Chapter 86
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Note; The character of Linda is from the television version of "Lucifer", Becky Sharpe is from the current version of "the Flash," Alicia is from "Smallville." Bernie, aka the fat clown, is from "Batman Returns" and Haru is from the 1943 serial version of "Batman." The last two I've made up their backstories.
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Alicia was attending a meeting, a support group that's members unnofficially called "Villains Anonymous." They had all made mistakes in their respective worlds, but for better or worse they had all escaped Hell, at least temporarily. Now they were trying to do better, which wasn't always easy, hence the support group. Linda was leading the group.
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Linda: Okay, who wants to go first?
Bernie: I'll go. Hello, my name is Bernie, and I'm a recovering villain.
Everyone: Hello Bernie.
Bernie: As a child, I was picked on in school for beig jewish. I dealt with my problems by overeating, which caused people to pick on me for being overweight. I began cutting school, which got me into even more trouble. Finally, I just became a criminal, and I hear about this opportunity to dress like a clown for this crime boss, called himself Penquin. I figured, why not hide my identity, make it harder for the cops to identify me. I realize now it was as much about my own shame as anything else. It wasn't so bad at first, I didn't even care who we hurt, I didn't feel much obligation to Gotham City. But then the Penquin wanted to steal children, murder all of the first born sons of Gotham. Even I had a problem with that. I questioned him, in front of everyone, and he shot me, just threw my dead body into the water. I am glad that Batman stopped this insane plan. And I am grateful for this second chance to do better. So, who wants to go next?
Haru: I'll go. My name is Haru, and I'm a recovering villain.
Everyone: Hello Haru.
Haru: I was born in the 1920s in America. My parents were immigrans from Japan, for much of my life I didn't face much discrimination. Then Pearl Harbor was attacked, suddenly people looked at us like we were the enemy, never mind how we'd always been patriotic americans. I actually tried to enlist, serve my country, and they turned me down. They even reported me like I was trying to commit sabotage. Maybe partly as a result, or maybe because my father spoke against this discrimination, our family was deported to Japan. I was drafted into the Imperial Army. They looked at me with suspicion, ended up assigning me to a suicide mission. I was put on a submarine, we gave intel and recieved intel from one of our operatives, a man who called himself Prince Daka. I assume it was a made up title. At any rate, I was put in a coffin, died, and Daka gave me just enough life to pass along some intel. I don't know if he was capable of giving me more life or not, but it seemed that my life was over. I know now that the Imperial Army did a lot of bad things in it's own rights, and we were allied with Nazi Germany. I supposse I do deserve a very small portion of that blame. I am grateful to have this second chance. Who's next?
Becky: I'll go. My name is Becky, and I'm a recovering villain.
Everyone: Hello Becky.
Becky: You two have had some bad luck, so have I. Harrison Wells, the good one that the one who murdered Barry Allen's parents, he explained it scientifically. Apparently the energy surrounding me, my entire life it led to misfortune that would seem like bad luck. My entire life, nothing but bad luck. Getting fired from lousy jobs, bad relationships, getting food poisoning repeatedly. Then, I get exposed to a particle explosion, suddenly I have nothing but good luck. I enjoyed it winning the lottery, I even used it to rob a bank through sheer good luck.
Linda: I'm sorry to interrupt, but if you won the lottery, why rob a bank?
Becky: I got carried away, and I also didn't feel any particular obligation to society. The Flash figured out how to stop me, ended up in the meta-human wing of prison. I knew I probably deserved to be there, but the warden was planning on selling us to this supervillain. We escaped, and I was planning to be good this time, control my powers better. When we learned that our partner in escape, Barry Allen, was the Flash, the others wanted to kill him. I tried to stop them, so I guess I was briefly a superhero. But after that, Devoe killed all of us, only Barry survived. Anyway I am grateful to have this second chance.
Linda: We've all made mistakes. In my world, our version of God, really didn't interfere much. Angels like Lucifer or Amendal, they kept or lost their wings based on whether they personally thought they deserved them. Cain, the first murderer, he had a mark which kept him alive through everything, except God didn't actually put it on him. He subconscioussly put it on himself because he felt he deserved to be punished for murdering his brother. Ofcourse Abel sent himself to Hell because he felt he had done some bad things to his brother. In many ways we are the ones who create our own perception. Many of you chose to become villains because you felt that society already saw you as villains, or as losers. You gave in to what the world expected you to be. But I'm here to tell you can do better, you can have self-respect. Trust me when I say it's easier to live with yourself that way.
