Bonus Chapter, Part Six:
The Ghosts of War
When Diana's eyes opened in an explosion of pain, she was surprised to make out the scarlet-dressed figure of Barry Allen extending a hand towards her from the graveyard above. As the roar of agony in her head slowly subsided, she was able to piece together that the Flash was using words to inquire if she were hurt…
Her last conscious memory resurfaced as she promised herself that she would think twice before attempting to match strength with a two-hundred-foot-tall giant again.
The Amazon Princess spit the mud out of her mouth while raising herself up on wobbly legs.
"Yes… I am hurt… Is Trigon…?"
"Gone. Barbara was able to call in the entire Blue Lantern Corps and they finished him off… Here, let me help you up."
"I need no help from a man, Barry."
"Then how about from a teammate, Princess?"
In a flash, Barry was under her arm to steady the wobbly Amazon after she had slowly crawled out of the impression left behind by a powerful, massive fist. Trigon had actually smashed Wonder Woman six feet deep into the ground, leaving a crater as wide as she was tall. Thank Hera the soil here was soft!
Diana would have liked to pay the darkened Goliath back in kind… later.
"While I am glad friend-Barbara and her fellow Lanterns were able to overcome Trigon, I would have liked to have remained in the fight longer… I must perfect combat with much larger foes, and learn to avoid their blows… instead of simply blocking them."
Barry chuckled.
"You'll have to share your technique then… Clark went down like a sack of potatoes. Barbara's gone off to try and recharge him near the Sun."
"We must not speak ill of his courage, friend-Barry. Clark was sorely wounded after his first encounter with the blonde phantom and yet fought on… How is the Batman?"
"Busted up… but still alive. Bruce is helping him."
"Bruce is here?!... Surely he should stay by Raven's side."
"He is… Raven's here too."
"Merciful Hera! She is too full with child! We must get her away from here, Barry! It is too dangerous!"
"I would love to… But she's not budging... And I thought it was just her husband was obstinate! She wants to chat with that thing in the middle of the Cemetery."
"Hades."
"Come again, Princess…"
"That 'thing' in the middle of this Cemetery is Hades, God of the Underworld and the Dead. That is who we must now face… Perhaps the God of the Dead seeks a less reluctant companion than earthbound Persephone. The Lightning Sorceress explained to me that her father Nemesis had once promised her hand to Hades in exchange for a black Ring of Power to control the Dead… but that Contract was never fulfilled."
Barry knew the Amazons related everything to Classical Mythology. And why not? Nekron could just as easily be called Hades or the Angel of Death. The police scientist recalled that Persephone was the wife of Hades, the daughter of divine Demeter who had been abducted by the God of the Underworld as a mate. The distraught Demeter was able to secure her daughter's release, but because Persephone had tasted of pomegranate seeds while in the realm of Hades, she could only return to the mortal realm in the Spring, forced to return to her Husband below in the Fall. This was how the ancient Greeks explained how the seasons worked.
But Barry had never heard about Trigon trying to marry Raven off to Nekron.
"Wait… You mean that Hades is after Raven?"
"I am uncertain. This was the original intent of her father, yes… An arranged marriage for a dark dowry. But his clever daughter duped Nemesis by tying her Fate to that of the mortal Bruce Wayne… Surely Hades has no further desire for a mortal woman who's love he could never possess."
Barry watched as Diana's thoughts whirled behind her bruised brow.
"I do not like this, friend-Barry. There are other forces from the past at work here this night… Let us hurry to Raven's side."
Barry suddenly scooped up Diana in his arms and gave her a quick wink as she protested.
"Hurry is what I do best. Better hold on, Princess."
Before she could even finish the next word, Barry had spanned the quarter mile to Raven Wayne while dodging zombies and specters. He gently set a wounded Wonder Woman down behind a still pregnant Raven Wayne, standing with her Blue Lantern Corps.
To face something far more insidious than anything they could have ever imagined…
Ninety million miles away in the bright void of space, as close to the Sun as she could possibly bear, Barbara Gordon watched as her husband recharged. While she used her own Ring to protect herself and provide an air bubble, Clark thrived in the powerful solar energy of the fusion-powered star to reconstitute his own physical power.
But his wife knew that it was not Clark's body which had been dealt a mortal blow by Kara.
"Barbara… I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened to me down there…"
Barbara's chest heaved as she witnessed the difficulty her new husband had with just meeting her own gaze, his own shame painfully evident.
"You mean the kiss?"
"Yes… I honestly believed I would… I could never betray you... But I did…"
"He's using our fears against us, Clark. That's how Raven explained it to me. Our fears are becoming our enemies. That's why you were doing the tongue-tussle with your undead cousin, sweetheart."
"Oh God… Don't remind me. But my fear couldn't have made Kara, Barbara… I've never even met her before tonight... just stories from my father."
"Kara Zor-El was the manifestation of our fears, Clark... My own fear of you finding a new girlfriend closer to your own superhuman physique… but combined with your greatest fear, which is something far more powerful."
Barbara suddenly placed her arms around her husband, using the blue power of her Ring to protect herself against the intense heat of the Sun while Clark slowly returned her embrace, staring at his newlywed wife with woefully big blue questioning eyes.
"… My greatest fear?"
Perfect red lips whispered softly into his ear.
"Losing me."
Before Clark could reply, those same soft lips found his own, silencing any response he may have uttered. His thoughts melted away as he lost himself in that single kiss. After what had happened with Lois, he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that losing Barbara was indeed his greatest fear.
For Clark, these were the only precious lips he would ever want. The lithe body pressed against him belonged to the only woman he would ever desire. The woman whose love he could never survive without.
The woman who had saved him tonight.
Overcoming her own fears and nightmares, this beautiful woman had reached deep inside herself to rescue him. To save him, both from the edge of the Abyss in Kahndaq and once again tonight…
Body and soul.
She was the greatest hero he had ever known, a continual inspiration for him to be better. Beyond the Kryptonian super science that had turned him into a living fusion reaction able to reconstitute his own DNA from the world around, Fate had granted him with something far more wonderful…
The love of Barbara Gordon.
As tears fell from his eyes, Clark looked longingly at his wife, speaking with absolute resolve as he pledged his very existence to her.
"I can never lose you."
Barbara gently wiped away his tears as she kissed her husband's forehead and held him lovingly.
"I will be with you... always. That is my greatest Hope, Clark… The true source of my Ring's power. To be with you… forever."
"Then that settles it. You have to with me forever."
"I will be, my love… Oh... and Clark..."
Clark smiled broadly at his red-haired wife as she struggled to finish that sentence. It was nice to believe that the Universe consisted of nothing more than this perfect moment and their love, but their friends were still in jeopardy back on Earth.
"We should get back, I know. The others will need us."
"Yes… But I need to tell you something... I was just on my way to pick something up from the drugstore when Bruce called about Raven actually… I wanted to know for certain before I mentioned it to you though…"
Clark could sense her sudden anxiety. Had their perfect happiness only tipped the balance of Fate against them? Was something wrong?!
"Is everything alright, Barbara?"
"Oh, I'm fine… but... I think I might actually be… pregnant."
He hadn't kissed her like that since their very first time above the sands of Kahndaq.
As Bruce carefully examined the injured Richard Grayson, he couldn't help but admire his adopted son's tenacity, even if he had been beaten to a pulp. After all, Dick was nothing more than a mortal man in a high-tech suit who was fighting alongside Gods. And now Richard had paid the price of keeping such elite company. Judging from the state of him, he would need medical attention as soon as possible…
And hospitalization meant that the world-at-large would soon learn that Richard Grayson was still alive.
But… Was that really such a bad thing?
To give Richard Grayson a second lease on life?
The young man that Bruce had once known was painfully gone. He had undergone a nightly metamorphosis into the terrifying entity known as the Batman, slowly becoming something dark and powerful. The spirited and lively boy that Bruce had once known was nothing more than the shadowed reflection of the Dark Knight.
The Spirit of Vengeance.
Dick had dedicated himself to exorcising the spirit of crime in their world, purging the wages of sin at the cost of his own mortal soul. As much as the world around them believed that Richard Grayson was dead, Bruce privately feared that Dick may have also believed it as well…
"Dick, we need to get you to a hospital. You're hurt…"
"No! Trigon…"
As Richard struggled to rise, Bruce supported his weight before his ward could tumble back into the mud again.
"He's gone, Dick. Barbara called in the cavalry and they took him down… The Blue Lantern Corps can handle this now."
"Clark… Diana?"
"Injured, but alive... And in better shape than you. Clark is a walking bundle of unstoppable fusion-powered DNA, and Diana is an immortal Amazon warrior. You're a guy who's been beaten to a pulp in a smashed-up stealth suit and needs medical attention."
"Heh… If you're here… then Raven?"
Bruce breathed a heavy sigh.
"Yes, she's here too… Still human and about to give birth at any moment. She wants to talk with Nekron. To see if we can't rationalize with him."
"Then... let's go."
"The hospital is the other way, Dick…"
"We have to… bear witness."
"Look son, I can't lose you again... I won't… Although I feel like I already have. This thing that you've become."
"Have to… Sorry."
Bruce hung his head as he relented and they trudged towards the center of the Cemetery.
"I know the thing that's possessed you… But never forget the man you were and that you have a family… Raven, Alfred and I are there for you… always."
"And I'm about to… become a big brother."
Bruce felt the tears well up in his eyes.
"Yes, yes you are. Let's make sure your little brother gets born into a beautiful world."
"Bruce… Thank you… I will find a way… to become Richard again."
Bruce winked at his son.
"I know you will. I'll help you."
With her Blue Lanterns now beside her, Raven Wayne stared across at the atrocity holding court within Gotham Cemetery, when she felt her stomach suddenly wrench and twist. Two of the Blue Lanterns stepped in to support their Goddess as the mind-numbing contraction that she must bear as a human doubled her over in agony…
Her son would not allow them much time.
The ghastly figure of Nekron - Lord of the Unliving, the Manifestation of the Dark Sea - seemed nothing more than amused, patiently waiting for Raven to finish and state her plea.
The Champion of Magic couldn't stop shaking now, not from fear, but from the strain of birth. She was a mess of perspiration, agony and hospital gown. And she found herself standing across from one of the most powerful dark entities in existence. Finally she was able to control her breathing to speak once more.
"Lord Nekron… Why have you done all this?!"
"Daughter of Trigon… We meet at last. And what a glorious creature you have become… so full of hope and life."
"You are not welcome here. Your contract was with my father. It shall remain unfulfilled, Lord Nekron."
"Choose your words wisely, Champion… That contract may be your only hope… to save this doomed world... I will graciously offer you the chance… to join me in exchange for my black Ring."
"My Fate has already been joined to a mortal man, my Lord. There will be a day when my soul travels along your black waters, but my destiny will never truly be yours. And I shall never wear your Ring."
"This is so… Then perhaps we may amend the contract. Yes, we may… If a daughter must answer for the sins of her father, then perhaps a son may answer for a mother. Is this acceptable, Champion?"
Raven placed her hands over her womb as Nekron's true meaning became far too obvious.
Her son.
He wanted her son.
"NEVER!"
Her shout filled the darkened graveyard as restless spirits dissolved into flimsy dust within its mighty echoes. The Lord of the Unliving curled blackened gums into the semblance of a smile as he marveled at her power.
"You are powerful, Champion… But do not be hasty in your reply… I too have a Champion… You were born to a destiny, Raven… A destiny of darkness... A destiny you have forsaken… Only to now allow another to now take up its black mantle… Another who has claimed the Dark Ring of the Dead to honor me… Give me your child and I will give you the Dark Ring… It is truly your only hope."
She remembered that in this world, Raven had been fated to become the Second Coming… the bringer of the Apocalypse. That was the terrible destiny her father had crafted for his dark-haired daughter with his bloodied contract.
But if Nekron had now allowed another to bring about that cursed Fate…
Raven watched in horror as a familiar, diminutive figure slowly stepped from behind Nekron.
An ancient being who had betrayed his entire race to Darkseid. An Oan who had agreed to sacrifice the lives of his incarcerated charges for power. The fallen Guardian who had bowed before Darkseid and shunned his fellow Guardians.
The first Oan her Gods had turned to stone…
Khamett.
The undead Guardian now held both hands aloft, displaying the two Rings of Power he wielded, a testament to the fearsome power he had found in death.
His left hand glowed with a sickly yellow power while his right hand glowed with the black power of death.
On his left hand, he wore the yellow Ring of Fear.
On his right hand, he wore the black Ring of the Dead.
"You see... I am not your enemy, Champion… He is."