The Nothingness Within

"We were prepared in case someone like you may show up"

Mystique, the unknown woman, threw something on the ground that resembled a grenade, the moment it exploded, there was no shockwave or impact, instead an annoying zoom-like sound entered their ears. 

"Ugh!!" Although he only felt it just briefly, Emma was different, she fell on her knee and held her head in apparent pain.

The music was banging out loud underneath and it looked like no one had noticed yet that a disaster was about to break out at this party. 

"You telepaths are a pain in the ass. But you have a weakness, you're way more sensitive than most, especially you, Emma. Who sent you here, Sebastian Shaw?" Mystique graced Emma with a kick to the jaw that sent her rolling around and spitting blood. 

Ray groaned, noticing that things weren't looking smooth, that noise in his head produced by the grenade was like a needle was being pierced into his ears. It was not painful, just extremely annoying. He didn't understand why only he and Emma seemed to be affected by it. The bastard in front, Victor, clearly had greater senses than most and yet he wasn't being affected either.

"Don't get distracted, kid!"

Victor lunged like a beast, running on all fours even and jumping at him. It was only the four of them conscious on the top floor, Emma had already dealt with everyone else. Carter Banks was lying on the floor there, waiting to be killed, but these two weren't going to let that go smoothly. 

*BAANGG!!*

Ray blocked that claw, not the fist... claw. He was no martial artist, his way was the way of the streets and by the looks of it, Victor's way was the way of the jungle. 

Sabretooth's nails were sharp and sliced through, the man was still shocked that Ray was able to tank his fists, he looked jacked up, but being jacked up was not enough to resist him. Let alone the cuts in Ray's skin would quickly regenerate. 

'He regenerates even faster than Logan'.

Slice after slice, kick after kick. Ray found himself in the defensive spectrum. Not only was Victor sharp with his offensive, but he seemed to swiftly evade and know wherever his next void sphere was going to appear.

"How the fuck are you doing it?" Ray asked, irritated and ducked a kick that crushed the boat's wooden and metal handrail. 

"You're too predictable, fool... your power is like a lethal gun. You think this is my first time fighting a gun?!"

In hand-to-hand combat, Victor was so superior that it wasn't even a match. Ray was quickly put in a defensive position. 

*BAANGG!*

*BAANGG!*

"I was wondering why Emma Frost put you in a high-esteem but... it seems you're just a little predictable bitch, going for the kill like a desperate hyena, you don't know shit about the battlefield or your powers".

Ray frowned and blocked another strike, he decided to change his method and instead of going for the head, he went for another organ. Still, Victor glanced at Ray's eyes at all times and snickered. Contorting in an odd shape backwards a black sphere appeared where his stomach had been, with a swift pirouette he kicked Ray's leg, sending both of them to the ground as he quickly stood up by jumping on his back feet with an agility that didn't go according to his massive body. 

Ray grunted and jumped on his feet too, surprising Victor by jumping at him first instead of staying on the defensive. He went for a kick that Victor blocked, watching Ray's eyes at all times, that's when he frowned in confusion and caught on to the boy's intentions too late. 

The boy kicked Victor with his eyes focused on Mystique who was giving Emma a nice taste of her fist, he used Victor to propel himself towards Mystique. 

"AHHH!! BASTARD!"

Sabretooth screamed and sweated, losing the strength in his arm in the same spot where Ray had just kicked. A chunk of flesh was missing there, a perfect bloody sphere. 

By the time Mystique took out her knife and turned towards the incoming Ray, what he got was a taste of equality delivered by his knee that impacted her square in the nose. 

*BAAANG!*

The strength of that kick was not something she could take head-on, she had confidently believed that Sabretooth was going to restrain Ray. Her head smashed against the wooden floor with a bleeding nose. 

"Ugh!!!"

A smirking Ray landed not too far away from the zooming grenade, he created a void sphere around it and the annoying noise disappeared like it was a dream. Emma too regained her senses and spit a mouthful of blood. 

"Get a grip, Emma".

"Yeah yeah, ugh... thanks". 

The pain was so much that Ray saw how Mystique's body started to change into several people before settling for a blue-skinned odd humanoid. 

'Shapeshifting... that's a nice mutation to have' Ray thought. 

Mystique and Sabretooth didn't think he'd be able to turn the tables so swiftly. His fighting capacity had severely decreased now that he only had one arm to fight while the blood didn't stop pouring out of her nose. 

"You got more of those?" Victor asked, referring to the grenades. 

"That's just a prototype Obadiah gave me just now. We don't have any more, tch!" Mystique tried to keep the blood coming out of her nose in control, but it was impossible, the damage had been massive and she was still feeling dizzy. 

"Hey boy, how much is that bitch paying you? we will double it up!" Seeing that the possibilities of success had decreased, Victor opted for a more financial solution. Ray was powerful but he was young, having met so many mutants in that situation, he knew what to do.

Ray frowned at the futile attempt of bribery while Emma laughed. 

"Oh, don't even think about going that way; I'm paying with pussy, not money. And to be honest, I don't think you can do better~".

Mystique almost smashed her teeth in annoyance.

"..." (Ray)

"..." (Victor)

Ray realised that there seemed to be more than a bit of bad blood between them, and somehow... he found himself in the middle of all it. 

'Keep them busy, I'll just finish off Carter and we will be out of here, my mind still a bit shaken. Also, please refrain from being swayed, there is nothing they can give you that I can't. But there is plenty I can give you that they can't~' She sent him mentally with utmost confidence.

'To be honest, a blue pussy sounds rather intriguing. I've never had anything like it' He found her brash narcissism a bit amusing. Ray didn't know what those two could offer, but it didn't look like hanging out with them was as fun as hanging out with Emma Frost.

'Ugh, men. What do you prefer? a blue ugly pussy or a diamond luxury VIP high-class telepathic pussy?'

'... that's a lot of compelling adjectives'

'Thought so~'

Her body began transforming into something else, like a bikini-wearing diamond humanoid. When she said 'diamond' she wasn't kidding.

"That is..."

She hadn't told him about this power that had nothing to do with her telepathic capacities.

"Keep the secret, okay?~"

Emma jumped towards the direction of the fainted Carter. Mystique groaned and chased after her, her movements way slower and sluggish. She realised what their objective was and changed her scope. All she had to do was take Carter and jump off the yacht. 

Victor grunted and tore off the piece of hand that was still attached by nothing but a pitiful layer of skin and nerves. He charged at Ray. Before he had been deceived, he paid attention to Ray's eyes to determine which place he was going to use his powers next, but even after shaming Ray's predictability, his own predictability played him an ugly fate.

Victor also noticed that against this boy, mistakes were costly and painful.

Ray prepared to engage him, now that he disposed of the grenade, he didn't need to worry about Emma and instead focused on Victor who despite missing a hand seemed to be more berserk than before. He blocked a smash of the man's elbows that still sent him hurling against the boat's handrail. 

"Ugh!".

*BAANG!*

Victor's objective seemed to have changed, instead of trying to send him off the boat rather than killing him. He was also way more careful and knew to keep his distance. He wanted to at least get to know how his power worked or if there were any limitations. He knew the size of the mysterious black sphere was always the same and he also knew that Ray's range was about three metres. But that was not enough information to finish him off. 

'It seems he also can only create one of those spheres at a time'.

Knowing all that, he immediately thought of a strategy while smirking. 

"In the end, you're just that. A predictable little bitch".

"..."

A glint of darkness flashed in Ray's eyes.

Victor landed a punch that sent Ray once again into the defensive against a Handrail, he then pulled the metal from the handrail and tore it off, using it as a sort of bat. 

"The law of the jungle is that there is no law!"

Three strikes hit Ray square against his limbs, shattering some of his bones that quickly regenerated but severely diminished his mobility. Victor saw his chance and lunged forward, throwing the pole at Ray's face and putting his hand and nails in a piercing motion, ready to stab Ray's heart. The boy should have been disoriented by the first strike, but... Ray merely smirked and watched Victor jump off towards him with so much confidence. 

It was too late by the time Victor saw the pole phase through Ray like he didn't exist.

"W-Wha-"

Then Ray phased through his own body like a ghost, turned around and hooked his arm and legs around the big man's neck and torso in a deadlock. 

"Who is the bitch now, bitch?"

The next thing he knew was a hollering pain coming from his head for what could have been a fraction of a second before his mouth filled up with foam and he collapsed on the floor in front of the stupefied Mystique and Emma.