It was quiet on the Watchtower.

Too quiet.

Scott and Barda have been a bit more paranoid than usual. They knew that today, some absurdity was going to occur at any point. If it wasn't Guy Gardner, it was Plastic Man. If it wasn't him, it was Booster Gold. And if it somehow wasn't him, it was Mxyzptlk.

Today was April Fool's Day. A day they knew long before Scott did this challenge. They unfortunately knew it well precisely because of the aforementioned individuals always coming up with something "funny" for this day.

It ranged from something relatively harmless like whoopie cushions or pies to the face to someone pulling the alarm saying a major threat was coming only to reveal it was all a prank (Plastic Man was nearly unanimously voted to be kicked off the League for that reason alone).

Scott looked around and under the table, as did Barda. They had Motherbox scan the area briefly to show that the table wasn't rigged to explode with confetti, nor the food poisoned with laxatives. They were safe… for now.

"Can I sit here?"

A wistful voice broke their trains of thought and they looked up to see a woman with purple hair and body parts mishmashed with different things like tree bark or clay. And she smelled like chalk for some reason.

Element Woman had a big smile to the point of awkwardness. Scott shook his head, "no, we don't mind." He answered her question, "go ahead."

Her toothy grin grew wider and she sat down, almost immediately digging into her chicken pot pie. Barda chewed on her cookie and Scott just sipped his coffee. They didn't really know how to open up a conversation with the new recruit. She was… unique.

"It's so quiet here." Element Woman said, wiping her face with a napkin, the New Gods nodding in agreement, "It makes me a bit nervous."

"We're just waiting for someone to pull a fast one on us," Miracle responded, taking yet another sip of his coffee, "all the smart guys like to pull some stupid prank on the least suspecting Leaguer."

"Or maybe the prank is that there's no prank!" Element Woman hastily shouted, which just made several other League members at other tables turn their heads at them. "Oh, I was too loud…" Element Woman whispered, hiding behind her hair.

"You're fine, rookie," Barda sighed, "everyone's just on edge today."

"You can call me Emily!" the transmuter responded, before going back to her meal again rather awkwardly, "If you want to, of course."

Scott and Barda looked at each other and shrugged. They didn't interact with her all that much, but she seemed more awkward than usual. Maybe it was just because, as Barda said, everyone was on edge, so that probably affected her.

"Sooo, Emily," Scott droned, "how has your day been?"

Emily sipped her juice carton that she pulled from seemingly nowhere, "Oh! Uh, it's been ok!" She responded, "just a bit slow today."

"Yeah, aside from the paranoia, nothing much happened." Barda added, finishing her cookie, "nothing that others can't handle."

"We've been thinking of calling it a day." Scott mumbled, sipping the last of his coffee, "we'll just go back home and if they need us, they'll call us."

"Oh, that sounds nice." Emily intoned.

With that said, the two went up from the table, "we'll head to our rooms and get outta here." Barda said as they grabbed their empty trays and headed out of the cafeteria, disposing of them at the return bin.

Emily, meanwhile, watched them like a hawk. She sipped her juice box with such intensity, that the air being sucked through the straw made the box crumble. A bead of sweat rolled down her head, which transmuted into a tiny pebble the second it left her body.

She got up, returned her tray and followed the two.


She kept her distance, a few beads of sweat rolling down her head and transmuting into different items such as pebbles, tiny gold pieces, and even just straight up smoke vapors.

"Don't go in there…" she muttered to herself, "Notintherenotintherenotinthere…"

Barda and Scott opened the door to their quarters and only just

The dam burst. "NO!" Emily yelled as the two were just about to acknowledge her, "DON'T GO IN THERE!"

They froze as stiff as statues and looked down to see that Scott had stepped on a trip wire. A burst of confetti then popped from the doorway all over the room and on them.

The two stood there in silence.

The silence was broken, "It was Green Lantern!" Emily spat out as they looked at her, "he told me to set it up!"

"DAMMIT!" A voice that sounded like Guy Gardner's own yelled in the distance.

Element Woman shed a few tears after her confession, the liquid transmuting into crystals and landing on the floor with soft clinks. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She whispered.

The New Gods, however, were not mad at all. "Confetti, huh?" Scott commented, taking a piece out from his hair and tossing it, "It could have been worse."

"Like a pie to the face." Barda said.

"Or sharpies on the wall." Scott added.

Element Woman, meanwhile, was a bit confused, "You're… not mad?"

"Nah." Scott responded.

"Worst thing about this is cleaning it up," Barda muttered as she shook the confetti strips from her hair, "messy and wasteful things, why do humans use these in parties?"

Element Woman had a look of confusion before an awkward smile rolled in, "Oh… Oh, okay! You're not mad!"

"Not at all." Barda said, already picking up the confetti, "But can you at least help us clean up?"

"Of course!"

As they picked up the last bits of confetti strips, Barda approached Emily, "By the way, Emily," she said, her voice serious, which made the rookie nervous, "if Guy tells you to do anything, punch him."

The elemental hero was a bit shocked, "th-that's a bit rude…" she responded, which Barda just laughed at, placing a hand on her stone shoulder, "Trust me, Emily. It's Guy. Everyone will understand."

She nodded.

"Alright, that's that." Scott said, placing the last of the confetti in the trash, "we'll be on our way, now. Thank you, Emily."

The elemental hero's face flushed a shade of pink - literally.

Despite the confetti mess, they got to make a new friend, and Barda was sure to punch Gardner in the face on the way out.

Today was alright.