Chapter Text
Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash and Conner were making their way to another Cadmus sight. Robin watched from his peripheral vision at Conner, even though he was out of Cadmus, returning to a facility was still uncomfortable for him. Even if he doesn't admit it. The mission was given by Roy. He had been going solo lately and during one of his missions, a lacky spilled that they had a confidential weapon stored in a covert Cadmus base. Roy had made it clear he had bigger fish to fry, but the weapon was dangerous and intended for Gotham. However, considering it was only guarded by a highly advanced security system and typical security team, it was clear for the young justice team to take care of it.
Miss M and Artemis were unable to attend due to personal conflict, which was fine. This mission is a covert destroy or retrieve mission. Nothing the boys couldn't handle on an off day. And everything went smoothly for the most part, until they found it. Project LF-162. However, everyone hesitated when they spotted cryo pods. Similar to those that Aqualad, Kid Flash and Robin found Superboy in. Robin quickly hacked into the main computer and unlocked the pod they were looking for, when he spotted the name of the subject. His eyes widened in shock, although Superboy was the closest to the pod, Robin was the first one to approach the unconscious subject. Black inky hair covered half of her face, white hair stood out beneath the black, her breathing was shallow as her skin was as pale as snow, her body suit wasn't white as it was Conner's instead it was solid black and it's sleeves went up to her wrists. "It can't be." he whispered as he tried to push her stray hair aside, she snapped her dark blue eyes open and immediately held Robin in a choke hold.
"Let him go!" Conner yelled as the girl flung Robin at Superboy, turning her eyes onto Kid Flash and Aqualad. Although they were in an attack stance, they hadn't moved against her yet. She remained still as she began to focus on Robin and Superboy again, she looked like a cornered animal. Conner could hear her heartbeat and she could tell he was listening, so she calmed her breathing and flinched when Robin took a step towards her. "Hey! It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you. It's me, remember, we caught grasshoppers and played together." Robin soothed, he could see her eyes soften slightly, he was reaching her. "You know her?" Superboy asked, "Yeah, a long time ago." Robin admitted. "You shouldn't be here." she whispered, her voice rasped which was to be expected. She must have been frozen for a while. "I could say the same about you." he chuckled as he held his hand out "We're getting you out of here." he assured "No." she whispered, but her answer even shocked herself as she shook her head "Why-" before Robin could ask anything, alarms began to blar.
"KF! Get her back to the bioship!" Robin commanded, unwilling to lose the girl. "On it!" Kid Flash, being his best friend and understanding of his tone, did as told as he incapacitated as many soldiers as he could while carrying the girl to the bioship. The girl glared at Kid Flash as she pushed herself off of him, she growled at him, but nothing more than that. She doesn't seem to be willing to speak a word to him. "Ship, keep her here." Kid Flash commanded the ship as he ran out of the ship, leaving her alone. The girl growled at him again, but her retaliation was in vain as he vanished from earshot.
The girl tried everything, she tried clawing at the walls, she tried examining the technology, but it all seemed in vain. "Open." she whispered, but the ship emitted a low hum as a retort. Punching the wall in anger, the girl gave up and sat on the floor, when the ship suddenly formed a chair beneath her. She sighed and leaned her head against the wall, her thumb brushing against the seat, it was her own little way of apologising to the ship as it hummed in forgiveness. The bioship started to turn cold as it began to rock gently, lulling the girl to sleep immediately.
"We used to play as kids-" Robin explained, waking her from her nap, but considering they were back, she could only assume they were already onroute away from the base. "She used to be bubbly, she could speak as fast as Wally and she was a huge movie buff. There wasn't a movie she hadn't watched." Robin explained, she mentally frowned as she abruptly turned her back to them "She's dead." she admitted, hugging the blanket tighter as she felt the eyes on her back. She hated every second she was conscious. When she spotted the coastline of Happy Harbour, she knew she could finally get out of the ship.
"I hope she comes back." Robin soothed, his hand on her shoulder as he escorted her out of the ship "I doubt it." she argued. Robin couldn't help laugh at her as he scratched his head "You always want the last word, don't you?" he laughed as she rolled her eyes, a small curl on her lips as her muscles relaxed. "Recognized, Batman - 02, Black Canary - 13." a robotic female voice spoke as a bright light flashed into the room, although she looked stoic, her fingers flinched slightly as Robin held her hand. She didn't pry it away immediately, but she did pull away when Batman approached them.
"Robin, a word." Batman called as Robin smiled at her before running off to report, however, Batman hung back. He knelt down slightly as he stared at her, both with unflattering eyes "Black Canary will take care of you, until everything is settled." he informed, gesturing to the blonde woman behind him as he got up and left the two of them alone. The girl followed Black Canary to a room with green furniture. "Why don't we start with a name. I'm Dinah, but you can call me Black Canary." she offered, "Le Fay." she stated, her voice as stern as a soldier "Perhaps, you have a birth name? Your name, before Cadmus." Black Canary pushed as she turned to the ground, contemplating her words.
"Brooke Lynn-Wayne. She's the illegitimate child of Bruce Wayne. Her mother's Malia Lynn, she died in early May, four years ago. Brooke was immediately extracted from their exploded apartment and was never seen again. She's filed under Experimentation. Who knows what they've done to her." Robin reported, his hand in a fist as his jaw clenched with anger. Her mother died the next month, his parents did. Instead of being rescued by Bruce like he was. She was kidnapped by Cadmus and no one was willing enough to look for her. Retching guilt creeped up inside him as he tried to collect his thoughts.
Batman and Robin immediately noticed Brooke and Black Canary leave the room as Brooke had her hair in a low ponytail. "She'll be staying here in the cave until further notice." Batman informed Black Canary as she nodded, turning to Robin. "Robin, why don't you show Brooke to her room." she offered as Robin did as he was told, immediately grabbing her hand.
Within the hallway, the two immediately met with Kid Flash. He was no longer dressed in his suit but in his regular attire. Brooke took a moment to notice his freckles and sense of style. Prominent feature and depiction of personality; aloof, simple, efficient. "So, the hot new girl's sticking around? Sweet!" Wally cheered as he smiled at her "Wally, meet Brooke Lynn. Brooklyn, meet my best friend Wally." Robin introduced "Woah, Rob. Way to expose my identity." Wally scolded as Brooklyn remained still, she had no part in the exchange and she had no desire to be a part of it. Instead Brooklyn began to map the building as best as she could, pinpointing every exit point. "I don't see what's the problem, Wal. We can trust her. Hey, why don't you accompany Brooke and I on the tour, we could always use the company." Robin offered, but Brooklyn only gave him a look of irritation, which he just shrugged off. Wally agreed as he and Robin began to weigh Brooklyn by the shoulders, they had expected her to shove them off, but instead she managed to drag them a bit with her as she continued down the hall.
"Damn, she's strong!" Wally cheered as Robin laughed, a small curl once again found its way onto her lips. Admittedly, she did miss the boy wonder and Wally wasn't that bad, he makes Dick happy. "She seems quite happy." Aqualad states as he stood over the three, none of them had noticed Brooklyn leaning closer and closer to the ground as she dragged them, even she didn't notice. Quickly, the boys got off her as they pulled Brooklyn back up. "It is good to see you are in good health. I heard you will be staying with us for a while, I hope we can be good friends." Kaldur state, receiving a nod from Brooklyn "I appreciate that-" "Kaldur'ahm, but you can call me Kaldur or Aqualad ." "-Kaldur. I'm Brooke Lynn." "Brooklyn." Kaldur smiled, shaking the girl's hand.
Brooklyn had to admit, she didn't expect to be so kind to these heroes. She was never so sociable, but they just felt so open, it's almost comforting. But that didn't deter her from her objective. Escape and return home. "You ok, Brooke?" Dick called, snapping her out of her train of thought "Yeah, I just want to freshen up." Brooklyn assured, smiling down at the boy. It wouldn't hurt to stay a little longer. Brooklyn convinced herself as she caught sight of a male with a large S on his chest. The two simply stared at each other, both analysing each other. He approached her first as he scratched the back of his head "Are you okay? I've been told standing in a pod for a while can be draining for humans." Conner asked, as Brooklyn let out a small laugh "What? Yes, I'm fine. It's just, I didn't expect you to say that." Brooklyn admits, her british accent became rather clear after her laugh, she was finally dropping her guard.
"There's my girl." Dick whispered, patting her shoulder to avoid acknowledgement of his statement. "Come on, we can have a movie marathon after you freshen up." Dick offered as he opened a door for her. Leaving her alone.
Brooklyn didn't think she would so easily be left alone, but she wasn't going to turn down the offer. She was rather quick too. And so is Robin, considering she found a stack of clothes on the bed when she came out.
I remember you like red - ;)
Brooklyn chuckled as she wore the grey shirt, black gym pants and red jacket. Brushing her hair, Brooklyn paused at the sight of her own reflection as she hesitantly braided her hair to the side. She hadn't looked in the mirror for years, she hardly recognized the girl before her. "Brooklyn! The movie is ready, you get the first pick." Dick called from the door as Brooklyn quickly opened it "Good. But I'm pretty sure you know I'm just gonna pick Tim Burton movies." "Hey, that's your call." Dick laughed as he led her towards the living room where everyone was now dressed in casual clothing. Except for Conner who dressed the same. Brooklyn wasn't about to question a kryptonian's logic as she began to set up the Tim Burton movie; starting with Nightmares Before Christmas.
In perhaps the middle of Coraline, the sound of chatter suddenly became audible and instantly ruined the horror mood. Brooklyn had instinctively glared at the direction and saw two girls, one blonde and one was green with red hair. Probably a martian. It was evident to everyone that she was upset, but there wasn't much she could do. Brooklyn decided to shush them both when the blonde decided to speak "Have you guys just been sitting in the dark watching movies!" she scolded, this only frustrated Brooklyn more as she paused the whole movie all together and proceeded to the kitchen to get a soda. However, when she turned around Miss Martian was talking up a storm. She immediately felt drained, she didn't know why, she just has a bad track record with girls. Carrying the soda with her, Brooklyn sighed and just made her way back to her room, she was exhausted and the marathon had made her lose track of time.
Robin had caught up to her in no time as he began to calm her down. "You've seen that movie a hundred times." he reminded her "Yes, but I just have this pet peeve of people disturbing me when I'm preoccupied." Brooklyn confessed "I get that- but this doesn't have anything to do with your notion that you can't get along with girls, right? I promise you, Artemis and M'gann aren’t like that." Dick assured, stopping the girl in her tracks "It's not a notion. I don't mix well with my own gender. They're sly, manipulative, sensitive, high strung, high pitched lunatics!" Brooklyn groaned, brushing her hair back. "Come on, B! They're not like that." Dick assured "Oh really? Let me guess, the martian is bubbly, always looking to make friends, optimist, and the blonde is a rough around the edgy girl, with a no-nonsense policy. Am I wrong?" Brooklyn assessed, granted she has advance knowledge of the blonde, but that’s beside the point. Focusing on Dick, he nervously scratched the back of his head "Wow, you're really perceptive." he chuckled "Look, for your sake I'll give them a chance, but I'm telling you. Someone might get hurt." Brooklyn warned "I promise, that won't happen. If, you promise me, you'll try tomorrow." Dick negotiated, his usually cocky smile on his face as Brooklyn rolled her eyes "Fine." she groaned and entered her room, plopping onto the bed. Her mind prohibiting her to sleep as it began to wander.
Brooklyn faintly remembered that day her mother yelled at the phone. She's been struggling and would only panic and rant on the phone when she thinks she's asleep. But Brooklyn has always been a light sleeper and would hear everything. She was never sure who was on the other end of the call, but she was trying her best to reduce certain habits for her mother. Such as eating too much, asking for things, expecting to celebrate her birthday, hanging out with her friends. The works. Brooklyn may have just been eight, but she understood things like sacrifice and hardship. One night, Brooklyn woke up to the smell of alcohol. Her mother has drank occasionally with her friends and the smell was always repugnant, but never to this extent, and there was something else.
Brooklyn got out of her sofa bed, another one of her attempts at giving her mother a better life. When she spotted her mother tied onto a chair drenched in what she could only now assume was alcohol. She froze, her little feet held firm onto the ground as she began to develop tunnel vision, she couldn't focus on anything but her mother. That's why when everything caught on fire, Brooklyn finally forced herself to run as she got onto the fire escape, when the apartment exploded. Her burnt back was impaled by small shrapnel of glass as her fall was broken by trash bags at the alleyway next to her building. There was nothing but reeling pain. Her mind travelled to the thought of her being alone, her mother was at the center of the explosion, it was futile to think she had survived. Although, one person came to mind her father. From all the eavesdropping she's done, she had managed to figure out her birth father, the man didn't even know she existed so she couldn't blame him for anything. Her mother was just too stubborn to ask for help, and she wasn't willing to be as stubborn as her. She thought once she's with the authorities she'll just tell them the truth; that Bruce Wayne is her biological father.