"Halloween's a magical holiday," Billy said to his brothers. "All about family, friends, and the thrill of getting to be someone else for a day."
"Wrong!" Tommy said. "Halloween's about candy. And scaring people, but mostly candy."
"And staying up late without Mom or Dad telling us to go to bed," Connor said. His brothers agreed with this.
"Where's your costume, Tommy?" Billy asked his brother. At this point Billy was wearing a navy headband and red fake cape. Connor was wearing a similar getup, but in all black.
"This is my costume. I'm the cool triplet."
"What does that make me and Billy?" Connor asked.
"Hmmm..." Tommy thought for a moment. "A dorksaurus rex"
"Not a real dinosaur," Billy said. The triplets all shared a laugh.
They went over to the couch where Pietro was snoring loudly.
"Man. He even snores cool," Tommy said. "I'm gonna wake him up."
"Don't!" Billy whisper-shouted.
"You scared?" Tommy asked.
"He's our Uncle. Why would I be scared?"
"It's four o'clock in the afternoon," Connor said. "You're secretly afraid he's a vampire."
"No, I'm not," Billy said.
"Yes you are," Connor retorted.
"No, I'm not."
Pietro suddenly shot up from the couch. He had been awake the whole time. "Blood is thicker than water! I'll show you!" he said in a creepy voice. He then chased the triplets around the house for a bit until Wanda came downstairs, with a halloween costume on, of course.
"Oh, somebody better be bleeding, broken, or on fire," She said, referring to the racket Pietro and the boys were making.
"Whoa, Mom," Tommy said. "Are you old Red Riding Hood?" Pietro snorted at this.
"I'm a Sokovian fortune teller," Wanda said.
"Wow," Pietro said. "That is so..."
"Rad!" Connor said, interrupting Pietro's sentence.
"...lame," Pietro finished.
"Lame," Billy said, trying out the word.
"Worse than the costumes Mom made for us the year we got Typhus," Pietro said.
The two of them spoke in Sokovian for a moment.
"That's not exactly how I remember it," Wanda said.
"You probably suppressed a lot of the trauma."
(Y/N) sighed as he walked down the stairs, also in a crazy costume.
"Whoa, sweet costume bro-ham-in-law," Pietro said. "Let me guess. Uh, traffic light."
"Yes, because traffic lights have blue on them," (Y/N) said sarcastically.
"Fruit salad?"
(Y/N) sighed. "Yes, I'm a fruit salad."
"Yes!" Pietro said in victory.
"Well, thank you for humoring me with this ridiculous getup, honey," Wanda said to (Y/N).
"Well, there was nothing in my closet. Plus, I know you have a thing for guys in capes."
"Hey, grandpa! The underpants go under your clothes!" Pietro shouted mockingly at (Y/N), who shot him a look.
"What do you say, boys!" (Y/N) said. "You ready to have fun consuming high amounts of sugar?"
"Yeah!" they all said. Pietro and the triplets rushed to the couch, where Pietro showed them how to chug a soda.
"You never did tell me much about your brother," (Y/N) said to Wanda. "I never knew he would be so..."
Pietro and the triplets burped at the exact same time.
"...great with kids," (Y/N) finished.
"Yeah," Wanda said. "He's just full of surprises."
(Y/N) started to make his way to the door. "Well, you have fun tonight, darling."
"What? What do you mean? You're all dressed and ready to go."
"I'm undercover. Halloween is the perfect time for pranksters and other trouble makers to do their thing, and someone has to stop them."
"No, that's not what you're supposed to-"
"What?"
"Well, you could have told me you had plans."
"I'm telling you now."
"It's their first Halloween. You have to be there."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Pietro said, stepping in. "What's the big deal-io? Big guy has a conflict, triplets need a father figure for the night. Don't sweat it, sis. I got the old XY chromosome. Uncle P to the rescue, huh?"
"There you go, problem solved," (Y/N) said. "Have a spooky time, kids!"
"Goodnight, Dad."
"Bye, Dad!"
"Later, Dad!"
(Y/N) walked out the door.
Pietro rushed over to Wanda. "Where do you keep the water balloons?"
She looked at him, confused. "What? We don't have water balloons."
"Where are we gonna put all this shaving cream?"
"Oh."
"It was Billy's idea," He said, pointing to one of the triplets.
"I'm Tommy."
"And don't you forget it!"
"You don't even have a costume," Wanda said.
Pietro used his speed powers to quickly change himself into a blue shirt with a silver lightning bolt across it, and change his hair into an odd style. He also did the same for Tommy.
"Okay, but just remember that this is a respectable family. If I see any funny business, I am going to magic you into a pickled herring."
-----
"This is it," Tommy said when they got outside. "Game time."
"It's not a competition," Billy told him.
"It is if you're a winner," Connor said, walking up next to his two brothers.
"Unleash hell, demonspawn!" Pietro shouted.
"Do you remember when we were at the orphanage after Mom and Dad died?" Wanda asked her brother. "What was the name of that kid who was always trying to steal your boots? You know, he was the one... He had the... He had the skin thing."
"You're testing me."
"No, I'm not."
"Hey, it's cool. I know I look different."
"Why do you... look different?"
"You tell me. I mean, if I found Shangri-La, I wouldn't wanna be reminded of the past either."
"Next house, Mom!" Connor said from up ahead.
"Junior entrepreneur, over here. How about you let Uncle P help you maximize your candy acquisition, huh?" Pietro asked, catching up with him, Tommy and Billy.
"Yeah. Kick-ass!"
"I feel the need..." Pietro started.
"...for speed," Connor finished.
Then Pietro ran off at blinding speed, taking the triplets with him.
"Kick-ass," Wanda agreed. She then noticed Clark walking down the street. He must be on patrol, like (Y/N). "Oh, hey, Clark."
"Hey!"
"How's patrol going?"
"Quiet, so far." There was some chatter on his radio. "Say again. All the candy has disappeared? What? Who took my candy? And now all the Jack-o-lanterns have been smashed." Pietro and the triplets returned, cheering. "And now everyone's covered in silly string?"
"Woo-hoo!" Pietro cheered.
"Sorry, Wanda," Clark said. "I gotta bounce."
"Well, maybe (Y/N) can help you with that."
"(Y/N)? He's not on duty."
"Oh!" Wanda said, surprised. "I thought he..."
"Is there something I can do for you, Wanda? Do you want something changed?"
Wanda chuckled. "No, it's fine. Nevermind."
"All right. Peace."
-----
"This is so lame," Pietro said. "I can't believe you're making them return all the candy."
"I can't believe what a bad influence you are," Wanda shot back.
"Who beefed in your borscht? I'm just trying to do my part, okay? Come to town unexpectedly, create tension with the brother-in-law, stir up trouble with the rugrats, and ultimately give you grief. I mean, that's what you wanted, isn't it?"
"What happened to your accent?"
"What happened to yours? Details are fuzzy, man. I got shot like a chump on the street for no reason at all and the next thing I know, I heard you calling me. I knew you needed me."
Tommy ran up to them, but he was much faster than a regular person. Do the triplets have powers?
"Uncle P, guess what? They've got full-size candy bars a few blocks up." He turned to his mother. "Mom, can we go?"
Wanda nodded.
"Next stop, cavity town!" Tommy said.
"Right on, little dude," Pietro said. "Chip off the old Maximoff block. You've got super speed!"
"I do?"
"Yeah!"
"It's okay, baby," Wanda said, trying to comfort her son. "You can take it slow, and you can-"
Tommy cheered as he tried out his new power.
"If you're gonna break the sound barrier, please, take your brothers with you," Wanda said.
"Really?" Billy and Connor said in unison.
"Really," Wanda said. "And please just remember to–"
"Don't go past Ellis Avenue," The triplets finished. "We know," Billy said.
"Hey!" Wanda called to them. "Be careful!"
-----
Outside the Hex, Monica, Jimmy, and Darcy were trying to uncover Hayward's true plot. One does not just get an inmate from Arkham Asylum released, much less two.
"We shouldn't hang out here too long," Monica said. Darcy was hacking into Hayward's computer to see if there were any clues to his plan.
"Uh, give me two seconds," Darcy said. "I just need to hack into the secure network on the base." She entered a few commands. "Donezo. Now, I should be able to access the data on Hayward's devices." She noticed something interesting. "That's interesting. Guys, Hayward figured out a way to look through the boundary."
"And he didn't share it with the group," Monica added. On the computer monitor, a map of Westview could be seen, with numerous dots assembled sporadically. One, larger dot was moving away from the main group.
"Is this Wanda?" Jimmy said, pointing to the large dot.
"No. The program is tracking the radiation signature of absorbed sunlight."
"Superman," Monica said. "Wait. Why is Hayward tracking Superman?"
"I don't know," Darcy said. "This is all I can access so far."
"These other dots, those are Westview residents?" Jimmy assumed.
"The ones in Superman's immediate vicinity, yeah."
"So Hayward must have an accurate headcount by now. And some sense of their well-being. Huh... These people, near the edge of town... They're barely moving. Are they alive?"
-----
(Y/N) walked past Ellis Avenue, near the edge of town. It was dark, but he could still see just fine. What was creeping him out was that all the people were moving very little. Something was wrong here. He could feel it.
That was when he found Agnes, sitting in her car, right on the edge of town.
"Agnes, what are you doing here?" (Y/N) asked her.
"Town Square Scare. Where is it?"
"The town square, obviously."
"Took a wrong turn. Got lost."
"In the town you grew up in?" (Y/N) was confused, and surprised. He turned the Halloween costume back into his dark, black suit, and, hoping nobody would see him, carried Agnes' car closer to the center of town. Setting the car down, Agnes looked at him in surprise.
"It's all right," (Y/N) assured her.
"You..." She started. "You're Superman. Are you here to save us?"
"I am Superman. And I want to help."
"Am I dead?"
"No, of course not. Why would you think that?"
"Because you are."
"I'm what?"
"Dead. Dead. Dead!"
"Agnes, I'm going to reach those outside of Westview and make sense of our situation."
"How? No one leaves. Wanda won't even let us think about it." She began to laugh maniacally.
"Calm down, Agnes!" She stopped laughing. "I will fix this, Agnes. I promise."
"Okey-dokey, neighbor," she said. Something had clicked. "Happy Halloweenie!"
-----
Monica hung up the phone. "That's it. My way back into the Hex will be here in an hour. Just gotta meet my guy over the ridge. Let's roll."
"You can't do that," Darcy said.
"Sure we can," Jimmy said. "I'm a whiz at hot-wiring cars."
"You can't go back into the Hex," Darcy said, amending her statement.
"Worst case scenario, Wanda removes my free will and puts me in ultra-low-rise jeans," Monica said.
"Hayward has your blood work," Darcy said. "You've gone through the boundary twice already, Monica. The energy inside has re-written your cells on a molecular level twice. It's changing you."
"Seen enough lab results to last me a lifetime. Cells metastasizing, cells in remission. I know what Wanda's feeling and I won't stop until I help her."
"Okay," Both Jimmy and Darcy said.
"But I'm staying here," Darcy said.
"You can't stay here," Jimmy said. "What if Fries finds you? Or worse, Crane?"
"I haven't made it through Hayward's last firewall. There's something big here. Something that can help us. I know it."
"Fine," Monica said. "Fine. I'll drop you the location, you meet us out there as soon as you can."
-----
Wanda and Pietro had made their way to the town square, where all sorts of Halloween-related things were going on.
"Holy shmacaroni," Pietro said in awe.
"Isn't it great?" Wanda asked.
"Damn it, if Westview, New Jersey isn't charming as hell."
"Now, I know that you think that I've gone full soccer mom."
"Yeah."
"But it's really nice, isn't it?"
"Yeah." He sighed. "Mom and Dad would have loved it."
"Yeah. I think they would have."
A group of children ran past them.
"Where were you hiding these kids up till now?" Pietro asked unexpectedly.
"What?"
"I assume they were sleeping peacefully in their beds. No need to traumatize beyond the occasional holiday episode cameo, right?"
"No..."
"You always were the empathetic twin."
"I don't... I didn't..."
"Don't get me wrong. You've handled the ethical considerations of this scenario as best you could. Families and couples stay together, most personalities aren't far off from what's underneath, people got better jobs, better haircuts, for sure."
"You don't think it's wrong?"
"What, are you kidding? I'm impressed! Seriously. It's a big leap from giving people nightmares and shooting red wiggly-woos out of your hands. How'd you even do all this?" He noticed her sorrowful expression. "... Hey, I'm not some stranger and I'm not your husband. You can talk to me."
"I don't know how I did it. I... I only remember feeling completely alone. Empty. I just... Endless nothingness." She looked up to see Pietro filled with bullet holes. Dead. She gasped at the sight.
"Are you okay?" Pietro asked. He suddenly returned to normal.
"I'm fine."
"Uh-huh."
-----
Darcy was just about finished breaking through Hayward's last firewall. But she would be interrupted as footsteps sounded from behind.
"I hoped to find you here," came the voice of Jonathan Crane.
Darcy stood to face him. She pulled her fist back for a punch but Crane raised his arm, spraying gas into her face. She coughed, then screamed as Fries entered the tent and fired his gun, freezing her in a block of ice.
"Ice to meet you," Fries said.
He and Crane pushed the block of ice to where Hayward and some of his men were waiting outside the boundary. Hayward had tracked Superman here, and now he was trying to leave the anomaly.
"He really does want out, doesn't he?" Hayward said as (Y/N) broke through and fell onto the ground.
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(Y/N)'s body began to come apart, flaky chunks of his body flying back to the boundary. He yelled in pain as it did. Something was wrong with him.
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Hayward motioned for Fries to raise his gun.
72 69 73 65
(Y/N) screamed and reached his hand out for anyone who would help him.
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Fries pulled the trigger on his gun, but found he was out of ammunition.
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(Y/N) yelled as his legs began to disintegrate. Fries reloaded his gun.
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Fries raised his gun yet again.
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(Y/N) cried out again.
-----
The triplets were heading back to the center of town when Billy heard something in his head. It hurt too much. He placed his head in his hands, dropping his sack of candy.
"Whoa, Billy!" Tommy said.
"Are you alright?" Connor asked.
"Shh!" Billy said, listening.
-----
Billy rushed over to where Wanda and Pietro were waiting, Tommy and Connor following close behind.
"Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!"
"What? What is it, Billy?"
"I hear Dad in my head. He's in trouble. I don't understand. What's happening to me?"
"Where is he? Where is your Dad?"
"Hey, don't sweat it, sis. It's not like your dead husband can die twice," Pietro said, causing Wanda to use her magic to throw him into a pile of hay bales.
"Billy, I need you to focus."
"I can't tell. I see these...soldiers. And..." Billy shuddered. "A scarecrow. They think he's dying."
Wanda realized he was outside of the boundary. She froze time inside Westview, then expanded the border.
-----
The border began to expand. Hayward and the other S.W.O.R.D agents realized this, and quickly ran to their trucks, driving for their lives. Numerous trucks were consumed, as were (Y/N) and the block of ice that was holding Darcy. Luckily for them, Hayward, Fries, and Crane were able to get out. Those who remained became part of a makeshift circus.
"Come in," Hayward said into his radio. "Anyone read me? Anyone hear my voice? Does anyone read me? Anyone read me? Over."