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Owen Burnett paced the length of Mister Xanatos' office, rocking Alexander in an attempt to calm the infant's sobbs. Alexander's father was at his desk, conducting the business of keeping several multi-million dollar companies running. Most CEO's wouldn't have been able to keep working with a crying baby in the room but David Xanatos still became uneasy when his son was out of his sight for too long.
It seemed that Alexander shared his father's unease. Any time he was out of his parents sight, the baby let out unearthly, magically enhanced, cries. Owen wasn't sure how the infant knew the exact moment he left his parents' sight, as Alexander's own sight should have still been developing but he assumed the infant was unconsciously manipulating his magic in some interesting and new way.
Regardless, Owen was only too happy to remain in the office. He knew that millions of single parents and duo parents raised children everyday and had been doing so since the dawn of humanity. But he doubted that those children had been quarter fae. Or that those parents were CEO's of massive corporations.
Xanatos Enterprises had a board of directors of course. But everyone on it was a shill, manufactured and directed by Owen. They had tax records detailing their finances, their properties, and even the lavish vacations they took. It was something that Owen did in his down time to relax.
Owen altered his path, walking the infant in front of the large window behind Xanatos' desk. Sensing his nearness to his father, Alexander's cries gave way to unhappy whimpers. Owen soothed him as best he could. It was the height of irritation that fussiness was not something that Puck was able to defend the infant from.
Glancing over, Owen could see Xanatos' broad shoulders drooping. David had retrieved Alexander from his mother early that morning, allowing Fox to collapse into their bed. At this point Owen wasn't sure if she was sleeping or if she'd fallen unconscious.
Owen had handled the business of Xanatos Enterprises until after noon, at which point several calls required David's presence. He was sure that by this time his business associates had gotten used to the sounds of the infant in the background.
Alexander blinked wide miserable eyes up at Owen. He sniffled and reached up with his chubby little arms. Owen surrendered his hand quite happily, allowing the infant to gnaw on the cool stone with his toothless gums. He heard the click of the phone being placed into its cradle and considered the time until the next scheduled call.
"Would you like to hear the story of how Puck almost tricked that big gargoyle Goliath into giving him the Phoenix Gate?" Owen asked Alexander in a soft voice. The infant only continued to blink at him with watering eyes but Owen saw his father's posture change out of the corner of his eye.
"It happened only a short time ago at the beginning of The Gathering. Goliath, his daughter Angela, his friend Elisa, and their dog Bronx had been on a long quest for Avalon but Puck felt it as soon as Avalon began to send them back to Manhattan."
Owen turned, pacing in front of the window, and saw that Xanatos had turned and was resting his chin on his knuckles as his eyes followed Owen's path. His eyes glittered with interest and a multitude of questions but he didn’t interrupt as Owen continued.
"Puck struck before the fogs of Avalon could clear and reveal their destination. Puck could not take the Phoenix Gate from the Gargoyle, that is the rule regarding Oberon's Children and objects of power. They must be transferred by free will. So Puck set out to create a sort of dream that would demand that Goliath, that moral stick in the mud, surrender the Gate."
Alexander's whimpering had ceased. His hands were clasped tightly around Owen's stone hand, holding it securely to his mouth. Owen did not regret his actions with the Cauldron of Life but at times like this he wished that his hand still had feeling.
"Goliath’s dream was a nightmare. A world under the tyrannical dictatorship of his oft found foe, David Xanatos forty years in the future." Owen heard Xanatos snort but did not pause his retelling. "Upon their arrival Angela and Elisa were immediately captured by Xanatos' Steel Clan of Gargoyles while Goliath and Bronx were besieged. They were rescued, of course, by two members of the Resistance, the former Detective Bluestone and the mutate Claw."
Alexander's gaze didn't falter through the story. He watched Owen intently as he went from gnawing on the stone hand to sucking on it. While Alexander did not overtly react to the story, the same could not be said for his father. Owen heard a variety of sounds from his employer as he regaled them with the state of a Xanatos ruled Manhattan. He had laughed outright when Owen told them of the love between Brooklyn and Demona.
There were some slight edits that Owen made of course. Things like the death of Hudson and Lexington's cybernetic enhancements were vital to the plot of course. But the torture that blinded Broadway and the identity of the Resistant Agent that had infiltrated Xanatos' pyramid and been defeated there were left out of this retelling.
"The Resistance knew that they had to move quickly, before Xanatos' mutate soldiers could find them. They moved on the pyramid in two fronts; those with wings from overhead while the rest created a distraction on the ground. But in the end Goliath faced Xanatos in his virtual reality battlefield alone."
Xanatos managed to remain quiet until Owen revealed that the real Xanatos had died during his fight with Hudson. The being fighting Goliath was merely Xanatos' brain, uploaded onto a computer. He laughed again when Owen shared Goliath's words about the 'real Xanatos' never stooping so low and finally interrupted.
"It's going to be Lexington right? His departure was too abrupt and there was nothing left behind. It was a little too convenient."
Owen paused turning a disapproving stare towards his employer.
"If the storyteller is interrupted again," he said in his best Vogel impression. "It is possible the story will never be finished and no one will ever know."
Xanatos stifled his laughter and gestured for Owen to continue. He was unable to resist a small smirk as he did.
"Goliath and Elisa were returned to the real world, desperate to shut down the computer and stop the upload. But they were confronted by the true mastermind behind everything. The gargoyle Lexington. Feeling betrayed by his leader and undervalued by his peers Lexington had been secretly controlling Xanatos' empire since his defeat. Uploading the Xanatos program worldwide was his plan."
Xanatos closed his eyes with a pleased hum and a smile. Owen allowed himself a moment of silence to take in the sight. But he could not let it drag on for too long. He turned his attention back to Alexander as he reached the story's conclusion and the first appearance of Puck in his own form.
"Goliath claimed to be too weak to use the Phoenix Gate himself. Elisa begged for him to give the Gate to her and allow her to try. But he was too weak to even hand it over. She begged and demanded that he hand it to her and it was only then that he realized something was wrong." Here Owen frowned. "He wasn't too weak to grab the Phoenix Gate and distance himself from the person he knew now was not Elisa Maza. But with his awareness the dream began to dissolve and Puck was revealed."
"Despite Puck revealing his need for the Gate, Goliath refused to hand it over. The gargoyle did not trust the item in the possession of Puck or Oberon and when he awoke, the Gargoyle tossed the Phoenix Gate into the timestream where it would not be found by any who would seek it out."
Alexander released Owen's hand and blinked sleepily. Owen turned, heading towards the assembled crib in the most defensible corner of the room. He leaned down to place the baby on the mattress as he finished his story.
"And so Puck's plan ultimately failed. He realized he would have to find some other way to avoid returning for the Gathering. But he had been able to have some fun at Goliath's expense, so he hadn't counted the venture a complete failure." Alexander yawned and stretched out his chubby little arms. Owen stood up, watching until the infant's eyes finally closed in sleep. "Goodnight Alexander."
Keeping his steps as quiet as physically possible, Owen went to join Xanatos at the window. His shoulder brushed up against Xanatos and the man turned, raising an eyebrow as he quietly asked.
"I trust there were a few parts of the story altered to be appropriate for the ears of children?" When Owen nodded Xanatos smiled. "He's an infant Owen. He's not going to remember any of this."
"He is a child that is quarter fae and full of magical potential," Owen told Xanatos with a smug grin. "I assure you, he is more aware than any of us give him credit for."
Xanatos' eyes furrowed as he frowned worriedly as he looked at the crib over his shoulder.
"That doesn't even begin to factor in his parents," Owen added mischievously. Xanatos' face took on a thoughtful look, no doubt remembering what he himself had been like as a child.
"I suppose that makes sense," Xanatos said with a sigh. Then he smiled. "Though I believe that you've forgotten an influence."
Owen frowned. True, he hadn't mentioned that Owen's fae blood was from Titania's line, which made it even more powerful than Puck had once been. But he had assumed that Xanatos would not want him to mention it.
"The influence of his tutor," Xanatox said, nuding Owen gently with his elbow. Owen blinked and reflexively reached out to adjust his glasses.
"Yes," he said finally. "I suppose that the tutor does leave some sort of mark on their pupil."
"I cannot imagine a more influential figure for a child than Puck," Xanatos said with a grin. Then his gaze turned thoughtful and he turned his gaze out the window to look at the Manhattan skyline. "So I played the role of the tyrannical dictator well?"
"Technically, it was Lexington," Owen said furrowing his brows slightly. "As you surmised before the story reached its conclusion."
"Regardless, it's a good thing that world domination isn't really on my to-do list," Xanatos said. Outside the window they could see the sun beginning it's descend below the horizon. The gargoyles would be waking soon.
"It could be added to your schedule quite easily," Owen said casually. When Xanatos turned to raise an eyebrow at him Owen gestured to the computer behind them. "After all, you already own so much of it."
"Well," Xanatos said as he turned and walked back to his desk. He sat in his office chair and turned to his computer. His final business call should be coming at any time. "I expect that immortality will be an expensive venture."
Owen smiled at the back of Xanatos' head. In Puck's experience it hadn't been so far. But Owen thought that for three humans, accustomed to life's luxuries and lacking the magic to acquire them, it probably would be. His musing was cut off when Xanatos continued.
"Especially for a family of four."