Tony could hardly keep from shouting in joy when he figured out the riddle with twenty minutes to spare. The Empire State Building seemed so obvious now that he'd figured it out, but he didn't have time to revel in his victory.

On the couch, Pepper was fast asleep with her head in his lap and he didn't want to wake her, but he needed to leave. Very carefully, he moved her tear-stained face off his lap and stood up. He suited up and shot out of the penthouse without bothering to tell FRIDAY what to tell Pepper when she woke up. Instead, he flew to the Empire State Building and demanded he is let up to the 104th floor. After arguing with the receptionist for a few minutes, he was allowed up.

The lift moved impossibly slow, but when he finally got to the top floor, he raced to the southeast corner of the room. He had ten minutes to find his clue and he had no idea what it would look like.

"FRIDAY, give me a scan of the entire place and let me know if there's anything that could be a clue."

FRIDAY did as was told and came up with a small flip phone crammed between two desks. Tony pried it out and opened it up. There was a single text on the screen with the words "who said call me?".

Tony wanted to crush the phone, but instead, he searched around for more information. There was only one text on the phone and no contacts. Although there was no way this was just a worker's phone, he clutched the wimpy device in his hand and flew back to the penthouse.

In the middle of his flight, the phone vibrated. He waited until landing to open it up and when he saw a timer had begun, he crushed the phone. He had four hours to solve this riddle and he had even fewer clues to work with.

* * * * *

Peter woke up to his room light flickering on and a pounding on the door. Jumping upright, he stared at the door as it slowly opened and in walked Mr. Patrick, Giant, Scruffy, and Blondie. In Scruffy's hands was what looked like a small vial, but it was completely empty as far as Peter could tell. While confused, he was glad they didn't appear to be about to inject him with some painful, slow killing poison. Explaining that to his parents would be nothing short of a nightmare.

"Daddy solved the first clue," Mr. Patrick told Peter, standing at the edge of the dirty mattress Peter was sitting on.

"'Course he did," Peter replied despite having been worried that he wouldn't.

"He's working on the second one right now," Mr. Patrick said, glancing over at Giant and Blondie. "But we need to get ready for the third and final clue, so you're gonna help us out."

"No, I don't want to," he said.

At Mr. Patrick's wave, Giant stepped forward and smashed his fist into Peter's face again. Peter cried out in pain and Giant kicked him in the stomach harshly.

"You say another word and I'll make sure your daddy doesn't find you," Mr. Patrick threatened.

Not for the first time since he'd been kidnapped, Peter decided it was better not to risk it and stayed quiet.

Mr. Patrick turned to Blondie, telling him, "Amos will pin him down while you get what we need."

Peter's eyes widened when Giant—now known as Amos—pinned down Peter's arms and legs with his own. While Peter squirmed frantically under Giant, Blondie started towards him, followed by Scruffy with the vial. When Blondie pulled out a large syringe, Peter squirmed even harder, whimpering as he tried to escape.

"Now, now," Blondie cooed softly. He gently petted Peter's hair and Peter flinched away. "This won't hurt much if you don't squirm."

Without further warning, Blondie jabbed the syringe into Peter's arm and he yelled as the needle broke through his skin harshly. Blondie drew Peter's blood and squirted it into the vial Scruffy. As Blondie stepped back, Scruffy capped the vial and handed it to Mr. Patrick who grinned at the dark liquid. Giant climbed off Peter, putting more weight than necessary on his legs and Peter knew he'd have dark bruises.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Peter," Mr. Patrick said. He smiled warmly at Peter who curled up on his mattress, trying hard not to cry from the pain in his arm and face.

No other words were spoken as Mr. Patrick and his friends left the room, leaving Peter alone once again.