"Reason"

Part 2 of 4

by Steave

Space has always been cold, uncaring, and quiet. It was, indeed, peaceful, now harboring an alien, as he floated above the Earth. Listening for where he would be needed most, and, in the blink of an eye, he would race towards the planet, ready to save someone else. It had gone on like this since the Daily Planet had been under attack.

Kal-El, flew from the wreckage of the Daily Planet, and threw himself towards the skies, embracing the sun's warm embrace. He then went further, towards the atmosphere, and into space. He then floated, closing his eyes, and listening intently to where he would be needed next.

He could percieve and understand all of the various messages coming into his ears all at once. Space was the one place he could go and hear everything at once. From a man walking towards work in London, to a pen being dropped in a small home in Tokyo.

The varying sounds and voices were hitting him all at once, and yet, he could pick each one apart and understand all that was being said, and whether to go help or not. Then, he could hear one voice say, "Oh my God, we have a problem."

Kal already knew what it was, an airplane was going down due to some difficulties with the engine. And just like that, he flew to save them, without even one second of hesitation.

In less than 10 seconds, he was on top of the plane, looking for the damage. The engine had almost been blown to pieces, how this happened didn't matter. Getting those people to safety did.

They were above Chicago, he knew that already. If he could just get them to an air strip, all would be fine.

He flew underneath the plan, and dug his fingers through the bulk of the plane, gripping it with his strong hands, and forcing it to go down. He could hear the pilots panicking even more, now accepting that the fate of this airplane was not in their hands.

The strip was coming closer, and now it was time for phase two of Kal's plane. He let go of the plan and flew in front of it. They would be nose-diving into the airstrip in 30 seconds, he had to be fast. He places his palms on the front of the plan and pushed with all of his might. This was the first time he had ever tried anything like this. Honestly, he had never handled anything so heavy before in his life.

It started to slow down, and the passengers were screaming, not out of terror, but out of deep satisfaction. In one minutes time, Kal was standing on the runway, holding an airplane perpendicular to the strip. He then eased his way underneath the plane, and set it down properly.

What seemed like hundreds of people, came towards him, all flashing their cameras at him and asking questions. Kal only smiled, and flew towards the plane's door, ripping it off of the hinges to get the passengers out safely. He only smiled, and saluted the passengers, pilots, photographers, and reporters.

Then, as quickly as he had appeared, he flew off, to save some other souls who needed saving. He could hear the reporters talking with each other. They had already thought of a name to call him. It would headline all of the newspapers.

Superman. His name is Superman.

--

Jimmy Olsen awoke to the sound of Perry White chewing out a poor and defenseless nurse for not having the ambulances sent sooner to the Planet. Olsen only rolled his eyes and shifted his weight in his bed, only making his condition worse. That man, or whatever it was, it had saved them all.

He could hear the nurse telling Perry that at least there were no casualties. It had saved them all. Perry turned around, leaving the nurse to her own devices, and walked towards Olsen. Jimmy thought about closing his eyes, not wanting to hear about how he could've done this to him. But, reluctantly, he left his eyes open.

"Olsen!"

"Y-yes sir?"

"What have you been doing? Daydreaming, you scared me half to death. How do you feel?"

"W-well sir, no . . ."

"Eh, what does it matter, you're alive and you got a good picture."

"W-what are you t-talking about Mr. White?"

"Take a look at this."

Olsen gazed at a photo, the picture was incredibly blurred. Then, he realized it wasn't that the picture was out of focus, it was that his eyes were. After readjusting his eyes, he could see the picture starting to come into focus. It was a man, his back to the sunlight, and a red flowing cape was fluttering behind him in the wind. He wore some kind of blue outfit with a yellow pentagon outlined in red on his chest. In the center of the shape, was a red S.

"Who is he?"

"Superman. His name is Superman."

--

Lois finally awoke, only what seemed like seconds after an explosion rocked the entire building. She tried as hard as she could to piece together the memories of what had all transpired. What she got instead was a cacophany of noises and blurred visions. Whatever had happened, she wasn't quite sure.

"Are you alright?"

A kind and caring voice came from behind her. Standing on the edge of the rooftop (which now she realized was on top of the Daily Planet) was a man. He wore a blue suit and had a red cape. On his chest was a red S.

"I . . . I think so."

"You were knocked unconscious when one of those rocks fell on your head."

She reached back, feeling the top of her head. There was a bump on her head that stung to touch.

"How did I get up here?"

The man only nodded beyond her. In answer, she turned around, looking a hole in the roof of the Daily Planet.

"Oh. How did you get here so fast?"

"I was around."

"Was anyone . . ." Her sentence trailed off, not wanting to think of the possibility.

"No. No one was killed. The photographer, Jimmy Olsen, he was hurt the worst, but he's fine by now."

"Who . . . who are you?"

"Well, I think that's for you to decide."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, the news reporters are typically the ones who give mysterious people who commit great or terrible things their names, are they not?"

"You're right. Do you plan on sticking around?"

"I'm always around."

He turned towards the edge of the roof and Lois ran towards him, stopping halfway. He turned around.

"Could I, by chance, get an interview with you?"

He smiled a friendly smile and said, "Tomorrow night."

He then flew off the side of the building, off towards the sun.

"Superman. His name is Superman."