It's probably a bad thing for Hal to be following his best friend around like some kind of stalker, but he's low on options, and somehow 'find out what's happening to Barry' had become intrinsically opposed to Barry's constant attempts to downplay his weakness. So here he was, using the advanced secret techniques fellow Lantern Sigma Tari had taught him to use his ring to cloak him in invisibility, so he could spy on police scientist Barry Allen in secrecy.

The first thing Hal had noticed, in his vigil, was that Barry was eating a lot less. If this had been going on for a long time, Hal couldn't figure out how Barry wasn't emaciated yet.

The second thing was the weakness. Barry had never been exceptionally strong; as far as Hal knew he never even lifted weights, but he had been reasonably strong, a little stronger than the average man.

There was a lingering weakness hanging around him now, that caused him to tremble and gasp for breath when he lifted heavy objects.

Most worryingly was when Barry panted and leaned against a wall after climbing a set of stairs.

Hal would almost chalk it up to a bad cold, if he had heard any reasonable explanation for how Barry of all people could contract one.

He also had to wonder how Barry could be so bad at 'being fine' at work, but put on such a good facade in front of him and Iris.

There was a screech of wheels in the distance, and Hal turned to rocket toward the commotion, determined to reach it before it had time to reach the ears of the Flash.

At the scene, Hal was treated to a tripped alarm in the same Jewler's Exchange that had faced an attempted robbery less than a week ago by Cold himself. Hal wrestled with whether to chase the getaway van or Cold, before deciding on the super-criminal and touching down to enter the store.

Cold lounged against a table, the shop still closed from its previous attack, and newly looted.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to see you here."

Sometimes, Hal wished he could have a villain as cool as Captain Cold (no pun intended). The man was unflappable, great at witty banter, and had a moral code to boot. All Hal had were losers like Sonar and the Tattooed Man. And Sinestro, he supposed, but Sinestro was a space villain, not an Earth one.

"Suprise! You get to be sent to jail by two superheroes in one week! Don't you usually take longer to break out of jail than this?"

"Had things to do."

"Well, I sure hope you can do them with me." Hal causes his ring to flare, because he does in fact remember the get-away van and he will only be stalled by witty banter for so long.

"It actually had to do with our mutual friend."

The way Snart chews his words sounds really cool, and Hal wishes he could sound as blithe as that too.

"Well, you better start talking, Snart." Not his best rejoinder, he'll admit, but he doesn't get much practice against, say, the Quardians.

Snart gives him a disgusted look that clearly communicates that he was already talking (yes, Hal knows) and responds. "I don't know if you've noticed, Nightlight, but Scarlet isn't doing so hot."

Hal straightens, attention grabbed. He doesn't entirely understand the relationship Barry has with Cold, but the master thief being onto Flash's weakness couldn't mean anything good.

"He's fine." Hal insisted, eyes narrowed and drawing himself up as though that might force his words to be true.

"He's not, and you know it. He knows it too. I know him, Nightlight. Not only is he not fine, he's terrified. Something is wrong and he knows it."

"He's just under the weather. He'll be back to kicking your sorry butt at full speed in no time." Hal narrows his eyes, daring Snart to push the issue.

"Mmm." The other man murmures, tilting his head in an acquiescing gesture. "I suppose that only leaves one other question, then."

"Yeah?"

"Can your ring function if your hand is numb?"

Hal blinked: the second it took to process the question the second Cold needed to let loose with his gun.

Gasping, he reached down to grasp his right arm, the frozen limb unresponsive in his hand, and covered by a lair of frost. Leaping backwards, Hal fumbled the ring off his finger and tried to finagle it onto his other hand.

His space aura would have protected him from the cold, had he thought to turn it on, and Hal scowled at his own lack of foresight.

Cold launched a barrage of icicles at Hal, who was forced to pause in his ring-refitting to scramble away from the shimmering skewers.

Cold's next shot iced the floor, just as Hal was diving for cover. Hal skidded over the floor end over end, but he slammed the ring over his finger and clenched his fist in anger.

No more running.

Green Lantern launched himself from behind the counter to send a heatwave to melt Captain Cold's flying ice spikes.

Cold just grinned as a crackling became the only warning Hal received to brace himself. The chandelier, chain frozen brittle, crashed down from the ceiling onto Hal's head, sending his ears ringing.

But he had been prepared, and his force field had taken the brunt of the damage.

"Nowhere to run, Cold!" Hal scowled, breath crystalizing in front of him. No wonder Barry had so much trouble with this guy: Hal was still trying to warm up, and the relentless cold was slowing his reaction time.

Still, an emerald Flash darted from Hal's ring to snatch the cold gun, a verdant cage slammed around the crook, and a green jumpsuit in prisoner stripes quickly hugged Cold's scowling form.

"Yippee," Cold scowled, "the good guys win."

"We do that," Hal made out breathlessly, still annoyed with the convict. The whine of police sirens rent the air, and Hal left Cold tied on the floor awaiting capture.

Meanwhile, he launched himself through the air, scanning for the escaping van. The squeal of tires turned his head, and he dashed after the speeding, careening vehicle.

A quickly constructed roadway rerouted the car, Green Lantern forcing the car to drive his emerald track until they finally managed to hit the brakes. Constructing a glowing green policeman's hat and badge over his uniform, along with a billy club, Green Lantern alit behind the van to throw open the back.

The contents were empty, a single post-it note with a smiley face the van's only contents.

A quick interrogation of the crooks driving the van revealed that this was merely the decoy get-away van: the real vehicle was long escaped by now.

Hal groaned, and slapped a hand over his forehead. Maybe he didn't need a villain like Captain Cold after all.