Chapter 3: Once is Happenstance

Philadelphia

October 19; 00:12.

The police officer ran quickly as soon as he saw Guy Gardener, Icon and his former protégé Rocket landed firmly on their feet. "Any casualties?" Icon asked once the police reached him.

The police shook his head. "None, and thankfully there aren't any wounded people. But—"

Rocket quickly put up a shield once they heard the glass breaking from above. Shards of glass continued to fall, followed by several policemen. The heroes quickly fled as Guy Gardener used his ring to catch the falling men. Everything was still as the Green Lantern lowered the men. Icon and Rocket shared a look before flying upward with Guy Gardener behind.

The heroes landed on their feet quietly. They scanned the area and were confused— everything seemed to be fine. Every art work was there— nothing was missing nor destroyed. There was no sign of casualties too. Rocket frowned.

"Well, this is weird. Everything seems to be normal." She commented as she started to walk.

Icon frowned. "We must not let our guard down—"

Guy Gardener groaned. "Let's lighten up. It's obvious th—"

"Look out!"

Before the Green Lantern knew it, he was encased in Rocket's force bubble and heard a thud. When he looked up, he saw a cloaked figure somersaulting backwards and landing on his feet. His eyes widened when he realized the sound he heard came from that figure who tried to attack him.

The cloaked figure slowly rose, revealing a red fox mask. He slowly positioned himself in a stance, revealing shaggy black clothes underneath. Icon raised his brow. There was clearly something wrong here, but before he could even comprehend the situation, a foot connected on his left side and sent him flying across the room.

Rocket and Guy Gardener whipped their heads and saw another cloaked figure, but with a bear mask. He jumped towards Icon before the latter could stand. However, Rocket trapped him in a force bubble mid-air. It did not last for another cloaked figure came out and punched Rocket on her jaw. Rocket was taken aback then the new figure knocked her off her feet by swinging his right leg on her ankles.

The bear masked figured landed gracefully on his feet. He quickly jumped back as Icon started to fire energy blasts at him. Guy Gardener created a boxing glove and was about the send the new, lion masked figure to the sides when the fox held on his arm and flipped him over.

Rocket encased herself inside her force bubble when the lion advanced towards her. She was baffled and immediately flew away when the figure tried to lift the bubble. The figure just stared at her before snapping his fingers twice. The bear, which had Icon in a lock hold, did a few tumbling. Rocket watched as the lion grabbed the bear, swirled him and threw him at her. Panicking, she formed an 'x' to protect herself and the bear's foot connected to it, sending her to the ceiling and effectively knocking her out.

"Rocket!" Icon wailed. A flash of green then appeared before his vision and knocked him off his feet. He opened his eyes and saw Guy Gardener on top of him, groaning in pain. He firmly place Guy Gardener down and looked up. He felt quite helpless when he saw the lion grabbing a priceless artwork while the fox threw a smoke bomb. He threw one last energy blast at them, only to be deflected by the bear who used a huge chunk of broken glass window as a shield. When the smoke cleared, as expected, the figures were gone.

The Light Headquaters
October 19; 00:57

Klarion was on his way to his room chamber, the vibrant artwork tucked in his armpit. He snorted; they could have picked a better artwork than this. However, he had to admit, he was impressed with the Furies. During the meeting, they listened intently to every word Savage said. They even asked questions regarding the tactics offered to them. And when they put them in the field for a test run, they were practically flawless—

Klarion smirked. Those three were the ideal henchmen for the Light.

The Witch Boy paused before raising his hand, effectively producing two circular portals. He threw the artwork on the left portal while the other one glowed as images started to appear. His smirked widened as he re-watched the test run with the Furies.

The 'test run' was a simple 'thievery'. It was a simply test for his liking, but nevertheless, it proved how they work in great coordination and how they well they could fight. They were quite disappointed when there was none of the powerhouses of the League came. Still though, the Furies managed to pass the test with flying colors. He let out a whistle at the punch Lashina landed at Rocket's face. As he continued to watch, he let out a few laughs and hums of approval. He slowly clapped his hand as the Furies gave one final blow on each hero. "That was such a nice show. Right, Teekl?" His familiar purred in response and settled itself on his shoulder.

Klarion walked to his bedroom chamber, personal circle theatre following him. He sat on his bed and once again watched the Furies traveled back to the Light's base. He scrutinized each of them once again as they started to remove the disguises they wore.

Gilotina was wearing the fox mask— brash, fierce, quite impulsive. She was the kind of person who would rip the head of anyone who would push her buttons. Lashina was wearing the lion mask— strategic and a natural born leader. She was a good communicator, even without words, and her strategies were simple, yet brilliant at the same time. Lastly was Gem, who was wearing the bear mask— the quiet doer of the team, and he could not say anymore, since that seemed to be the only thing she was showing.

He frowned as curiosity took over. Lying down, he murmured to Teekl, "She's a rather interesting ugly duckling, don't you think?" Teekl's purr was laced with amusement and made Klarion annoyed. "I am not interested in her in that way you stupid cat. It's her demeanor I'm curious about!" He groaned as Teekl just walked to his chest with its tail swaying. He continued to lie down as he became lost in his thoughts, starring the three warriors.

Gilotina.

Lashina.

Gem.

The Lord of Chaos mused with a grin. He could not wait for more fun they were about to bring.

"That was a complete waste of energy."

After their test run, Lashina and Gilotina decided to call it a night. Lashina was relaxing while browsing through the profiles of the heroes the Light provided on the huge sofa of the suite chamber after taking a shower while Gilotina was taking her sweet time in the bathroom.

Gem was nowhere to be seen.

"It was necessary," Lashina answered the blonde, not even leaving the tablet. "They obviously doubted us."

Gilotina clicked her tongue. "Who the hell do they think they are to judge us like that? We are the elite forces of a powerful planet," she said, walking to the left end of the sofa and took a seat. She removed the towel turban* and started to dry her hair. "They literally have no right to doubt us."

Lashina stared before rolling her eyes but said nothing.

The door to the suite opened and Gem entered, still in her disguise. She silently walked to her bedroom, completely ignoring the two Furies. She quickly entered her room and left it as well, her bathrobe at hand and headed straight to the bathroom.

When the bathroom door closed, Lashina spoke, "Where was she?"

Gilotina shrugged. "Dunno. Med bay maybe?"

Lashina's face was etched with surprise. "That's new. No words of hatred to our dear comrade?" she mocked and the blonde snorted. "There's hate, but like I said, I'll behave."

Lashina did not believe the words that came out of her teammate's mouth. Out of all the Furies, Gilotina was the one who openly shared her hatred towards Gem. She was sure even Gem knew it. But she decided to let it slide for now. The last thing she wanted to do was to provoke Gilotina during a mission.

She once again turned to the tablet and continued browsing the profiles while Gilotina did whatever she was doing. They did not react when Gem got out of the bathroom and went straight to her bedroom. It was a tiring day, so Lashina did not doubt it when Gem quickly went to bed.

Gem stood still even after closing her bedroom. She was not entirely sure what to do. Normally, she would train alone in the grounds and sleep for about four to six hours. Here in this world, she found that hard to achieve. For one, the Light did not trust them. Next was there was no training equipment, let alone a training ground.

There were simply an organization of villains who thought too much of themselves.

She let out a quiet sigh.

She found herself walking to the bed but stopped when she passed the body mirror. Her hidden eyes moved to stare at her helmet's terrifying look. She made no movement as her mind started to wander around once more. She lowered her head, letting her apathy flow to her system. She began to walk to the bed once again and sat down, her hands supporting her weight. On her peripheral vision, she saw a tablet provided by the Light. Everything they had explained about the plan and profiles they needed to know were there. Gem shifted her weight and grabbed the tablet. She let her body fall as she turned it on and opened the plan's file.

She might as well review it. She had nothing better to do anyways.

The Watchtower
October 19; 08:23

"Meeting adjourned."

Dr. Fate stared as each member started to leave. He waited until everyone left before he stood up. "You needed to consult me?"

Batman and the Martian Manhunter nodded and the latter began to explain. Dr. Fate listened intently, not interrupting the alien. When the alien's narration ended, the sorcerer thought for a while before speaking. "That is quite an alarming vision and I could not sense any magic residue that could have caused it. Therefore, I would like to say that it may be an outside source that triggered this ability."

"From an outside source?" the alien asked, completely confused.

Dr. Fate nodded and proceeded to explain, "Psionic abilities are various and sometimes hidden. Often, a psychic would enhance the most prominent psychic ability he has seen and is most comfortable with. Due to this, they have the tendency to disregard the other abilities."

"I am aware of that. However I still should have felt a disturbance the moment it penetrated my mind."

"Not necessarily," Dr. Fate said. "Psychic abilities are beyond my league, but from my eons of experiences, I can say that you would have felt it penetrate your mind if and when another psychic is sending it to you, purposely." The sorcerer paused, "In this situation, you felt no penetration, it can be assumed that the vision was not sent, and it rather amplified your latent precognitive abilities appear by picking the vision up from another psychic."

Batman decided to interject. "And that other psychic has no control over his own precognition ability, unintentionally sending it to J'onn."

"I doubt it was sent specifically to J'onn," Dr. Fate stated as he looked at Batman, "but yes, that is a possible explanation."

"Assuming that this was intentional for an ulterior motive, who could be the psychic that can cause this?"

"I can only think of one at the moment," Dr. Fate paused and the three heroes shared a knowing look.

"Would you like me and Black Canary to take a look on Psimon?" Batman asked.

Dr. Fate nodded. "Although I would suggest that you avoid direct contact. I will also try and help you explore your mind to find anything, J'onn."

"Thank you, Dr. Fate. I am, however, unsettled because of the vision and its possibility of becoming a reality."

"I can offer you this word of advice: precognitions are terrifying or mesmerizing," the sorcerer began, "either way, they are not predetermined and can be changed."

Batman frowned at Dr. Fate's advice and was about to object when another voice beat him to it.

"Thank goodness you are all still here."

The three heroes turned to see Black Canary and Icon walking into the room. "First, I would like to apologize for leaving the meeting earlier. Next, Superman and Wonder Woman are returning from their intergalactic mission in a few hours (1). Lastly, we have to investigate this pretty odd situation."

The Dark Knight could sense that Icon was overwhelmed for some reason. He waited until Icon was near them until he spoke, "What happened?"

Black Canary showed Batman a flash drive as Icon spoke, "It was a thievery. Here's the footage of our encounter." Batman watched as Black Canary typed in the holographic keyboard and playing its contents in the holographic monitor. The heroes watched in silence until the end.

The video made them frown as Canary asked, "Did you interview any security guards on duty?"

Icon swiped his hand and typed in the holographic keyboard. The monitor then showed three documents with a picture of security personnel. Icon clicked on the first document. "Here are the statements of the three guards on duty. Smith was positioned in the main entrance of the museum when he heard the alarm go off at 11:47 pm and he locked the museum and contacted the police ASAP. He said that he saw nothing out of ordinary in each places of the museum. That's when he decided to contact Jones who was stationed on the left wing of the museum and Morgan at the right wing."

The monitor showed the second document and Icon continued his narration. "Jones said that he roamed the left wing twice, checking every artwork and even their alarms. He found out that none were disturbed. Morgan also said the same thing and decided to check the breaker room, but he never responded when the two guards tried to contact him again."

Icon then opened the last document. "He was later found by the police unconscious in the breaker room. The police also found an unknown device planted on the circuits. Morgan said that he found the device planted on the circuits already and when he tried to remove it, it electrocuted him. It was confirmed by the nurse who took care of him."

"What did the police find out about the device?" Batman asked.

"The device is of alien origin. They already took it to STAR Labs for further analysis."

"Do you have a picture of the device?"

Icon tapped a few words before the monitored showed a picture of an oblong shaped objected intact with a few wires from the circuits. It has a few, strange brown linings all over.

Batman walked to the monitor and zoomed-in on the picture. After a few moments, Batman typed in the keyboard and many other windows popped up. "One, the guard said that the alarm turned off at 11:47 pm. You, Rocket and Guy Gardener fought the three thieves at around 12:00 am."

"At least 15 minute difference," Canary commented. "It's long enough to take whatever they want, considering their abilities and number. Besides that, they would be stupid enough to let anyone trigger the alarm."

Batman nodded. "It's not just that," he typed once more and the picture popped up. "Notice that the wires connected to device were all the alarm circuits." He was silent before adding, "They purposely planted this device, knowing that it would trigger an alarm. They purposely waited for us."

"They were testing the members of the league, trying to find out if they could go against us." Black Canary concluded, to which Batman agreed.

Dr. Fate turned to Icon. "Are they of mystic origin?"

"From what I can tell, no." Icon said.

"But they aren't your typical thieves." Black Canary said. "Icon, I want you to investigate this case, see if they have a connection to the Light. Batman—"

"Guys!" Flash's voice cut off as he entered the room. "They police called. They said they got the artwork back. It was found at the back of the museum."

Author's Note: I, uhm. I don't really know what to say about this chapter. Read and review!

1.) They haven't made it in the fic, so I had to adjust.