Always Mine (An MCU Fanfiction)

30. Missing

I don't own this gif. All of the credit goes out to the original creator and owner. I pictured Maria Bello as Sheriff Andi Paulson, who questions the Kemps about Casey's disappearance and is an important ally.

3rd POV

On noticing Casey's sudden disappearance, Brett and Gunner searched the house and the entire ranch for her, knowing she wouldn't take off without letting them know where she was going. Since she was in a rural area, they knew Casey was smart enough to avoid certain areas if the local fauna and trigger-happy folk were practicing or hunting.

Gunner remembered the strange black cat Casey had brought home. He saw there was no sign of it either.

The Kemp father and son went to the nearest neighbor, asking them if they'd seen Casey. When it turned out that no one had seen her, the folks offered to keep an eye out and let the father-and-son duo know if she was found.

"She wouldn't take off like that, Dad," Gunner shook his head as they left the neighbor's property.

"I know, son," Brett nodded, trying to keep calm but worried about his adoptive daughter.

They had remembered the promise to look after Casey. After the deaths of the Armstrong couple, the Kemps kept that promise and took her in. When SHIELD entered and recruited Casey, she only went to the agency if they kept the father-son duo off the grid, fearing that certain enemies would trace them.

"But where the hell did Case go?" Gunner wondered, concerned for her, his sister from another set of parents.

"That I'm not sure," Brett answered as he started the pickup after getting his son's wheelchair into the bed, "But we'll find out. We're not gonna give up until we find her."

The Kemps got a head start on making missing signs with a recently taken photo of Casey and copies of it. They went around town putting them up from bulletin boards to telephone poles, hoping it would get someone's attention.

The signs soon caught the attention of the local sheriff's department. Brett was familiar with Andi Paulson, the sheriff who sometimes brought over whiskey and elk meat from the occasional hunting trips. Andi had been close friends with Diane for years. Following Diane's death, Andi took it upon herself to check on Brett and Gunner whenever she wasn't busy with work.

On their way home, the Kemps were pulled over, though Brett was driving at the correct speed limit. He glanced at the review mirror to see Andi getting out of the pickup she had driven a lot in.

"Don't worry, Brett, I'm not ticketing you," Andi assured him as she approached the driver's side.

"You could've called. That would've saved you the trip," Brett nodded.

"I know. But I wanted to talk to you about this in person."

Andi pulled out a copy of the flyer. "One of the deputies saw you two taping a bunch of these flyers this morning around town." She examined Casey's picture. "She someone you know?"

"Yes."

"It's weird because she looks exactly like one of those folks from the Battle of New York. Do you two have any idea that she's an Avenger?"

"Not surprised at that."

"Me neither," Gunner shook his head.

"When word gets out that she's missing, people are gonna come crawling from miles away and treat the valley like another Area 51 or Dulce, New Mexico," Andi stated. "I hope you two are prepared to face whatever consequences that might come about."

"Our time with the Marines taught us to brace and prepare for anything," Brett replied calmly.

"I know that."

Andi remembered her time with the Marine Corps, which was how she was familiar with Brett.

"I'm sorry, Brett," she apologized. "I was just worried about the outcome when many people find out that some like Casey Armstrong had been last seen here."

"She's family," Gunner corrected the sheriff.

"It was for her personal safety that no one else, except for some close friends of hers, know that she was here in the area," Brett explained. "Her disappearance is sudden. She usually lets Gunny or me know where she will be."

"Did you try calling her?" Andi asked.

"Her phone was on the nightstand. She would've taken it with her if she left the house for a while."

"Then that is strange."

Andi offered to let the Kemp father and son duo know if she happened to hear of any word of Casey.

"Son, do you happen to see that cat she brought home?" Brett turned to Gunner after the sheriff left.

"It completely disappeared, like Case," Gunner answered, still trying to process everything. "A lot of weird things have happened in the last couple of years, you know."

"I know. Some of them hardly make any sense."

Despite the confusion and disarray, the Kemps wouldn't let it get in their way of figuring out what became of Casey, even if it took them years. Little did they know that a certain trickster was responsible for whisking her away and that Casey was trapped in another world and out of reach from them.