Isbinar had once been a beautiful planet. Hal could tell. Its stone was a deep purple color, mixing with dark bue to offset the black of space behind the floating debris. He took the jet in for a closer look, knowing that the answers that they were looking for were down on the decimated planet. The chunks of rock were all shapes and sizes, and he pulled to a stop in-between two larger pieces.

The Green Lantern put his hand out, ignoring the twinge from his middle and chest as he did so, "Ring, scan for life forms on the planet. Specifically Isbinar."

Hal felt tempted to take some of the antidote, even if only to take the strain off of his mind for a moment, but he knew that he couldn't do that. He'd been the first victim, and had already used a lot of the antidote. He couldn't afford for it to become useless as the poison adapted, and so had to find an alternate route.

Barry had come up with the idea, but had warned Jordan that he should take no risks, and have a lot of antidote at hand for emergencies.

Lantern just wanted to find a real antidote as fast as was humanly possible. The faster they did that, the faster they could all rest.

"Whatever did this didn't hold back at all." Barry observed quietly from behind him as his ring glowed, and Hal frowned at the toneless quality of his friend's normally chipper voice. "Do you really think that there could be survivors from this AND the Manhunters?"

"Hey, how come the Manhunters didn't destroy whatever did this?" Ollie asked, and Hal had no chance to answer as the scan completed itself, a green map appearing in the air above his ring to show the half-planet before him.

The ring's findings ran through his mind, taking his breath away as usual with the rapid exchange of information. There was also an edge of pain to the normal exertion of using his ring, reminding him of his weakened condition as the map disappeared.

"And? What happened?" Oliver's voice broke him from his thoughts, and he turned to his friends, taking a deep breath to respond.

"My ring can sense people down there, but it can't pinpoint or identify them. There's some sort of interference."

"So we're goin' in." Flash wasn't asking. They had told the rest of the League that they would probably be going in, but now it was definitely official.

"Yeah." Hal took his seat once more, pushing his exhaustion to the side as he started them forward again, moving towards where his map had shown him the greatest cluster of life.

"I hope this isn't where our mysterious hand-man is from." Oliver said.

"Well we're already poisoned, what more could they take from us?" Hal chuckled, but it died as Flash responded in all seriousness.

"Our lives."

No one spoke again after that as Hal took them in, and the Lantern didn't like it. He didn't like the silence, or lack of life from his two normally smiling friends. He knew he could also be boisterous and loud when the mood struck him, but he was usually much more comfortable in silence than he felt right then.

Winding through the debris was simple compared with starting a conversation, so he focused on that instead of his solemn companions.

As they neared the crumbling planet, it only became more beautiful, yet in a melancholic way. As a Green Lantern, he'd seen many planets, but the pink and blue fauna on this one combined with the red sunset to create a gorgeous sky as they neared.

"Huh. How has it maintained its atmosphere?" Barry was looking at the readout to Hal's right, and his eyes were wide with disbelief. "It's not something we can breath, since there's hardly any oxygen in it, but it's still there."

"Didn't your ring say that this planet was super poisonous to other beings?" Ollie inquired, even as Hal began to land the ship right on top of where the life-signals seemed to be gathered, crushing long blue grass underneath.

"You're both going to need suits to go out there." Hal nodded, turning off the jet before standing to look at them. "We need to find out what's giving off those life-signals, and where it's coming from."

"So there's still interference?" Barry went and grabbed his customized suit, with built in gravity-boots to help him use his speed.

"Not as much." Hal studied his ring, silently willing it to scan again. "But the signals still aren't very clear."

"Nice." Oliver pulled on his own customized spacesuit, "Barry, try not to use up all of the oxygen like last time, huh?"

"I do everything faster. That includes breathing." The speedster stated it in a monotone voice, and Hal pressed the button to open the hatch.

He floated down onto the ground, the purple dirt feeling strangely springy beneath his boots, and his friends followed. "Gravity is stronger here, but not by too much." Flash seemed to be grumbling, apparently annoyed at imminent drag on his speed. Arrow merely crouched down, rubbing the dirt between his fingers and pulling at a blade of grass before breaking it off and studying it closer.

"So far, apart from colors, it doesn't seem too different from Earth."

"And the fact that we die if we try to breathe the air." Barry reminded.

"And that." Ollie conceded.

Hal ignored his friends in favor of scanning again. "The life-signals are pretty spread out, but they're clustered all around us … it's a really weird signal." He scanned yet again as his two friends explored their surroundings a little.

The scan would always do well, easily picking up the life-signs of his two companions, and then it would insist that the other life-signs were all around them, indicating simultaneously that there was too much interference to pinpoint their locations with any accuracy. "Helluva time for this thing to start bein' finicky." Hal muttered, aiming his ring around. "What's interfering?"

The ring immediately filled his mind with chemical compounds and most especially a strange magnetism that seemed to grace the planet. In part, it explained the fact that the planet had held together so well, but Hal frowned as he recognized the problem it posed in finding anyone here with any sort of technology. So he began to work with the ring, attempting to find a way around the problem.

With a ring running off of pure willpower, the Lantern knew that anything was possible. He just doubted if he could expend that much mental energy on a scan right at that moment.

"Hey!" Ollie's voice broke into his thoughts, speaking through his comm, and by extension, the ring. "I found something over here!"

Hal looked up from the ground and his study of the dirt, and saw Arrow about half a mile away. Barry was already with him, and Jordan wasted no time in floating over. "Is that a spear?"

"Javelin." Flash said immediately, and Hal raised an eyebrow.

"Because that's so different."

It looked similar to the knives that had poisoned his friends, but it was a stark white, as though it were made from bone.

"It looks pretty old, and it was buried halfway into the ground." Oliver's green suit had smears of purple on it where he'd been digging, and he held the javelin out for both of them to see. "But I dunno why it's just sitting here if there are still people around."

"They're probably all dead. Hal's ring can't pinpoint them."

"There's magnetic interference." Lantern scowled towards his friend, irritated at hearing his own worst fears spoken out loud. "And it's coming from the planet itself. There's no way to just avoid it."

They all stood there for a moment, feeling the tension in the air along with the stronger gravity weighing them down. Oliver was trying to get the purple dirt off of the spear, and succeeded in covering his gloves with it before speaking thoughtfully.

"Well, maybe there's a way to go through it."

"Just go through the planet?" Jordan raised his eyebrows, and felt his mask following along. "Someone already did."

"Oh, we're so stupid." Barry said suddenly, and Hal immediately opened his mouth to stop him before he continued that train of thought, but halted at the Flash's next words. "If this happened to Earth, where would the people go?"

"What, World War Z?" Ollie snorted, gesturing vaguely at the decimated world surrounding them. "The San Andreas Fault?"

"An alien invasion." Flash clarified. "Where would the people go if aliens attacked from the sky?"

Lantern's eyes widened as he realized what Barry was getting at, thinking of all the bunkers that had been prepared during the cold war, and the drills that he'd performed in school as a child. "Underground."

That explained the strange reading. They really probably were right on top of the life-signals.

"Do we have to dig, then?" Queen tucked the javelin into his belt for later, and looked distastefully at the ground.

"I'm sure they have a way in." Hal floated up, knowing now that just using his eyes would be a lot faster than scanning. "We just have to find it."

"I'll look, I guess." Barry disappeared, and just as Hal reached the point where he could see large clusters of rocks in the distance, the Flash's voice came on over their comms. "I think I found it. Huge hole in the ground. It doesn't look like there's anything inside th- Ahhh!"

The shout immediately had Arrow sprinting, favoring his bad foot. Hal picked him up in a protective bubble before flying towards where their fastest teammate had run off to, a small pile of rocks and trees in the distance. It was the farthest of all the clusters of rocks.

Jordan saw a beam of green light shoot from the area and quickly put on more speed, feeling as though he were slowly squeezing his mind to death. His vision tunneled a little as they arrived, and he put his friend on the ground before he all but collapsing next to him.

"Hal, are you-" Arrow put out a steadying hand, while Hal put up a staying one, but both were stopped short by the mechanical voice that declared.

"NO MAN ESCAPES THE MANHUNTERS." There was no time to think as the robot raised its arm to destroy them.

"Hal!" Ollie dove into him just as a green light enveloped the place where he'd been standing, leaving him winded and on his back. Pain shot up from his middle, and he gave a hiss as he attempted to stand, immediately falling back in pain.

Arrow stood and ran around to the other side of the mechanical man, effectively distracting it from Hal. Jordan was grateful and worried for the help, since Arrow's foot couldn't be up for a fight yet. How could there still be Manhunters on the planet?

The Lantern could see that the Manhunter was old, and rust covered the metal of its body. Wires hung where one of its arms had been torn away, and it was tilted strangely to the side where one of its legs was obviously bent completely out of shape.

The green beams that shot from its good hand were perfectly functional however, and it was repeatedly aiming them at Queen, not giving him a chance to rest.

Hal heard other blasts from beyond the rocks, where he was sure the Flash was dealing with his own problems, but he focused on the Manhunter before him. He forcefully ignored the black spots that danced before his eyes as he shakily aimed his ring at it.

Ollie jumped then, shooting in the middle of his sideways flip, and caught the robot in the head. His arrow exploded a moment later, and Hal allowed his arm to drop, curling in on his chest and abdomen.

He had to get up.

Why was it so hard to get up?

"Hal, hang tight! I'll be right back!" Green Arrow ran around the rocks, and Hal scowled, bracing his arm against the ground. The sounds of more explosions and mechanical threats came from the other side, and Hal knew he couldn't stay still.

He grit his teeth and pulled himself to his feet, swaying slightly. Perhaps he'd overdone it a little … Another explosion rocked the ground, and Hal gripped a rock, pulling himself around it to see what he'd dreaded.

There was Ollie, in the middle of at least 7 Manhunters, all in various stages of decay. A few others lay dead in the middle, where Flash must have killed them. The speedster himself was running in and out of the battle, distracting the beams from the robots, allowing Arrow to get in some good shots.

Two saw-arrows quickly beheaded corresponding Manhunters, and the rest immediately repeated their mantra as one. "NO MAN ESCAPES THE MANHUNTERS!"

Queen was thrown backwards as a shot grazed his leg, and he rolled before coming to his feet, leaning heavily on his good foot with a grimace. Flash burst through again, stopping long enough this time to smash his fist into the neck of one of the other robots, effectively killing it before pulling its body up to protect himself from the next four blasts.

Oliver rolled away from another blast, freezing the head of the next Manhunter which Barry promptly smashed, immediately dodging away from the following energy blasts.

Hal steadied himself, pulling up his arm in time to shield Arrow from a shot that surely would have killed him. Then he put a hole straight through one of the remaining three robots, watching with detachment as it collapsed with a twitch.

He needed to sit down.

Jordan panted from his position at the rocks, groaning as he saw the last two Manhunters fix their sights on him.

They hated the Green Lanterns.

Flash got another one in the neck, and Queen parted the last one's head with a heated arrow. Then they were running towards him.

"You relapsed! He relapsed! He's dying! You're dying!" Barry was saying as his hands hesitantly hovered over his best friend, alternating between talking to the both of them.

"Hal, are you okay?" Oliver's leg was bleeding that strange pink hue from the antidote, and his foot couldn't have been much better, but he still put a hand under Hal's upper arm, pulling him to his feet.

"Been better." The Lantern grimaced, allowing his friends to hold some of his weight as he took in their surroundings. "What were they doing here?"

"They were all at the door." Barry pointed towards the large hole in the rock face. Hal could see a thick metal door a little farther in, no handles, and no way to know how to open it. "I thought that they were dormant. I should have known they'd wake up and attack."

They helped Hal sit down near the entrance, where he leaned against the rock with his head back and forced himself to keep his eyes open. If he dozed off, his willpower would stop keeping the poison at bay, and he'd stop breathing immediatly.

Sleep now would be a sure death.

Flash was already at the door, and Oliver limped over, curiosity lacing his pain filled tones, "It looks like the Manhunters couldn't get in."

"This door seems really sturdy." Flash knocked a hand against it, as if identifying the material. The only sound was a dull thud. "Just our luck. They don't like visitors."

"Would you, if they were Manhunters?" Queen leaned heavily against the wall, tearing a roll of gauze from his belt before wrapping it around his leg. His expressive face was telling as to how painful the gash in his thigh was, but he was silent as he treated it.

"Obviously not."

Hal barely listened as they spoke with one another. His head was pounding, and he knew that he had to open that door. Flash couldn't do it, and neither could Green Arrow.

He was also certain that it would deplete the last of his strength. He knew, logically, that there ought to be another way, but he also knew that they didn't have much time to find one.

"Are you sure you can do it?" Ollie's voice broke him from his thoughts, and the Lantern blinked at him sluggishly. How had Queen known what he was thinking?

"No. So if I die, tell Iris I love her." Allen's sullen voice responded, and Hal heard a light smacking noise. "Ow!"

"Get goin'."

When had Jordan closed his eyes? He couldn't remember doing it, and now he opened them again to see what was going on.

He heard a strange sound, and watched with a detached air as Barry vibrated through the door.

Hal had forgotten that the Flash could do that.

"Hal!" Oliver's eyes widened as he caught sight of the Lantern, and he started forward in a panic. "Hal, wake up! You can't fall asleep!"

Hal put up a hand before Arrow could grab him to shake him, uncertain if is body could handle that. "I'm awake, Ollie."

"Just make sure you stay that way. The last thing we need is for you to faint."

"I'm not going to-"

Both of them were distracted when a light tapping sound came from the door. Then there was a creaking groan as it slowly opened, old gears squealing in protest at their sudden use. "I almost didn't find the lever." Barry popped out, and was instantly at the Lantern's side, his voice rising with the same alarm that Ollie's had held, "Hal, you can't sleep!"

"I'm not asleep." Hal couldn't make himself sound properly annoyed, but he wanted to.

"Good, 'cause if you sleep, you'll die." Flash frowned.

"Okay. Let's head in." Oliver said it kindly, and reached down to help Jordan stand up. As soon as Barry lent a hand, Hal was on his feet, and they were shuffling through the door.

All was silent as they made their way into the corridor, and it was only few moments before Ollie spoke. "Pretty dark in here."

Hal immediately obliged by allowing his ring to illuminate the corridor before them. The walls were smooth, and it was quite apparent that the tunnel hadn't been formed naturally. It inclined softly, and they were descending deeper with every step.

"It's like the mines of Moria." Flash's voice was quiet. "Now we just have to wait for Shelob to come eat us alive."

"I saw those movies, … wasn't the giant spider in a different cave?" Hal had to force his muddy brain to think, but his mind had slowly been clearing, and his arms rested easily on his friend's shoulders.

"I fell asleep." Oliver admitted.

"You're right. It was orcs." Barry admitted. "I was just making sure that you weren't falling asleep again."

"I knew I was right." Hal refused to acknowledge the worry that seemed to emanate from both of his friends, gradually feeling able to push himself more upright, and take more of his weight upon himself.

A comfortable silence fell then, and they continued through the dark.

There were symbols all along the wall, and in the light of the ring, they cast slightly sinister looking shadows. The only sounds were from the trios careful steps and their many echoes. Ollie's voice was soft as he spoke thoughtfully.

"I've been thinking … your ring originally said that this planet was super poisonous to anyone except these Isbinar people, right?"

"Yeah …" Hal agreed, not sure where Arrow was going with that train of thought.

"And those knives were from here, right?"

"Get to the point, Arrow." Flash's eye roll was practically audible, but Oliver didn't seem to mind.

"Well, isn't it possible that this planet is where the poison is originally from?"

There was a long silence as all of them digested that thought, and Barry spoke up with something akin to surprise and pleasure in his voice, sounding more like himself than he had since he'd been poisoned. "There's a thought."

"I was just thinking that if the natives are here, maybe they'll be able to help us understand the poison, or at least give us a pure sample." A smile was bleeding into Queen's quiet tone of voice.

"There's a lab on the jet," Barry was getting excited, and Hal was happy to hear him sound so chipper. "I'm sure I can get a real antidote, even without Bruce's help!"

"I'm sure you can, too." Hal chuckled. "Then we can take it back to the League and put a stop to this guy; whoever he is."

"That's if the poison is here, though." Barry said abruptly. "And if the natives are willing to help. … If the natives aren't all dead."

"I saw their life-signals, Bear!" Hal said, pulling his arms away from his friends, finally feeling up to walking on his own. "My ring didn't lie to me!"

Oliver fell a little behind them, while Barry took the lead, responding matter-of-factly.

"And we don't know if those life-signs are actually Isbinar. For all we know, they could be the creepy hand-guy's family. Or giant spiders. Or orcs."

"Barry-" Hal began, only to be cut off by a groan from Oliver, who abruptly fell to the side, slamming into the wall with an audible thud. "Ollie!"

"Oh great! Just our luck. The antidote wore off. Didn't see that coming." Barry's impersonal comment caused Hal to frown, but he could see that the Flash was frantically searching himself for the antidote. He pulled out a vial, only to curse quietly.

"What?" Hal was alarmed, and Flash held it up to his face quickly, barely giving him time to register the broken vial before pulling away. "Don't you have any other ones?"

"No, no no nonononono!" Barry sounded desperate. "I'll have to go get more from the jet! Those stupid Manhunters broke them all!"

"I'll stay here with Ollie. Go as fast as you can." Hal sat down next to the incapacitated Green Arrow, who had managed to pull himself up to lean against the wall.

Barry spared him a raised eyebrow, and Hal supposed his last command hadn't been necessary. "How do you feel, Ollie?"

"I hate this." Queen growled. "Every time I move, the whole world starts spinning! It's like I blew out an eardrum! How do you think I feel?"

"We're really close to getting answers," Hal spoke as calmly as possible, knowing how angry he felt when he couldn't help. This poison was really getting to all of them. "And Barry will be back any second with the-"

"Here's the antidote!" Barry was suddenly there, holding the syringe in his hand as he knelt to inject it. "I almost ran past you guys. This corridor is really long."

Arrow's eyes were squeezed shut to block out the dizziness, but he nodded when the Flash had finished. "Thanks, Barry."

"We should have brought more antidote." Barry stood dejectedly, as though Ollie were dying and there was nothing that they could do about it. The timing of the antidote really hadn't been the greatest, but Lantern was just happy that it hadn't happened during their fight with the Manhunters.

Hal put one hand on the shoulders of each of his best friends. "We're almost there, and if they do have the poison, we'll be able to make a permanent solution for this." He then offered a hand to Oliver, who had finally opened his eyes, and took it to stand.

"Here's hoping."

"Hey, I'm a Green Lantern, not a Blue one. We will figure this out." Hal hated that Barry wasn't the most upbeat out of their whole group at that moment, but he could see a small smile twitch at both of their lips.

"There are Blue Lanterns?" Barry muttered as they continued on.

Hal thought he could see something up ahead, and extinguished his light, allowing them to better view it. Sure enough, the corridor soon split into two directions, perpendicular with the path that they were currently on. The right corridor was lit with soft silver light, and Hal felt relief flood through him.

"Looks like there's civilization here to me." Ollie whispered as they neared the corner, and Hal nodded, lifting his ring to scan as they took the turn.

They were immediately met with pooling black eyes and a white face, pulling away from them in alarm and shock.

"Who are you?!" The woman's voice was shrill, and Hal retracted his arm quickly before he accidentally ran into the extraterrestrial. The he realized, almost at the same moment as Barry said.

"It's an Isbinarn!"

I'm sorry. This chapter is terrible, and I have no excuses.

Sorry for the cliffhanger ... a little.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and there will be more to come ... I just ... really had a hard time with this chapter. SO MUCH writers block.

Feedback is always appreciated.

(BTW, extra special thanks to all of you who are following this. I don't know what I would do without you guys and I hope you're enjoying it. :)

C Y'all

-Al