Disclaimer: All characters of Gargoyles are copyright Disney.
It was a bright Friday afternoon. The subway car lurched noisily as it cranked to life. The people of New York City huddled inside, solemn and silent. Except for Margot Yale, who was yelling insults at her husband.
Fox Xanatos tuned out the noise. Her arms were around her happily snoozing infant son, Alexander. She looked out the window at the gray tunnel.
There was a flash. For a second, Fox could see a much younger Halcyon Renard and his wife, Anastasia. They were cradling a red-haired baby. She blinked.
"How do you deal with time stealing your father's youth?" David Xanatos had asked once when he and Fox were dating, during breakfast.
She had nearly choked on her imported orange juice. "You're asking me? Time's already looted my father's temple, and the trail's cold."
How could my own mother keep such a secret from me for so long? Why didn't I ever notice that while Daddy aged, Mother never did? Anastasia Renard was really an extension of Queen Titania of the Third Race. Nothing could have prepared Fox for that revelation, or the possibility of losing her newborn baby.
"All's well that ends well," Titania had whispered in her ear. "Take care, my stalwart daughter."
"What do babies dream about?" Fox said quietly to herself, gently rocking her firstborn son. "Must be peaceful." Though Margot Yale was adding to the sound pollution in New York, Alex didn't even stir.
"Zzzz..." the baby snored.
The subway seemed to be going at a slower rate than usual.
Fox pulled out her cell phone. No service, read the screen. "Oh, great." She pulled out her pager. No luck. "The battery must be dead."
"What a sweet baby!" A woman was sitting beside Fox. "I had one once. It was going to be a boy."
The blue fox-shaped tattoo over Fox's eye seemed to shift as the redhead arched an eyebrow. "Was going to be?"
"I miscarried. Chromosomal defect." She stroked Alexander's silky blonde hair. "May I hold him?"
"No!" She cried, clutching the still-asleep infant to her chest.
"I wouldn't take your child," the woman answered calmly, almost in a monotone.
Fox was barely even listening.
"Give me the child!" Oberon roared.
"Over my dead body," Fox replied through clenched teeth. The next few seconds were a blur. All she could hear was Alexander crying. There was a flash of green fire that struck Oberon and sent him flying into a wall with great momentum. She stared down, wondering where it had come from. "I don't know," she tried to explain. "I just couldn't let him take my baby!"
Then Alex really had been taken by that slimeball, Pat Doyle. She had tried to fight, but there was too much confusion. When the men demanded a gargoyle, she yelled without thinking 'there's one in the rubble!' She had tried to summon her involuntary mystical powers in the hopes of saving her son, but couldn't. At least, not until Alex was gone. Then her wrath came. The temporary but potent green fire blasted several pieces of furniture before dissipating. The powers only came in times of heavy stress, rage, or desperation -- or all three.
The grieving mother hadn't been satisfied, so she had thrust her fury's flaming shell on Alexander's doting 'uncle', the gargoyle Lexington.
A sea of relief washed over her when Baby Alex was back in her arms. Now I see why a wounded mother bear will fight to the death for her cubs. Deep down, she knew it wasn't Lexington's fault. But in her tangle of emotions, she had needed somebody to place the blame. That unfortunate one was the young gargoyle. Owen Burnett was unconscious in the hospital and David had his usual unflappable demeanor. That had angered her as well. Clutching the stuffed panda bear, Alexander's gift from Lexington -- the symbol of her shattered security -- she had begged her husband to submit to the extortion. But he was too rational.
She in due course had apologized for her behavior. Lexington had seemed to understand. And Fox couldn't help but smile when Alex kissed his stone guardian.
"A mother fox shelters her offspring in a den," the woman said, breaking Fox out of her train of thought.
"Do you have something against me?" the redhead asked crabbily.
"On the contrary, Mrs. Xanatos, I was a big fan of The Pack in its heyday."
Just an obsessed fan, thought Fox with relief. Probably a harmless housewife. She glanced at the woman. She was apparently in her late thirties or early forties. She was dressed plainly in denim jeans and a black blouse. A gold Cartier watch gleamed from her wrist. But then, since when does a housewife wea a Cartier watch?
"Cunning, observant, and highly intelligent," the woman said finally. "You live up to your name. Especially when you ran the Pack." She was holding a portable TV, which was on.
Fox bit her lip. On the screen wasn't a rerun of The Pack, but a real life scenario. A day she had gone on a picnic with her teammates. Fan-free, no business. Eating sandwiches at the lake.
"So you beat people up for a living?" Dingo asked Wolf.
"For a fairly good living," Wolf replied, mouth full.
"A boxer, huh?" Jackal smirked. "I'll refrain from making any Simon and Garfunkel jokes."
Hyena, Jackal's sister, laughed. "And I'll refrain from asking if Wolf is short for Wolfgang."
Fox had a mysterious smile, as if she knew something the others didn't know.
Wolf pointed toward the lake. "Look over there!"
A man in black shorts, an ivory shirt, and a red vest had been crossing a wooden bridge. The bridge had been built in the 1920s. The wood was rotten and creaky. The inevitable had happened. The bridge had crumpled under the weight of the hapless crosser. He let out a panicked cry for help before plunging into the water.
Jackal and Hyena howled with laughter.
Wolf snickered. "That bridge had been up over sixty years. It probably wasn't even gonna last sixty more seconds!"
"And judging from the way Mr. Rocket Scientist is thrashing around, he can't swim," Fox observed with a sadistic grin.
"This is disgusting to watch," declared Dingo. "The least we could do is swim over and help."
Jackal laughed harder. "Be sensible, Harry. We can't swim fast enough, and even if we could...why should we?"
Hyena agreed. "Yeah. Not our faults that the jerk can't swim!"
The water was over the man's head. He splashed furiously.
Fox waved.
Somehow the man paddled to the banks. He pulled himself out, soaking wet but alive.
"Aww," whined Hyena. "I wanted to watch him drown!"
I was sitting there, laughing with those creeps while that poor guy was struggling for life, thought Fox. The peek at her slightly younger self frightened her: she was thinner, her eyes had a hint of malicious gleam in them. She looked like the type of person who'd take advantage of a child's trust and hold a woman hostage. "Who are you?" she asked finally. "How did you know about that picnic? Were you there?"
"No, I wasn't," she answered flatly. "My name's Fortuna Dakotis, but you can call me Lady Fortune. Everybody does."
Alexander stirred. He sat up on Fox's lap and played with a strand of her long hair.
Lady Fortune leaned back in her seat. "Dingo was the only one to show a hint of compassion toward that man, and even so, not much."
"David used to call him 'Mr. Cool and Considerate', and it stuck," Fox recollected. "Jackal, Hyena, and Wolf took to calling him that behind his back. We all thought he'd be the first to drop out of the Pack."
"Actually, it was you."
"Oh, shut up," Fox said sourly. Alexander cooed and wrapped his arms around his mother. "I never claimed to be a saint."
"You used them. And you used Lexington, who thought you were a heroine."
"We made up in the end!" The subway car lurched to a stop.
Lady Fortune got up. "This is my stop." She walked off the train without another word.
The subway made several more stops before Fox got off. She walked down the street to the Eyrie Building and entered.
Her husband, the multi-billionaire David Xanatos, was waiting for her. "What took you so long? I want to get to the restaurant before it closes."
"I got sidetracked." Fox handed Baby Alexander to Owen Burnett and wrapped her arms around David. "But you have no idea how relieved I am to be home." She kissed Xanatos fully on the lips.
Every single employee on the floor oohed.
The end