9 --- 5

"This is a bad idea."

"Suck it up, Xena. We have run out of good ideas."

"But this has to be the worst idea ever."

Nate sighed. "We have been over this, we are terribly undermanned and this is our best chance to defend ourselves."

"I just want to be on record that I said this was a bad idea."

"Acknowledged. Let's just get this over with." He opened the door in front of him and stepped into the room where they found Minx playing some weird game with her fingers and toes.

She looked up when they entered. "Oh Nate, I am so glad to see you are finally okay, I would be gutted if anything was to happen to you." She said in a dramatic somber voice.

"Nice to know you care, Minx." Nate answered with sarcasm dripping from his voice.

She eyed the knife Xena was holding along with a small briefcase. "You know if you are planning on killing me, I have to say the long wait was irritating. I have been handcuffed to this stupid bed for four days with no powers."

"We are not killing you, Xena."

"You are not?" Nate almost missed the relief that passed through her eyes.

"No, we have a proposition for you."

"Ooh, I love propositions."

"We want you to join us."

Minx's eye went wide with surprise. She was definitely not expecting Nate's words. "There is no way 'miss take no enemies' here agreed to this." She gestured to Xena.

"I didn't." Xena said in a tight voice.

"But you are desperate." Minx flashed her teeth in her usual predatory smile.

"We are going up against King." Nate elaborated.

"Hmm. Not surprised, figured he would want his share of the pie with Victor gone."

"Are you in or out?"

"Can I be out? Can I say no to your suicide mission?"

Xena smiled at her. "What do you think?"

Minx was silent for a few seconds before shrugging. "Fine, at least I get to die my own way. Now, get this cuffs off me."

"Not so fast." Xena said as she dropped the briefcase on the bed. "Do you think we would just trust you not to run off." She opened the briefcase to show a thick black band."

"Can't you wait till my birthday before giving me expensive jewelry."

Xena opened the band and cuffed it on Minx's ankle. The device gave a little beep and then went silent. "What is it?"

"Short story, it is a bomb." Minx's eyebrow shot up immediately. "If you ever try to run away, I activate it." Nate explained.

"Boom." Xena cackled behind him, she was really enjoying this.

"And if you ever try to kill me or any member of the team, I have employees with standing orders to activate the bomb. The same goes for when you disobey my orders.

Minx looked at the black band with more seriousness. "This is a little extreme."

"I know you too well to take this lightly, do we have a deal?"

She sighed dramatically. "Yeah."

Nate nodded to Xena who produced a key and unlocked Minx's cuffs. Her eyes and fingers started glowing immediately. Nate tensed up.

"Finally." She said in utmost relief. "Having no powers is such a bitch."

"We would leave you to shower and stuff. We are meeting in the dining room in the next five minutes."

"That's not enough time."

"Make it work! We have a lot to talk about."

They left her grumbling under her breath. "Well, I guess the worst part is over."

Xena snickered. "You know we still have to convince the others."

"You think it will be harder than convincing Minx?"

"We didn't convince Minx, we threatened her. We can't do that with them, they are too scared."

"With good reason."

"You really think you can get through to them?"

"We are about to find out."

They soon reached the dining room where everybody was seated and surprisingly including Susan.

She stood up immediately she sighted him. "Hi." She smiled, exposing her pearly white teeth. "Are you okay, I heard you went up against King." She frowned in concern.

"Am fine thanks." He took his seat at the end of the table, Xena and Susan sat on opposite sides of him. Susan immediately dropped some papers and a pen right in front of him.

"What's this?"

"Papers to transfer all of Victor's assets to you." Susan answered. *That fast?* He wondered how many legal hoops she had to jump through to get through to get this to happen.

"Shit." Samantha's head bobbled up. "You really are taking over."

"Yes, I am." He said in his most confident voice. Anybody at the table who didn't already know snapped up at his statement. He should probably get to the tough part right away. "I will sign this after the meeting, I promise." He pushed the papers back to Susan who nodded in response.

"I know some of you are probably wondering why I called this --." He was abruptly interrupted by Brian putting up his hand to ask a question like he was in class.

He sighed and asked. "What is it Brian?"

"Before we start, I think we should probably know who she is." He said, pointing at Sabine.

"I was getting to that. Sabine is --." He paused, wondering if it was the right time to tell them about Sabine's ordeal. "Sabine was formerly a prisoner of Victor an now she is a new member of the team."

"Team?" Roger butted in. "What team?"

"For those who don't already know, we are encountering some resistance from King, someone who used to Victor's lackey."

"It's all over social media." Samantha quipped. "But how is that our problem?"

"He wants us to fight King together." Amber answered her question without looking up. Nate looked at her in disbelief, did someone tell her or did she predict his intentions?

"What?"

"King wants our heads." Xena joined the conversation. "This is us defending ourselves."

Samantha scoffed. "I am new to all of this but I am pretty sure what King want is to be Baron. King wants Nate, why should we be involved?"

Xena went red like she was going to blow Samantha's blonde head off her shoulders but Helen interrupted her. "We all took a part in bringing down Victor, no matter how small. If King gets to Nate, he is not going to stop there."

"So we are running for our lives all over again?" Brian's face looked in total shock like he can't believe the situation.

"No." Nate tried to take back control over the conversation. "Not if we work together or more correctly, not if you worked for me."

Amber looked up at that. "Work for you?"

"Yes, Victor employed me to work for him. I will like to do the same for anybody else who is willing to join me to protect this city."

"Wait, back up." Roger held up his hand. "Employ us? Like you mean pay us to work with you?"

"That is exactly I am talking about?"

Samantha looked like she was about to lose her marbles. "Are you guys crazy? What do we know about fighting?"

"That is for me to teach you."

"A--are you going to be teaching us how to kill too?" Amber asked in a low voice.

"I am going to be teaching you how to survive." Nate expertly avoided the question.

"It's not enough." Roger spoke up. "Even if we all agreed to this, it won't be enough to mount any kind of defense. You and Anna --"

"Xena." Xena corrected with steel in her voice. It amused Nate how she could easily hate a name she just recently went by."

"Right, Xena." Roger continued. "You and her are about the only trained fighters here."

"About that." As if on cue, Minx used that exact moment to grace them with her presence.

"Hi guys." Minx said in her usual chipper voice. She cleaned up really nice, she was back to being extra shiny Minx she used to be.

There were different reactions to her sudden appearance.

Amber went pale white, Nate was worried she might faint.

Samantha went ballistic. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

Roger looked at Nate. "This has to be some sort of joke. She literally kidnapped me."

Brian was speechless but he couldn't keep his eyes off Minx.

Even Susan looked skeptical. "I am not too sure about this."

Helen thankfully inserted herself into the rising chaos. "This is a big decision. Perhaps, it will be best if everyone thought about it for a while before deciding."

There were several nods around the table as they all stood up and dispersed.

Nate tried not to look as miserable as he felt. The meeting was a total shit show, he had to win their trust fast or his reign as baron would be over before it began.