Lana Lang strolled down Main Street, taking in the sights as she had not done in a long time. Between school and working at the Talon, she knew that the rest of her life had largely been a blur. Well, most of it, she decided. Somehow, a meteor freak or two (more like five or ten) would come in and, for some reason Lana found that the meteor freaks were attracted to her. She shrugged her shoulders to herself as she walked down the mostly empty street: she assumed she'd never figure out why she was Smallville's resident meteor-freak magnet. But if she was the magnet, Clark Kent was their eraser. Every time one of them cornered her, somehow Clark was always there to save her from the latest freak of the week.
She snapped out of her thoughts to notice that there weren't many people there on the streets. Lana looked up, shading her eyes from the bright sun. It was pretty warm out, so she assumed that the residents were either in their air conditioned homes or out at the lake taking a refreshing swim. She would enjoy taking the day off to go to the beach, but she still had plenty of paperwork to get through to send to Lex by the end of the week. She knew every day wouldn't be as slow as this so she needed to take the advantage while she had it.
When she finally looked up again from all of her paperwork, it was dark out, and rain clouds hung low overhead, threatening rain. She made a quick run to lock up before she headed home. She shivered slightly when she stepped outside. Lana would've normally stayed in the studio apartment upstairs, but she was supposed to pick up something from the Kent's that day and so she'd go there and pick it up and stop by Nell's place for the night. And so she began the drive to the Kent's house.
Her drive was largely uneventful down Main Street when Lana noticed the dimmed lights along Main Street and the drizzling rain. Just about everything was closed up and all the managers and owners were already at home with her families. At least, all but her. Lana softly hummed a tune to herself as she turned down a side street, making her way out of the small city and into Miller's Field on her way to the Kent's.
She followed the winding path on her way out of main streets of Smallville, Kansas until she noticed something in her headlights standing in the street. Something huge…and it wasn't about to move out of the way. Lana gripped the wheel and yanked it sharply, slamming on her brakes. Her pickup truck skidded on the wet pavement, sliding a full 180 degrees before scraping against the wall nearby and coming to a screeching halt. Lana tenderly touched her forehead, feeling a small bump begin to rise and throb painfully. She felt the rest of her body gingerly, testing for cracks and bruises before clambering out of her truck.
"Hey!" she called out to the figure that had stood imposing in the street. It didn't move. Her eyes squinted as she tried to see who had been in the way through the raindrops, which plopped harder on the ground around her. As a matter of fact, she noted that whatever it was hadn't moved since she spun out trying not to hit it.
"Hey," she called once again, this time moving more cautiously. "Are you okay?" It still hadn't moved, not even an inch. It was then that she caught on that the statuesque form was largely humanoid, but she couldn't see through the bad lighting of the side street.
She thought about getting closer, but a second thought said that if the guy was still standing there, he was just fine. After all, she hadn't hit him at all. Besides, she needed to get out of the rain and she still was supposed to stop by the Kent farm. She tried calling to the figure once more before shrugging her shoulders and turning to her car. She had barely turned around when she was standing face to chest with something…something that wasn't human. Lana slowly turned her head behind her, looking for the statue. When it wasn't there, she finally got a good look at the thing standing in front of her. It was humanoid, but instead of skin something akin to scales encased its entire body. When she looked up, Lana noticed it towered over her small form, and its eyes glowed a dangerous red. She slowly began to back away from the fiend, and then it let out a low growl and a grating metallic sound echoed in the street. She looked at its arms and noticed two large spikes protruding from each fist. And then it began to stagger towards her menacingly, every step rattling the ground underneath. She tried to pick up her pace and run, but she tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and splashed in the puddle underneath.
Searching around her frantically and finding nothing to defend herself, she let out a piercing scream in hopes someone would hear her. Instead, her cries incited the monster to rush her, speeding at her faster than she had seen anything move before. And it was an equal surprised when it suddenly stopped, as if it slammed into a brick wall. The monster rattled, shaking harshly as if it had been electrocuted. As it staggered away from her, it shook off its initial shock. When it turned back to her, its eyes grew darker. Lana blanched; whatever had happened made it even angrier. And it began another charge at her.
This time a black cape flashed in front of her before the monster hit yet another invisible wall. She couldn't see much of anything until the lightning above head flashed and she saw a boy standing in front of her, hand held upright as if he was conjuring up the "wall" that held the monster back. She heard growls and a grunt before the monster had slammed into the wall next to her, deflected by whatever the boy had done.
The boy turned to face his adversary, a fierce look etched into his eyes. His eyes were all she could see: his nose and mouth were wrapped up in a black cloth. He unhooked his cape and walked towards Lana and when she looked into his eyes, the fierce look was gone. In its place was something entirely different. Something soft and caring. The boy knelt by her in the puddle and handed her his cape to curl up in and try to keep warm. The lightning flashed again, and she noticed his hair hanging low in his face, damp from the rain and his soft, blue-gray eyes.
He called out a word she didn't know and was about to respond when something moved in the shadows behind her. She almost shrieked in surprise but the boy laid a finger to her lips to quiet her. The shadow moved into the light and turned out to be a wolf, also blue-gray in appearance. "Protect her," the boy muttered to the wolf, to which the wolf responded with a snarl and half a growl.
The boy rubbed his face slightly irritated. "Don't give me your lip now, Neyira. I don't have time to argue. We have to send Alek back to the Zone." The wolf snorted in response, but knelt in front of Lana with its teeth bared, a menacing sight to whomever would come anywhere near the girl. Lana curled the warm cape around herself as she watched the boy slip two handled sticks from loops at his waist and grip them tightly, the larger part of the weapon running parallel to his arms.
"Come on, Alek!" the boy called out. In response, red eyes flashed before three blurs flew from the rubble of the wall at the masked warrior. The boy merely slid his body fluidly under the first blur, moving into a sidestep that moved him from the second blur. As the third blur sped at him with full speed, the boy held up his weapons and a flash of light appeared between the two bars, stopping the blur in its tracks and dropping it to the ground, revealing the blurs to be mangled spikes.
The boy shook his head as the fiend finally climbed from the rubble created in its wake. "Quit playing with me, Alek!" he said shortly, almost as if the monster was just a sparring partner.
It glared at the boy with its evil eyes and grumbled one word at its opponent. "Venator," it growled fiercely.
The boy shrugged almost playfully. "Well I've been calling you by your name all night now. It's only fair that you call me by mine before I send you back to where you belong." Then he held his weapons in front of himself and spoke softly. "Sanctus mucro, transporto is everto tergum ut obscurum!" And just as suddenly the bars on his weapons shone brightly as they began to morph, becoming bladed on the ends as well as the handles.
Alek couldn't take it anymore, couldn't handle being taunted by a mere boy and rushed him furiously. The warrior called Venator stood his ground, waiting for the best moment. When Alek threw his first punch, Venator ducked quickly and punched out, ripping into the fiend's side with the side of his blades.
Lana's eyes were wide as she watched the boy go toe-to-toe with the monster called Alek. She heard a strange noise and, listening carefully, noticed that the wolf was growling. She watched the wolf for a moment as it stood fiercely, emitting a guttural snarl whenever the fiend broke away from Venator and looked Lana's way. The Talon manager crawled closer to the wolf and gently threaded her fingers into its fur. The wolf half-turned to see her, but turned to face the battle as it allowed Lana to curl up with it.
Lana's eyes peaked in interest as she watched the boy fight the fiend. "Venator" slipped his body under the monster's brutal fists with a natural ease and subtlety, flowing around him like wind. With every jab Alek threw, the boy came back with a jab or a sweep, trying to break into the fiend's scaly skin. When he couldn't break through, he danced away from Alek's flailing arms.
As much fun as this was, he knew it was time to end this. He couldn't allow himself to slip up and let Alek get away. Or even worse, let it kill him and take the girl. He didn't even know why Alek was after the girl, but he knew he needed to stop it from getting her. It was his job, his family's job. He had trained his whole life for this, and after hearing about all the weird things in Smallville, he had to come and do something to help them.
He realized that the elaborate dance was over and he held his twin elbow blades at his waist. "You had enough yet, Alek?" he called. "Just give it up. Why don't you just come along quietly?"
"Never," Alek growled darkly, before racing to bludgeon Venator. The boy moved just before Alek slammed into him, rolling into a stand to the fiend's right. While Alek collected himself, Venator looked up and saw the girl he was trying to save huddled up with Neyira. Because she had been standing in the rain, her clothes began to stick to her lithe frame, and he stared intently. She was…beautiful.
While he was staring, he heard a voice screaming, "Look out!" When he realized that it was the girl's voice, he turned just as Alek slammed into his body, flinging Venator in the air and slamming him into the nearest building.
Venator hit the wall, dazed from the blow, dropping his elbow blades. He heard Neyira growling darkly. When he weakly opened his eyes, he looked at Neyira sharply, willing her to stay with the girl. She couldn't leave her at all, the girl had to get away safe.
Alek stalked towards Venator, standing menacingly over his body, which was sprawled out over the pavement. "And now," Alek mumbled, hefting a spike into his claw and poising it over Venator's heart. "You shall pay for the suffering you and your family have put me through."
As Alek raised his spike overhead, a piercing scream echoed towards the combatants, blowing Alek off of his feet and far from Venator. The boy looked at Neyira, wondering if she felt the same power that he did. The wolf growled and tilted its head towards the girl at her back, who was sliding from Neyira's back and onto the pavement.
Knowing that he had to move quickly, he stood up, drawing the jian blade from his back and stood over Alek's fallen body. Red eyes glared at gray before Venator began to utter an incantation: "Orior oriri ortus quod operor meus mos." As he spoke, his twin elbow blades floated up and drifted to either side of the pair of warriors. He continued to speak as the clouds began to roll back and the pale moon shown down on them. "Patefacio porta!" he called aloud. The floating blades began to emit a crystallized light, piercing each ugly arm of Alek, pinning him underneath.
"Any last words, Alek?" Venator asked.
"We will be back. You, your family, and the Traveler shall be trampled underneath us, crushed into dust! Then Caliga will rise again!"
"You won't be back, Alek," Venator spat angrily. "Per is mucro," he chanted. "EGO transporto is phantasma tergum!" He swung the jian with all his might, ripping a gate open in the air that swallowed Alek in its maw before closing. When the rift closed, Venator sank to his knees, breathing deeply to catch his breath. He heard a whimper behind him and jumped back to his feet, racing to the fallen girl.
He scooped her into his arms, brushing her hair back from her face. "How is she, Neyira?" The wolf merely looked at him, eyes wide. He nodded his head slowly. "That's understandable. But what I want to know is where she got that kind of power from. I don't know anyone with that kind of potential."
When the girl stirred in his arms, he sat her up. "How are you doing?" he asked her.
The girl looked around, a little dazed before looking into Venator's eyes. "Clark…Kent…" she gasped before her head rolled away as she drifted into unconsciousness.
"Kent, huh?" the boy said lightly. "That's one lucky guy. Come on, Neyira. The least we could do is find this Clark guy, bring her back."
"Venator" is Latin for "Hunter"
"Sanctus mucro, transporto is everto tergum in obscurum!" is Latin for "Holy sword, send this demon back into the darkness!"
"Orior oriri ortus quod operor meus mos." is Latin for "Rise and do my will."
"Patefacio porta!" is Latin for "Open the gates!"
"Per is mucro, EGO transporto is phantasma tergum!" is Latin for "With this sword, I send this phantom back!"