Dirk eyed Phoenix, trying to get a read on the guy. He had no idea why Phoenix would want to inquire after that tough dude, but he must have had his reasons. Sighing, Dirk shook his head. "I'm jus' tryin' to help a friend of mine," he said, more to Alice than Phoenix. "I ain't askin' you to come with me inside the quarantine, just to... help [i]me[/i] inside." To Phoenix more specifically, he said, "But if you can't fight, then you shouldn't take the risk. If things work out, then..." He smiled behind his mask. "Then I'll try an' meet up with you. I'll probably need some healin'"

It was a lie. Dirk was pretty sure he wouldn't be walking out of the quarantine anytime soon, alive [i]or[/i] dead. Hopefully Phoenix was placated by the offer and would go away. It [i]was[/i] too dangerous to include him, Dirk had no doubt.

A sensation of movement caused Dirk to look in the direction of where the tough bystander had gone. He had stopped for a moment, for some reason. Dirk was going to bring this to Phoenix's attention when his eyes fell on the thugs that were still littered around them. "But, uh, maybe we could take this conversation somewhere else? I don't think we need more thugs showin' up."