Bonus Chapter, Part Three:
The Ghosts of Nightmares
Shocked by the scene she had been confronted with above Gotham Cemetery upon her arrival, Barbara Gordon realized that the spectral wraith who was sucking face with her husband must have been Kara Zor-El, the super-powered daughter of Krypton's foremost eugenics scientist, Zor-El.
The fact that she had been Clark's cousin in life only made the undead spit-swap even more disgusting…
She'd be washing Clark's mouth out with disinfectant when this was all over.
From her talks with Clark's father Jor-El in Elysium, Barbara recalled that Kara had been incinerated in the battle with Trigon on Krypton, and yet that must be her. It seemed it wasn't just Gotham's Dead who were returning, but also the people from their past.
Still, if this thing were as strong as Clark, Barbara knew she had her work cut out for her. She had already hit Kara with a massive shot from her Ring, even taking her by surprise… which had barely fazed the husband-stealing phantom.
The Blue Lantern glanced apprehensively at Diana below in the hopes of an ally – as the Amazon was happily slicing her way through corpses towards the center of the cemetery - when Kara struck out of nowhere.
It was only thanks to Barbara's hope of not being instantly atomized that saved her life.
Clark's cousin wasn't pulling her punches. Barbara's blue light flared like a supernova to absorb the incredible amount of force at the end of that shadowed fist, and even then the impact still sent her crashing downwards into the earth a hundred yards away, impacting against the wet muck with a terrible sloshing sound.
Barbara's first worry upon impact was being down on the ground among the zombies, but it shouldn't have been…
Kara was on top of her before the flattened redhead could even blink, slamming her head deeper into the earth. The undead bitch was too damned fast…
"Kal-El was promised to me… not a low-born whore… Your kind only… taint him."
Although she had to taste mud to reply, Barbara wasn't the type of woman to let personal insults on her character go unanswered.
"He's my husband, bitch… And you're dead!"
Gathering everything she had, all the hope for their future together and their ever-lasting love, Barbara slammed her Ring into Kara's undead chest and fired. It was a massive amount of power which dropped the charge in her Ring dangerously low, but it was an all-or-nothing gamble that had to work… if they had any hopes of surviving.
When an exhausted Barbara finally managed to pull her body out of the ground, she saw Kara Zor-El slumped against a tombstone thirty feet away, blue energy smoldering like smoke from her prone, lifeless body. Barbara wiped the wet mud from her face with her hands as she looked over at Clark, who had tumbled from the sky and was now struggling to get to his feet and stumble towards her…
Thank God.
She rushed over to her fallen husband and tightly embraced him, allowing her own body heat to warm his chilled body. She had never felt Clark so cold before. What had that undead bitch done to him?
He seemed drained of his energy.
"Barbara… I'm so sorry…"
She hugged him tighter, running her fingers through his thick black hair and kissing his cheek.
"Shhh… It's alright, Clark. I'm here now. She's gone."
"No…"
Barbara suddenly wondered why was there fear in her husband's voice as he spoke that last word…
"In the end… The hopes of the living… perish... Dreams are best left… to the Dead."
As though she were in a bad dream, Barbara slowly turned to find the undead specter floating behind her, smiling wickedly. Barbara had only stunned Kara Zor-El… not stopped her.
And that mistake may have been her last.
With glowing red eyes of hatred, the undead Supergirl shot the Blue Lantern with beams of pure heat - fusing the atoms of the air into new particles. Her Ring of Hope saved her life once more as it put up a barrier.
Two beams as hot as the sun dug into a blue energy shield, burning the grass around them into ash and baking the night-kissed soil of the Cemetery. Sweat poured from Barbara's body as she gave everything she had to prevent herself from being incinerated. What was it going to take to stop this undead monster?!
It was Clark who stepped in front of these beams… mere seconds before her Ring consumed its last drop of Power. Even in his weakened state, the beams had little effect upon her husband as he attempted to reason with his dead cousin.
"Kara… stop! You were the protector of our world… a hero. Fight whatever hold he has over you, Kara… Nekron has corrupted your memories, but you're stronger than this. We don't want to hurt you…"
Kara's heat vision stopped. Looking compassionately at her cousin through eyes of shadow, she slowly flew towards Clark, placing her unchallenged cold hand upon his cheek.
"It is you… who have been corrupted, Kal-El… made weak by this girl… You were created to be… a warrior."
"I don't want to fight you, Kara. But I will if I have to… for Barbara."
Kara was about to answer when another familiar voice sounded behind her.
"Allow me that honor, friend Clark!"
A confident voice that could only belong to the Pride of the Amazons.
Princess Diana of Themyscira.
Wielding her shield of Stars and Stripes and clutching her Blade of Perseus, Wonder Woman stood at the ready, itching for a fight. One hundred undead corpses littered the graveyard behind her.
Kara Zor-El slid her index finger under Clark's chin, tilting it upwards as she spoke in her raspy voice - admonishing the last son of Krypton with a vicious grin that curled across her undead lips.
"Yet another rival, Kal-El… A child needs… only one mother."
As she maliciously spun her head, twin beams of red heat blazed towards this new challenger and glanced off of the Amazon's shield as Wonder Woman displayed reflexes that awed even the mighty Kara Zor-El. Princess Diana was not shocked by the sudden attack, only pleased at the glorious opportunity to face such a powerful opponent.
With nothing more than the flick of her palm, Kara pushed Clark's face backwards, sending him flying backwards into Barbara. The wraith now focused her dark gaze upon her new foe, like a viper eying its prey.
"I am Kara Zor-El… Champion of Krypton."
"I am Princess Diana of Themyscira, proud daughter of Queen Hippolyta and chosen Champion of the Amazons. I offer the Dead no mercy."
The cackle of Kara Zor-El's dry laughter spilled across the entire cemetery, chilling the souls of the living who stood before her. She would present this boastful fool's soul to Nekron himself! How dare she…
Kara Zor-El streaked at speeds this living world could not even comprehend towards Diana. The undead Supergirl was surprised that the dark-haired warrior had reflexes that allowed her to swing a sword before Kara's fist struck her conceited mouth...
The sword was such a primitive, useless weapon…
Were her last thoughts as the Blade of Perseus sliced through her phantom neck, separating her head from her body.
Kara's decapitated corpse slammed against the Amazon's shield, transforming into nothing more than black ooze while her orphaned head flew far into the night, carried by pure momentum until it rolled and tumbled across the dark ground, coming to rest against the feet of Nekron himself… where it dissolved into black dust.
Three hundred yards away, Princess Diana flicked the dark ooze from her shield, sheathed her sword and sheepishly looked over at Barbara and Clark.
"I humbly apologize if I acted out of turn, Blue-Ring-Sorceress. My battle-lust may have caused me to interrupt a challenge which you may have chosen as your own."
Dumbfounded, Barbara Gordon shook her hands vigorously in front of her as she recovered from the shock of seeing the beautiful Diana instantly destroy something that had pushed both her and Clark to their absolute limits.
"No, no… it's fine, really. Thank you, Princess. It was just… difficult for us… She was Clark's cousin on Krypton."
Without averting her gaze, Diana put her fist through the head of a zombie that had dared to wander too close to her side.
"Do not weep for her, my friends. These shades are nothing more than the mere puppets of their master, the God of the Underworld, Hades. They are closer to demons than the noble souls whose appearance they may have fashioned… Rest assured friend Clark, that was nothing more than a darkened reflection of your cousin."
Clark moved forwards.
"But she knew things about me, Diana…"
"Do not imagine that the tales of our lives are obscured from the ears of Hades. All the secrets of the Dead belong to the dread Lord of the Underworld. That is where we must focus our attack, my friends. We must waste no more time with base phantoms and focus instead on their master…"
The unexpected voice from above startled them, causing them to suddenly glance upwards to witness the Batman hovering just over their heads, peering in the direction of Nekron himself.
"Agreed Princess, but we need to regroup first. Clark was almost killed and I would imagine Barbara's power level is low. We should also call Bruce and report in."
With a raised eyebrow, a disappointed Diana turned her inquisitive eye to Barbara while the redhead raised her arms in exasperation.
"What?... I don't own a magic sword…. And Miss Blonde, Dark and Gruesome had almost sucked Clark's soul out through his cheating lips by the time I arrived… Which reminds me that I need to pick up some disinfectant on the way home.
Anyways… Batman is right, we need to regroup. Let me recharge my Ring and I'll teleport Clark as close to the Sun as I can bear. He should be back up to speed in a couple of minutes… Batman, can you call Bruce and give him the update in the meantime? We should get the Flash down here as well… We can't underestimate these things…"
It was Diana who suddenly leapt through the air to push both Barbara and Clark only inches away from the earthshaking impact of the massive dark fist which slammed into the ground where they had been standing, reducing two marble gravestones to mere dust in its wake.
The giant fist must have been at least ten-feet wide.
As she regained her senses, Barbara once again heard the deep, mocking laughter which she had locked away in her most terrifying nightmares. Whatever hope she still had suddenly snapped like a twig under the shadow of a two-hundred-foot tall God with one blackened eye…
One blackened eye with three other eyes burning with the fires of Hell...
The heroes slowly looked up with widened eyes across the massive shadowy form of pure evil…
Across the terrifying power of despair…
Trigon had returned.