Shadow

1.9 He Keeps Getting Weirder, Doesn't He?

Lily readjusted her hat on her head as Wally attempted to howl. It was finally Halloween and Lily decided to dress up as the Mad Hatter this year. M'gann had invited them to a party that her school was throwing.

"Really? You're not going to join in at all?" Wally complained, talking to Wolf who was trying to sleep.

"Wally, stop torturing him," Conner said as M'gann wrapped a bandage around his head.

Aqualad and Robin were in a meeting, so only Conner, M'gann, Wally, and Lily were going to the party. Lily was excited about it since her school never had a Halloween party cause it was boring and sucked. She couldn't wait to get out of there.

Artemis and Zatanna were supposed to come, but they weren't there yet and Lily would be surprised if they showed up. Neither seemed like the people to be into this.

"Hold still please," M'gann giggled as she tried to wrap a bandage around Conner's head.

"M'gann stop torturing him." Wally walked up to them. "Awkward for him anyway, being a third wheel on our date."

Lily looked over to exchange a glance with Conner, both amused. Then she realized something.

"Hey, you forgot about me! I'm here too."

"Wally, I invited the entire team to the dance. Zatanna too."

"Good, keep us on the down-low." Lily laughed at that. "So, you going as my favourite Martian?"

"Not exactly." M'gann transformed into a zombie bride.

"Woah, babe, eat my brains anytime."

"Ew, Wally. Very nice, M'gann. Terrific costume."

"Great minds think alike." Captain Marvel said as he walked in. White face paint was splattered across his face in a crude attempt at a zombie face.

"Captain, you look...terrific. Are you going to a Halloween celebration too?" His face morphed into confusion.

"Well sure I'm going with I-I mean, you did invite the whole team, right?"

"Yeah, we'll all be at the dance, so don't worry about us. Go, have a good time at your party." M'gann said, but the confused look on his face didn't change.

The zeta tubes announced Artemis and Zatanna's arrival.

"Oh look, zombie Captain Marvel, that's hilarious. Is the Justice League having a party, 'cause my dad didn't mention it." Zatanna said.

"No, no, no, no, see I-" He scratched the back of his neck. "Fine, I'm going trick-or-treating." He flew to the zeta tubes before turning back. "And I'm not sharing my candy." Then he left.

"He keeps getting weirder, doesn't he?"

She turned to see Zatanna and Artemis leave through the zeta tubes. Knew it.

Too bad the rest of the Team couldn't make it." M'gann said as they walked into the school gym.

"You've got to be kidding." Lily looked over to see what Conner was complaining about.

"Yeah, dressing up as superheroes is a very common choice," Lily said after realizing he was talking about the number of people dressed as Justice League heroes.

A group of people walked over.

"You look amazing."

"Who did your makeup, girl?" The two girls complimented M'gann.

"Wally, Lily, this is Wendy," she gestured to the girl dressed as Black Canary, and Lily would believe they were related. "Karen," The girl dressed as a bumblebee waved. "Mal," She pointed to the guy dressed as Superman. "And-" She stopped talking when she pointed to the guy dressed as batman, standing away from them holding his phone.

"Ignore Marvin. He thinks we're being invaded by Martians." Wendy said.

"I never said that. It's just – reports are all over the interwebs, and I'm not the only one getting them."

As if on cue, people's phones started ringing from around the gym.

"I mean, Martians aren't invading, it's just a prank gone viral, right?"

"Of course it's a prank, ever hear of Martian Manhunter? Martians aren't hostile." The teacher said.

"Of course not," M'gann said.

A few minutes later the lights went out.

"Everybody, calm down, it's probably just a blown fuse."

"Says here Martians have taken New Haven and Providence." Mal looked at his phone.

"Spotted in Happy Harbor too." Lily looked over at Wally and raised an eyebrow. The two had been involved in plenty of pranks and instantly knew this was one.

"Guys, guys, it's a Halloween cliché."

"Meaning it happens a lot?" Karen said before the loudspeaker turned on.

"Attention, homeland security advises everyone to stay in the gymnasium. This is not meant as confirmation of an alien invasion."

Everyone began freaking out.

"I knew it, I knew it. I told you, I told you," Karen freaked out.

"We should call the cave."

Conner held up a hand. "Wait."

Lily looked over at the others, confused. Conner then smiled at them and explained the situation.

The Martians are coming! The Martians are coming!" Lily glanced over at M'gann. "Look out! They have disintegration rays."

Wally sped away as the "ray" hit him, causing it to look like he had disintegrated.

"Run Marvin, I'll hold it off." Conner ran to M'gann who used her telekinesis to throw him down on the ground and then tossed him into the wall. It created a huge dent as Conner fell to the ground in front of a screaming Marvin. He ran off into the school.

Lily jumped down from the roof as Conner stood up. Wally walked over and M'gann changed back to herself.

"Come on, we do not want to miss this."

"Martians are invading! Martians!"

"Marvin, chill, we got the memo," Wendy said with her hands on her hips.

"No, before it was all a prank I pulled. Now it's definitely real. The Martians just killed two guys."

"Which two guys?" M'gann asked him as they walked up.

"Those two guys!" He pointed to Conner and Wally before he realized what he just did. Lily struggled to keep her laughter contained. "Wait, I..oh."

"Marvin?" Wendy said annoyed.

"Trick-or-treat?

The party returned to normal after that. After a couple more hours people started to leave and they returned to the Cave. Lily changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt she had thought she lost, but apparently just left it there.

She was about to leave to go home when she almost ran into Robin. She stopped right before she hit him.

"Hey."

"Hey, did the meeting just finish?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I was going to head home. You too?" Lily nodded. The two hadn't really talked since the training exercise and she didn't know what to talk about.

"What was the meeting about?"

"That's classified information." Lily laughed at that, expecting that answer. "How was the party?"

"It was fun. We played a prank on this guy, made him think Martians were invading."

"Sounds awesome, wish I went."

The two talked for a couple more minutes before leaving their separate ways.

Published: 11/07/22