No one saw it coming (HalBarry)

2

Black. Dark. Blinded.

That's how Sebastian felt ever since the dark cloth bag had been pulled over his head, cutting off all sense of sight, time, distance and direction. He had slowly started to feel claustrophobic inside the moving vehicle, but he had clamped up his mouth over his better judgement.

He strained his ears to try and listen in on any nefarious plans, maybe recognise anyone by their voice and understand why the heck he was being kidnapped in the first place.

But true to his rotten luck, these people were efficient and either were communicating mutedly, or had this all planned out to the last detail so there were no conversations required. Sebastian was leaning heavily on the latter. This was a pre-planned action, probably added onto a lot of shadowing because his lunch plan with Barry was a last-minute decision.

Barry...

Right now, it didn't bother him whether Barry was part of an illegal drug ring. He just prayed that he was safe.

****

Barry was losing it.

Cisco was hard at work, scanning the city using Sally the Satellite for any traces of the missing twin.

Caitlin was rapidly synthesising a calming solution for the speedster; his metabolism was notorious for burning through the regular drugs and rendering them utterly useless.

Iris had just finished sending a homing beacon to The Green Lantern. She stood up, looking really gorgeous in a red dress she had saved for her date today, but when Barry had frantically called for help, she had rushed over to her dear brother's aid.

"Thank you, Iris, I-" Barry started his long-drawn apology again when Iris held up a hand. "My girlfriend can wait, Barr," she said comfortingly. "My family always comes first. Besides, I sent her a voice message explaining things."

"You told her about all of this?!" Barry asked, horrified. Iris had to dig more into her reservoir of patient kindness. "No, Barr, I just told her part of the truth. I told her that Bas had been kidnapped and that you needed all the comfort you could get. She instantly assumed that the police are on the trail. That's all."

Caitlin looked up from behind her workspace. Really, she could never get over appreciating Iris' quick journalistic wit. Team Flash owed her a lot.

"Oh," was all Barry could manage as his shoulders slumped heavily again. But not a minute later, Hal Jordan practically dashed into the cortex.

"Heard the news, Iris!" he called, and Barry whirled around, relief falling like a cosy blanket over his shoulders. His head kept repeating in his head: Your best friend is here. He's here, he'll know what to do. Don't worry.

Hal looked around for something useful, finding Cisco hard at work on the computers. He rushed over to pull out another chair beside him and sat down heavily in it.

"Why won't you Vibe?" he asked as his hands flew over a second set of keys on a separate keyboard; his eyes were now glued to a computer too. Cisco ran an infuriated hand through his long hair (Sebastian had been impressed with his maintenance routine).

"Someone's blocking out my Vibe," he growled, and it was evident that he had tried out the suggestion long ago. "Someone mean and, I'm unfortunately saying this, uncharacteristically clever."

"Any ideas?" Hal shot again, databases now snapping themselves open courtesy to his Lantern ring. It had materialised a neat green hacking drive which he had inserted into the desktop. Although technically, it was illegal by the Corps rules, but fuck the rules for now.

Caitlin's face appeared in front of him as she handed Barry the potent calming drug. "We thought of several waves all through the electromagnetic spectrum, but nothing has actually been known to block Cisco's Vibes," she said softly. Hal's frown only deepened at that.

****

Fear.

That's how Sebastian felt ever since the dark cloth bag had been pulled over his head, cutting off all sense of sight, time, distance and direction. He had slowly started to feel uncomfortable and choked with his limbs bound, but he had clamped up his mouth over his better judgement.

Sebastian was also confused. Why fear? Why now? He was a lawyer and he had dealt with kidnapping or hired thugs before to stop him from winning a case, but he had always kept a cool head and come out safe and sound from the other side of a one-sided beating. His head and fists had always been reliable.

Then why...?

Why was the sudden chill engulfing him? Why was he feeling like drowning in an ocean of fear with no land in sight? Why did he want to give up and surrender to the strong currents?

At this moment, one hard realisation hit Sebastian Allen Smythe: he was all alone.

****

Hal wiped the sweat off his brow. Everything was slowly contributing to pointing to one direction, but he didn't want it to be true. He eyed Barry warily. How would he react if he heard the news of that possibility?

He shook his head. No, it was best to do one more search to be absolutely sure.

Approximately fifteen minutes of perspiring frenzy later, when Cisco came up with zero results and Iris' social media handle came up with nothing, Hal decided it was good time to confirm his suspicions.

"Barry..." he said slowly. His best friend turned to him, his hollowed eyes lighting up with a flicker of hope. Hal gulped. "Remember the Sinestro Corps?"

Barry nodded. "Yeah, even the head guy infected me, right? You helped me shake him off... Hal, wait, you don't mean..."

Hal Jordan nodded slowly.

Barry Allen paled.

"So where would bas be held up?" Barry gulped, but couldn't hold it together. He collapsed into the chair, shuddering and scared. "Oh God. Oh, God. Bassy must be so scared... and Sinestro preys on fear, he embraced Parallax's power... but why? Why him? Is it because of me? It is, isn't it? It's always me! I always kill everyone around me! Mom, dad, Eddie, Ronnie, and now Bassy. It's all my fault. It's all my fault, I know it..." he sobbed pitifully.

Hal rushed to him, by his side in a second. "No, Barry!" he consoled him. "It's not your fault, please know it. Eddie and Ronnie must have been good men, because they made their choices to save the world alongside you and didn't die in vain. Your mom and dad are proud of you. They don't blame you for their deaths, Barry, they don't. But right now, your brother needs your help, and you need to be in fighting shape to rescue him! So get up, Barry, and let's kick some kidnapper ass."

Barry laughed lightly. "Let's," he agreed.