I do not own the DCEU.
"He roller-coaster, he got early warning
He got muddy water, he one mojo filter
He say, "One and one and one is three"
Got to be good looking 'cause he's so hard to see
Come together, right now,
Over me."
—Come Together performed by Gary Clark Jr.
Brooklyn, NY, 2005
It was pouring rain in Brooklyn that night. In a back alley, a young girl awoke with a gasp. Sitting up, she looked around, looking at her surroundings before looking at herself. With a shiver, she realized she only wore a hospital gown. Her hair was cropped close to her head, and she wore a bracelet on her wrist. She studied it. It had a picture of a girl (she assumed it was herself), and it said:
Rose Jin Young
DOB: 01/23/1987
Experiment No. 001
Rose (was that her name? She had no idea) swallowed and stood up on shaky legs. Should she get help? Could she trust people to help her? She didn't know what to do—
"Hey! Kid!"
Jerking her head up, Rose locked eyes with an older man, who had enter the alley through the back door of one of the shops with a black bag in his hand. He was tall and broad, and Rose knew he could probably overpower her easily. Slowly, she backed away, making her way toward the entrance to the alley. Her eyes were so wide it hurt, and she was shaking like a leaf.
The man slouched a little bit, holding his hands out in front of him. "Hey, I—" he cleared his throat "—I'm not gonna hurt you, kid."
Rose allowed some of the tension to leave her body, but her shoulders remained hunched, and she remained on the tips of her toes, ready to bolt if needed. Her bare feet felt cold against the wet concrete as she neared him. Her heart was racing, and her breath came in quick bursts.
"Y-you're not?" She rasped, her throat aching. Her hands made fists and fell limp again.
The man shook his head rapidly. "Jesus, of course not!" He sighed, rubbing his hand over his face. "Just—why don't you come inside? My wife'll know what to do better then I would."
Hesitantly, Rose nodded and allowed herself to approach the man.
"What's your name?" He asked her, not unkindly. "I'm Nathan."
Rose said nothing, opting instead to just show him her bracelet.
Nathan swallowed. "Rose? That's your name?"
Shrugging, she murmured, "I, I think so."
"Do you not know?"
Rose shook her head timidly. "No." At this point, she didn't really know much of anything, other than the man before her was Nathan, she was Rose, and she was absolutely, utterly, lost.
Nathan sighed again. "Okay, alright." He pushed the door open wider, tossing the black bag he held in his hand in the large bin along the wall of the alley. "Come in. Hurry."
As she scurried in, Nathan shut the door behind her.
"Emily!" Nathan called loudly as they entered into a large room, filled with a sweet smell of something baking. It was lined with large metal containers of different sizes and shapes, and Rose looked around in wonder.
"What is it?" A woman's voice called from another room.
Nathan glanced to Rose. "You might just have to see this one, Em!"
Suddenly, a woman appeared at the door. She was tall and dark, and Rose was immediately on guard again. The woman, Emily, looked between Rose and Nathan a few times before her gaze settled on Nathan.
"Nathan, hun," she began, "I love you, but what the fuck?" She strode over to Rose, examining the younger woman. "Where did you find her?" A beat. "You didn't kidnap her, did you?"
"Jesus, Em!" Nathan snapped. "Of course not! She was passed out in the alley. I think she's an amnesiac."
Emily groaned. "Are you serious, Nathan?" She demanded. "That's ridiculous!" She grabbed Rose's hand, prepared to drag the younger girl back out into the rain, ignoring the pure terror all but radiated off of her. "If she's dressed like this, she probably escaped from the loony—oh, my god—" Emily wasn't looking at either of them now, but she was looking at the inside of Rose's arm. "What the hell does this mean?" She murmured.
Rose followed where Emily was looking, and her eyebrows furrowed. On the inside of her arm was two words, inked in thick black letters:
Project Cadmus
"What does that mean?" Nathan asked. He and Emily looked to Rose.
"I, I don't—" Rose swallowed, feeling lightheaded. "I don't know." She stumbled back, grabbing onto a counter to stable herself, and slumped against the wall. "I can't remember, I-I don't—"
Emily quickly placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Hey, hey, hey," she said, her voice oddly soothing. "It's okay, honey, it's gonna be okay. We'll help you, don't worry."
Looking up into the older woman's eyes, Rose allowed a sliver of hope into her mind. Things would be okay. Right?
None of them noticed how the counter Rose had grabbed onto now had two distinct hand-shaped dents.
security_feed_alley
It was a tinny security camera right outside of the apartment complex that picked it up. A young woman walked with an older couple down the sidewalk, when they were pulled into an alley and cornered by two men. There was no sound on the security feed, but it was obvious that the men were looking for money. The taller man waved a gun between the three future victims, yelling something. The young girl sighed and said something back, but she apparently said the wrong thing because the man turned the gun on her and fired four shots into her stomach.
But the bullets merely bounced off of her, ricocheting into the alley walls. The men stepped back in fear, but this time the woman came after them. She yelled something at the older couple, and the two reluctantly ran away. Satisfied, the woman turned back to the two men. She grabbed the first by the shirt collar, picked him up with one hand and threw him into the wall, knocking him out cold. The second man tried to run, but she stuck her leg out, allowing him to trip and land face-first onto the ground. She picked him up and landed a punch to the head before tossing him like a rag doll next to the other man.
She straightened herself, dusting her jeans off before looking right into the camera. Kneeling back down, she picked up a small pebble, tossing it up and down in her hand a few times. She glanced back up to the camera and threw the pebble with a force that ruined the feed entirely.
A/N
Ooh, new story! I hope you guys like it! I saw Aquaman in theater the other day, and it was amazing! I just couldn't help myself. This's gonna start with Justice League, and then go into Aquaman, and then maybe into Rose's own plotline. I hope you guys enjoy this!