12 years ago:

Susan spent the next two days practicing on her new leg, she even got up the nerve to jog a bit, but as soon as she started to jog through the town she was living in, she noticed people starting to stare, and whisper, people she had grown close to, her friends and people she had grown to care for, all they seen was her leg, it wasn't pity she was getting anymore, it was worse.

The adults, they were looking down on her, the children, they hid behind their parents, afraid of her, she didn't realise she had slowed to a walk while looking at the towns people she knew when she seen their negative expressions.

As soon as she seen a group of little boys pointing at her, staring and laughing, she turned sharply and ran faster than she could have ever even dreamed, tears streaming down her face, the memories of being bullied as a child, all painfully pouring back full force, tearing her heart apart.

Before she knew it, she was back home, throwing her things into a bag, tears still trailing, she knew she had to leave, she knew if she stayed no one would look at her the same, she was prepared to leave behind everything just to start over again.

10 years ago:

She was no longer Susan Rodney, she had stolen a new identity, simply by picking a woman's pocket before making her way to a place called Starling City.

Her new life as Kate Anderson was much different, she was a waitress at an upscale restaurant, she kept her metallic limb hidden from everyone, no one looked at her differently, they just seen another person, and for that she was grateful.

Years passed, she was just a normal person, granted she purposefully kept her leg hidden, never letting anyone get near it, never even going on dates, for fear of a wandering hand finding out she wasn't as normal as she seemed.

The night the particle accelerator exploded:

She would've never guessed that a single visit to Central City on an iconic night would've changed her entire life so drastically.

Protesters lined the streets, she loved the thought of seeing something so extraordinary for the world of science in person.

Dr. Harrison Wells was speaking to the crowd, answering questions, soon he retreated from the podium he was standing at, but not before locking eyes with Kate, they flashed each other genuine smiles before he walked out of view, he looked smug, like he knew something that no one else did.

Kate sat on a bench nearby, just out of sight where no one would be watching her as she watched them protest, listened to them all chanting.

She was people watching, concentrating, trying to read them, in all honesty she always wanted to become as great at reading people as Sherlock Holmes, sure she could figure out somethings, like if someone was a smoker or not, other than that she couldn't read anyone very well.

Soon enough, the particle accelerator had exploded, Kate was still sitting on the bench, a storm could be heard in the distance, but that was all she could hear faintly, as she was already nearing unconscious when she heard the cracking of thunder and the splattering of rain on the pavement.

The morning after the explosion:

She woke come morning, she was no longer sitting on the bench but sprawled out on the ground, she could hear the thoughts of people around her, at least that's what it sounded like, random jumbles, lunch plans, how much that skirt costed, did I leave the window open, I hope I fed the cat, why did the babysitter have to cancel again, just random things that no one would possibly be talking about outloud.

Kate finally gathered herself, still hearing oh so many voices, she hurried to slide her earbuds in, in an attempt to stop the noise, it muffled the noise enough she could think, "Maybe I'm getting superpowers." she chuckled.

Finally making her way back to Starling City, walking into her apartment building, she decided to take off her earbuds, she heard muffled voices through the walls, but nothing she could make out.

Her entire night was spent tossing and turning, some more pleasant voices in her head were humming melodies, a few debating ordering random things, others were occasionally heard cursing, another reciting element names from the periodic table off and on throughout the night.

Almost two days since the explosion:

Come morning, she sluggishly pulled herself from under her blankets, lack of sleep was a horrid thing to experience, no matter the reason, but her reason that day, seemed to be a bit more unsettling than most of the other reasons she had ever had, including the days directly after surgically attaching her homemade prosthetic leg, damn that had to suck.

She called off work before she started to reheat some leftovers from a questionable date of origin, two days ago, two weeks, no mold, smelled okay, who knows, she was hungry and didn't want to cook, nothing could be as bad as accidentally eating a can of ravioli that was three years expired, noodles as nasty as the aroma of sweaty armpits.

After breakfast she decided to go to the coffee shop, grab a caffeinated cup of delectable goodness and possibly go to a doctor later to get a recommendation for a shrink, who knows, maybe all the crazy finally took its toll and now she was really going nuts.

"Too fucking crowded for it to be this time of day." she said out loud as soon as she walked into the coffee shop to find at least seventeen people in line and almost every seat taken, she got in line to wait, still hearing voices in the back of her head.

She was getting good at ignoring the voices so it wasn't so bad, not much different from the hushed whispers she would hear way back when she was actually going to school, before going into hiding as Susan and leaving her real name behind.

Standing in the line for so long was taking a toll, so hard to concentrate, well, ignore the voices, her head was starting to hurt, the man in the corner was so loud, he was on his phone, and the same voice he was talking with, it was in her head talking a jumbled mess.

She was staring the man down while she waited in line, his voice was the loudest of all the voices, in her head and in her ear both, 'Why can't he just shut up, and put his phone down in his cup of coffee?' she thought.

As soon as she completed her thought, the man stopped talking, stood up, and immediately put his phone into his cup before leaving the coffee shop, "What the hell?" she asked herself out loud.

She felt like she was going crazy or something, 'Did I just make him do that?' she wondered, the line was now down to maybe nine people in front of her, that gave her an idea.

'This woman in front of me needs to go home because she left her door unlocked.' she thought, just as she did, low and behold, that woman turned around, and muttered "I forgot to lock the door!" before bolting for the door.

"Holy shit, I'm magic!" she whispered a bit louder than she expected to, making the strangely mysterious woman behind her in line stare her down and then roll her eyes when Kate asked what she was looking at.

'I'm like a freaking superhero or something.' she thought, another idea popped into her head, "Excuse me sir?" she tapped the man in front of her on the shoulder.

"Yes, what do you need?" he turned around and asked her.

"Oh wow, you're Oliver Queen." she mused out loud dumbly, 'Make this man give me his number.' she thought.

"That's me, could we exchange numbers?" he asked immediately.

"Of course." she agreed before exchanging numbers, and having her coffee paid for by the handsome womaniser in line in front of her.

Authors note:

Just building up to her entrance to Earth 616, slowly but surely.
If all goes as planned, she should 'Run into' Bucky very soon, perhaps within the next few chapters.