Prologue

The Sotoraggian checked for any sign of life left in the household. It was dead quiet, now that his mission was done.

SixSix kicked away the corpse of the man on the ground. God, that one had been hell. The husband attacked him with garage tools before whipping out a Plumber bazooka. He knew this used to be where a Plumber lived in, so it was no surprise, he came prepared.

The wife didn't have much luck defending herself. As soon as she turned around, one swipe with his laser blade and her heart stopped beating. He almost felt bad for the mess he left with her body. Almost.

He also took care of the dog that attacked him when he got near. Humans had lousy, inefficient pets as guards, he saw and fought better on Sotoragg.

For now, it seemed the house was empty. The two humans were preparing for dinner when he came to assassinate them like his contract ordered him to. He however hadn't checked for the rest of the house.

Warily, he went further into the household, his training having taught him to never let his guard down after the mission was accomplished.

He walked towards the end of the corridor, opening the last room he hasn't looked into. It seemed like they decorated the room fairly recently, there was a scent of fresh paint in it.

Toys, small animal drawings on the wall, and there was a crib. Curiously, he approached it, staring at the infant that was inside.

Suddenly, there was crying. Loud crying. SixSix cursed under his breath as he glared at the baby, whose noise was getting bothersome.

With a sigh, he held his laser blade up, preparing to attack. As he readied his hand, the baby boy looked at him with innocent green eyes.

The boy was now an orphan, both of his parents and dog died. One swipe and he'd join them. One swipe and he wouldn't make noise anymore. One swipe and the boy would stop looking at him. One swipe and he wouldn't hear…

Why wasn't the baby crying anymore?

The human infant had stopped his noise, his hands reaching out the bars of his crib, as if he wanted out, like a beast in cage.

He was trapped and defenseless, SixSix could end it now. He had no family left, no parents or siblings to care after him, no one to teach him anything to defend himself…

The boy kept looking at him with ignorant green eyes. If SixSix left him there, the job would easily be dealt with, he didn't have to dirty his hands when the human would starve.

SixSix didn't need to care, he didn't even need to kill the baby human. One baby wouldn't ruin his career either. Certainly not when it'd die alone here…

Now the Sotoraggian figured he should get moving, so he went for the exit. But as he walked away, he heard the infant make noise again.

Except it wasn't crying this time. No, it was more like a yelp, a call. He didn't want to be left alone. SixSix huffed, like he had the time to deal with that.

This baby wouldn't even make it past the day before starving, it had no one to care for him, no one to protect him or feed him. The boy was fated to die if no one intervened…

Against his better judgement, the Sotoraggian picked him up.

Ben could hear arguing coming from around him, but everything felt and looked so blurry. People were talking, growling, hunting in a language he never heard before. This wasn't how Mom and Dad usually spoke.

Though he couldn't see, he knew he wasn't at home anymore. He wasn't scared anyway.

He felt startled as the blurry figures that were arguing earlier came near him and picked him up. He once again looked at SixSix with innocent green eyes, now seeing two other figures with him.

He didn't know what was going on, but SevenSeven and EightEight seemed content despite their younger brother's foolishness.