Powerhouses

The big man collapsed, his body fell like a heavy thud on the wooden floor of the yacht, unmovable. Mystique who was being held in a deadlock by Emma, yelled.

"Victor... VICTOR!"

She couldn't believe that he would be defeated by the boy; she couldn't believe he hadn't shown all of his abilities all along and played all of them into a fiddle. She couldn't believe how close she was to dying in the current situation. 

Emma for her part, watched Ray with stars in her eyes. She hadn't been wrong... although the humongous darkness in his mind hadn't yet manifested, it wasn't necessary. Ray managed to outsmart Sabretooth with his wits and that was enough for her to be convinced that sticking around with him was the right choice. 

"Victor is no longer around, Mystique was it?" Ray mocked and walked up to her, holding her chin tightly, an action that earned furrowed brows from Emma who released the blue-skinned mutant.

Mystique gritted her teeth and watched Ray's cold black eyes, she had never seen anyone whose eyes were completely black like hollow cavities of nothingness. And as if that wasn't enough, that darkness began spreading... spreading to the point both Emma and her paled. 

"R-Ray" Emma released her diamond transformation and stuttered, but she was interrupted. 

"I'm interested in your powers. Compared to his trash ones, yours are quite interesting... I didn't think there was such diversity of powers among mutants. I'll let you live...and I'll go for you later, expect me".

"W-What are you-!"

Ray grasped Mystique by the neck and lifted her up like she was a bag of very light cabbages, she tried to resist but it was futile. His strength was just too much.

The boy swung his arm once and her body shot like a cannon towards the sea, she splashed far away closer to the shore, and they didn't see her again.

"..." Emma was left out of words, she wanted to give Mystique the 'victory discourse' but didn't even have the chance. 

By now, the party downstairs had stopped. Those that could evacuate had evacuated... those that couldn't remain in the yacht, hiding under the tables and waiting for the aftermath. The security stayed at the edge of the stairs heading up to the VIP area but they didn't dare squeeze their heads out.

In a battle of mutants, there was nothing guns could do.

Ray walked up to Carter Banks and with a single motion of his eyes, a black sphere appeared... this time it wasn't that small... the ball of void was big enough to cover the man's whole head and decimate everything within. 

His headless corpse fell off and it took a few seconds before the veins recognised something was missing, bleeding torrents that splashed all over.

"R-Ray, your face..."

"What's wrong with my face...?"

"It's dark".

There was no mirror close enough for him to notice, but if he had seen his own face he would have realised how half of it was completely pitch black with nothing but a blurry white haze that resembled the eye of a monster. 

"Even if it is... don't pay it any mind".

Emma didn't dare ask him what he was again. But at the very least, she knew he wasn't human. 

"Our mission here is over, or do you have anything else to do? It is late already and I have school tomorrow" He stuck his little finger inside his ear and Emma gasped.

It was as if she had forgotten that this monster was a fifteen-year-old boy who coursed ninth grade. 

"Wait a second... let me just check something up".

Still a bit scared, Emma walked up to the bodies of the unconscious Chinese corporates, taking just a single peek at Carter Banks' beheaded body and another one to the unconscious Obadiah Stane. She pitied the fact that she could no longer see what was inside Carter's memories, but she could do so with Obadiah Stane and the executive from Ten Rings, Wu Beifang.

!!!

"There is something important going on, it is related to your father".

"Does it look like I care about him?" Ray frowned and so did she, standing up courtly.

"You may not care about him, but do you not care about Stark Industries? You're Tony Stark's only son, at least that I know. You have a chance of inheriting that company in the future, it would be better for you if you heard me".

"Speak" He rolled his eyes.

"You may have heard the name these two mentioned. Sebastian Shaw, he's my boss and an influential man in the United States and the whole world's political and economic spectrum".

"..." He indicated for her to continue although it was not the best moment to discuss this. 

"This Obadiah Stane has come to Shaw for support regarding his intention to take over Stark Industries. He's a businessman partnered with your father and he also used to work with your grandfather, Howard Stark. It seems the meeting with Wu Beifaing was to plan an attempt against your father in Afghanistan, where he currently is. He wants Stark gone just so he can be the biggest shareholder- hey!".

She hadn't even finished her explanation when Ray had already erased both Obadiah Stane and Wu Beifang's heads. 

"Are you insane?! Do you know who you just killed?!"

She couldn't believe it, how casual it was for him to take a life, especially the life of people so influential, there would be consequences but he couldn't give less of a fart. 

Ray watched her and tilted his head, the darkness receded ever so slowly from his face and a very feeble light started shining in his hollow eyes again.

"What? Isn't this what you wanted me to do? Otherwise, why would you waste both our times with such a bothersome explanation? You wanted me to consider whether killing them or not is more profitable, no?"

"Y-Yes but..."

"If this man succeeds and Tony Stark dies, there won't be anyone else capable of leading Stark Industries and keeping it above market as it is right now. Supposing I decided to take over it in the future, this Obadiah may have already made it bankrupt with embezzlement or worse, so... I killed him".

"T-That's reasonable but I only wanted you to kill Stane, not Wu Beifang!- hey!"

Ray picked her up like a princess and prepared to jump.

"Didn't you hear me? It is past midnight and I have school tomorrow".

"..."

'This boy... this damned boy! I love him!'

...

Ray jumped on the water with Emma in his arms and boarded the Jet Ski in front of the shocked gazes of the onlookers who wondered what was the next step forward, Manhattan's coastal police had already been called, but they were nowhere to be seen.

He started it and splashed water, heading back to the docks. Emma embraced him from behind and her gaze said it all, although he couldn't see it. 

"By the way, why didn't you kill Mystique? She kicked me in the face!"

"You're still pretty. No big deal, Emma".

"Ray!" She blushed, hyperconscious but still outraged.

"I find her power interesting, that's all. I need a telepath, a shapeshifter may come in handy".

"Are we just board pieces to you or something?" She frowned. 

"Board pieces? Wasn't it you who said we could work together? I'm useful to you and you're useful to me, Mystique could be useful for us, wouldn't you think? stop behaving like a kid~"

How he returned her previous words, made her brows twitch in irritation, especially because what he said was the truth... Mystique was a woman that more than a dozen factions coveted, Magneto just happened to be lucky enough to have a past with her.

"What makes you think she's going to join you? You might as well have traumatised her, supposing she doesn't drown".

"That would be a pity, but... there is nothing else that I can do, can I? She antagonised us and if I let her go just like that, she may target us again. I'd rather put her free with a scarred mind and look for her later when I need her".

"How will you know where to find her?"

"Don't I have you for that?"

"You have me?~" Emma giggled at his confidence.

"..."

"I don't understand how you think, Ray... it is like you care but also, you don't. Tell me the truth, are you interested in Mystique or something? do you still want that blue ugly pussy?~" Although she was acting rather shameless and coquettish trying to freshen up the evening, Ray still had questions.

"I'm more interested to know who this Sebastian Shaw is and why he gives you orders, and also, why you conveniently evaded this subject when talking about us working together".

The mood soured as they approached the docks. Emma didn't say another word as he docked the jet ski. Since she didn't intend to say anything, Ray decided to just take the train back home even though it was quite late. 

"Are you going to get on the train like that? stop being foolish, I'll drop you" Emma sighed, she was in her wet bikini and Ray was in his wet ragged boxers. She pulled his wrist into her Ferrari and drove off. 

"I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to have a bad impression of me," She remarked on the way, lowering the volume of the radio. The light of the post shone past them, the highway was empty. It was almost two o'clock in the morning

"Everything I have is because of the Hellfire Club. I have ambitions and ambitions need money, Ray".

"..." He frowned, recalling those were exactly the same words he said to Jean.

"Shaw could give me money... He is a powerful individual, a powerful mutant too. I worked for him... I let him fuck me, I got money, it is that simple" She smiled and sent him a sidelong glance. Ray's gaze was imperturbable. 

"..."

"It is very annoying not to be able to tell what you're thinking. Not only are your thoughts blocked by that darkness but your poker face also doesn't give anything away. So? do you think I am a slut? did your perception of me change? I wouldn't blame you if it did".

"It did".

Emma sighed in grief, keeping her eyes on the road, not hoping for the best for the future. Something that only lasted for one second once a hand touched her inner tight, making her blush at its suddenness and softness.

She turned to look at him, and his eyes were equally hollow, but that smile felt genuine... for once.

"But that doesn't change anything, Emma. I still want to work with you. And I still think you're that high-class luxury diamond telepathic pussy that I'm interested in".

A smile rose up her lips as she tried her hardest to erase those fluttery thoughts she recognised and hadn't felt for so long. Emma didn't move his hand away. 

"I'm looking forward to it. Thank you, Ray... we haven't known each other for so long... but it feels like we have been through a lot".

"Because you're always in a rush".

"Let me tell you more: I'm a member of an organisation called Hellfire Club, is quite influential in the whole world, not just the States, as you know. This organisation has two spearheads: The Black King and Queen and the White King and Queen. Sebastian Shaw is the King, his wife is the Black Queen... and I'm... his mistress so to say, I follow his occasional orders".

"..." He asked her to continue, rubbing her tight.

"I hate it... once the magic of money recedes what remains is disgust. But I can't go against him. Sadly, everything I am and everything I have is thanks to the Hellfire Club... this is a business in which you just can't leave. Once I do, all their political influence and power would be against me, nobody wants that, nobody goes against the Hellfire Club".

"Who is the White King?"

"There is no White King. It is a vacant spot. Shaw pulled out strings to get rid of him and get control over the organisation. Spots and memberships are hereditary, like nobility. One doesn't 'become' a member. You have the right to join, and claim it".

"I see..."

"Magneto and your father were considered by him as possible White Kings. But he and Tony Stark have an... enmity".

"Who is Magneto?"

"Magneto is a powerful mutant. He's old school, If I were to say. Together with Shaw and a certain telepath baldie, they're the strongest mutants I know of, each dangerous in their way. But he's a mutant supremacist, his interests don't align with the organisation or Shaw's"

"What about Tony Stark? What's his issue?"

"He has many issues. First and foremost, Tony Stark is a threat as he is... he's an arrogant genius. If he were to obtain the power that the Hellfire Club can offer, he may become someone even Shaw can't control. Shaw wants to place a White King he can use and control; neither Stark nor Magneto fit the bill. Another candidate is Kingpin but Kingpin is not quite keen on being manipulated. As long as Shaw is the Black King, he won't get involved".

"It is complicated..."

"Your mother is another issue" She suddenly said.

"Ah?"

"Your mother is an old fling of them both. She was admittedly infatuated with Shaw for a while, being Shaw's mistress comes with plenty of profit; but your mother didn't like Shaw's controlling nature, and you could have been in danger too or at least that's what I think" Emma sent Ray a subtle glare once they stopped in the traffic lights... opening her legs a little further. 

But the boy was deep in thought, although he had his hand close enough to her inner tight, he was not focused on it.

"I don't care who you are... or who you were. I'm starting to see a path, Emma".

"What do you mean?"

"I refuse to live as a weakling again" He declared, the traffic light turned green but she didn't accelerate, instead... pushed into the topic.

"I told you that if we worked together, I would make sure you were well-off".

"Well off is not enough. I want power".

"Then... do you want to be the Black King?" Emma bit her lips.

"Why not the White King?"

"Because I want you to kill Shaw... and free me".

A deep and honest stare of conveying intentions. This time it was her hand that was placed on his tight.

"I don't want to be a puppet... I want to be an equal. If you become the Black King... make me your Black Queen".