Legacy

Chapter 3: Confrontations and Expectations

A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates. Been SUPER busy. Also, I'm going to NYC at the end of the month, so I don't know how many updates for any stories I'll be posting in between now and then. I'll try really hard though. Because after NYC… *shudder*… school.

"Remind me again why we are at a car show?" asked Flo.

"We're here for one reason and one reason only. To scout the competition," Chloe stated.

Emily nodded in agreement and said, "Totally gonna help us win the World's if we know what we're up against."

On this day, the Bellas should have been getting ready to perform at the said car show, but because of their little mishap in front of the commander-in-chief months ago, the Victory Tour was taken away from them and they were replaced by Das Sound Machine. Yesterday, Amy had the bright idea to reconnoiter the enemy. All of the Bellas were there. All except Beca, who had inconveniently texted Chloe telling her she'd be a little late. She didn't say anything after that. The ginger's mood matched her hair color.

The Bellas were climbing the escalator when their leader called after them. "Sorry I'm late!" Beca yelled up, politely pushing her way past the other pedestrians on the moving staircase.

"Where the hell were you?" Chloe scoffed. She had begun to walk down the escalator to confront her. Beca looked as if she were out of breath, and she barely made out the last syllable of what she had to say.

"I was—"

"Chloe." Fat Amy grabbed the angry ginger as she was walking down. "Don't bug her too much about it, you know she was busy in pound town with Je—"

"Amy!" Beca interrupted, her face flushing a bright shade of red. She then began laughing with Amy, whom she couldn't stay mad at for even a few seconds.

"It's not funny," Chloe jeered. "And where were all of you at the Bella meeting after the party?" She turned to the Bellas.

"It was poorly planned, Chloe. Most of the Bellas were drunk off their asses anyway," Beca contradicted. "Even you, a little bit. And you better turn back around unless you want your heels to be eaten by the tip of the escalator."

Chloe's expression pondered, then she hurriedly picked up her heels so she wouldn't trip. "Thank you," she breathed. Beca minimally nodded. It wasn't the best idea to have planned a meeting right after a party. She was thankful that other Bellas didn't show up so all eyes wouldn't be on her. Especially since Beca did have a long day at work yesterday, and Jesse was what she needed at that moment.

She confided in the Bellas, or at least Chloe and Amy, with some of her personal problems, but Jesse knew her better than anyone. Even more than her own father. Beca told Jesse everything. It was he whom she confessed everything to, even when she would rather keep it to herself. The movie nerd inveigled his way into her life, and she was forever grateful for that.

The group of girls followed the Auto Show crowd into a dark room; the only light available came from the black lights surrounding the stage.

"Holy aca-mole…," Flo awed.

Chloe grumbled. "This all should have been ours! I hate these Germans."

They made it right on time, because as soon as they found a good spot to stand in, the two display cars onstage began to move backward. Emily moved next to Beca, who politely stepped over so the taller brunette could squeeze in between herself and the table. Emily opened her mouth to speak to the leader of the Bellas, but then something flickered on the stage.

The face of a woman was now the center of attention. It was slightly pixelated, and her voice shuddered occasionally, adding to the electronic effect. "We are—we are Das Sound Machine," the woman, Kommissar, as told in the description pamphlet of the musical performance, said. The attention of anyone who wasn't already mesmerized was now fixated onto the stage as the woman continued to speak. "A German collective operating in concert to create sonic—sonic mastery. What better way to appreciate automotive perfection?"

The lights went out.

Slowly but surely, they came back on, but only to highlight the smoke coming off the stage. It was then that the formidably high-pitched voices of Das Sound Machine were audible. Beca recognized the song, despite the thick German accents, was Muse's Uprising. All that was visible were silhouettes through to blue and black lights, but the a cappella was impeccable and uncanny. It was like a cappella dubstep.

In groups of four, more members of DSM piled out, and Beca did a headcount of at least fifteen or twenty members. At least.

"How are we gonna compete with a group that size?" Cynthia Rose complained.

"They're so freakin' insane!" Stacie added.

Not only were they unapproachably frightening, they were wearing all black and had dark makeup, and they pulled it off. It was somewhat unfair. The way they moved in their mesh shirts, the scales of their voices, the unity, it was all perfectly choreographed and mashed together in such a way that was indescribable. Once they had finished their astonishing set, the crowd roared with cheering and clapping.

"Do we clap?" asked Stacie.

Chloe shrugged. "Politely clap."

Beca made accidental eye contact with Kommissar, and she caught it. In the blink of an eye was she in front of the Bellas, followed by the rest of the group and her co-leader, Pieter.

"The Barden Bellas," she greeted, although her tone didn't suggest any form of emotion. "You came here to see us? Is it because you are… what do the American kids say… jelly?"

Chloe grimaced, but Beca and most of the other Bellas just rolled their eyes. "We are so not jelly," said the ginger, who looked as if she could bottle all her emotions up in a punch to the face.

"We should really thank you for making this tour a reality, with your bumbling ineptitude." She turned to Pieter and said, "We should send them something. Fruit basket? Or mini muffins?" He nodded.

"Look," Beca spoke. "We didn't come here to start something with you guys, we're just here to check you out before the World's, where we're gonna kick your ass." The other Bellas chimed in, backing their leader up in this game of aca-smack talk. Beca was an expert at these types of scenarios, and although it took her years to master her actions and emotions, it was much easier now to talk in a mock-considerate tone when all you wanted to do was strangle the person standing in front of you.

It wasn't until she was maybe six inches from the tall leader of DSM that she had forgotten those skills.

"You?" Kommissar chuckled, looming around Beca. "You are the kicker of ass?"

Then, Emily's heart race sped up. Emily, who had been silent the whole time, hoping her first a cappella smack talk session would go easily. Now, here was her fearless leader, being talked down to by a giant.

"Well, yeah," Beca nodded.

All Kommissar did was laugh. "But, you are so tiny. Like an elf. Or is it a fairy, or a sprite…"

"A troll?" Pieter suggested.

"Ah, yes. You are like a troll." She gave Beca a sinister smile, an indicator that she knew she was winning the argument.

"You… are physically… flawless… but it doesn't mean I like you," Beca contradicted. Rather, failed to contradict…

Chloe shook her head. Obviously, Beca was a little out of it. "We are not scared about the World's, because when the Bellas hit the stage, we are gonna blow minds."

Kommissar respired deeply. "Darlings, please take my advice. Don't try to beat us. You can't. We're the best. Now, I really must go rest my neck. It is sore from looking down on you." With that, the tall blonde, as if with the click of her fingers, walked away with the rest of DSM at her heels. A sour defeat in aca-politics was what the Bellas were left with.

"Okay, just because you are making me very sexually confused does not mean that you are intimidating," Beca blurted out at all of DSM, even to the guys, which didn't make much sense to Emily. Today was not her day. "We have nothing to lose! We have literally nothing! Aca-wiedersehen bitches!" she continued, making all sorts of crazy hand gestures. "Oh, what is happening? I'm using my hands so much…"

A week after scouting the enemy, Beca and Chloe had the spontaneous yet bright idea to change the Bellas completely. The idea was simple. Change the look, change the attitude, and change the choreography.

"Alright ladies, focus up!" said Chloe, silencing the Bellas and officially beginning rehearsals. Beca was the official leader, but Chloe stood by her side to help direct things. The short brunette didn't much care for help, but she'd never tell her best friend that. "We need to beat those German dummkopfs."

"Okay, we're gonna beat DSM at their own game. Do what they do… just better," Beca explained.

This was the first official rehearsals for the Barden Bellas, and everyone was wearing their normal exercise attire. Even then, the girls all dressed to impress as well as they could with Spanx. Emily was more than stoked to have her first rehearsal. She had texted her mom earlier that day to alert her of the news, and Katherine Junk told her daughter if all went well she'd treat her to lunch.

"And we're about to do a full skills assessment to blow out our choreography to match—"

"But," Emily interrupted, "the most important thing is that we have fun right?"

The room was silent. Beca was staring at the ground, waiting for someone else to explain. Emily noted her reticence before anyone else's.

Amy, always being the first to break the ice, gave Emily the run-down. Harshly. "Uh, Legacy, don't take this the wrong way, but you're the dumbest person alive."

Okay then…, thought Emily.

Chloe clapped her hands together, taking the attention off the new Bella, which made her a little thankful. "Let's start."

…

Beca took her spot on the closed piano and opened up her laptop. It was her job to create the set by picking the songs and blending them together. It was her specialty. Lilly, Ashley, and Jessica took the time and set up props around the room while Chloe instructed the others to their stations.

There were cat interpretations, hula hoops, headstands, ribbons, gymnastics, pole dances (including some interesting moves from Flo), and other tactics that all were new to the Bellas, especially Emily. Beca rarely ever took a break from her laptop, which made Emily believe they were always about to start singing, but they never did.

Emily never got the chance to talk to her leader about her position in the Bellas, which is what her mom encouraged her to do if she ever wanted a solo. She also wanted to ask her a bit more about the Trebles and the oath, amongst other things. The younger Bella strived to be like Beca: independent, strong-willed, talented. However, nothing had changed since the first day; Emily was still intimidated by her and the mere thought of addressing her was nerve-wracking.

"Good job today, ladies! Second rehearsal tomorrow at 10am sharp!" Chloe announced.

As the Bellas packed up their bags and began to leave the building, Emily saw her chance. Beca was over by the piano putting her laptop and headphones away, but other than that she didn't look busy. That was what else kept Emily from asking before; whenever she saw Beca, she was always engaged in another activity, whether it was talking on the phone, lost in music, or doing some sort of paperwork. But now, all she was doing was packing up. This was her chance.

Emily patted over to Beca and took a deep breath. Collecting her thoughts she said, "Is it weird we never got around to singing today?" and exhaled.

Nailed it.

Beca looked up from her tangled headphones and sighed. She made eye contact with Emily, then continued to look down at the mess before her. "Uh, well, it's kind of hard to start singing without arrangements, and that's on me, so. Thank you for reminding me," she said. Beca was trying to be nice to the girl, and considering her stressful state of mind, she thought she did pretty well.

Shit, Emily thought. I think I pissed her off.

"Yeah Bec," said a new voice in the conversation that belonged to Chloe. Emily turned and saw the ginger standing right behind her, and then her cheeks flamed. No one seemed to notice. "We're gonna need that ASAP so we can start nailing down our choreography."

"Right on top of that Chlo." Beca sounded tired.

Maybe I just caught her at a bad time. Normal.

"Awes'." Chloe trotted away.

"Yeah, awes'…," Beca mimicked. She finished her packing and threw the strap of her bag over her shoulder, then pulled out her phone.

Try again, try again.

"Uh," Emily started again, her voice shaking a little more. "So I just wanted to let you know that I've been working really hard on, you know, calming my nerves and keeping my eyes open." Beca continued to stare at her phone with the occasional glance at Emily, which served as an indication that she was in fact listening, at least a little bit. "I was wondering if you could, maybe, give me some pointers… and with the singing… I don't exactly know where you're gonna put me in the song, and—"

"I don't mean to be rude, I just have somewhere that I need to be…" She gave an appreciative nod at Emily, and walked toward the exit of Swine Palace. "Um, you did great today."

"Thanks…" Emily's excitement to talk to her leader had faded, and she was left with a rapid heart rate and shaky legs.

Beca had finished packing and left rehearsals and didn't think twice about what Emily had said. All that was on her mind was getting to the Bellas house and changing clothes. Props to her for forgetting what she had meant to change into on her bed. The Bellas house wasn't far from Swine Palace at all, however, so when she got there, she wasn't out of breath. She was thankful for that, at least. She paced up the steps and went over to her closet, pausing at the mirror. Her hair looked mussed from the humidity exposure.

Ugh, this is not professional. I have to do something about this.

…

After setting the curling wand down, she threw on a black blouse and red blazer then checked herself in the mirror once again. Over time, Beca had learned how to curl and/or straighten her hair in under seven minutes. Sometimes, when the Bellas were asked to perform in concert at special events, they'd have to change hairstyles fast. Leave it to Chloe and Stacie to teach Beca how to actually do something with her hair. She used to just leave it natural, but those were the times when she didn't really give a damn about anything. Now, she was stressed about getting to Residual on time, and she should have been stressed about World's, but it just wasn't a priority in her mind. And after she added a little lip stain onto her finished look, she grabbed her purse and left the edifice, then hopped into the car where Jesse was patiently waiting.

"Why is it you always insist on driving me?" Beca asked, buckling her seatbelt.

"Three reasons. One, so I can spend more time with you. Two, because I don't want you to stress drive, it could end badly. Three, because you don't have a car," Jesse replied. She exhaled and glanced over at her boyfriend. He was wearing jeans and a purple flannel that she bought for him junior year.

"I'm gonna be late."

Jesse only laughed. "I'll get you there on time." The car proceeded forward with no traffic blocking the way. Once they were paused at a stoplight, Jesse looked at Beca with wide eyes. His hand was resting on the inside of her thigh, and he gave it a little squeeze. "Don't worry."

She shook her head. "I have to worry. I'm meeting Snoop Dogg today. He's recording. This is my chance to show Key what I can do, but I don't know what I'm going to show him. I have no ideas whatsoever."

"Beca, you'll know what to do. I've seen you do it before. This isn't any different."

"It's a lot different."

Jesse pulled up beside the Residual Heat building and checked his watch. "Look at that. Three minutes to spare," he said, but Beca was staring straight ahead, unmoving. It gave Jesse time to stare at her features, and while doing so, he noticed a bead of sweat dripping down her temple.

Beca felt a napkin on the side of her face and turned her head slightly toward Jesse. "Thank you," she breathed, although there was more of an apologetic tone than a thankful one behind her voice. Before he could respond, she pecked his cheek and closed the car door behind her.

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening?

In the lane, snow is glistening.

A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight,

Walking in a winter wonderland—

The music cut off. Snoop Dogg furrowed his brows at Beca's boss.

"Just hold up for a second," said Keegan-Michael Key, holding up one finger in front of the man in the booth.

"Wait hold up? Man what are you talking about? I sound awesome," Snoop stated.

"No, no, it's not you, it's a tech thing. So just take five—"

"Mm, it better be a tech thing. Because the way I sound in my eardrums, this is immaculate man!"

Key turned around and faced the humble interns. Everyone in the room had the same expression: fascinated because Snoop Dogg was right in front of them. Everyone except Key, who met celebrities so often, he thought of himself as someone who was above their level. He had his hand over his mouth, and his mien was jaded.

"This song—there's nothing special about it yet. Do you know what I mean?" Key said to the interns. "Any ideas? Because I—"

"Okay, um, hear me out," said Dax.

Key sighed. "Please Dax, don't…"

"We could remove the sleigh bells, and put in… Kalimba, he interrupted." Key stared at Dax, as if confused. Beca noted it was more of a why-are-you-here type of confusion. "You know, the finger thing—"

"I know what a Kalimba does. I know how it's operated."

Dax was silent for a moment. "Kalim—"

"Don't say it again," Key finished. "Go in the corner. Go eat your lunch in the corner." He pointed to the corner, and shoved Dax back from out of his face. Beca stared awkwardly at the two relatives.

"But what am I gonna do with my sriracha?" Dax complained.

"Say one more hipster thing, and I'm gonna shove you in your vintage bassoon case."

Beca watched the exchange and tried not to laugh. She was snapped out of her reverie when Key turned toward his interns again, his glare sharper than knives.

Beca was always good with music. Whether it was layering songs together, memorizing lyrics, making her own music, she was a pro. She could mix and match different songs from different genres and make them flow together in perfect harmony, and anything else thinkable. Which is why, when her next idea came to her, she wanted to slap herself in the face for not thinking of it before.

"Aim higher people. And be very careful what you pitch to me next—"

"Um," Beca spoke. Suddenly all eyes were on her. "Just have him sing it… again? The same way?"

Key looked even more concerned than he had when he was bickering with Dax. "Who are—who are you?"

Wow asshole, she wanted to say, but didn't. "Nobody. Literally nobody. I just had a thought." Please work. Please work, she thought to herself. Key examined the other interns in the room.

"Okay. Yeah. Sure. Nobody else has an idea." He told Snoop it was time to sing again, and started playing the music. Beca hesitantly walked up to the desk, and then made a beat. She was refusing her urges to glance up at her boss, and settled with occasionally using her peripheral to see if he was even acknowledging her.

He was.

In fact, he was staring at her, waiting for her to do something else. So, she did what she did best and started singing Here Comes Santa Claus along with Snoop Dogg's Winter Wonderland.

Jesse was right, Beca thought. I know what I'm doing.

She sang the next verse, and stole a look at her boss. Key was bobbing his head to what she was singing, and what Snoop was singing, and how they sounded singing together. It took all the self-control she possessed for her voice to stay steady. And when the song was over, she exhaled, then immediately said: "Or it could be something else… I could—"

Key just shushed her and twisted back toward the celebrity. "That was amazing Snoop, thank you so very much. You can take a quick break. Everything. Perfection. Perfection," he said.

Snoop Dogg, however, already knew he sounded amazing. "Groovy like a drive-in movie."

Beca awkwardly shuffled her arm behind her neck and awaited confrontation from her boss. The back of her neck was sweating slightly. She never experienced the whole stage fright thing, but here in the recording studio with the man that may either launch her career or end it before it starts, she had never been more anxious.

Little did she know she had nothing to worry about.

"You can sing," Key observed.

That's a suitable observation…, said a voice in the back of Beca's head. She pushed it down. "Uh, yeah. I'm like a three-time collegiate a cappella champion, so… we're both huge successes in our fields."

Why did I say that?

"Yeah, let's say that. What do you do here?" he asked.

Beca's legs started shaking, a tell-tale sign that her anxiety was being about to be a bitch. "I… I just get coffee and burritos and stuff," she stuttered. "I want to produce music, um—"

Her sentence never fully made it out because Key had turned around and yelled out Dax's name, who blinked into reality with a fork in his mouth. Not metaphorically. "Do me a favor and watch this exchange. That's value added." He twirled back to Beca. "If you have any demos you want me to listen to, I'll make the time."

Beca was taking the time to make sure she heard him right. Did he really just say he would make time for me? "Oh seriously?" she finally said. "Oh!"

"Dax, did you see that? She did something that was helpful, and now I'm going to reward her by listening to her demos. Turn back around."

She had to admit, Key was an asshole. But he was a rich, powerful asshole. And now he wanted to listen to her demos. Because he thinks she has potential.

Beca's demeanor didn't change, but there were butterflies in her stomach and rivers in her bloodstream.

A/N: Hey! If you guys wouldn't mind, I'd REALLY appreciate it if you went on YouTube and looked up 'Flashlight – Hailee Steinfeld Piano Cover' or use this link ( watch?v=71pd_qpRPy4). I did a piano cover of Flashlight, hence the title. The link is also in my Twitter bio and Instagram bio. Thank you!

Also, hope you enjoyed this chapter with the added Jeca scene. Please review! :)