3 --- 1

  *I want a car.* Nate sighed as he rested his back against the soft leather of the Jaguar. He was riding shotgun with Caleb driving.

Victor and Susan were in the backseat checking accounts on a laptop. Susan manages Victor's business and funds. She was also human which surprised Nate. But since she was very pretty, Nate suspected they were intimate but they were all business when he saw them together.

"Business is definitely booming." Victor said, looking at the screen intently.

"It is only going to get better with your shipment coming through." Susan responded.

"Good job."

"It's hardly my job. You do all the deadlines and meetings. If only I could help you."

"Guns and drugs dealings are not appropriate for you."

"I agree, which is why I think we should move into the kind of business I can handle."

Victor sighed. "We are not having this discussion again."

Susan persisted. "We have more than enough to continue the building of the club and-"

"Susan, I already told you I will go back to the club business when I am and that's all we are saying about that."

"Yes sir." Susan said stiffly.

They went back to talking about shipment and investment deals. Nate tuned them off and looked at Caleb called at the wheel. He had offered to drive the car but he gave a firm 'No'.

Caleb didn't look like someone you want on your bad side. The big guy looked at peace while driving leaving Nate to grump. He wanted a chance to drive one of Victor's exotic cars but it didn't look likely with Caleb here.

Caleb parked the car and put it off. "We are here, sir."

"Okay." Victor responded.

"Which business deal is this again?" Susan asked.

"It is not a business deal, just a meeting with one of my associates. You can stay in the car. I won't be long."

Nate, Caleb and Victor left her in the car and headed into the abandoned warehouse where Victor would be meeting King, the kingpin of Harlem and a willer who worked under Victor. Nate had seen him a few times and he wasn't impressed. He looked like an average criminal with hardly any intelligence. Nate would never understand why Victor allowed King to control a part of his territory.

Alarm flared in Nate's mind when he scanned the building and registered ten willers. He looked at Victor, if he had noticed, he was not showing it.

At the center of the vast space were a table and two opposite chairs. They were six men and three women standing. As usual in previous meetings, they were all black.

The man sitting on the chair however was not king. He was taller, brawnier and darker in complexion but had that small crown tattoo all henchmen of king had on their forehead.

Victor took the opposing seat without a care in the world and asked the most obvious question. "Where is King?"

"King isn't in charge anymore" The man answered with a sneer.

Victor clicked his tongue. Something Nate noticed he only does when he is annoyed. "Is he dead?"

"That is none of your business."

Victor gave a little smile. "Charlie, isn't it? I told King you looked too ambitious when he made you second in command. So I have to deal with you?"

A muscle flexed on Charlie's crown tattoo. "There are no dealings anymore. This is us telling you we are tired of your shit Victor. Harlem ain't your bitch."

"That's not good. Harlem is under my territory, I gave King authority over it because of his authority. You don't expect me to just accept this, do you?

Charlie gave a sly grin that did his face no favors. "Of course not."

The willers behind him unsheathed small edged axes.

"Oh."

Nate snuck a look at Caleb. The big man looked tense. Nate was totally unprepared for this. He expected Victor to make a deal to get them out of this situation. They were obviously outnumbered.

Charlie and victor ensued in a staring match before Victor broke the silence. "Well, are you just going to sit there or are we going to get this started?"

Then everywhere erupted into chaos. Charlie wrenched away the table and leaped to strike Victor who unleashed a ball of pure energy to blast him away. The last thing Nate heard was Charlie's cry of pain before he turned to face his own attackers. All four of them advanced with their axes.

Nate didn't wait for them to reach him. He threw a ball of energy into their midst to disorientate them. Their formation shattered.  Like quicksilver, he moved towards them before they could regroup and held the man in the middle by his shirt and slammed him against the metal wall of the warehouse.

He bent down just in time to dodge the swipe of an axe and flipped away to dodge another downward swipe. His hand crackled as he focused energy into a whip like shape and lashed it at a girl. She conjured up a shield but it couldn't hold against the energy. The barrier shattered and the force launched her against the wall.

A man threw an axe at him. He jerked away just in time as an axe fizzed past his head with a few centimeters to spare. He held up a hand and caught it before if sailed away. He focused his will into the weapon. It glowed brightly. He quickly stepped to the now defenseless man and slashed at his arm. The man howled in pain. He slashed again at his thigh and kicked him away.

He turned around to see a girl focusing her will, he tried to leap out of the way but it was too late. Searing, blinding light blasted him away. He let out a growl between pain and anger. The girl moved close to him in a flash and slammed a glowing fist into his jaw. His world went white with pain as he fell down. She slammed her heavy boots into his chest and he swore he could hear his ribs creak.

The girl wasn't finished yet. She reached down and punched the same spot with determined strength. Nate let out a strained scream in pain. The girl retrieved an axe from the floor and swung it towards his head going for the kill. Nate batted it away with a wave of his hand and she stumbled forwards. He held her hand and conjured fire on it. Her face contoured in alarm and she froze for a few seconds but that was all Nate needed. He focused his will into his eyes and fired energy into her chest. It was not strong enough to hurt her but only to push her away a few feet. He swung his legs and took her feet off the ground. She stumbled to the ground. Nate got to his feet and grabbed her arm.

Holding her tight, he spun around twice and he let out a high pitched scream as she was launched across the room and crashed against the wall unceremoniously.

Caleb groaned loudly in pain. Nate looked at him and saw a woman with her axe embedded deep in his back.

Nate moved to help him but he was immediately cornered by a young and a woman he had fought with earlier. At the corner of his eye, he could see Victor with his hand in the chest of another man.

The duo before him moved together to attack. He poured his will into his right hand brandishing pure energy into a tightly curled fist.  He hit the ground with enough force to shatter steel. The shock wave from the impact lifted his assailants off their feet and away from him.

He looked back at Caleb, who had pinned down the woman to the ground and brought down his fists down on her head. Her skull shattered into an unholy mess of blood, bones and brain matter.

Charlie reared his head from some rubble. Half of his face was full of blisters that were literally smoking. There were three bodies between them. Two men and one woman, undeniably dead.

Charlie snarled at Victor who flashed him a triumphant smile. A portal suddenly opened behind him and Bennet, Ronda, Carl and Genk stepped through, brandishing weapons.

Panic crept on Charlie's face. He barked out an order Nate couldn't hear to a fat timid looking boy who had not really engaged in any of the fighting. The boy opened a portal and Charlie was first through. His followers picked themselves up and hurriedly went through the portal. The girl Nate had thrown was farthest from the Portal. She struggled to her feet. Everyone was through the portal including the porter. She hurried to make it before it closed.

"Stop her." Victor ordered.

Nate fused his will into the air around the warehouse and pushed. The girl was knocked off course by meters.

Her teammates could not take the risk of leaving the portal open as it fizzed out and vanished. Her face went pale with sheer horror and despair.

Backed in a corner, she tried to run pat Bennet who casually hit her back with a mild energy that sent her sprawling in front of Nate and Victor.

"Is King alive?" Victor asked in the most threatening voice had ever head. A shiver ran down his spine. He couldn't imagine what the girl was going through. If she hadn't just tried to kill him he might actually feel sorry for her.

"y-yes." She stammered.

Victor smiled pleasantly. "Where is he?"

"I don't know. I swear. Charlie has a circle he talks to and I am not one of them."

Victor sighed in mock disappointment. "You are of no use to me then."

The girl whimpered.

"Nate, kill her." It took Nate a second to actually realize Victor had ordered him to kill the woman.

"I am sorry. I can't do that." He tried to make his voice clear and bold as he could.

"Why? Do you have a bit of conscience thing going on, kid?" he said with a sneer that he had really come to hate.

"Not really. It will be much easier to do if she was still trying to kill me but not with her just lying there defenseless." That was only half true. He felt taking orders to kill a life should be out of respect and fear. Something victor had not earned.

Victor gave an unimpressed sound. "Ronda."

Ronda stepped forward and without hesitation took the girl's head with a single swipe of her sword.

Victor turned to him again. He thought he was going to reprimand or scold him. "You hurt, kid?"

He actually cares. Nate thought in surprise.

"No." He said, ignoring the pain in his chest.

"Good. Take care of the bodies and drive Susan home."

Bennet opened up a portal and Caleb threw the keys to him with slight displeasure on his face. Then they all left.

Nate sighed. "Born leader."