Disclaimer: Don't own and never will.
AN: I've become hooked on this series recently. Then I discovered cookiebook322's story The Rebellion and while the story is somewhat rough, it got me thinking. A LOT. That's where this particular story was born.
Juleka sat back and watched as Paris slowly woke. From her admittedly unimposing position by the Louvre Pyramid, she could see the first signs of life on the streets. A man to open the gallery rushing by without even noticing her, a mobile trader selling balloons with Hawkmoth's face on setting up shop. It was the kind of thing that almost made Juleka smile. Despite everything that had happened, people would still go out to sell and buy and trade as though nothing had changed in the world.
The clanking of armoured figures however changed the atmosphere entirely, bringing the harsh reality of their situation back into sharp focus.
They looked kind of ridiculous really. Knights in green and black full plate armour in a way that hadn't been seen since…well actually no army in history had ever dressed like this according to Max. The legendary Darkblade in times of yore had an army mostly made up of peasant irregulars, bowmen from England mostly (something best not mentioned to the modern Darkblade or his knights. They would have you believe that they were all knights of the realm)
The atmosphere became tense as the people around them watched as the soldiers marched past without stopping, followed by an almost palatable sense of relief.
Nobody paid any attention to the young goth who simply stood up and casually walked away. Nobody paid any attention to her smart phone left where she had been sitting. As expected, the crowds around them continued their everyday lives, hoping to avoid trouble.
Suddenly, the screens of every smart phone, every computer screen and every television suddenly changed what they were showing. The big screen in front of the Louvre extolling the virtues of living under the benevolent Lord Hawkmoth was suddenly replaced by the image of a dark-skinned girl wearing glasses.
"Good morning people of Paris!" the girl's voice said to the screen. "This is Alya Césaire, bringing you the latest underground news on the Lady Wi-fi channel. The voice that Hawkmoth STILL has yet to silence!"
All around the screen, people slowly gathered. Looking out of the corner of their eyes, pretending not to notice the girl on their screens, right under their noses.
"People of Paris, Hawkmoth claims to have the streets of Paris safe for the ordinary citizen. But is this true?" the image on the screen changed, switching to a scene of extreme violence. A young man of twenty was walking down a street, not looking where he was going, engrossed in his book. He seemed harmless enough, with short blond hair and a long scruffy brown coat. The street itself was quiet, the buildings typical for a street in the suburbs of Paris.
Then the young man bumped into a pair of Darkblade's knights on patrol and promptly fell back hard.
"Vile fiend! You dare attack the protector's of Paris?" a knight bellowed and both of them grabbed the young man by his arms and dragged him away as he protested his innocence.
The screen cut away and Alya's face reappeared.
"Citizen's of Paris, what does Hawkmoth and his cronies protect us from? And are the people we really need protection from Hawkmoth and his allies?" she asked, her face alight with passionate anger and her eyes blazing. "This is Alya Césaire, signing out."
There was a steady silence for a moment as Parisians allowed themselves to think about what they had just seen. A moment before they allowed themselves to return to their normal lives. Pretend that they hadn't seen what they had just seen.
It took a handful of minutes for the police to arrive. Even less time for them to discover the abandoned phone and the hidden recording on it, even the destroyed GPS chip and the fast dissolving circuitry. Yet another smartphone with the same cleverly designed self-destruct mechanism. Even the fingerprints and DNA strands left behind were of little help. Practically everyone KNEW who the phone belonged to, who handled it and she was well hidden, along with the rest of her classmates (those left alive at any rate) And as usual, nobody could remember who had been sitting there or what they had looked like. Interrogations turned up nothing, questions were asked and even CCTV footage turned up little of note.
The girl with long black hair and a purple streak in her hair was spotted of course. Even Juleka was unable to avoid technology, but that was academic. People just overlooked her, looking past the teen as though she was unimportant. Always after the event, but never before.
In a quiet little suburb of Paris, the girl in question walked into the ruins of Collège Françoise Dupont and as far as any outside observer was concerned, she vanished.
"Juleka! You're back!" Rose exclaimed happily as she hugged her friend. "I was so worried!"
Juleka smiled as she hugged her friend back.
"Don't worry Rose. I'm back now. And I don't think anyone noticed me. Nobody ever does," she replied, with a smile tugging at her lips. "Well nobody except you."
"Don't say that! You're sweet and amazing and-"
"And very good at what you do," Marinette finished with a smile as she hugged Juleka in turn. She turned to look over at Alya, who was looking at a block of computer screens. "How big an impact did we have?"
"Girl, our video went viral. Copies are popping up faster than Hawkmoth's guys can take them down," Alya said with a smile on her face. "Shame we can't do this as normal kids, we'd practically be mobbed."
"Actually, we'd probably be arrested and probably tagged," Max said in a slightly bored voice. "Banned from ever setting foot online ever again or something like that. Then again, we wouldn't need to do it this way under normal circumstances. Alya would be running some blog or another and I'd be at home playing video games."
"So we ticked Hawkmoth a little. What next? We sit around waiting for Darkblade's knights to sniff us out and finish the job?" Alix asked with a hint of grumpiness. "Come on, we need to hit back! Videos ain't going to bring down Hawkmoth."
"Look, I know that it's hard," Marinette said in an understanding voice. "But this is important. You'll get your chance, trust me."
"I trust you Marinette," Alix said with a smile as she grabbed her skates. "Just impatient to get kicking his arse again."
"Oh we will," Marinette replied with a wicked grin. "And it's thanks to Alya, Juleka and Max here that we're going to have a chance to really hurt Hawkmoth. Trust me on that."