Hal grew excited. In his view, he would be at the heart of Batman's plan, and this would be a perfect chance to deal a heavy blow to the mastermind behind it all.
"What do I need to do?" Hal asked.
"Although you know The Truth now, as long as you finish the rest of this wine, those traces will remain for a while. The Black Death Emperor has gathered beneath the sea. When you go to reinforce them later, they will certainly try to recruit you."
"Then I'll show them these traces. Even if what they learned from the Black Death Emperor is that I haven't been corrupted yet, or that I'm a priority target, once they see these traces, they'll assume the Black Death Emperor has other arrangements. Since there's a delay in their communications, they won't focus on me for at least the next wave of fighting."
"Exactly." Schiller smiled and nodded.
"But it won't delay them for long," Hal said rationally. "At most, one or two waves of attacks."
"That's more than enough." Schiller walked toward the door with Hal.
"Looks like you already have some leads. Where is the White Lantern energy?"
"You'll know soon enough."
As Hal reminisced, they had already arrived beneath the sea. This had once been an undersea hot spring. Near the earth's depths, scalding water should have been gushing forth, but now it was shockingly cold, and the closer they got to the spring's source, the colder it became.
Hal stopped everyone from going any farther. He turned to Clark and said, "Cut this place open."
Clark nodded. He took a deep breath, and a laser swept across the ground, slicing a long crack through it. The instant the opening appeared, a thick stench of decay wafted out.
Everyone recoiled