-Sizing up the Competition-
Freshly shaven, bathed, and back from the hair salon, Logan entered the noisy, bustling locale of the Crash. He gave the interior of the establishment a thorough once-over and, not finding what (or rather, whom) he sought, headed toward the bar.
"Club soda, please," he told the man behind the counter. No alcohol tonight… he had to keep his concentration. Besides, it wasn't as if he'd really drink any of the crap they sold in here anyway.
"Hey Logan," a perky voice greeted at his side. He suppressed a sigh and turned to face his visitor.
"Hello Asha."
The smile the blonde was giving him grew even larger, until it hurt Logan's face just to look at it.
"How you doin'?" she somehow said around a mouthful of seemingly far too many teeth. Recalling that he was acquaintances with a dog-man, and he'd had a girlfriend who'd come back from the dead once, he managed not to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of them.
"Good." His drink arrived and he took a sip, glancing away before he was caught staring. "You?"
"Good, good," she said, head bobbing up and down. "You meetin' up with someone?"
Logan glanced at her, hiding a frown behind his glass. Since he'd broken up with Max - yes, he'd broken up with Max… don't bother to argue otherwise - and he'd never agree to greet an informant someplace this close to his own territory, who could she think he'd come to meet? Surely, she couldn't suspect the truth… could she?
"Why do you ask?"
She shrugged, her head bobbing once more, though he couldn't understand why. Was she agreeing?… stretching her neck?… practicing her ostrich impression?
"No reason. Just that you never really came to the Crash before, 'cept when you were meeting up with Max… It didn't strike me as your kinda place."
He let out the breath he'd been holding. Right, of course not. This was Asha after all. With the last year they'd spent working together, side by side on S1W-EO collaborations, she hadn't even figured out that he was Eyes Only. He bet if he took off his glasses and combed his hair back, he could run around in red and blue tights and she'd never make the connection.
"What are you talking about?" he said, his voice carefully indifferent. "I love this place. I come here all the time."
"You do?" Her eyebrows rose comically. No, wait, her eyebrows rose… the comical part was already there. Hmm, how was it that he'd never noticed before how much Asha resembled a cartoon character?
"Well, when I can, that is…"
Yeah, that funny pinched nose…
"… I'm usually just too busy to drop by."
Widely spaced eyes…
She beamed at him. Logan squinted and raised a hand to protect his eyes.
… Radioactive smile.
"Yeah. You, always with the saving the world and doing what's right thing."
"Um… yeah." He glanced away and paused as a thought came to him suddenly. "Listen, Asha," he began and she leaned forward eagerly. "You and Alec… is there something going on between you two?"
Asha shook her head rapidly, eyes widening to saucer-like proportions. "Oh no, nothing at all."
"So… you're not involved?"
"No. We're not involved. Never were."
"Oh." He sipped his drink and discreetly peered over the blonde's shoulder as he noticed that his target had finally arrived. Mmm, and he was wearing that leather jacket that he looked so scrumptious in…
The transgenic glanced around the room, and Logan quickly ducked back so Asha's head would block him from view.
"… In fact, I'm not involved with anyone at the moment," she was saying.
"Huh?" Logan glanced at her. "Oh. Right." He stood suddenly. "Yeah, well it was nice running into you, Asha. We should get together… sometime… catch up on things and whatnot."
"Sure Logan," she replied eagerly, beaming up at him.
Spots appeared in his vision before he could glance away quickly enough.
"How about…"
Logan fumbled over a chair leg, and barely caught himself in time as his sight gradually began to be restored. "Later," he called out over his shoulder, stumbling away.
Well it seemed that Asha was definitely out of the picture, which left only Max, and whatever other random females managed to capture Alec's eye… but Logan wasn't too worried about any of them. Max - she was the one he had to watch out for. Persistent little thing… just look how she'd chased him around for nearly two years before he came to his senses and realized who he really wanted. She'd make for some tough competition.
Ah well, he could handle it. After all, he was Logan Cale… what couldn't he handle?
His foot caught on something and he fell forward, landing flat on his face on the dingy floor of the Crash. Spectators paused, but they had little time to gawk as he bound up quickly, hardly fazed by the experience. After all, he was Logan Cale… what couldn't he handle?
Wait a minute… hadn't he said that already?