Ashes

Interlude

Hawks walked through HPSC, having finished the press conference with a spectacular debut that already had people talking.

Who thought my little talk with Dabi would have gotten me a better reception... I guess fashionably late isn't a saying for no reason.

Hawks chuckled at the thought, opening the door to his boss's office with a practiced smile, "Madam, how's you like the press conference? You think the cameras got my good side?"

Madam looked up from her work, frowning as Hawks sat down in the chair in front of her desk, "Don't try to distract me, Hawks. Did you get it?"

Hawks rolled his eyes at Madam's icy tone, crossing his arms as he leaned back, "Yeah I got it. He gave us enough to justify stripping his hero license."

Just like I told you he would... seriously, so little faith.

Madam felt her mood dampen as Hawks shook his head, ignoring it as she turned to the file open on her computer. Sending it to one of the agents so they could add whatever dirt Hawks' got on him to it.

"Good. Hand it over to Yoshari on your way out. She'll add it to his file so we don't have to worry about another incident like this happening again."

Hawks nodded, "Sure thing boss, anything else I can offer my so gracious help with."

Since I'm practically doing everything already...

Madam ignored Hawks' taunts as she looked toward the computer, "You're in the clear for now, just make sure to boost your ratings into the top ten by the end of the year."

He's not the only hero to pass the exam like we hoped, but the world knows he's an elite. That will only further his popularity right now.

It wasn't the best result for the plan the HPSC had spent months developing, but Madam wasn't going to waste time complaining. All though she wasn't a fan of how things turned out she couldn't put all the blame on Hawks for teaming up with others.

I didn't expect All Might to level the city and I didn't expect someone to know Hawks' real name. Much less use it to pass the exam.

Madam scowled as she looked through the file, Pyre, the new underground hero had already made a statement by messing up her plans.

Says he grew up in the countryside, only living relative was his brother...

Madam looked up from the file, "Have you gotten anything on how he knew your name?"

Hawks flinched at the question, knowing it was coming but not sure how to answer it, "No, as far as I can tell we've never met before. My best guess is that he saw one of the articles from before you took me in and connected the dots."

At least that's the best I can come up with...

Madam shook her head at Hawks's comment, unhappy that it was realistically the best guess they had at the moment.

I guess we'll just have to run with it... We have the dirt on him now so we don't have to worry about Hawks being blackmailed anymore, and I can't ruin the HPSC's relationship with Pyre right off the bat.

It may have been different if Dabi went into regular heroics, but he was underground. The HPSC's relationship with underground heroes was much more... delicate.

We can't bribe them with publicity and we can't frame them easily since they usually work heavily with the police...

The HPSC was only responsible for giving underground heroes a paycheck and reading the reports they turn in. It was a system that put the HPSC at a disadvantage, but they couldn't afford to mess with it.