Peter walked out of his bedroom, backpack slung over his shoulder. He could hear his dad in the kitchen with MJ. Walking down the hall he slipped his backback into one of the chairs. "Making sure I actually leave?"

Tony took a sip of coffee. "Don't act like a child. Morgan is enough of a handful. I don't need you adding to it."

Peter plopped into one of the stools at the kitchen bar. "I'm not acting like a child."

MJ smirked and put a mug of hot chocolate in front of him. "Yes, you are."

"I did come down to see you off but also to see if MJ just wanted to come back to the cabin with me. Then, when you're done with your finals you can just meet us there. Morgan decorated the tree and made everyone stockings."

Peter smiled. Christmas had definitely changed over the years. Over the top gifts had always been his dad's thing. Peter and Pepper had started to succeed in convincing him that they preferred quality time together over material gifts until Morgan came along. The over the top gifts came back almost worse than before. Pepper had cut him off this year and refused to let him actually buy anything and had gone as far as recruiting FRIDAY to make sure he didn't get anything crazy. He looked over at MJ. "Did he convince you or are you staying here?"

"I'm going to the cabin. I can log in to take my finals just as easy there and Jen has been working long hours so it's not like she needs me here as company." She put her coffee cup down and leaned on the bar. "So, go ace all your finals so you can head up to the cabin. Morgan and I will have the rest of Christmas break planned out by the time you get there."

Peter chuckled. "Great...I'm going to freeze to death playing in the snow, aren't I."

Tony shrugged. "Wear your suit under your clothes and turn on the heater. It'll be fine."

Peter sighed and took a long sip of hot chocolate. Putting the half empty mug down, he looked at his dad. "You'll let me know if there's a snag getting Ned released?"

Tony nodded. "I talked to Dr. Russell, she still wants to see him to work through his residual issues. We've talked about setting it up at the compound. I'll send his records to Shuri to see if there's anything she can do too."

"Thanks dad. Matt didn't think there would be a problem but you never know." Peter picked up his mug and finished the hot chocolate.

Tony crossed his arms and looked at Peter. "Even if there is a problem I stand a better chance of being able to help than you do." He sympathized with Peter. He knew it was hard on him seeing Ned locked up for something that wasn't his fault.

Peter nodded. "I know. I just feel responsible."

"Don't. No one blames you for what happened, least of all Ned." MJ reached over and poked Peter's arm to get his attention. "So stop feeling guilty."

The elevator door slid open and Bobby, Davis, Johnny, and Wyatt stepped off. Johnny reached over Peter and grabbed a banana out of the bowl on the counter. "Are you ready?"

Peter nodded and slipped out of the stool, grabbing his backpack. "Yes." He walked around the kitchen bar and kissed MJ on the cheek. "I'll call you tonight." He looked over at his dad. He realized in that moment that he missed him. The last couple months, his dad had been so wrapped up in the amendments and trying to sooth over the anti-mutant sentiments across the globe that it dawned on Peter that they hadn't really spent any one on one time since the end of the summer. Reaching over he wrapped his dad up in a hug. Feeling the reassuring squeeze around his shoulders and back he realized all was right in his world. "See you Friday night. Give Morgan and Pepper a kiss for me."

Tony released Peter and ruffled his hair, knowing it would annoy him. "Sure thing kiddo. Lab time Saturday morning. I want to see what you've come up with for thesis ideas."

XXXXXXXXXX

Bucky looked down the street then back to the door. Rapping on the wooden door with his knuckles he waited for the double doors to open.

"I don't understand why you wanted me to come with you." Doug looked up at the building. It just looked weird. All Bucky told him was that they were going to see a librarian. This did not look like a library.

"Because you may be useful." Bucky could hear footsteps approaching the door and turned back to face it.

Wong pulled open the door, surprised to see visitors at all, much less the two standing in front of him. "Does Strange know you're coming to see him?"

"We're not here to see him. We're here to see you. We need help with a book." Bucky shoved the folder that had grown in thickness over the last couple days into Wongs' chest.

Frowning, he took the folder and opened it. It only took him a moment to recognize the script on the first page. "Where did you get this?"

"From a madman. Do you know what it is?" Bucky watched Wong's expression as he flipped through the pages.

"I suspect what it is. I'll have to translate it before I can confirm."

"I can do that." Doug looked at Wong expectantly. Now he understood why Bucky had brought him.

Wong raised an eyebrow. "You can translate protocol-Egyptian hieroglyphs."

"I can translate anything."

Bucky grinned as Wong ushered Doug into a study. He wondered if he should leave but decided he was too curious so he followed after them. A decision he regretted woefully about thirty minutes after they got there as he listened to them drone on and on in other languages. Still listening to what they were saying, he stood up from the chair he had perched himself on and walked around the room. He had been to the Sanctum one other time with Steve. He had thought it was a bizarre place then and he had only gone as far as the foyer. The study they were in was filled with books and artifacts lining every nook and cranny. Peering into a shelf, he started to reach into the corner to pull out a small book.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Bucky glanced over at his shoulder at Strange, leaving his hand hovering in front of the book. "What's it going to do, bite me?"

Stephen shook his head. "No, but since you're using the non-vibranium hand, the poison that the book seems to ooze will more than likely kill even a super soldier." He smirked when Bucky frowned and pulled his hand back. "Not that I don't love seeing an Avenger, but why are you here?"

The sarcasm wasn't lost on Bucky. "I needed help with a book. Wong has hijacked the person who was helping us translate it."

Stephen looked over at the table where Wong was sitting with a teenage boy. "He was translating? What language?" He recognized the language being spoken by the boy but he wasn't sure if he believed his ears.

"Wong said something about Proto-Egyptian, but it sounds like they've shifted to something different." Bucky knew a lot of languages but the ones coming out of Doug and Wongs mouths was not one he was familiar with. He followed Strange over to the table.

Stephen studied the boy. "I'm incredibly curious as to how a teenage boy came to learn a language that has not only been dead for thousands of years but was also used by very few individuals of questionable backgrounds?"

Doug looked up and shrugged. "Mutant ability. I didn't get anything cool like shooting laser beams out of my eyes...just the ability to read and speak any language."

Stephen sat down next to Doug. "That's fascinating. It would support the theory that linguistic ability is embedded within a person's genes. Are you one of Professor Xavier's students?"

Doug glanced up at Bucky. He trusted him that he wouldn't have taken him somewhere that he would have been in danger so he nodded. "Yes sir. Professor X said something similar when he was reviewing my genetic panel."

"мы можем вернуться к книге"

Wong looked up at Bucky. "You went with Russian?"

Bucky shrugged. "这本书"

Wong rolled his eyes. "The pages you brought are handwritten copies of a very old and very dangerous book."

Bucky slid into a chair across from Wong. "Not surprising considering where we got them. When we were taking him down, he said something about us not knowing what's coming. Destruction and devastation were two words he used to describe it."

Stephen frowned. "Well, that doesn't narrow it down much." He looked over at Wong. "Is there anything in the notes to point us in the right direction?"

Wong stared at Stephen. "They're excerpts from the Darkhold."

Bucky frowned at the expression on Stephen's face. "What's the Darkhold."

Stephen leaned back in his chair, ignoring Bucky. "Is it one of the other copies?"

Bucky watched Wong shake his head. Leaning forward he looked at Stephen. "What's the Darkhold?"

"A book of dark magic. No one has seen the Darkhold in a very long time. There have been rumors of its reappearance but nothing actionable. Pieces of the book have been copied over the years and have taken on their own names...the Book of Sins, the Book of the Damned, the Book of Cagiliostro." Stephen looked over at Wong. "We have the Book of Cagiliostro"

"These writing are not in our book." Wong shifted through pages until he found the one he was looking for. "These all seem to be related to ways of increasing strength and power. The word Apocalypse is written in the margins of the pages multiple times."

Bucky frowned. "Apocalypse...like end of the world, Book of Revelation stuff?"

"Maybe, or maybe just destruction and devastation." Stephen reached out and took one of the pages that littered the table. Languages were not necessarily his thing but he had picked up on a lot over the years.

"Considering there were quotes from Revelation in a weird underground chamber, I might lean towards the former."

Stephen looked up at Bucky. "Is this all you found?"

"There's boxes of files. The guy was a geneticist...and has been around at least since the 1800's. This was the only thing not in a language we could easily read. And it definitely seemed more in your realm."

Wong looked at Bucky. "Can we keep these? I can continue to research and cross reference. There a multitude of beings that could cause the destruction and devastation you mentioned."

Bucky frowned. "A multitude...great." He leaned back in his chair. "Do these pages say anything about werewolves?"

Doug frowned. "Is that a thing too?"

Wong studied Bucky. He could tell he wasn't asking casually. "Nothing in these writing. We have others on that particular curse though. Why?"

"Anything about a cure?"

Stephen rose and walked over to one of the bookshelves and retrieved a book. Walking back over to the table he flipped to a page and set the book down in front of Bucky. "I would not want this to be attempted without my help."

Bucky looked down at the book. Like most of the others in this particular library it was old and handwritten. The drawing of a human transforming into a wolf like creature were unmistakable. He looked up at Stephen. "How would you feel about making a house call?"