The metallic smell filled his nose as he stared down at the baker woman, her arms still wrapped around the crying infant, but her eyes were dull. There was no life to be seen in them.

She shouldn't have gotten in his way.

Cobra, leader of the mafia clan known as the snakes, had watched as the dark haired woman bled out, his men having used their blades and bullets. Holes and cuts were all over the body, the crimson liquid oozing out of it, creating a puddle around her.

No more did the aroma of fresh bread and chocolate cookies fill the air. No longer was there the scent of cinnamon or nutmeg or fruit. The smell of blood overshadowed them all.

The woman had been been brave, Cobra would give her that. She had attempted to stop the raid of the bakery. Wielding a metal cake pan as a weapon, she swung it around with one hand, the other holding an infant girl, brandishing the same blue eyes and dark hair as her mother. The infant cried as her mother fought bravely, and surprisingly well as the mother seemed to know a bit of martial arts.

It was not enough however, no match against the swords and guns that the snakes wielded. Soon, the woman was nothing more than a corpse, no longer swinging the pan and landing blows on his men. She was simply a pile a flesh.

Cobra went over to the body, removing the child from its arms, now covered in her mother's blood as well a bit of her own from a few sword scratches, luckily the mother had made sure that the bullets had missed her daughter.

Cobra began to think, the child could be useful to him perhaps? She was still an infant and would not remember this night, after all she couldn't be more than a year old. He could raise her himself, mold her into the perfect assassin, serving his clan. She could be trained to take down all who defy and oppose them.

She would make an excellent wife for his son as well. Cobra's own boy was not much older than the girl, practically the same age. The two would grow into adults and marry, becoming the leaders of the clan when the time came and keep his lineage going.

His mind was made up.

He gathered his men, child in his arms, and retreated back to their hidden base where his plans could begin.

He named the girl Cerastes, after the Saharan horned viper.

So far the girl proved to be obedient, her young mind easy to teach and manipulate. She worked on her combat training along with the rest of her education conducted by a few other clan members. He praised her for her skills she was developing, encouraging her to continue, to improve, to be the best. He would sometimes her and his son out to playgrounds and cafes and ice cream shops when he felt they earned it. It helped to placate them sometimes since after all, a reward system only helped the children's motivation.

As she grew, she and his son Luka, given the codename Viperion, seemed to get along, and so they continued being raised together.

It was when Cerastes was fourteen that her training came to be put to the test. She was sent to take out her first target. He had been a politician and Cerastes was told of his supposedly corrupt ways of giving out and accepting bribes, using his position to sexually harass women, abusing his power and avoiding tax payments and breaking other laws. Cerastes believed them, being told that what she was about to do was for the greater good, a necessary evil that only the bravest would dare to do.

The young assassin prepared that night, she took with a pistol, a combat knife, and a syringe of poison. She decided to try and sneak up on the man and inject the poison into his system, making the kill one without a mess and less chances of being caught.

She had succeeded.

She snuck into the politicians home, avoiding the security cameras and staying silently in the shadows of the night. She found the man in his study, and, before he had a chance to look up from his work and spot her, the needle had already pierced through his neck, the piston pressed down by the girl's thumb, releasing the poison into his system.

Cobra was pleased to hear her report, and proud of her swiftness and efficiency. His plans and hopes for the girl could now be considered a reality, and would continue to be so for years, into the girls adulthood...