"Looks clear," he reported.
    "Now what we have to do is wait," Kymrik murmured.
    And wait we did, for nearly an hour, until a bright plasma trail seared the sky above the city. A flare rose up to meet him, marking the island for him in the darkness. Promethean descended, saw his brother, three goonish types with machine guns, and one man he recognized: Jack Ketch, also known as Gallows Ghost; his powers include above-human strenth, intangibility, and high degree of regenerative ability. There was no sign of Kymrik, which of course meant nothing. His parents were blindfolded, handcuffed to a lonely tree with the guns trained on them. They did not appear injured, at least.
    "Good evening. Gallows Ghost," Promethean nodded. "This must not be important at all if Mind Lazer sent you."
    "Shut up. You'll get yours."
    "I am here. Untie them."
    "That wasn't the deal and you know it," Marcus noted with a smile.
    "No, I believe it was. I come here, I let you kill me without a fight because you couldn't kill me with one." That struck a very visible nerve. "But before we get to that, put them on that boat and send them back to shore."
    "They have to see me win."
    "Oh, that's right." He kept his smile and condescending tone.
    "You son of a bitch." They stared each other down.
    "They can see you win on the boat."
    "Look at that, he's afraid to die. What, you don't want to die in front of your parents?" Jack sneered. "Think you're doing some brilliant thing—"
    "Shut up," Marcus snarled.
    "Who you telling—"
    Marcus' plasma shield flared to life in warning. "Oh, are you in charge?" Promethean asked pleasantly, glancing at the now-silent Ghost. "Didn't think so."
    "Put 'em on the boat," Marcus ordered after tense moment.
    One of the goons glanced over. "That wasn't part of the—"
    "Put them on the boat!"
    Promethean nodded approvingly. "Plans must be changed sometimes, that is one of the hallmarks of a good officer."
    Carefully, keeping weapons trained on the old pair at all times, staying very far from Promethean, and keeping the two of them handcuffed together, his parents were herded onto the boat. The second handcuff on his father was locked onto the boat's stern rail. I could hear it rocking with the sudden motion and tensed. If all had gone according to plan, it would be any moment now. I reached out with my senses and confirmed the presence of two middle-aged persons, one with a heart condition.
    "Who's going to drive it back to the mainland?" Promethean inquired.
    "When we're done. You said, in the boat." His brother smiled. "What, do you want everything? You and father never understood. He could have had it all, and pissed it away. Not me. No dealing those asinine morons who would treat me like you've been treated by those shitheads over there."
    "You are going to be working for Mind Lazer?" Promethean inquired skeptically.
    "Working with him."
    Promethean laughed. "You're working for him. Trust me."
    Marcus threw a punch at him; he didn't try to duck or block it, just let himself roll with the blow.
    "It is a far, far better thing I do now..." Promethean began quoting.
    "Shut up," his brother snarled.
    And battle was joined.
    I extended a shield over Ute's parents and arose from my watery hiding place, undoubtedly a somewhat bizarre figure, still in my scuba gear. One of the machine gunners whipped around and sprayed a stream of bullets at them a bare moment after the glow had appeared over them—and that was not a normal human reaction time—already beginning to change form. Marcus fired a bolt of plasma at Promethean, who threw himself out of the way at the last possible moment. The bottom half of the tree it hit vaporized. Promethean's shield came to brilliant life as he took off and fired a retaliatory blast, a near-miss. Simultaneously a silver fog rose up from the ground and poured itself toward Kymrik. For a moment the two appeared to almost merge, no harm done to one another. Lucky appeared from the wreckage and swung her staff at the shapeshifter, missed. Jack Ketch pulled a truncheon out of his jacket and swung back at her, floating a bit above the ground. The crash echoed over the island as she blocked it with her staff.
    I landed in the boat and turned the key. Someone appeared from the trees behind us as I did so, a slightly overweight man in a suit, who ran over to the end of the dock more quickly than I would have expected him to. He pulled off one glove and set his hand on the end of the boat. It turned to gold. And started sinking.
    Meanwhile, Kymrik sprang high into the air in one of those fantastic leaps, blades extending, slashing out at Promethean only to be beaten aside by the plasma shield.
    "No! He's mine!" Marcus shouted.
    "Shut up, you idiot," Kymrik replied evenly. "Take him out, now. This has suddenly become very non-profitable."
    Marcus took off and closed in to within ten feet before loosing another bolt, one that knocked his brother backwards in the air, singed around the edges.
    Midas, standing on the end of the dock, waved a hand at me. The air between us turned into gold, coating my shield and leading him to the erroneous conclusion that I had been solidified as well.
    "One down, and they're not going anywhere!" he announced. I smiled behind my mask.
    Promethean took off, trying to get some distance between them, and fired back; the blast met its target with a showy flare of plasma as Marcus flipped backward, came back upright with an expression of pure rage. Promethean took evasive action, heading for downtown Boston.
    No, I don't know why. I will probably never know why.
    Scott reduced himself to a liquid and poured himself at the dock, near Midas' feet, shattering the old wood and dropping the heavy man into the water. He realized what Scott was planning in time for a wearily resigned expression to cross his face, and down he went. Scott promptly changed to gas, keeping out of the way of that touch.
    Lucky swung her staff at Jack's head. It passed through him.
    "Who do you think you're kidding?" he asked with a chuckle, stepped through her stick, inside her guard, and swung the truncheon down toward her head. He was solid a few inches up his wrist, she found as she blocked the blow, and damn strong.
    "Dodge all you want, I have time," Jack assured her, smiling at her snarl.
    I could "see" through the gold, although somewhat fuzzily. Too fuzzily for my follow-up attack on Midas to really connect, as it turned out—pity, I wanted to see his expression. Another of the gunmen let loose in our direction; I felt/heard the bullet strike through the shield over Hans' mother, even as the sinking boat dragged both her and her husband down toward the water, straining my abilities.
    Herr Ethzeit shouted as his aura flared wildly for an instant and plasma exploded off his arm, shattering the handcuff. The strain hadn't helped his heart condition any—there was a reason he had never really used his powers—and she was already unconscious. Nothing held them now; I gathered both up and sprinted for the mainland and the beacon of Mass General. The gold effigy collapsed behind me.
    "She is not doing well!" Promethean's father called to me.
    "I know, I'm going as fast as I can!"
    Meanwhile, Marcus shot off after Promethean, catching up steadily, but Ute could see that the effort was a strain. The younger Ethzeit fired another blast at his brother and missed by a bare inch, clipped the edge of a building with a shower of debris. Hans increased his speed and returned fire.
    "Damn you!" Marcus screamed. It was a solid hit; Promethean was surprised to see him still conscious, but his brother gave no sign of slowing.

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