(IC: Superman)
I straight at him. I can't reveal to him that I am Clark Kent. Even if this is the last time that I will address Earth, I don't want to put my loved ones through the aftermath of such information. Ma and Pa would never be able to live in peace, as they always have. The Daily Planet would be under heavy scrutiny for allowing me to work there. The endless questions... Perry, Jimmy... Lois...
I cannot, and will not, sacrifice all of that. They mean too much to me. I decide to finally speak up.
"While I cannot speak for any other heroes who have chosen to hide their true identities, as I do not work with them, nor choose their destinies... I have not hidden my own from anyone. My true identity is Kal-El, of Krypton. It is my birth name... It is my true identity.", I begin.
"And while I have never confirmed, nor denied having a human alias... Were I to have one, it would be with reason. That reason is because, despite my alien heritage, I share one humanistic trait above all... Love. Were I to have a human name... a human identity... I would also have loved ones with it. And living openly, as you put it, with those said loved ones would put them in danger due to my very existance."
I step forward. He has to hear me. He has to understand why. No... Not him. Everyone does. They are the ones who deserve explanation.
"You spoke of Reed Richards, the leader of the Fantastic Four. While born a human being, He has aqquired, as everyone knows, extraordinary abilities far beyond those of humans. But if you notice, Luthor..."
I still blame him for this next part. Even if he wasn't directly responsible, I know, in my mind, that he had something to do with it. But I will not make my accusations known. I do not have the right to do so, nor the concrete evidence.
"Immediatley, once Richards made his powers and identity publically known, He and the rest of his team were attacked by an advanced robotic monstrosity that proceeded to attempt to kidnap him and the rest of the Fantastic Four, causing and putting many pedestrians in peril."
I turn to the crowd. I'm not even giving Luthor the gratification of an explaination. I am here to address these issues for them, not him.
"The point I am trying to make, Ladies and gentlemen... Is that, while Mr. Luthor does bring up a very good point... And while I respect and admire what each of those men and women do for this country and the world, even to this day... The fact remains, they are not targets of threats on the scale of what Reed Richards and other superpowered beings have had to endure. Why? Because those men and women are not desired to be studied and used for the capabilities they posess by others. With each new superpowered being, there is that desire, and there is that danger."
I wish I could tell them. Tell them all of how a Kansas raised alien boy grew up and moved to the big city with dreams to make the world a better place. Tell them of all my struggles... Of what it has been like to be me. But... I can't. And I just have to accept that.
"It is not fair that anyone must suffer because of the existance of me. Zod, the monster who attacked and ruthlessly slaughtered those people, did it to get to me. And that is exactly why, if I were to say that I had a human alias, that I would not reveal it. Because if he knew where I was at all times... If he knew everything about me... Many more human beings would not be alive today.", I tell them.
These are topics that I have thought long and hard about. They have plagued me ever since I first discovered my abilites and heritage.
I turn back to Luthor.
"In any case, it would not matter. I would still, very much, not be one of you. I would still be percieved as an alien, as I am every time I fly over the skies of Metropolis."