9 --- 4

The people in the restaurant didn't seem to recognize King or his cohorts but they sure knew who Nate was. All conversation ceased as he entered, eyes turned to him and Xena. It was disconcerting to be famous (or in his case infamous) without knowing it.

If King decided to be violent, all these people would be casualties.

"Everybody out now." The silence made sure his voice was heard by all but there was hardly no response so he focused his will into his eyes to make them glow. "Now."

This time the occupants of the restaurant quickly vacated the premises, some tried hard not to run but failed miserably. It remained all but a waiter still trembling on the spot.

"Take a break." Xena said in a soothing but commanding voice. The young woman gulped down tears and shuffled towards the back door.

"You sure do know how to clear a room." King said before laughing at his own joke.

Nate walked towards him and sat on the empty chair opposite him. Xena stood right behind him, he could feel her tension.

"You are trespassing in my territory, King." He said in his most commanding voice.

King laughed even louder this time, tears were visible at the corner of his eyes. "This kid has got to shitting me." He tried to control his laughter. "I don't know what idea you have got in your head but there is no version of this where you win. The very fact that I am talking with you is out of respect of taking out Victor on your own. So if you know what is good for you, you will take this win and get out of my city."

Nate relaxed into his chair and folded his hands. "Are you done? You need to get something straight, this is no way where I let you to take over New York. I --"

"Take over?" King interrupted him. "This city was mine the moment Victor died. That is a fact, kid."

Nate was starting to starting to get irked by being called kid but didn't show it. He noticed King's jovial mood had evaporated. He probably expected this to go a lot easier.

"If you want this city, you will have to kill me and take it from me."

King roared in rage and punched the table, snapping it into two. Everybody in the restaurant except Nate flinched.

"Until then, get your drug pushing ass out of my territory. That is an order from your Baron."

"If you think I am just going to tuck my tail in and go back to Harlem, you must be--"

"Back to Harlem?" Nate cut in with amusement on his face. "Last I remember, Harlem is a part of New York."

"But, Victor-"

"Victor is gone. New York is under new administration and all past deals are erased." Nate knew the only reason Victor gave King Harlem was because of his support in the drug and gun trade. A business Nate will no longer be continuing.

If King looked angry before, he was raging now. "You must be daft if you think that you can beat me."

Nate made a dismissive face. "I am tired of this discussion. If you don't follow my orders, I will be forced to take drastic measures."

After that he stood up and left King with his dilapidated table.

He left the restaurant feeling a lot better than he entered it.

"That was so cool." Xena said as soon as they were out the door. "The way he shattered his confidence is so amazing. I think you are getting this Baron thing down."

Nate tried hard not to blush under Xena's flattery. "What we have to do know is protect ourselves for when he attacks."

A shiver suddenly ran up Nate's spine. *Oh no.*

"Nate." Xena whispered.

She must have felt it too but Nate reacted faster. He created a shield in his mind's eye to protect against attacks from his blindspots and tackled Xena to the ground.

A strong beam of light shattered his shield but the shield served its purpose, it rebounded the beam to hit a nearby car. The car erupted into flames in a loud explosion.

In a twinkle of an eye, the busy but quiet street phased into chaos.

Screams along with incessant car alarms rented the air.

Nate ignored all this to focus on the immediate problem, he looked back and saw two of King's crew walking towards them. King and the rest of his men were not in sight, they must have portaled away but Nate kept it in his mind to keep an eye out for them.

For now, they had two men walking towards them, energy balls in hands. He looked at Xena who just got up to her feet, they exchanged a nod before facing their opponents.

One of them threw an energy ball at them, Nate and Xena responded by shooting it out of the air at the same time.

Before the other could throw his own, Nate created a long energy whip and slashed at him, the man lost his focus and the ball faded away.

Xena started firing beam after beam of energy. Both men responded by erecting shields.

Nate took to the air and flew over their heads to their backs. One of them dropped his shield to face him. Rookie mistake. One of Xena's stream of light hit him hard in the back and launched him forward right into Nate's fist.

His jaw snapped when the blow hit him and he went to ground easily.

It was now two against one. Xena had stopped firing. They both circled the last man like wolves waiting to pounce.

The man attacked first, going after Nate, he had focused a sharp beam of light on his hand which he clawed at Nate's face, Nate dodged and grabbed his hand.

Xena appeared behind the man and kicked his knee hard. The man grunted and collapsed towards Nate who flipped the man with force, facing him towards Xena for the finishing blow.

She responded by punching his face, her glowing fist went right through his skull, the man twitched and died instantly.

Her eyes went wide, Nate knew what had happened, she had miscalculated her strength. There was no time to respond, his focused fire into his hands and set the man's corpse alight.

The other man Nate had knocked down struggled to his feet but instead of attacking them, he looked at the burning body and took off. Xena started to chase but Nate stopped him.

"Let him go. His fear makes him a perfect messager."

Nate looked around at the chaos, there were a few destroyed properties but no one looked seriously injured. The people around looked at them but nobody could meet his gaze.

He understood their fear but they should be expecting more. The territorial war had officially started and King just fired the first shot.