Clean Getaway

"Good, dead guys can't pay interest, you're learning."

- Vladimir Glebov

Clean Getaway is a mission given to Niko by Vlad Glebov in Grand Theft Auto IV. It introduces the abilities of using the Subway and the Car Wash.

Plot
When Niko Bellic enters Comrades Bar, a little celebration is happening inside the bar, among the people celebrating is Mel and Muscovski. Vlad asks Niko to go on a walk with him to his car nearby. On the way, he shows his displeasure for homeless people by shouting at them for no reason or pushing them. When the pair reach Vlad's Marbelle in a car park, Vlad takes out some cocaine (said to be mixed with laxatives) who says he got it from someone called Mikhail. He then tells Niko that Mikhail has a problem with a man called Jimmy. Jimmy hasn't paying his debts recently, so he wants to show him that he means business. He wants Niko to steal his car, which is parked at the Steinway projects in Steinway, Dukes. He then tells Niko to use the subway to reach there.

Mission Objectives
In order to complete the mission, the player must:
 * Go to the subway station.
 * Go up to the station platform.
 * Wait for the train to arrive.
 * Find and take the silver Blista Compact.
 * Take Jimmy's car to the car wash.
 * Now take Jimmy's car to the lockup.

Walkthrough
Niko takes the marked train at Hove Beach station that goes to Dukes Boulevard station; once at Dukes Boulevard station, go down the stairs and then steals the silver Blista Compact, which is just parked nearby. If the player meets the chance, hit Jimmy with a stun punch by surprise and take his car, prompting one of Jimmy's friends to pursue after Niko.

Dialogue will be affected if Niko chooses to stun punch Jimmy, simply take the car and drive away, or kill him.


 * "A little bruised but he gave it up easy enough" if the player stun punched him.
 * "It was easy, I didn't even have to hurt the guy" if the player drove away without hurting Jimmy.
 * "He was reluctant. He's dead now" if the player killed him.

Once in the car, Niko then calls Vlad, saying that the car is dirty. Vlad then tells Niko to take the car to a car wash nearby, then take it back to his lockup.

Aftermath

 * Vlad will call Niko after the mission, regarding "a hot date" (presumably with Mallorie) where he drives the Blista Compact which Niko has just stolen. Depending on the condition of the car, Vlad's call will differ.
 * If the car is delivered undamaged, Vlad will mention that Niko did well "for a peasant" and will also say that the car should impress his date. Niko will return that she would not be impressed by his appearance, so the car would help.
 * If the car is delivered damaged (all windows broken, tyres flattened, engine producing dark grey/black smoke) before parking it, Vlad will call Niko complaining that the car "was a piece of shit". Niko will retort that "the car was clean, wasn't it?" and hang up.

Trivia

 * In the first cutscene, there's a reference to the movie Midnight Cowboy where Vlad yells at the taxi "I'm walkin' here!". The part of the movie can be seen here.
 * One of the purposes of this mission is to teach the player controls for the stun punch, except the on-screen instructions might not appear until after Niko has left the scene (and either dealt with Jimmy physically, or ignored him and just driven away).
 * When Niko calls Vlad after obtaining the Blista Compact, he tells Niko to take it to the Willis Wash and Lube in Willis, but the GPS at first directs Niko to the Car Wash in Beechwood City.
 * Curiously, the train Niko rides as part of this mission drops him off at the Dukes Boulevard station, which is supposedly closed for maintenance. At no other point in the game will a train stop at or even pass through this station. Neither will the player see the train actually stopping at the station, as the game cuts off from the cinematic sequence of the train moving towards Schottler station and switches to the player simply being at the station.
 * This is also the first and only mission that directs the player to take the train, even though the player can take the train at any time during game-play, including most story missions.
 * While the game prompts the player to head to the Hove Beach station, it is actually not necessary to take the train; alternatively, players may simply drive or take a taxi to the EIC projects, to which point the game will pinpoint the location of the car. However, as the game does not originally point out where the Blista Compact is parked, first-time players may not know of the car's location and will naturally take the train instead as instructed.
 * The mission is one of the only places in the game where the stun punch works. The player can also punch the bouncers at Perestroika with the stun punch.
 * After stealing the car, the player can do whatever they please with the car, so long as it is clean and is not destroyed (which leads to mission failure). This means that the player can choose to deliver the car clean and undamaged, or even present it as a clean but damaged wreck.
 * Although Vlad tells the player to wash the Blista Compact at the car wash in Beechwood City, players may use any car wash in the city (a second car wash location will appear on the map to the north of Beechwood). Alternately, players can have the car resprayed at a Pay 'n' Spray for the same effect which may be worth considering if Niko has attained a wanted level.
 * A hidden anti-piracy measure exists in this mission, after getting into Jimmy's car, Niko will not call Vlad and the garage door won't open so the mission cannot be completed. Sometimes if the player uses patch 1.2, this anti-piracy will still be triggered even with a legitimate version of the game. To resolve this problem, re-install the game.
 * In the video on the GTA IV website for Vlad, it shows part of the cutscene for this mission. He walks in the street and yells at the driver of an unique black taxi. This could mean that the taxis were originally meant to be black or were black in the beta version.

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