A/N : Yay! Somebody reviewed:-) If anyone else finds this story even the least bit amusing or interesting, I would love to hear your opinions too!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 4
"Y'know you're a really great dancer" Chloe smiled, as the Cat spun her around the floor, "Do you take lessons?" she was curious to know, reporters instincts always there, bubbling beneath the surface, just waiting for a story in any and all situations.
Unfortunately, before Cat had a chance to answer, Lex was there tapping him on the shoulder and taking his attention away from his beautiful blonde partner.
"Mind if I cut in?" the billionaire asked not waiting for an answer as he slid between the pair and swept Chloe away much to her confusion but also amusement.
"Why, Mr Luthor" she feigned being overcome, "I never had you down for the sweeping kind" she joked.
"I think you'll find, Miss Sullivan" he said, using the formal tone which she had initiated, "There are a lot of things about me that might surprise you"
Chloe laughed lightly at that as they continued to dance around the hall, amongst so many other couples, including Clark and Lana, and Pete with a new friend he was apparently making.
Across the room, the misfits that were the Red Dwarf posse seemed to have taken up residence by the buffet table. Lister was swilling beer like it was going out of style, and forcing down hor's devres a handful at a time, much to Rimmer's distaste, as Kryten stood nearby, swaying slightly to the infectious rhythm of the music.
"Lister, could you at least try to eat like a human being?" his superior admonished him, flaring his nostrils in the way only he could, "You're making a complete show of yourself" he said, as he smiled as amiably as he could manage at a couple of nice looking young ladies that passed by them.
"Just cos you don't have to smeggin' eat, Rimmer" Lister snapped at him, around a mouthful of pigs in blankets, crumbs flying everywhere as he did so, "Leave me alone, alright?"
"Hey, that moon-headed dude stole my woman!" Cat protested as he returned to his crew-mates.
"Mr Cat, if I may suggest, sir" Kryten whispered to him, "Perhaps it might not be advisable to anger that gentleman, after all, he is Lex Luthor, not only our host at this gathering, but also the most powerful man in Smallville and the surrounding area"
"Yeah, right" Cat scoffed, "I could take him"
"Shut up, you stupid goit!" Rimmer snapped at the feline, "We don't want any trouble, just leave it"
"For once he's right, man" Lister agreed, finally stopping stuffing his face for all of two seconds, "It's not worth the barney"
"Hey, you're not the one who lost your first lady cat to a..." Cat was forced to stop talking as Lister put his hand over his friends mouth, demanding quiet from him and everyone.
The whole room turned their attention to the fact the music had stopped and the lights were dimming down to almost nothing, in spite of the fact nobody was near the stereo system or the light controls.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a figure appeared in the centre of the room, the dancing couples all around backing off at the sight of a young man that glowed with a sickly green hue. Lister and the crew only had a back view, as the figure shot nasty looks all around, girls screaming and all the kids cowering away, all but a few who were sure this was somekind of a Halloween trick, at least until they looked in Lex's direction and realised he looked just as worried as everybody else.
"You!" the figure shouted, pointing a finger at the billionaire, "You let them laugh and dance, today of all days"
Suddenly a bolt like lightning shot from the hand that was held out in Lex's direction and the bald man crumpled to the floor like he'd been physically attacked. Chloe, whom he had been holding behind him, dropped to her knees at his side, whilst Clark seemed to stay as far back as possible, looking like he was about to toss his cookies quite spectacularly.
It was that, more than the creature that was attacking, that perhaps puzzled Lister the most. In spite of his confusion, Dave was not about to stand by whilst this guy took out half the crowd. Rushing forward with a battle cry, he spun the figure around by the shoulder and delivered a sharp blow to his face with a fist. The young man seemed unphased, but Lister was not as he looked into a pale and gaunt face that was much less green now he was so close.
"Big mistake" he said, with an evil smirk, before pushing the seemingly older man away, the seemingly light shove actually sending Lister tripping backwards onto his butt, several feet away
As the posse and all the surrounding party guests looked on, the glowing man disappeared as if he'd never been there at all. The lights began to rise again, along with the volume of music that was soon up from silence to a pulsing rhythm.
"What the smeg was that?!" Lister exclaimed, as Kryten shook his head, waving the small machine in his hands around, hoping to find something.
"Somebody call an ambulance!" Chloe urged the crowd of people around her as she cradled an unconscious Lex Luthor's head in her lap.
"Clark, are you okay?" Lana asked, as he gasped and struggled at her side.
"I... I'll be fine" he assured her, as Pete glanced his way with a knowing look.
The thing that had attacked, whatever else it was, it wasn't slime green or bogey man green, it was meteor rock green.
As the situation turned from party to panic, Lister called urgently to his mechanoid companion.
"Kryten, can we get a trace on this thing using the psy-scan?" he asked him, as the android duly waved the machine in his hands in the general direction of where the apparent green ghost-man had come from and disappeared too.
"I was trying, sir" he admitted, "but, it's very strange..."
"You mean there's something here that isn't?" Rimmer checked, as his head peaked out from under the edge of the table-cloth - at the first sign of trouble he had of course taken his usual form of action and hidden under the nearest piece of furniture, in this case the buffet table, with something sturdy on his head, which explained why he was currently sporting a wooden bowl that once contained potato chips!
"Well, it doesn't appear to be emitting any life signs" Kryten explained about the creature they'd all just witnessed, jabbing at the psy-scan and checking the readings once again.
"What are you saying to me, Krytes?" Lister asked, looking over the mechanoids shoulder as the Cat did the same thing from the other side, "That this thing was really like a ghost or something?"
"I cannot see an alternative answer, sir" Kryten nodded, although he felt quite foolish agreeing with such an idea.
He had always presumed ghosts and ghouls and all the related beings to be old myths and stories, with no truth in them at all. His eyes, and the psy-scan, now seemed to suggest otherwise.
"But it touched me, you saw it!" Lister protested.
"What about a hologram like Goalpost head?" the Cat interjected, "Hardlight?" he suggested, a bright idea for someone who usually suffered with a distinct lack of brain power.
"Even holograms have an electrical pulse, a sign of existence" Kryten told him, in hushed tones so as not to draw attention, "This man or creature, whatever it was, either has no sign of physical existence what-so-ever or one so small that it's not even registering"
Just as Lister opened his mouth to say something else, the ambulance crew arrived, obviously not having been far away when the call was made. It seemed Lex Luthor was in a bad way. The little blonde in the cat costume looked petrified he was going to die on her, and Clark looked like he felt decidely sick. Of course, not all of the young aliens greeness was down to the attack on his friend alone, though none of the 'Dwarf posse realised it yet.
"Dave!" the farmboy called, as he dodged across the rapidly clearing dancefloor to his new friends, "Are you okay?
"Yeah, no real harm done" Lister assured the boy, "Looks like your mate the billionaire's not too good though" he commented, as Lex was carefully put onto a stretcher by two of the ambulance crew.
"Hey, how come you didn't jump in and save the day with your superpowers?" Cat asked, though thankfully nobody noticed, and Lister quickly clamped his hand over his crew-mates mouth.
"Why can't you just keep your gob shut?!" he complained, as the Cat used his fangs to nip Dave's fingers and make him let go, "Ow, smeg off, man. No need for that" he complained, waving his sore hand.
"You wouldn't be sayin' that if you had some ugly grease monkeys hand up your face!" the feline shot at him as he ran his hand over his perfectly preened hair.
"How does he... How do you guys know about me?!" Clark demanded to know, "Who are you?!" he yelled, almost a little too loudly, grabbing Lister by the front of the shirt, and sending Rimmer cowering beneath the tablecloth once again.
"Mr Kent, sir" Kryten intervened carefully, "If I may interject, perhaps we might go somewhere a little less public to discuss what it is we know and who exactly we are"
Clark eyed the three warily, before glancing beneath the table at Rimmer.
"Okay" he said slowly, agreeing to their plan. He didn't really feel he should argue given that they seemed to know his secret. Besides, they seemed more scared than scary right now.
"Let's go" Lister nodded, as the group checked no-one was watching them.
"Suggest we leave the way we came in, sirs" Kryten told them, "We are likely to attract less attention through the, er, back door, as it were"
"Excellent suggestion, Kryten" Rimmer nodded as he poked his head out from under the table, checked no-one was looking then bolted for the door, as the other three members of the posse, plus Clark followed behind.
Pete, who had been keeping an eye on his friend, caught up with them easily, and put a hand on Clark's shoulder just as they reached the window through which they would leave the mansion.
"What's goin' on, man?" he checked with his friend, who glanced at the posse who had already passed through the window, then back at the best friend who kept his secret.
"I don't know, Pete" he admitted, "That's what I'm hoping to find out"
The other boy nodded, and without a word agreed to go with his best friend. He wanted to know what was going on, and given that he knew Clark's secret, he might be more helpful than someone else, such as Chloe. She was distracted by Lex Luthor right now, a man Pete cared nothing for. He was concerned for Clark alone, and wanted to know anything their strange new acquaintances could tell them. He had a feeling things were going to get weird, again.
To Be Continued...