clutching her hand infront of her, whilst Gary clapped earnestly.

"Brilliant, i will call my friend over at the police department so he can tell me the moment someone comes along to claim it"

"Great, but before that, lend me your card"

Niko asked, and upon Gary's confusion continued.

"Your bank card, i need to go buy myself some clothes that fit, after all you did sell all my stuff the moment you thought i was dead"

"Ahaha..yea..here.." Gary timidly gave Niko one of his cards.

"I'l send you my new number when i buy myself a phone, i'm counting on you Gary, dont disoppoint me!" Niko yelled as she ran off.

"Dammit..Niko is still Niko after all, atleast his appearance is easy on the eyes now.."

Gary muttered to himself as he took out his phone, letting out a long sour sigh, before quickly putting his a smile on his face as his call was answered.

"Hey there old buddy-"

--

"Let's see... so now that i have bought myself a fancy new phone, the only thing that remains...is clothes"

Niko casually walked through the shopping mall whilst messing with her new phone.

"And done, now it should be incredible difficult for anyone to access my phone without my fingerprint and password, these new phones sure are neat~"

Niko looked around for a second before quickly walking towards the clothes store that was obviously the best one out of the rest, based on one simple reason. It being the closest one.

"Hello miss, do you need any help?"

A young woman who seemed to work at the store approached Niko, who was uninterestedly looking around the store.

"Ah, yes actually, can you bring me several full outfits, i need a new wardrobe, preferably something easy to move in"

The woman looked at Niko and nodded with a smile before heading off into the depths of the store to presumably find something that fit Niko.

Niko sat down on an empty chair, already tired from being in a clothes store for longer than a few minutes.

"Guess i'm still a man after all" Niko laughed to herself.

The woman returned a short while later carrying a large bag filled with colorfull neatly folded clothes, which Niko gratefully accepted, relieved at not having to travel around this maze of a store.

"Alright i'l take it"

"Excuse me?" The woman raised an eyebrow.

"I said i'l buy them, where do i pay?"

"Little miss, i am afraid i cant do that, as an employee of this store, it is my duty to make sure that all the clothes you purchase fit and suit you, so please come along!"

The woman said as she dragged the protesting Niko behind her towards the changing rooms.

"Look, lady i appreciate the effort, but i really do not care about if my clothes fit me or not..."

Niko complained, but the woman continued to drag her against her will.

The woman began to undress Niko after she had dragged her to an empty dressing room.

"H-hey stop it!"

Niko called out, although they were both women, Niko was still extremely embarassed to be seen naked by a woman, since his mind was still that of a man.

"No can do little miss, i have to make sure that out customers have the best experience at our store, i am sure your mother will be delighted when she sees your new clothes!"

'This is hardly an enjoyable experience' Niko thought to herself.

"Now lets make sure you have some suitable underwear, a young girl like you should already be old enough for a bra, it can be painful to not wear one you know!"

The woman said as she took out some white panties and a white bra from the bag, both of which were adorned with a small pink ribbon on the front.

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"No no no, i am not wearing that, get me some normal underwear damnit, some trunks or something!"

"Look little miss, Girls your age have to wear proper underwear or else its going to be very embarassing for you in the future, i should know i was a tomboy once too!"

The woman continued as she dressed Niko up like some sort of doll.

"Ha..Whatever..."

Niko sighed as he felt that he had abandoned some shred of his masculinity that he could never recover by wearing those underwear.

After the underwear the woman had taken out a few more pieces of clothing, and after a while of playing dressing up, during which Niko felt his soul trying to escape his body, they were finally done.

Niko stood infront of a tall mirror in the dressing room, she was wearing a short white dress, coupled with some simple black stockings and some pink sneakers with flower designs. True to Niko's request, the clothes were easy to move around in, 'But at what cost..' Niko thought.

The dress was short enough to be called a shirt and had a small print of a flower in the middle, with only the stockings providing protection from any prying eyes.

"Hope you had fun, please come again!"

The woman waved after Niko, who was leaving the store, her eyes glazed over and something similiar to her soul trying to escape from her mouth, she stumbled out of the store with a bag of strange clothes that the woman had somehow managed to sell her.

--

Niko was laying down on a large queen sized bed, taking a long overdue nap at a hotel room she had rented with Gary's card.

Her nap was rudely interrupted by the loud buzzing of Niko's new phone.

"What.. whatever it is you are selling i am not interested"

"Shut up..."

"Go away.."

Niko kept muttering to herself as she tried to cover her ears with the large pillows, but only succeeded in almost suffocating herself. Finally giving up, she tried to reach the phone that was only just slightly out of reach.

Not willing to get up from the warm and soft bed, Niko attempted to stretch herself as much as possible towards the small table, upon which the still buzzing phone sat, moving about slightly due to the vibrations from the call, as if impatient to get answered.

"Just...a bit...more.."

Niko had succesfully reached the table. Only barely however, as it was only her right hand that had reached it, whilst her right foot was the only part of her still touching the bed. Causing Niko to look like an unstable bridge.

Niko, not willing to give up and touch the ground just yet, attempted to reach the phone with her left hand.

"Almost..there..."

Only a few centimeters away from her prize, Niko attempted to reach the phone by using her fingers to drag her whole body forward bit by bit, like a small spider pulling a wagon. It worked somewhat, but the phone was still just out of reach, and Niko couldn't risk dragging her body towards the table anymore, as doing so would probably cause her to reach zero stability and fall into the lava, er, i mean, the floor below.

Luckily, just as Niko was about to give up, the phone vibrations had moved it enough towards the edge that she was able to just barely touch the 'Accept call' button.

Niko quickly pressed the button, and smiled triumphantly.

"Hello? Hello? Niko? Are you there?"

A familiar voice resounded from the phone.

"You will have to speak up Gary, i'm trying to not touch the floor!"

Niko yelled towards the phone as she tried to slowly make her way back to the bed without falling.

"What are you talking about,whatever, listen, the artifact, some guy has checked out the artifact from the evidence locker!"

"What!"

Niko, upon hearing the news, lost concentration for a single moment, which caused her to lose her balance. A moment of comically flailing in midair later, and she crashed face first into the floor. Her hand that was still clutching the table, tried to hold on in order to stop the fall, but it was too late, and all it did was make the table tumble backwards, causing the phone to slide down onto Niko's head with a thud.

Niko lay still for a few seconds, making a pose similiar to an egyptian dance on the floor, with Gary's voice screaming from the phone resting neatly on Niko's head.

"I'l be right there..."

Niko slowly answered as she turned off the phone and got up, her face red from the fall.

--

"Ok, i'm here!" Niko said as she burst into Gary's office.

"What are you wearing, You look amazing, glad you're this accepting of your new self!"

Gary praised as he saw Niko's new attire.

"Look i didn't choose these clothes, they were chosen by the person who worked at the store, it would have been rude to decline!"

"Yeah sure Niko, glad you're having fun with your new body atleast"

"I'm not, damnit!"

Niko blushed as she awkwardly adjusted her new clothes.

"Ow..whatever, so what about the artifact!" Niko snapped.

"Right so a man had arrived at the police station about half an hour ago, and requested to retrieve the artifact, these things take time with paperwork, so he should be leaving the police department with the desired item, right about...now, you should hurry!"

Gary looked up from his watch and noticed that Niko had already left before he had finished his sentence.

"Atleast listen till the end dammit. Cute girl or not, Niko is still Niko..."