Prologue
With all of his power and more, with everything he could muster, Clark heaved Apokalips into the sky, flying harder and faster than he'd ever flew before. He thought the hard part was over, but with all the strength and power he had left in his body Clark launched Apokalips into oblivion, never to be seen again.
Exhausted and spent, Clark returned to Earth slowly, basking in the sense of accomplishment, but what awaited him was not what he expected; a sea of civilians gathered around the streets of Metropolis awaiting the arrival of their newest hero. Clark landed right in the centre of the crowd and gazed around, taking in his new found following. Mikes were being shoved into his face and shouts of "thank you" and "I love you" echoed through his ears, but one shout echoed louder than the rest, "what is your name?", Clark stood and thought for a second. He approached the nearest microphone, before he could get his words out everyone was demanding to know the name of this mysterious man in red and blue. He decided the second that he put on his new suit that 'The Blur' just wasn't going to cut it anymore, he needed something new, something original, something nobody would be able to match up, a name to be uttered through the ages and smeared across newspapers and televisions across the globe; "My name is Kal-el of Krypton, I am the Man of Steel, I am Superman!". The crowd roared it's approval, the name Superman really had a good ring to it. Clark glanced around the crowd and caught sight of a beaming Oliver Queen, he gave Clark a courteous nod and mouthed "I knew you could do it", Clark returned the nod and once again took to the skies to "ooh"'s and "aah"'s from the crowd.
Meanwhile, watching from a very large TV in a huge tower deep in the heart of Metropolis was one Lex Luthor, resting his head against his forefinger of his gloved hand. Lex could feel the bitter sense of a smile curling across his lips, but it wasn't the kind that he felt of approval, the kind that the rest of the world had on their lips while watching this broadcast, but a smile of disgust, and utter embarrassment. Lex always felt that the world was plagued by men like Superman and Green Arrow, men who the world praised for all the wrong reasons...super heroes, Lex despised super heroes, to Lex they weren't super heroes, to Lex, they were just a plague of poor outsiders with a random gift given to them by fate for no reason at all. In Lex's mind, whoever decided who got what abilities, was giving them to the wrong people, Lex promised himself that he would be the one to rid the world of this disease.
Clark quickly flew back to the Daily Planet and changed in a phone booth outside, he walked out clad in his brown overcoat and thick rimmed spectacles, he covered his tracks by pretending to forget his briefcase in the phone booth, he awkwardly squeezed through the busy street back to the phone booth and retrieved his leather bag containing his Supersuit. He stumbled into the office of Lois Lane, his fiancé and co-worker, awkwardly, almost knocking over a stack of old newspapers that Lois had been working with "Jesus Clark could you be less obvious?" asked Lois sarcastically and almost angrily, Clark grinned. "Have you seen the news? You're everywhere, they can't get enough of you" Lois began flicking from channel to channel, all covering breaking news stories of Superman. "Earth loves Superman", Clark felt that sense of accomplishment again but could do nothing but grin, "Lois that rush of saving the planet, of people seeing me and not knowing...words can't describe how great that feels" explained Clark, "well you do have that nice hypnotic gaze" breathed Lois moving closer and removing Clark's glasses and placing them on her desk before gently grazing his lips with her own. Suddenly their seconds of passion had been interrupted by Clark's step-father and boss Perry White, "C'mon Lane wh-" Perry realised what was going on and quickly turned his attention to Clark, "Kent, I told you to keep this relationship professional, this doesn't look professional to me, son" said Perry in a stern yet friendly voice, "I'm sorry chief, it won't happen again" agreed Clark before awkwardly stumbling away almost knocking over the stack of papers again, "DON'T CALL ME CHEIF" Clark heard Perry call as he was quickly retreating back to his office.