When a liar gets you left behind

Chapter Three: A Glitch In the System

{———}

"So you think she was left behind," Bruce Wayne concluded, his voice driven with authority.

  The woman grabbed the phone tighter, concern for the girl thrushing through her veins.

"I don't know a lot, so I wanted to tell you about it. I want to make sure this girl is safe," She said calmly.

"So a girl, by herself, asked for a room to rent. You confirmed she was French, but when you asked her if she should have left today, she ignored you?" Bruce accessed.

"Yes," The woman nodded even though he couldn't see her, a bad habit of hers that she still hadn't managed to break.

"Her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, according to the papers she filled out," Her hand stroked over the papers that the girl had filled out.

"Thank you, I will look into it," He said slowly, as if he wanted to say more.

"Please, keep me updated." She said right before he hung up.

Her mind wondered back to the girl, she hoped she would be fine, Gotham's streets were not kind, not at all, and they definitely would not take mercy on this girl.

{———}

B R U C E

Bruce walked back and forth in the room. It was unusual for a student to get left behind, everyone usually understood how dangerous the city could be. He supposed it would be good to get some information on her, if, she was left behind.

He walked out of the room and went down into the Bat Cave, not wasting any time in investigating.

When he got there, he found a very tired looking Tim, with no cup of coffee beside him, which was particularly unusual.

Bruce was surprised enough to blink. The image in front of him was something he had seen so often that it was almost immediately overlooked.

Tim looked over at him, his eyes bags seeming to stoop down even more, as if it had taken all of his energy to turn his head and acknowledge him.

"Jason hid all the coffee." He said, as if that explained everything. Which, considering he survived off of it, it actually did explain everything.

Bruce took in Tim's state before quickly deciding something in his head. He is going to crash soon.

Bruce walked over and sat in a seat, his thoughts back on the task on hand. He quickly typed Marinette's name into the computer.

He waited for it to load, looking around the room. Tim was leaning forward slightly, his eyes drooping a fraction every so often, but were instantly brought back up, as Tim absolutely refused to give into the temptation of sleep.

"What are you doing?" Tim asked between a yawn, the very fact that he could talk at the moment was a wonder.

"Looking up someone," He replied vaguely, not bothering to give much information to him, as he probably wasn't going to remember this after he finally fell asleep, which Bruce assumed wouldn't be long.

Bruce was surprised to find it loaded quicker than usual. Which was intr

He looked into her name and where she lived, the basic stuff.

He was about to look into her school records, when the computer suddenly shut down.

"Hmm.."

"What?" Tim looked over at the computer.

"It seems that something is stopping Master Bruce from getting anymore information on the person he is looking into." Alfred said, with a indecipherable look on his face.

Bruce did not respond, instead, his thoughts were shifting to the girl that he had just learned about, wondering just how interesting she was becoming.

Just then, Tim's eyelids drooped a significant amount.

"Let me lead you back to your bed, Master Drake," Alfred said in a firm voice, carefully getting Tim up, ignoring his feeble protests.

Alfred slowly ushered him out of the room, restoring the silence in the BatCave.

Faintly, Bruce could hear a thump! As well as a: "You need to get up, Master Drake."

So he finally fell asleep, quite literally.

}———{

M A R I N E T T E

Marinette looked around the room, trying to shake the feeling of loneliness. Maybe it wasn't loneliness, but rather the thought of having no one she could depend on. As everyone she normally did depend on was miles away in France it on their way there.

The room she had been given was rather large, and had some decorated wallpaper on the walls. It had everything she needed, but it still was not her home.

Marinette opened up her purse, letting out a gasp when Tikki popped out.

"Tikki!" She all but shouted in relief, she had been so overwhelmed with her emotions that she had forgotten that Tikki was still with her, like she always was.

"Marinette are you okay?" She said, concerned, automatically worrying about her.

Her eyebrows were set, and her face was set in an impassive expression. It was like it was a natural instinct for her, to want to push her emotions away. It was something that she had unconsciously started to do after almost being Akumatized. It was how she dealt with things. Tikki knew this, but she also knew that Marinette would always be honest somewhat, even if she ended up under-exaggerating things.

"I will be," She said with a smile.

The smile felt strained, sad. She tried to be happy for Tikki's sake, but she was still upset that Lila made the class leave her so very easily.

Tikki zoomed over to her Holder's cheek and nuzzled her lovingly, telling her everything would be fine, she didn't actually say it, but the touch was enough for Marinette to understand.

Marinette yawned. It was fairly late in Gotham, and, even though she had some jet-lag, she normally did not really sleep.

She looked over Tikki and muttered, "Good night."

"Good night, Marinette."

{———}

Marinette had been able to get about five hours of sleep, which was a good amount, considering.

Her phone dinged, making Marinette startle slightly.

Chloe: Save me!! All I hear is blah, blah, blah. >:(

MarinaraSauce: Are you okay?

Adrien aGRASSte: Yeah, Pinochio over here is just getting annoying!

Chloe: Are YOU okay?

MarinaraSauce: Yes! I am! It just turns out there are not plane tickets for anytime soon, which I guess I'm just slightly surprised about that.

Adrien aGRASSte: What's the lastest opening?

Adrien aGRASSte: Latest*

MarinaraSauce: In a year, but I guess that's slightly understandable.

{———}