So this is a little something that I did to unclog my mind for a bit. Something a bit different than my other fanfics, but the premise stuck in my mind and I just had to get it out.

To my usual readers who's reading this, I apologize for not updating anything for three months. I've been having a lot of things at my plate at the moment and I just couldn't find much free time to write...

Still, I hope you'll enjoy reading this one.

Disclaimer: I do not own Superman, nor Batman. This should be obvious. DC Comics owns them. And they are created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster along with Bill Finger and Bob Kane for the two pair's respective characters.

Same Name. Different Identity.

In New Jersey, Briston Township, Crest Hill, north of a sprawling metropolis, stood a large manor surrounded in acres of green hills.

This manor is owned by an exceedingly wealthy couple, named Thomas and Martha Wayne, a famed surgeon and a wealthy socialite who shared the proclivity of giving a large part of their wealth to make the world a better place.

The couple, who have been happily married for a few years now, lived with their loyal and competent butler, Alfred Pennyworth. Alfred was not a simple butler. Before he became a butler for the Wayne family, he was a medic soldier who served in many conflicts around the world. He even briefly served as an SAS Commando before he decided to retire.

Out of his father's dying wish, Alfred accepted the request of Thomas Wayne to serve their family. And it had been a few years now since he first arrived in Wayne Manor after becoming the family's butler.

In these past few years, Alfred had become familiar with the couple's plight. The husband and wife wanted a child, just like any other parents. However, despite this, she's faced with the simple but painful fact: Her body will not allow a child to grow in her womb.

Her womb was inhospitable for a fetus to grow. Barren. To put it succinctly, she could never bear a child, let alone give birth to them.

Alfred knew how devastated she became when she was given the terrible news. Thomas spent days and nights consoling her, telling her that it's going to be okay and that he did not love her less because of this. But there was no other response that she could use as she's swallowed in her grief. She could only weep.

Though that phase was over, she now spent most of her time in silence. And usually, she could be found gazing to nothing in particular. With empty eyes that held no mirth nor vigor.

Thomas had been advising her that adoption was an option for them. Martha, though she welcomed the idea somewhat, was still hesitant. Only time would be able to heal that scar, and it would be quite a while before she could be strong enough to adopt a child in place of one that she simply could not have with Thomas.

It was now afternoon, Thomas had left to work at the hospital in the city while Alfred was attending to Martha.

She sat on the terrace on the back of the mansion that overlooked the green field that they own, seemingly staring at the horizon. Though Alfred knew that her gaze was not focused at anything in particular and that her mind was elsewhere.

"Would you like some tea ma'am? Perhaps a light snack?" Alfred asked of her.

She turned to Alfred, and though she smiled, it was painfully clear that she's not genuinely happy, "No thank you Alfred. I'm fine."

Alfred nodded before he straightened himself up, went silent, and remain in that pose, ready to be ordered.

"Alfred?" Martha began after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes ma'am?"

"...Is it wrong of me to think that the idea of adopting a child feels like a betrayal?" she asked her butler out of the blue, "I know I will never be able to... conceive a child. My own child." she choked on her words at this, "And this is the only available option, given my... condition. But... why... why do I feel like I will be betraying my future child if I choose to adopt?"

Her lips quivered, tears began to gather in her eyes, Martha Wayne was opening herself up, desperate to find an answer, "Tell me Alfred. Is it wrong of me to think that?"

Alfred took a moment to choose his words. Anything that he said now would determine the decision that she would take. So he carefully said; "It is not wrong of you to think that, ma'am. You are just thinking as a mother."

She swallowed the lump in her throat before she said; "What do you mean?"

Alfred walked closer to the table, faced her, and said; "You feel... that your biological child, the product of your love between you and Master Wayne, would not be able to forgive you if you were to take another child and claim it as your own. You do not want him, or her, to hate you.

"It is not a wrong thing Mrs. Wayne. You are merely being considerate. Even... when you don't have to."

Martha slightly relaxed, but she still wasn't fully assured. And Alfred continued, "If I may, Mrs. Wayne, I think that in this situation... one must realize that it's better to not cling to what we cannot change."

At this, Martha began to see where Alfred was going, "...But it's hard, Alfred. And frightening."

"But it is something that all of us must do at the lowest point of our lives, Mrs. Wayne. Frightening as it might be, we must endure. Endure the pain and agony. And face life once again with our heads held high and our chest puffed out. Daring it to bring us down again..." then he finished it with; "And prove to it that we will never again, fall."

Martha's expression brightened, and her smile looked more genuine this time.

And Alfred added, "And know... that you shan't be alone in this. Master Wayne will always be at your side. Along with me."

Thomas' wife began to cry, not out of sadness, but out of happiness after what Alfred said, she extended her hands into one of his, grasped it tightly and say; "Thank you Alfred."

Alfred merely reciprocated her smile with his own, used his other hand to tighten his grasp in a gesture of assurance, and nodded, feeling no need to speak to convey his delight.

Outside of Earth's atmosphere, a foreign object began to enter the planet's orbit in a fast but controlled trajectory.

It was a ship. Made out of metal that the humans would not find on their planet, and is both created and engineered by an advanced alien race with technological level that exceeded that which the humans had at the current time.

It was made out of silver-shaded metal. The structure of the ship consisted of a container, an engine, and a thruster. The ship's single thruster is located on its back, with the engine located in the middle,. And in the front side of the ship, a ball-shaped container with an alien symbol engraved right in its dull tip.

To the alien race, the engraved symbol means 'Hope'.

To the eyes of humans, they would look at it, and say that it looked like a gaudily written 'S' in a pentagon-shaped crest...

"I'm glad we have this talk Alfred."

"I'm always here to help, Mrs. Wayne." Alfred replied.

Martha let go of his hand and after a few minutes of comfortable silence, she said; "Well... Alfred, about that tea... I would like a cup please. Black tea, two teaspoons of sugar. As usual." she requested with a brighter, more honest-looking smile.

Alfred nodded and began to make his way towards the manor to do as he's ordered.

However, when both of them heard a faint noise, coming from the sky, similar to the sound of burning engine, and it's getting louder and louder with every second, both of them stopped their respective activities to turn their heads upward in an attempt to see the source of the sound.

"Alfred... what is that?" Martha asked, curious about what could create such a noise as its increase in volume also indicated that it's getting closer towards their location.

"I do not know Mrs. Wayne." Alfred said at first, before he focused his hearing and after he determined the location, he briskly walked towards the front side of the Manor through the interior to save time.

When he opened that door and tilted his head slightly upwards, Alfred saw something descending upon the Wayne Manor.

Despite the panic that began to set in, Alfred managed to deduce the trajectory of the falling object, and predicted that though it would not hit the Manor, it would slightly graze the roof and fall upon the grounds in the back.

He ran towards Martha Wayne out of instinct. Despite the fact that his body was not as good as when he was at his physical prime, he managed to get to her before the object managed to graze the roof.

"Mrs. Wayne, do not go near the roof!"

Before Martha could say anything further or oblige to his sudden warning, The object hit the edge of the roof near Martha, sending some debris to where she stood, and Alfred once again sprinted towards her and protected her from the falling debris by embracing her, effectively shielding her with his body.

Luckily for both of them, the amount of debris was not something that could cause an injury, whether major nor minor.

Alfred just had the back of his suit dirtied a bit, and Martha did not suffer from any wounds nor bruises. Though the condition of a small part of the Manor's roof needed to be looked at and repaired, it was a minor issue that could easily be solved.

When he's certain that everything had calmed down, Alfred looked upon the green field and saw that the object had landed in there, destroyed some parts of the ground in the process of its descent and violently chopped off a tree along the way.

The butler was uncertain as to what the object was, exactly. Its shape reminded him of a rocket, and judging by the smoking thrusters, it would seem that his assumption was right, but due to how it looked, he could not say what the object was with full conviction.

"What is that thing?" Martha uttered out, awed and slightly frightened by it.

"I do not know Mrs. Wayne."

Her curiosity triumphed over her fear, she began to walk towards the rocket. Alfred then warned her, "Mrs. Wayne, I do not think that it's a good idea."

Martha looked at Alfred and said; "It landed in our backyard Alfred, I have to at least know what it is." she reasoned, "But if you're worried about me, come along. Because I'm not stopping."

And so she walked down the stone stairs, with Alfred following not that far behind, fully intent on protecting Martha from any potential harm.

The woman was suddenly filled with vigor as she descended to the massive fallen object. Her curiosity was more than simply piqued, it was now burning, filling her with the desire to see and know what the object really was.

When she was close to the object, she grazed it slightly, to check whether or not it was dangerous for her to touch. And when it did nothing, she allowed her hand to linger a moment longer.

"How fascinating..." Martha uttered out, her previous fear was long gone and replaced with unbridled curiosity. Never before had she seen this kind of construct in her life, and it came down from the sky as if a sign from the heavens.

Though considering that it didn't look so much as heavenly as it looked more alien-like, Martha quelled that thought down into nothingness. Her mind began to assume what this object was, and whether or not it was, dare she say it, destiny, for it to fall here, in the back of her home.

She then began to make her way towards the tip of the object. The moment she saw the engraved symbol inscribed upon the object, she wondered about the meaning of it.

S? What's the meaning of the S? What did it stand for? An abbreviation? Or perhaps a language that just happened to look like the Latin alphabet letter of 'S'?

"What do you think it means Alfred?" she asked her butler.

Alfred looked upon the symbol before he responded with; "I do not know ma'am. But what I do know...is that someone thinks highly of this symbol to engrave it into this... rocket ship."

Ah, so it was a rocket. A rocket ship, to be exact. Though... rockets, especially human-made rockets, did not have the share the same appearance to the one they're seeing now.

"Ma'am, perhaps it would be best if we report this finding. For all we know, this rocket might have been detected and we would-"

The rocket's domed tip then shifted slightly as it's accompanied by a hissing noise, indicating the release of pressured air. Then the sound of whirring gears became audible as the dome began to split into several parts to open and show what it contained.

The interior of the ship, while small, contained a person. A baby, newborn by how it looked, sleeping rather peacefully, as if it was not affected nor disturbed by the crash that his ship just experienced.

Martha gasped at the sight. Surprised, shocked, delighted... she was not sure of the exact emotion that she felt when she saw the baby, but perhaps, blissful happiness along with a feeling of apprehension could come close.

"My goodness, who could've put a child in this blasted contraption?" Martha said as she, unconsciously, got the baby into her arms, "He could've gotten hurt." she said as she examined the baby.

Though the baby boy squirmed slightly when she stroke his head gently, Martha was glad that the baby did not experience any physical trauma due to the crash. In fact, after a moment spent gazing at the baby, she found herself smiling blissfully.

"...He's so beautiful." she said rather affectionately in a motherly tone. "So precious."

Alfred, seeing Martha Wayne's sparkling eyes, knew that the woman had been caught in a trance. She looked so happy now, even more so than when he managed to console her.

From that, he realized that the desire to adopt this boy had surfaced from inside her. And that she would face many people who would oppose this notion with defiance. Martha Wayne was known to Thomas for her steadfastness whenever she wanted something.

The difference that she had among others who had this trait was that she knew the things that would be worth having. And she knew that those things... might not be so easily achieved.

She would fight for him, this he knew. Martha Wayne could be adamant when she wanted to, and in this circumstance, Alfred just knew that this boy that came from the sky had become something that she would protect at all cost.

"Mrs. Wayne." Alfred began, prompting Martha to turn to him, "I believe we should... remove the rocket from this place. It might attract unwanted attention if there's a guest."

She looked upon the vehicle that brought the baby that she held in her arms and said; "...But where should we put this? And how should we move it?" she asked, due to the size of the rocket.

Alfred merely smiled and said this to assure her; "You leave the method to me ma'am. And as for the location, I believe I know just the place."

The sound of a car being driven to the garage of the manor could be heard at seven p.m. at night. The said car was driven by one Thomas Wayne, who finally came back home after a grueling day at the city's hospital where he's working.

After safely parking the car at the garage, he was greeted by none other than his butler, Alfred Pennyworth. "Good evening Master Wayne." he said as he bowed slightly, "Would you care for tea? Coffee? Or perhaps something stronger?"

"A coffee would do Alfred. Black, no sugar." Thomas said as he unclothe the overcoat that he wore. "How's Martha doing?" he asked, worried over the well-being of his wife.

His concern was only intensified due to how he came home at night instead of at the late afternoon, which had become his usual time after the news that hit the couple a few months ago.

Martha Wayne, his wife, despite her strong personality that made him fall in love with her in the first place, was simply mortified at what the doctor had told them. And he had been spending every free moment that he had with her from that moment on, fully intent to bring her back to her usual vigorous self.

And so he was somewhat surprised when Alfred smiled instead of grimaced, "She's doing well sir."

"Really?" Thomas couldn't help but to say it out loud due to how surprised he was, "Wow, what did you do Alfred?"

"It was not me sir." his butler said, "It was due to someone else I'm afraid. His arrival here is... unexpected, but nevertheless, Mrs. Wayne warmed up to him quite well."

Because of the choice of his words, Thomas couldn't help but to look at him with an incredulous look on his face. And to that, Alfred merely responded with; "Your wife is waiting for you in your room Master Wayne. In the mean time, I shall prepare the coffee that you asked for."

With that, he left. Somewhat befuddled, Thomas went to the room he and his wife shared to see what it was exactly that made his wife so happy.

He opened the door leading to the master bedroom and... Saw something that he didn't expect.

His wife was there, in the bedroom, sitting on the queen-sized bed, holding a baby in her arms and treating her as if it was hers. It took her a second before he turned to Thomas, and her eyes widened in surprise for a moment before she calmed down and said; "Tom. Come here for a second."

As he walked towards his wife, he couldn't help but say; "Martha... whose baby is that?"

Martha sighed as she looked at the baby boy, she procured a tired, but blissful-looking smile before she said; "It's a long story Tom. Sit beside me. I'll tell you everything."

...

Alfred deliberately took his time to make that coffee that he was ordered to make. At the same time, he also tried to focus his hearing to try and hear the conversation that's currently happening at the master bedroom.

After the coffee was prepared, Alfred placed it on a tray, grabbed the tray, and walked towards the master bedroom.

Noticing the lack of screaming or yelling was a good sign. However, a soft-spoken, but heated argument was also a possibility, so he's still cautious.

Reaching the door to the master bedroom, he knocked it twice, "I brought your coffee, Master Wayne."

"Come in Alfred."

Doing as he's ordered, Alfred opened the door. And found that Thomas Wayne was looking at the baby boy with both affection and curiosity apparent in his eyes. Not wanting to ruin the couple's moment, he said; "I shall put it in the night stand, sir."

After he did so, Alfred was about to leave the bedroom before Thomas stopped him by saying; "Alfred."

He turned to him, and said; "Yes Master Wayne?"

"...Show me the ship that carried him."

The two men walked towards the large-sized shed located in the spacious backyard of the Manor. Despite the fact that his wife had told him that there was a rocket ship that crashed in the backyard, the ground seemed undisturbed. Except for that one stump, which was all that remained from a tree.

"After hearing what Martha said, I thought that there would be more... destruction." Thomas remarked.

"Oh there was sir. Not to worry however, I have cleaned it up." Alfred said, assuring him despite his slightly dismissive tone.

Thomas accepted that, and silently, they went and entered the shed. The shed was constructed out of stone, and its utility was to keep the gardening appliances, of which there were many.

Alfred went towards the seemingly inconspicuous candle-holder embedded to one of the pillars and then pulled it down, revealing it to be a disguised lever.

With that action, it opened a mechanical trap door that led to a hidden, adequately sized room beneath it. Due to the darkness of the shed's interior, Alfred turned on the light, allowing the thing contained within the secret chamber to be seen by Thomas.

The light was refracted from the silver-tinted metal from which the ship was constructed out of. The size of the ship took a large part of the space, and based by its design, it was not crafted by humans.

Thomas could only look at the ship out of awe. The alien design was not the first thing that came to his mind when he heard the word 'rocket ship', but in hindsight, he probably should've thought of that first.

"And where was the baby's place before Martha took him out?"

"Right there sir." Alfred answered as he pointed to the domed tip that's facing away from them.

Wordlessly, Thomas walked towards the spot where he would be able to see the domed tip. And once there, he saw the engraved symbol, "What does the 'S' stands for?" he asked Alfred.

"I do not know sir." Alfred answered truthfully, "It is possible that it is not an 'S', sir. It might be a symbol that only looks similar to what we know as 'S', but different in its meaning."

Thomas looked over at the design of the rocket ship and silently agreed with Alfred. The ship's design did not correlate with the typical designs of rocket ship that humanity had made, substantiating the notion of it coming from a race from another planet.

'But why was he sent away from his home?' Thomas wondered, 'What reason did his parents have to just send him off to another planet?'

The amount of answers to that question were many. None of them were pleasant to be thought about, and certainly none of them would mean that the baby would still have his biological parents.

Thomas Wayne was an idealistic man. And because of this, he believed that in every person, in every being as sentient and as intelligent, if not more compared to humans, there's a potential for them to do good. It's just that only few of them ever use that potential.

Though there's a possibility that the baby's parents were the worst kind of people that chose to send him away because they simply didn't care, seeing the rocket ship that they have used to send him off made Thomas rethink the possibility of that notion.

"Alfred, when the ship crashed, was the baby injured in anyway?"

"No he was not, sir." Alfred answered, "The ship has a mechanism that protected the baby from any harm. The crash did nothing harmful to him."

And with that, that one possibility just became an impossibility. His parents had planned this and had prepared contingency plans in case of something like a crash.

'So whatever their reason was to send him here... Was something so dire that they were desperate to send him off to another planet where he might have a bigger chance to survive...'

The realization made Thomas sympathized with the baby boy. Now, he felt that he became his responsibility along with his wife's.

And instead of feeling burdened, he felt as if he had been given an important task that he would do with all his might out of the sincerity of his heart.

He looked at Alfred and said; "Close it Alfred."

The butler did so and after the trap door was closed, Thomas turned to his butler and said; "You do understand that this will become a secret of ours."

Alfred merely nodded with a knowing smile plastered on his face, "Of course sir."

"Good." said Thomas with an approving nod, "Whoever... or whatever sent the baby here... sent him here for a purpose. And that is to save him from some kind of danger. He's an alien lifeform from another planet not unlike ours... The world could benefit from this piece of technology of their civilization, but..."

The famed surgeon sighed as he finished with; "But perhaps, we are not ready for it. Not yet."

There was a moment of silence before Alfred said; "What of the baby boy, Master Wayne?"

He looked at Alfred and said; "The baby will be with us." Thomas then smiled, "I trust you will be able to handle an alien baby, Alfred?" he asked rather cheekily.

Alfred merely smiled and replied to his rhetorical question with; "Well, there is always a first time for everything, sir."

After they understood that the baby boy would be adopted into the Wayne family, both Thomas and Alfred exited the secret chamber within the shed, then came out from the door which they came through before and locked the door once they're out.

But as they were walking towards the manor, Thomas was driven by his curiosity and asked his butler... "Say Alfred... How exactly did you move that ship and then clean up the after-effects of its crash?"

The size of that thing would suggest that it would have to be moved by a pick-up truck, which was easy enough to do, considering that they do have one. But to clean the messy crash that Martha described and drive a pick-up vehicle to carry that ship to the shed all by himself was a rather herculean task to accomplish.

Alfred's reply was; "Oh it was nothing too remarkable sir. I just did what was necessary to be done."

...

When Thomas went to Martha again, she's become a bit apprehensive as he entered and walked towards her. In her mind, she's wondering what Thomas had decided on what to do with the baby.

"Martha... I've decided on what I want to do with the baby boy." Thomas began the conversation, "But before I tell you, I want to hear your side first. What do you want to do with him?"

She looked upon the still-sleeping baby with nothing but affection in her eyes, "...I want to take care of him, Tom." she said, "No... it's more than that... I want him to be our son." she stated with a firmer tone of voice.

Thomas could see that the arrival of the baby boy had brought back Martha's moxie. It was clear to him that Martha simply did not care that the boy was not human despite his deceptive appearance. And that she looked ready to argue with him if he were to say otherwise.

But Thomas did not want to fight her on this topic.

Because he's also thinking the same thing.

"Then I think we're on the same track Martha." Thomas said with a smile. He then wrapped his arm around her shoulder and looked at the baby boy that Martha was carrying, "We'll adopt him."

Martha sighed happily as she smiled and moved herself slightly to positively respond to his embrace, "Thank you Tom... Thank you."

Thomas tightened the embrace slightly in response. The baby boy was still calmly sleeping, even after his long journey to Earth. He knew not of what the boy would become... But he had a slight idea as to what he should grow up as.

And he would be there for him, guide him into becoming a great man that Thomas felt he's destined to be.

"If we're going to do this... then let's keep his origin a secret from everybody else, including him." Thomas said, "We'll tell him once he's old enough, but for the early years of his life, we are going to pretend that he's just like any other child, okay Martha?"

Martha looked rather reluctant at first, but after a moment of contemplation, she sighed and said; "Alright Thomas... I understand."

Thomas smiled appreciatively. "Then... we have to give him a name. Do you have any that you've already prepared for an occasion like this?"

Martha procured the brightest smile that he had ever seen from her. "Oh like you need to ask..." she softly said. Then, she told him of what the name of their child would be...

"Bruce. His name will be Bruce from now on."

Thomas approved the choice of the name, it sounded strong and firm. "Bruce Wayne... I like that."

End of Chapter 1

A.N.: To those of you comic book buffs, you might have heard and/or read the DC Comics Elseworlds title Superman: Speeding Bullets by J.M. DeMatteis and Eduardo Barreto. To those of you who have, you might find this story very familiar due to the premise.

Instead of Smallville, Kansas, the rocket ship containing the infant Kal-El landed on Wayne Manor. The very basic premise that Superman: Speeding Bullets had taken, and... in my opinion, failed to fulfill the premise's full potential.

So this is my take on the premise. This is my DC Elseworld, so to speak. Maybe it would be regarded as better than Superman: Speeding Bullets, maybe it would not. Maybe this would just be a one-shot, maybe it would not, the thing is, this idea popped into my head... And I decided to write it.

Only time will tell if another chapter of this fic will be released or not.

So with all that said, feel free to review if you find this review-worthy! If not, thank you nonetheless for spending some time reading this.

To be continued...?

...