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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Poltergeist" data-source="post: 54075" data-attributes="member: 2903">A few brief editorial corrections for you, Hacker!Dear Hacker,As a journalist, I am very dedicated to checking the facts of articles I submit and while I realize that you are new to this sort of “reporter” type writing, I noticed a few errors of omission in the way you covered the story and would like you to indulge my desire to play “editor” and make a few corrections.  Always remember, as a news writer, facts are your first responsibility, story your second!  You can check out my articles from Fate Magazine, including "A Tale of Ghosts and Egos" (Issue 47), "The Grenninger Poltergeist Incident" (Issue 46), "Miss Cleo Revealed" (Issue 46), "In Search of Bigfoot" (Issue 45), and "Everyday Possession" (Issue 45) (to name a few recent ones) to get additional ideas on how to write hard news stories on more esoteric subjects.  1) The entire Ego/Ghost mission was handled the way it was because of your assurance that no there was absolutely no data indicating that he could actually read minds, but rather appeared to have only the power to control minds.  As I recall, you actually interjected that information in the middle of our discussion.  <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=":-)" />   Our initial plan was to use the “interview” ruse simply to gain access to Ego and Ghost without suspicion and then quickly disable ghost before he could turn them both intangible, allowing us to contain Ego without fear of both he and his brother “ghosting” and escaping.  This may seem like a minor detail but failing to include it makes us look a bit stupid.  What sensible hero would try to run a bluff on a known telepath?  Even seriously misinformed about the nature of Ego’s powers, the plan evolved into using the interview ruse to get him and his brother out of their home so that some of our more subtle members could explore it and see if there was any information about Umbra.  That way, even if he did turn out to have the ability to read minds, he would be far and away from his home when the ruse was up.  Unfortunately, Ego wanted the interview to occur at his own home so the plan became modified to do the initial interview as seriously as possible and then call a few days later to request a second interview in a public place, again allowing my compatriots to search his home, hoping that the data about his powers *not* including the ability to read minds was correct.  The misinformation about his ability to read minds left us in a situation where I was trapped alone in the house with a mind controlling misogynist requiring the others to intervene.   Now, I fully realize that you did not mean to misinform us, Hacker!  None of us are perfect and you did the best you could with the available data.  I just think your reading public should be aware that our plan was sensible based on the available information we had.  2) In terms of the Skull encounter, my decision to use my cape in an attempt to blindfold him was not due solely to the fact that I suspected he was testing us.  There were essentially two possible reasons for him to attack us:  Either he was testing us or he was an insane, evil, giant skeleton monster with possible connections to Umbra.  I thought the former more likely because he would have to be a rather stupid, insane, evil, giant skeleton monster to kill us at this time due to the particulars of the situation.  Nathan had arranged this meeting for us and was well aware of where we were going.  Skull had also been present when myself and various other team members notified Hacker and Nathan that Skull was attacking us.  If we had wound up dead, he would have had all of Power Force after him (not that Power Force cares about us one wit, mind you, but Nathan's connections with Power Force and the implication that Skull might be involved in his daughter's kidnapping would have prompted them to intervene quickly and forcefully).      However, if the latter proved to be true and he in fact was a stupid, insane, evil, giant skeleton monster, I rather doubted that he would have any intention of letting me go regardless of whether we ceased defending ourselves or not.  So, the options came down to this:  Either he was a hero who was  testing us and bluffing when he threatened to kill me, in which case ceasing the attack would make no real difference, or he was a stupid, insane, evil, giant skeleton monster with possible connections to Umbra, which meant that in all likelihood he was actually lying about not killing me if we stopped the attack.  Now, I speak only for myself here but I tend not to trust the word of stupid, insane, evil, giant skeleton monsters so I believed the chances of me coming out with my neck intact if he did genuinely mean to kill me were improved by continuing to fight, rather than standing there patient and feckless while I waited for him to murder me.  That was the rationale I explained to Skull, as well as to Nathan and in my report to Parks.  I realize that several parties, including Skull, have objected to my decision.  However, I feel the decision was the most appropriate one for the situation per the rationale I have described above.  Or to put it more simply, would you trust the word of a stupid, insane, evil, giant skeleton monster that had you in a headlock?Hopefully, that makes our reasons for the decisions we made a bit clearer to your reading public.  ~Jane/Poltergeist</blockquote>

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