Barry panted for breath as he ducked behind a boulder. Dragging Sinestro out of Central City had taken a lot out of him, but now that they were in the middle of nowhere (even Barry wasn't sure where) he didn't have to worry about civilian casualties.
As the boulder exploded in yellow light, Barry remembered that he did still have to worry about himself.
He dashed forward, weaving to avoid the lemon-yellow spikes that missed him by a hair's-breadth.
Barry had never considered having to fight Hal, despite the paranoia of certain other crimefighters he could mention. He almost wished, now, that he had, if only to be prepared for this psychopath.
A shining yellow wall erected itself in front of him, and Barry knew, innately, that he didn't have the strength in his knees to change course or stop before hitting it.
Instead, he was forced to run straight up the wall, in a desperate bid to leap away. The wall turned to tar, though, trapping him like a fly in a web. Nope-Nope-Nope. No thank you.
Barry vibrated, even as tendrils of yellow energy slithered up his body to trap him in a suffocating cocoon.
The energy was constantly shifting, which made it so much harder to vibrate through than an ordinary wall. Barry felt like a pinball machine, ricocheting his molecules in a wild dash to filter themselves through Sinestro's deadly grip.
Barry angled himself towards a tree as he fell, reaching out to grab the branch. He could use it as a launching point to throw himself at Sinestro, perhaps, or -
His fingers slipped through the branch.
His fingers slipped through the branch.
As if he was a ghost; as though it wasn't there. Barry's eyes widened in horror, time slowing and elongating, and light shining through his incorporeal fingers and the ground rushing closer…
Barry struck the ground with a painful and sudden thud, too distracted with horror to break his fall. He started to pull himself to his knees, hand clutched around his wrist, staring at his transparent fingers.
In an instant he regretted the break in his concentration.
A giant hand clutched his body, and he was raised high into the air again, this time Sinestro's construct emitting counter vibrations that prevented him from slipping through. The hand tightened its grip, and Sinestro glided forward, dark eyes glittering with anticipation.
Barry's hand was still numb. He wanted to see it, wanted to know if it was still a hazy outline, if he could touch anything with it.
Sinestro came closer, and Barry tried to rally himself; to drum up the energy to break free. Surely he could.
But his normally infinite stores of energy were depleted, and breathless weakness had settled into his bones.
"So. This is the famous Flash Jordan is always going on about."
Sinestro cocked his head like a curious bird, and Barry glared as hard as he could. He'd never met Sinestro before, but the stories Hal had spun had been enough.
"I've heard a lot about you… Scarlet Speedster."
"What do you want?" Barry bit out, even though every word cost him precious air. He didn't like the idea of Sinestro on Earth, and he didn't like the thought of Sinestro hurting Hal.
"I want revenge. I want Jordan to suffer for ousting me from my rightful position!"
Barry took a moment to be thankful for the rogues, who, unlike the psychopathic space dictator possessed an actual code (and better witty banter) and resolved to send them a fruit basket or something once this was over.
"I won't tell you where he is." Barry growled, eyes narrowed to slits. Hopefully, Hal would come to his rescue, and he could stall Sinestro before the alien went on the offensive.
"I don't imagine you would." Sinestro sneered, and the golden giant construct squeezed Barry tighter in his grasp.
"I'm going to kill you," Sinestro whispered, "and I'm going to leave your broken body as carrion for the birds, so Jordan can find your mutilated corpse and weep."
"Never… arggghhh… happen…"
"No?" There were two Sinestros, now, blurring and weaving together, each equally smug. "You think I don't know him? You think I can't see right into his pathetic human heart? You think I can't see what keeps him tied to this backwater planet? You think I haven't heard him boast about you - you think I haven't seen the recordings of you he keeps on his ring?
I know what keeps him grounded to this world. I know his weakness. You think I haven't seen Jordan pant like a dog for the validation of others? I know what you do to him - for him!"
'No…' Barry mouthed, but there was no sound with it. But he was sure. He wasn't going to die here. Hal would come. He always did. Barry wouldn't give up faith in his best friend.
Sinestro's long fingers grabbed Barry's chin, and spots erupted across his vision. "You give him consistency. You fulfill the childish desires of his psyche, you anchor him! And once I kill you, he will be set adrift, his soul rotting inside his walking corpse!"
Barry did his best to hold Sinestro's gaze even as everything blurred together. He'd need to keep Sinestro distracted for Hal. Hal was coming. Hal always came. Stay loose, Barry. Be ready for him to catch you.
"Your faith is misplaced." Sinestro growled.
And an emerald mallet slammed him over the head with the force of a pile driver.
Barry fell in a shower of golden shards; a glinting kaleidoscope of light his oxygen deprived brain didn't have the capacity to handle. Barry landed in an infinitely soft green cushion, body limp as light flashed in the sky above him.
Blurrily, Barry turned his head to look down at his hand. Everything halfway up his arm was transparent, phased into the green pillow beneath him.
Barry lay there, staring into the color blazoned sky, a sense of foreboding eating away at his mind.
But Hal was a brilliant star in the sky, and, as so often happened, Barry could feel Hal's own courage entering his own body. It was okay. Everything would be alright. And the longer Barry focused on watching Hal soaring through the sky, the more solid and real he became.
Finally, Hal came down to alight next to him, and Barry offered him a smile.
"I knew you would save me, Hal. I always knew you'd come."
"It was a pretty close thing." Hal looks a little regretful, no doubt guilty for not having arrived sooner. As far as Barry was concerned, his timing had been impeccable.
"I'll take a close thing any day, bud. That was a pretty great rescue, there."
Hal smiled, and shrugged. "How did you know I was going to save you? You never saw me."
Barry grinned. "I believe in my best friend, what can I say? I assume you tracked Sinestro-"
"-when my ring picked up that he entered the planet. I was flying a plane when he touched down so I-"
"-wasn't wearing your ring. I told you that was going to come back to bite us one day."
Hal shrugged sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry."
"I'm fine, so we don't have to worry about it. Still, I'd feel better if we had some kind of signal device so this kind of thing doesn't happen again. If it hadn't been one of your space villains that got the better of me, who knows what could've happened."
Hal squinted as he considered this. "Sounds good to me, but where are we gonna get those from?"
Barry tilted his head and smiled. "Yeah… who do we know who's paranoid as death, filthy rich, and has a veritable armory of technology in his man-cave?"
Hal glared. "No. No, we don't need any help from him. Not on your life."
1 month later The Flash and GL were the owners of signal devices, and no one goofed off with them more than Green Lantern.