After hours upon hours of Ladybug's words endlessly swirling around in his head, Adrien finally succumbed to a restless sleep filled with nightmares. He woke up in a cold sweat.

Today had been a disaster - at least according to his Lady - and her words were often prescient.

"What on Earth happened?" He echoed her words, a cooler palm pressed against his cheek, helping to quiet his labored breath.

Concerned, toxic green eyes peered back at him through the dark. "You alright over there?"

Adrien shook his head, brushing off the tiny beads of sweat dampening his forehead.

"Regardless of whatever else had happened in that building, Alya's photo wasn't faked. Ladybug finally fell in love with me… but I've forgotten all about it."

"Ehh…" Plagg murmured. "It's not all that unusual. I mean, the Akumatized always forget… not that they really forget all that much.

"You don't understand." Adrien grimaced. "I got so wrapped up in being hopeful about that kiss…" He trailed off, a little wistfully, for just a moment. "That I missed the big picture."

Plagg's eyes narrowed, as realization tugged him too from the throes of slumber.

"We need to know what else happened in there." Adrien murmured, resolute.

Tugging the covers back over his eyes, Plagg grumbled. "And we can find out tomorrow…"

Adrien darted over to his closet, digging out a jacket to go over his pajamas. "That's no good. Do you really think a big, business filled tower like Montparnasse wouldn't have cameras?"

Groaning, Plagg chided. "Kid, there's like 60 floors."

Adrien marched over to the mini-fridge, plucked out a block of Camembert, and set it on Plagg's pillow. "And, the two of us haven't spent so much of our off-hours Cat-burgling footage for nothing."

Munching on the pungent block thoughtfully, his Kwami murmured. "We really have been getting better at it, haven't we?"

Between what he'd gathered from his Father's own security system and what he'd gleaned from these late night ventures into the various security offices of Paris, he'd been able to puzzle out quite a lot.

He'd done some clean up after Anansi had managed to catch him in her webbing. And it had been an entertaining challenge to hunt down the location in City Hall that housed evidence of the frolicking he'd done on its roof as Malediktator's hench kitty.

"It's more than us just getting better Plagg… more importantly, some of those security officers have been nice enough to shed light on where these security offices tend to hide."

"Let me finish my Camembert first."

Adrien was grateful for Plagg's compliant attitude… even if Plagg only seemed inclined to preserve Chat Noir's superhero image just so he could cackle ruthlessly at some of the misfires and missed hits on endless loop.

It was fast becoming clear that the Heroes of Paris had to stay several steps ahead of Hawkmoth- which wasn't easy, considering he often seemed to strike at random, capitalizing indiscriminately on the rogue emotions of anyone he thought he could exploit.

But one battle - the one on Heroes' Day - had been different.

Hawkmoth's plan then was different; it had layers upon layers - much like those that were employed against his Akuma. Planning was Ladybug's strength, after all … along with good luck.

Adrien frowned. It was only a matter of time until his bad luck was bound to drag them both down. He couldn't stand the thought that she could be hurt on his account…

So, for the last month, he'd spent nearly every free hour poring through the footage he'd gotten from the Eiffel Tower of that day. Half of him - that inner voice that sounded suspiciously like Plagg - wanted to impress his Lady with how serious he could be.

But once Plagg pointed out that Hawkmoth's machinations seemed almost as complicated as Ladybug's, it quickly turned into a concerted effort, and Plagg also began earnestly searching for hints and clues they might have missed.

The danger in their situation weighed down on him more persistently as his self-appointed task wore on. . Every fruitless search added to his unease. Alya apparently hadn't been able to get close enough to get decent footage, and the news reels only got so far… It was hard for him to be her shield if he couldn't even see the threats that could be coming.

It struck him as funny how many photographs and videos remained even after Ladybug's powers was supposed to set everything to rights. But that only made him wonder if her powers were not nearly as complete as they both had thought.

Adrien's brows furrowed, as he toed his sneakers on and tugged a jacket around his body. He had inside information. But it was just a matter of time before someone else connected those dots.

And he could only hope he continued to get there first - before Hawkmoth could manage to.