Take a walk down the right alleyway in Reighs City, and you can find anything...

In this case, for the twenty-five year old woman known as Siobhan Vondas, it was the sanctuary of the bar called Purgatory, of which she was a somewhat-regular patron. Usually it was three or four times a month, and her time spent there was a mix of business and pleasure. Unbeknownst to the general public, the bar was also a popular underground hangout for those with 'gifts'. It was also her preferred place to conduct meetings when The Greek had instructions for her to pass on to specific people in the city who she served as the middlewoman contact to the Greek himself for, since the man rarely met with anyone outside the nine members of his inner circle.

After close to two years living in Reighs City, barring trips around the country and even overseas for business on occasion, Siobhan had built up a bit of a name for herself in her own right, though just like her adopted father and employer there were few that knew her by her true name.

Syl Carver. The Estonian. Boomcat.

Siobhan had a number of aliases that she made use of, and those who ran and frequented the bar would know her by both the nickname that was in reference to her nation of birth and the false name printed on her passport and identification.

As she had no business in particular to attend to on this night, Siobhan could be found enjoying a drink at the bar, and keeping to herself for the moment as she sipped at her vodka and cherry coke, listening to the music playing out of the jutebox off on the other side of the establishment. Thankfully the device and it's loud volume are far enough away from Siobhan to not give her heightened feline senses too much hell. Visibly she is swaying lightly in her seat in rhythm to the music, currently some lesser known AC/DC song from their hayday in the mid-80s.

Dean had heard news about another criminal bar becoming a little popular. Well, still not as popular as the criminal bar that Striker had introduced him to, but he’d heard some good things about it. He wasn’t exactly on any official business. He was merely observing what his other options were. Still, going anywhere public always induced teases about how his leader’s balls had fallen off after Death Master. That was the cover story that Reiner had provided. Striker, Conner, and Ember all skipped town because of the DM scare. Meanwhile Doniel, Reiner, and him all had just gone their separate ways.

Dean was keeping a semi low profile now. He wasn’t telling many people what he was up to. Some people still pestered him on joining their teams, but he declined the offers claiming he had other business to do. He kept an ear out for any news on the rest of Strike Out, but appeared indifferent or cold to the subject.

Dean entered the bar ordering a regular beer and then looked around at his options of company. He wanted to start getting to know everyone around here since he was building up his own criminal gang and needed to know who dealt with what around the city.

After a moment, Dean sat across from Syl Carver. He’d heard a little about her from here and there but could always learn more first hand.

“Evening, Syl.” Dean said. “I know we haven’t officially met, but I’m sure if you read the papers, you’ve seen my name at least once. I’m Dean, if not.”

Dean took a sip of his mug. He’d wait for her to initiate the conversation. He didn’t want to overstep any boundaries or talk to someone who’d be unresponsive.

When she heard her name called out over the music, Siobhan tore herself out of her private thoughts, whatever they happened to be at the moment, and looked over to the man... or rather boy in his late teens, the blonde guessed after a quick examination of his facial features. He knew her name, or at least thought he did, and as he continues to speak the twenty-five year old can't help but wonder what he possibly wanted from her.

"Sure I've heard of you." She replies with a tone of borderline indifference, not to be purposefully offensive, it was more of an ingrained response in how she dealt with people she wasn't sure about. The kid didn't seem too bad, she decides and gives a nod as he introduces himself as Dean.

"What can I do for you Dean?" She asks him curiously, and then takes a sip from the glass before her. Clearly he meant no harm, and Siobhan relaxes a bit, deciding to play nice and hear him out. It wasn't as if she had much of anything better to do for the moment.

Her tone was indifferent. Not a bad sign, but not a positive sign either. It either meant she didn’t much care who he was, or that she didn’t like the Strike Out team but was tolerating him because he was no longer a part of it. Dean over analyzed it in his head. His defenses went up immediately, making him shift slightly in his seat so he could quickly throw himself into battle if need be. He was told a lot that he was overly paranoid, but it came with the territory of being a criminal, didn’t it?

She asked what she could do for him, meaning that she was at least willing to hear him out and talk a bit. Of course this meant to get straight down to business. Not unusual. Most criminals were that way from his experience. They didn’t do much idle chit-chat if you weren’t already in their circle. Dean thought carefully of his next sentence. It could make or break their already thin connection. He wanted to know a little more about her, but that came at the prize of returning the favor. He couldn’t simply say though that he wanted to know more about her because that would make her assume he was gathering information for ill intent.

“I’m looking for potential allies.” Dean said carefully watching her reaction. “Just people who can either be trusted for a money exchange or a favor exchange.” He meant he wanted someone who would either work with him on an ‘I owe you’ or for a price. That was the best way to perk someone’s interest. If she wasn’t completely opposed to him, she’d possibly consider the offer and talk something out with him.

Dean didn’t expect information sharing to happen tonight. Not unless they really just hit it off or something. But if he could see what kind of deal she’d make with him, it could tell him on part of what type of person she was. Was she one who cared more for the money or more about allies herself? Or was she one who thought she needed neither and therefore would completely reject him and send him on his way. This was a first step. If they made a deal, then over a period of time they would learn whether each other were trustworthy. Dean’s name stood well with most criminals due to his time in the Strike Out team. They always honored their ends of the deal or went to jail trying. He didn’t know much about her though. If she made a deal with him, he’d talk out a small thing he wanted done, that wouldn’t matter if it got done or not just to see where her loyalty lied.

"Potential allies.." Siobhan repeats the teenage boy's words, blinking slightly as she waits for more of an explanation, but he keeps it rather vague. She is silent for a long moment, internally debating a few things, and finally she speaks again. "In the sense of what exactly, you planning on roughing it up with the heroes of the city or something and want backup? Don't know what might have heard about me kid, but with the business I do, I ain't looking to draw unneeded attention to myself with such drama, if that's the case. You're gonna have to be a bit more specific or I'll just be taking wild stabs in the dark over here." She tells Dean, giving him a teasing smile.

She takes another few sips of her vodka and then pulled out her pack of cigarettes, taking one from the box and putting it between her lips. Rather than pull her lighter out, she presses her thumb and index finger together for a couple seconds. Then Siobhan pulls them apart slight and a tiny little fireball of crackling plasmic energy forms between the digits. She brings her fingers up and uses her little 'bomb' to light the tip of her cigarette before letting the plasma ball sizzle out.

As she takes the first drag off the cigarette, the blonde woman turns her gaze back to Dean and waits for a reply, giving him a thoughtful look when he does give it.

Dean smiles amused when the girl makes a joke. At least she had a sense of humor. It made him feel a little more relaxed around her.

"No. I'm not looking to get into it with any heroes. I'd much rather avoid them if I can." Dean assures her. "Allies meaning that for instances, if I needed information on someone, or if you had contacts with someone who knew how to break people out of jail around here. If you wanted to be my back up on my rampages, you'll have to wait until I hear more about you and trust you a bit more." Dean teases back.

He notes that she didn't light the cigarette with a lighter and stores the information in his mind that she does indeed have special abilities. He still isn't sure of all of her abilities but he'd ask around later if he needed to.

"Allies are more of a friendly passing, you know. Not responsible of going to fight anyone for me, unless that's what you're into, but more assisting with background things if need be." Dean further explains. He wouldn't mind if she wanted to beat up a bunch of people with him, but that wasn't his goal.

As Siobhan continued to listen to Dean speak, it quickly becomes apparent that aside from knowing her 'name', that the teen clearly knew next to nothing about her past that. She does remind to herself in his defence that few did anyways, and then gives Dean a nod of understanding as the kid gives her more details on what he hoped to gain out of an alliance with her. Even before he finishes, Siobhan knows that she will have to turn down his offer as it stood, being as it was too likely that to help him with his needs would end up coming into conflict with the employment she already had.

"Well I can't make promises that I can be availible on a regular basis to help you out, but if during times when it won't interfere with my normal business I can see what I can do." Siobhan says in reply, then exhales a bit of smoke. She then has a thought, maybe the kid would have interest instead with working for her. As an enforcer to the Greek, she was entitled to set up her own (sub)crew, and had lost a couple of her guys during the whole incident with the nutjob Death Master the month prior. The kid she knew could handle his own, as far as normal humans went anyways since she did sort-of remember him in connection to that Strike Out gang.

"How old are you?" She asks him, keeping her tone curious and light as she tried to feel him out further. If she got Dean to instead come work for her, she also wondered if he would have the stomach for killing if it came down to it. Most if not all of the people who worked for or with her, or even for the Greek through her middling, had at least a little bit of blood on their hands. The boy would have to kill someone in front of her to prove he wasn't undercover or now working with police or feds in any case, if they were going to do business together either way. It was admittedly a harsh test, but they all had to be on guard as far as such things. None of them wanted to end up in a courtroom, so these were their precautionary measures. "I could perhaps have some work for you on the other hand, if you're interested..." She says finally, giving a vague offer of her own.