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With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

The original dial (that Mr Hamill had I think) would technically enable that though due to eventually turning out to be in a time loop and not having an origin, it might be powerful enough to subtly stop people from doing that, or just do something like kill you and teleport you to a god (like Hades) (or just make you into a minor god ), but the later versions created by the wizard and the master only had the letters H,E,R, and O on them, so you could write HORROR or HERO or HER or HOE or ROE... but not just anything.
Well let's compile the list. Do only English words count? What about acronyms?

Fear me for I am OREO the cookie master!

Dial HO HO HO and get all the powers of Santa.

ROO for super hopping powers.

OH for the power of sudden insights.
 
The original dial (that Mr Hamill had I think) would technically enable that though due to eventually turning out to be in a time loop and not having an origin, it might be powerful enough to subtly stop people from doing that, or just do something like kill you and teleport you to a god (like Hades) (or just make you into a minor god ), but the later versions created by the wizard and the master only had the letters H,E,R, and O on them, so you could write HORROR or HERO or HER or HOE or ROE... but not just anything.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
 
If they do find the Dial that shit needs to got into secured storage: Amazon Vaults, Atlantis, League Tower, hell even Guardians or Controllers.

That shit is too much power for one person and as seen messes with that mind.

Sure OL and others should study it to see if it can be useful but still needs to be locked up.
 
Gotta say, wasn't expecting Robbie to be so....broken, when they found him. Also wasn't expecting him to be so old, and I have no idea why I thought that. Figured, "Oh, another JL recruit."

I could use about 18 more hours of sleep.
If we assume that he was in his early teens in the sixties, that's at least sixty now. The version in H-E-R-O was probably in his forties or fifties, with the help of comic book time. In my playthroughs I found that Doctor Christopher King is a better recruit, even with a less powerful dial. You can recruit Robert Reed, but he's a unreliable brawler because you never know precisely what he's going to roll or how mentally stable he's going to be.
The dial sounds kinda TARDIS-y. Sapient, I mean. I guess we're shorting out the 'Robbie gets innate dial powers' timeline.
Not necessarily, but this iteration would hate using them if he did.
Turns out Zoat has been planning to move the main story to QQ a long time ago
Technically yes, but not for that reason.
If they do find the Dial that shit needs to got into secured storage: Amazon Vaults, Atlantis, League Tower, hell even Guardians or Controllers.

That shit is too much power for one person and as seen messes with that mind.

Sure OL and others should study it to see if it can be useful but still needs to be locked up.
It's not really 'too much power' so much as 'side affects can include mental rewrites, the provider accepts no responsibility for actions taken under the influence'.
 
At least he's doing the OSHA compliant thing and clearly marking his deathtraps.

Isn't there something in the Evil Overlord's List that mentions clearly labeling your deathtraps as something innocuous, and vice versa? It'd be a lot sillier Master just doomed that minion to a lifetime of powering his private spa or something.
 
Isn't there something in the Evil Overlord's List that mentions clearly labeling your deathtraps as something innocuous, and vice versa? It'd be a lot sillier Master just doomed that minion to a lifetime of powering his private spa or something.
Probably not.

1wkEEA
 
The original dial (that Mr Hamill had I think) would technically enable that though due to eventually turning out to be in a time loop and not having an origin, it might be powerful enough to subtly stop people from doing that, or just do something like kill you and teleport you to a god (like Hades) (or just make you into a minor god ), but the later versions created by the wizard and the master only had the letters H,E,R, and O on them, so you could write HORROR or HERO or HER or HOE or ROE... but not just anything.
Hmm... Mr Hamill may have just left off the O, now that you mention it.
 
DC Comics Presents #44, April 1982. Actually Comic Code approved.

Well of course. It's not like he killed a person.

But that's more of a 60s reasoning: by the 80s Marvel were doing Holocaust stories and Dark Phoenix accidentallying a few billion aliens, and DC were doing the Killing Joke, the Comics Code was clearly on the way out already.
 
If we assume that he was in his early teens in the sixties, that's at least sixty now. The version in H-E-R-O was probably in his forties or fifties, with the help of comic book time. In my playthroughs I found that Doctor Christopher King is a better recruit, even with a less powerful dial. You can recruit Robert Reed, but he's a unreliable brawler because you never know precisely what he's going to roll or how mentally stable he's going to be.
Yeah, I don't know why. But for some reason I was thinking that when the Master and the Wizard reintegrated Robbie was still the same young age as when he split, and that had me thinking he'd be younger if OL tracked him down.

Running on like...4 hours of sleep in 3 days.
 
Yeah, I don't know why. But for some reason I was thinking that when the Master and the Wizard reintegrated Robbie was still the same young age as when he split, and that had me thinking he'd be younger if OL tracked him down.

Running on like...4 hours of sleep in 3 days.
Hm. He probably should be. Injuries disappear, but I can't remember another example of anyone staying in their boosted state for a prolonged period of time. But if he used the SPLIT command in the late sixties and reintegrated in the early eighties, he'd be in his late forties or thereabouts.
 
Hm. He probably should be. Injuries disappear, but I can't remember another example of anyone staying in their boosted state for a prolonged period of time. But if he used the SPLIT command in the late sixties and reintegrated in the early eighties, he'd be in his late forties or thereabouts.
He could still look like "Alan on a bad day" in his late forties-fifties. Extreme stress, while it won't exactly cause premature aging, can certainly make you look like it. And living with what his alter-ego did certainly seems to have caused him some stress.
 
If they do find the Dial that shit needs to got into secured storage: Amazon Vaults, Atlantis, League Tower, hell even Guardians or Controllers.
It's a comic universe....there is NO such thing as secure storage. Heroes just hold things until villains want them.

Hell, it's already happened a couple of times in this very story. Circe basically walked right into the Amazon's house, slapped them around a little, and stole their shit. Some sort of herbs if I recall.

Given the Amazon's track record with getting their ass kicked...I wouldn't trust them with anything.
 
If they do find the Dial that shit needs to got into secured storage: Amazon Vaults, Atlantis, League Tower, hell even Guardians or Controllers.

That shit is too much power for one person and as seen messes with that mind.

Sure OL and others should study it to see if it can be useful but still needs to be locked up.
Given the Dial exists it likely doesn't matter where it's locked up since it will still somehow find it's way from wherever it ends up back into the hands of Robby Reed so he can send it back in time.
 
Given the Dial exists it likely doesn't matter where it's locked up since it will still somehow find it's way from wherever it ends up back into the hands of Robby Reed so he can send it back in time.
So there is only only way to get rid of it properly: give it to Rip Hunter or another time traveler and close the time loop on purpose since Robbie Reed doesn't seem capable/willing - this would essentially destroy it without actually doing so (assuming Robbie knows it's in a time loop). Or maybe give it to the Sivanas, who seem like the dial wouldn't be particularly useful to, and have probably one of the most secure hideouts (and are villains, who nobody ever steals from), excepting attacks by time-travelers from the future, though that might explain how the dial got back in time. (I just want to see what's going on with them in OL's side of the story.)
 
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So there is only only way to get rid of it properly: give it to Rip Hunter or another time traveler and close the time loop on purpose since Robbie Reed doesn't seem capable/willing - this would essentially destroy it without actually doing so (assuming Robbie knows it's in a time loop). Or maybe give it to the Sivanas, who seem like the dial wouldn't be particularly useful to, and have probably one of the most secure hideouts (and are villains, who nobody ever steals from), excepting attacks by time-travelers from the future, though that might explain how the dial got back in time. (I just want to see what's going on with them in OL's side of the story.)
Might work... Might also destabilize the paradox and cause an ever expanding rip in the fabric of space/time that destroys the universe...
 
Might work... Might also destabilize the paradox and cause an ever expanding rip in the fabric of space/time that destroys the universe...
Yeah, but considering loops like Chrona seeing the creation of the world and creating evil, while also probably not being able to do so without evil, are a thing anyways (confirmed by Zoat in that particular case), the universe would likely either let it happen or stop Rip Hunter from landing in that moment- maybe destiny will show up or just give a sign and say no, especially if the person doing it just stops if told to. Basically I feel it's more likely to just not work than break the universe if people are more reasonable about it.
Edit: I'm assuming grandfather paradoxes either resolve themselves most of the time, especially if you're just making sure they do.
Edit: Or create a new universe like flashpoint - actually nevermind you're right, this is DC, and that would probably cause something bad to happen - like a super villain actually finding this future version of the dial and changing a whole lot of the timeline just to make things interesting and do another flashpoint scenario.
 
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Z-E-R-O (part 21)
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?"
 
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So the ring couldn't translate that?
It does, but only for OL. Wonder if it's an alien language the ring actually knows from experience? Though I suppose it might just has really good natural language processing/ reads mind surface layers for desire to get a meaning across.
Probably the former.
 
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