Yue

2nd January

19:43 GMT -5

"…sorry, Mr Dow. I didn't think-"

The decidedly peaky-looking Mr Dow tries waving it off. "It's fine."

"-that airsickness… I've never had that problem before."

While not transitioning should minimise the potential effect of orange light pollution, flying normally at high speed apparently has other risks. Bird strikes aren't a problem-. Not for me anyway. Just have to hope that none of those were endangered. But a badly airsick clone spy… Didn't think about that in advance.

"What are the two of you going to do if you actually..? See the original dial?"

Ms Birchall shakes her head. "I don't… Seeing it shouldn't do anything. We were created after the dial split, and we weren't there when it got put back together. We've never seen it before, not even a photograph."

I nod. Even if Master had something to work off, mental programming shouldn't last this long without reinforcement…

"So I'm forced to conclude that Mr Dow's attack was something he chose to do?"

"Ah, well, we're still conditioned to be obedient. We didn't-. He didn't have to-."

"It was the first sniff I'd gotten in thirty years." Mr Dow doesn't exactly look chastened, but… I sort of get where he's coming from. "It was my purpose. I could… Stop thinking about it, but when it was right there…"

I stop the construct plane in the air. "If this is going to be a problem-."

"Mr Reed isn't exactly Master, but… I think he counts-. God, I knew those people." He shakes his head, looking down. "I was just-. Dial the number, then-."

"It's not called a Horror dial for nothing. You used it nearly as often as I did."

"I'd… Forgotten."

"And for someone who hasn't used a dial before?"

Ms Birchall shrugs. "Master didn't have any use for pacifists. Since we were spies, we needed to be able to live with people without going on crazy rampages like his successful subjects did. But he wanted us to be able to fight, without… Holding back, even against people we knew."

I nod. Always a risk that if you live among people you'll start to see them as people.

"So… The Horror Dial bypasses that. It pushes everything out of your mind. You're rational when you activate it, and… You're still rational, but…"

"You suddenly weigh things differently." They both nod. "Has talking to Mr Reed relieved you of the need to keep hold of your dials? Because to me they sound like something that no one should have access to."

"We went… Thirty years without using them. And we have concealed carry permits."

"Alright, let me put it this way. Mister Dow, what you did is a criminal offence. And with the Injustice League, Klarion and Fawcett City, a lot of places have been strengthening their anti-supervillain laws. Since no one suffered any lasting physical harm I don’t think that they'd push for a death sentence, but I strongly suspect that you'll be spending the rest of your life in prison for multiple counts of mind control. Alternatively, you can give me those dials, I'll lock them away, and then I'll have a word with some people."

They both look decidedly sombre. For a moment neither of them says anything, then Ms Birchall pulls out the dials and holds them out.

"Thank you."

I put them in a pouch -not going to risk subspacing them- and resume our journey, descending towards the current location of the rest of the gang. They look up as we land on the promenade.

And that's Christopher King, looking remarkably normal.

"Hey, Oh El." Richard steps forward, giving my guests a once-over. "Mister King says he can't feel it."

I turn to my guests, eyebrows raised. Mr Dow shakes his head while Ms Birchall shrugs.

"Orange Lantern?" Mr King steps forward. "You saw… Bobby, didn't you? Is he doing okay? He hasn't answered my calls in years."

"No. No, not really." I shake my head. "Sorry, I sort of assumed-."

"I'm not family and he doesn't like-. Didn't like being reminded of the Dial. Especially after what happened to Vicki." He sighs. "But if everyone's out of ideas, I'd rather find it before someone takes it joyriding again."

"Zatanna, these are-" I pull the two dials out of my pouch. "-Horror Dials, made based on the original design. Would they help?"

She shakes her head. "I already tried with Mister King's dial. Whatever they are, something's protecting them from my magic."

Raquel looks somewhat sceptical. "What exactly are the odds of the dial giving you something you can use to find the other dial?"

"I've-" Mr King shrugs as he pulls out his dial. I tense slightly, watching to see if Mr Dow or Ms Birchall lunge for it. No, no reaction at all. "-got no idea. It usually gives me something I can use, but this is a lot more specific than a random fight with the Master's goons."

"I don't suppose you can just enter 'find dial', can you?"

He turns his dial so that I can see the face-. It has four letters, 'H', 'E', 'R' and 'O'.

"Bobby's Wizard personality didn't want any chance that we'd misuse it or dial something we weren't supposed to."

Mr Hamill clenches her fists in frustration. "I still say I should try using that to turn back. I just gotta dial 'hero' again, don't I?"

Mr King shakes his head. "Assuming it still works the same, you gotta dial 'oreh'."

"Huh?"

"It's 'hero' backwards. And honestly, given the crazy stuff these dials can do, I wouldn't risk it."

Richard looks up at Mr Hamill. "How about we try it if Mr King's dial can't find it?"

Mr Hamill droops. "This whole day's sucked. I just want it to be over."

Mr King looks at him sympathetically for a moment, then raises his left wrist. Looks like his dial is built into his wristwatch. Now that's worrying. The potential for concealed usage… "Okay, here we go with attempt number one. 'H-E-R-O'."

There's a faint white-yellow glow as Mr King recedes and another figure comes to the fore. Some sort of… Bizarre parody of Sherlock Holmes, complete with deerstalker-mounted magnifying glasses.

"Super Sleuth, master of mysteries and concluder of conundrums!"

He takes a moment to look himself over.

"Which would be great if we had any evidence to work with, but the first deduction I'm going to make is that if no one knows where it went there aren't going to be clues in human behaviour and you've already searched all of the reasonably probable locations for it to wash out. O-R-E-H."

Mr King reappears and redials.

"H-E-R-O."

This time he gets a.. vaguely animalistic alien, with.. antennae and blue skin.

"The Transphasic Tracker. This should work! Okay, I'll need to head back to the bridge, then I should be able to follow exactly where it went!"

My team mates look at one another in confusion. Raquel shakes her head.

"What'd he say?"