In this situation, the first thing that comes to mind is like mother like daughter. Morgan has picked up so many traits from both of us and right now she is showing her mother's side. This feels like déjà vu because they are so familiar, this situation is so familiar. She even has the same desperate look and fear that is shining bright in her brown eyes that are the same shade as my own like her mother did.
In the same situation, the second thing that comes to mind is how much of a bad catcher I am. I can't catch for shit and if I do it doesn't make much of a difference in the outcome. I remember how I couldn't catch any fruit Jarvis tossed to me or anything Stane threw at me. I remember how I couldn't catch Pepper when she fell to her 'death' or how I couldn't catch Rhodey when he got hit by Vision's beam. I remember how I couldn't catch the moon Thanos dropped on me or when I did catch Peter the kid still dusted into particles and was gone for five years. I'm not a valuable catcher and now it seems like I have to catch again.
This time though... This time I need to catch my baby girl, even if she is fifteen, she will always be my baby who said she loves my 3,000. My baby girl who is now dangling off an unstable piece of metal floor that used to be whole and safe but instead cut off and above a hundred feet above a roaring flame below. Again, like mother like daughter. She's scared and screaming and I'm just there panicking with racing thoughts that I try to desperately calm. Sometimes being an Avenger is terrible and I sometimes wish I wasn't one so my family doesn't have to deal with these types of things.
Apparently, someone got dusted when he was driving and had his family in the car. When he returned, he found out that the car crashed and his family was killed via impact. Now he's taking out his lasting anger on the most assessable Avenger alive and who he could hurt the most, me. He kidnapped Morgan from one of her parties she was allowed to go and has been taken for about three days now.
Now I find her in an unstable building before he gave his monologue. He explained how much hurt he was in when he returned and couldn't do anything when he found out his family died. He finally snapped and wanted me to feel his pain, so taking Morgan was his plan. He was wearing a vest that was strapped with a bomb attached to it before he pushed the bright red button on the detonator. He went boom and now I'm in the same position before Pepper fell.
I hold out my left hand for Morgan to reach, my metal right arm holding onto a beam for support. She screams when the platform shifts closer to the flame with her on it. I fight images of Pepper looking at me the same way, the way the heat is taking me back to her 'death' and I know that if Morgan was to fall, she won't make it, she'll die. My heart stutters as I reach as far as I could but can't get any closer, the same distance when Pepper was in danger. This is déjà vu.
"Daddy I'm scared!" My heart shatters as tears fall and she starts shaking.
"It's okay baby girl," I try to calm her as my voice cracks and I feel my heart stutter in my chest.
"W-what do I do!?" She screams.
I don't what to do it, but I know I'll have to. I'm terrified that if I'll fail-
"You have to let go!" I shout, "I will catch you!" I emphasize that I will catch her because I can't not catch her.
I hear her whimper from here and I have to grit my teeth. The building is old and made out of wood and the fire is climbing higher, licking closer to our location.
"Look at me baby," I speak as softly as I could over the burning wood, "You need to trust me and let go. No matter what, if I have to throw myself at you to catch you I will. I need you to let go."
She stares at me with wide eyes and I hate myself for the reasoning why she's so afraid. Why she is facing death now at an age she shouldn't be facing it. She nods, closes her eyes and I see her take a deep breath, one that I mirror. She grits her teeth and opens them as she stares right at me. She stretches her hand, our fingertips not even grazing each other, and let's go...
It is all in slow motion, just like when Pepper fell, and when Rhodey plummeted, and when Peter slipped- It's all in slow motion. The milliseconds seem like hours go by and I stretch as far as my metal arm would allow me without pulling the metal from my skin. My fragile heart skips every other beat in time with my harsh pants of panic.
She falls and I reach forward. First our fingers touch, then our palms slide together- I feel all the air in my body leave me.