Peter didn't want to argue with her, but Daphne is being very difficult. When she finally calmed down completely, she asked him not to tell anyone about her not being able to say the word Zephyrus. Not even Tony.
"Why not?"
"You know why not," she mutters into his chest.
"Daph, if your reason involves you not wanting to bother anyone, then I'm not gonna listen to you."
"No, Pete, I just... I-" She pauses and her breath hitches. He's right, she knows. And he knows too. But there's a little more to it this time. "He can't do anything with that info."
"He could ask Doctor Stra-"
"No-no, we're not telling him anything." There it is. The exact reason why she doesn't want Tony to know. He'll tell Strange and that's the last thing she wants.
Tony's nice to Daphne, but she feels like there's more to his kindness than him just liking her for who she is. Whether that has to do with Peter or with anything else is still vague to her, but he shouldn't know. He can't know. Double-edged sword. The word flashes in her head again. Maybe Peter got it from Stark.
"Why don't you trust him?" She doesn't reply. She can't. "But you trust the mist?" She knows it must sound strange from their perspective. She was ambushed by an alien, who told her a bunch of things, which he made her unable to say out loud by putting a spell on her and suddenly, she doesn't trust the 'good sorcerer' from earth anymore. Kind of sounds like he put a spell on her that makes her distrustful in general. Maybe they think he did something even worse, like hurting her. But he didn't. She knows he didn't.
Daphne opens her mouth to speak, but there's an immense pressure on her chest. A soft whine escapes her lips and he immediately pets her hair again, softly rocking her side to side.
"Ssh, ssh. It's okay, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."
"I'm sorry," she mumbles.
"Ssh..." he soothes again. He rests his head on top of hers and frowns. "I got you." He hates being helpless. He can't do anything but hold her, and as much as they don't mind holding each other, he definitely doesn't feel like he's doing enough. He knows she doesn't want him to tell Stark or Strange, but doing nothing feels wrong too.
...
Peter's never actually been inside the Sanctum. It's imposing, yet also dark. And dusty. And old. Still, it's very impressive. Peter's nervous, but he has to keep his act up. Lying to the Sorcerer Supreme is going to be hard, but is it really lying if you're just leaving some bits of information out when telling the truth? Yes. His own voice echoes through his head. He inwardly tells his brain to shut up and looks up at the big stairs.
"Doctor Strange?" He calls out and flinches at how insecure he sounded. He wants to call out again, but Stephen appears at the top of the stairs.
"What brings you to the Sanctum?" Stephen asks with a cocked eyebrow. His arms are crossed and Peter notices he's not actually standing on the floor. He's floating just above it. The cape is flowing like there's a small gust of wind, but they're inside. There is no wind.
"I- I, eh..." Peter stutters. He takes a breath and nods once. "I'm here for a school project on Ancient Greece."
"No," Stephen says simply and he turns away to walk- or well, float- back up the rest of the stairs.
"But-"
"Google it, kid." Somehow, when Stephen calls him kid, it sounds wrong. Tony calls him kid all the time and never did Peter think Tony said it in the degrading way that Stephen said it now.
Peter huffs. He's not ready to give up just yet. He makes his way to the stairs and runs up, skipping one or two steps with each hop. Peter spots Stephen walking into a hallway and he rushes after him. It takes all of his self-control to not get distracted by all the amazing artifacts that are on display.
"Please, doctor Strange, I just-" Stephen abruptly turns back to Peter and takes an intimidating step towards him.
"I have bigger things to worry about than one insignificant little school project. Besides, what you'll find in my books does not correlate with what your teacher would know. They'll give you a zero and say you pulled the info out of your ass." Peter purses his lips and looks to the side. He can't argue with that. He can feel his frustrations catch up to him. Strange turns away and continues through the hallway, leaving Peter behind with a wave of his hand. "Go home, Peter."
He didn't.
Spider-Man lands on top of the Sanctum. He waited for it to be dark outside and he can barely believe he's going to steal from Doctor Strange. The Sorcerer Supreme. Okay, he will put whatever he takes back where it belongs later, so... Borrow. He's going to borrow a book from Doctor Strange. He slaps himself in the face a few times with both hands to bring himself back to reality and he peeks into one of the big windows. His lenses turn to slits. According to Karen, the library should be two floors down. She couldn't exactly locate where Stephen is, but she's certain he's not in the library. That's all Peter needs. He feels if he can open the window and inwardly jumps for joy when it gives way without much trouble. He looks back one more time before sneaking inside.
Spider-Man tip toes through the Sanctum. There must be protection spells everywhere; he can't just jump around and rush to where he needs to be. He needs to be careful. He closes his eyes, hoping his tingle can help him figure out where he can and can't go. Tingle. He scoffs at himself. He should really figure out another name for that. He looks around the room and once again has to do everything he can to not be distracted. There's so much cool stuff in this building, but he can't afford to browse. Not now.
As imposing as the old building is, it's also very frustrating to quietly move around in. The wooden floor boards creak softly with every step he takes. When one croak is particularly loud, Spider-Man freezes and stares at the stairs in horror, hoping no one would appear. The board also whines when Peter takes his foot off of it again. Millions of swear words bounce through his head and he quietly apologizes to uncle Ben for thinking like that. Uncle Ben once told him he didn't like it when people swore, so Peter didn't. Simple as that.
Spider-Man resorted to playing 'The Floor Is Lava'. All the other items around the rooms are a lot les noisy than those floor boards, so he's just going to have to make sure he doesn't drop- Peter gasps and reaches out for a vase rushing to the floor. He catches it swiftly, right before it hits the ground. He stares at the vase with wide eyes and he can hear his heartbeat between his ears. He slowly brings the vase back to where it stood and carefully places it where it belongs. He glances at the stairs again. This heist is going to be the death of him.
It takes Spider-Man half an hour to get to the library. He's fairly certain he's never been as quiet as he is now. Karen still couldn't locate Strange, which was unnerving. Maybe he just isn't home. But he doesn't want to test that theory, so he keeps quiet. There are endless rows of books in front of him, which certainly isn't making Peter any more confident in finding what he needs.
"Karen?" he whispers.
"Yes, Peter?"
"How long would it take you to search for a book with the word Zephyrus?" It's quiet for a second while Karen calculates.
"With the number of books in this room; thirty-four minutes tops."
"More than half an hour? Karen, I don't have that kind of time."
"Do you want me to look for the book?" Karen sassily replies. Spider-Man bites the inside of his cheek and sighs softly.
"Yes, please."
To speed up the process, Spider-Man joined Karen in her search. Karen scans each and every book for the right word while Peter browses for books on Ancient Greek mythology, hoping to narrow down the field a little bit. The half hour passes excruciatingly slowly. Peter constantly eyes the stairs, hoping Stephen won't join him.
"Peter?" Karen asks suddenly.
"Yeah?"
"I have located two books that contain the word Zephyrus and one book with the word Zephyr."
"Where are they?"
Karen guides Peter to where the books are and he stares at the first one.
"Do you think they'll be booby trapped?" Peter says softly.
"I don't know, Peter. Magic is not my forte," the AI replies.
"Oh, well." Peter tries to sound casual, but ultimately fails. He takes a deep breath as he raises his hand to grab the book off the shelf. "Leap of faith." He starts pulling at the binding slowly. It starts creeping off the wooden shelving and Peter holds his breath with every inch he wins. When the book reaches out far enough, he takes it in his hand completely and pulls it out. He rests it in his arm.
"Book number two is four books to the right." Peter looks at where Karen tells him to look and he starts pulling at the second book. Quietly. Slowly. Gently... Peter gasps for air when the book next to the second book falls out of the shelf. He only barely managed to catch it by activating his stickiness and holding out his leg. The book is now stuck to him. He places the second book in his arm with the first one and rips off the extra book that fell down. He puts it back where it came from and looks around for the third book.
"Karen, you said there was another book? With Zephyr in it?"
"It's in an entirely different section of the library. Do you want me to guide you there?" Spider-Man bites his lip. He already has two books from the history section, that should be enough, right?
"What section is the third book in?"
"Rare collections."
Spider-Man quietly makes his way to the third book. Somehow the section subject caught his attention. The other two should be enough. Yet, something feels off about this last one. Zephyr. He purses his lips when he sees the book. It's high up on the shelf. Not that getting up there is an issue, but if he uses his webs he'll leave a string that won't disappear for another three hours and the shelf doesn't look sturdy enough for him to climb on. And then there's the ladder, but it's got wheels on it and is attached to the book case. He only dares to imagine the noise those un-oiled wheels will make. He has to take a risk, he just has to pick which one.
He breathes slowly, opting for plan number four: web the book and pull it out of the case. He hopes with all his heart that he won't pull out anything else. He carefully places the other two books on the floor and stands back up straight with his eyes on the book he wants. He raises his arm and aims. There's a beat. Thwip! He nods proudly at his own skill; he hit the right book. However, the next part is going to be the most difficult.
He gives a soft tug at the book and it immediately pulls out a little further than he hoped for, bringing along two other books at its side.
"No, no, no-" Peter mutters. Plan number five. Spider-Man jumps and sticks to the high ceiling with just his fingertips. He hangs down and his feet just about reach the book when he's fully outstretched. He carefully starts pushing the unnecessary books back into the shelving, but groans quietly when the book he needs also shuffles back onto the shelving. He wiggles his legs some more and sticks one foot to the book he needs. He uses his other foot to hold the books that want to come out as well in place.
He cheers quietly when he gets hold of the book, but he finds himself in yet another predicament. How is he going to land without a loud thud? He can't climb down because of the loose book cases, but he also can't just leave via the ceiling because he left the other two books on the floor. Idiot. He thinks to himself. He stretches his arm out again and aims. Thwip! One book down. He yanks it up and catches it with ease, keeping it with the Zephyr book. He can feel the beads of sweat trickling up his back, because he's upside down. One more thwip. Just one more, and then he can make his way out again.
Suddenly his tingle freaks out and his eyes shoot to the staircase. The red cape appears and Peter presses his lips on top of each other. That thing has a mind of its own and it will definitely alarm Stephen if it spots him. No time to think! Need the book! Thwip! Catch! Go! He rushes over the ceiling towards a dark corner and hides behind the shelving. He can see the cloak lazily floating towards one of the shelves. It starts stacking different kinds of books on top of itself. Spider-Man holds his head up to quiet his breathing and he stares at the magical object wide-eyed. If it spots him, he's done for.
The cape glides around the library, collecting book after book. When it carries around 14 books, it turns away from the shelving, right past Peter, whose muscles relax when the realizes the cloak didn't spot him. He keeps holding his breath until the cape is making its way down the stairs again. When it disappears out of sight, Spider-Man slowly starts moving again. Time to get out of there.
He has one less limb to climb with, as he has to use one of his arms to hold onto the books. He's quick, but quiet. It takes him less time to get upstairs than it did to get downstairs as he now knew how to get around the loud noises the old building makes. He pushes against the window again and it budges, letting him out. He finally dares to properly breathe again when the cold air hits him. He looks at his loot. Three books. He blinks a few times and smiles to himself. He just successfully broke into the Sanctum! He stole- eh, borrowed- from Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme! He hops joyfully and jumps off the building, swinging home to study up on Zephyrus.
Peter didn't know Stephen had been watching him the entire time.