OTA

[logan_echolls]

His knuckles connected with skin, and for the first time in days, Logan felt alive.

He honestly couldn't remember what the fight had started over, but it had begun in a bar and spilled out onto the street in a matter of moments. He wasn't winning, Logan was sure of that, but he honestly didn't care. Even as he crashed to the pavement and the other man's boot made contact with his gut, Logan only laughed through the pain.

His lip was bleeding, and his cheek was already bruised- Still, the fight wasn't slowing down at all, and likely wouldn't end until someone stepped in- Or one of them stopped breathing.

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[im_torchwood]

Jack saw the fight and usually he wouldn't get involved but it was clear the young man was getting the absolute piss beaten out of him and if there was one thing Jack couldn't stand it was an unfair fight.

His coat billowed as he sauntered up and he put himself between the winner and the loser.

"All right, that's enough. Go back inside," he said in a most commanding voice of authority. FOr his trouble he got hit square in the face. It rocked him back but not nearly as much as it ought to have. Jack righted himself and took a swing of his own and dropped the man to the ground. His friends picked him up.

"That's enough. Go back inside," Jack said again, wiping the blood from his lip. This time they listened.

Once they were gone he turned to look at the young man who'd taken the worst of it and he paused.

And blinked.

He looked so familiar for some reason.

Jack offered a hand up without a word.

[logan_echolls]

That many blows to the head usually left Logan seeing stars- Not strangers with far too familiar faces. ...He knew this man though, he was certain of it. Or, he'd at least seen him before- Somewhere.

Logan hesitated, then took the offered hand, pulling himself to his feet.

"You didn't have to step in, I had that under control," Logan frowned, licking the blood from his lip with a flick of his tongue, then examining his bruised and bloody knuckles.

[im_torchwood]

Jack chuckled at that. The seeping blood on his lip had stopped and the swelling was already fading.

"Sure you did," he said. "Whatever...it's over now. Why don't we go to the all night drug store and get you something for those knuckles."

[logan_echolls]

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell the guy to fuck off, but the familiarity of the stranger nagged at him- Logan didn't want to be fussed, but his curiosity wouldn't let him simply brush the guy off.

"You a medic or something?" he asked flatly.

[im_torchwood]

"No, just a concerned citizen," he said. His American accent stood out, marking him as unique on the London streets. There were dozens of accents through the city but nothing like his.

"You kind of got the short end of the stick in that fight. What was it over?"

[logan_echolls]

"I might have implied that his existence blossomed from a relationship his mother had with a pig," Logan replied, his own Californian drawl a sharp contrast to the local dialect.

[im_torchwood]

"Might have, huh?" Jack asked, chuckling even as he was struck with the strangest sense of deja vu. Which was something that simply didn't happen to him.

"Captain Jack Harkness," he said then, offering his hand.

[logan_echolls]

Logan looked at the offered hand, then shrugged before accepting it.

"Logan," he replied simply, not offering his last name. Though as he shook the man's hand he was struck again by that nagging feeling in his gut. That confidence, that smile... It was so familiar, and yet Logan would swear he'd never met this man in his life.

[im_torchwood]

"Logan," he repeated. It felt right. Just saying it...made him smile.

"Come on. Let's go patch you up."

[logan_echolls]

The younger man hesitated a beat, though he didn't let it show.

"Yeah, sure, okay. ...So, like, what are you captain of? You a cop? You don't really look like a cop."

[im_torchwood]

"Air Force," he said. "Though I'm retired from that."

It wasn't the truth but it wasn't a lie either which was why Jack could say it so fluidly, so perfectly that there was no chance of questioning him.

[logan_echolls]

"Right, but you still like to toss the title around," Logan snorted, rolling his eyes a bit, and trying not to limp as they started to walk.

"So what do you do now?"

[im_torchwood]

"I'm a consultant in the private sector," he lied. Nice, boring. No one cared what you did, anyway.

"What about you? What brings an American your age to London? Let me guess...school?"

[hardertohide]

The thing about some of the old school punks was that, once they'd drunk enough (and they'd usually drunk more than enough), they tended to forget about limits, boundaries, and the fact that once someone was bloody and on the ground, a fight really ought to stop, no matter what it had been about (she had no clue, in this case). As long as they didn't get up.

Dutch wasn't sure the laughing man on the ground would stay down, so she pulled idly on her cigarette and let Danny get in a few more hits before she stepped forward, out of the circle of bystanders. A single step so Danny would realise she was there, but not turn on her.

"C'mon, Danny," she told him when he looked over at her. "You don't want to kill the kid, do you."

With her intervention, a few of his mates seemed to blink out of their appreciation of the fight and think better of letting him carry on with it, and they were taking him back inside the pub with the promise of more beer. The bystanders lost interest, and she crouched down next to the bloke on the ground, holding out her half-smoked cigarette to him.

"What'd you do to piss him off?" she asked curiously, kohl-lined eyes taking in his sorry state.

[logan_echolls]

"I dunno, might have said something about him having a deep fondness of barn animals," Logan shrugged, wincing in pain as he sat up, and refusing the cigarette with a shake of his head.

Despite the obvious pain he was in, the young American smiled. "How was I supposed to know he felt so strongly about sheep, right? These animal activist are crazy," he quipped, making it obvious that the fight hadn't been over anything of the sort. Logan had simply seen a man who was likely to snap, and had pushed every button until he'd done just that.

[hardertohide]

"Well," Dutch noted after taking another drag on the cigarette, easily balanced in a crouch. Smoke wafted out of her mouth as she spoke. Her tone was mostly nonchalant, but she kept looking at the bloke curiously. "He is Welsh."

[logan_echolls]

"A friend of yours?" he asked, wincing as he awkwardly pulled himself to his feet and attempted to see just how severe the damage was.

[hardertohide]

"Another regular," she answered, straightening up. Not a friend, no, but not someone she disliked, either. The old school punks could be such odd creatures, and it was difficult for her to call any of them friends. "How much damage has he done?"

[logan_echolls]

"What, you're not going to go check on him first?" Logan asked. "I'm sure I got a hit in- Maybe two."

He smiled then, licking the tiny trickle of blood from the corner of his lips and shrugging.

"I'm bruised, but I've had worse. Nothing's broken, so that's a plus..."

[hardertohide]

That meant he didn't need to go to the hospital, most likely. Either way, Dutch would let him be the judge of that. "I don't recommend going back in," she told him, with a tilt of her chin in the direction of the pub. He wouldn't be welcome, after pissing Danny off bad enough for him to use his fists.

[logan_echolls]

"Wasn't planning on it. My mini bar is better stocked than that shit hole anyway," Logan shrugged, looking her over with a curious flick of his gaze, then offering a nod.

"You break up bar fights a lot?" he asked.

[hardertohide]

"I try not to make a habit of it," Dutch answered, and let a small smile twitch up her lips before taking another drag. "But he was right pissed off, and I like this pub." And, after a beat, she added, as if she'd just come to that conclusion, "And your face."

[logan_echolls]

"What can I say, it's a good face. Nicer when it's not bruised and bleeding, but you can't have everything, right?" he quipped.

"I'm Logan, by the way. I don't think I caught your name."

[hardertohide]

Dutch smiled slightly again, at the clichéd comeback that came to mind. I don't think I've given it. "I'm Dutch," she replied out loud. "Two streets down, and to your left," she nodded down the street. "It'll be a lot easier starting a bar fight there, if you're still in the mood."

[logan_echolls]

"No, I'm good- I'll buy you a drink though, if you want," he shrugged- And for Logan that was about as close to flirting as he got when he was in one of his moods.