Warning: Gigantic Wall O'Text
What I've noticed that nobody is talking about is the possibility that Xanatos might be wrong about having the ability to handle Negaduck. People are talking about spiting him, and people are talking about not getting in his way, but nobody seems to consider the idea that David might be mistaken about his ability to handle or control whatever this plan is, and that
not getting involved further might lead to severe problems down the line.
I know that Xanatos has a rep for being super smart, super competant, and super well-informed, and this rep is well earned in both Canon and Doofquest, but he is not by any means infalliable.
In canon, Xanatos served as an immoral disapointment to his father for most of his life, never managed to ultimately sway the Manhatten clan towards his point of view, utterly failed to stop his son from being kidnapped by Oberon, and wound up being responsible for the creation of Thailog, an evil horrorshow that was as strong as Goliath and as smart as David. The last one is important, because 'don't make sentient life unless you're ready for the consequences' is the sort of lesson Mad Science has been learning since Frankenstein, and yet David cooked him up regardless. As TvTropes puts it, "Xanatos wanted someone who was as powerful as Goliath but shared his own, profit-oriented worldview. Because that couldn't
possibly backfire."
Spoiler:
It did.
In Doofquest, David did 'win' (like the rest of the villians), but he also lost big time (again, like the rest of the villians). As the author of the quest puts it:
"Xanatos sits at the center of a grand web, nigh-untouchable politically, with New York in the palm of his hand. He has eyes on everything, a measure on (apparently) every threat, and plans to keep them all in check. Xanatos has continued to build himself up, worming his way deep into countless places, keeping checks and balances on threats to himself and others, and trying not to allow any more weakness, which to Xanatos includes love. Because not a day goes by that he doesn't remember how much that 'weakness' can hurt."
David
messed up. David
failed. His wife and son, whom he loved dearly, are both
dead. Both of those people were of utmost importantce to David, and for all his power and knowledge and competance, they
still died. We don't know to who or what, but they are dead and David is still grieving.
In a non-backstory example, Demona almost got her claws on ultimate power. David set up plots and plans, preparations and precautions, and despite it all, she
still almost won. If it hadn't been for the unexpected presence of several card-carrying members of Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated's Official Menagerie of Screwball Weirdos™️, humanity as a whole might well have been rendered
extinct. She literally had the Spear
in her claws and the Crown
on her head, and was forcing David to
kneel. And he could do
nothing.
Let me reiterate that: If Kitsune, one of
our agents and someone whom Xanatos
did not expect to be in New York City during the crisis, had not assumed Goliath's form long enough for Brooklyn to rebound,
David would have lost. His final desperate gamble with Puck was a miscalculation on his part,
and it almost killed humanity as a whole.
(Do I think the author would have actually killed humanity? No, but the in-universe risks were still quite high and David still proved himself capable of failure.)
While Demona still lost, and David and co won out, he avoided a horrifying tragedy by a meer
hairsbreadth, and the victory was very much bittersweet. The Huntsclan is on the rise. Hate for the paranormal is growing. David doesn't want that, but it's happening anyways. He's trying to squash it, and he is
failing.
And now we have the fact that same person, who in
this interlude admits to being both tired and overstreched, is trying to set up preperations for the magnum opus of a madman of unparalleled proportions. He doesn't have all the details (he doesn't know what is heading for Danville specifically), he doesn't have enough resources (he's reaching out to the government and other kings) and he is running out of time (as emphasized multiple times throughout the interlude). He is trying to set things up so that the damage is minimized, but he doesn't have the situation under lock and key, and
he might be mistaken about his ability to combat things as they currently stand.
Should we bumble around, not knowing what from who and potentially setting this off early? No. But we need to remember that David could be wrong about us potentially making things worse, and that he might need our help more than he actually knows.
TLDR: David is neither infalliable nor omniscient. He's failed in Canon AND in Doofquest. The last big threat we know he fought (Demona) almost won and was only beaten thanks to our interferance. He admits he's tired and overstreched in Sandbagging, which means he might be making mistakes he doesn't know about. Thus, I thing we should investigate and interfere more than he probably wants us to, while still being cautious enough that we don't kick start the party ahead of time.
