Thanks again for the reviews and now back by popular demand…well Strayphoenix's demands (thanks by the way) here is the new chapter.

De Thieves

"This is your fault!" yelled Spyke as he grabbed Alex and hoisted him into the air, Alex charged his fist and pointed it at the armoured teenager with a growl of his own. Rahne transformed into wolf form and began to bite down on Spyke's leg while Nightcrawler pulled back on Alex's arm with his full might to deflect any coming blast.

"Stop this" ordered Scott, Jean ripped the four apart with her powers and held them hovering separately in mid air away from one another.

"Scott's right, we shouldn't have let the gem get stolen but we have to get it back…and Spyke Alex did the right thing" said Jean as she slowly lowered the fighting foursome to the floor.

"Aye that he did" said Rahne with a smile as she transformed back to human form and wrapped her arms around her boyfriends shoulders.

"How are we going to find the thief let alone get the gem back?" asked Spyke as he clenched his fists in anger. Jean smiled a smile which made Scott's heart stop for a few beats before she spoke.

"He's about a hundred yards that way" said Jean as she pointed towards the wall at the end of the alley "and he's not alone".

"That's impossible" growled Spyke as he glared at the wall and slammed his fist into it again, it was solid. "What makes you say that?"

"I can sense his mind telepathically" smiled Jean as she floated gently into the air to the top of the building. Scott, Alex and Rahne felt themselves one by one begin to float into the air and soon they were on the roof with Jean, Spyke popped small spikes from his hand and feet and began to climb the walls using them like a spider on the wall, Nightcrawler bamfed with ease and stared out in the direction the boy was supposed to have gone.

"That's them" said Jean as a small horde of boys seemed to burst from a wall and scatter in different directions "He's good…I cant tell which one has the gem or even which one is real."

"Split up and take one each" ordered Scott.

"What will you do Scott? If we move apart I can't guide you anymore and you can't follow him in the crowded streets if you can't see" asked Jean with concern in her voice as she rested her hand on his shoulder.

"I'll wait here…Jean keep everyone in psychic contact and the second anyone finds anything Kurt can get me in a few seconds" ordered Scott as he took a seat on the roof as the others were bamfed away by Kurt, the smell filled his nostrils and he coughed a little, when Kurt had first done it he felt like he was choking but over time it didn't seem to even effect him anymore.

…

They all appeared where the group of boys had separated and immediately did the same thing, Alex caught sight of the boy about a minute later as he ducked sideways into an alleyway. Alex followed him and came face to face with the boy as he stood leaning against a wall.

"Who are you? Why aren't you running?" asked Alex as he realised that the thief stood still leaning against the wall.

"I don't have to run from you" laughed the boy as he grinned widely at the blonde haired boy.

"You don't have the stone do you?" asked Alex as he charged his fist as a gentle threat, he never intended to use it unless the boy was endangering him in some way, by the looks of the boy he doubted that would ever happen.

"Oh I have the stone…but is it the real one" said the boy as he pulled out the red gem and threw it in the air before catching it again.

"It isn't the real gem because you would still be running if it were" smiled Alex as he saw through the boys rouse.

"You sure about that?" asked the boy as a small crack of thunder cracked over head.

Alex surged forward, the gem had just shown it's power and now he could be sure it was the right one. The boy hurled the gem into the air and sidestepped Alex, when he turned the boy seemed to vanish before his eyes, the gem began to fall to earth and as Alex stuck out his hand it vanished as well.

…

Spyke charged through the crowds following the boy that he was following, people tumbled to the floor on either side of him, he was angry and subtlety was never his strong point. He fired a spike which pierced the boys ragged sleeve and pinned him hard against the wall.

"Give me the jewel" growled the armoured teen as he fired a few more spikes from his fists so they were like claws. He held them up to the boy's throat to get the message across that little further.

"I don't have the jewel…my brother has it" smiled the boy.

"whose your brother?" asked Spyke as he growled.

"I don't have a brother" said the kid as he hung by his arm.

"You just said your brother has the jewel" growled Spyke as he pinned the boys other arm to the wall.

"I was just buying a few more seconds" laughed the boy as he faded into nothing leaving two spikes sitting in the wall, Spyke yelled in rage and punched the wall with his fist.

…

"Scott they're vanishing one by one…I just telepathically lifted two up only for them to both vanish and the same goes for Kurt, he began to bamf with one in his hands and when he appeared the kid was gone" said Jean telepathically to Scott, "Rahne has got the scent of one of the last two…I cant seem to find the last one though so cross your fingers that she gets the right one."

…

Rahne sniffed round the corner and saw the boy standing there eating an apple, the apple was stolen obviously. Rahne bounced up to the boy playfully and jumped up on his chest licking his face, the boy laughed as he fell to the floor and began to stroke the dogs fur.

"Good dog" he smiled "I wish I was allowed a dog but Remy says I can't have one because it could give us away."

Rahne turned her head to its side and stared at the boy with her big eyes, she whimpered slightly playing on the boys affections for dogs. "he says the city guards could fin out hideout and then they would sentence us to death for all the things we stole, it isn't our fault we cant survive otherwise" he stared at the floor "We would be okay if we didn't have to deal with our gifts, normal people don't want anything to do with a boy who can multiply whenever any force is applied" sighed the boy sadly.

Rahne transformed into her human form and put her hand on his shoulder "There are some people who would like something to do with you". The boy looked up with a start and tried to get away but Rahne had a tight grip on his shoulder "You need to tell me where the gem is."

The boy smiled and suddenly faded away into nothing leaving Rahne alone.

…

"Rahne had no luck, were all coming back to you, we'll figure out what to do next once we get there" informed Jean to Scott who still sat on the roof waiting.

He acknowledged the thoughts of Jean and then tried to think of something else as his mind quickly drifted onto how beautiful she was and he wasn't sure if she was still listening, he thought they were dating but wasn't exactly sure and either way it could never be good to be a completely open book.

"Giv me de gem" said a voice in the alley below, Scott moved to the edge of the roof and listened carefully to the conversation.

"Like Jamie totally has it…hold on" said another voice, this time a females.

"You could have got me out earlier" came the voice of the boy from earlier as he seemed to join the group.

"Ah Jamie Mon petit you done well, dis keep us in food for a long time" said the first voice, "you get rid of the original owners?"

"Kitty hid me in a gap of the foundations while my copies ran off with copies of the stone" said the original boy, Scott listened realising that at least two of the three had powers like his.

"Hey Scott what are you doing?" asked jean as she landed on the roof.

"SHHHH!" hushed Scott as he motioned for Jean to come over, she cat her eyes into the alley way and both her and Scott suddenly saw the three figures with brown hair, all were dressed in shabby clothing, the girl grabbed the two and ducked into the building that Scott and Jean were on top of, "They went through the wall didn't they?" asked Scott, Jean nodded as the others began to climb to the roof.

"They're still directly below us, we should…" began Jean but Spyke hurled himself into the air and came down on the roof with the full force that his armour would allow, the roof crumbled under his weight and gave way, Jean stepped in at the last minute to save them all from falling. They stared down at the room below, rubble filed the room while the three brown haired strangers picked their way out of the rubble, the girl had saved them by phasing them through the rubble.

The group dropped down to the floor where the three thieves stood "You better have a good reason for destroying our home" growled the largest who had glowing red eyes.

"You stole our gem" growled Spyke "and we want it back one way or another." Spyke fired some bone shards at the teens, the oldest dodged it while it sailed through Kitty. Jamie found himself once again pinned to the wall by the spike.

"You shouldn't have done that…no one hurts the petit man" growled Remy as his hand grabbed into his robe for a set of tarot cards he carried.

"Look we don't want to fight…we just want our gem" reasoned Scott as he got between the two.

"I tell you what…you beat me in combat and the gem she is yours" smiled Remy as he balanced the stone in his fingers "I win and the gem she is mine, I understand that your friends are as gifted as me an my friends so how about we say that they can't interfere…I am a man of my word" said the teen as he stretched out his hand. Scott shook it and walked towards his companions.

"Scott let me fight" said Alex as he stepped up to his brother.

"No it was my deal" said Scott as he began to remove his shirt and bandages from his eyes, his eyes still closed tightly, he was only going to use his blasts as a last resort.

"You're blind out there…Jean can't help you" growled Spyke "Let me fight, it's my responsibility."

"NO!" yelled Scott which made every one step back away from the teen.

"good luck mein friend" said Kurt as he shook Scott's hand, Jean kissed him on the cheek before he stepped towards Gambit.

Gambit's fist slammed hard into Scott's head and he rocked backward to the floor, blood streamed from his nose as he got to his knees, Gambit slammed his foot hard into the chest of the boy who rolled backwards. Gambit leapt and pinned his full bodyweight on top of Scott.

"Not so confident now my friend no?" laughed Gambit as Scott struggled to get free and couldn't, Scott opened his eyes causing Gambit to fly into the air and come down hard on the floor a couple of feet away. "Ah so not just your friends that have powers" smiled Gambit as he sat up and placed his hand on some rubble next to him. "It's not just my friends either."

The rubble shot through the air and exploded as it collided with Scott driving him backwards, Remy grabbed another handful of rocks from the floor and hurled them, Scott fired his blast and it collided with the glowing mass just as everyone began to yell.

"NOOOO! The Gem!" they yelled in unison, Remy had accidentally grabbed the gem which now floated to earth as dust.

Remy sunk to his knees for a second before sitting back and laughing "Easy come easy go" he laughed.

Spyke hurled his body on top of Gambit's "You realise what you've done…The Goddess storm has lost her powers and now thanks to you Magneto will probably rule the world" cried Spyke as more spikes shot through his hands as he brought his fist towards Gambit.

"Whoa Mon Amie" said Gambit as he flipped Spyke away from himself before rolling to his feet "I did not know you were on a quest from the gods" smiled Gambit as he reached into his robes and pulled out the glowing red crystal. A second Jamie came out of the shadows while the one pinned to the wall faded away smiling. "We don't invoke the wrath of the gods…it isn't good for business to have a vicious deity out for revenge" he smiled nonchalantly as he hurled the gem to Spyke.

"Will you help us if we need you?" asked Scott as Kitty phased them back into the alley.

"I'll have to see if we have anything else going on at the time but I'll go out on a limb and say probably not…we have to look out for ourselves, I'm sorry" said Kitty as she phased backwards back into the building.

"I thought they would come with us in the end" shrugged Kurt as they began to walk back towards Storms temple.

"We can't take in every stray with powers" laughed Alex as he placed his arm around Rahne.

"Are you trying to say that's what you've done so far?" asked Rahne with a laugh.

"No of course not" said Alex with a blush as he tried to think of a way out of his situation, everyone laughed before he could think of anything, Rahne kissed him with a laugh and continued to walk.

…

"You have done well my friends" said Storm as she sat on her throne with the gem she had just shattered in her lap, "I can feel my powers returning already."

The group bowed low to the goddess as she praised their work, "goddess perhaps you could give us guidance to our next port of call…and I must ask in the coming conflict are you with us or against us?" asked Scott.

"You have done well…you have my eternal gratitude and I shall help you in any way possible. I suggest next you head to the temple of Sol to the west…Spyke shall accompany you" said Storm, she silenced Spyke's protests as soon as he began to open his mouth "Evan, go with them please, the Morlocks will be fine. These travellers need your help more then we do…now go or invoke my wrath, just because you are my nephew does not make you above the word of gods".

…

The six teens stood on the steps of the temple of Storm looking west towards the setting sun "It looks like we are getting ourselves quite a small army" mused Kurt as he began to walk down the steps "I can only guess at the adventures a head of us before the great battle that is coming." The six walked quickly towards the setting sun casting their long shadows across the temple behind them.

To Be Continued…