"Things will be different."
Liberty City Boys In Los Santos
is a crossover fanfic between Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto IV.
Taking place five years after the events of IV, the three protagonists of story have moved to Los Santos in search of new beginnings: Niko with Roman and his family, Luis with his mother and friends, and Johnny with the Lost MC. However, these three will have their lives intertwined again by one Devin Weston.
From there, the story retells the events of V with the Liberty City protagonists playing the roles of the main characters and doing their missions (with Niko as Michael, Luis as Franklin, and Johnny as Trevor).
This fanfic contains the following tropes:
- Adaptation Name Change: The United Liberty Paper contact is named Edward T. Fortune instead of Bernard, which was revealed during the Doomsday Heist in Grand Theft Auto Online.
- Adapted Out: Many original V characters are replaced with ones from IV to better fit this story. Most notably Ashley is completely absent.
- Ascended Extra: Packie. Instead of being an optional heist member, he’s the one who leads Niko to Lester and remains a valuable ally.
- Book Ends: The last line of the fic is Niko uttering the same words he did at the end of the credits from IV, but this time he feels accomplishment instead of misery.
- Call-Back: This fic is not shy about using IV as plot points:
- Niko's first words upon entering Los Santos are ironically the exact same ones he used when he first arrived in Liberty City.
- Luis' reunions with Niko and Johnny don't go as smooth as Niko and Johnny's, mostly due to them fighting over the diamonds.
- "Mr. Pack Men" has the heroes reminiscing about some of their jobs, more specifically three missions from the original game: "Three Leaf Clover", "Shifting Weight", and "Departure Time".
- Cutting Off the Branches: Roman is still alive in the fic, so it's clear Niko had taken the “Revenge” ending.
- Dead Guy Junior: Roman and Mallorie have a daughter now, and as promised in the “Revenge” ending, she’s named Kate.
- Death by Adaptation: The Contact and Don Percival.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After feeling utterly empty after the events of IV and more hardships during story, Niko has ended up with no more problems and a better position than he could ever imagine. He may still get depression and survivor's guilt, but he now has true friends and family to help deal with it. He's happy.
- Fire-Forged Friends: It takes a while, but eventually the three protagonists become friends.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Devin's ultimate fate is being shot dead by all three heroes, still begging for his life.
- Not His Sled: Due to the cast swap, some missions are written entirely different:
- Instead of "Fame or Shame", a new mission takes place where little Kate is kidnapped by a pedophile.
- The end of "Deathwish". Devin manages to escape Johnny at the last minute, forcing Niko to chase him to the airport and catch him before he flies out of the city. After Niko kills dozens of Merryweather mercenaries and even Don Percival himself, the other heroes drive in, leading to a final car chase that ends with the heroes gunning down Devin's plane.
- Put on a Bus: It's stated that Tony left for parts unknown following the events of IV.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Johnny, obviously, along with the Lost MC
- Took a Level in Badass: Roman ends up taking Jimmy’s place in Meltdown
- Working with the Ex: Dave Norton's replacement is Karen, and Niko is not happy being forced to work with her again.
"So this is what the dream feels like, this is the victory we longed for."
