Metal Has No Heartbeat (A Blue Beetle/Jaime Reyes [Young Justice] Fanfiction)

Three: Please Proceed

When the Team and the addition of Batman return to observe the Metal Adolescents the next day, they walk in on the end of a recording.

In one booth, Theon stands in jeans and a t-shirt, rapping a cover of T.I's lyrics in No Mediocre. Across from him in the other booth is Mahiko. Her red hair is in two ponytails, and she is wearing shorts with suspenders and a long-sleeved crop-top.

Mahiko starts laughing and points at Theon from her booth when the song ends.

"Did you say the wrong lyrics?" Axel asks, laughing. Theon grins.

"Those words are so dirty. Plus I can't really say them to Mahi. You know how crazy Jean gets," He reminds them of his girlfriend. Everyone groans at his insistence on mentioning her.

"Hello my old friend," Doctor William Magnus says when he emerges from the elevator. He approaches the famed Dark Knight with a kind smile, white lab coat contrasting against black.

"Doctor Magnus," Batman acknowledges, shaking his hand. Mahiko and Theon leave their booths in as much awe as everyone else of the legendary Gotham protector.

Ben quite literally drops to the floor and suppresses a squeal in his sleeves.

"If possible, I'd like to take you on a tour of our facility whilst the children finish up. We can then begin the testing. Unless you would like to begin now?" The Doctor asks.

"No. Allow them to finish what they are doing," Batman says, before he and Doctor Magnus head out of the room. The Bat gives his Team one glance that seems to have them all straightening up.

Suddenly the two young groups are alone again, staring at each other.

"Hi," Mahiko says, breaking the silence that had dropped over the room.

"Are any of you nervous?" Miss Martian asks with a smile, the ice of the atmosphere slowly begins to break.

"Yes," Lenore answers quietly.

"No," Axel adds.

The Metal Adolescents glance at each other with worried faces, then look back at the Team, "Should we be?" Mahiko asks.

"Nerves aren't always a bad thing," Nightwing says.

"Yeah! Just remember to focus."

"And concentrate."

"They mean the same thing."

"Do they?" Wondergirl frowns at her language predicament.

"We've got to record The Last Time. Are you ready?" Theon asks Axel and Mahiko. Axel turns to The Team.

"You guys don't mind waiting, do you?"

"No. Go ahead," Beast Boy takes it upon himself to speak for the team when Lenore offers him a bowl of popcorn. He drops down onto the sofas and the rest of the Team seem to gradually follow, observing the activities they witness last time.

Theon at the switch boards, Ben setting up the cameras, the singers doing warm-ups.

Mahiko finishes drinking her juice box before she approaches the booths with Axel. They both step in as Theon switches on the recently powered-down stations.

"Mahi, you want to do an intro?" He asks, flicking the microphones on.

"Sure."

As Theon prepares the audio tracks, Mahiko smirks through the glass at Axel, "Remember, you're Soprano in this, okay?"

"Yeah yeah. I'm the Gary Lightbody and you're the Taylor Swift," He snaps back.

"What? Do you want to swap?" She grins.