the next holders//mlb fanfiction

38//clues on HawkMoth's identity

They arrive at school just in time. When El enters the classroom and sees Rune in the back of it, she realises she needs to talk to them sooner or later and decides she'll do it during their first break.

At the start of their first break, El tells Autumn she'll catch up with her later then walks up to Rune. They find a quiet spot in one off the hallways and El starts talking.
"I'm sorry I ran away, I just needed some time to process what happened."
"But you didn't tell anyone right?" Rune asks, it's obvious they've been worried about that the whole time.
"I keep my promises." El repeats. Rune smiles, being put at ease.
"So, are you free after school? We need to share our thoughts on HawkMoth and find a way to take them down."
"Her. I've found out that much." Rune corrects El.
"We need to find a way to take her down. Are you free after school?" El corrects herself. Rune nods. Just when they're about to leave, Autumn walks up to them, scratching the back of her head. "I couldn't help but overhear you guys talk." She says awkwardly. "I'd like to join you guys. You're not the only ones wanting to take HawkMoth down." El and Rune look at each other, nod and then turn to Autumn. "Cool. We'll meet up after school." El informs her even though she's already heard them, then the three of them walk to the cafeteria to enjoy the last few minutes of their first break.

After their last class, the three of them make their way to a quiet spot in a park to talk about every clue they have on HawkMoth. Well, most of the clues, Autumn won't tell El anything about Lila until she's entirely sure.
"So, does anyone have an idea?" El asks.
"Next to the fact that she's a female, I'm not sure."
"I've been thinking a lot about this, but HawkMoth has to be someone with a flexible occupation. I mean, she can make victims at any time of the day. That would be hard if she had a job like being a teacher for example." El says.
The two of them then look at Autumn, who shakes her head. "I don't know anything, I'm sorry." She says.
"If that's all we know then that isn't a lot, but it's a start." El states.
"Yeah. I've been thinking about contacting the police or Paris' heroes, but that hasn't worked out yet. The police isn't busy with HawkMoth's identify and it's really hard to contact the heroes. Especially since Lady Noire isn't showing up anymore, Ladybug is too busy." Rune states.
"I can contact Ladybug." Autumn and El tell Rune in unison. El looks a bit confused at Autumn, who just smiles awkwardly.
"Well, if you're so confident then let me know if either of you has contacted her." Rune states.
"Any more ideas for now?" Rune asks.
"We could contact Miles. He's the owner of the LadyBlog and might know a few things." Autumn offers.
"Can we not? He doesn't really like me." El says.
"I'll just call him, he won't even know you're here." Autumn says, then dials Miles's number. He picks up after about ten seconds.

"Hi, Miles here." Miles says from the other side of the phone.
"Hi Miles." Autumn says.
"Autumn? What's up?"
"Nothing much. I just had a question and wondered if you knew, since you're the owner of the Ladyblog and all."
"Oh, of course. What do you wanna know? I'm not sure if I can answer though, they've asked me to keep certain information to myself. I'm not even sure if I was allowed to say that but oh well."
"That's fine, I understand. I was wondering whether you have any clue, even the smallest most meaningless clue, on who HawkMoth might be."
"Oh, wow. I expected a lot of questions but didn't see that one coming. I've had a lot of anonymous messages coming from people claiming to have seen HawkMoth in person, but I honestly doubt whether any of them are true."
"Are there any messages that might be true?"
"Well, there's this one frequent messager, but—" Miles starts, but stops himself. "Why do you want to know anyway?"
"No reason, just curious." Autumn responds.
"I can't help you, I'm sorry." Miles then says, disconnecting the phone.

The three of them stay quiet for a while, unsure what to do. They're obviously at a dead end already, and they've hardly started. They don't say a word until El's phone rings. It's her mom. "Hello?" She says.
"Where are you?"
"In a park with friends, why?"
"You're grounded, remember? I need you to come home right this instant."
"That's not fair!"
"I don't care. You come home now or I'll come and get you myself."
"Fine." El disconnects her phone then tells Autumn and Rune she has to leave.

They all agree it's time to go home and El leaves as fast as she can. When Rune is about to leave too, Autumn tells him to stop.
He turns around, asking what's going on.
"I didn't want to say it when El was still with us, but I think I know who HawkMoth is." Autumn admits, not thinking about the fact she might have to explain how she knows.
Rune's eyes widen, "Who- how- why- I-" she stutters, unsure what to do with the thousands questions on their mind.
"It's El's mom, most likely. I couldn't tell her." Autumn says to answer her question.
"How do you know?" He asks.
"I can't tell you, you have to trust me."
"How can I trust you when you won't even tell me where your suspicion is based on?"
"I—" Autumn starts, then thinks a while before continuing her sentence. "I've met her mother. She acts nice and all, but she's obviously hiding something. I did some research on her backstory and found out that there were rumours about her having an alliance with the previous HawkMoth when she was still a student. She denied it, of course, the rumours went away eventually." She tells Rune. It's partly true, the 'research' was Tikki's story, but the story itself is a 100% true.
"That seems like enough prove to me. What's the plan?"