Notes:
Since I do not know the Gargoyles comics, I've decided to instead use TGS story line to fill in part of the time between the last canon Gargoyles episode (taking place in 1996) and the events of The Avengers. For those of you not familiar with it but interested to read, see tgs. gargoyles-fans I'm especially referencing the events of TGS-Season 1 and 2 of Gargoyles, for which you can find some shorter information at tgs. gargoyles-fans. ) as well as Black and White in TGS-Season 4 of Pendragon. At the bottom, I've included some further notes on the timeline.
A Meeting between Tricksters
"It's really a pity you didn't bring Owen along."
David Xanatos almost sighed but over twenty years of leading his own business had taught him not to react, especially not when in negotiation with someone as intelligent as Tony Stark. Stark's constant attempts to convince Owen to work for him instead and to flirt with him had started out being amusing but after years of it, it was getting tiring. Today, however, Fox had found it quite funny again when he and Owen had decided unanimously that he would meet with Stark on his own. "Mr Stark," he began, "as we-"
He was interrupted when one of the walls was destroyed and a tall man with long blond hair and wearing an unusual armour flew into the room.
"Aw, shit, Thor! I told you to be more careful when training inside!" Stark exclaimed.
Xanatos watched with interest as a man wearing the Captain America costume - or, given the news, he most likely was Captain America - entered the room through the hole in the wall. "Don't blame him. Loki is here. The whole building is being evacuated and SHIELD is sending troops to keep people from getting inside."
Stark started cursing again. He briefly turned to Xanatos and said: "Stay here. One of us will take you to safety as soon as possible." Then he called his armour.
Loki, still partly in his Jotun form after an unplanned encounter with the Hulk and a freezer, entered the room he had thrown his brother (not brother, it had been lie, everything had been...) just for Stark to attempt to harm him with his armour. Loki simply conjured up a shield, reflecting the power behind the attack back at them. He was about to attack again when an unknown voice muttered: "Magnificent!" Loki turned to where the voice had come from, readying himself to attack whoever was watching and admiring his (losing!) adversaries. He was surprised to find a human male, looking at him with frank fascination. Hiding his confusion (why would he look at him like this, especially when he was wearing his damned true form?) he adopted a haughty look. "What do you want, …" He was about to call him 'mortal' but a closer look showed him that, while he was human, he was also immortal and showed signs of being in constant contact with magic.
"Xanatos, are you out of your mind?" Stark shouted, slowly pushing himself up.
"Hush. Let the adults talk, Stark. And really, beside insufficient agility, either of the amour or your use of it, you have obviously completely failed to include any kind of features for facing magic. Really, I had expected more of your armour. I build a better one over ten years ago." Then he turned back to Loki, who was now in his Aesir form again and had watched the exchange with amusement. "Interesting. You obviously use magic but the iron in his armour doesn't seem to affect you. So are those theories true that you are from a different dimension instead of part of the Third Race?"
Loki was intrigued now. He hadn't expected for a human today to be aware of the existence of the Third Race. "No, I'm not part of the Third Race but dimension is also the wrong expression. We refer to it as plane. Also, the amount of iron in his armour is so small, even a weak fay would hardly be affected."
"Ah. I had wondered when the news reported a man with inhuman abilities calling himself Thor who did not seem to having trouble with iron. What confuses me is that Odin is a fay," Xanatos replied.
"Yes and no." To the shock and confusion of the three Avengers, Loki went to sit down in the armchair Stark had been occupying while Xanatos also sat down again. "There is both an Aesir and a Fay calling themselves Odin. The humans simply used the names of the Aesir they had encountered or heard of to refer to the Fay who fit the same description. The way I understood it, the Fay then started adopting those names."*
"Interesting." Xanatos considered him for a moment. "Would you mind if I asked further questions? I would just have to inform my assistant that my meeting at Stark Industries will take a bit longer."
Loki waved him on. "Feel free."
"Just a moment then." Xanatos pressed the speed dial to call Owen, keeping an eye on Loki and the Avengers. "Ah, Owen, please postpone my next meeting. By the way, that guy Jeff Brooks** had a problem with, what's his name? - Yes, him. Or perhaps something similar. Please look into it. - See you later." Finishing the call, he turned back to Loki. "Now, if we humans used the same name for Aesir and Fay, then I take it the legends sometimes depict something having happened to the Aesir and sometimes to the Fay?"
"Yes, and from what I've seen, some of the stories you consider legends are simply stories humans made up," Loki said.
"So it's like reading the newspaper," Xanatos commented. He smirked. "So, what about the one where...?"
The Avengers exchanged confused looks, not sure what to do now that Loki seemed to settle down for a peaceful discussion about the accuracy of mythology with a human. Tony and Steve looked to Thor, relying on his experience in dealing with Loki but he could only shrug.
"I see you have found that, as Circe claimed, stories are often exaggerated over time."
The Avengers whirled around, surprised to find a blond bespectacled man of indeterminable age standing in the door.
"How did you get in here?" Captain America demanded to know, at the same time as Iron Man exclaimed: "Owen!"
Owen ignored them both. Instead he went to stand behind his employer. "I trust you're having an interesting conversation."
Xanatos looked up at him. "Of course."
Loki considered the new arrival, then he brightened. "Puck! I haven't seen you in centuries!" He frowned when he noticed something, his eyes growing stormy. "What happened to you?" Without waiting for him to reply, he quickly muttered a spell.
"What did you do?" Iron Man demanded to know.
Loki didn't look at him or the other Avengers, instead glaring at Xanatos. "I undid the spell binding his powers."
Xanatos leant forward eagerly. "What? Thank you!" He forced himself to calm down. "I do not know how to thank you. I'm indebted to you."
Loki stared at him, struck speechless. Why was he thanking him? And... and saying to a trickster, to him that he owed him? "I-I'm a trickster."
Xanatos was a bit confused by the reaction but replied simply: "I know."
Owen was watching Loki, his face remaining impassive but he couldn't hide the humour in his eyes. He lightly touched Xanatos' shoulder to draw his attention. "I do not think he was expecting your reaction."
Loki cleared his throat, preferring not to discuss further how a mortal had surprised him so much. "What brings you here, Puck?" he asked, shooting him a dark look that clearly said that he would not appreciate being teased for his reaction.
Xanatos smiled. "I hope you do not mind but I figured I'd better inform him that I'd encountered someone calling himself 'Loki'." He glanced at the blonde. "I'm afraid after our last encounter with a Loki about a decade ago, Owen would not appreciate my not asking for his assistance."
"You encountered someone calling himself by my name?" Loki demanded to know. "Who was it?"
"One of the banished ones," Owen replied. "You may have heard of the trickster sentenced to being imprisoned in the Phoenix Gate. A human had suggested the name 'Loki' to him and he has used it ever since. But he was not the only one of the Unseelie Court to feel... inspired... by you and the stories from Asgard. Madoc brought on the Fimbulwinter."
"Madoc? Wasn't he stripped of his power?" Loki asked.
"He was but the prophecy of his second attempt to win the throne had come true. Fortunately the second war was much shorter than the first, only lasting from 1996 to 1999," the fay in disguise explained. He allowed himself a small, satisfied smile. "It ended with Madoc being killed by Demona."
Before Loki could reply, Thor interrupted, having enough of the confusing conversation. "What is the meaning of this? How do you know my brother?"
Owen looked to Loki, eyebrow raised. /"He's not the brightest, is he?"/ he asked in the language he had spoken back when he'd first met Loki.
Loki could only shrug. /"He's never been particularly interested in learning if it didn't involve weapons. And it's only now that he has taken an interest in Midgard."/
/"I'm surprised he still managed to catch your interest."/
Loki fought down a blush. "Shut up," he muttered.
Tony made a mental note to have JARVIS translate the last part of the conversation and look up the other things the three of them had mentioned. He open his faceplate, cleared his throat and stepped forward, figuring it was better to get involved before Thor completely lost his patience. "So, I take it the fight is over for today?" When Loki made no move to start again, he turned all his attention to Owen. "I'm quite curious myself how you know Loki. Perhaps you could tell me over dinner? We could also talk about a position at Stark Industries for you. I'm sure we can find something more interesting and... suited to your... capabilities."
This time Xanatos couldn't resist rolling his eyes at the younger man. Not that he couldn't understand his interest in Owen but he doubted very much that his friend was any more impressed than he was. A look into his eyes told him that he was mainly amused, especially at the offer of a more interesting position.
Tony was a bit put out that Owen didn't react but instead seemed to have a wordless conversation with Xanatos. He was about to interrupted when Xanatos suddenly laughed, looking at him in amused exasperation. "Really now, Stark. I can understand having a type but I feel rather insulted on Owen's behalf that you'd ask him to be your rebound." He briefly glanced to Captain America.
Tony gaped, suddenly wishing desperately that he had his face plate still closed. "I... I'm quite sure I don't know what you mean," he finally managed to get out.
"Of course you don't," Xanatos said, obviously still amused. Glancing at his watch, he added: "Well, I believe we'll take our leave." He looked to Owen. "Or was there anything else?"
Owen briefly nodded to him, then turned to Loki. "I would prefer it if you kept the family Xanatos, as well as the clan living at the Eyrie out of whatever strife you have with the Avengers."
"Why should I?" Loki asked, more for the benefit of the Avengers than anything else. He'd always got along quite well with Puck, so he didn't mind doing him the favour of not threatening his protégés. Not to mention that he'd rather not have a fellow trickster out for his blood. The brief flash of amused understanding in those blue eyes told him that his friend understood.
Wordlessly Owen took out his phone, opened a picture and passed it to Loki.
For a moment, the dark-haired trickster was confused but when he understood what he was seeing, he could help but coo. "Oh. Oh, look at him. He's grown so big." He smiled tenderly at the picture of Fenris, then, remembering where he was, he quickly pulled himself together. "Where did you get it?"
"He's here on Midgard. Madoc freed him from the cave he was imprisoned in to get his alliance but kept him chained in Antarctica. Since then, we have found a way to free him from Gleipnir," Owen explained.
Loki swallowed. "I guess that is a good reason to agree to your request." It was actually more than that but there would be a time and place where they could discuss it, preferably without his bro... Thor and his friends listening.
"Ah, Owen?" Xanatos reached for his assistant, then they once again communicated wordlessly before he looked to Loki. "I would like to continue our conversation. If you wish, you are welcome to visit me at the Eyrie." He nodded to Stark. "We'll just have to reschedule." With that, he turned and left, Owen at his side.
They watched them leave, still a bit overwhelmed by what had happened. They turned back to confront Loki about it but he had vanished.
TBC?
* In the Timedancer story "Nor Iron Bars a Cage" (Season 3), Loki adopts his name at Payne's suggestion.
** Jeff Brooks is the human alias Brooklyn adopted in "Equality" (TGS-Season 1).
Short information on the timeline:
According to Greg Weismann, Xanatos was born in 1955, making him 57 in 2012. He first used his armour in 1994. I would guess Stark to be about 10 to 15 years younger than Xanatos. As the year he developed his armour, I use 2008 (the year of the first Iron Man movie with RDJ). Given that Preston Vogel was born in 1960, Owen would be appear to be around 52 years old. He has worked for Xanatos for 21 years (since 1991) and has been banished for 16 years (since July 9, 1996).
As mentioned in the story, the Second Unseelie War started on Halloween 1997 and ended on April 30 1999.
Arthur Pendragon, Merlin, Mary and Griff meet Fenris February 27, 2000.