Tim was annoyed. He'd spent most of the night looking for some girl Bruce had met last night. He'd pulled all the camera footage and either she was the luckiest girl alive or she was more skilled than Bruce picked up on. Not a single camera caught her face, a few frames here and there caught a side profile or a shoulder but nothing distinctive. The most Tim was able to give Bruce was confirmation on what he already knew, she was petite, had dark hair, and was on the shorter side. Bruce hummed and thanked him this morning when he left for his meeting with the Mayor. They were arranging meeting to see about opening a new branch in Paris while they worked towards the main reason for their visit.

The whole reason they were here was to investigate claims of a villain who went by the name "Hawkmoth" but so far, they had seen nothing. Not glimpses of the famed heroes, or the akumas. At this point they were convinced that the video they'd seen was doctored footage. Some of the best editing Tim had ever seen but edited none the less. In fact, he had spent the last several days living off coffee and whatever food Alfred brought him trying to find anything that could be a lead. Unfortunately, all he'd found was the ladyblog, it seemed to have more of the edited footage, with strange villains and the same recurring heroes, it almost read like a children's show website. There were interviews and stories about a girl named "Lila" who claimed to be the superheroes best friend but the superhero wasn't a very good one if she'd managed to let her best friend announce to the world how to bait her.

He pushed away from his laptop and dropped his head into his hands. He could feel a headache coming on, and he probably needed a good few hours of sleep but he was determined to find something, anything, to give Bruce before he came back from his meeting today.

"Alfred, I'm going for a walk. I'll be back shortly." He grabbed his phone and wallet off the table and dashed out the door. He didn't want to suffer through Alfred telling him to get some sleep. He'd made his way out the doors of the hotel lobby. Thankfully, the Wayne's, although still a household name, were less recognizable in Paris than in Gotham. He slid in easily with the crowd as they rushed to get to their destinations. Thankfully, he'd managed to stumble upon a nearby coffee shop that was relatively empty.

"Hello, can I get whatever you have that has the most caffeine in it?" Tim wasn't the most eloquent especially when he's running on so little sleep. He handed over his card no idea what he had just ordered but if it kept him awake for a few more hours he'd be happy.

He'd just barely stepped out of the way when he heard the bell jingle behind him. He saw the barista glance up before greeting the new customer, "Hey Mari, your usual?"

"Yes please, can you make it a double?" came the soft voice from the doorway.

Tim watched as the barista quickly rang in the order not even flinching as she read back the order, "Black coffee with 4 shots of espresso. Long day ahead of you?"

"You have no idea, maybe I need to look into a way to inject caffeine into my veins, at this point I think all my blood has transitioned to coffee anyway." Tim couldn't help the scoff he let out at that. If only, he would have done that years ago.

"Ah a fellow insomniac, tell me what's your poison today?"

"No idea just whatever has the most caffeine in it." Tim shrugged and glanced to his right where the girl now stood waiting for her own drink. She was a tiny thing, barely 5 foot if he would hazard a guess.

She gave him a tired smile and lapsed into a comfortable silence while they both waited on their drinks. His came moments before her own and without hesitation he took a long slip relishing in the burn of coffee down his throat. She followed suit with a small grimaced as she tasted the bitter brew.

"I prefer my coffee with sugar and cream but there's no room for anything sweet when you need to stay awake as long as I need too." She frowned at her coffee and took another drink.

"it's the sacrifice we insomniacs make to stay awake," Tim gave her smile finally focusing on her face. The coffee was finally waking up his brain, "now if only I could get my work done, I could get some real sleep." Without thinking Tim walked to a table and plopped into the chair cradling his own coffee close hoping the strong scent would help wake him even more.

"What are you working on?" She'd followed suit patiently standing near his table allowing the conversation to continue.

"Well it's more of a personal project I suppose apparently Paris has a super villain and heroes, but I can't seem to find anything about them in the news."

She gave a grim nod, "That's on order of the mayor, Paris thrives on tourism and if word got out that it was so dangerous here then people would stop coming. Thankfully, Ladybug's cure fixes everything but the order keeps any news coverage from being recorded or stored only aired live. They can't limit what people post privately but it is considered in bad taste to post about it. Not many people even talk about it anymore."

Tim stared at the young women in shock, seriously the entire city had helped to cover up a super villain and hadn't reached out to anyone else for help? "How come the city has never reached out to anyone else for help. The world has so many heroes now, surely someone can help?"

"I suppose but Hawkmoth preys on emotions. If someone, hero or not, was to gets a little too angry or sad they're in danger. I don't think Paris could handle an akumatized hero. Not again."

"Again?"

"No one really remembers exactly what happened, I think only Ladybug is the one who truly remembers what happened, but she benched Chat Noir nearly two years ago after he became akumatized. He appears here and there when he'd needed but he's as temporary as any of the other miraculous holders, though even they are retired now."

"Wait there's more heroes than just the two of them?"

"There were but not anymore¸ all the heroes were exposed during a fight with Hawkmoth, he caused a lot of destruction that day, and ruined more lives that he could've imagined. Only Ladybug and Chat Noir still have their identities still hidden. No one talks about it because its considered rude to talk about the former heroes' identities. Hopefully, no one outside of Paris will ever know, it keeps them safe from other villains."

A chime from the girl's phone made her curse and chug the rest of her coffee. She quickly tossed the now empty cup into the nearby bin, "Sorry I'm running late, have a nice day!" With that she was gone the only trace was the bell that lightly rang again as she disappeared out onto the street.

Tim sat there for a few more minutes, in a 20 minutes conversation he'd learned more about the city than he had in the last four days. It would take some digging, but he would find more proof. If Ladybug truly was alone, he could only imagine how heavy the burden on her shoulders. He managed to juggle his own responsibilities because he had his family to help shoulder them. The footage hed been able to catch glimpses of made Ladybug seem no older than Damian. She may not believe she needs help, but they certainly weren't going to leave her to fight on her own.

Tim drank the last of his coffee, tossing his own trash, and hurrying back towards the hotel. First, he would get some sleep, and then he'd be back at it.