Savior (Part 5 - The Bar)

After getting permission from The Head of staffs at the palace to participate in the upcoming competition for staff selection, Maria went out of Granny's Cakes. She wandered around in the market area and then went to the bar where she asked Danny and Boris to wait for her. When she arrived at the bar, she searched for them and found Danny was sitting on a sofa at a corner. He was so occupied with drinking beer and talking to a girl that he didn't know when Maria was standing right in front of him. So, she interrupted, "Ahmm…Danny?"

Danny was startled and he turned to look at Maria. "Hey," He said with a forced smile.

"Where is Boris?" Maria enquired.

"I don't know, he told me that he will meet us at the hotel," He replied and continued, "What about your job? Did you get it?"

"I have asked to come to the palace tomorrow," She answered.

"Great," Danny praised.

"Shall I bring you anything to drink?" Maria asked.

Danny stood up and said, "Wait, let me bring the drinks. You must be tired."

"It's alright," Maria insisted by stopping him with her hand on his shoulder.

"If you insist then I will have a beer," Danny smiled and sat down with his beer mug.

Maria was expecting Danny to insist on bringing the drinks, but he gave up so easily. She turned around and spoke softly, "Stupid." She then went to the counter with a pissed off face and ordered two beers. The bartender gave her two mugs full of beer. She picked up the mugs and moved toward Danny, but while going, she collided with a tall, bulky bearded man and she spilled some beer from her mugs on the man's jacket in the process. She quickly looked at the man with widened eyes and apologized.

The man looked at her and smiled. He then moved his hand close to her face and lightly squeezed her cheek. "Why don't you lick it off instead of saying sorry?" The man grinned.

Maria ignored him and tried to move past him, but the man held her shoulder. "Where do you think you are going, Miss? Didn't you listen to what I just said?" The man said.

"Leave me," Maria hissed.

"Why don't you make me?" The man smiled.

Maria didn't want to jeopardize her mission by getting into a bar fight. So, she sighed and replied politely, "Please leave me, Sir"

"If you really want me to leave you, then lick off the beer from my shirt," The man said.

Everyone in the bar was looking at them, but no one was doing anything about the harassment going on. But then suddenly, Maria heard a familiar voice, "Hey Maria, have you brought my beer?" Danny was walking toward Maria.

Maria was relieved to see Danny coming for her aide. Danny came near, took one mug from her hand and drank some beer from that mug. He then held Maria's wrist and pulled her by saying, "Let's go, I need to talk to you."

When Maria tried to move, the man's grip on Maria's shoulder got tighter. Watching that, Danny said, "You are hurting her."

"Then why don't you save her?" The man teased.

Danny left Maria's wrist and went near the man. He was barely reaching the chin of the man, that's how tall the man was. Still, Danny made direct eye contact with the man without any sign of fear, and said, "We don't want any trouble"

"Oh sorry to disappoint you, but you are already in one," The man held Maria's shoulder more tightly.

"Please leave her, Sir," Danny requested.

"You can show me how much of a man you are, but it seems you are nothing but a pussy," The man further insulted Danny by spitting on the floor.

Danny couldn't control his anger anymore and spilled all the beer in his mug on the man's shirt. The man looked at his wet shirt and slowly left Maria's shoulder. After that, he punched Danny on his stomach, and just after getting one punch Danny held his belly and fell on his knees. Meanwhile, the man said, "How pathetic," he spat on the floor and continued, "You can't even protect your girl."

Listening to those harsh words, Danny raised his head up and glared at the man. When he tried to stand up, he was kicked on the face by the man while the whole crowd in the bar were looking very silently. Maria was unable to see Danny getting humiliated and beaten by that man, so she smashed the beer mug she was holding onto the man's head. She thought it would hurt the man, but there was barely a scratch on the man's face and his whole face was wet with beer. Maria's action was more than enough to anger the man. The man was so angry that he was about to punch Maria, but before he could punch her, he heard a man's voice saying, "Would you really hit a woman? What a disgrace."

The tall man looked toward the man who interrupted him and found that a silver-haired man, wearing a polar bear coat was sitting at the counter drinking vodka in a tumbler with crushed ice in it, and a lemon slice on top of it with mint leaves. He was having his drink very peacefully without caring what could happen after his statement whereas the bartender standing before him was trembling in fear. His calmness made the tall man angrier, because of which he lowered down his hand and walked toward the silver-haired man. And after getting closer to him, the tall man held the silver-haired man's shoulder and forcefully turned him toward him.

It was the man who was referred to as The King, by the Marshal of the Drachmann Federation, Clifton Kozlov and the Prime Minister of Drachma, Sieglaff. But it seemed, nobody recognized him. Moreover, there was no security in the bar which he should definitely have if he was the King of Drachma. However, when the tall man forcefully turned his chair by grabbing his shoulder, he was calm, whereas the tall man was glaring at him. "So you think you are man enough to stop me from hitting the woman?" The tall man growled.

"Yes," The King replied calmly.

The attitude of the King angered the tall man even more. He shouted, "I will beat you to a pulp, then I will take your expensive polar bear coat from you, and then I will beat that woman in front of your eyes."

The King stood up from his chair and directly looked at the tall man with his green eyes by raising his head. "Why don't you stop talking and show me what you can do?" He said with no fear in his eyes.

Now the tall man had enough. He grabbed the King's polar bear coat by the collar with one hand and moved his other hand to punch the face. But, before his fist could touch the King's face, the King stopped the punch with one hand and held his wrist with another hand. The King then slowly moved the tall man's hand from his collar without even breaking a sweat and headbutted that man. The headbutt hit the tall man at his nose because of his height, and his nose started bleeding. He fell on the floor and got unconscious within a few seconds. Watching the tall man fall, the King fixed his coat and said calmly, "As I thought, you were nothing but just talks"

Everyone looked at the tall man lying on the floor unconscious which was a bit unbelievable. And when the King was about to move back to his chair, he heard many people standing up at once. He turned around and found out that almost all the customers were standing, except a few people, who were the employees at the bar. They were undoubtedly the gang members in the tall man's gang.

After a few moments, a seven feet plus bald man walked toward the King and stood a few feet away from him. He was clearly the boss of the gang to which the tall man belonged. First, he looked at Maria and said, "I am sorry for what he did to you." Then he looked toward the King and continued, "As for you, we have to beat you to a pulp, as our brother told you."

The other gang members closed the exit door, every non-gang member present in the bar moved out of the way between the King and the gang members. Watching that, Maria looked at the King and apologized by saying, "Sorry, you got involved."

"Now that I am involved, it will be better if you back off a little to a safe place," The King said.

"Do you really think you can beat us all?" The boss laughed.

"I don't think. I know it," The King replied.

Every gang member started laughing after listening to his reply along with their boss. "You are funny," The boss said while laughing and continued, "I like you. I have decided, I will let you go…if you say sorry for what you did."

It was a very reasonable and safe bargain, but instead of accepting the offer, The King lifted his right leg and kicked the unconscious man lying on the floor, on the face, breaking some of his teeth. Then he replied, "Sorry for what I did."

The boss stopped laughing and with that, every gang member stopped laughing. There was silence in the bar and many angry eyes were fixed on the King to take revenge. Meanwhile, the King removed his coat and gave it to the bartender at the counter and said, "Keep it clean."

Watching his utter calmness in that situation, few of the gang members walked toward the King. When the first gangster reached near the King and was about to attack him, he held the head of that gangster with one hand and hit that gangster's head on the counter. Then he backward kicked the other gangster behind him on the thighs, due to which that gangster fell on the knees. The King then left the first gangster's head and quickly turned back. He punched the second gangster who was on the knees on the face, making him spit blood and get unconscious within a moment. He then quickly picked up another gangster with one hand and threw him on a group of gangsters running toward him. Watching that, all the gangsters pulled out their knives and brass knuckles. Meanwhile, the King moved to the center of the bar with confidence, and said, "I hope this will be a better location for you to attack me."

The words from the King's mouth were acting as fuels to the rapidly increasing anger of the gangsters. Many gangsters surrounded him from all the sides and they slowly closed into him. Due to their cautious slow movement, the King got impatient and quickly ran toward a group of gangsters. His movement was so fast that the gangsters had no time to react. When they realized that he moved from his place, he was already holding the neck of one gangster. He lifted him up and was slowly choking him. Watching that, the gang members standing beside him tried to attack him. But, before they could reach him, he slammed the man he was holding by the neck on the floor and quickly grabbed the waistband of another gangster's pant. He then threw that gangster toward another group of gangsters who were going to attack him and turned around to look at a group of gangsters who were coming toward him. But, when they saw the calm and unafraid eyes of the King, none of them dared to come near him. In the meantime, the boss quickly came from behind and he was about to hit him with his brass knuckles on. But, he just missed to hit the King, his fist just grazed the King's shirt when the King tried to dodge the attack. The King then quickly turned around and saw a punch coming toward him. However, he dodged the attack and punched the boss in his stomach. The boss withstood the pain and tried to punch him again. Again the King dodged his attack and punched the boss on his chest. The boss started coughing blood when he received the punch and fell on his knees. "Stay down, and I promise I will spare your life," The King said.

When the gang members saw their boss on his knees and coughing blood, one of them asked, "Are you, alright Boss?"

"Yes," The boss smiled while coughing blood.

The gangsters who were still on their feet understood that their boss was hurt badly, but he was too proud to admit it. How could they give up when their boss was not ready to lose from the King? They got enraged and charged toward the King, and the King fought them without even breaking a sweat. His one punch was enough to make them unconscious, and after some time, the bar was filled with a lot of unconscious gangsters. When he punched the last gang member in the bar, the boss pulled out his gun and pointed toward the King. "What are you?" The boss asked with widened eyes, while his hands were trembling while holding the gun.

The King looked at him and replied, "A better future."

But, his answer angered the man and the boss fired two shots from his handgun. Unfortunately, both the bullets missed him and hit the bottles on the shelf behind. The boss couldn't believe that he failed to hit him, because of which he lowered his gun and head, out of disappointment. The King went near him, and placed his hand over his head and said, "First defeat is always bitter."

He then moved past the boss, to the counter and asked the bartender for his coat. The bartender was trembling while giving back his coat. And after taking his coat, he opened one of the exit doors and left the bar, while everyone conscious watched him with widened eyes.