DVANDOM _____ ______ _____ _______ LOOSE ENDS Part 2 of ?? [ ]__ [ ] [] [ ]__)) [ ] ` [ ]__ #86 - "Ultimate Umlaut" [ ] [ ] [] [ ] \\ [ ] [ ] copyright 1997 Dave Van Domelen [_] [_]__[] [_] \\ [_]___/ [_]____ -------]==+ <*> +==[------- [cover is done in "Mystic Ditko" style, with a huge Baron Umlaut towering over the members of Dvandom Force. Faces of Constellation Gang members loom to either side.] "I thought you were so hot to tie up loose ends," Shane glowered at Squidman, "Why aren't we going after those cyborgs? Why are we wasting time on the sacrificial lambs they planted for us to find?" "They'd kick our butts," Macroman interjected. "Agreed," Squidman added, meeting Shane's gaze. "Even without any outside weapons, each of them is a match for all of us together in a straight fight. You *might* be a match for one of them, Shane, but not both...and Steelwind was toying with you when you two fought. Kat's working on converting the remaining technology we have into something which can fight the cyborgs, but it takes time." "Okay, so we take up Zwarghoff on his deal, work on the Robovectors and stop dinking around with small fry," Shane sighed. He was used to fighting a single enemy with a clear focus, a holdover from his time as a rebel against DeFacto V's regime in 2077 [see Dvandom Force 46-48 - Ed]. Chasing down multiple targets made him feel like he was wasting his time...especially when he wasn't fighting the last remains of DeFacto's forces, the cyborgs Steelwind and Darkheart. "I'm still not so sure we should, based on what I remember of his past," Kat replied. "Okay, yeah, I'm one to talk about that...but even though this version of Doctor Zwarghoff hasn't committed crimes in this universe, he's a wanted felon in his home universe [see Team M.E.C.H.A. #4-11, for example - Ed]. He took an entire town hostage once as part of a bid for world domination or something along those lines. Compared to that, our native Zwarghoff's a sweetheart [The Looniversal and Superguy versions swapped places in Dvandom Force #61 - Ed]." "Well, as much of a sweetheart as a mob scientist can be," Sidewinder added. "Of course, this one *is* guilty of harboring a fugitive, namely ATV Frank, and we could at least put him away on that charge." A flicker of annoyance crossed Sidewinder's face at the thought of Frank, who he'd fought on his own before [see Dvandom Force #39-41, roughly - Ed, getting too lazy to look up exact issues]. Squidman waved a hand through the air as if to clear away smoke. "Look, there's another important reason why we're chasing down these leads we found in the abandoned base [in issue #83 - Ed]. We don't want to give the Pact any reason to think we really know what's going on, and especially don't want to give them any hint that we were behind their recent setback. So long as they think we're chasing ghosts, they won't be inclined to lob nukes in our general direction, buying us time to prepare. And I'm sure the neighborhood overall would approve of that decision. Anyway, I've fed the rest of the names we have to the LNH, I think we've made enough of an effort following the leads ourselves to convince the Pact we've been sent off on a wild goose chase. Keep in mind, though, that even if the Pact thinks these people are disposable, they could still pose a threat down the road, so it's important to make sure they're all accounted for. Plotline Lad tells me that one attempted infiltrator switched sides to join the LNH already, so things are looking up in that department...a lot of the Pact's operatives are basically good people who thought they were following a good cause, and we've shattered that illusion." "With one of our own," Kid Pocky said under his breath. "Kat," Squidman looked in her direction, "I want you to keep an eye on Zwarghoff, but get as much help from him as you think you can manage. From what Mike [leader of Team M.E.C.H.A. - Ed] told me about him, he's not nearly as sneaky and clever as he likes to think, so you should be able to catch him in any treachery before it gets anywhere." "It's her specialty, after all," Anna muttered just loud enough to hear. A few shot looks at her, but Kat ignored the barb. "Your practical design philosophy should also help tone down some of his more ludicrous ideas," Squidman added. "But keep in mind, that sometimes crazy works, especially here, so don't be too hasty to dismiss." "Fine, but I'm leaving Frank's voicebox disconnected," Kat replied, getting a few snickers. "Whatever works," Squidman nodded. "Now, new business. While tracking down information on Hunter Red, aka Jack Hunter, aka Orion of the Constellation Gang, I found where the rest of the gang is. And it ties into a loose end I've been keeping an eye on for a while, Baron Umlaut." Lynk smouldered visibly, but said nothing...yet. "He's hired the remaining five for some scheme of his...it looks like the Pact encouraged this for reasons of their own, maybe they just wanted the rest of the group out of the way so they wouldn't be seen with Hunter and blow his cover. Regardless of why they're working with Umlaut, we have a problem if we want to go in after them. They're in Germa.net, where net.heroes are banned. He could conceivably just call the police and have them come arrest us, and I'm not keen on fighting officers of the law." Shane, who had been impatiently paying only partial attention, did a doubletake. "What? You mean they haven't reversed that law yet?" Stan shook his head. "Politics in a democracy move a little more slowly than in a dictatorship, Shane. Especially when it comes to admitting a mistake, since you have a large number of injured prides to sooth. They were quick to enact the law, but it'll be a while before individual lawmakers can rationalize a reversal of vote without admitting fault. They'll find excuses why the law's still a good one until that time." "Not to mention," Macroman added, "that particular law may have helped the Pact out, but it wasn't directly their doing. After the Net.Elementalist trashed big parts of the country fighting Lagneto [Alt.Riders #2 - Ed], they got kinda soured on net.heroes." Squidman nodded. "The LNH is working through the Loonited Nations to try and convince Germa.net to allow a European branch of the LNH, but it'll be a while before that gets going [See LNH Europe #1, the main action of `qwhich takes place some weeks after this story, for more. - Ed], by which time Umlaut could have attained whatever goal he seeks." "Probably power," Anna sighed. "Ever since he lost most of his original magical ability [as revealed in issue #54, in the Kooks of Magic backup - Ed], he's been looking for ways to return to the paths of power." "Since you know more about Umlaut than the rest of us, I'm putting you in charge of this mission, Lynk," Squidman said. "Stan, do you...?" The former Cheeez Arrow shook his head. "No, thanks. I'm not the same person who broke into Umlaut's castle on his own [as he did in Constellation #35 - Ed.], I'm staying retired." "Fine," Squidman nodded. "So, Lynk, any ideas on how to approach this?" he asked. The tone of his voice said he already had a plan worked out in case Anna couldn't come up with one, but that he wanted to give her a shot first. She nodded. "I think I can get into the castle via the dreamlands, since I spent time there before, as a kid. But that means Doug's not coming along, since his powers go haywire there. Umlaut may know about my current status as dream royalty, though, and have traps set up if he's got any power back, so VAXX is coming along...he's a lot more useful in the dreamlands where his mind's not cluttered up with omniscience." "A hundred and one household uses," VAXX muttered from the corner. "Other than that, I need someone capable of taking on well-armed mercs, which would be Doug if he could come...and I want to keep the team small if I can, easier to keep everyone out of traps." "I'll go," Shane volunteered. "Something to keep my mind off not fighting." "Fighting will do that nicely," Anna grinned. Squidman nodded slowly. "With the D-Star being worked on, there's no way to easily get backup nearby, you realize." "I know. Hopefully I can evac quickly if things go wrong...another reason for a small team, less to leave behind in case of a foulup," Anna frowned slightly. Squidman looked at his watch and did a quick mental calculation. "Wait a few hours before leaving. If you show up in the early morning hours in Germa.net, you may catch them groggy and disoriented." "Unless they're preparing for a dawn ceremony," Anna added. * * * * Darkness had fallen over Illi.net a few hours ago, the low clouds obscuring the stars and turning the moon into an indistinct blob of light visible through the skylight in Anna's room. A lone candle helped the moonlight dispel the shadows, only to add more, flickering against the walls. "Before we go in, I have to warn you," Anna told Shane, "try not to... BE...too intensely. I can't really define it any better than that." "Why not?" he asked, having trouble thinking how he could "be" at varying levels. "Flesh and blood people walking the dreamscape can interfere with dreams if they radiate their presence too strongly. The dreamscape is used to me and to VAXX," she nodded towards the hulking monitor-headed figure to her right, "but you're a stranger. You could end up appearing in the dreams of hundreds of people and sparking some odd phenomena. Try to stay calm, relaxed, don't be intense. I know you're skilled at *looking* like part of the crowd, but you have to *think* like it now." "I think I can handle it. Remember, in my time, the wolves are pretty good at telling if you aren't thinking like a sheep," he grinned, getting a handle on the "be" thing. Anna nodded and concentrated. A doorway shimmered into existence in the middle of the room, and a quick glance around told Shane that the room seemed to have been arranged to...defer...to the door. Without the door there, the pattern wasn't clear, but now it was. Without a word, VAXX ambled through the portal, and Shane followed suit. The sudden glare of sunlight after the dimmed room caused Shane to squint and cover his eyes for a moment. When his vision had adjusted, Lynk was standing next to him and the gateway was closed...or perhaps it had never been open from this side at all. "Welcome to Harnegu," Anna smiled ruefully. "Land of dreams, land of nightmares." "Seems pleasant enough...grassy hillside, strange sheeplike things, giant trees with constantly shifting bark...er, never mind. Wait, where's VAXX? And who are you?" Shane turned to face a thin man with the bearing of a scholar. "Hello," the man said. "Sorry, should have warned you. Shane Boxer, Steven Walsh. Dr. Walsh is the man who became the VAXX, and here in Harnegu he can shed his powers and be himself when he chooses," Anna explained. "A terrible burden, omniscience," Walsh sighed. "Knowledge, knowledge everywhere, and not a drop to think," he smirked. "Overload," Shane nodded. "Kinda how I felt at first when my mind got displaced through time into this body...too much in my head, no way to get it out in order." Walsh shrugged. "I cope. But come, we have a ways to go before we reach the cathexis point for Castle Umlaut," he turned and started walking. Anna explained as they followed, "Normally, only minds are projected into the dreamscape. But items or places with either powerful emotional attachment or mystic resonance can 'poke through' as well. That's how I got the ability to generate small objects at will, by absorbing the resonance of Sig.Lad's Gauntlet of GIF after he was...killed." Shane felt a pang of guilt. If he'd only been able to gather his thoughts more quickly after the time jump, he could have prevented the creation of DeFacto without costing Sig.Lad his life. Suddenly, Anna shook him. "Stop. You're being too intense," she pointed at a half-formed phantom image behind Shane, which looked like Sig.Lad. "Calm down, it wasn't your fault." They walked for another few minutes in silence, and for a moment Shane thought he could see a figure in the distance, watching them. But it vanished almost immediately, so he figured it was another of his projections. Shaking his head slightly, he kept walking. Anna called a halt. "We have to be careful from here, I can see the cathexis point for Castle Umlaut in the distance, and we have to start looking out for traps or dreaming hirelings. Umlaut knows a little about Harnegu from my father, and may have seeded the area with nightmares...plus, if he's asleep and dreaming, he may very well be close to this place." "'May' be? Wouldn't he end up here any time he dreams?" Shane asked. "Not necessarily. This is only one of many dream realities," Walsh explained, now holding his helmet in one hand in preparation for returning to his VAXX identity. "He could be dreaming in another place, but if he *is* dreaming here, he would likely be tied to his castle." "Most of you now dream here because of my close proximity and power as member of the Dream Royalty," Anna explained. "It helps me keep an eye out for dream-related attacks on the team, like we suffered a few months ago [in issues #77-79 - Ed]. But there's plenty of choices, there doesn't seem to be any really strong tie between waking worlds and dreaming worlds." Shane nodded, and the trio silently approached the place where they could enter the castle. * * * * "Okay, why'd you do it?" Kat asked. "Do what?" was Zwarghoff's somewhat tired reply. "There's so many questionable acts in my past." Kat scowled, he wasn't even trying to hide the fact he was dissembling. "Willingly exile yourself. I've been here for a few years now, and even with the high probability of getting killed if I go home, I don't feel...right... here. It's just too silly sometimes, too nonsensical. And I'm sure you were here long enough to pick up on that before you switched places with your local counterpart. So...why?" Zwarghoff pretended to be engrossed in studying the computer screen. "Your plans here for converting the D-Star to this 'Atlas' seem..." "Why?" she cut him off, turning off the monitor he was looking at. He sighed. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. I certainly hadn't done very well for myself in my native reality, and my counterpart had done even worse for himself here. The differences between our realities seemed mostly cosmetic at first, so we decided that a switch might help us shake out of the ruts we were both in...if nothing else, I'd never have to worry about Team M.E.C.H.A. again." "I sense a 'but' lurking in there." "Yes. But while my home altiverse certainly has its share of nonsense, this...this LOONIVERSE is founded on nonsense, with a later veneer of sophistication making it sometimes seem similar to my home. Or maybe the veneer is just thicker at home. Either way, in the months I spent here, I started to see the little things...and the big things...which grated on my scientific mind. So I started plotting a way back home, which you people prevented me from accomplishing," Zwarghoff finished, turning the monitor back on. "Now, if we can get back to work," Zwarghoff said, "I think I see an essential control interface problem with this 'Atlas.'" "Right, the human mind is only so fast, and our opponents think at computer speed, so I've been trying to create a sort of drone computer interface which can supplement the pilot's reflexes, but I was never an expert at MAC minds," Kat replied. "Nor I, I only scratched the surface. Fortunately, we now have a sample to reverse engineer..." he trailed off. Both turned to look at ATV Frank, who sat silently in the corner of the workshop. "Oh, poopie," Frank would have said if his voice still worked. * * * * Even in the normally dead pre-dawn hours, Castle Umlaut seemed to hum with life, a sort of cold warmth that permeated the stones of the floor, the wood paneling of the walls, even the slightly chilly night air that flowed through the halls. "I've got a bad feeling about this," the VAXX said, rumbling in an approximation of the movie star's voice. "Me too," Shane nodded as they stepped into the castle's reality from the dreamlands. Anna cocked an eyebrow. "Do you feel the mystic undercurrent?" Shane shook his head. "The breeze. No one leaves their windows open in a place like this unless they're confident no one can get in...or they're not worried about the sort of guy who needs a window to get in," he added. VAXX was waving cheerfully at a bit of veneer on the wall panel. Shane, having already picked up that the monitor-headed behemoth wasn't always being bizarre and random, looked closely at the veneer in question. "Camera. Or its mystic equivalent, if Umlaut's being flashy. No point prentending to be sneaky now, let's hit it!" he said as he slapped the patch over his heart. It glowed golden, filling the room with an amber hue for a moment as the nanotechnologically engineered cyborg parts of his body brought reservoirs of metal to the surface, coating him with a flexible yet nearly impenetrable shell. Before the glare had faded, the trio was already off and running to where Anna had earlier indicated would be the most likely location for any ceremonies in the castle...even if nothing was going on, which seemed more and more unlikely with each passing second, it would be a good idea to disable the place and make sure nothing *did* happen. The complete lack of opposition only made things look bleaker. They knew the Constellation Gang was here, the only reason they wouldn't have been dispatched in defense was that they were needed more elsewhere...for purposes best left unspeculated-upon. But when the door to the inner sanctum opened of its own accord, Anna knew they should have attended to this particular loose end sooner. "Ah, little Anna, come to visit your uncle Umlaut?" echoed a deep voice with only the faintest whisper of an exotic accent. "I am about to undo the damage your father did to me with his dying breath." Entering, Anna tried not to be visibly bothered by the ominous presence of the Constellation Gang members, especially the hulking Norman Bear. Instead she kept her gaze flatly focused on the greying figure before her, letting Shane and the VAXX stare down the mercenaries. "My father didn't do anything to you, except maybe trust too much and get sucked into your flawed plans. After all these years, you still can't admit to yourself that you got suckered by a con artist into buying a forgery of the scrolls you sought? How very sad, Umlaut," she did her best to look disgusted and condescending. "Hm? You know the details of his demise...how interesting. Tell me, did it come to you in a dream?" Umlaut taunted. Don't let him know, don't let him in, Anna told herself. If Umlaut were to find out Rotara had survived, albeit in a manner worse than death, and been killed by Anna, he would have a lever and a place to stand. "Let's just say that as a stage magician, I ran across my share of con artists selling mystical junk, and one may have mentioned your name," she smirked, avoiding a lie with a shaded truth. Umlaut snorted and waved his hand dismissively, turning towards the east-facing window. As he opened the shutters and threw open the window to the pale predawn light, he said in a magnanimous tone, "But all of that is in the past now, no need to dwell overly on it. For with the dawn, I shall be more powerful than I ever was before...imbued with the power of a net.elemental!" There was a brief silence and Umlaut turned around, a bemused smirk on his face. "What, no proclamations that I should not be allowed such power, that you're here to stop me from my foul deeds?" Shane Boxer seemed to be smiling under the silvery pool that covered his face. "Given your track record, I thought we'd just wait until you failed on your own, then go from there." "Such insolence," the Baron sneered, visibly trying to maintain his exterior appearance of calm. "They don't deserve to witness my apotheosis. Kill them, my lucky stars," he snarled, stepping back into the shallow alcove containing the window. In rapid succession, each of the Constellation Gang members touched a small pendant he or she wore, and with a flash of mystical energy, various weapons fashioned after punctuation and grammar marks appeared in their hands. Norman Bear, the default leader in the absence of Jack Hunter, raised the large shield he now carried, the #-symbol inlaid in gold on its surface catching the faint light of the approaching dawn. "You heard the man," was all he said before rushing at Anna, intent on smashing her skull against his shield. The VAXX, moving more quickly than his normally relaxed attitude would suggest was possible, got between Bear and Anna, grappling with the huge man. Shane moved quickly himself in the closed quarters, shoving two other mercenaries against a wall hard enough to knock the breath out of them. The remaining man standing looked at Shane with a bored expression. "I suppose you think I can't hurt you?" he asked. "Wrong," he answered himself, throwing a handful of glittering asterisks at Shane. Pain wracked his body as the asterisks penetrated his steel skin, imbedding themselves partially into the flesh underneath and releasing some kind of poison or magical energy...frankly, at the moment Shane didn't care where the pain was coming from. The one merc unaccounted for, a mere slip of a young woman, advanced on Anna with a pair of sickles held upside down in her hands. "Y'know, I'd really like to use some snappy patter here based on my weapons, but I can't think of a single pun on 'cedilla,'" the girl taunted, slashing at Anna. Oddly, even while dodging glittering death, Anna couldn't help but notice the family resemblance between the huge Norman Bear and his shrewish sister Shana...while the gross elements were radically different, many of the details were the same. Snapping out of this reverie, Anna called up a GIF of a spear into her hands, blocking the sickles with the haft and then spinning it in an attempt to disarm her opponent...to no effect. "I loooooove magic weapons," Shana taunted. "Not as much as I like big killer robots, but the anti-theft system can't be beat!" Meanwhile, Norman's superior skill was only barely letting him hold his own against his opponent's inhuman strength, and the distraction of trying to keep the rest of the team in view wasn't helping. "Don't mess around, sis, just kill 'er!" he grunted. "NO!" the VAXX shouted, shoving Norman back into Shane's assailant, who had to let up his attack to get out of the way. "Sorry, Cory," Norman muttered as he picked himself up. Fortunately for Shane, but unfortunately for Cory, the asterisks vanished as soon as Cory stopped concentrating on them, and with them went the pain. Cory had about .01 seconds to contemplate this before he bounced off the wall and joined Edgarson and Peters on the floor. Shane and the VAXX switched dance partners and while the VAXX started jumping up and down on the trio of felled enemies to ensure their departure from the fight, Shane made quick work of Norman, despite the large man's magical shield. Shana paused and looked around, letting up in her attack. "Um, boss, is it okay to surrender, or do I hafta get pounded into hamburger by shiny boy here?" "None of the above," Anna snarled as she bashed Shana over the head with a large hammer she pulled out of thin air. "I'll just lie...down over...there..." Shana mumbled as she crumpled to the floor. "So," Anna said as the hammer vanished. "I believe we were on the topic of stopping you?" "No, we were on the topic of my impending godhood and your demise," Umlaut smiled as the first rays of the rising Sun bathed the back of his head. "Being touched by the first light of dawn completes the ceremony I began at midnight, and binds the ASCII net.elemental to me!" As he spoke, what seemed like motes of dust started to whirl about him, but they got bigger and resolved into pixels of light. Shane impulsively leaped at Umlaut, but with a bright flash he was hurled into the far wall, covered with pixels and immobilized in the thin shaft of sunlight streaming into the room. "The net.elemental known as Ellipses King has been drifting about the Looniverse since his last master passed on," Umlaut explained, "and now he and I will become one, the first true fusion of man and net.element!" The VAXX chose this moment to attack, and oddly he wasn't stopped by the whirling pixels. His fist crashed through Umlaut's chest, coming out the other side with a loud rustling sound. Umlaut looked down at the arm sticking through his chest, then smiled as he stepped sideways, leaving the arm where it was and sealing the hole. "I am composed of pure pixels now, physical attacks have no effect. On the other hand, I can still affect the physical," he said, a stream of pixels from his body pushing the VAXX back like a firehose might. "Fine, let's try something mystical instead," Anna muttered, concentrating to open a gate to the dreamworld. She'd never tried this before, but hopefully something nasty would obey her summons...she was a dreamqueen, after all. "I...don't...think...so..." Umlaut grunted. Anna could feel the mystic energies arcing as Umlaut combined his arcane knowledge with the new source of raw power at his command to try and seal the door before it could open fully. The space between them curdled, warpled and stretched in agony as the two fought to impose their wills on reality. With a deceptively gentle sigh, the door collapsed, but not before something came through. Something small. Something black. Something with...webbed feet. "A duck?" Umlaut chortled, leaning back into the window frame as he tried to contain the gales of laughter which threatened to erupt. "A DUCK?" Anna took a step back, trying to think of another avenue of attack. She cast her eyes about, and noticed that the pixels in the dark part of the room had reverted to bits of cloth, flesh and bone...rather disgusting, really. Yet, something about that duck bothered her, and not just that it wasn't the slavering horror she'd expected. Suddenly, all eyes were on the duck as it waddled up to Umlaut and tore his left leg off in its bill. Umlaut seemed more in shock than in pain, but he was certainly off balance. A light went on in Anna's head. Sprinting up to Umlaut, she shouldered him away from the window while he was trying to get his leg back from the duck. Umlaut howled like one of the damned as he reverted to flesh and blood and the stump of his left hip started to spray blood. The duck spat out the leg, which also changed back to flesh once out of the sunlight, and then flew out through the window. Shuddering in pain, Umlaut still managed to dig a talisman out of the pocket of his tailored suit. Anna grabbed it and pressed it against the bloody stump, having figured out its purpose. The bleeding slowed, then stopped, and new flesh slowly grew over the wound. Umlaut then collapsed into unconsciousness as the talisman turned black and crumbled to dust. "Magic first aid," Anna said to no one in particular. "Uhhh, what happened?" Shane asked as he stumbled over. "Did we win?" "I guess so. I think Umlaut forgot to read all the directions again, or something. He merged with the net.elemental when the rays of the rising Sun hit him, but I'd guess the merger wasn't going to be permanent until the whole Sun was above the horizon...I've seen a few rituals like that before. And knocking him out of the light cancelled the spell. Too bad for Umlaut he was missing a leg at the time." "So, we closed off one loose end only to open another? Now we gotta go after Ellipses King?" Shane asked wearily. Anna shook her head. "On its own, it doesn't have much motivation, and from what I recall, it's been both hero and villain. It's a net.elemental, one of those things we *can't* get rid of or deal with permanently." She didn't add that there was a new loose end anyway. But how much trouble could a duck be, even a death duck like that one? ============================================================================ Next Issue: The Pact starts wrapping up loose ends of its own, sending agents to deal with Dvandom Force. But will the new Robo Kat and Zwarghoff are working on be ready in time to face this threat? Be here for "Xenon X-odus Angstvangelion!" ============================================================================ Author's Notes: Ellipses King is a character of somewhat uncertain pedigree, but I'm pretty sure I'm the one who created him back in the madcap opening months of the LNH (due to my prediliction for using ellipses in my posts). He started as sort of a hero, fighting Ultimate Ninja, who started as sort of a villain. When UN was repositioned as a net.hero, his arch-foe Ellipses King became a net.villain just long enough to be killed by the Ginsu Katana of Ultimate Ninja. After a little while, I decided to bring Ellipses King back in a parody of Ostrander's elementals stories (of which there are more than one), using the net.villain Omega Moseley as the now-elemental Ellipses King's evil mentor. I even wrote a scene in System Corruptors at the tail end of Exotic Blends (the story which led into Constellation) to set this up. But then I found out that OM was a real guy, and I backed off. Still, I'd set up the revival, so I changed it so that Lord Ebon (in Chesspiece Face's body) had summoned Ellipses King instead, and used the pixel elemental in Constellation #11-12. After that, EK sort of drifted off, and I'm not really sure if anyone used him, but I'm pretty sure no one radically changed him. And since an umlaut is 2/3 of an ellipses raised up a bit, it seemed a natural to have Baron Umlaut try to use Ellipses King to his own ends.... Oh, and "cathexis" means an emotional attachment to or investment in a physical object. For a while, the X-book editors were apparently searching crossword puzzle dictionaries for words with "x" in them to use as titles, and the title "Conflicting Cathexes" was used for one part of the Executioner's Song crossover. Naturally, there were no cathexes at all in the story. I kinda abuse the word myself, but not as badly.