Got another one, Purple Poltergeist!

Part 1

Alarms blared, the lights turned red, large metal shutters shut over the windows, the doors locked, strange symbols glowed on the walls, ceiling, floors, and doors. Captain Marvel tried to punch through the doors but immediately found himself as Billy Batson again. He had lost his powers somehow. Thinking quickly, Shazam called Batman, "Batman! There's something wrong, I'm locked in the..." Batman calmed him down, "Marvel, There's nothing wrong. I activated my anti magic and anti superpower defense system. That one universe where we're all evil came over again and as one of our most powerful members, we cannot risk them using mind control on you."

Billy shouted at Bruce, "I can fight them, you don't need to worry about me!" Bruce snapped back in a level headed way, "Son, I respect you as a Justice League member and you most certainly could take any them. Unfortunately they are us and they use mind control, if you can take them down then you can take us down too." Batson sat down as the alarms went silent, crossing his arms bitterly and glaring at the floor. It was silent a moment or two. Wayne sighed in return to the silence, "Captain Marvel, where are you?"

The 12 year old boy huffed out, "I'm next to Mister Mind's jar. I was... visiting." The adult man was quiet a second before asking rather bluntly, "You were giving the caterpillar roses again, weren't you?" The preteen put the red and white roses on with the jar, he grew upset and expressed it, "STOP MAKING IT WEIRD!" With a tired groan, Batman ended the conversation, "Since I honestly don't know if the worm is controlling your mind to get him flowers, I'll be up there after I and the other league members take care of this threat. And Billy? Stop "visiting" your enemy." The communication device cut off there.

Billy Batson pulled his knees up to his chest and sighed as he flopped his head on to his knees. Above him a familiar voice crackled to life in it's typical old timey radio sounds, "Your so called Heroes and friends don't respect you. They think you are just a child, but I appreciate your power. Join me on the side of evil. Nobody will ever think of you as a child ever again." The human boy rolled his blue eyes and gruffed, "I'm not in the mood, Mr. Mind." Mister Mind huffed out a puff as he was miffed, "Let me out of this stupid jar, damnedable goodie goodie!!"

He didn't get a response from that. The caterpillar tried something else, "Roses... Red and white mixed symbolizes unity. Something you lack for me. Red for love. H-How disgusting. White for purity although they are more common at funerals... Prehaps you should have brought them to my funeral after you had me sent to the electrical chair, you murderer." The Earthling human boy finally spoke up, "Stop trying to make me angry." The worm had found a weakness to exploit and was not going to let this pass up.

"Billy... After I came back, after the electrical chair, why did you try to redeem me? I've never understood it. I'm supposed to be evil, what exactly did you see in me that suggested I could be be redeemed?" Mr. Mind asked with a false sweetness and innocence. Despite knowing it was fake, Billy Batson felt his heartstrings tug at this question. It was sympathetic and adorable how he said it honestly. A disturbing thought to have for someone like the mind controlling parasite. Trying to avoid the conversation, Billy denied it, "It was a mistake. I was younger then and I was naive. I won't make it ever again. Don't think anything of it, in fact drop it."

"It's just that..." The evil caterpillar continued, "You've been here everyday since your goodie two shoes friends captured me, bringing me flowers, talking to me, listening to me. I thought there might be a reason." The earth human dismissed this idea as fast it came up, "I'm a hero, I am a good person. I do good things. I wanted you to be redeemable and I don't want you to be alone, period. Nothing more. There's else to it, I'm not heartless." The evil worm thought over this detail for a moment. It was strange. He would have thought that would've worked. Who just does nice things to their enemies?

After considering this factor, he asked again to confirm it, "You feel nothing for me? There's Absolutely Nothing Else that could possibly be responsible for your actions? Prehaps less than platonic feelings or thoughts that happen into your mind at all?" It grew awkward in the freezing silence. At somepoint that felt like forever, Batson questioned this question, "Why are you being weird? I already told you. Why do you keep asking? Are you trying to do something gross?" The insect grew nervous yet refused to show it.

"Are you calling me a homosexual?! I'm most certainly not!!" The parasite insisted in a panic, "No!! Not at all! I am a real male who loves ladies, not a sissy girly boy who wants to kiss boys or... H-H-Hold Hands or anything! I just prefer my females to serve me as their better."

The goodie goodie pointed out firmly, "Girls aren't going to date you if you keep referring to them as "females" as if they were lab rats."

The baddie fumed on a low boil, "What does it matter what they think in their brainless little heads, Billy!?! I've killed millions, I've taken worlds under my control, I'm the most powerful mind controller in this universe and I can MAKE whomever I want fall in love with me fall harder than the atomic bomb!!! What any little girl thinks matters as much as it means I need to force my will upon her!!"

As a human being with functional morality and sympathy, Billy was deeply uncomfortable with this particular conversation and how it was going. Billy tried to change the topic, "Batman says you only talk to me and not any of the other heroes. Is there a reason for that?" Almost instantly, the heel was entirely calm, "Nobody else visits me, Billy Batson, your gift of roses is unusual even among your "heroic" peers." Having caught the pest in his lies, the goodie good corrected him, "Well maybe it's because they don't know you or that you are lying. Batman said he tried to talk to you, he visited you. You didn't say anything to him."

"Now, no more games, little Mr. Why do you only talk to me?" The young boy stood on his knees, peering upon the table top at eye level to the bad guy. They met eyes then. They held eye contact for a time until the villain turned away and curled into himself. He scoffed rudely, "I honestly have zero idea what you are referring to whatsoever. There's no point in chatting further with you, Shazam. I have no need to discuss anything with the likes of you. Bother me no more."

The hero tested, "Is because you like me? Do you like like me?" The vile, villainous, villainy, villain blushed hard, but hid his face with his body as he blurted out loud, "Imply that I hold any affections for you again, Captain Marvel, and I will rip out your eyes!! I will show you such suffering that hell will receive your soul in pieces when I gift you the mercy of death!!!" The superhero shuttled around the table to meet the eyes of his enemy. He managed to make it to the other side where those yellow glasses faced only for the evil worm to turn away from view.

The jar was turned to force their eyes, purely out of annoyance. Annoyed by that, the supervillain tested in a tone dull as dishwater, "Would you like to know why heroes and villains can't date?" The boy took a curious but excited face and nodded eagerly. He explained in a bored way, "It's mostly because of the stigma against it in the hero, villain, and other communities. For the typical citizen of any given planet, the idea of "bad people" dating "good people" is not reassuring. It brings forth thoughts of abuse and manipulation. If they find their "heroes" dating "villains" they assume corruption of said "heroes.""

He continued on, "This bleeds into the hero community. They believe that dating the other team breeds ineffective heroes who lack concrete morality. That is turns heroes to the side of "evil." That it makes them all look lesser to be associated with said person by comparison and spreads gossip about them doing similar things."

"Which brings us to the side of villainy. Most of my peers view it as a point of weakness. After all, if you are so lovey dovey for a goodie two shoes then you might switch sides. We can't have that. We want real baddies, not weak hearted crybabies. Does that at all explain it?" The pest concluded. The human boy blinked a few times in bafflement. He shaked his head no. That's when the lock down was ended. Without hesitation, the young boy became his super-powered, adult, alter, ego. Batman opened the door out and greeted his colleague, "Marvel, just wanted to make sure you weren't still locked in... Or being mind controlled by the very hungry caterpillar."

Without another word, the very hungry caterpillar turned away from the man dressed as a bat and rolled into a spiral. He refused to say a single word.

The End.