Disclaimer: The rights of Superman belong to DC comics and Warner Bros. I am making no financial gain from this story whatsoever.

A/N: A short chapter, but I feel nothing more would fit.

Chapter 4
Who Are You?

Two years prior

Waves crashed against the rocks. High up on the cliff, a few hundred metres from the edge, stood a magnificent expanse of grassland. The night was dark, the sky empty of clouds, filled with stars. A comet blazed high up for anyone to see. The brilliant specks of light that shone behind it was a beauty for any eye that was fortunate to see it.

The grassland was empty of all animals. The air was cool with breeze of the ocean that blew this way from time to time. There was complete silence, save for the wind and the grass and leaves that were brushed by the wind.

The comet continued to move in the sky, until suddenly it collided with something. Anyone who was on ground would not see a collision, but would see a momentary flash of light in the air and then when that dissipated, the comet was nowhere to be seen.

A few moments after that, a small blazing light appeared, far softer in brightness than the comet. However this light was moving in a different direction to the comet. The light continued to fall, fast in speed and the sound growing louder and louder as it grew closer to the grassland. It reached a point where the air shrieked with the sound of the blazing falling... object?... the ground shook, the air became warmer quickly, and then...

The ground erupted when the collision occurred. Tree and soil were thrown upwards as a huge crater quickly appeared. Everything was silent, except for the crackling fires that sprang up on the trees further away form the crater.

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The corridor wasn't well lit, apart from a few, flickering, fluorescent light bulbs that is. A man walked down, handcuffed and surrounded by uniformed guards. He didn't know where they were taking him, but suspected this walk was something they did to intimidate persons held there. Obviously, this was futile with him.

After a few minutes, they reached a room. The room had a two metal chairs separated by a metal table, all of which were secured to the ground. One wall had reflective glass on it. They left him there to sit, still handcuffed, alone, for about an hour. He remained seated, not moving much at all and tried to keep as expressionless a face as he could.

Finally, the white-haired man he spoke to earlier entered the room, and silently sat in the other chair. He looked at the man, waiting for him to speak.

"Thank you for coming," said the man.

"You gave the impression I didn't have a choice," he said, leaving unsaid that he could've refused.

"Ok then," said the man. "Who are you?"

"That's a vague question," he said.

"Let's introduce ourselves," said the man. "How shall I address you?"

"Isn't it rude in human cultures to ask my name before giving me yours?" he said.

"So you are not a human then?" asked the man.

"No, I am not a human," he replied.

"Where are you from?" the man asked. "Mars?"

"No, Krypton."

"Kr...ypton?"

"Yes."

"Never heard of it."

"No human has."

"Where is it? How many others are here from there?"

"None. I am the only one in Earth."

"Where is it?"

"Where it was, I do not wish to say," he said, while in reality he wasn't exactly sure where the planet used to be. "But it no longer exists."

"How come?" said the man.

"It got destroyed," he replied. "An unstable core, or a supernova, I'm not sure."

"I see," said the man. "So you're a... refugee?"

"If you wish to use that term," he said.

"What term would you use?"

"A traveller."

"So are you staying?"

"For now."

"What abilities do you have?" asked the man, quickly changing direction in the discussion.

"I'm sorry?" he said.

"We've noticed you can fly," said the man. "And you have some incredible strength. What else?"

"I'm not interested in saying," he said.

"So you decided to be difficult?" said the man.

"No," he said. "Why should I tell you? You haven't told me who you are, or why I am here. One does not just give away information to whomever."

"Your English is excellent," said the man. "How is that?"

"The old-fashioned way," he said. "I learnt the language."

"So you have a superior intellect?" said the man.

He remained silent.

"Why are you in Metropolis?" asked the man.

He didn't expect that question. "Come again?"

"Why are you in Metropolis?" said the man. "Of all the cities in the world?"

"You have a suggestion?" he asked.

"New York, Los Angeles..." said the man. "They'd be more useful in your assistance. Metropolis is falling apart as we speak."

"So because Metropolis is more in need of help," he said, "means it's less of an option to help? I do not follow."

"What are you doing, just helping with petty crime?" said the man.

"I help where I am needed and am around," he said.

"There are wars occurring all over the place."

"Wars mean there are sides," he said. "Which side is right, which isn't? I help when I can"

"So if this government was to fight a war," said the man. "You wouldn't come into assistance?"

"I do not deal with hypotheticals," he said. "You have taken more time than I've been polite enough to offer."

"You will be allowed to leave when I give you the word," said the man.

"No, that's where you've failed to understand, once again," he said. "I came purely out of my own willing, I shall leave as such."

"Is that the case?" said the man, getting up to his feet.

"You cannot bluff someone when you don't even have a single card, while he has it all," he said, now on his feet as well. "I bid you farewell."

He walked to the door, and opened it. The guards, seeing him, turned their guns on him. He pulled his hands away from each other, and the handcuffs broke with remarkable ease. The guards stared at him, not sure what to do. They turned to the white-haired man, waiting for an order. No order came.

"One more question," said the man, and the caped individual stopped in the corridor and didn't turn around. "What shall we call you?"

"One newspaper played with the term 'super... man'," he said. "I think it fitting, considering my emblem."

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Two years prior

People were standing around the crater. Off-road vehicles and trucks surrounded it. Men were digging into the trench. The sun was bright and the unforgivably hot.

Someone in the crater finally yelled. Everyone stopped working as they watched the person point at something. The person yelled to others that this looked like... a man. A man without clothing, sure, but a man. At first, everyone scoffed at this, thinking it was some sort of prank, but soon their eyes told them this was no prank.

They stared at this man, who appeared dead.

But wait. The man stirred, shifted, his eyes opened. Startled, the man stared around widely. The people surrounding were even more startled, and some yelled in shock, a few ran off but the rest remained paralysed, staring.

The man got to his feet and climbed upwards out of the crater with such ease it confused both him and the men around him. In their panic, a few raised their guns and pointed at him.

The man yelled something, but nobody understood a word of what was being said. The man continued to yell, looking around for someone to reply. Still, this was incomprehensible to everyone around him. Frustrated, the man punched the ground. The earth shook beneath them, a truck near the crater's edge slid down to the crater, knocking a few of the diggers aside.

Far more guns were pointed at the man. The man was even more fearful, but not of the guns - in fact it wasn't sure if he even acknowledged the guns. He stared at his hand that he punched the ground with, in wonder. He looked up to the sky, looked back around them and yelled again, his faced screwed up showing his confusion.

A bullet fire. Everyone assumed the bullet missed him as he did not fall. The man walked backwards away from the men pointing guns at him, but no longer spoke anymore. He stared at them, then turned around and looked up to the sky again, and was he staring at the sun as he continued to walk? His attention placed on looking upwards, he didn't understand what the others were yelling about watching his step, he continued to walk until he reached the cliff's edge.

Not expecting the edge, he couldn't gain balance enough to prevent himself from falling over and downwards.

Later on one of the men swore he saw a speck in the sky moving very fast, but the other men told him he must've been lying to make fools of everyone else.