Sweeney wrapped his leg in a bandage as he sat on his old lazy boy chair and attempted to relax himself. He grabbed the remote next to his chair on a small table next to his lamp. He turned on the TV and flipped through several channels, looking for any channel that may have the news on it.

"There's nothing ever good on TV..."

Sweeney rose from his seat and observed several puppets that lay randomly throughout his house. He even slightly repaired and reloaded his spider puppet. He felt around each puppet, feeling the work and detail that he had put into each one. All of a sudden, his stomach growled.

"I wonder what's in the fridge..."

Sweeney made his way into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Ice cream and other microwavable goods were the only foods in the freezer, the fridge was practically empty except for some juice and yogurt. Sweeney sighed at the lack of food he had. He didn't mind, he would go shopping tomorrow. Sweeney made his way back into the living room and sat down, preparing to watch the news.

"Strange, you would think that they'd put something exiting in the news, judging from everything that happens these days..."

Zero was moving through out the fire escapes that lined the apartment complex, his thoughts doting back to hours ago when the battle had ensued, this time it was more about presentation then battle however, and not many can change an opinion like Zero could, he had the utmost confidence that whatever happened here today, there would be a confrontation and Rapture Inc. would have a new member, whether by choice or not

This should be quite the confrontation, I wonder if he'll join quietly or not, I figure it would be better to offer the benefits to joining before throwing out any threats of an agonizingly painful death

Another problem to this however was that they were on his home turn and there would surely be many more puppets, he could do a multitude of things to kill him and destroy them, but thats not exactly what he had in mind to do, so he came prepared to even the odds, he pulled a plastic explosive out of his pocket and set it on the building 4 floors below where the tracker said the puppet master was

This should help convince him that I mean business and that perhaps refusing wouldn't be in his best interest

He continued scaling the building until he was directly outside the mans window, at which point he quickly moved to the right and pressed himself up against the brick wall to ensure that he absolutely wasn't seen, he was going to wait for the right moment when he was distracted to sneak in and gain the element of suprise

Sweeney's eyes began to trouble him as they were hard to keep open. Today's confrontation was energy draining and fatigue plagued Sweeney's body. A human puppet rose from its position, grabbing a nearby blanket and placed it over Sweeney before sitting back down in its normal position.

"I guess... yawn... I'll fix that spider tomorrow." The TV continued to run as a half asleep Sweeney began to fade on his slightly comfortable chair.

He continued to watch TV, but he couldn't sleep despite his fatigue. He felt too shaken and energetic yet tired at the same time.

Zero watched inside the house using the reflection on the metallic side of his knife, he could see that he was tired and his eyes continually dropped and then sprung back open, this was probably the most opportune moment to strike, he moved swiftly and silently through the window, and into the house in a crouched position, he crawled prone to the couch until he was directly behind where a sleeping sweeny layed

Lets hope he gives in without a fight, otherwise all these puppets could make this turn ugly, I better even these odds

he took out his other explosive and planted it on the floor under the couch, this was going to be used as a last resort if things got truly ugly and he had no other choice, but he hoped he wouldn't have to use it, it also made a good bargaining chip in case this turned into a business deal, he then rose to his feet and put the side of his pistol from the battle earlier (the incredibly powerful one, not the automatic) to the side of the boys head from behind

Guess who

"Huh..."

The man from earlier! The sight of this creature caused Sweeney to spring up from his seat as if he were wide awake. This was an unexpected confrontation, how did the man enter his house?

"Cat burglar now too, or have you taken a liking to me?" Sweeney couldn't use his spider puppet as it was currently being repaired so he commanded his 5'7" Ostrich and his 5'4" Human puppet to prepare themselves. A fight in his home would be the last thing he wanted. This place may look unorganized and run down and small, but it was all he had. "Why are you here, what do you want?"

Sweeney looked as the man stood there, the barrel of the gun staring him right in the face. One shot from here, and it would be over.

He let the gun drop to his waist, and chuckled a bit as he threw himself down on the couch the man was previously on, he then re-holstered the gun and pulled out a switch, that he twirled between his fingers while he rested his other hand behind his head

Put the puppets away, I'm not hear to fight you I'm here to talk, and sorry Jack but i'm not on that side of the fence, no offense if you are, then again that would explain the marionettes you play with, you see this switch here is connected to C4 hidden somewhere in this room, hence if you begin to attack me we all get turned to dust, I have been in explosions and have a fairly even chance to escape, but you, perhaps, perhaps not, whose to say really, but do you really want to take that chance

He then hung his finger above one of the two buttons on the switch as to scare the man, if he called his bluff he would have a good way to prove his intent but if not then this would go smoothly and there would be no need to detonate anything, secretly Zero kinda wanted to detonate something, as he had spent good money on the C4

Sweeney tried not to laugh at what he thought was a joke. C4, yeah, right. Who carries that much explosives anyways? This guy was obviously dangerous, maybe even a little hostile, but an suicide bomber? If he blew this place up, there would be no chance that he would escape.

"You know what, I think you're lying." Sweeney said as he crossed his arms and bent forward a little. "And you're the one who's probably limber enough to bend backwards and touch the ground."

Sweeney chuckled a little and waited to see what the man would do next. The puppets sat themselves down, but Sweeney did not detach his strings from them.

"I'm calling your bluff."

Zero laughed a little, he was hoping that this would be the outcome, as he would have hated to waste so much money on explosives that went to waste, he stopped twirling the remote in his hand and looked dead in the guys eyes a large grin crossed across his face and he gripped it tightly, he knew that this would be a good day

I was hoping you would say that, you just made my day puppet boy

He pressed the first button on it detonating the one that was attached to the wall 4 floors below, a large explosion was heard and the building shook violently for a moment as Zero continued smiling at him, he then raised his finger above the second one and let it hung there eerily

Well puppet boy, you can either lower the puppets and hear what I have to say or I can simply walk out this building and blow everything you have to the moon, most likely along with you, it's your choice really

A violent explosion shook the building as he pressed the button before him, the room rocked a little as Sweeney was taken off balance, the man just sat there with a grin on his face while his hand wavered above the other button on the switch, looming dangerously above it

"ARE YOU CRAZY, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE, YOU JUST BLEW UP HALF MY BUILDING AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS SMILE"

He then calmed down a bit and set the strings off of his puppets as he sat on a nearby chair, his fingers slightly pressed to the side of his face

"Obviously this is something important if your willing to follow me across the city, destroy a subway and bomb my building, so say what you have to say, I'm listening"

Zero smiled a bit more as he put his detonator away in his pocket, and stood on his feet, this was what he was looking for a chance to convince this broke mutant that working for Mr.Rapture was the best possible thing that could happen to his pathetic life

Have you ever heard of Rapture Inc. the worlds largest vehicle company in the world, run by the enigmatic Mr. Damien Rapture, well lets say that vehicles aren't the only thing he sells, think more along the line of super soldiers, and he's interested in gaining more talent, so to say

He paused for a moment as to give a chance for this to sink in to the man and get his reply, he did just hear that one of the richest men in the world was a mercenary lord and not only that but that he was interested in recruiting him, Zero could understand how that would shock someone

Sweeney stared at the man as he asked him the question of whether or not he was informed of Mr. Rapture's organization. Sweeney had heard of Rapture's vehicle businesses, but never really paid any attention to any of it. It wasn't really his thing.

"Yeah, I've heard of him, and you say he wants new 'talent'? What kind are you talking about, me?"

Sweeney wondered about the remarks about the super soldiers as well. He became intrigued and wanted to hear more.

"Tell me more..."

These words were music to his ears, he knew that this was in his pocket hook line and sinker, all he had to do know was throw out some bonuses to joining and if that didn't work out then he always had the threat of being gunned down by a group of highly trained assassins, which from personal experience, Zero knew wasn't as nearly as fun as it sounded

I'm glad to hear that, Mr., umm i haven't caught your name yet, must have forgotten to in the barrage of all the bullets and the explosion of course, can't forget the explosion

He then let out a small laugh as he started to think about earlier and how he had forgotten to get the mans name while shooting at him, and nearly blowing him up, Zero found this quite humorous but he managed to contain it long enough to explain some more about this

He's looking for new recruits, potential mercenaries, and not every day killers either, others like you, mutants you know, with powers and even then he only usually hires the crazy ones, like you Mister psycho bank killer

Sweeney felt a little odd, and his spine tingled in curiosity. The opportunity was once in a lifetime, but how would he benefit from all this. Become a mercenary, and live days close to death?

"The name's Sweeney, or Mr. Harkin, or Jon, it's up to you, and you are...? Sweeney began getting into the conversation as his urge to know more took hold. "And if I do do this, what's in it for me? You just rattled half of this building, so keep it good."

A small smile appeared on his face when he called him a killer... a psycho killer.