The Superman & Wonder Woman Fan Archive

AN: This couldn’t have been done without suggestions from Fanci, Hellacre and especially Fenris. You know I’m gonna get you for this. ;)

Flash’s Halloween Party

Part One

The Justice League meeting was coming to an end as Clark wrapped things up. Bruce was ready to go. Things were quiet lately. Too quiet. There hasn’t been a serious attack from any of their enemies; no alien invasions bent on taking over or destroying Earth. The inactivity made Bruce edgy. He couldn’t help but wonder if something big was going to happen. It usually does when things were too comfortable. Bruce didn’t like how his fellow Justice League comrades were becoming complacent. More than once, Bruce caught Wally away from his seat while he was on monitor duty or trying to get someone to take his shift because he had a date.

Once Clark dismissed everyone, Bruce rose from his seat. Wally handed him a card. “Here you go, Bats.”

Bruce opened the card, read the first two lines and frowned. He glared at Clark and Diana because he knew one of them agreed to this. “You approved a Halloween Party to be held here?”

“Yeah,” Wally answered the question for them. “Why not? It’ll be fun.”

Bruce ignored Wally as he focused his attention on the two leaders of the Justice League. “This is the Justice League satellite. We use this place to watch for emergencies on the planet. It’s not for having parties.”

“I was hesitant at first but I thought it would be a good idea,” Clark admitted. “The Christmas party last year was such a hit and it’s nice for us to get together socially and not for only saving-the-world emergencies.”

“We will still be on watch,” Diana told Bruce. “And if one of us has to go out, we can always change back in our regular uniforms.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Bruce frowned deepened, “I still don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“That’s because you need to loosen up,” Wally joked.

“I think it’s a fun idea,” Diana commented. “I’ve never been to a costume party before.”

“We all wear costumes when we fight crime,” Bruce argued.  “What’s the fun in dressing up in costumes for a party when we do it every night fighting crime?!”

Wally clicked his tongue. “That’s why I said it’s an 80s cartoon costume party. Everyone has to show up as an 80s cartoon character.”

Bruce rolled his eyes. “I’m afraid to ask but why 80s?”

“Because it’s the decade with the coolest cartoons ever!” Wally rolled his eyes. “Did you completely deprive yourself of a childhood?”

Bruce tossed the invitation on the table. “Count me out.”

“Come on, Bats,” Wally urged. “You can show up as *someone*. Nightwing‘s doing it.”

“If Nightwing’s coming in costume, he may not let you hear the end of it if you don’t do it.”

Bruce’s frown turned into a scowl. Clark had a point there but he was still resistant. “I have more important matters.”

“What’s important?” Wally asked. “Things have been quiet lately, even in Gotham. You’re only gonna spend the night chasing people in costumes if you work.” Bruce didn’t look as if he was budging on the matter. “If you go, I’ll take over your shifts with the Justice League for a month,” Wally promised. “You can stay in Gotham all you want.”

The idea was tempting. If he was a month away from League duties, he could focus more time on Gotham. Bruce sighed, “Fine, but two months.”

Wally groaned. “Two?”

“Do you want me to make it three?” Bruce threatened.

Wally put his hands up in defeat. “Okay. Okay. Two it is. So,” Wally was looking very mischievous now, “who are you going as?”

What have I gotten myself into, Bruce wondered.

******************************************************

Wally, dressed as Raphael of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, greeted all the Justice League members as they teleported into Watchtower. His other Ninja Turtles buddies: John Stewart as Leonardo; Dick Grayson as Donatello and Plastic Man as Michaelangelo were already in the room talking to other costume League members. Question was Inspector Gadget. An obvious choice. Aquaman showed up as He-Man. Arthur, who wanted to come, but wasn’t aware of any eighties cartoon as he spent his childhood in Atlantis went with Wally’s suggestion of going as He-Man since Arthur didn’t like to wear shirts and it was a good opportunity for the King of the Seas to show off his buff chest.

“Rainbow Brite?” Wally looked Zatanna over in her Rainbow Brite costume. Her dark locks were dyed orange and put up in a cute ponytail. The colorful short dress costume wasn’t as sexy as Zatanna’s usual magician uniform but Zatanna was still showing her shapely legs but the colorful shoes Zatanna wore wasn’t working in Wally’s opinion.

“I liked her as kid. She was into magic sort of like me; albeit colorful magic.”

Wally snickered. “So, where are Twink and Starlite?” He laughed even harder at the belt she wore on her dress. “And is that your Color Belt?”

“I’ll turn you into Twink if you’re making fun of my costume,” Zatanna threatened.

The image of him as Twink caused Wally to step back. “No! You’re hot! You’re really hot!” Zatanna walked off to talk to Huntress who was dressed as Baroness and Batgirl as Scarlett from G.I. Joe. Not a real stretch in Wally’s eyes. “Man, Zatanna has a dark side. No wonder Bats like her.”

Dinah and Ollie arrived next as Smurfette and Hunter Smurf. “Smurfs?” Wally flirted with Dinah. “You make a sexy Smurfette.” Dinah wore blue body paint, a slinky white dress and white stilettos. “Don’t recall Smurfette wearing stilettos but it works on you.” Wally took a look at Ollie; his body painted blue like Dinah’s but he was still wearing his Green Arrow costume. “I don’t think there’s a Green Arrow Smurf, Ollie.”

“Yes, there is,” Ollie was straightforward. “I searched it on the Internet. “There was a Hunter Smurf in the comics.”

“But he wasn’t in the cartoon,” Wally argued. “The point is to come as an eighties cartoon character.”

“See?” Dinah smirked at Ollie. “I told you to come as Grumpy Smurf.”

“Look, I’m only doing this for you, Dinah. I didn’t want to come as a Smurf in the first place. If I had to come as one I’d be damned I was coming here as a Smurf without my weapons.” Ollie glared at Wally as he pulled out his bow and arrow. “Now are you gonna continue to argue with me on a technicality?”

Wally stepped out of the way to let Ollie and Dinah proceed. “Geez! Tough crowd tonight.”

“Flint! Lady Jaye!” Wally greeted Katar and Shayera as they showed up as one of the famous pair from G.I. Joe. Aside from their wings, the wigs and military uniforms they wore gave them a good likeness to the pair. “What made you go as them?”

“Katar let me decide on the costumes,” Shayera said. “Thanks for loaning us the DVDs. The only problem I have is this itchy wig.” As if on cue Shayera scratched her brunette wig. Wally also noticed Katar and Shayera still carried their mace. Recalling the encounter between him and Ollie, Wally decided to not mention it.

“You’re not the only one coming as someone from G.I. Joe. Batgirl and Huntress had the same idea.” 

Katar and Shayera left Wally to join Huntress and Batgirl.

Most of the League have arrived by now. The only ones Wally were waiting for was the arrival of J’onn, Bruce, Clark and Diana. He really wanted to see who Bruce was coming as. When he asked Dick about Bruce’s costume, Dick confessed to not knowing. Bruce was keeping it as a closely guarded secret. Wally was also intrigued as to who Clark and Diana were coming as. Like all the couples tonight, Wally knew they would come as some fame eighties pair but Wally couldn’t imagine who they were.

One of Wally’s questions was answered when J’onn showed up as Optimus Prime.

“Optimus Prime!” Wally squealed as he saw J‘onn as the fame leader of the Autobots. “Oh, man, he’s like my favorite cartoon character! What made you choose him?”

J’onn didn‘t know anything about eighties cartoons either until Wally loaned him his collection of several eighties cartoons on DVD. “I was fascinated with the character. Optimus is a brave, compassionate being with a strong sense for justice that I found myself relating to.” The Martian grinned as he confessed, “He’s also a cool character to morph into.”

“You got that right!” Wally agreed. “We’ve got to get a picture together before the nights over.”

“Optimus Prime!” Plastic Man (Michaelangelo) yelled like a fan boy and ran over to J’onn! “This is so cool. Who’s got a camera? I have to take a picture!”

Before Wally could stop him, Plastic Man was already pulling J’onn away.

The next pair to step off the teleport pad was Clark and Diana as Lion-O and Cheetara from ThunderCats.

“Holy Thundera!” Wally exclaimed. Clark was dressed as Lion-O, Lord of the ThunderCats, head to toe in the short blue outfit that left his stomach and legs expose, blue boots, a replica of the ThunderClaw and Eye of Thundera attached to his waist and big red wig on his head. Diana was dressed in a gold leotard like the female ThunderCat, wrist guard that held her staff, gold boots and blonde wig with black spots. The only thing that didn’t match was Clark’s dog Krypto. The dog’s ears were painted black which led Wally to believe he’s Snoopy.

Wally walked around them, looking them over and amazed at the details. “Damn, your costumes are good! You can give the guys who go to Comic Con serious competition!”

“Kal, was really particular about it,” Diana confessed. “He’s….uh… a big fan of the cartoon.”

“How did he convince you to be Cheetara, Diana?” Wally asked. “I mean you and Cheetah are enemies and isn’t it a bit awkward you’re dressed as one?”

“When Kal suggested we come as Lion-O and Cheetara, my initial reaction was no because of that but Kal and I watched a few episodes of ThunderCats so I knew for sure Cheetara is a good person. Otherwise I wouldn’t have done it.”

“And she can’t resist me in my Lion-O costume,” Clark grinned and Diana elbowed him.

“Honestly, I find it strange you would wear a costume that reveals so much of you, Kal. You don’t even like wearing the Themyscira clothes when we visit my home.”

Clark shrugged. “I like the character.”

“And the ladies’ attention,” Wally gestured to some of the female heroes who were taking notice of Clark. “You are revealing a lot, Clark. You don’t have that red underwear on the outside to hide, well, your super assets.”

Diana elbowed Clark. “I told you so.”

Clark rolled his eyes. “It’s not *that* revealing.”

Wally saw a fight was about to start so he interrupted the couple. “Why is Krypto Snoopy? Shouldn’t he be Snarf?”

Clark looked down at his dog with an annoyed sigh. “We tried that but Krypto put up a fight whenever we tried to put him in the costume so we settled on Snoopy.”

“And before you suggest Kal and I should’ve showed up as Charlie Brown and Lucy, you better forget.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Wally told Diana although he *was* thinking it.

Bruce chose this moment to arrive on the teleport pad as Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe.

“Snake Eyes,” Wally complimented Bruce in the dark ninja outfit. “It suits you.”

Bruce gave Clark a quick look over. “What the hell are you wearing?”

“I’m Lion-O,” he said with boyish grin.

“They’re ThunderCats: Lion-O and Cheetara,” Wally explained. “Didn’t you watch that as a kid?”

Bruce shook his head. “I knew I shouldn’t have come.”

Diana noticed the katanna Bruce wore with his outfit. “Is that a new katanna?”

“I got it in an auction.” Bruce couldn’t believe Diana was dressed as Cheetara. “I cannot believe you let Clark talk you into that.”

“I trust his judgment,” Diana said simply. “I wasn’t even in this world in the eighties.” Diana wrapped an arm around Clark. “Let’s go meet the others, Kal.”

“Wait,” Wally stopped them. “Can you say it, Clark?”

Clark didn‘t follow. “Say what?”

“Thunder, thunder, thunder, ThunderCats Ho!” Wally explained.  “You know, you gotta!”

“Wally,” Clark rolled his eyes. “I’ve come dressed as the guy but you’re not getting me to say that.”

As Clark and Diana walked away from Wally and Bruce, she whispered to him, “That didn’t stop you from saying it at the house.”

“Shh!” Clark shushed Diana. “You want everyone to know.”

Diana just grinned.

“If there was a line I would quote, it would be the sight beyond sight.” He looked at Diana. “Of course I don’t really need the sword to use that power.”

Grinning, Diana smack Clark’s arm. “Stop that with the super vision or,” she moved closer so only he could hear, “no role playing tonight.”

Clark straightened, cleared his throat. “Um, let’s talk to the others.” They spotted John Stewart, as Ninja Turtle Leonardo, pouring himself a drink from the punch bowl. “John.” Clark reframed from laughing. “I didn’t think you would come as Leonardo. I thought you’d come as Stalker from G.I. Joe.”

“I was,” John frowned. “But Flash needed two other people to come as Ninja Turtles. Plastic Man was already on board but Dick and I needed some more convincing. I tried to get him to let us go as the guys from Ghostbusters but he won the coin toss.”

“Did Wally agree to something?” Diana asked. 

“He’s taking my shift of monitor duty for a month. I don‘t know what he promised Dick.” John looked the pair over as ThunderCats. “And speaking of costumes, I thought you two would come as Flint and Lady Jaye instead of Katar and Shayera doing that.”

“Kal was really insistent on us coming as these characters,” Diana explained.

For the next hour, the party went amazingly well. The atmosphere was fun and lighthearted as Justice League members laughed, took pictures of each other in their costumes and shared stories of their childhood when they watched their favorite eighties cartoons. They were also enjoying themselves as it had been quite a while they all gathered together socially.

Bruce isolated himself from the group as he worked the console while everyone around him were laughing, talking and having a good time. He had a feeling something was going to happen and he was once again proved right.

Bruce pressed a button on the console, turning the music off.

Wally ran to Bruce. “Hey, why did you turn the music off?”

“Look at the screen. There’s an attack on downtown Metropolis.” Bruce enhanced the screen to show several members of the Legion of Doom destroying Metropolis.

“Ah, man,” Wally whined. “Why couldn’t they do this tomorrow?”

“Because *I* convinced them to do this tonight.” A comical voice answered as a short man with a big head in a purple suit manifested into the room. “You make a cute red head, Lionman.”

“Mxyzptlk.” Clark was worried. Whenever he showed up, nothing good came of it.

Mxyzptlk floated in the air above the group. “Why wasn’t I invited to such a fun party? It’s as if you don’t want me here.”

“We don’t.”

Mxyzptlk smirked at the cold response. “Too bad I’m crashing it anyway. You can’t have a Halloween Party without a little ‘TRICK!’”

At the snap of his fingers, a bright light blazed the room. The Justice League shielded their eyes until the light faded. When everyone could see again, Mxyzpltk was gone. Everyone looked around confused. Everyone looked the same. No one was changed into an animal.

“Nothing happened?” The words came out as a question. Clark looked around for the annoying prankster. “No, *something* happened. Mxyzptlk wouldn’t just leave without pulling some stunt.”

“We’ll worry about that later,” Diana said. “We have to get to Metropolis.”

“Something’s wrong,” J’onn said. “I can’t transform.” J’onn once more tried to morph from Optimus Prime and into his normal self but he couldn’t do it. “I’m stuck as Optimus Prime.”

Dinah rubbed the blue paint on her arm. “I can’t get this paint off.”

“I can’t either,” Ollie growled. “What the hell?”

Wally tried to wipe the green paint off him. “Hey! This feel real.”

Clark pulled on his red wig. “Ow! This feels like my real hair.” A horrible feeling sank in Clark’s stomach. “Oh, no. That’s the trick. Mxyzptlk turned us into our costumed characters!”

“What?” John exclaimed, his anger apparent. “You mean I’m stuck as a turtle?!”

“Thank God I chose a human character,” Bruce murmured.

“Hey! How come you can talk?” Wally questioned. “Snake Eyes didn’t talk in G.I. Joe.”

“Maybe Mxyzptlk just gave us the physical abilities of our characters and not our personalities or he made me Snake Eyes before the accident in the comic. Either way, I’m not going to question it.”

“How did you know about the comics?” Wally was suspicious now. He was certainly getting the idea that Bruce didn’t isolate himself from cartoons or comics as a kid.

“Will you get off that?!” Bruce roared. “We have more important things to discuss!”

Wally cowered. “Alright. Geez.”

“We have to find Mxyzptlk,” Clark took command. “I know he didn’t go back home. He wants to gloat on what he did. When we find him, we have to get him to say his name backwards. It’s the only way we can turn back to normal.”

“Dammit, Flash! This is your fault!” John swung his hand to smack the back of  Wally’s head but Wally ducked his head in his shell.

“Hey, this works! I’m actually a Ninja Turtle! Damn! How come someone didn’t come as Voltron? That would’ve been awesome!” Wally ducked his head in his shell again to avoid John’s hand. When he pulled out, he was hit square in the face with Diana’s extended staff.

Diana was angry. “This isn’t the time to be joking! Whether we like it or not, we‘ve got to go to Metropolis as we are and fight.”

“But I’m a Smurf!” Dinah complained. “Smurfs aren’t fighters. I can’t even summon my cry anymore!”

“And what can I do as Rainbow Brite?” Zatanna asked. “I swear once I get my hands on Mxyzptlk, I’ll make him pay.”

“You still have your fighting skills,” Diana told the women. “We all do. We’ll use that and whatever powers our characters have to fight. Superman, Batman and I will search for Mxyzptlk while everyone try to fight the Legion.”

“Don’t you mean, Lion-O, Snake Eyes and I?” Wally teased.

Diana pulled out her staff, twirling it in a threatening manner. “Flash, don’t make me use this on you again.”

“Okay. Okay. Seesh. You guys are so touchy tonight. Let’s do this!” Wally cheered with a hand thrown in the air. “Turtle Power!”

John pushed Wally to the teleport pad. “I swear if you don’t shut up with that…”

Everyone stepped moved onto the teleport pad until Clark, Diana and Bruce were the only ones left.

“So, where in Metropolis do we start in our search for Mxyzptlk?” Diana asked. “He has to be there since he convince the Legion of Doom to attack there.”

Clark thought about that for a moment before he brightened with as he got it. “I have an idea. Mxyzptlk says we are our costume characters and it’s proven we have their abilities. So maybe our weapons work.” Clark pulled out the Sword of Omens from his hip and said, “Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight. Show me Mxyzptlk.” Diana looked at Bruce who could only shake his head. Through the hilts of the Sword of Omens, Clark spotted Mxyzptlk laughing it up on top of the Daily Planet building as he watched the destruction of Metropolis. “He’s on the Daily Planet building.”

Diana frowned at Clark. “Should’ve seen that coming. Admit, Kal. You always wanted to do that.”

Clark grinned. “Maybe I did.”

Diana threw her hands up and left the room. “I’m going to the Javalin.”

Clark looked at Bruce. “What?”

“You start acting like Flash and I’ll push you out of the Javalin before we reach Metropolis,” Bruce threatened his friend and followed after Diana.

Clark looked down at Krypto. “You better stay here, boy. You don’t have your powers.”

Krypto shook his head and growled at Clark. “You want to come? It won’t be safe. You’re an ordinary dog now.”

Krypto stood on his hind legs and started dancing like Snoopy. “All right. You can come.” Clark left the room with Krypto on his heels. “This is gonna be one strange night.”