Big Rumble

Jean regained herself, her eyes opened and saw the destruction surrounding her... destruction mixed up with control. Intentional destruction. 

'There is nothing to be afraid of, you've got this'.

She heard Phoenix's voice in her mind but she didn't feel as confident, but the output of her powers felt a lot smoother. Amidst the chaos, a new force involved itself. Great magnetic pressure showered on her, and the metal steel all over the building began to shake. 

It was another mutant, a powerful one. 

But Jean extended her hands forward again and those gigantic metal steel supports faltered, if gone, the building would collapse. It would no longer be about capturing them alive. 

'I have limited your powers all this time, it is time to let them loose. This is a powerful mutant, be careful'

Phoenix passed down the mantle to Jean, the iron structure crunched and a group of men fell down the skies, surrounding Jean. One old man floated in the skies with his hands extended as well, struggling with control over those steel foundations. 

"You're one powerful girl. Where have you been all this time?".

Jean frowned, she didn't even bother to entertain the old man's ramblings. She tried to access that man's mind but was unable to, the helmet on his head prevented her. She groaned in annoyance and extended her arms, soon all of those mutants were under her control.

One of them, a young man with green hair, twisted his head in shock and spat what looked like liquid acid against the flying old man, Magneto. 

"A telepath with telekinetic capabilities!"

Magneto's visage changed completely once a telepath got involved, he knew about Jean, he knew about her being Ray Stark's companion, but for all he knew, she was only capable of telekinesis. 

He wasn't merciful, easily evaded the acid and overpowered Jean's control over the steel until the whole building began to crumble. He took something out of his pocket, it was a device resembling a grenade. 

Magneto threw it on the ground and the device fell, creating a horrendous high-pitched noise that stunned Jean. 

"To think I had to use this zooming garbage–"

"JEAN!" Veronica who had been standing behind a gate saw everything happen and thought she had to do something, there was no way out of this building other than the back gate, but she also couldn't just leave Jean. 

'What can I do... what can I–'

She thought they had severely miscalculated Shaw's influence. Who were these people? They were all mutants... he hadn't sent just mercenaries. 

But Ray Stark also hadn't just sent Jean. 

"Settle down, Magneto!"

Lightning strikes thundered the world all of a sudden. One of them fell on the man controlling the whole building.

"Tch, Storm..."

The mercenaries who had recovered from Jean's psionic waves, started to fire up to the ceiling where a gigantic plane seemed to hover above like a flying saucer. Beams shot down from that plane and incapacitated them, leaving life-changing scorching marks.

Storm, Ororo Munroe, landed next to Jean. She stepped on the zooming grenade that incapacitated Jean and destroyed it. 

"It's... you!" Jean said to Ororo who only nodded with a smile.

"It's nice to see you're okay, girl. Take Veronica Andrews away and leave it up to us, we will deal with this grandpa".

"How?".

"We were called by Ray to assist you. Now go!".

"Jean! Are you okay?!" The redhead heard someone else call her, Scott Summers, a man who jumped off the plane.

"..." She deadpanned but didn't want to be ungrateful, "Thanks for your help, Scott!"

"It was nothing, Jean. By the way–"

"Punk, we're in the middle of a fight!" Wolverine landed soon after, he only stared at Jean once before focusing on the mutants who had regained control after Jean faltered. 

Seeing the guy with the glasses get scolded, Jean took her chance to dip out with Veronica in tow, she didn't want to deal with Scott. 

The whole event was a mess, there were dozens of dead, but Jean and Veronica managed to flee safely. Now in a car heading towards Emma's crib, Jean sighed in relief, hugging a still-shivering Veronica.

She made a call.

**

**

At the other side of Manhattan, Ray hung up the phone.

A call of calm amidst distress. Emma and Raven sat alongside him at the edge of the ongoing party that was starting to get ominous as Sebastian Shaw, the host, was not yet present. 

Both ladies noted the dark aura seeping out of Ray, he was angry.

"C-Calm down" Emma put her hand on top of his to try and settle down his feelings, if he kept emitting that aura, they'd be exposed. Some of the guests were already starting to look at Ray with fear, even though his appearance was still human.

His hands were so cold, she couldn't grasp them for long.

Amidst the crowd of people, the youngster's head rose, staring at the centre of the hall where the man that should be around, continued to hide. The tension had reached a boiling point, without a doubt... either of the two powerhouses had to die tonight. 

The steps resonated, getting closer to Ray.

"It is a bit upsetting that everything went according to what I thought, Shaw... you did exactly what I expected you to do. It doesn't matter, let's get this over with–".

"My thoughts exactly".

!!!

Nobody knew how or when. Emma, the closest to Ray saw the man literally appear from the shadows wielding that remarkable helmet that stopped her from ever being able to detect his presence. 

"Shaw!–"

*BOOOMMMMMM!!!*

A fist packed up with humongous kinetic force, impacted Ray from behind in the most dirty way imaginable. There was no honour, only desire for blood. The shockwave sent everyone flying with several degrees of injures, Emma and Raven included. 

Broken bones and spines, shattered glass shards, he didn't care. Sebastian Shaw didn't care. 

"I have never wanted to see someone dead so much, Ray Stark" Even in bloodlust, his voice was impassive, never losing his calm even as he spread panic. 

The explosion shattered the ground and set the party into a disarray, yet again the second incident to occur this evening in Manhattan... the worse yet to come. 

He waved his hands and out of several spots, men wearing helmets carried what looked like futuristic weapons, all pointed towards Ray. 

The youngster in question, who had been unprepared, found his torso obliterated by the sheer force. It was like being blasted by a ballistic missile point blank. His pitch-black blood stained the ground. 

Emma held Raven, both spat blood... both looked at the destruction around, both never thought Shaw would go this far. Those injured were prominent members of the New York society, all over the world. 

Even as the Black King, Shaw would have to answer for this. 

"All plans and stratagems, all for nought" He said and watched, as he predicted, all the gruesome pieces of the creature that was Ray Stark, all start to assemble together. 

Ray formed back up, craked his neck and turned around, when he did so, his eyes were no longer human. He stared around, at least a dozen odd-looking weapons all pointing at him with people running for their lives out of the club. 

He smiled 

"How does it feel to have everything you hold dear stolen?" He asked Shaw a question he had always wanted to ask. 

"Everything I hold dear? Fool, those sluts are but mere mundane possessions. What I hold dear is the Hellfire Club. And I will die before I hand it over... I will destroy it before I hand it over" Shaw's expression finally turned maniacal. 

*WHOOSH!*

The weapons all fired at the same time, they didn't fire bullets, instead they fired what resembled some sort of plasma rays. The beams all came into contact with Ray's body and he frowned. 

"Let me explain it to you in terms in which you can understand how fucked up you are, boy. This weapon was manufactured by your dear father on-request. It is a gamma neutralizator. Its purpose is to neutralize mutations as well as common microbiological activity. All I have to do is stand here... and watch you quietly melt~".

"..."

Ray sighed, "Emma, keep quiet" He said to Emma who had already gone in her diamond form with a panicked expression. 

"Yes. Keep quiet, slut" Shaw smirked, "I'll deal with you after I'm done with your fuckboy".

"SHAW!" Emma cussed out, looking sideways with Raven as they were surrounded. 

As the innocents evacuated, several men wearing uniforms and guns squeezed into the facility, all wearing helmets. Shaw had prepared for this neatly.

"I'll return to you the question, boy. How does it feel to have everything you hold dear stolen? I will show you–"

"Hahaha... I think you're making a mistake here, Shaw" Ray's voice was solemn as his skin melted. And as it kept melting, Shaw's visage grew progressively terrified. 

Because the skin melted to give way to a monster.

"Your mistake is to believe I am a mutant~"