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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Shadow" data-source="post: 4944973" data-attributes="member: 16760">P. S. I.The Parapsychological Studies Institute was founded originally to do research on the psionic metagene complexes by Dr. Sebastian Poe, who found a way to activate them to greater heights using a serum of his own creation.   He himself became a mild empath and telekinetic using the serum, and he had still greater success on his son Simon.  Dr. Poe turned to white-collar crime to finance his research, but was ultimately forced out by his son and his old colleague, Counselor Darke.  Dr. Poe is currently serving a long jail sentence.  (His powers are not potent enough to justify time in Stronghold.)Under the direction of "Psimon" and Darke, P.S.I. became little more than a front for supervillainy.  They were bent on, ultimately, taking control of the government and perhaps the world.  However, that phase in their plans was still a long way off when they fell afoul of the nascent Shadow-Force.  P.S.I. made it a point to kidnap youngsters with psionic potential and brainwash them to do their bidding.  They had a number of installations around the country, notably in Seattle, Texas, Florida, and California.  Several P.S.I. members were later inducted into the Doctor's cult of personality.P.S.I.'s roster at their height was:PsimonCounselor DarkeInquisitorMind SlayerTormentOmenDeucePsimon was more or less the leader, or at least figurehead, having forced his own father out of the Institute.  Charismatic and cunning, his powerful mental blast made him a formidable foe.  He also was quite good with mind control, though it was too weak to affect heroes with significant defenses against it.  He used it primarily against normals, and evaded imprisonment by that means after being captured by Shadow-Force.  Unfortunately for him, his hold on Omen slipped when Shadow-Force closed in on him the second time, and Omen shot and killed him.Counselor Darke was in charge of brainwashing new "recruits".  He was also quite likely the power behind Psimon's throne.  In addition to his own mental powers, he used drugs and hypnosis extensively.  He was killed by Erebus in 2002 during the first assault on a P.S.I. compound.Inquisitor was a powerful telepath, and could inflict an agonizing mental blast that could even kill his victims unless he used restraint.  A sadist, he quite enjoyed the latter power and was in fact addicted to it;  it was his mental blast that awakened in the Phantom his latent powerful telepathy and mild telekinesis.  The Phantom had his revenge when he and Erebus captured the man;  he drained Inquisitor's power so thoroughly that it would take years if not decades to revive.  The Doctor sprung him from jail (he wasn't in Stronghold as he had no powers) and reversed this 'treatment', making Inquisitor one of his lieutenants.  Inquisitor is currently still at large, having fled when his master's plans spectacularly failed.  (Shadow-Force by that point had no interest in chasing anyone but the Doctor himself.)Mind Slayer is a telekinetic who can throw and wield "blades" of intangible force.  She evaded capture during the dissolution of P.S.I. and later sought revenge on Shadow-Force.  (Erebus once memorably punched her across the tarmac of an airport runway, commenting, "Oooh, road rash.  I bet that smarts." <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  She escaped during the infamous Stronghold prison-break of 2005 and pursued a life of crime until she fell under the Doctor's sway.  She is still at large.Torment could inflict horrific pain - or rather, share the pain he himself constantly suffered.  Torment was a basically decent guy who remained with P.S.I. solely because they supplied him with drugs to control his suffering;  when the Phantom offered to drain his powers and render him permanently normal, he leaped at the chance.Omen was a powerful precognitive who worked with P.S.I. because they threatened his family.  Once Shadow-Force began dismantling P.S.I., he foresaw that with a few nudges, his "comrades" would not be able to carry out their threats.  He surreptitiously passed on some information to the heroes, then shot Psimon at a crucial juncture.  Amidst the confusion, he coolly took his leave, and has not been seen since.Deuce was a recent "graduate" of P.S.I.'s "recruiting" program, and rather a disappointment - she was erratic and hard to control.  Like the Phantom, she was an astral-projector;  it had been hoped that she could be done away with once he got older.  That plan... notably did not work out well. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Deuce cut and ran when P.S.I. started to crumble;  her current whereabouts and status are unknown.  Before she left, she did give the Phantom some helpful information.-----------------------The Phantom's fellow "recruits" in P.S.I included:Probe, a telepath.  She was the Phantom's age, and the closest thing he ever had to a girlfriend.  She learned too much about the inner workings of P.S.I. after the Phantom's escape and was killed.  Mike found this quite devastating.Force, a potent telekinetic.  He was somewhat younger than Probe and Phantom.Soulfire, a pyrokinetic with anger problems.  He was a year older than Probe and the Phantom, and helped open the Phantom's eyes to P.S.I.'s evil.  He is now a minor villain.The other "recruits" were significantly younger than these three.</blockquote>

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