A/N: my headcanon: once an ARC, always an ARC.

Passing the torch

A man flew right in front of Echo and landed exactly in the middle of a puddle. The mysterious puddle, Echo's deducted, could be a pool of piss... or worse as it hadn't rain on Coruscant for days.

Being thrown out of some establishment wasn't a new or alien concept - It was a tale as old as time. The problematic clientele had been flying out of the bars and brothels from the dawn of time. However it became a real plague in a wake of forming Empire.

Echo's eyes travelled from the roughed up solider, who quickly scrammed to his feet to save at least last bits of his dignity, to a bouncer, who was now laughing loudly, flexing his beefy arms to the cheer of the crowd of patrons and courtesans.

There was no mistake, who that man was.

"Wrecker?"

"ECHO!" the large man shouted happily seeing his squad-mate.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm doing the bouncy stuff!"

At this moment one of the courtesans, blue skinned Twi'lek, approached the tallest clone and, after making him level with her, kissed him on the cheek. The clone trooper blushed, quickly covering the fact by picking her up, spinning her in his trademark tight hug to end up sitting on his shoulder. The crowd cheered even louder.

Echo's immediately spotted something was off. The girl's red, puffy eyes or the way she awkwardly balanced her body weight on Wrecker's shoulder told him there was something more to the story than the usual rough play, the 69's staff was used to. Only as Wrecker put the working girl back on her feet, the ARC noticed huge, hand imprints on the woman's arms and a bruised, swollen cheek. The Twi'Lek quickly disappeared in the crowd.

Just as Echo took a step forward to follow her, Wrecker walled off the entrance to the 69's with his humongous body.

"Do you even have a permission to enter?"

Echo blinked, surprised.

No-one ever questioned his affiliation with the establishment. During Clone Wars he worked there as a bouncer, as well as driver, he escorted girls and guys to their clients and back on top of being a regular customer.

"Wrecker" both clones turned toward the female voice. Tel'I Mena appeared on the larger man's left side, smiling politely. "Echo is our patron, and he has an appointment with Hibiki"

"Uhhh... eeee... sorry, Echo"

"No problem, that's our-your task... to keep the staff safe" The cyborg nodded getting past his squad-mate.

"I sure do that!"

For Echo it was one of those nights, where, thanks to Tel'I Mena's suggestion, his share of fun was being hooked up to various drips full of vitamins and micronutrients and Hibiki's experienced hands working on his tensed and knotted muscles.

The sessions, and a few days long mission on a surprisingly pleasant, sunny planet, resulted with Echo looking slightly less pale and sickly.

"I didn't know that Wrecker... uses your service" The ARC trooper broke the silence.

Hibiki hmm-ed in response as she adjusted her balance on his artificial hips.

"He doesn't. He just likes to make a ruckus" Oil covered hands traveled from Echo's jaw to his chest "He also entertains the patrons by putting on a show as he does. Hugs and pecks on a cheek seems to be enough for him"

"he doesn't get a discount?"

"Oh! He does! A pretty hefty one - he's almost as good of a bouncer as you, ARCs, were during Clo- well... before the Empire. Since he is not interested in using it and he doesn't want any compensation for his bouncer duty, except maybe a meal or two, we, as a staff, voted in favor to relocate it to Crosshair's tab"

"Crosshair's? not Hunter's or Tech's?"

"Hunter's not really a regular, while Tech" The courtesan sighed. "are you really so interested in your squad's sexual preferences?"

"As their brother - kriff no, as an ARC - I say: it's a very valuable intel... What's 69's deal with Tech?"

Hibiki pursed her lips, displeased.

"what did he do to you?" Echo got up to the sitting position, he cupped the woman's cheek with his normal hand, she leaned in to his touch.

"As I told you before, I never met him personally, but the rest says that he's a perv," the girl admitted, pouting childishly."but not in a fun way"

"That coming from prostitutes... worries me" Echo narrowed his eyes, now suspicious.

"He's not that bad just... not worth the price tag. but-"

"Yeah?"

"What I did see was Wrecker throwing him out and it was oddly satisfying to watch"