Author's note- Here's chapter two, when things start getting interesting! Please review this peeps! Yes, I haven't forgotten about T.F.O., I promise. Oh yeah, next time I update either story, expect me to post up the URL of some fanfic art I've been drawing for both of these stories ^_^ Anyway, until then, enjoy!

>TWO: Riddle Song<


The men wore loose-fitting black uniforms with the menacing silver knife-logo on their chests that identified their dark position. They had headphones embedded into their ears, and their gun holsters sewn into their uniform for easier access. A metal belt ran diagonally from their shoulder to their hips, serving no purpose but show. To top off their expressionless faces were dark, black sunglasses whose lenses changed from night vision, magnification, heat vision, dim light, normal light, and bright light settings with the push of a button on the arms of the glasses, for them to aid their vision for any sort of light. Even humans had a hard time not trembling when they looked upon them. These men were known only as the hunters. The mutants were their prey.

They marched through the door, cold and menacing, as if robot guards and not feeling flesh and blood. The office of the guild, old fashioned with its lack of computers and many files which were mostly empty anyway, considering it was the typical guild procedure to burn any letters of correspondence. As if a mockery to any who dared to do the ironic deed of breaking into thieves guild headquarters, which had long since been abandoned and left to the dust for another headquarters (This headquarters had only served as a meeting spot for a brief time in the twentieth century), all that lay in the file cabinets were scattered ashes. However, it was doubtful anyone would guess the mansion to be the headquarters of any guild, especially not a guild of thieves. The walls were covered with portraits, long since faded, and there were trinkets of wealth wherever one looked, beautiful to behold, however cracked and chipped. It was sure that the mansion hadn't been lived in for the longest time for reasons not even Sabine, whose history was most closely connected with the guild, could not guess.

The six Neo-X-Men sat cramped in the ventilation duct, with Hannah and Sabine keeping watch through two separate vents each with a pair of special binoculars. They were just above what appeared to be a living room, which adjoined the office in question. With the desperate times, they could no longer afford to wear bright, exciting costumes as their parents had. Instead, they wore suits of black with an olive green X logo on the right side of the chest. To spice up the otherwise simple costumes, the girls had busted out the scissors and needles, ending up with flared pants, Sabine with a crop top, Alyce with a tank top that had a small slit up the front, baring her midriff, and Hannah with a halter. The boys simply left their costumes plain, not caring about the plainness. Yet there were positives to having such a dull costume. The black and green allowed them to blend in with the shadows. In addition, stuck with special, removable adhesive behind their ears was a small device which acted as a data recorder, and communicator.

"What's the story, girls?" Tyler asked.

"Nada here. I can't get a good enough view of the office!" Hannah sighed.

"Rien. Nothing. Ah can't get a good view eitha. We oughta move closer."

"Why are we sittn' 'round then?" Amit asked, crawling a little further along the massive pipe ways.

"No, wait a bit. I want to check and see if they brought their hounds with them. If they do, we can't afford to get too close. Sabine, you know more about guild history than the rest of us. Do you have any idea what they could be looking for?"

"Well, most of what Ah know is all exaggerated bravado, but Ah have a good idea what they're looking for. Dey won't find anything," Sabine spoke up.

"What do you think they're looking for," Mike asked.

"Prob'ly some sort of records. The t'ing is though, the guild burned ev'ry piece of paper they eva used. If dere's anything in dere, it's pieces of ash and chared paper."

"Hmmm...that doesn't make very much sense," Alyce said, "Are they carrying anything?"

Hannah, who had the better view, leaned in closer to the vent to see with more facility, "I can't tell. Here, I'll max the magnification to 200%. There. Nope, I still can't see. Sorry."

"Tyler, we've got no choice. We betta go down dere for a betta look. Hounds or no hounds. We'll never complete our mission sittn' around." Sabine said.

Amit agreed, "Sabs' right. All this sneakn' around up here is wasting time."

"But..." Tyler began to protest, but it was too late. The others had already began to pull the cover off the vent. Sabine had concentrated on the curtain cord, and "pulled" it into her grasp. Hannah heated up a spot in the metal and welded the end of the chord into the duct, for stability purposes.

"Do ya think it'll be strong enough?" Sabine asked.

Amit fingered the rope gently, "It's pretty thick. Not great, but it's a short way down." The others nodded in approval.

Alyce, being the strongest on the team due to her powers, lowered herself down first behind an easy chair. She landed with ballet-like grace and then reached out to help down Amit. They both reached a hand for Tyler, who refused to use the chord and lowered himself down telepathically, still in stubborn disagreement with the plan. Sabine followed, lowering herself into Amit's arms as he set her down on the floor. Hannah did the same, and so did Mike. Soon the entire time crouched behind the old, beat-up faded scarlet easy chair. Finally relenting for the sake of covering their tracks, Tyler telepathically removed the chord from it's now cooled metal hold and replaced it around the curtain.

"Right. Now let's make the best of this. Sabine, you head toward the left with Hannah and Amit, and I'll take Alyce and Mike to the right."

"Oui. Ah gotcha Tyler. Dat looks to be our best bet!"

They split up, moving cautiously now, slinking toward the office with cat-like stealth. That's when the riddles began.

Sabine's team made it into the office first, ducking under a desk.

"Oh my god...the hounds," Hannah looked terrified as she stared at the raging, foaming canine-like creatures running around. Sabine didn't blame her for her fear. Even after being trained to deal with hound attacks for the past six years of her life, every time she saw one filled her with dread. The ferocious beasts had showed up in the nightmares of all of the residents of Xavier's Mansion from time to time. Although they were commonly referred to as hounds, the creatures themselves were nothing like the hunting dogs the name typically referred to.

Fur covered in some sort of gel which made ever hair razor sharp to the touch. The teeth were metal coated, and dagger sharp; enough to daunt the bravest of heroes. From puppies, the creatures had been injected with hormones and steroids that gave them extra muscle, and more aggressiveness. They were man-made mutants so to speak. Caninus Superior.

"S'alright, darlin', the sons of bitches haven't noticed us yet. They're sniffn' at something though." Amit said.

"Oui, looks to be a trap door of some sorts. Ah wish Ah knew Prowl-Gab so Ah could see what their sayn'." Sabine sighed. Hunters were forbidden to speak any human language while on the hunt. Someone, whoever their leader may be, had invented a new form of language: Prowl-Gab. It was partially spoken, and partially transmitted via computer through their special visors. The only other language known to man that it seemed to resemble was an ancient computer programming language from the twentieth century known as C++. Hannah had tried to decipher it many times, with no luck. The only one who was any help with the language was Tyler, who could pick up some of the phrases by reading their minds. Despite the efforts of whoever led the hunters, he could not force them to stop thinking in English.

Sabine pressed the button on the device behind her ear, and a pair of headphones with a microphone attached silently arranged itself, fitting snuggly on her head.

"This is Hera paging Telepath. Ah repeat. This is second in command Hera, paging first in command Telepath. Do ya copy?" she whispered.

"Hear you loud and clear, Sabs. I told you there'd be hounds."

"Don' be so smug fearless leader! Listen. Ah think they're speakn' Prowl. Can ya hear any of it?"

"Not too much, I'm afraid. They're too busy concentrating on how to open the door. Seems they think there's someone in there. Someone who they've been looking for a while. Someone they want to destroy."

"Mon Dieu! Do ya t'ink it could be a mutant?"

"No...something about a friend of the scum...that probably means someone who helps us mutants."

"Oh." For a half second there had been a silent prayer in her head that perhaps her parents could have been hiding here all along.

"Anyt'ing else? Names?"

"Sorry. Nothing else. We'll just have to wait and see what happens when they break through...that is...if they break through."

"Merde! Ah hadn' thought of dat! If dey can't break through, the hounds'll surely catch our scent on de way out! Den we're in for it!"

"We'll have to make a dash for it," Amit whispered, "But I've dealt with the flamn' bastards before and I can hold 'em off."

They all watched in silence for a time, until the metal trap door under the desk suddenly gave way. The hounds leapt in, pouncing on whatever innocent victim may be in there. A real, human scream sounded - the most human noise any of the Neo-X-Men had heard in a while. Then another sound, high-pitched and alien echoed, drowning out the man's scream. It made their blood run cold as they heard the hunting cry. The high-pitched, shrill wail of doom. The sound the hounds emitted only right before they lunged in for the kill. Alyce grabbed Mike's hand so tight he jolted up with its squeeze. She had been attacked by hounds many times on the streets, and had even heard them warn her with the death call. If Tyler, Amit and Sabine hadn't been there, on a training mission, she might not have been sitting there, grasping the hand of her team mate.

"Ruoewhrwour {24324 +0};" one of the hunters yelled in Prowl. He was taller than the others, with muscles so huge they could only have been made through use of drugs. He seemed to be the leader of this mission.

"He's telling the hounds not to kill whoever's in there." Tyler's voice was barely audible. It was a shocking idea. Never before had the hunters been known to stop a kill.

By the back of his collar, a man, not ancient, but beat up was dragged out. He looked beat up and ill, as if he had lived in the trap door for a long time. The hounds pulled him in front of the tall man, and then dropped him to the floor, but still surrounding the man, growling, as if warning him not to even bother running.

"What...what are they doing to him?" Mike asked.

"I don't know," Alyce whispered.

The tall man stared menacingly at the captive through his visor and grinned like a sadist about to kill.

"Monsieur Emil. We have been looking for you for quite some time now," the tall man spoke.

The six looked at each other in surprise. In the numerous missions they had been on in the past, they had never heard a hunter speak anything but Prowl-Gab.

"Don' t'ink ya'll get anyt'ing out of me," the man now identified as Emil spoke.

"Emil!" Sabine whispered suddenly. The name jerked a memory she had locked in the back of her brain long ago. "No!"

"Do you know him?" Tyler asked. Sabine would not answer.

The six, at this point, were powerless. They could not attack outright, that would give the hunters a chance to learn something about them, which would be the downfall of the entire cause. There was nothing they could do, but watch in horror at what was to come.

"I'll see about that. I suppose you know why we've been looking for you," the man's grin had the charm of a crocodile's leer, "Sources have said that you were responsible for the hiding of a certain Remy LeBeau and his family. Does the name ring a bell?"

"Mais non! Neva heard o' him."

Amit turned to look at Sabine who was hiding her eyes.

"And the name Sabine Clairisse LeBeau means nothing to you?"

"Non." It was obvious from his tone of voice that Emil knew not a soul in the room believed his lies.

Sabine felt all eyes on her now.

"No use lying. The Remy and his wife, a certain Rogue Darkholme, were taken May 21st, 2019. However, there are no records of the daughter ever being retrieved. We have reason to believe, Monsieur Emil, that you have something to do with her disappearance."

"Now dat I can tell ya true," Emil grinned like a maniac, "I had not a t'ing to do with her leavn'. She went to a place dat's as cold as the snow, warm as the sun. A sanctuary to some, a detention to others."

"You're speaking riddles!" The tall man screamed. The growling hounds moved menacingly close to Emil who was still smiling in a lunatic manner.

"So I be, homme!"

"Tell me! Tell me where she is!"

"I told you!"

"Monsieur Emil, I have ways of persuading people like you," the tall man took a syringe out of a holster on his metal belt.

"Truth serum!" whispered Mike, recognizing the awful, purplish chemical inside.

"I'd die first, mon ami!" Emil laughed manically, and pulled a tiny revolver out of the front pocket of his pants. The hounds rushed at him, trying to grab the gun away in their steel jaws.

Emil simply grinned, "Start searching. You'll never find her!" He laughed. There was a tiny explosion. The laughter stopped. And it was over. Sabine stared in silence.

"Fuck!" the tall man yelled. Several of the hounds were now sniffing the body, possibly preparing to devour it. Suddenly, one sniffed the air and began to bark. The others did the same.

"Damn! They smell us!" Amit growled.

"q3orhqwktjhnakl {23423} ahfaskhf {IF: aldjalf THEN: qlkfjaljflasjkf};" one of the hunters spoke.

The hounds rushed to the desk, sounding their war cries like the wail of a police siren in the night. They jumped out from under the desk, knowing that it was no use trying to keep their cover. Looking toward the door, they quickly noticed they were surrounded by the menacing dogs. Tyler, Alyce, and Mike, who had ducked behind a bookcase, were too blocked in. Their only way out was to fight.

"23q59035903;!" ordered the tall man. No translation was needed. The menacing, monstrous fury in his voice made his words very clear. Kill them.

Looking around the room, Sabine quickly spied a portrait of a man holding a jeweled dagger. Quickly, she "pulled" it out of the painting and into her hand.

"En Guarde!" she yelled, waving it like a fencing foil (sword). Swinging it this way and that, she flung it at the raging dogs.

"Sparx!" Tyler cried, "They're going to get data with their visors!" If there was one danger greater than death on these missions, it was for the hunters to get information about them. That would not only mean the death of a member, but the discovery of the mansion and the death of every team in it. That was why in battle the mutants were referred to only by their code names.

"I got it!" Amit yelled, taking the electricity from his communicator and using it to scramble any and all files in the hunters' visors rendering them temporarily blinded and erasing any data. They cried out in Prowl-Gab, presumably cussing, and cursing the mutant teens.

"Let's burn our way outa here!" Hannah cried. Where she gestured, a raging flame shot forward burning all monstrous, attacking hounds in its path.

"Great job, PyroKat!" Mike called in approval, throwing sparks at the stubborn beasts who still leapt on.

"To the Blackbird!" Tyler called as the others ran after him. Alyce rammed into the locked front door, breaking it down. It seemed that both the Neo-X-Men and the hunters had snuck in trying to be unnoticed.

They turned into the alley ways and walked up to their concealed air craft. They were on their way home.

***

Sabine sat on the roof again, watching the sunset. There was just something comforting about the roof. Usually, she was quite afraid of heights, but the roof of the mansion was different. Up there, the air was cool, and clear so that she could think. The world seemed to be her own domain, and she felt in control. She'd come up there whenever she couldn't sleep, and always on the saddest day of the year: the day she ran. She usually wasn't as depressed as she had been the previous day, but there was something about the saddest day that brought out the worst daemons in her. Now, Emil was dead. She remembered little of him, only that he was funny and would tell her jokes and play with her.

"Sabs!" Tyler's voice sounded.

"Merde! Tyler! Can't a gal get a lil' time to herself?"

"Sorry Sabs. Hey listen, we better go give our report to Xavier."

"Yah, guess you're right."

"Hey, um, if it doesn't hurt too much. Who was Emil?"

Sabine looked downcast. "He was mon pere's cousin. Maman, papa et moi, we were some of de first to get de chip in our arms 'cause Dey knew the first batches would be flawed. Dey ran through radio waves, making it easy for dere to be interfearence. When the news of disappearances first started, Emil offered to hide mah family and Ah. He was our keeper. We hid in a compartment behind a red cupboard in his kitchen. Funny, Ah remember mah early chile'hood a lot betta than the red cupboard days."

"Oh." Tyler sighed. Sabine was usually the most depressed on the anniversary of her running away, but now, perhaps she would not recover as usual with this new death in her life.

"It's s'alright. Ah mean, Ah thought he was already dead. It's like he died twice. Anyone who dares hide mutants don't live long."

"Yeah, some price to pay for doing the right thing." The two sat on the roof top in silence.

"Ah guess we betta go find the others so we can give our report."

"Yeah."

"Tyler, why do ya think dey were afta me?"

"Sabs, I don't think you were the main target. I think it was all of us."

"How so?"

"Well...I...mean...I can hear their thoughts. There's nothing more frightening, the thoughts of those murderers. Anyway, they were thinking. Thinking something that came out: children of the X for the plan. Whatever that might be. I can read most people's minds, but theirs! I mean, it's so awful, I try to block them out! They try to block me out! I can only read so little!"

"Ah guess dey know who our parents were."

"Yeah, and now they want us for some plan. The prof's gonna want us to check this out."

"Guess the team'll be going out more often."

"Yeah. Guess so."

The two walked down from the roof to find the others.