Thanks to ArtEngine for betaing!
Alya sat in what she and the other akumas had dubbed "the living room" - which was really just a cordoned off area with some cushions that had been delivered. Methodically she brushed Animan's fur, using a dog hair comb she'd managed to snag before being taken over by the butterfly. Maybe that wasn't the ideal thing to use, but he'd been complaining of mats in his fur for weeks, and specialty panther combs were hard to come by.
"Gotta wonder why Hawkmoth decided to do the big-head butterfly thing again only now," she said absently. "Like, he's been active for ages, what was so special about the last akuma that he needed to make that thing? And how did he make it? I mean, I know he can control butterflies, but I didn't think he could do that many at once!"
Seriously, if he could do that, why not send butterflies to infect every person in Paris? Could he only give the butterflies the corruption stuff one at a time? Or were all the butterflies created with the corruption stuff?
When she was out of here and actually able to investigate without Hawkmoth breathing down her neck, she was gonna track down every snippet of information and every possible theory on how his powers functioned. She'd pieced together what she could from the news she caught and her own observations, but it was a painfully incomplete picture.
"I dunno," Evillustrator said, shrugging. "It was really weird. He was really insistent on me making that thing, even told me what to make it say, but when I was actually puppeting the thing? Nothing! Not a peep from him! Usually it's hard to get him to shut up, but this time? Nada!"
…What?
"You made that?" she asked. She'd been on the scene at the time, sent to attack Gabriel Agreste for who-KNOWS what reason. It would've been better if Nino had been with her - he had a grudge against Gabriel for reasons he couldn't properly articulate, but was sure were justified - but sadly, Hawkmoth had decided to leave her friend at the warehouse this time.
Evillustrator nodded. "I mean, I don't remember it all that clearly - you know how it is - but I don't think I fought for the rest of the battle?" He looked at her questioningly.
"I don't remember seeing you, if that's what you're asking," she said, trying not to let her roiling thoughts show on her face.
Taking an akuma out of the battle wasn't normal, especially one as versatile and powerful as Evillustrator.
Something else nagged at her. "Did Ladybug and Chat Noir seem to be acting strange at all?" she pressed him.
He blinked. "Dunno, I wasn't anywhere near them, plus I really don't remember much after making that giant butterfly thing. Why? Did they do something weird?"
"It's nothing," she assured him.
He eyed her skeptically, clearly not buying it.
"Oh hey, would you look at the time!" She said hurriedly. "Animan and I promised Puppeteer that we'd help her fight against King Fang Bloodlord and help save Princess Rainbow Kitty. We can't keep her waiting!"
Evillustrator quirked an eyebrow, but before he could say anything, she and Animan were out of the room.
"What was that about?" Animan demanded. "I'm always happy to play with Puppeteer, but we hadn't made any plans. What did you figure out?"
"I managed to hold onto myself for longer than normal this time," she said. "It seemed odd, but I didn't feel as much of a push to attack, as much pressure on my mind as I usually do. It was still there, but I just… pretended to give in, went along with the vague compulsions without giving into them, and was able to keep my mind for the entire battle. I already thought that was odd, but on top of Hawkmoth having Evillustrator make that huge butterfly head, and trying to hide that Evillustrator made it? There's a reason for the strangeness, and I think it's connected to Ladybug and Chat Noir's weird behavior."
"You've mentioned that a few times, but you haven't said what they did," Animan observed.
She sighed. "Chat Noir seemed really downcast and serious, even angry at times. Ladybug as well, but it wasn't as pronounced of a change with her. Chat didn't crack a single joke. It was actually kind of scary, especially with him coming after me. But when I took Gabriel hostage and the butterfly head went up he seemed almost… happy? Or maybe relieved. He cracked some jokes after that."
"You have a theory, I'm guessing?"
She hummed. "Maybe. I'm gonna lay it all out to Nino first, see what he thinks, before I give my guess."
"Gabriel is Hawkmoth! I knew it!" Nino said, as soon as she'd finished telling him what she'd learned.
"I… probably should have figured you'd come to the same conclusion I had," she said. More because Nino was convinced that Gabriel was an awful person for reasons even he didn't know, than because of an objective analysis of the evidence, but hey, whatever got them on the same page.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Nino said. "Ladybug and Chat Noir were on to his real identity, and he needed to throw them off by having Gabriel and Hawkmoth appear at the same time - but since he can't actually do that, he used Evillustrator's skills to make it seem like Hawkmoth was active, even when he wasn't!"
"And what do you think of Chat's strange behavior?" she asked. That'd been bugging her. Gabriel trying to throw people off from suspecting him of being Hawkmoth made sense under the circumstances, but why would Chat be relieved when it appeared that Gabriel had an alibi? If they'd managed to actually nail the guy, they could put a stop to all of this - so why did it seem like he was happy with the theory seemingly being disproven?
Nino shrugged. "Hell if I know. I hate Gabriel, but some people must like him. Maybe Chat's really into fashion and was upset at the idea that someone he looked up to was a massive turd? Not that Gabriel needed to be Hawkmoth to be a piece of crap," he said disdainfully.
"Maybe…" She shook her head. Something about that didn't seem right, didn't seem enough for how Chat was acting, but she'd figure it out later.
"So, now that we have a prime suspect for Hawkmoth's identity, one that even Ladybug and Chat Noir think is off the table, what should we do about it?"