Chapter Text
It was all chaos. There wasn’t any place to hide, anywhere to be safe from his wrath. Darkness had over taken the whole of their world. Paris was shrouded in darkness and there was no way out. The city was sealed off. There was no hope for the citizens. Or at least that’s what the Oliver Quin, Dinah Lance and Hal Jorden thought.
The citizens of Paris were systematically moving through the throngs of people on the streets, spotting tourists with paracticed ease and calming them, instructing them on how to be safe. Dinah was trying something similar and not really succeeding, since she herself didn’t know what the threat was. One moment it had been a pleasant sunny afternoon and then it was pitch black. The electric grid was busted and flashlights only did so much. Hal was trying to figure this out but he couldn’t. Nothing got through the barrier, that much was easily learned.
The interesting thing was that Parisians were calm about this. They didn’t even try to get out of the barriers limits, just kept the people on the streets calm. They lit candles, started bonfire’s, rescued people from car wrecks, kept the world in order. No one even attempted to loot any of the stores. It was unnerving how used these kinds of situations they seemed.
The tourists were a whole another thing but the citizens - not even the police or some other authority, Dinah noted, her suspicions rising by the minute - kept them under control. They told stories of mandane things, recommended sights and shops and restaurants to the panicky foreigners in their midst. She noticed that there were specific citizens in charge of the tourists, while others darted from store to store, always leaving with a small case of supplies. People were setting up small tents to treat anyone injured in the initial panick while doctors and nurses from nearby hospitals arrived on foot and with determination in their eyes.
The person in charge in her area, next to the Grande Paris Hotel, was a meek looking red head, no older than a high schooler with a megaphone in one hand and a clipboard in the other. She was consulting an even smaller statured blonde and a much taller noirette. The blonde whispered something to her and the red head nodded, replying lowly and sending the girl off. The taller girl simply gave the red head a slip of paper and headed into the thick darkness with a candle in hand. Dinah was extremely surprised to see the small red head in charge but she approached her none the less.
“What’s going on?” She asked in her slightly accented French, worry creasing her brow as she looked around them.
“An akuma attack. We don’t know much as a of right now, since the networks are down but we have it on good authority to believe that it is safe to be here. The fighting is near the Louvre, we should be safe for now.” The red head was scribbling on her clip board, and Dinah peeked over her shoulder, hoping to catch of glimpse of the papers.
It was laminated map of the city, marked with the universal signs for hostipals, little green dots on city books around them all and Dinah couldn’t help notice that those green dots were all indicative of the stores people are getting supplies from. Red dry eraser marked the car accidents she had passed on the way here, dozens of blue stars scattered around the city. A big red circle was drawn around the Louvre and its surrounding block.
A walkie talkie that Dinah hadn’t previously noticed on the red head’s belt crackled to life, announcing, “this is station four, I repeat, this is station four. We are secure but we had to move inside to avoid the conflict. I repear, conflict has moved from the Louvre to quadrant four.”
Dinah could hear the red head curse under her breath as she grabbed the walkie talkie off her waist and spoke into it, “this is quadrant two speaking. Do you need medical officers quadrant four?”
“No, we were able to all make it inside. Tourists are a flight risk but we have it under control. The Sweets are doing their job very well.” The male on the other end of the line answered, a small chuckled in his voice.
Oliver, still in his business suit, came running towards Dinah, and swept her up into his arms. She returned his embrace, resting her forehead against his shoulder as she tried to figure out how to feel and what to do in this situation. This was new and strange. They weren’t in charge, they didnt know what was going on and it was setting her on edge.
The red head looked up at them and raised an eyebrow but Dinah couldn’t care less about that right now. Neither could she care about what ‘The Sweets’ were, though it was, admittedly, a little worrying term to use.
And that was precisely the moment when Hal, in his full green lantern glory, descended towards them, a literal lantern hanging from his fingers as he looked over the street. The red head had made a grab for her walkie talkie, eyes narrow and fingers hovering over a button that was most definitely standard on the regular walkie talkies that civilians have access to.
Hal held up his arms in surrender, “Whoa! Hold your horses! I’m here to help! Ya know, Green Lantern? Justice Leaugue?”
The girl relaxed a tiny bit but she didn’t take her suspicious eyes off of Hal as she brought her walkie talkie to her lips and began to speak into it, “this is quadrant two, we have a Hot Shot here. From the League. Anyone know why?”
A couple moments of silence than an overly nice and cheerful feminine voice spoke through the static of the walkie talkie, “this is Lila Rossi, from the Alpha quadrant.” Her obvious lack of knowledge of the system immediately tipped them all off that this girl was not in charge like the red head was. “I called the league. They owe me a favor or two for helping them a couple of times and I decided to call one in, to help our city!”
Sabrina’s eye twitched as she took a deep breath, counting backwards from twenty under her breath. When she felt ready to talk to whoever Lila Rossi was, she lifted the walkie talkie again, “thank you Lila. Could you hand the walkie talkie back to Max, I need to talk to him.”
The overly sweet voice that Lila used next made Dinah’s teeth her and a shiver run down Hal’s soon, “Of course! Call if you need anything!” Than the line went silent for a moment before cracking to life again.
“I’m so sorry Sabrina, she snatched it out of my hand before I could stop her.” Max’s voice drifted through the air, his steps echoing a little, “there was no breach in the barrier that we could pick up. But the grids are almost back online, so that’s good. I’ll inform you when they are completely functional.”
“Thank you Max.” The red head, Sabrina, thanked the boy on the other line and ended the connection, clipping the walkie talkie back to her belt as she turned to face Green Lantern.
“I know Lila didn’t call you. And I don’t care how you got there, but I had to make sure you’re real and not an Akuma. They have copied real people before.” She explained with a small frown as she approached the hero, clip board and pen in hand.
Dinah couldn’t help the sympathy that flooded her at the thought of not trusting the heroes. She couldn’t imagine what it was like to live in fear of everyone. To think that a hero could just be a villain in disguise. She was growing increasingly worried about Paris. No city should be so accumsted to this kind of thing happening, not when the whole purpose of the League was to prevent this.
“Understandable. Now, how can I help?” Hal asked, eager to help these people. They were so full of will, of the will to survive and help their fellow citizens. He didn’t want to impose until the other League members arrived, hoping that Batman would have a plan.
“Have you gotten a signal to the rest of the League?” At Hal’s nod, Sabrina’s frown deepened, “when are they going to be here?”
“In a couple of minutes. Soon, anyway.” He wasn’t sure. One could never be sure about anything that involves Batman.
Suddenly the walkie talkie at her hip began to go haywire, a dozen or so voices coming through at the same time. The sky lite up in red and pink light, swirling magic clearing away the dark barrier trapping the city and the people within.
“What… what was that.” Hal asked quietly as a cheer went up among the Parisian, the light of the sun brightening the people as it did the streets.
“Ladybug! Chat Noir! They did it!” All the destruction was swept off the streets, the cars righted and put in order, the chaos no longer present.
Dinah’s comm came alive, Batman’s voice cutting into her thought, “Justice League arriving in four minutes.”
A young woman in red spandex with black polka dots, a young man with black cat years and green cat eyes, another young woman in red, with bronze and gold accents, and a young man in blue-green and gold. The last to arrive is a third young woman in black and yellow with a young boy in her arms.
“Sabrina. We heard you have a new arrival.” The woman in red and black stepped forward.
She wasn’t a woman at all, Dinah realized with a startling squeeze in her chest, she was a teenage girl who moved with the confidence and grace of a queen.
“Yes Ladybug. Green Lantern from the Justice League. He has called the other Leagures to join us.” The red head replied dutifully, lowering her clipboard.
Ladybug’s face soured as the boy in black stepped closer to the bluenette, putting a hand on her arm. The other three, having overheard but preoccupied with helping the young boy in red, tensed and looked troubled.
“Tell them to meet us in the Grande Paris’ largest conference room.” Ladybug said plainly and turned, marching into the building behind her, followed by the other five.
Hal, Oliver and Dinah could feel that this was not going to be a pleasant conversation or encounter. And they were right. This was going to be a war zone.