Fury was furious, but not on his newly assembled team but on the board he had so trustingly formed. They had denied his wishes, didn't even heed towards it and had fired a powerful nuke towards half populated city with a blind hope that it will take out the enemy. Fortunately the Avengers and the new hero had saved the day. Especially the new hero had saved the day. He had saved them all. He had saved the Avengers and the city from the human error. He was also kind enough to come on board the SHIELD facility with Fury hoping that he would be able to get some time of this guy before the board comes to know about him and get him in their clutches.

Thor had shown an early interest in the guy. He was impressed by his strength and speed. He was also recognizing the symbol on the guy's chest but not completely.

Clark was silent, knowing full well who these people were. He had seen them while he was on work around the world. Tony Stark, the renowned billionaire and philanthropist, also known as Iron Man. Clark had recognized Banner after a while. He then remembered there was news about a green monster wreaking havoc a few years ago in New York. He also recognized Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America. He had learned about him in his History books. Every kid knew who Captain America was if that kid had read about the Second World War. Whom Clark didn't recognize were the guy with arrows and a rather techy bow, a woman with red hair and black dress and a tall guy with red cape just like him and a hammer. He was just as tall as him. Clark had seen him fight those aliens. It seemed that his power was electricity which he manipulated through his hammer.

"Welcome to SHIELD," Nick Fury said as he, the Avengers and Clark were inside the privacy of a secure room. "On behalf of all the Avengers and SHIELD alike, I would like to extend our gratitude towards what you did out there." Clark smiled but it was short lived. "So, why don't you tell us who you are and where were you hiding all these years? It bugs me that we couldn't find someone like you on our radar."

"Radar?" Clark asked.

"He means his agents…and his one eye," Tony said only to receive an angry look from Fury.

"We are really grateful for you helping us out there," Steve said, bringing forward his hand. "Thanks, again…"

Clark knew what the deliberate pause was. They didn't know his name. What he was thinking was whether or not to tell his real name. That would be problematic. He was wise enough to know that these people hadn't reveal their true name, except for Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and probably the guy with the hammer. The others, Clark knew, had some sort of a name that they went by. Finally he decided to not reveal his true identity.

"I'd rather not say it, my name," Clark said. Fury frowned but understood completely, but that would make it difficult for him to know more about this guy. A guy with such powers need to be known and monitored.

"Then tell us your superhero name," Tony said.

"Superhero name?" Clark asked.

"Yeah. Like my name is Iron Man," Tony said, pointing towards himself and then he pointed at the others. "His name is Captain America, which I still think is a bit funny…" Steve gave him a look, "…His name is Hulk…"

"I'd like to say that I don't think of it as my 'superhero' name," Bruce said, making quote marks on the word superhero."

Tony then pointed towards Clint. "He goes by the name of Hawkeye."

"My field partners nicknamed me," Clint said, raising his hand a little.

"She is Natasha Romanoff, a Soviet agent turned American…I think," Tony said, receiving a narrowed look from her. "I still wonder what her real name is. A word of advice…don't trust her."

Clark smiled sheepishly as he looked at her giving dangerous looks towards Tony.

"And he is Thor, a Norse god, lightning controller and wielder of a hammer," Tony said, giving a solid pat on Thor's back.

"Norse god?" Clark asked.

"I am Thor, son of Odin," Thor said, bringing forward his hand. Clark gave it a firm shake. "I can't seem to remember where I've seen that symbol before."

"You don't seem to remember where you saw an 'S'?" Tony asked.

"What do you mean not remember?" Clark asked.

"I know I've seen it somewhere in my previous years when I used to go with my father to visit different planets of the Nine Realms," Thor said.

"Planets?" Clark asked, looking at Tony and others for a little clarification because Thor seemed to be lost in his own world of thoughts.

"He is an alien…a good alien," Tony said. "Probably the ruler of his world."

"My father is the ruler, not me," Thor said. "Although I am next in line and that doesn't sit well with Loki." He looked at Clark who had a confused look on his face. "He is my brother."

"He is the one who attacked New York today," Tony said.

"He's adopted," Thor said slowly, shifting a bit farther from the rest when he remembered. "The Els! That is the sigil of House El of Krypton!"

Clark had not expected this. This guy knew his people. But while it was a good thing that Clark had founds someone who knew his people and his planet he didn't want it to be revealed this way, especially in front of people he had just met. But Thor didn't seem to understand this as he went ahead and hugged Clark real hard, although the Kryptonian hardly felt it.

"Haha! How are your people?" Thor asked. "We haven't visited Krypton in many times now! Especially with some rebellion races fighting against us. We've been quite busy for some times."

"Wait a minute," Natasha said, understanding firsthand what Thor meant when he said those words. "The way you said it, Thor, is Krypton another planet?"

That had everyone's attention, especially Fury's. If that was true then there was another alien amongst them now. Damn their world seemed so small now. They all now had their attention towards Clark who was looking at Thor with a weary look.

"How do you know about my world?" Clark spoke, unknown that he was being watched by others inside the room. He was too emotional at the moment to care about something else. This guy knew his people, people Clark himself knew nothing about except for a few things his father's consciousness had told him.

"Well, how can't i?" Thor said. "It comes under one of the worlds of the Nine Realms. It comes under our jurisdiction."

"Jurisdiction?" Clark asked.

"We govern over a part of the universe, the Nine Realms," Thor said. "Your planet comes under that. So how are your people?"

"They are all dead," Clark said. "My planet was destroyed years ago."

No one was ready for that, especially Thor. The news about Krypton's destruction wasn't something he had anticipated. He placed a hand on Clark's shoulder, giving him a sympathetic look which Clark ignored.

"So how did you survive?" Fury asked.

"I was sent away by my parents," Clark said, knowing that it was no point in hiding anything from these people now that they knew that he was from another planet. "My father was a scientist," he said, looking at Thor, "His name was Jor El. What I know from my father's conscious is that during its last times my planet was on the brink of collapse because its people had used up almost all of its core as resources. The core had, thus, become unstable and had led to my planet's destruction. My father had foreseen this and had tried to warn the government of my planet but they hadn't listened. So, my father sent me here."

"Just you?" Banner asked.

"He didn't have enough time to build a ship for all of us, for my family so he built one just big enough for me," Clark said.

"Why here?" Fury asked.

"This planet's atmosphere was almost similar too mine," Clark said, although I had difficulty at the beginning as my mother used to say."

"Your mother?" Tony asked.

"My mother who adopted me after I came too this planet," Clark said. "The story is a bit long…"

"We've got time," Fury said immediately. "We've got all the time in the world."

Clark looked at them and sighed. "I understand that this…whatever this is…this SHIELD and Avengers thing, I hope you can provide my mother safety after knowing me? I guess you all understand why I am asking this?"

"We do," Clint said, sharing a look with Fury.

"We do," Fury said after exchanging glances with Barton and Natasha.

"I landed in a small farming town of Smallville, Kansas," Clark said. "I was just an infant and this old couple found me. They were farmers, my adoptive parents."

"Nobody showed at your doorstep, looking for an alien bogey?" Tony asked, knowing full well that SHIELD was operative at that period of time. SHILD had come into existence two years after the Second World War. They could've noticed an alien object entering earth's atmosphere.

"Which reminds me," Thor objected with a doubt of his own, "I went with my father to Krypton when ii was small. I don't remember your people being this strong. I mean, you punched that chitauri ship like it was nothing and then you lifted it and threw it away as if it weighed nothing. Your physiology is almost as similar to that of the people of Earth. You people weren't as strong as how much you are now. What happened?"

"From what I've learnt from my father's conscious," Clark said, "we Kryptonians have cells capable of absorbing the radiation of the sun. I remember my father telling me in his conscious that I would grow stronger on this planet because this planet has a younger sun, far younger than the sun of Krypton, that my cells would absorb its radiation. This was one factor that had made him sent me here so that I would have a better chance of survival."

"So you absorb sunlight, like plants," Tony said.

"I guess you can say…that," Clark said.

"So what, does your power vanishes when the sun goes down?" Bruce asked.

"No…it's not like that," Clark said. "Even though I don't know my own potential but I think at night I will be at a disadvantage because of the absence of the sun, I guess?"

"Don't mind but we would like to know more about you," Fury said. "With you being an alien I hope you understand that."

"As long as my conditions are met," Clark said.

"Which we will discuss in a private room," Fury said, knowing his words won't be unheard by anyone in the room.

"So does that mean he is joining the Avengers?" Banner asked.

"I never agreed to that," Clark said.

"And I never said it either," Fury said. "We just need to know more about him, as much as he is allowing us to know. I hope he will give us his help whenever we need it?"

"I would," Clark said, his face missing an expression. He had heard Fury's heartbeat. There was a speed-up there for a moment. Clark wasn't surprised when Fury said he wouldn't be bothering him. With a man like Fury believing his words would be an act of foolishness.

"I would love to talk to you sometime," Thor said, giving Clark's shoulder a firm pat, "but right now I need to take my brother and give him the justice of our world. It was nice working with you all my new friends," he said, looking at the rest of them. "I hope we will meet again sometime."

"You are not staying?" Tony asked.

"No, I need to take away Loki with me," Thor said. "The longer he stays outside the jurisdiction of my world the more risky it is with him. You know, he is him, Loki."

"Can't disagree with you on that one," Barton said, looking at Natasha.

"If you don't mind, we would like to have his staff," Fury said.

"Oh, keep it. I suppose Loki won't mind," Thor said. "Just give me the teserract. It belongs in the great library of the nine realms. I still need to figure out how it came here."

Fury thought it was a good deal. Besides, Captain and others were already against SHIELD keeping the teserract. They had a rather loud disagreements with Fury over this while Loki had attacked New York. Having the staff in exchange wasn't such a bad deal. It was an alien object and appeared to be pretty powerful with Loki performing mind controls with it and many more things. Fury knew he could get a lot of things out from that staff. Perhaps a new weapon that would prevent earth from an attack like today.

"I need to ask you something," Natasha spoke, gaining everyone's attention. "You said your father's conscious. What did you mean?" she asked, looking towards Clark.

"I cannot tell you that," Clark said.

"The man has his reasons, Agent Romanoff," Fury said. "I think everything will be revealed to us with time. Am I right?"

"Of course," Clark said. "With time."

00000

It was a great opportunity as Lex thought about it when his package arrived at his private quarters. With the amount of aliens that had fell from the sky a week ago no one had kept record of how many aliens had attacked the city. Unfortunately Lex Corp hadn't been able to get its hands on one of those huge alien ships that had wreaked havoc in New York but something was better than nothing.

He looked at the truck full of alien carcass. His people had managed to get some of those staff things those aliens had used as their weapons when attacking the city. Lex rubbed his hands together in excitement as he looked towards his secretary. He was going to be quite busy for a few days.

00000

"What do you think?" Bruce said as he showed the package he had received from Tony to Lucius.

"Alien," Lucius Fox said as he looked at the pictures that Bruce had brought him in his hospital room. "Tell me something, Mr Wayne, why are you interested in things like this? I thought you had given it all up?"

"Have you seen things like this?" Bruce asked. "It is like never before. We just had aliens invade our world. When did that happen?"

"And you think you can stop them?" Fox asked, worry clearly written on his face.

"Blake called me that day when New York was being attacked," Bruce said. "If those aliens wouldn't have been stopped then our city could've been next."

"But they were stopped," Fox said. "We now have people capable of stopping an alien invasion. What difference could you have made being there?"

"I am not talking about me here, Lucius?" Bruce said, his voice becoming a bit deep with anger.

"With the way you worry it sure looks that way," Lucius said.

"Worrying is understandable when there is a threat like this a few steps away from your doorsteps!" Bruce said. "To think that we had aliens attack us a week ago still doesn't seem believable."

"To be honest, Bruce," Fox said, "You and I and everyone in this city has seen things far crazier and weird than an alien invasion."

Bruce smiled at that. "Those were the days when all we had to worry about were exploding wind-up penguins."

"And circus freaks wreaking havoc in the city. Gotham still has reputation of being one of the most dangerous cities in the country," Fox said. "The things you dealt with as Batman and as Bruce Wayne before you became a vigilante…I don't have to tell you the effect those experiences would have on one person mentally and physically. Those heroes who just saved the world today, they have no idea what you and this city went through when superhero was just in some comic book. The Batman was so much effective for a city like Gotham that people today think of the Batman as a myth!"

"That's right, Lucius," Bruce said as he got up and went up to the window to look at the Gotham skyline. "Batman is just a myth."

"And how many times do you tell yourself that?" Fox asked.

"Just enough to make myself remember the promise that I made," Bruce said.

"Which was?" Fox asked.

"Never again."

Neither of them spoke for some minutes as Bruce watched the city from inside the hospital room and Fox watched Bruce just standing there. It was hard to see Bruce as this old man with a cane in his left hand. He was such a strong man that once had Gotham completely under law and order. With a city like this it didn't need a superhero. It needed someone like the Batman. Everyone who had seen the Batman and had lived the era of twenty years ago they would all agree with it. Unfortunately there weren't much good people left from that time period and with the bad people whom the Batman and his small team had helped captured, most of them had already died due to old age and illness. Those who remained were still treated in Arkham which was now owned by Wayne Enterprises.

"How's Luke?" Bruce asked, waking up Lucius from his thoughts.

"Luke's fine," Fox said. "He got himself in Navy last month."

"I heard," Bruce said. "Good for him. He was always a fighter."

"Yes, he was," Fox said.

"What about his friend?" Bruce asked.

"He is now a famous player in the Rogues," Fox said.

"Gotham's football team? Good for him," Bruce said. "Well, neither yours nor Silas' sons turned out like their fathers."

"They had their dreams," Fox said. "It is good to live your dreams. How is Blake? Do you see him much?"

"No," Bruce said.

"He was the one who connected with you immediately when Gotham was under Bane's rule all those years ago," Fox said. "You gave him your mantle."

"He is good," Bruce said. "He is doing what he chose to do."

"His was a kid's dream that got fulfilled," Fox said. "The only difference is that he was a bit smarter than the rest of the kids."

Bruce smiled as he looked at the light that signaled the Nightwing. "Well, he is keeping the streets safe for the time being."

"Which is about twenty years now," Fox said. "He has been working almost as long as you. When are you going to recognize that in him?" Bruce didn't answer. "He looked up to you as a kid and as a young man. He still looks up to you. Something tells me that even though you hung up your cape and cowl something inside you longs for that experience even now. And if that is true then I would like you to share your experiences with Blake. Tell him about your days of being the Batman. You can't do this anymore, Bruce. I know you need someone to tell you that because you are losing this battle all by yourself. I know even though you don't tell me or others. I've seen you ever since you were a small boy. I've been there for you just like Gordon had…just like Alfred had." Bruce turned to look at him. "You don't have to fight it alone. You know that. You are not alone, Bruce. You never were. Give us a chance to help you or your anger and hate will be your own demise. You are no longer strong enough to keep those two enemies of you at bay anymore."

00000

A/N: Thanks for reading…