Malice
Agony and Phage were chasing each other around the front yard when they heard some boys running down the street. A fluffy orange cat was being tormented and chased by the boys as they ran past the house. Agony stopped the playful chasing of her brother and watched stunned as the group ran by.
“They're gonna hurt that kitty!” the realization horrified the little girl.
She took off running after them trying to make up the space that had grown between them.
“Agony! Dad said to stay in the yard!” Phage cried out after her knowing it was useless and she was long gone.
We she caught up to the older boys they were in an alley, she almost ran past it. The boys had the little orange cat cornered laughing as they frightened it. The cat tried to get away but it was limping, it's front leg injured, most likely by these boys.
Back at home Eddie and Venom watched TV from the couch, a commercial came on and Eddie glanced out the window to check on the kids playing outside but he couldn't see either of them.
“Ven, can you see the kids?”
Venom slithered to the window and looked outside before squinting.
“Just Phage.” Venom tugged at Eddie who stood up and went to the front door.
Phage was sitting on the front steps resting his chin in his hands.
“Phage, where's your sister?” Eddie asked.
Phage turned around with a startled and terrified look on his face.
“Um.” He replied.
“Where's Agony? She was out here with you wasn't she?” He tried again.
“Um?” Was all Phage could come up with.
“Phage honey you have to tell us where she went.”
“She ran down the street, she was chasing some boys. I tried to stop her!” He added at the end frantically.
Eddie whipped his head to look down the street, Venom forcing his legs to move.
“Stay here!” Venom told their son as they took off in the direction Agony had gone.
Agony marched to the end of the alley boiling with rage.
“Leave it alone!” She yelled making the boys turn around.
“Get out of here you little freak.” One of them responded.
Agony growled and pushed the boy hard making him fall down. One of the other boys pushed her back making her stumble as the third boy grabbed her arms. The cat was still huddled behind the dumpster terrified. Agony didn't need her arms to fight back, she extended several appendages from her body and grabbed the boy holding her arms. She lifted him up off his feet, hissed and bared her rows of sharp teeth at him making him squirm. The other two jumped on her wrestling her to the ground, she was physiologically unique in a lot of ways but she was still only six and weighed about forty-five pounds. One of them pulled her hair and she grabbed a handful of his back. One of the boys climbed on top of her and she kneed him in the stomach. She tangled them both in a mass of purple tendrils when one of the boys freed his arm and pulled it back to punch her. She shut her eyes bracing for the impact of knuckles on her face when she heard an all too familiar roaring from the mouth of the ally. There stood her parents, nine feet tall, built and furious. The three boys very suddenly got looks on their faces that could only be described as shitting a brick.
Agony let out a frustrated noise, her parents never let her do anything by herself. The boys ran screaming out of the alley as she pulled herself up off the ground. Her parents rushed forward to her, her other parent receding back to her father's shoulder by the time they reached her.
“Are you okay?!” Venom asked half angry, half concerned as her human father checked her up and down for injuries they were all pretty sure she couldn’t even get.
“I'm fine.” She groaned at what she perceived to be an overreaction.
“What were you thinking? You can't just start fights with people!” Eddie scolded his oldest daughter.
“I didn't start it! They were torturing that poor kitty!” She defended herself and pointed towards the dumpster.
She pulled out her parents' grasp and ran to scoop the cat up into her arms bringing it back to them.
“They hurt it's leg. We have to bring it to a vet.” She explained.
Eddie inspected the cat's leg and it was indeed injured, he sighed knowing she was right.
“Fighting isn't okay, Agony.” He told her.
“But you fight all the time!”
“That's different, we're grown ups.” Venom explained.
“You could've gotten hurt.” Eddie added.
She huffed and lifted her arms with the cat in them indicating that it was much more important than a lecture. They left the alley and went to the nearest vet who patched the cat up and put it's leg in a splint. When they were done treating it Agony wrapped it back up in her arms as Eddie paid the surprisingly pricey bill.
“We're bringing her home, right?” She asked, the vet told them the cat was a she.
Eddie looked at his daughter's pleading face.
“Let's eat it instead.” Venom said in the confines of his head.
“Absolutely not.” Eddie answered out loud.
“Please!” Agony begged her parents.
Eddie looked at her and he couldn't bring himself to deny her something that would make her so happy, he even felt his other relent to her request.
“Okay, we can keep her.” He sighed defeated as she beamed.
At home the cat purred and rubbed against Eddie's legs as the kids took turns petting her.
“So what are you going to name her?” Eddie asked Agony as he scratched the cat behind the ear,
“Malice!” She stated.
It was a strange name for a cat but considering what they'd named their own children they couldn't really talk her out of it.