Maxie smiled thinly and slowly relaxed as the trio led by Damian came into view.

Logan seemed relieved as well that the waiting was over. Only Lulu tensed even more. She bitterly regretted her small role in provoking the situation.

Logan spoke as the newcomers arrived at the foot of the stairs. "What are you two doing here?"

Dillon shrugged and nervously looked at the ground. Cassius smiled and gestured at the girls. "Looks like you brought two witnesses, so fair is fair."

Logan shrugged. "Just don't get involved."

"Don't m-m-make us," Dillon stammered in a squeaky voice.

Cassius smirked and elbowed Dillon. "Yeah, you're a real tough guy," he said in a low voice that only the three of them could hear.

Dillon turned a little red after glancing up at LuLu. "It sounded cooler in my head."

Damian looked back at his two companions and made a curt gesture as if to say, wait here.

He ascended the stairs slowly, circling to keep Logan and the two blond girls in view.

Logan watched his progress coldly. "You ready for this?"

Damian reached the top of the stairs. He stood just out of Logan's reach. His gaze sought out Maxie's slight, rigid frame. The petite blond smiled at him, and her expression was filled with contempt. He looked at LuLu, who appeared pale and ill- she wouldn't meet his gaze.

Logan stepped forward and threw his fist out in a straight jab. Damian snapped his attention to his opponent just in time to duck away from most of the force behind the sudden punch. Still, the blow glanced from his left cheek, sending him reeling back a few steps.

"You'd better stop looking at her, and pay attention!" Logan hissed. He followed his smaller opponent, pressing the attack.

At the foot of the stairs, Cassius and Dillon had their eyes glued to the action. "I don't know if I can watch this," Dillon whispered. "Logan's going to kill him."

Cassius, who was remembering his earlier glimpse of Damian's surprising physique, wasn't smiling anymore. "Maybe, but I wouldn't put all my money on the favorite just yet. Sometimes long-shots pay off."

Logan smiled grimly as an upper cut drove into Damian's midsection. His smile vanished when Damian grabbed his arm and pulled him forward, using his own momentum against him. Suddenly Damian was behind him. Logan hadn't bothered to take off the light jacket he was wearing. He'd assumed the fight would be over in seconds. Now Damian used the jacket against him, pulling it tight to restrict his arms, he turned it partially inside-out, throwing it up over Logan's head. He used his superior balance and position to sling Logan around by the jacket, tripping him whenever he seemed about to regain his footing.

Before he knew what was happening, Logan had been slammed into one of the columns, his face ground into the unforgiving concrete. He had a hard time drawing in a breath. Suddenly new and horrendous pain assailed his senses as Damian leveled a series of fast, powerful punches into his kidneys. The pain shot down through his legs making them spasm and almost buckle. Everything had happened so fast that Logan was stunned, but now he got angry at the pain, the disorientation, and most of all the embarrassment. With a shout he pushed off of the column, forcing Damian back, who didn't have much room to maneuver between the concrete slabs. Logan spun, blindly lashing out with his elbow. He felt a primitive elation when it connected with flesh and he heard Damian grunt in pain.

The two young men separated by a few steps. Logan staggered once, then steadied himself. He angrily ripped off his jacket and tossed it aside. Damian crouched and glared at his opponent. A trickle of blood ran down the side of his face from a small bruised gash in his temple, and he blinked rapidly.

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LuLu stepped over to Maxie and grabbed her forearm. "Maxie, please! You can stop this!"

"Why is Logan playing with him?" Maxie asked, ignoring her friend's plea as if she hadn't heard.

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"Damn, the kid is quick!" Cassius muttered with some satisfaction.

"They look really serious," Dillon voiced his misgivings to no one in particular. "This is messed up."

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Logan took a step toward Damian but stopped as pain flared down his back. He gritted his teeth and cursed. He glanced over at Maxie who was watching expectantly, her face flushed. He looked back to his opponent and was surprised to see a cold and alien fury burning in his now baleful green eyes. Damian's bloodied face was so drawn and grim as to be almost unrecognizable.

"Damn you both for making me do this!" Logan spat out the words under his breath.

Damian didn't seem to catch the bitter statement. "You want to be a soldier?" he asked.

Logan lunged and Damian sprang into motion, ducking under Logan's powerful blow and delivering his own punch precisely to the larger man's solar plexus. Logan stopped in his tracks and wheezed for air. Instantly Damian was behind him, one sinewy forearm snaked around Logan's neck. Damian locked his hands and his forearms bulged as he applied unyielding force. Logan tried to turn, tried to throw his attacker off, but Damian held on and moved with him, glaring over Logan's shoulder with slitted eyes, his mouth a strained, determined line.

A spray of spittle flew from Logan's lips. His quickly reddening face was a mask of pain. He could breathe, but the choke hold was cutting off the blood flow to his head. For Logan, the world began to dim. He could just make out the pale, blurred form of Maxie and he desperately reached out, hand and splayed fingers extended, but she was distant- unreachable. Logan heard Damian's voice whispering in his ear.

"You underestimate the enemy, you come unprepared, and you fight with half a heart. I warned you- that's no way to fight! You're no soldier." Logan's legs buckled and he crashed to his knees. His arm fell limply to his side.

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LuLu was appalled by what she was witnessing. She bolted past Maxie and ran to the two inter-locked young men. "Stop!" She screamed at Damian, but he didn't respond. He continued to apply the relentless choke-hold. Logan's eyes were white. LuLu grabbed desperately at Damian's forearm, trying with all of her strength to break his grip. "You're killing him!"

Cassius charged up the stairs, with Dillon right behind him. "Shaggy, it's over!" Cassius yelled. "Let the man go, okay? You made your point, man!"

Dillon grabbed Logan's arm and tried to help pull him away.

Suddenly Damian released his hold and stepped back. Logan pitched forward and LuLu, Cassius, and Dillon struggled to catch him. Together the three lowered him to the stairs, where he lay almost motionless for a few moments, his arms and legs skewed at a disturbing angle.

"Is he okay?" Lulu asked frantically.

"He's breathing," Dillon answered. Cassius just shook his head silently, his normally cheerful face was set in sad lines.

"He'll be fine," Damian said. He bent over with his hands on his knees and took a few deep lungfuls of air. The furious determination that had possessed him moments before was gone. His head throbbed; his arms felt weak. Every time he sucked in a breath pain bloomed in his stomach. His fingers felt raw and a couple felt dislocated because of the vice-like grip he had applied to Logan's jacket and the violent thrashing that had ensued. With his good hand he pulled the two injured fingers forward and back into place with an audible pop. Damian felt a surge of nausea and resisted the urge to throw up.

The fight had lasted less than three minutes.

Logan groaned and began to stir. The three others crowded around him in concern.

Damian straightened and looked at Maxie, who still stood in the same spot , her bloodless face as white and blank as an unsoiled sheet of typing paper. "Was this as much fun as you thought it would be?" he asked her.

Maxie suddenly walked over toward him, and with a tiny shrill cry threw her hand out to slap him, but Damian avoided her easily. He turned and almost casually walked away into the park. He was immediately lost to view among the trees.

Maxie stood quivering from a turmoil of emotions. She watched as the three others helped Logan to a sitting position. His head was in his hands.

"Hey man, are you okay?" Cassius asked Logan. He rubbed one hand on Logan's shoulder.

Dillon knelt on the next step down from him. "You need some water?" he asked, though no one had thought to bring any.

"Should we take you somewhere?" Lulu asked, and bit her lip in concern.

"I'm all right," Logan croaked. His voice got stronger as he spoke. "My head's just pounding, but it's getting better." He thought back to his opponent's tactics- the way Damian had manipulated him using his own jacket, the precision of the choke hold that had taken him down in seconds. "He knew what he was doing," he muttered. It had never once occurred to Logan that Damian might best him in a fight. Now he realized that he had been completely out of his depth. He felt the rise of shame- not for losing a brawl, but for his own arrogance. He burst into a choking laughter at the foolishness of it all.

"I guess I failed big time! Maxie, I'm sorry." For some reason he couldn't suppress a rueful grin. LuLu sighed in relief, and Dillon and Cassius began to relax a bit. Logan struggled to his feet with the others occasionally reaching out a hand to steady him. All four of them turned to look at the top of the stairs, and Logan's grin faded. The area was empty. Maxie was gone.

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