Chapter 4/chapter 3 pt. 2?. It was too long for one page, so I'm splitting it into parts. 🎉 I might need a pt. 3, but I'm gonna try to fit it all. 🙂 Enjoy. Also, LONG CHAPTER (by my standards)
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After the depressing conversation in the Globe Room, Pierce decided to take the group to the Workshop's kitchen where the bakers make cookies & candy canes galore. Inside, the kitchen was HUGE. There were elves moving around everywhere, all working on some sort of delicious treat. There were ovens to one side of the room and what must have been thousands of different ingredients to the other. In the center of it all, a girl with long, black hair tied back into a low ponytail and a cook's outfit, complete with the white hat, stood atop a stool (because she isn't that tall), shouting orders to the other elves. In another language?

"Who is she?" Kid Flash asked, pointing to the girl.

"Who's who?" Pierce said.

"That girl standing on the stool." Kid Flash pointed to the girl once again.

Pierce looked in the direction he was pointing. "Oh, that's Constance. She's the head of this department."

"I thought Zeke was the head elf." said Artemis.

"He is, but there's a difference between being the head elf and being the head of a department." explained Pierce. "Being the head elf is like being the boss. You're in charge of making sure the workshop, all of it, runs smoothly. On the other hand, being a department head means you make sure that specific job runs smoothly, like a manager of the room you work in. The builders, the mail room, and of course the kitchen, all have heads like Constance to make sure that its workers are doing a good job and things are running smoothly. Every job has one."

"So, if you were talking hierarchy, it would go Santa, Zeke, You, the department heads, and the workers?" said Artemis.

"I guess you could put it like that." Pierce shrugged his shoulders. "As a matter of fact, Felix is actually considered the head of his department."

In the background, you could still hear Constance shouting atop the stool and pointing in different directions, giving out orders.

"What language is she speaking? I don't recognize it." said Robin.

"She's speaking Elvish. Sometimes called Yulish." Pierce said. "It's the language we elves speak. Like how each country has a language, the North Pole has Yulish." (Anyone ever seen the Christmas Chronicles? :)

"What's she saying?" asked Aqualad.

"Um, I probably shouldn't translate." Pierce said. "Constance is known for her short temper, hence the shouting. Try not to get on her bad side. She hits HARD and gives low-blows because of her lack of height. She's like the North Pole's Gordon Ramsey, but shorter."

"But she's so small. She couldn't possibly hit that hard." said Superboy.

"You'd be surprised." said Pierce. "Oh, one more thing. Don't mention Felix to her. He's still banned from the kitchen after what happened last time."

"What happened last time?" asked Superman, worry evident in his voice.

"Felix is known for being a bit of a prankster." replied Pierce. "Last April fools, he rigged all the flour bags to explode whenever someone opened them. One exploded all over Constance, and she was furious. Felix has been banned from the kitchen ever since, and Constance beat him to a pulp afterward. Then she punched Zeke in the gut for laughing."

"Woah." KF exclaimed. He backed up a little after hearing that.

Constance then turned around, finally noticing the heroes in the kitchen entrance. She stopped shouting and came over to greet them.

"Hello, you must be heroes that came to help with our current "situation." My name's Constance, I'm the head of the kitchen."

The group was a bit shocked at how quickly her demeanor changed from shouting and angry to calm and smiling.

"We know." Robin said. "Pierce has already told us a little about you."

"He has, has he?" Constance said. She shot a glare at Pierce, causing his face to turn pale and him to back away a little.

"It's nice to meet you, Constance." Superman said as he shook her hand.

"It's nice to meet you too." Constance smiled. "Sorry I couldn't greet you earlier. Things have been pretty busy lately."

"It's no problem at all." said Superman.

She then glanced at the group of younger heroes standing near Batman and Pierce.

"Would you kids like to try a cookie?" asked Constance as she turned and grabbed a tray of cookies.

Everyone took one or two, and Wally took like five. They thanked Constance and followed Pierce out of the kitchen and into a hallway.

"So you're scared of her too." Robin laughed.

"Most of us are." Pierce chuckled. "She's so scary for someone so young."

"How come she called us kids then?" Kid Flash asked. "She looks around the same age as us, maybe younger."

"She may look around the same age as you, but I can assure you, she is nowhere near your age." Pierce chuckled. "Elves don't age like humans. We may look young, but we can be hundreds of years old."

"How old is she then?" asked Robin.

"Constance is 145 years old." replied Pierce. "I'll admit, she is kinda young for a department head and scarily intimidating, but she's skilled at her job. Sometimes, I can't tell who's scarier, her or Mari."

"Who's Mari?" asked Miss Martian.

"My wife." Pierce said casually.

Everyone was taken aback by the statement. Even Batman was a little shocked.

"You have a wife?!" exclaimed KF. "How old are you?!!"

"I'm 308 years old." said Pierce. "I have a wife named Mariah and a three year old son named Timothy. In human years, I guess I would be a young adult, probably around my early twenties."

"How old is Felix?" asked Batman. He wanted to get as much information as he could about Felix, the Guardians, and the Pole. It's mostly the reason he's been letting the kids ask questions, knowing he'd get information from their curious questions.

"Felix is 254 years old. He would be a teenager in human years, around 15." said Pierce.

"He would be around your age then." Wonder Woman said to the team. Everyone on the Team was 16 or equivalent to 16. Except Robin, he was 13.

"Any specific place you wanna see next?" asked Pierce.

"You mentioned a mail room earlier." Aqualad said. "Could we go see that?"

"Sure, let's go." said Pierce. He led them down the hallway until they came to a door with the words "Mail room" written on a plaque above it. He then opened the door and led the group inside.

"Hey Pierce, what brings you to the Mail room?" asked an elf. "If you're looking for Zeke, you just missed him." The elf had light pink hair, a face full of freckles, and a lollipop in his mouth. He also had an elf hat, sort of like the one Pierce was wearing, but it was blue instead of red.

"I'm just giving this group a tour of the Workshop." said Pierce. "Everyone, this is Jamie. The head of the Mail room."

"They're the superheroes who have come to deal with the "situation,"right?" Jamie said.

"How does everyone know about that." Pierce sighed.

"Word gets around fast, especially in the Mail room." smiled Jamie. "It's basically our job. Work fast, spread news faster."

"How many letters do you get per day?" asked Superman.

"A couple thousand per day." Jamie said nonchalantly. "They all get sorted through by the end of the day, though."

"That shouldn't be possible. Given the amount of time you have to prepare, how long the 2 BILLION people who celebrate Christmas take to write and send the letters here, and the fact that there are only five of you working in here. said Robin. "Statistically speaking, it wouldn't make any sense." (Spoken like a true Bat-kid.)

"Yet every year, the five of us sort through all the letters by December 23rd, finishing our work by the deadline." said Jamie. "Sometimes things don't have to make sense for us to get the job done, and sometimes, it involves breaking a few rules, specifically the laws of time, space, reality, and occasionally physics. We have to make the impossible possible."

"How do you do it, though?" asked Wonder Woman.

"Like this." Jaime said. He picked up five letters at superhuman speed. Then, he proceeded to open, read, and sort them into one of the various piles. Afterward, he wrote something down on a piece of paper, rolled it up, and sent it into one of the many tubes located toward the back of the room. All in a matter of seconds.

"How did you do that?!" exclaimed Kid Flash. "I've never seen someone who's not a speedster move so fast."

"Magic had a hand in it, I guess." said Jamie. "But this type of speed isn't made for long-term use like that of a speedster. It's made for a quick boost, usually to help with whatever you're doing."

"Can all elves do that?" asked Miss Martian.

"The ones at the North Pole, I guess, it's an ability we're born with. Other elves, I don't know." said Jamie.

"So all elves are born with superspeed?" asked a confused Artemis.

"Not exactly. All elves are born with magic, right. Each elf's magic is a little different, but there are abilities all elves are born with. Instead of full-on superspeed, it's more like extremely quick reflexes. Helps a lot with our jobs."

"Ohhhhhhh, that makes more sense." said Artemis.

"Wanna open a letter?" Jamie asked.

"Sure." Artemis said. Jamie handed her a letter in a light blue envelope. It read "To: Santa. From: Taylor Williams." Artemis opened it, the team hovering over her shoulder trying to see, and started to read it out loud.

"Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is a baby brother, I already have two sisters, so I'm good on those, but I really want a brother. I tried asking my parents how to get one, but everything I ask, they just start laughing and say I'll know when I'm older." At that, everyone started laughing, then Artemis continued reading. "Anyways, could I get a brother, oh, and a nerf gun. Thanks.
-Taylor."

"What now?" asked Artemis.

"Now we write down what the kid wants so it can be sent to the builders to be made. Well, the Nerf gun, at least." He wrote the words "Taylor Williams wants a Nerf gun" on a small piece of paper and rolled it up. "As for getting it to the builders, we send it through one of these tubes over here." Jamie said, gesturing to the tubes at the back of the room from earlier.

"What about the baby brother thing?" asked Kid Flash. "I don't think you make those here." He joked.

"That wish gets forwarded to the Storks. They'll handle it." said Jamie.

"Where do the letters go once you read them?" asked Aqualad.

"Once there read, they go to the Archive to be sorted and stored." Jamie replied.

"The Archive?" questioned Batman.

"Yeah, if you're on a tour, then you'll be able to see it soon enough." said Jamie.

Just then, one of the other elves approached him. She tapped Jamie on the shoulder and began talking to him in Elvish.

"Sir, sorry to interrupt, but I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean, Harper?"

"This letter, I don't know what to do with it."

"Let me take a look."

Harper then handed him the letter. It was written in crayon on a piece of lined paper and had a pink envelope with unicorn stickers on it. As Jamie read it, his whole expression changed, and his face became serious with a mixture of anger and sadness. His previous smile was now replaced by a frown.

"What's wrong." asked Pierce, his tone dead serious.

"Pitch." was the only word Jamie said as he handed the letter to Pierce.

Pierce read the letter. His face was more shocked than angry.

"What does it say." said Batman.

"It says. "Dear Santa, My name is Madelyn, and I am 5 whole years old. My baby sister won't stop crying. She's 2 whole years old. My parents say she's probably getting nightmares at bedtime and doesn't want to sleep. My big brother is also scared and doesn't want to sleep because he says there's a scary monster in his room and he is 7 whole years old! For Christmas, I want the nightmare monster to go away and stop scaring my sister and brother. I also don't want the monster to scare me. If you could fix that, I would be happy. Love, Maddie." (She's five, so imagine some bad handwriting, spelling errors, and a cute voice)

The room was silent. But everyone knew that Pitch needed to be stopped before he hurt more people and caused more trouble.

"I knew Pitch was evil, but this, harming innocent children and plaguing them with nightmares. Horrible..." Superman said.

"It will end. We'll make sure of that." Wonder Woman said.

"What will you do about the letter?" Miss Martian asked.

But Jamie didn't reply. He was busy scribbling away on a piece of paper, probably writing an order for something to be built.

"You guys are touring the Workshop, right?" Jamie said, still writing on the paper.

"Right... Where are you going with this?" Pierce asked.

"Do you mind taking this upstairs to Kurtis. Tell him it's a special order." Jamie said. He rolled up the piece of paper he was writing on and handed it to Pierce. "Bring him the letter too. I've gotta get back to work, but it was nice meeting you guys."

"It was nice meeting you too." said Superman. "And don't worry, we'll make sure Pitch gets what he deserves."

The group then left the Mail room and headed back into the main part of the Workshop. Pierce then led them across the main floor until they came to a staircase.

"Where are we going?" asked Robin.

"To deliver this to Kurtis." Pierce replied, holding up the letter and paper Jamie had given him.

"Who's Kurtis?" asked Miss Martian.

"One of our special builders. His workshop is up these stairs." Pierce said.

They headed up the stairs and came to a short hallway. The group walked down it until Pierce stopped in front of a door with a piece of paper taped on it. The paper said, "KNOCK LOUDLY. IF NO ANSWER, I'M NOT HERE, ASLEEP, OR DEAD." in big bold lettering.

"Nice sign." Robin joked.

"There's a story behind it. You should ask Kurtis." Pierce said with a smile. He then knocked on the door loudly as instructed. From the other side of the door, a voice yelled something in Elvish.

"Who is it?"

Pierce replied back in Elvish.

"It's Pierce. I have something for you, along with some people I'd like you to meet."

There was a small pause, then a reply came.

"Come in."
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Cliffhanger, because lots of words. 2,572 words 😄🎉 Definitely gonna need a part 3. I already started on it. Comment: What do you think Felix's job is? I hope you enjoyed this chapter ❤️ bye 👋