|SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 4.10| I'm pissed. That episode was absolutely pointless. The only character development we got was from Joe when he decided not to plant evidence to prove Barry innocent. There is also literally no reason why Barry can't tell anyone he's the Flash. All of his family and friends always are targeted anyways because the big bad finds out his secret identity in every single season.

Ugh. This story also faces the fact that radiation is deadly and therefore hurts. Barry wouldn't be up and about in like two seconds if it hurt so bad he had to rip off his glove earlier. Honestly, I just wrote this as an ode to Barry and how he doesn't deserve any of this crap. I get that "The Trial of the Flash" was a huge character arc in the comics for Barry, but here it just doesn't fit. If they wanted it to fit, they could have done with a lot less plot holes. Hence why I wrote this...

Please excuse any typos or errors. I didn't get the chance to edit this. - LowTide1322

(Disclaimer)

Barry ran as fast as he could to the middle of the street to where the radiation numbers had spiked. With all the crap going on, it felt so good to get away and save some lives.

He saw police officers start to collapse from radiation poisoning, and he knew he had to act faster. He grabbed hold of one's arm and dragged him a safe distance away, only to return in less than a second with two more officers, and lastly Captain Singh.

The man in red looked down at them with a concerned glance before his attention snapped back to the green cloud emerging upwards into the atmosphere.

"I'll be back. Just stay here and stay away from the radiation," he demanded, vibrating his vocal cords so his voice remained unrecognizable. Almost before he finished his sentence, he was gone in a flash of gold, heading straight towards the danger that lay ahead.

One of the officers groaned and held his throbbing head. "Radiation? How the hell did that become a problem?"

Singh was the first of the group to stand. "If he gets too close, his skin'll burn," he said. David was used to worrying: worrying about his city, a case, his husband, his job, making sure Allen's cases were turned in on time—he winced at the thought of his CSI prodigy—but he'd never worried about a metahuman before. He had seen the Flash take on fires, bloodthirsty criminals, and demonic speedsters and wondered how the man could do it. Hell, he wondered how the man was even alive. Usually, whenever David worked this closely with the Flash, he feared for the safety of the people being saved, not the savior.

But for some reason today, he just felt different.

David sprinted away from his unit, ignoring the shouts of surprise and warning coming from his fellow officers. He wasn't sure what he could do to help the speedster, but he knew even the hero couldn't physically withstand the effects of the radiation. If the Flash went down, you'd be damn sure David was going to be there to help him back up. It was the least he could do for the scarlet hero.

He vaguely could make out the figures of Vibe and—and Killer Frost?—who seemed to be incapacitated for a moment. The Flash was running around a cloud of green, funneling it upwards towards the sky so it wouldn't spread into the streets of the city. Even from David's position nearly 100 feet away he could hear the strangled screams coming from the speedster as he ran. The police captain wanted to cover his ears at the sound. The amount of pain he must have been going through...no man would be able to stand it.

No man except this man, he thought.

Vibe staggered from the sidewalk into the middle of the street, thrusting his hand towards the sky. Above the green cloud of radiation a shimmering fog of blue energy seemed to inhale the radiation, and eventually the green cloud disappeared altogether. The short hero let his hand fall to his side before rushing back to the sidewalk where he was before, presumably to check on his female teammate.

The Flash had collapsed on the pavement, unmoving. Assuming the threat of radiation had passed, David rushed to the exhausted hero's side. He turned him over to face up, and almost vomited right then and there. What once was the face of Central City's hero was a bloody mess of burns and rashes left from his running. Singh could only imagine how the rest of his body looked, and bile threatened to rise up in his throat again.

Looking closer at the unconscious man, David could have sworn he looked familiar. His slenderly shaped face and young features gave away how much more life this man, or kid, really, had to live.

The young man stirred, his eyes opening and then squeezing shut again. He reached a hand up towards his mask, but thrust it back towards the ground again with a grunt. His whole body had to be covered in burns, and the suit only irritated them. Taking off the entire suit wasn't an option, but maybe his mask…

No, David thought to himself so sternly he almost said it out loud. The Flash's secret identity was something sacred that he couldn't contaminate. He's wanted to know for years who it was that saved so many lives, but he realized it didn't matter. It could be anybody and the police captain would still be grateful.

The Flash tried to reach his mask again, but this time grit his teeth and gave out a small cry in pain. His eyes danced lazily around trying to find something to help end the pain that had engulfed him. His fuzzy vision landed on David, and he deliriously spoke.

"-elp—me."

Singh sprang into action. "You're going to be okay. I'm going to help you. Your mask, it hurts?"

He received a grunt as a reply.

Without saying anything more, David reached hesitantly over the young man's face and dragged the scarlet material over his head. The action revealed more of a bloody, cut up face that he knew all too well.

This was Barry Allen.

David sat up in shock. He couldn't focus or think straight and his world spun. How could Barry be the Flash?

Then he thought again; how could Barry not be the Flash? All the times he was late were the times the scarlet hero had just finished saving a group of people or stopping a criminal. Any time the Flash disappeared, Barry seemed to as well. And how had he not noticed sooner that the Flash conveniently worked the same cases Allen, and yet the two were never seen at the same time? How could the police captain be so bad at his job as an investigator?

David looked back down at his favorite CSI and noticed his burns were starting to heal, even if only by a little. Barry's eyes seemed to be able to focus as he zeroed in on the man sitting next to him. Instantly, his eyes widened in horror.

"Captain—agh—I'm sorry, I'm not-it's not what—gah—" he attempted to say through his pain, but whatever pint he was trying to get across didn't matter to Singh.

David rested a hand on the young man's shoulder. "Stop, before you hurt yourself even more. Look, it's okay. I'll keep your secret."

Barry let his head fall on the pavement with a small sigh in relief. A small amount of stress had been taken off of his shoulders. "Is everyone safe?" he asked.

"Yes. Everyone except you," David replied. In more ways than one, he added to himself. How the hell could Allen be able to get through an incriminating case and manage to save the city? Seriously, what the hell? He wanted to punch himself in the face for ever thinking that Barry was late to work because he was a criminal, or he was on some shady sabbatical. He'd heard Ramon say once vaguely that the Flash was gone after saving the world from a lightning storm last summer. If that was true, then that was Barry. Barry had faced a life or death situation, and had presumably died to save his city and world. And now he was going through some stupid trial that obviously was somehow a setup, since why on earth would the Flash murder some random guy?

What. The. Hell.

David had to do something, tell someone. Barry was the Flash and he was innocent. Without the Flash the city would fall to ruin. Without the heart of Barry Allen, the world would grow darker.

Then again, there was a reason Barry hadn't come out as the Flash to the public. If bad metahumans wanted revenge on Barry, they could easily target his family and friends. (Not that they aren't targeted ANYWAYS).

But Barry couldn't go to prison. He didn't deserve it at all. He deserved it the least out of anyone in the entire world.

David had to do something.

The police captain was snapped out of his thoughts by Vibe, who had appeared next to him. Barry had begun to sit up slowly, groaning while holding his head in his hands. God, those burns looked painful.

"Is he going to be alright?" David asked the metahuman hero to the right of him.

Vibe nodded his head excessively, "Yep, yeah. He's been through worse. Now, let's get your mask back on…"

"Vibe, it's okay. It's okay if he knows," Barry waved his friend off.

"Yeah, maybe him, but not the crowd gathering around right now," Vibe gestured to the groups of people exiting their cars and buildings to see what all the commotion was about. Without saying another word, Vibe opened a breach and gestured to the right of him for Killer Frost to follow. The two helped Barry stand as he limped towards the swirling ball of energy.

David stood up suddenly. Looking at the kid he'd known for so long exit through some weird portal thing, he couldn't help but feel pride. Barry Allen was a hero, and he never asked for anything in return. Well, David was going to make sure that he at least got a tiny piece of the good fortune he deserved. He knew what he had to do.

"Allen," he said before the speedster walked through the breach. Barry turned around slowly. His green eyes looked tired, as if the effort it took for him to even see straight was too much for him. "Thank you. Thank you for everything."

The hero gave a soft smile and nodded at his boss for all reply. The kid vanished in a couple of seconds with his two companions and radiated metahuman, and the blue energy had disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

"—with such a disregard for human life—"

"Your honor!" David Singh burst in through the doors of the courtroom, making a scene. Everyone in the room gasped, including Barry.

"It was me. I planted the evidence to make it look like Barry Allen killed Clifford DeVoe. Allen is innocent. Let him go free."

The entire courtroom could hear a pin drop.

Barry didn't know what to say. He'd been silent for almost the entire trial, and now he was truly at a loss for words. He couldn't let anyone take the fall for him, not after so many people had lost their lives because of him. He was just in so much shock he couldn't defend his boss in that moment.

Singh looked back at Barry and gave a small smile. He'd accepted his fate. Sometimes, it was the hero's turn to be saved.

He turned back to the judge and jury, his expression stone cold.

"Let. Him. Go."

I think one thing they did well with this episode was showing Singh's discomfort with the situation. If he found out Barry was the Flash, I have no doubts he would do something like this, based on what they have shown his character to be like so far.

I hope you enjoyed! Please leave a comment to let me know what you thought! (P.S. Still working of A Fixed-Point Paradox...it's just taking awhile...)