Author: KatiKat
Warning: Fusion, humor
Rating: PG
Pairings: 1+2, but not 1+2. Well, you will see what I mean :D
Archives: KatiKat and Friends
Disclaimer: Not mine, you can check. No money made! :)
Notes: Another story in my 'Gundam goes TV' series. My thank you goes to my wonderful beta DMx04.
Can you guess who is who? :D
Superman
Heero Yuy braced himself against the dashboard as their car flew into another curve at the speed of light and with squeaking tires. He didn't release his breath until all four of the wheels met the road again. Only then did he push the glasses up his nose and look at the driver - his working partner Duo Maxwell. Maybe he should get used to him driving like that. They had worked together for almost a year already but every time they had to use a car to reach their destination – which happened quite often - and Duo forced his way behind the steering wheel - which happened quite often too - with an explanation that Heero drove like an old arthritic lady - it was a new experience for him.
Duo must have felt Heero watching him because he spared him a glance. "What?" he barked.
"Do you *have* to drive like that?" Heero couldn't help but ask.
Duo looked at him, genuinely puzzled. "Like what?"
Heero rolled his eyes and waved his at him. "Never mind."
The braided young man just shook his head. "You're a weird one, Yuy."
Heero turned away from Duo and kept watching the city blurring behind his window. Metropolis wasn't a beautiful town per se. It was full of industry and dirty streets and really weird criminals but he liked that. He liked to work here and live here although he missed his Dad and Mum and the farm terribly. But Smallville wasn't that far away after all. And when the homesickness got really bad he had the phone after all. Heero had to smile when he remembered Duo's disbelieving look when he told him that "yes, even such a backwater place like Smallville had more than one phone."
Heero's smile grew bigger every time he thought about Duo. The other man was hot headed, had an awfully bad temper and was almost impossible to work with. He noticed the admiring looks his other co-workers were giving him because he managed to stay partners with Duo for so long. What they didn't know was how sweet Duo looked when he fell asleep on his couch, files strewn all over him or when he tried to make coffee and managed to burn the pot - after that Heero decided it was cheaper if he bought himself a coffeemaker. They didn't know that Duo's weak points were children, puppies and chocolate, and that he sniffled while watching romantic movies. For the other reporters of Daily Planet, Duo Maxwell was just a hard professional with no feelings whatsoever. Heero Yuy knew better.
It took them another five minutes - five horrible, life threatening minutes - before they reached their destination - the headquarters of the OZ Corporation and one of the most powerful men in the world - Treize Kushrenada. It wasn't every day that the multi-billionaire allowed reporters to enter his fortress of power and give them a press conference. This was a chance for Duo to play the interrogator to Treize Kushrenada and he decided to make the best of it and enjoy it.
Spotting an empty parking place in the nearly full parking lot in front of the steel-and-glass building that belonged to Kushrenada, Duo sped to it and heedless of another car that showed every intention of backing into it, he drove in. Tires screeched and they stopped just millimeters from a cement wall. They were thrown against their safety belts and with a low "oof" they landed back in their seats. The other car that was now left with no parking possibility honked at them like crazy but Duo only opened his window, poked his head out of it and screamed "stuff it loser." Heero groaned.
"I think I'm gonna be sick."
That sentence, said in a faint tone, drew their attention to the third person sitting with them in the car. As one they turned in surprise to the blond young man sitting on the back seat. They were so used to working alone that they'd completely forgotten that they had a guest.
"Tough luck, kiddo. No puking in my car," Duo said in a stern voice before getting out of the car.
Heero looked at the somewhat green looking boy with compassion. Quatre Winner was their new photographer and they should "show him around" as Howard called it. He was pretty adamant about it. Heero didn't mind but Duo protested pretty loudly. The shouting match could be heard through the whole news room. But in the end, Howard was the boss and Duo had to back off. Even now Heero could hear the braided man's gritting teeth as he burst out of Howard's office.
Heero smiled just a little. "Don't mind him. He isn't that bad. And don't believe anything the other reporters tell you about him. I've been partnered with him for months now and I'm still alive."
"We don't have all day!" Duo barked at them tapping his foot with impatience.
Quatre smiled shakily at him before he took a deep breath and opened the door to step out.
After Duo locked the car, they ran across the parking lot and into the OZ Headquarters. There was no need for the rush but Duo wanted to find a good place in the auditorium. In the hall he kept pressing the call button for the lift impatiently, as if that could bring the car down sooner. As soon as the lift door opened, he waltzed in and pressed the button for the 8th floor where the conference would take place.
"Where do you think Mr. Kushrenada is now?" Quatre asked, finally holding his camera ready.
Duo looked at him. "Not there yet. That's for sure. He will probably let us wait a while to show us that it's his good will to organize this conference and that he doesn't feel obliged to answer any of our questions even though the chemicals that escaped his factory in the suburbs endangered the whole population there. He is an arrogant bastard," Duo ended his tirade.
Heero smirked. He knew that Duo really didn't like Treize Kushrenada. He heard something about the multi-billionaire having the hots for Duo in the past, but Duo wasn't in the least interested in him which turned these two into mortal enemies.
Quatre raised his eyebrows. "It was you two who discovered the pollution, huh? I read the story. It was good."
"Good? It was excellent. And what's most important - we were the first with the story. No one even suspected that something like that could happen. I still can't believe that people could be really convinced that Kushrenada is the 'good guy'. How blind they could be?" In that moment, the door opened and they stepped out on the 8th floor. The hall was half full of reporters. Some of them greeted their small group with a short hello or a wave. But most of them watched them with jealousy though. They knew that the Maxwell/Yuy team was the best. Their Pulitzer Prize was the proof.
They reached the reception table and Heero smiled at the young woman sitting behind it. "Maxwell, Yuy and Winner. Daily Planet," he said to her and with a thank you, he took the name tags from her. He handed Duo and Quatre theirs before pinning his own to his green shirt.
Duo looked at his watch. "The conference will begin any minute now. Ah, they are already opening the door to the press room," he pointed to the left where a young woman opened both sides of the expensive oak door to reveal a big and well lit room. "Come on. I want to get good seats."
Duo started to walk towards the press room. Heero and Quatre followed him when something caught Heero's attention. It was a door just to the right of them. It opened for a moment and Zechs Marquise - Treize Kushrenada's lawyer stepped out. But that wasn't what was so odd. It was the man of whom he caught a glimpse in that room behind the door. Heero knew that he had seen him somewhere already. But where...
Duo stopped in the door and turned to Heero, only to find him standing in the middle of the hall staring at a closed door. Duo rolled his eyes and tsk'ed in disgust. He was doing that way too often and this 'spacing' of some sort was beginning to be pretty annoying. Duo couldn't understand that other reporters thought it was impossible to work with him. They should try to work with this lunatic from some backwater town called Smallville.
"Heero!" Duo snapped with impatience.
Heero blinked and turned to his partner. "Huh?"
"Shouldn't we go inside already?"
"I... I think I forgot something in the car."
Duo stared at him. "Yuy, the conference will begin any minute. It can wait, can't it?"
Heero shuffled his feet - he actually shuffled his feet, Duo noticed - and pushed his glasses up his nose. "No, it can't. Just... just go inside. I will be back in a minute." With that he turned and disappeared in the lift that just arrived.
Quatre blinked. "Uh, he won't get in the car since you have the keys," he noticed as he turned to Duo.
Duo was beyond being annoyed. This disappearing act was getting old. He would never understand how Heero could write a story about something he didn't even witness and have all the details. He will find out what mysteries this farm boy was keeping one day. One day, but not today. Not now. A conference awaited him now.
"Too bad for him. I won't chase after him." With that, he turned and marched into the press room.
~*~
The press conference was going smoothly. Questions were flying through the room - some of them were even answered -, pictures were taken. Treize Kushrenada standing on the small platform in the front of the room was the picture of coolness itself.
"Where is Heero?" Quatre asked quietly.
Duo scribbled the answer to another question - he didn't believe in dictaphones or any other technical stuff. Nothing could be compared to old pen and paper. "Don't know, don't care. Keep taking pictures." Finishing his scribbling, Duo sprang to his feet. "Duo Maxwell, Daily Planet."
Treize smiled. "Oh, Mr. Maxwell. Nice to see you. I've been kind of curious if you would show up here. Do you know that I have every intention to sue your paper? You dirtied my good name."
"You never had a good name," Duo muttered under his breath. "I have a question. Is it true that two environmental agencies in two years pointed out that your company was breaking the law?"
Treize smiled and opened his mouth to say something when the door flew open, and a man with a gun in his hand burst into the press room shouting "Die Kushrenada". Two of Treize's bodyguards threw themselves at him and started to struggle for the gun. All of the reporters dropped to the ground. Only Duo was peeking out from his hiding place, taking notes like crazy. Then the gun went off.
But before someone could get hurt, a blur of red, blue and yellow flew through the room and stopped next to Duo, catching the flying bullet just centimeters from his face. All the noise in the room stopped.
"Superman," Duo whispered, his eyes widening, his cheeks turning red - his normal reaction to meeting his beloved superhero. Duo rose from the ground, dusting his black trousers and coughing nervously. "I... I... I..." he stammered looking at the big red S on Superman's chest and cursing silently the lack of his self-esteem in the presence of the handsome alien. Thank god Heero wasn't there. He would have never lived that down.
"You okay?" Superman asked and Duo nodded.
"I should thank you. This... this could have ended pretty badly."
Superman smiled. He raised his hand and touched Duo's face, lifting it up. The rosy hue on Duo's cheeks deepened as he looked into his hero's cobalt blue eyes. "You should be more careful. Next time I may not be there."
Duo blinked, the velvety voice doing miracles to his body. "Okay," he answered faintly.
None of them seemed to notice that the would be killer was led off and that Kushrenada disappeared too. They were just too engrossed in each other. It was the flash of a camera taking a picture that destroyed the magic, and they turned to Quatre who was holding the camera in his hands, while grinning like a fool. Duo's flush deepened so that he was looking like a tomato. Superman just smirked.
The reporters surrounded them, shouting questions at the superhero but Superman wasn't paying any attention to them. He leaned into Duo's personal space, and for a moment the braided young man thought that he would kiss him. But the alien just let his lips touch Duo's ear as he whispered: "The guy was Mueller. He wasn't here to kill Kushrenada. I heard him talking with Kushrenada. He was ordered to kill you and Heero."
Duo blinked as Superman moved away, smiled and disappeared in a blur of blue, red and yellow again. The professional reporter replaced the infatuated man then. So Kushrenada wanted him dead? And Heero too? Well, he... they will show him who they were and that it wasn't wise to play with them.
And where the hell was Heero?
As if that was a sign for him, a breathless Heero rushed into the room, looking around in surprise. "The conference is over already?"
Duo rolled his eyes.
"No, but there was this guy who wanted to kill Mr. Kushrenada and then he almost killed Duo and then Superman appeared and saved him and..." Quatre went on and on excited about what happened.
"You almost got killed? Are you alright?" Heero asked, his voice full of concern, as he moved his glasses up his nose again.
"Yeah, yeah," Duo waved him off, scribbling something in his note-book. "But Superman gave me some really interesting information."
"Superman was here?" Heero looked around, curiosity and excitement in his voice.
Duo rolled his eyes again.
The crowd of reporters almost dissipated, acknowledging that nothing interesting would happen now and rushed to their offices to write their stories so that they could appear in the evening newspapers.
Duo moved to the lifts too, still scribbling something down. "I think we should continue our investigation of Kushrenada's shady business," he said to his co-workers who were following him again. "We should look closely at the would-be killer. Superman said it was Mueller. You remember him Heero? The guy we caught selling guns downtown? And then we should..." he ranted on and on not letting the others get a word in.
They looked at each other. Quatre's look was surprised, Heero's amused and tolerant.
"Is he always like that?" Quatre asked in a hushed voice, but Duo didn't even seem to notice.
"Like what?" Heero answered in the same tone of voice.
"Like... a human hurricane I would say."
Heero smiled. "You should see him on his bad days."
Quatre's eyes grew big. "Bad days? So this was a good one?" he asked in horror.
"Actually one of the best."
Quatre groaned. "I think that his bad day will kill me."
Heero laughed.
"Are you two even listening to me?" Duo snapped at them, as he turned around and saw them whisper together. "This is important! Stop behaving like children. We have work to do. Damn it. Where is the lift?" he barked out, hitting the call button over and over again. "Finally!" he shouted when the door opened and they stepped in. "And where the hell have you actually been Yuy?" The question was the last thing that could be heard before the cabin's door closed.
And in the lift a boy with cobalt blue eyes, glasses and tons of secrets smiled to himself.
'If you only knew Duo. If you only knew...'
OWARI
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