Author's Note:
For those of you who may not recall Nekron's role in "Elsewhere", Trigon had agreed that his newborn daughter Raven would eventually become the bride of the Lord of the Unliving in exchange for Nekron's Black Power Ring.
Vile Trigon plotted to raise all the Dead in the entire Universe to destroy life itself… with the help of his lovely daughter. After this Great Cleansing, the God of Revenge would then use the gathered power of the Source to create a brand new Universe, free from Darkseid's Prophecy of Stone.
Learning of the terrible fate that awaited Raven when she would turn twenty-one, Azar sent the innocent girl to Earth mere hours before Trigon came to collect his daughter for the Black Wedding. An enraged Trigon then gave Azar one year to rectify her 'mistake' - while he secretly gathered an army of Nebu demons for his revenge upon Azar's betrayal.
Unfortunately for our heroes, they're about to learn (the hard way) that Nekron is not the sort of evil, omnipotent being who'll let a minor detail such as Trigon's demise stand in the way of a predestined contract…
Bonus Chapter, Part Two:
The Ghosts of Krypton
Raven and Barbara stopped and watched as Princess Diana of Themyscira teleported into the maternity room, only seconds after Bruce had left the room. Having a teleporter on the Watchtower had proven essential for the Justice League.
Bruce had gone to check on the doctors and nurses in the hopes of restoring order to the staff of the Maternity Ward. There had been no check-ups since the ghosts had appeared and Bruce wanted to get things back on course. His wife was getting very close.
The newly-arrived Amazon stood ready for combat and hailed her friends.
"Greetings Blue-Ring-Sorceress and Lightning-Sorceress..."
With a halting flash of blue-eyed intensity, Diana suddenly stopped and peered at the leering spirit of the ghostly woman who floated by Raven's feet, as though the phantom were cursing the expectant mother for being alive.
Faster than the eye could follow, the powerful Amazon drew her blade and sliced through the ethereal wraith in one fluid motion, creating a swish sound that echoed around the room… causing the apparition to dissolve into nothingness.
Pleased with her one-stroke handiwork, Wonder Woman smiled and slid her magic sword back into its scabbard, confidently addressing Raven.
"What your man has said is true. The shadows of Hades have indeed spilled over into the mortal realm. Though breathe easily, Princess… I shall permit no evil spirits to haunt the birth of your child."
'Princess'...
After Diana had learned of Raven's divine heritage and that her father Trigon had been born as a Prince among Gods, she had insisted on addressing Raven as 'Princess'. It was a rule of Amazon etiquette to recognize all royal titles, even if Raven had no need of it.
"Thank you, Princess Diana… But I'm afraid there are many more ghosts…"
Raven stopped speaking as she watched Diana draw extremely close to her extended belly, observing the Amazon warrior's great interest in her nether region, almost as though Diana had never seen a pregnant woman before.
"My apologies Lightning-Sorceress, I find the mortal ability to create life fascinating. There have been no live births among the Amazons of Themyscira for over two millennia now..."
Of course, Amazon spirits were reborn into forms of clay and magically imbued with life. Although, Raven suspected that if Diana could tolerate sex with a man, that the Amazon could experience all the trials and tribulations of pregnancy and childbirth for herself...
Her parts were in working order, even if the appetite was absent.
Bruce opened the door and staggered back inside the room. He had managed to time his excursion to the Ward between Raven's debilitating contractions. He smiled at Diana as he apprised them of the current situation.
"Thank you for coming so quickly, Princess… A Doctor should be swinging by shortly, Raven... I'm also hoping to get a status report from Clark any second now about these hauntings… Oh, did our ghost finally leave?"
Barbara replied as she nodded in Wonder Woman's direction.
"Diana sliced it in half. Seems her Sword of Perseus works against ghosts."
"Good to know... I'll bring up some visuals and we'll… UUGGGHHHH!"
Bruce doubled over at the exact moment Raven did, starting her next contraction. The pair of them grimaced and breathed heavily, groaning in a synchronized effort while Diana smiled in amusement.
"The bonds of Fate extend even this far?... It is unfortunate that this is one labor where many hands will not make light work, friend Bruce."
As Diana chuckled at her little joke, Barbara used her Ring to help Bruce back into his chair, and then started to bring up her own WI-Screen.
"Take it easy, Bruce… I'll call Barry and get some visuals. I'm a little worried about Clark. He should have been back by now…"
The visuals that Barbara and Barry were soon able to establish made her stomach churn. Her husband of only two months was in a fight against an army of spirits, with shadows swarming all around Clark and rotting corpses roaming the cemetery below.
The Dead had awakened in Gotham.
With widened eyes, an impassioned Barbara looked at Bruce and Raven through an air of sickening dread…
"I've got to go."
In the surreal scene at the Maternity Ward, Princess Diana quickly placed her hand upon the Blue Lantern's tense shoulder.
"We shall go together, friend Barbara."
Without another word, the pair of powerful women departed into the night.
Carefully eying Nekron, Clark didn't know what the contract between Trigon and the Lord of the Unliving entailed, and frankly… he didn't care. He wasn't going to give up his sister-in-law Raven without a fight to some ghoul. Whatever deals Trigon had made in the past were null-and-void as far as Superman was concerned.
His first instinct had been to punch a hole through the creepy corpse called Nekron, but he thought better of it. He was dealing with some sort of God of the Dead, and his previous two efforts to engage Gods in physical violence had not exactly ended well.
Nekron didn't seem to be the physical powerhouse that Trigon had been, but there was a strong aura of dark magic about him which caused Clark to pause…
Magic was one of Clark's few weaknesses. There was no telling what a God of the Dead could actually do beyond raising the Dead, so Clark decided that he would not engage Nekron directly until backup arrived.
The Kryptonian was able to fly around the shades easily enough while he provided damage control. He felt a little apprehensive about incinerating the walking dead with his heat vision - as they were the remains of someone's ancestor after all - but he could not allow any of these undead monstrosities to leave the confines of the cemetery.
Besides, no one wanted to remember their dead this way. What's dead and buried should remain dead and buried.
Circling high above the border of the graveyard's hallowed ground, the Man of Steel had already reduced hundreds of these shambling corpses into hot ash with his heat when one of the dark spirits actually blocked his rays…
Something blonde and blue-eyed and female…
Something that flew as fast as he did and stopped only two feet away, hovering in the air before him, grinning with the truth that only the Dead can know.
Something that wore the familiar blue and red crest of his family…
The cold, shadowy undead form of…
…Kara Zor-El
"I have found you, Kal-El…"
It was her…
His dead cousin…
The first genetically engineered superhuman, his predecessor, the Supergirl.
One of the countless victims of Trigon who died defending Krypton.
"…Kara?"
"You remember me, Kal-El… How I have longed for this day… To finally embrace you… To be as one, cousin… There is an entire world that awaits you now… Your family, your mother… We have all missed you so very much… Only take my hand and you need not be alone any longer…"
He glanced at the offered hand of Kara Zor-El only a touch away, darkened by the deep shadows of death. There was a time in his life not so long ago when he may have been tempted by her offer…
A time before Barbara.
"I have a new family… on Earth, Kara."
Her eyes were impossibly blue.
"This cruel world has never been your true home, Kal-El… Krypton itself awaits you now with open arms… All the love that has been denied awaits you… I await you, my noble cousin… Just take my hand and everything that you have ever desired shall be yours…"
Kara must have been incredibly beautiful in life.
He longed to see her as she had once been, a blonde vision of perfection streaking across the clear skies of Krypton. And Clark had no memories of his mother, having fled Krypton shortly after his birth. As a son, he would have liked to have seen her just once, to have a memory of the woman she had been, his own mother…
Kara's hand steadily awaited his own…
The sudden explosion from below rattled Clark's train of thought as tiny pieces of dead flesh sailed past them in the night air. As the smoke cleared below, Clark spied the dark silhouette of…
Batman.
Who was now staring directly back at him.
"You plan on floating around all night, Clark?"
Batman hadn't even bothered to raise his voice as he knew that Clark's super-hearing could pick up a whisper from a mile away. Sooty smears of blackness darkened the scorched earth where Richard Grayson had detonated one of his many potent explosive devices.
The Dark Knight was now also attempting to constrain the undead horde within the confines of the cemetery to protect his city of Gotham.
The wraith-like figure of Kara Zor-El stared at the man below with hatred in those ice blue eyes. Clark managed to shake off the spell he had been under while she glared at Batman, her undead body tensing with venomous loathing.
"Interloper!"
As her eyes glowed red with the fires of Hell, twin beams that could melt steel erupted, intended for the annoying man in the metal suit who had dared to interfere with her moment of triumph…
…Only to be intercepted by Clark's forearm which was placed in front of her face, blocking her heat vision and saving Richard Grayson from being cleanly sliced in half.
"Enough, Kara!… I am happy here on Earth. I have found peace. I have found happiness in this life…"
The shadowy form of the Supergirl suddenly flew at astounding speed to grasp him, with nothing more than a flicker of darkness before long shadowy arms were wrapped around him with a strength beyond comprehension.
He felt her cold breasts pressed against him, and… he felt… cold. As though his very life energy were draining into his dead cousin. Pale legs slid past his hips and locked around his waist, fixing the two Kryptonians together in the darkened sky.
As he struggled, he found her immeasurably strong, as though the black night gave her strength while his own light-powered strength waned.
Cold, dead lips pressed against his ear…
"And I must now find my happiness… in death… This is what… your mother always wanted… for us, my love... You were always to be mine, Kal-El… And now… Finally, you shall be."
With an inhuman effort, Clark pushed with everything he had to break the grip of his cousin, struggling for his own life and sanity… until lips he was never meant to taste found his own… lips that tasted of cold Oblivion… lips that promised a quick exit to this meaningless life, as his will to resist became inconsequential before her dark passions…
Their kiss would seal his Fate.
He had been destined from his birth for Kara Zor-El.
The beam of pure blue energy bursting through the shadowy form of his undead cousin lit up the entire downtown area and caused Kara to momentarily fade, releasing him before darkness could claim him.
"Hands off my husband, Super-Bitch!"
Shivering with the chill of death, Clark managed to glance over at an enraged Barbara Gordon only thirty feet away, bright blue energy radiating from her entire being. He had never seen her so beautiful, powerful and angry before…
The specter of Kara Zor-El smiled wickedly and placed her index finger upon Clark's quivering lips while he was unable to do a thing about it. He had never been paralyzed in his life before, but this must have been what it felt like. What had she done to him?!
"A rival for my affection, cousin… And to the victor… the spoils… Wait for me, Kal-El… and I shall give you a taste of pleasures… you have never dared to dream of…"
"Like Hell you will!"
Barbara shot an intense blue beam at the phantom Supergirl - which was easily avoided by her incredible speed. With a deadly grin, the first Champion of Krypton simply smiled back at the enraged redhead.
Her ghostly response chilled Clark to the core.
"And what would you know of Hell… little girl?"
Next Chapter: Where Barbara Gordon answers…
"Oh, it's on Super-Bitch… It's on."