Halloween Prompt Fic: Flash-o-lanterns
Title: Flash-o-lanterns
Rating: G
Word count: 2016
Prompt: Carving pumpkins
It was a quiet evening at the Rogues’ current hide-out. Most of them were there, cleaning weapons, watching football, and cheating at solitaire.
A loud rumble from outside announced the arrival of a truck in need of a tune-up. “Someone order pizza?” Mark asked as the engine died and a car door slammed.
“Better not have,” Cold said, “not after last time.” The last delivery boy had recognized Mick and called the police. Hence the newest hide-out.
The door swung open and James sauntered into the room, hovering a few inches above the floor and carrying a pumpkin. “Happy Halloween! Trick or treat!”
“That’s tomorrow, idiot,” Digger said.
“That’s right! Today is All Hallow’s Eve Eve, the time to prepare for tomorrow’s merriment! Now help me unload so I can ditch the truck before the cops find me again.”
“You led the cops here?” Cold demanded, rising to his feet.
James rolled his eyes. “Lost them an hour ago, but they’re probably actively looking for me now. You break a few speed limits, ignore a couple red lights, and they get all worked up, you know?”
The others stood, sighing and grumbling, and filed outside. “Pumpkins?” Digger demanded as he saw the beat-up pick-up truck, the bed and passenger seat filled with pumpkins. “You stole a truck to buy pumpkins?”
James pressed a hand to his heart. “Please. I stole the pumpkins too. I picked them out myself, from one of the farms outside of the city. None of those grocery store bin pumpkins for me and my friends.”
“Is there candy at least?” Roy asked as they started carrying the pumpkins inside.
“No, but there are candles!” James grinned at Mick, who grinned back. Burning gourds, the best part of Halloween.
Once the pumpkins were unloaded and the stolen truck hidden in the alley, the Rogues gathered around the table now covered with pumpkins. “You went through all this just to carve jack-o-lanterns,” Piper said, frowning as James showed off the pumpkin-carving tools he’d also stolen.
“Of course not!” James pulled out a magazine from a pocket in his cape. He brandished it, showing them the cover with a smiling mother, two smiling kids, and three smiling jack-o-lanterns, everything far too clean and neat to be real. One of the jack-o-lanterns looked like Flash, and one of the cover blurbs announced “Carve pumpkins to look like Keystone’s favorite hero.” “We’re going to carve Flash-o-lanterns! There are patterns.”
“Why would we want to do that?” Cold asked.
“What did Jack ever do to you?”
Everyone looked at Trickster in confusion, and he sighed. “Jack? Guy on the pumpkin? He’s never hurt anyone. Why would we want to step on him, or throw him against a wall, or drop him on someone’s head? A Flash-o-lantern, however…”
“Can’t we just tape his picture to the wall and throw darts like usual?” Digger asked, taking the magazine and flipping to the patterns. They looked a lot more complicated than triangular eyes and jagged teeth.
“Where’s your holiday spirit?” Mick chided. “This could be fun. Carve a Flash, throw a boomerang at it. We could do it in front of the Flash museum.”
Cold nodded. “Yeah, I like that. Set everything up like it was meant to honor him, then when the cameras show up, we cut loose. Might even be able to round up a crowd, do some trick-or-treating of our own.”
“Let’s give it a whirl,” Roscoe agreed.
Pleased with this idea, the Rogues got to work on the pumpkins, passing around the magazine and fine-tuning their plan. Mick rigged some fireworks with extra long fuses to candles and Piper experimented to see which frequency could cause a pumpkin to explode in a truly spectacular fashion. The others sat down at the table and started carving.
An overenthusiastic flick of the spoon sent pumpkin guts splattering Mark, who retaliated by throwing a fistful of slippery orange gunk at Roy. Digger snickered and dumped all the seeds Roscoe had pulled out to bake down James’ shirt. When James flicked a spoonful of pumpkin guts back at him, Digger ducked, and it hit Piper instead. Piper blew several sharp notes, causing one of the smaller pumpkins on the table to explode and splatter everybody. Some of the exploded pumpkin hit Cold on the back of the head. He turned and snarled, and everyone sat down, wiping pumpkin from their faces and trying to look like innocent victims. After Cold had turned his attention back to the football game on TV, James dumped all the pumpkin guts on the table into Cold’s pumpkin, squishing it in until seeds oozed out the half-carved face.
~~~~~~~
The next day, they waited until almost dusk to set up, largely because after spending the night before carving pumpkins, then drinking beer while using the less-than-perfect Flash-o-lanterns for target practice, they had all slept until late afternoon.
They stole some fencing from a nearby construction site and placed it around the plaza in front of the Flash museum. Black cloth draped over the fences hid them from view and some “Caution” and “Men at work” signs stole from the same construction site explained the presence of the fence. Roscoe called the local news stations, telling them that a “Flash tribute” was scheduled for 8 o’clock. Cold went to pick up some last minute supplies, and the others argued over the best possible way to set up everything. When Cold returned, the bed of James’ stolen truck loaded with coolers, gallon jugs, and shallow pans, the other Rogues had just passed the “discussion” stage and were a few minutes from the “beat each other up” stage. Snarling, Cold separated Digger and Mark, declared Roy was in charge of anything involving artistic arrangements, and ordered Mick to place the pans around the Flash statue and fill them with water.
By the time everything was set up to Roy’s and Cold’s satisfaction, it was nearly 8 o’clock. The camera crews were there, and a small crowd of people had gathered, curious as to what the news vans were investigating. Mick lit the candles and Cold pulled hunks of dry ice from the coolers, dropping them in the pans of water. The Rogues stood back to admire their work. The Flash-o-lanterns ranged from simple lightning bolts to a generic silhouette of a running man to detailed depictions of Flash’s face. The pumpkins clustered around the feet of the Flash statue, and more were precariously balanced on the statue’s arms and shoulders. Larger pumpkins were placed on the ground around the base of the statue. Several pumpkins had thin panes of colored glass in them, making the carvings glow red, green, orange, and blue. Fog from the dry ice curled across the ground, obscuring the base of the statue and diffusing the glow from the pumpkins on the ground.
Satisfied with their work, the Rogues stepped back, hiding in the shadows by the fence. Mark and Roscoe pulled open the gate, letting the crowd flow in. There were gasps, oohs and aws, and scattered applause as people got their first glimpse of the tribute. The camera crews fought to get closer and reporters started waxing poetic about their hometown hero and his fan club. James made gagging motions.
“What are we waiting for?” Digger hissed.
“Fireworks will go off soon,” Mick whispered back. “We’ll start things with a bang.”
“Hopefully he’ll show up in time for the show,” Cold said. “Not like Flash to miss a chance to be fawned over.”
Sure enough, less than a minute later, Flash and Kid Flash ran in to the applause of the surrounding crowd and muttered insults of the hidden Rogues. The reporters crowded close as Flash began some sentimental speech about how honored he was, how the real heroes were the ordinary people who strove to make the world a better place, and how pleased he was to see people using this holiday to create and bring happiness instead of creating mischief and destroying things. It was just good luck that that was when the first firework went off.
It blew the lid and part of the face off the pumpkin, blue and white sparks spilling out. More fireworks went off as people screamed and turned to escape, but Roy and Roscoe had closed the gate after Flash had run in. Now Mark and James took to the air as Cold used his gun to form ice walls along the fence, sealing everything except the gate now guarded by a grinning Captain Boomerang.
Flash and his sidekick leapt into action, and promptly fell on their rears as they discovered the sheet of ice hidden beneath the fog.
“Alright, everyone, you know the drill,” Cold snapped as the other Rogues sniggered at the fallen heroes. Obediently, the crooks circulated among the crowd, taking wallets and jewelry to fill the plastic pumpkins James had insisted they use in place of loot bags. A few people tried to fight back, but Piper pulled out his flute and soon the crowd stood still, muscles locked and eyes panicked.
Someone had brought a boom box, and Roy turned it up, hoping to hear a breaking news update. The cameras were still filming, but they couldn’t hear any sirens yet. James grabbed one of the news cameras and started filming, pretending to interview the Rogues and the people in the crowd. Flash had managed to get to his feet and pull Kid Flash upright, but as soon as they slid off the ice, they were snared in Piper’s music, although it was clear from the sweat on their faces that they were fighting it.
The opening bars of “Thriller” came over the radio, and Digger turned it up. James grinned and swooped down next to Piper. “Come on, Green Jeans, let’s make this a party!”
Piper rolled his eyes but obediently changed his tune, letting his music weave through the song coming from the radio. The crowd moved slowly at first, their movements jerky and out of rhythm, but soon Piper had them all dancing. When Flash and Kid Flash joined in, Flash pale with fury and Kid Flash blushing as red as his mentor’s costume, James had to land and put the camera down, he was laughing so hard. Mark picked up the camera and pointed it at the Flash, wanting to preserve this moment for all eternity.
“Alright, fun’s over,” Cold growled as he dropped a few twenties in his pumpkin and tossed the wallet to the ground. No point in stealing credit cards when the victim knew he was being robbed. “Time to head on out.”
The Rogues filed out, calling mocking thanks as they went.
“Tis an ill wind that blows no good,” Mark intoned, admiring a diamond necklace.
“Such generosity warms my heart,” Mick said, clutching his pumpkin close.
“Even I can appreciate the color of money.” Roy flipped through a fistful of cash.
“Tricks and treats! Such a happy Halloween!” James gloated.
“I do hope you all remember to pay the Piper,” Piper said, his part in the job meaning he hadn’t had much of a chance to fill his own pumpkin.
“Alright,” Cold said, closing the gate and freezing it shut. “Enough jokes. Get in the truck. We don’t have long before Flash comes after us.”
Cold and Mark claimed the cab of the truck, and the rest piled into the pack. “You know,” Mick said as they climbed in, “this is very unsafe. And illegal.”
Everyone stared at him, then burst out laughing. Digger pounded on the roof of the cab to let Cold know they were all in, and they took off, a few stray bills fluttering in the air behind them.
Back in the plaza, Flash and Kid Flash rubbed their hands over the ice walls, melting it so the people could get out. His hands moving so quickly they were a blur, Kid Flash resolved that next Halloween, he was going to switch patrols with Robin. No way fighting Scarecrow was worse than dealing with the Rogues.
Rating: G
Word count: 2016
Prompt: Carving pumpkins
It was a quiet evening at the Rogues’ current hide-out. Most of them were there, cleaning weapons, watching football, and cheating at solitaire.
A loud rumble from outside announced the arrival of a truck in need of a tune-up. “Someone order pizza?” Mark asked as the engine died and a car door slammed.
“Better not have,” Cold said, “not after last time.” The last delivery boy had recognized Mick and called the police. Hence the newest hide-out.
The door swung open and James sauntered into the room, hovering a few inches above the floor and carrying a pumpkin. “Happy Halloween! Trick or treat!”
“That’s tomorrow, idiot,” Digger said.
“That’s right! Today is All Hallow’s Eve Eve, the time to prepare for tomorrow’s merriment! Now help me unload so I can ditch the truck before the cops find me again.”
“You led the cops here?” Cold demanded, rising to his feet.
James rolled his eyes. “Lost them an hour ago, but they’re probably actively looking for me now. You break a few speed limits, ignore a couple red lights, and they get all worked up, you know?”
The others stood, sighing and grumbling, and filed outside. “Pumpkins?” Digger demanded as he saw the beat-up pick-up truck, the bed and passenger seat filled with pumpkins. “You stole a truck to buy pumpkins?”
James pressed a hand to his heart. “Please. I stole the pumpkins too. I picked them out myself, from one of the farms outside of the city. None of those grocery store bin pumpkins for me and my friends.”
“Is there candy at least?” Roy asked as they started carrying the pumpkins inside.
“No, but there are candles!” James grinned at Mick, who grinned back. Burning gourds, the best part of Halloween.
Once the pumpkins were unloaded and the stolen truck hidden in the alley, the Rogues gathered around the table now covered with pumpkins. “You went through all this just to carve jack-o-lanterns,” Piper said, frowning as James showed off the pumpkin-carving tools he’d also stolen.
“Of course not!” James pulled out a magazine from a pocket in his cape. He brandished it, showing them the cover with a smiling mother, two smiling kids, and three smiling jack-o-lanterns, everything far too clean and neat to be real. One of the jack-o-lanterns looked like Flash, and one of the cover blurbs announced “Carve pumpkins to look like Keystone’s favorite hero.” “We’re going to carve Flash-o-lanterns! There are patterns.”
“Why would we want to do that?” Cold asked.
“What did Jack ever do to you?”
Everyone looked at Trickster in confusion, and he sighed. “Jack? Guy on the pumpkin? He’s never hurt anyone. Why would we want to step on him, or throw him against a wall, or drop him on someone’s head? A Flash-o-lantern, however…”
“Can’t we just tape his picture to the wall and throw darts like usual?” Digger asked, taking the magazine and flipping to the patterns. They looked a lot more complicated than triangular eyes and jagged teeth.
“Where’s your holiday spirit?” Mick chided. “This could be fun. Carve a Flash, throw a boomerang at it. We could do it in front of the Flash museum.”
Cold nodded. “Yeah, I like that. Set everything up like it was meant to honor him, then when the cameras show up, we cut loose. Might even be able to round up a crowd, do some trick-or-treating of our own.”
“Let’s give it a whirl,” Roscoe agreed.
Pleased with this idea, the Rogues got to work on the pumpkins, passing around the magazine and fine-tuning their plan. Mick rigged some fireworks with extra long fuses to candles and Piper experimented to see which frequency could cause a pumpkin to explode in a truly spectacular fashion. The others sat down at the table and started carving.
An overenthusiastic flick of the spoon sent pumpkin guts splattering Mark, who retaliated by throwing a fistful of slippery orange gunk at Roy. Digger snickered and dumped all the seeds Roscoe had pulled out to bake down James’ shirt. When James flicked a spoonful of pumpkin guts back at him, Digger ducked, and it hit Piper instead. Piper blew several sharp notes, causing one of the smaller pumpkins on the table to explode and splatter everybody. Some of the exploded pumpkin hit Cold on the back of the head. He turned and snarled, and everyone sat down, wiping pumpkin from their faces and trying to look like innocent victims. After Cold had turned his attention back to the football game on TV, James dumped all the pumpkin guts on the table into Cold’s pumpkin, squishing it in until seeds oozed out the half-carved face.
~~~~~~~
The next day, they waited until almost dusk to set up, largely because after spending the night before carving pumpkins, then drinking beer while using the less-than-perfect Flash-o-lanterns for target practice, they had all slept until late afternoon.
They stole some fencing from a nearby construction site and placed it around the plaza in front of the Flash museum. Black cloth draped over the fences hid them from view and some “Caution” and “Men at work” signs stole from the same construction site explained the presence of the fence. Roscoe called the local news stations, telling them that a “Flash tribute” was scheduled for 8 o’clock. Cold went to pick up some last minute supplies, and the others argued over the best possible way to set up everything. When Cold returned, the bed of James’ stolen truck loaded with coolers, gallon jugs, and shallow pans, the other Rogues had just passed the “discussion” stage and were a few minutes from the “beat each other up” stage. Snarling, Cold separated Digger and Mark, declared Roy was in charge of anything involving artistic arrangements, and ordered Mick to place the pans around the Flash statue and fill them with water.
By the time everything was set up to Roy’s and Cold’s satisfaction, it was nearly 8 o’clock. The camera crews were there, and a small crowd of people had gathered, curious as to what the news vans were investigating. Mick lit the candles and Cold pulled hunks of dry ice from the coolers, dropping them in the pans of water. The Rogues stood back to admire their work. The Flash-o-lanterns ranged from simple lightning bolts to a generic silhouette of a running man to detailed depictions of Flash’s face. The pumpkins clustered around the feet of the Flash statue, and more were precariously balanced on the statue’s arms and shoulders. Larger pumpkins were placed on the ground around the base of the statue. Several pumpkins had thin panes of colored glass in them, making the carvings glow red, green, orange, and blue. Fog from the dry ice curled across the ground, obscuring the base of the statue and diffusing the glow from the pumpkins on the ground.
Satisfied with their work, the Rogues stepped back, hiding in the shadows by the fence. Mark and Roscoe pulled open the gate, letting the crowd flow in. There were gasps, oohs and aws, and scattered applause as people got their first glimpse of the tribute. The camera crews fought to get closer and reporters started waxing poetic about their hometown hero and his fan club. James made gagging motions.
“What are we waiting for?” Digger hissed.
“Fireworks will go off soon,” Mick whispered back. “We’ll start things with a bang.”
“Hopefully he’ll show up in time for the show,” Cold said. “Not like Flash to miss a chance to be fawned over.”
Sure enough, less than a minute later, Flash and Kid Flash ran in to the applause of the surrounding crowd and muttered insults of the hidden Rogues. The reporters crowded close as Flash began some sentimental speech about how honored he was, how the real heroes were the ordinary people who strove to make the world a better place, and how pleased he was to see people using this holiday to create and bring happiness instead of creating mischief and destroying things. It was just good luck that that was when the first firework went off.
It blew the lid and part of the face off the pumpkin, blue and white sparks spilling out. More fireworks went off as people screamed and turned to escape, but Roy and Roscoe had closed the gate after Flash had run in. Now Mark and James took to the air as Cold used his gun to form ice walls along the fence, sealing everything except the gate now guarded by a grinning Captain Boomerang.
Flash and his sidekick leapt into action, and promptly fell on their rears as they discovered the sheet of ice hidden beneath the fog.
“Alright, everyone, you know the drill,” Cold snapped as the other Rogues sniggered at the fallen heroes. Obediently, the crooks circulated among the crowd, taking wallets and jewelry to fill the plastic pumpkins James had insisted they use in place of loot bags. A few people tried to fight back, but Piper pulled out his flute and soon the crowd stood still, muscles locked and eyes panicked.
Someone had brought a boom box, and Roy turned it up, hoping to hear a breaking news update. The cameras were still filming, but they couldn’t hear any sirens yet. James grabbed one of the news cameras and started filming, pretending to interview the Rogues and the people in the crowd. Flash had managed to get to his feet and pull Kid Flash upright, but as soon as they slid off the ice, they were snared in Piper’s music, although it was clear from the sweat on their faces that they were fighting it.
The opening bars of “Thriller” came over the radio, and Digger turned it up. James grinned and swooped down next to Piper. “Come on, Green Jeans, let’s make this a party!”
Piper rolled his eyes but obediently changed his tune, letting his music weave through the song coming from the radio. The crowd moved slowly at first, their movements jerky and out of rhythm, but soon Piper had them all dancing. When Flash and Kid Flash joined in, Flash pale with fury and Kid Flash blushing as red as his mentor’s costume, James had to land and put the camera down, he was laughing so hard. Mark picked up the camera and pointed it at the Flash, wanting to preserve this moment for all eternity.
“Alright, fun’s over,” Cold growled as he dropped a few twenties in his pumpkin and tossed the wallet to the ground. No point in stealing credit cards when the victim knew he was being robbed. “Time to head on out.”
The Rogues filed out, calling mocking thanks as they went.
“Tis an ill wind that blows no good,” Mark intoned, admiring a diamond necklace.
“Such generosity warms my heart,” Mick said, clutching his pumpkin close.
“Even I can appreciate the color of money.” Roy flipped through a fistful of cash.
“Tricks and treats! Such a happy Halloween!” James gloated.
“I do hope you all remember to pay the Piper,” Piper said, his part in the job meaning he hadn’t had much of a chance to fill his own pumpkin.
“Alright,” Cold said, closing the gate and freezing it shut. “Enough jokes. Get in the truck. We don’t have long before Flash comes after us.”
Cold and Mark claimed the cab of the truck, and the rest piled into the pack. “You know,” Mick said as they climbed in, “this is very unsafe. And illegal.”
Everyone stared at him, then burst out laughing. Digger pounded on the roof of the cab to let Cold know they were all in, and they took off, a few stray bills fluttering in the air behind them.
Back in the plaza, Flash and Kid Flash rubbed their hands over the ice walls, melting it so the people could get out. His hands moving so quickly they were a blur, Kid Flash resolved that next Halloween, he was going to switch patrols with Robin. No way fighting Scarecrow was worse than dealing with the Rogues.