Chapter 11: Merry Christmas

"talking"

'thinking'

...…

Paris, France, Café 'La Lumière', December 23, 09:00 UTC, 2014

In a quite famous café in France, you could see quite a few groups of people having breakfast, some families, tourists and even, some business meetings were held in this very café. It was certainly a popular destination, and this establishment was well known for its freshly baked breads and diverse variety of coffee. Out of nowhere all the people stopped eating their breakfast for a moment as they gawked at the sight before them

"How beautiful."

"Is she a celebrity?"

"Who is she?"

Many murmurs were beginning to be heard, most were men who were captivated by the beauty of the woman standing there. Dressed in a beige off-the-shoulder halter neck dress, jet black hair and electric blue eyes covered by glasses, there was a beautiful woman who was unperturbed by the stares and comments of the crowd, she was there waiting for her guest for breakfast, and although she wore no makeup, her beauty was such that she still captivated both men and women, today's scene was clearly one of many she had been through since she had arrived in Paris.

Out of nowhere, her stoic and serious face turned into a face of joy harboring a divine smile, as she caught a glimpse of a cab arriving in the distance and dropping Edgar off at the scene. Unlike Diana, Edgar had dressed more casual, he was wearing jeans and a sky blue t-shirt with a beige jacket, you could see the muscles through his t-shirt denoting his worked out body, a pleasing sight to Diana's eyes, if she could say so.

"Sorry I'm late, that's why I don't like cabs haha, I hope you didn't take too long here," Edgar commented scratching his head, he was a little embarrassed because he was falling asleep, almost and it's getting later for him to arrive.

"Don't worry, I just got here, reserve a table so we don't have to wait in line, let's go".

When they settled in, they began to chat a bit about the events following Edgar's departure, which were not many, there was only one Swedish businessman who had too many drinks and wanted to dance, but had slipped, but that was not much, as he was soon escorted on his way home.

"So, what are you going to order?" Edgar asked Diana.

"I think I'll have a Croissant and an espresso."

"I'll order the same."

In an effort to summon the waiter, Diana raised her hand. Due to her appearance and sudden actions, she quickly drew attention and a waiter quickly approached with a smile on his face

"May I take your order?" the cafe employee said, although his eyes were only on Diana, almost completely ignoring Edgar's existence. Diana seeing this, asked for Edgar. Although Edgar didn't find said employee's attitude annoying, he simply let Diana order for him.

"I'm curious... How are you going to spend Christmas Edgar?"

"I have never been one to celebrate these dates, I prefer to move forward on the projects I have and I spent it at home mostly with Duke, but this year I will go to the lunch that the company will do, maybe it will be fun, what about you?"

"I'm going to go have a meeting with my work group and then the next day I'm going to see my mother, it's been a long time since I visited her and the truth is I miss her a lot, we still keep in touch, but still it's not the same as being with her you know?"

"Certainly, you said you lived in Greece didn't you?"

"Yes, in Greece is my home" this was not a lie since Temyscira was hidden in the Aegean Sea, which are coasts that once belonged to the Greek Empire.

"You tell her Merry Christmas from me Diana, she sure is a wonderful woman just like her daughter".

"Thank you Edgar, and I hope you have fun Christmas too... hey Edgar," there was a slight stuttering tone in Diana's voice, "We're friends right?"

Edgar was startled for a moment by the sudden question, but then, the realization dawned on him, 'she sure doesn't have many friends' he thought, Diana seemed to be a rather selective and reserved person, and for that reason she probably found it difficult to make friends, after deliberating for a few seconds, he smiled

"Sure Diana, I'll be happy to be your friend, I don't have many real friends either, and I hope you'll be one of them."

Diana was happy about this, she had finally made a friend, sure, she had friends in the League and at work, but it wasn't the same since they were committed to a common cause, this was one of her first friends made without having a common ground. It certainly brought him joy in his world that contained a bit of loneliness.

They continued to chat a bit about Christmas, traditions and life in general until their meal arrived, which made their mouths water.

"Delicious" commented Edgar.

However, the waiter had not left, he grabbed a bouquet of flowers and handed them to Diana.

"This here is courtesy of the gentleman sitting over there."

After that he pointed away from her towards a handsome gentleman sitting silently peeping at her from a distance. He had blond hair accompanied by light green eyes, he had a slight hint of arrogance in his features, and from his flashy designer brand clothing, you could tell his background was not simple.

'oh god' thought Diana, she didn't know how to act because of this. It wasn't the first time it had happened to her, but still it was no less awkward, plus she couldn't be too harsh as she could cause trouble for Edgar without knowing the backing this person had. However, before she could answer, Edgar took the flowers and with a surprised voice said

"Are they for me, you didn't have to bother"

"No sir it's not for..." the waiter tried to reason with Edgar, but was interrupted when he turned around and said in a strong voice

"Thank you for the flowers, but I like women, I still appreciate the gesture", this puzzled the gentleman who sent the flowers, and due to the attention Edgar caused by his strong voice, he felt very embarrassed, which made him get up and leave the place with a red face of shame.

"HAHAHA, that was great!" exclaimed Diana killing herself laughing, certainly Edgar knew how to solve the situation in the best way. Then he realized that, not only did he subtly embarrass the guy, but he avoided Diana feeling uncomfortable about having to solve the situation by herself, this brought a warm feeling in his heart and a genuine smile on his face.

"It's the least I can do for my friends" Edgar said with a smile, he sensed Diana was uncomfortable and decided to act, naturally if things escalated he wasn't afraid of repercussions, despite everything, he had his temper and although he preferred to always be calm and settle situations peacefully he wasn't going to let Diana feel bad for a spoiled subject.

They continued talking and, when they said goodbye, they passed their contact information to each other. Both Edgar and Diana were old school and both preferred calls to messages, even agreeing on times to talk to each other from time to time. Edgar even told Diana that when he was in National City not to hesitate to visit him, and Diana issued the same invitation. It was certainly a good couple of days for both of them.

...

As Edgar arranged his things to leave, with great concentration he turned his skeleton hands and opened a portal to his home.

"Duke I'm home..." but the sentence could not be finished when, with his enhanced senses and radar he could 'visualize' the scene before him. Several dogs, from the same colony and some strays were in his living room destroying his furniture, some eating leftover food he had saved.

"woof" (oh shit)

"DUKEEEEEEEEE, GET READY TO GO TO SATANAS HIMSELF!"

That same day neighbors in the colonia heard several loud howls of a dog and a creepy, slightly maniacal laugh.

Watchtower, 24 December, 20:00 UTC, 2014 

The day before Christmas, a day where people gathered with their loved ones, shared bread, drink and stories, and expressed their love and affection. It was a day of giving and receiving.

The League also celebrated this date, crime never slept, but, even so, this would not prevent them from enjoying it among themselves. A sumptuous banquet could be seen at the Watchtower, many dishes had been prepared by celebrity chefs at Bruce's request, though he preferred not to come, something about Gotham having very high crime these days preventing him from breaking free, but there were several homemade dishes made by League members, each one putting in a little something for this year's festivity. The League so far was a success and it was time to celebrate among themselves.

Not only were the League members there, but also their young wards and, some, denoting confidence, had brought their closest family members.

Superman had brought his mother, as he trusted his teammates very much. Since his father's death due to cancer he had opted to stay in Smallville and take care of his mother, but his mother wanted him to fulfill his dreams and he soon became a reporter, in fact, his father's death was a trigger to become Superman, he wanted to make a change with his power, as his father felt he could.

Ray Palmer had also brought his wife, Jean Loring, a short, slender but rather pretty woman with short hair and light brown eyes, who was a lawyer. She obviously supported her husband in his crime work, but the most surprising was Barry Allen, who had brought his fiancée Iris West.

No one knew that the Flash had a fiancée, although he claimed that this was recent and that everyone was invited to his wedding, it was certainly a pleasant surprise and congratulations were in order.

You could see a lot of conversations between everyone, happy smiles, some talking about difficult cases they had to solve, others talking about life in general, certainly the atmosphere was harmonious and happy.

"I want to make a toast," Superman said with a tone that was not too loud but still got the full attention of the room.

"It's the first time we celebrate like this, but this is because we have a lot to celebrate. At first it was difficult, there was a lot of criticism and we were in the eye of the public always, but four years after the start of the League we can say that it has been a total success, the Earth is safe, and that is thanks to the effort of all of us, CHEERS!

The young people were more than excited, they were impatient to continue working in the Teen Titans group and, in the future, to join the League.

Soon it was approaching midnight, and when the clock struck 00:00, everyone celebrated and hugged each other, telling each other Merry Christmas.

….

Gotham, Batcave, 24 December, 21:48 UTC, 2014

On the large monitors in the batcave he could see thousands of videos being played simultaneously, these were all cameras that Batman had secretly installed to monitor threats, and today, being a holiday, full of important parties, he knew it was only a matter of time before things got out of control.

However, his main focus was on a series of articles, news and documentation he collected from one person in particular, this person was Edgar Bones. Ever since he met him at the gala, he had been very interested in his story. Sure, he had already researched him along with all the board members, including fellow League member Ray Palmer, but still he didn't dig into him too much until now, and, boy, was he surprised by what he found.

His story was pretty solid, anyone who investigated wouldn't find any mistakes, but he wasn't just anyone, he was the best detective in the world, a mastermind in strategy and deception, and after enough digging he had found several discrepancies in young Edgar's life.

There was not much record of his parents other than their names and date of death, nor was there any record of his blood relative who cared for him, only said to be a priest, but, even so, even the church had all its priests on record and he could not find anyone by the last name of Bones. Also Edgar had degrees from the schools where he studied, but there was no evidence that he had attended class, no news or photograph that evidenced that, there was only one conclusion from this, Edgar was lying.

For a moment he thought about telling Diana his findings, but after deliberation, he preferred not to, he still had no concrete proof and, without that evidence it could only make Diana more antagonistic towards him, which he didn't want.

'What are you hiding Edgar,' Batman thought. Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted when an alarm sounded, on the screen he could see a robbery in progress at a jewelry store, the culprit was a woman dressed as a cat in a leather suit, this was Gotham's famous villainous thief, Catwoman.

Quickly Batman got up to go with his batmobile to the place, it was time to chase a naughty cat.

….

Watchtower, 25 December, 01:40 UTC, 2014

After celebrating Christmas, and giving each other the hug, Diana could be seen, dressed in her Wonder Woman outfit with a cell phone in her hand, debating whether to call her new friend, she knew it was already a little late but since it was Christmas he was probably still awake, she was counting on that, after debating it for a bit, she decided to be brave and call

"Riing, Riing, Riiing... the number you are dialing is not available, please leave a message, pip pip pip pip."

"Hi, this is Diana, Merry Christmas, I hope you are very well, I had a great time and I hope you did too, emm..., call me when you can, tomorrow I am going to see my mother and there is no good reception there, so I hope to talk to you before I leave." Diana commented, the barrier that protected Temyscira prevented any kind of communication from entering or leaving the island, except for some messenger hawks they had trained. Naturally, Diana hoped to be able to talk to Edgar before she left as it would be quite some time without being able to communicate with anyone while he was there.

'What is he doing?' she wondered.

….

National City, 25 December, 01:36 UTC, 2014.

"Come out, I know you're following me" Edgar said as he was heading home from his company party, he was passing through a dark alley so he could open a portal to his home and there were almost no people currently on the street, however, his special senses warned him that someone was following him.

Out of nowhere from the alley came a man like in his 25. He was wearing with a beige trench coat, he had on a white shirt, which made him look like a detective, his hair was ash blond and his growing beard gave him a scruffy and dirty look, his right hand held a lit cigarette.

"You certainly have good senses there my friend," commented the trenchcoated man with a strong british accent

"Who are you?" asked Edgar, he felt that this person was only going to bring him trouble.

Looking his soul shown that he was also full of regrets, but he was not a bad person, rather, if Edgar could describe him, the man would be a person in sorrow.

"Constantine", he took a puff of his cigar, exhaled the smoke and said "John Constantine, and I come to kill you demon."

.....

Author's Note: 

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