9 --- 3

Nate straightened his posture as he walked to meet the emissary, he had immediately ordered the emissary not be allowed to enter the underground base so they could have their meeting in the uncompleted structure above ground.

He took the elevator ride with Anna and three armed guards, he noticed the entire cleaning and security staff were all new faces. Susan must have replaced the staff entirely after Victor's death. Smart, they wouldn't know who to trust.

The elevator opened and Nate was hit with a wave of surprise, the uncompleted night club was different with different people and building equipments milling around to complete the structure. Susan had been extremely busy when he was in his coma. This was amazing, he wondered what else she was up to. Was he really to be the boss of all this? What does replacing Victor really mean?

He shoved his thoughts aside as the emissary came into view. He was a tall man with tan skin and dark hair, he stood holding a briefcase waiting with a patient smile.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, emissary." Nate spoke first.

The man's left eyebrow quirked in surprise. "I haven't introduced myself, Mr Merlyn."

It was Nate's turn to be surprised but he hid it well. *They know who I am.* "You didn't need to. You were expected. I apologise for all the ruckus, let's find a quieter place to talk."

The emissary raised a hand. "There would be no need for that, this won't take long." He reached into his briefcase and retrieved an familiar object. A zune. "You have been invited to a conclave scheduled for the last day of this month. The elders would like you to come and make your case in their decision for the future of New York's leadership."

"Their decision?"

The man gave a little smile. "Their have been a few red flags surrounding you taking over of the city. The elders would like to address that."

"And if I don't meet their requirements?"

His smile vanished. "The will of the elders is absolute, do not defy it."

He reached into his pocket and retrieved his own personal zune. A portal appeared behind him. Several of the human workers stopped working to watch him leave. This was probably their first time of seeing a portal.

"I didn't get your name." Nate called out before he could leave.

He looked back, the smile was back. "Pablo." He replied. "Pablo Frederick." And he was gone.

"Fucking hell." Nate muttered as soon as the portal closed. This Baron thing keeps getting harder and harder.

"That didn't look like it went too well." Anna commented.

"No shit, Anna."

The elevators opened and Helen and Sabine rushed out. The latter looked around in panic.

Helen spoke first. "King is in New York."

Nate's heart skipped a beat. He faced Sabine. "Are you sure?"

"Trust me, I can never miss his will energy." She handed a tablet to him. "That's his general location."

Nate looked at screen and saw the area she highlighted on the map. It's wasn't too far from the base. "We have to confront him."

"Are we taking the guards?" Anna asked.

Nate looked at the blank faces of the armed men and women around him. "No, just the two of us. Go to the garage and get a car ready."

She nodded and left immediately.

"You have to kill him." Sabine said vehemently.

"Why?" She didn't seem like the violent type.

"He is going to kill me, Victor has been the only thing stopping him all the years."

"What did you do to him?"

She looked down. "I killed his brother when I was trying to kill Victor. King is not the type to let go of a grudge."

Nate looked at her visibly scared face. He placed his hand on her shoulders to calm her. "Relax Sabine, I promise to protect you from Victor, I would never let him hurt you."

She didn't look convinced but she nodded. That would have to do, he had a eccentric willer crime boss to confront.

A few minutes later, he was driving towards certain danger with Anna alongside him.

"Are you sure it was wide for the two of us to go alone?" Anna asked.

"He is not here to fight us, if he wanted to kill me, he would have come straight for us. He wants to test us, know how strong we are. If I brought the human guards, he would knew how undermanned we are. King is a bully, we have to make sure we show no weakness."

Anna said nothing for a while. "Remember how we used to dream about seeing the world if we ever got away from Victor."

Nate sighed. "I am sorry to disappoint you, I didn't know freedom would be so costly. I feel like the people I have to protect keep increasing since I woke up this morning."

"You didn't disappoint me, Nate. There's no place I rather be than your side, I owe you my life."

"You don't owe me anything but I would appreciate it if you stayed by my side, Anna."

She smiled at him. "I was thinking of changing my name by the way."

Nate took his eyes off the road to glance at her. "What? Why?"

"Minx made a crack about my name being stupid."

"You shouldn't let Minx get to you, she is like that to everyone."

"I thought that too at first but she is not wrong. I have gone through a big transition the past months. Anna was the helpless girl who allowed herself to be trampled by everyone. I am not that girl anymore."

Nate cocked his head. "I guess an identity change makes sense, I could talk to Susan to get you a new identity like Victor did for me. What name do you have in mind?"

"What do you think about Xena?"

"Xena? The warrior in the painting?"

"Yeah. I think it's perfect."

"Xena." He repeated. "I think it's awesome. All hail Xena, warrior princess of New York City."

They both laughed for a few seconds before descending into silence for a few minutes which Xena broke. "We are going to need serious manpower to beat this King guy."

"Well, we do have some staying back at the base."

Xena laughed mirthlessly. "Those guys? If they are our backup, then we are seriously screwed."

"Amber showed some promise."

"Maybe She has potential but we don't have time to help her achieve it or the others. You had months with me."

"Survival brings the best and worst out of everybody. I just need to use it in my favor."

"If you say so." She paused and looked at the tablet. "We are here."

Here was a park surrounded by different buildings. "How are we going to find King here?"

"We aren't, you are."

"What?"

"Relax and remember what I thought you, scan the area with your will to know if there is anyone like you around."

Xena did as he said, she closed her eyes and focused while Nate waited. She suddenly looked up and pointed ahead. "There, in the restaurant. I can sense about six willers in there."

Nate felt around with his own will and discovered she was correct. "Okay, it's showtime. Follow my lead."

She nodded as they both exited the car. They went straight into the restaurant. It was fairly crowded but King was hard to miss. He sat in a dark corner with five people standing over him.

He chuckled as he spotted them. "Took you long enough."