Tony paced around the same corner of the warehouse, as far away from the door as possible. It had been a few hours since Beck had come to tease him, or at least he thought it had been.

He felt restless. A ball of dread had settled in his chest, just to the right of his heart. He couldn't not think about Peter. Why the hell did Beck want to torture his kid? The kid. Not his. Whatever. The answer was obvious, anyway. Beck wanted to hurt Peter so he could persuade Tony into giving him what he wanted. Been there, done that. But if that was the case, why was it taking so long? Usually by now they would have done something.

Tony glanced at the door for the 50th time in the last 47 minutes. It had appeared after Beck's projection had lifted, but then again, had it really? The door still may not be real. He had only been here for a couple of hours and he already couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't. He didn't want to imagine what state Peter was in. Tony hated how he couldn't do anything to get either of them out of here, they were completely at Beck's mercy. Which, of course, Tony wasn't sure if he even had. Beck was a madman.

Tony had seen it first-hand, fired him personally. After what had happened with the first lunatic, Tony couldn't spare the willpower to deal with anymore. Tony kept pacing until his feet got sore enough to drop off. It was dark outside, but Tony couldn't sleep. Sure, he was tired, but he was always tired. He had to stay awake, for the kid's sake. So Tony leant against the wall, and stared at the door.

Occasionally, Tony thought he may have seen something flicker at the edge of his vision. But no matter how fast he snapped his head around to look, it was ordinary. The greys were frustratingly uniform.

Time seemed to move weirdly in this prison. One moment it feels like you've been waiting for hours, the next only for mere seconds. It really messed with Tony's head. He wanted to get out of here, for something to happen that could help him. But of course, no matter how hard he wished or begged whatever gods were up there, nothing. Tony was seriously considering banging his head against the wall when the doors flew open. It was bizarre.

Beck, dressed in what looked like some green-screen suit or something, surrounded by a flock of drones. The drones followed Beck from where he was jogging forwards, enclosing another person. Peter! Tony made to shout his name, but Beck shot a glance at him and smiled, shaking his head. Tony shut up immediately. One of the drones excused itself from the pack and drifted ominously over to where Tony was standing. It did something, then he looked up.

He could see what Peter was seeing.

Peter and Beck were running through hallways that weren't there, but what hurt

him more than the confused and terrified expression that adorned Peter's face, it was that Beck was making himself look like him. Shit. Tony started running after them, following the holographic path of the corridors, trying his best to catch up with Peter. His own drone followed him. Tony wasn't completely in the simulation, but he could still see where Peter was, and he was gaining on him. He didn't know what he would do when he got to him, though. Whatever. Act first think later, right?

Tony watched as Peter glanced behind him, and he could make out the plain fear in the kid's eyes. Jesus, what had Beck told him? Tony realized that Beck had stopped in his tracks, and Peter had almost bumped into him. He ran faster. He watched Beck spin around to shout at him, he saw the pain and hurt on Peter's face. Almost there.

"This way." Beck pretty much spat at Peter. They started running down the left corridor, but then he heard his drone fire. It hit Peter, and he cried out, stumbling and falling. Tony was within steps of him, he could reach out and help Peter up, but Beck saw him step forward, and shook his head again. His smile was starting to get annoying. One day he'd wipe it off his face himself. The drone that had shot Peter had now turned to him. Up close it was poorly assembled, but it had a weapon, so Tony wasn't able to try anything without being blown to bits. He was forced to watch, still as a statue, as Beck tormented his kid.

"Mr. Stark?" God, Peter sounded so young. Peter's expression was so painful to look at, Tony couldn't stand to see his kid like that. Beck turned and scoffed at Peter, still making himself look like Tony. Peter wouldn't ever think he would just ignore him like that, right? But it got worse.

"Tony?" Peter's broken voice made Tony want to run up to him and hug him so hard that his bones cracked, and tell him that was going to be alright, but he could still hear the drone whirring over his shoulder. Tony opted to sink down to Peter's level, reaching out to him but not touching. He got the feeling that Peter couldn't see him.

Tony looked up, and saw Beck's facade flickering. He didn't know if this was on purpose, but it was scaring Peter. God, he wanted to break every bone in Beck's body.

"Please help." Peter said in a small voice, like he thought Beck was going to squash him instead. Maybe it was because Beck had gone back to looking like Tony again, and that he could win the award for most loathing expression in the history of mankind.

Tony tensed when Beck casually strolled towards Peter, but instead of helping him up, he dug a foot into Peter's shoulder, putting his weight into it. Tony heard Peter cry out in pain, and it took almost all he had not to try and push Beck off him.

"What-" Peter started but was cut off by Beck, leaning on Peter's injured shoulder even more. Peter gasped in pain, and Tony saw tears streaming down his cheeks.

Something inside of him broke.

"Peter..." Tony whispered, sitting as close to him as possible, trying to give some comfort, anything to Peter, but he couldn't. Peter was suffering, and Tony was right there, yet he couldn't do anything about it.

"Peter." Beck leant forwards again, and Beck's voice was so unlike his own that Tony begged that Peter didn't believe that it was really him. "Why do you think I'm doing this?" Peter barely covered up a sob, and shook his head violently.

"You're worthless," No. Beck couldn't go down that path. That would destroy Peter. But he guessed that was Beck's twisted point. And Tony couldn't stop him. He had to watch his kid fall apart at what he thought were Tony's words, and it was tearing him up from the inside.

"You're lazy, you're a drag, you're a waste. Of. Time." Tony could see Beck's boot becoming soaked in red. In Peter's blood. Tony clenched his fists so hard that his fingernails made his palm bruise.

"N-no!" Peter was crying full on now, Tony could see him trying to breathe, the beginnings of hyperventilation. A few tears of his own escaped, and Tony let them fall. They burnt his cheeks.

Beck leant back, taking his foot off of Peter's shoulder, but made a borderline disgusted statement.

"I don't care about you." And with that, Beck took off, his drones following, surrounding him like a herd of sheep out the door. Once Tony was sure he had left, he turned to Peter.

He was curled up on the ground in a tight ball, sobbing his heart out. Tony ran up to him.

"Pete! Kid?" He sank down next to him, and tried to pull him into a hug, but his arms went straight through him.

The hologram lifted. Beck had taken the real Peter with him.

"Son on a bitch!" Tony yelled, jumping up and catching sight of the one remaining drone. He ran up to it, ignoring when it shot him in the shin, and slammed his fists into it over and over again, tearing out wires. The drone fell to the floor, wrecked. Tony collapsed onto the floor, staring at the drone. The cuts that now littered his knuckles started to sting, and the small hole that had been burned into his leg fucking hurt like hell. But one of Beck's drones were gone. Hooray.

That didn't change the fact that both his and Peter's faces were still wet with tears.

A/N: as of today the name of this fic has been changed from "sweet and salty" to "sweet and sour" this'll make sense in the end I swear. ALSO, I think Im gonna take my two other fics off here for a while, because I've basically forgotten about them. If/when I finish this fic, I'll most likely re-upload them bc writing two fics at once is a bit too much for me, kudos to those who manage it!Please leave a review, i will most likely cry bc yall are so nice aaaa