Because it was Sunday, and because he only had so many heroes working for him, Todoroki gave everyone a day off today. He slept in today, even having a bottle of honey tea in place of his usual Mountain Dew at breakfast. Not particularly sure of what to do today after his morning workout, Todoroki put on the movie Tough Cop With a Bad Hand, one of his favorites. Once the movie was over, however, he found himself at another loss as to what to do.

After a little thinking, Todoroki decided to go for a walk. Since the weather was particularly hot today, he chose to forego his M65, which he usually didn't mind wearing when it was warm out, but today was one of those days where he didn't feel like melting. On the other hand, he missed being able to conceal weapons under his jacket. Thus far, his walk went smoothly, with nobody bothering him. However, the previous night at Studio One was still on his mind, and he swore he could still hear the music. While he was still primarily a metalhead, he found that just one night of continuous exposure to disco music made it that much more infectious to him. He was definitely going to have to go back to Studio One with Ashido and Hagakure on some other Saturday night. A small part of him actually wanted to see Joe again. Granted, he still didn't identify as gay, but kissing him really didn't feel that much different from kissing a woman. Then again, prior to Ashido and Hagakure giving him drunken smooches last night, he'd only ever been kissed once by a woman who wasn't a relative, so he didn't have much to compare with.

"Hey Todoroki!"

Just then, Todoroki's thought process was disrupted by Deko, who was wearing a mint green sports bra, black spandex running shorts and pink/fuchsia/cobalt running shoes.

"Ah hello, Deko!" Todoroki smiled and waved at her. "What brings you out this way?"

"I was taking a daily run! You?"

"I decided to get out and take a walk, myself. I was getting bored."

"Hey, taking a walk is always good!"

Todoroki nodded. "Indeed. By the way, do you mind if I talk a little business with you?"

Deko gave a thumbs up. "Sure!"

"I was talking with Ashido and Hagakure yesterday, and they said that you and Uraraka absolved Boltblaster of the concert massacre."

Deko smiled. "Yeah, it made me feel happy to help out a fellow hero like that!"

Todoroki put a hand on Deko's shoulder. "You should be proud of yourself! You've not only gone above and beyond all my expectations, but you're one of the reasons why my agency – our agency – is becoming so well-known in this city!"

Deko blushed. "Awww, stop it!"

"What? Does one of my most valued employees not like receiving praise?"

"I…I just…I'm so happy to work for a guy like you, especially considering who you're related to!"

"Ordinarily, any mention of my father would earn you my wrath, but since I feel that working with you ladies has been a boon to my attitude, and since you especially make me feel happy, I'm staying my hand."

"I realize it's not easy coming from the shadow of your father, but I personally think you've succeeded in creating your own identity!"

"You really think so?"

"I know so! Now anyways, tell me more about last night!"

Todoroki got a more serious look on his face. "What about last night?"

Deko rubbed the back of her head. "Well…I heard from Ashido and Hagakure that all of you were going to Studio One…"

Todoroki smiled. "Oh…that! It was actually more fun than I'd initially anticipated! Before we even went dancing, Ashido took us to a pizza place not too far from the disco for dinner."

"Was the pizza good?"

"It was quite possibly the best pizza I'd ever had!"

"I'll have to go there someday! What was the name of the place?"

"It's called Pizzana West Hollywood."

Deko gave a thumbs up. "I'll have to remember that! What about the club itself?"

"It was quite the experience! The lights were so pretty, and even today, I can still feel the music pounding inside me!"

"Wow! I'll have to go there one Saturday night!"

Todoroki frowned. "Now that you mention it, I feel somewhat bad about not inviting you. If I'd known it was gonna be that fun, I would've asked you to come with us."

Deko put her hands on Todoroki's shoulders. "Don't feel bad! I'll go with you next Saturday night!"

Todoroki smiled. "I look forward to it."

"Me too! Before I go, I just wanted to thank you again for hiring me!"

"Oh…you're welcome! Actually, there was something else I wanted to tell you…"

"Yes?"

Todoroki frowned. "Deko, I'm sorry for using the word 'woman' as an insult against you during sparring exercises."

"Don't worry about it! Hearing that from you made me want to become not only the best hero I could be, but the best woman I could be, too!"

"Really?"

Unexpectedly, Deko gave Todoroki a big hug. In spite of how surprised he was, he gladly returned the gesture. Even if she'd let out an appreciable amount of sweat from running, she was probably the softest, warmest and most cuddly woman he'd ever held in his arms. Not only did he enjoy holding her for that, but it also made him feel confident and fulfilled knowing that she had enough trust and faith in him to do this for him. In hugging her, he thought back on the first full week that his agency had and how interactions between him and his women had been, and even if they had been a bit much at times, he not only enjoyed having them under his employ, but also hanging out with them. Plus, considering that he thought that Deko was the most beautiful woman, that made the hug even better. Eventually, they broke away, but not without looking each other in the eyes.

"Deko…"

"Yes?"

"You have a very nice body. Please take good care of it."

Deko giggled. "Awww…thank you! I will! See you later!"

"You too!"

Deko and Todoroki waved at each other as they parted ways.

After getting back to his house, Todoroki listened to Metallica's Master of Puppets album and didn't really do much else.

The next day, when Todoroki met his women in the break room for the daily briefing, many of them were giving him knowing smiles.

"Well, why are we so happy today?" said Todoroki.

Yaoyorozu attempted to stifle some giggles. "I think you know why, loverboy!"

Todoroki shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't, Yaoyorozu."

Jiro too was trying to suppress giggles. "Hey, all of us know about your little trip to Studio One with Ashido and Hagakure!"

"Yeah, you never told me you kissed a guy!" Deko was also trying to keep herself from giggling.

"And what if I did?" said Todoroki.

In contrast to most of the other ladies, Shiozaki crossed her arms and frowned. "Hmph, such disgraceful comportment!"

Todoroki crossed his arms as well. "Shiozaki, if you have a problem with gay people, you can leave…NOW."

Shiozaki pounded on her thighs. "I'll have you know that I accept people of the LGBTQ community just the same as straight people! I'm just disgusted by your unbridled promiscuity!"

Todoroki nodded. "That being said, it's time we got on with the briefing. As some of you know, Deko has been leading a team to investigate the attack on the Sailor Wift concert. They've successfully absolved the Mt. Wilshire Agency of any involvement in the attack, but we still have no info on the people responsible for planning this attack nor the other attacks blamed on Hero Agencies, and in fact, CompStat shows a 9% increase in crime yesterday because of it. I know all of you will do your best in spite of this difficult situation. Any questions?"

Deko raised her hand.

"Yes, Deko?" said Todoroki.

"About those attacks: last night, I found a mention of a 'PRWO' in connection with one attack, but I still don't know what that means."

"Then do your best to investigate. I'm sure if you and your team keep working at it, then we'll crack this case wide open. Any other questions?"

No one else had any other questions.

"Good. Get out there and make me proud."

After doing some paperwork, Todoroki was about to go on patrol when he got a phone call:

"Shoto Agency, Shoto Todoroki speaking."

"Shoto, there's someone from the CHP looking for you," said Jane.

"Please send them up."

"Will do."

After Todoroki hung up, he couldn't help but wonder why the CHP wanted to see him. On one hand, he figured they had some information for him regarding the attacks. On the other hand, he also figured that there was an attack that got blamed on his agency. Whatever the case would turn out to be, he steeled his nerves and did his best to let his cold side be in charge. Soon enough, he heard knocking on his door.

"Come in," said Todoroki.

The door opened, and in stepped a CHP officer with chestnut brown hair, who was somewhat taller than Todoroki. Todoroki could tell by the chevrons on the officer's shirt sleeves that he was a Sergeant.

"Good morning." Todoroki got up from his seat. "Can I help you?"

"Are you Shoto Todoroki?"

Todoroki nodded. "I am. And you are…?

"Sergeant Roland Stickell, California Highway Patrol."

"How do you do, Sergeant?"

Todoroki shook hands with Stickell.

"Please, have a seat," said Todoroki.

"Thanks, but I'll stand."

"Now, what is your business?"

Stickell put a hand on his hip. "Last night, there was a bomb attack on the Los Angeles City Hall. Nobody was killed, but the building was badly damaged, and we have good reason to believe that you were responsible."

Todoroki crossed his arms. "How do you figure?"

"We found this note taped to the door of the building."

Stickell pulled out a note in a plastic bag. Without touching it, Todoroki read it. It said:

"NO JUSTICE UNTIL HEROES FALL – SHOTO"

"Hmmm…that's very interesting, but I can give you two good reasons as to my innocence," said Todoroki.

"Really?"

"For one, that handwriting doesn't match mine. Second, I'm sure if you test the ink on that note, you'll find that it doesn't match the ink in any of my pens."

Todoroki took a piece of paper and proceeded to hand-copy the note with different pens on his desk. While Todoroki's handwriting wasn't the most elegant, it was nevertheless very legible, more so than the handwriting on the note that Stickell showed him, plus it lacked the "felon's claw" on the bottom curve of the "J" in the other note. Todoroki then handed his handwriting samples to Stickell.

"Interesting case you've made for yourself," said Stickell. "Nevertheless, we're going to continue to keep tabs on your agency, and if you or any of your fellow heroes step out of line, then we'll have no choice but to place you under arrest and shut down your agency. Is that clear?"

Todoroki nodded. "Crystal."

"Good. Have a nice day, and stay out of trouble."

"Will do."

Stickell left Todoroki's office. While he figured that there was a possibility that this would happen to him, Todoroki was still rather shaken like one of James Bond's martinis. Nevertheless, he knew exactly what to do; he ended up visiting Jiro.

"Hey, Jiro…"

"What's up?"

"Call everyone back here immediately. We've got a situation on our hands."

"Will do." Jiro radioed in: "All units, Code Red in progress. Please return to HQ immediately."

"This is Unit Adam-2, 10-4 HQ," said Uraraka.

"This is Unit Adam-3, 10-4 HQ," said Tsu.

"This is Unit Adam-4, 10-4 HQ," said Hagakure.

"This is Unit Adam-5, 10-4 HQ," said Tokage.

"This is Unit Adam-6, 10-4 HQ," said Shiozaki.

Jiro turned to Todoroki. "What's this about?"

"I don't know if you noticed, but a Sergeant from the CHP paid a visit to me and accused our agency of carrying out an attack on City Hall."

Jiro's eyes widened. "That's terrible! Whoever's doing this must really have something against heroes!"

"It does seem that way. By the way, before anything happens, there was something I wanted to tell you…"

"Yes?"

"I should've told you this at Yaoyorozu's party, but Jiro, I'm proud of you. I don't know much about what it's like to be part of the LGBTQ community, but it seems like it takes a lot of courage."

Jiro smiled. "Todoroki, you're so sweet!"

Jiro gave Todoroki a hug, which he gladly returned. While he didn't think Jiro was one of the most cuddly women ever, he still enjoyed having her in his arms. By the time they let go, they couldn't have felt better.

"You know, I'm so happy I could just tickle you!" said Jiro.

Todoroki blushed and let out a short, annoyed growl. "OK, what is it with you people and tickles!?"

Jiro giggled. "What? It's not as if you didn't sound cute when you were laughing!"

Todoroki simply shook his head and walked away.

Once everybody returned, Todoroki called them down to the break room.

"What's going on?" asked Uraraka.

"This is bad," said Todoroki. "A CHP sergeant paid us a visit and accused our agency – or more precisely, me – of orchestrating a bomb attack on City Hall."

Everyone let out gasps of shock.

"Oh, that's really bad!" said Yaoyorozu.

"What ever shall we do?" asked Shiozaki.

"As of this moment, I want Deko and her team to pour everything they have into investigating this case. The moment we get any actionable intelligence, we're moving on it without delay. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Todoroki!" said the women.

As per Todoroki's directive, Deko and her team were searching feverishly to crack the mystery behind "PRWO". However, it was clear that it was taking a toll on the team:

"Midoriya, how much longer are we gonna have to keep searching?" asked Hagakure.

"Yeah, I feel like this search could take forever!" said Ashido.

"We're not stopping!" said Deko. "This isn't just about Todoroki; this is about all of us! If he takes the fall for that bombing, then this agency is done for, and we'll all be looking for jobs elsewhere! I don't know about you, but this is the finest Hero Agency I've ever worked for, and I don't want to see it shut down!"

"Neither do I!" said Uraraka. "For the first time in my life, I've found an agency where I can grow not only as a hero, but as a woman! Who's with me?"

"I'm with you, ribbit," said Tsu. "By the way, I think I found something interesting…"

"What?" said the rest of the team.

"Look at this."

Tsu showed everyone else what she'd found on her phone: a video on YouTube titled "PRWO – Our Manifesto". She pressed "PLAY", and a silhouetted man with a voice disguised by some sort of vocoder began speaking:

"We are the People's Reactionary World Order. Ever since the dawn of Meta Abilities, so-called 'heroes' have emerged in a vain attempt to keep the citizens of this world safe and free. Unfortunately for society, we find that these 'heroes' are obsolete in today's world, and as such, we are faced with no other choice but to break them down and bring society to its knees, forcing them to obey no will but ours, for we are the only virtuous beings on this forsaken planet. We have but one demand: all of the 'heroes' in this world are to surrender to us and discontinue their misguided crusade. Those who do so peacefully will be afforded some degree of mercy. Those who continue to resist us, however, will be framed for actions that were not their doing. If you 'heroes' wish to avoid the disgrace of being punished for such crimes, you must agree to our demand. Fail to do so, and you will find that our power is beyond your comprehension. Do not test us."

For a moment, there was stunned silence in the room. Knowing that there was a villainous organization out there so dedicated to crushing heroes, nobody quite had an idea of how to process. Nevertheless, Uraraka spoke up:

"What do we do?"

Deko gently brought a fist down on the table. "I know exactly what we're gonna do! Uraraka, you, Asui and I are gonna keep searching for information on the People's Reactionary World Order: where their headquarters are, who's working for them…everything. YaoMomo, Ashido and Hagakure will go out on patrol with the specific task of finding and arresting PRWO members. Jiro…you keep in radio contact with everybody. Is that clear?"

"Yes!" said the rest of the women.

"Then let's do this!"

In spite of the uncertainty still permeating this case, the investigative team rolled out and got down to business.

Out on the streets, Ashido and Hagakure rode around with Yaoyorozu in her Cougar. To the passengers, things seemed too quiet…

"YaoMomo, how much longer are we gonna have to drive around?" asked Hagakure.

"Yeah, I feel like we've been at this for hours!" said Ashido.

"Then we'll keep going at it!" said Yaoyorozu. "Remember, the safety and security of the world is on the line!"

"Can we at least stop at a Vons somewhere? I wanna get some fried chicken in my stomach!"

"I'm with Mina!" said Hagakure. "I could go for some sweet and sour pork!"

"OK, we'll stop for some food."

Yaoyorozo was about to pick up the radio mic when she got a transmission from Jiro:

"HQ to Unit Adam-3, switch to TAC-2 at once."

Yaoyorozu picked up the mic. "HQ, 10-4."

Yaoyorozu switched the radio over to the TAC-2 frequency.

"TAC-2, you are go," said Yaoyorozu.

"Yaoyorozu, it's Deko. We have some information on a PRWO member that you may be interested in."

"I'm listening."

"His name is Tarmo Saar, better known under the name 'Lava Lord'. He's an Estonian national who – until recently – hired his services out to the highest bidder, but in the past year, he seems to have solidified his loyalty to the PRWO. His Quirk allows him to turn surfaces into molten hot lava, but it takes longer the more he tries to make, and it only works if his feet are touching the ground. He has blond hair, blue eyes, is 6'4" tall and weighs 207 pounds. His costume is bright red with orange stripes on the sleeves and pant legs, black studded shoulder pads and black knee-high boots. We don't know where he's located now, but Jiro will keep you posted if he tries anything."

"Midoriya, 10-4." Yaoyorozu put down the mic. "Well, hopefully we find this Lava Lord guy."

And so, Yaoyorozu, Ashido and Hagakure continued to patrol LA. So far, they found nothing, and Ashido swore she could hear her stomach growling. Nevertheless, she vowed to stick it out if it meant saving the world because not only did that matter to her, but so did the company of her fellow women as well as Todoroki. Eventually, they got a radio call from the LAPD:

"7-Adam-2, 7-Adam-2, unknown trouble, 5501 West Pico Boulevard. 7-Adam-2, handle Code 3."

"This might be it!"

Yaoyorozu flipped on the Cougar's siren and put a red Fireball light on the roof as she sped towards the incident scene, while Hagakure picked up the mic:

"Unit Adam-3 to HQ, we have a call of unknown trouble in progress at 5501 West Pico Boulevard. No other details at this time, but we may need Shoto's assistance if possible."

"Unit Adam-3, 10-4," said Jiro. "Shoto will be notified ASAP."

As it turned out, Yaoyorozu, Ashido and Hagakure were unable to get too close because a good portion of Pico Boulevard had been turned into lava, and nearby buildings and cars were bursting into flame. After the Cougar stopped, Ashido grabbed a Mossberg 500 ATP from the shotgun rack, and Hagakure grabbed an M76 and an M16A1 from the trunk, tossing the latter to Yaoyorozu, who conjured a fire proximity suit and a liquid nitrogen sprayer. Immediately, Yaoyorozu set to work spraying the lava to cool it down. Doing so threw up a huge cloud of steam, but it was working, nevertheless. Ashido switched the car's siren to PA mode and grabbed the mic:

"Attention Lava Lord, you are surrounded, and you have no chance of escaping. Surrender now and we will treat you with dignity and kindness. Please don't make us use force."

"Whoever you are, stay away!" shouted Lava Lord. "I'm not afraid of death!"

"Nobody wants to hurt you!" said Ashido. "We just want to talk to you!"

"I refuse! Heroes have nothing good to say!"

"If you're having a terrible day, we understand, but please, be reasonable!"

"You're the ones who are being unreasonable! Now go away before the lava consumes you!"

"You wouldn't let this lava consume innocent people, would you?"

"Go away before you find out!"

"Damn it, where's the big bad bossman when you need him!?" said Hagakure.

Ashido briefly turned away from the mic. "He'll be here soon. I'm sure he will! Look, Yaoyorozu's doing a good job freezing the lava!"

Sure enough, Yaoyorozu had managed to freeze a good portion of the lava, but it was evident that Lava Lord was unwilling to cede an inch of ground. The only consolation that the women had was that – as Deko said – Lava Lord's Quirk took longer to work if he tried to create lava over large areas. However, this consolation would prove to be fleeting when Yaoyorozu ran out of liquid nitrogen.

"Damn! Ashido, Hagakure, cover me while I reload!"

"Got it!" said Ashido and Hagakure.

Temporarily shedding her proximity suit, Yaoyorozu worked feverishly to create some reload canisters for her liquid nitrogen thrower in addition to a grappling hook gun. She needn't have worried about the former, for a huge wave of ice came in from the opposite direction and froze the remaining lava.

"Todoroki, we need to get Lava Lord off the ground!" cried Yaoyorozu. "He'll just melt your ice!"

Sure enough, the ice that Todoroki had created started to steam up before melting. Undeterred, Todoroki slid along his own little ice and delivered a powerful uppercut to Lava Lord before using another blast of ice, which – combined with some very weak acid that Ashido shot – created a structure to hang the lava villain by his hand in midair. He then drew his Model 29 and pointed it at Lava Lord's head.

"All right, Lava Lord, you're gonna tell me where the PRWO's headquarters is, or I'm gonna blow your head off."

"I won't talk!"

"One…"

"You have no authority over me!"

"Two…"

"Kukkugu sul munn magades otsast!"

Todoroki didn't even give Lava Lord a "three". Instead, he shot him in his free hand, causing him to scream in unholy pain.

"OK! NO MORE, I'LL TALK!" cried Lava Lord. "Our headquarters is on the top floor of One America Plaza in San Diego!"

Todoroki lowered his Model 29. "Thanks. You told us all we need to know."

Despite having been broken, Lava Lord still shot Todoroki a defiant glare, though the pain of having been shot in the hand was eating him up.

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.