Gangster Child

Snap

 "Hey Sadie, I'm going to go do something with Hope and her parents!" Scott called as he ran through the hall in his suit. "Can you watch Cassie for me?" I looked up in confusion from my spot on the ground where Cassie and I were currently playing an intense game of checkers.

"Sure, but you better be back before it's time for us to go home, because I don't have a licence and Mom and Dad said they were working late tonight." Scott hesitated for a moment before dashing back to where we were.

"I'll be back before five and we'll get ice cream on the way to your parent's to deal with the shit storm that is aliens coming back to Earth." I laughed quietly and waved him out the door before turning back to my game with Cassie.

"Sadie?" My little sister asked as she absentmindedly moved one of her pieces on the checker board.

"Yes Ladybug?"

"Are the aliens going to get us?" I froze and looked up to see her meeting my gaze with a scared look on her face. I pushed our game aside and pulled her into a hug.

"Of course not Cassie," I murmured. "The Avengers are going to keep you super duper safe. You're my family, so you're their family. We protect each other, no matter what."

"Like Uncle Bucky and Uncle Steve?" I chuckled softly and kissed the side of her forehead.

"Exactly like that Ladybug."

"Damn it," I muttered as I tried for the fifth time to call Scott with no result. Even though it was way past five, there was no Scott to be found. His phone just kept going straight to his stupid voicemail. "Where the hell are you Scott?"

"Sadie!" Cassie shrieked "The TV did something scary!" I ran into the living room and saw the TV blaring and emergency alert. Almost immediately I knew what had happened. Something had to have happened; the team had to have lost.

"Cassie, stay there. Do not move," I ordered. She nodded frantically and watched as I raced to the door and threw it open, looking horrified as I saw our neighbors vaporizing into dust. People we knew, people we didn't, just gone. "Alright," I whispered to myself as I planned my next move. "Ladybug, let's go, we're heading home." Cassie dashed over and held onto me tightly as I lifted her up and into my arms. She buried her head into my neck as I quickly left the house and looked frantically around for a car. My prayers were answered by one fancy looking Ferrari swerving onto the neighbor's lawn with no driver in the seat but a small sprinkle of dust floating out the window.

"Gonna have to do," I muttered as I set Cassie in the passenger seat while I climbed into the driver's side. For the record, I have driven multiple times when I lived with my brother Will, but all those times I was driving cars I'd illegally hot-wired. This was the only time it constituted as an emergency. "Cassie keep your head down until we get home." I said sharply as I pulled onto the road. There was no way I wanted her to see people vaporizing and being terrified that that would happen to her.

"Are we going to die?" she whispered as I wove through panicked drivers and empty cars.

"Not today," I said firmly. "Hey," I added on a gentler note "look at that, we're home!" I picked Cassie up and she kept her head down as I sprinted to the front door and met Maggie who had thrown open the door when we pulled up.

"Oh my god!" she screamed, pulling us in for a hug. "I'm so glad you're both Ok!" She ushered us inside where we were once again smothered in hugs by Paxton who had been watching the news. I handed him Cassie and walked over to see what they were saying.

"It was the aliens who were looking for Vision," Maggie called sadly as sat next to me. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "One of them did something and apparently... wiped out half of the universe."

"I can't get through to Scott." I said softly "Hope or Hank would've called me so I think we know who got wiped out on this end. I'm just waiting for the call to see how the rest of the team is."

"They'll be fine," Maggie soothed.

"I don't know that."