Chapter 7

It was about 10:00 a.m. on April 1, 2006. In a large conference room within the Department of Justice, the eight superheroes were gathered at one end of the table.

"I don't think anyone else is coming," Batman reported, "We might have to start without them."

Superman walked up to the overhead projector set up at the head of the table and flicked it on. Light started shining from the lens of the projector to the large overhead screen hanging from the ceiling. He then kneeled at the table and typed and clicked on a laptop connected to the projector. Soon all that was displayed was a PowerPoint slide on the screen, titled "Justice League presentation".

The next slide contained a map of Steel City. An area on the map was circled in red.

Superman pointed to this, saying, "We were recently informed that this cottage on the outskirts of Steel City is one of fifteen to twenty houses in the United States being used by Al-Qaeda to store weapons of mass destruction that were salvaged from Iraq just before the war. The Justice League can take care of the other houses, but we thought it would be more convenient if you arranged to raid this house, since it's so close to your tower. All you need to do basically is kill the few people living there before they can detonate the weapons, then put the weapons in a truck which the government can provide. They'll handle the disposal. You might need these gas masks while you're there," Superman handed the Titans a gas mask each, "and don't make the raid until we tell you. We have to hit all the caches at the same time or else we might not get it all."

Superman kept clicking through the next few slides—maps of various other cities, each with some red circles in it—and finally reached the end of the PowerPoint slides.

"That's all?" asked Robin incredulously.

"There was supposed to be more if the other Justice League members and the Titans East had showed up. They didn't. I guess you're free to go home!" said Green Lantern. "Oh, and don't worry about informing Titans East. We'll make sure they get this information too. For your part, you need to keep this absolutely confidential until we tell you to go on the mission."

"Sounds fine to me," Robin replied.

The Titans returned to their hotel. Their return flight was the next day, since they had anticipated a longer conference.

The next day, the Titans' flight was scheduled for noon, so they got up quite early. They had decided to have breakfast first, which they did at a local Burger King. Then, it was off to the airport…

Robin, having no weapons with him (he had lost all his weapons at the Jump City airport), breezed through the security checkpoint, with none of the problems that had plagued him at Jump City. Cyborg set off the metal detector once again, but the guards let him go when he showed them his artificial hand.

Two of the guards stopped Raven after she passed through the metal detector.

"Not again…" thought Raven, but she became puzzled when she checked what she was wearing.

She was in her normal uniform cloak, which completely shrouded every inch of her body in darkness. The guards hadn't seen any of her yet. Why would they stop her?

Beast Boy was walking through the metal detector. A guard was saying to Raven, "Would you kindly take off your hood?" Raven complied. The guard looked at her picture on her identification, then back at her. Satisfied, he returned her ID card and released her on her journey.

For the next four hours, none of the Titans were hassled by any member of the Department of Homeland Security. The Titans got off the plane at Jump City Airport and quickly waved down a taxi. Their misfortunes would be put on hold until they once again checked their mailbox.

At dawn on April 15, Robin braved a warm sun to retrieve the enormous contents of their mailbox, which amounted to the total of one envelope. Needless to say Robin easily brought this prodigious amount of mail into the living room for the Titans to sort out.

The mail read as follows:

The Teen Titans

Titans Tower, Ste. 3

Jump City, CA 91666

Dear Teen Titans,

In accordance with the laws of California, the Jump City District Court is hereby notifying you of the following legal action which names you as defendants. On April 7, 2006, the Court received the following lawsuit:


Aaron Zapater

2300 W. Main Street

Jump City, CA 91665-0001

Jump City District Court

Aaron W. Zapater,

Plaintiff,

vs.

Raven Roth, Richard Grayson, Victor Stone, Garfield Logan, Kory Ander,

Defendants

Case No.: 13-3-457689-1

The Plaintiff makes a request for redress, based upon the following allegations:

On the morning of March 31, 2006, Plaintiff and Defendants were both aboard United Airlines Flight 910. The flight was hijacked by three people and the Defendants subsequently fought the hijackers. The Plaintiff alleges that the Defendants, contrary to their duty as deputized peace officers of Jump City, showed negligence in protecting the Plaintiff and other bystanders, resulting in the Plaintiff's being shot in the foot by a hijacker. The shot that injured Plaintiff reasonably should have been prevented, there being five police—the Defendants—present at the scene, and especially given the superhuman abilities Defendants are known to possess. Thus, by allowing Plaintiff to receive injury, Defendants showed criminal negligence.

The Plaintiff further alleges that one Defendant, Raven Roth, unsuccessfully attempted to cure Plaintiff's foot wound, while lacking the medical skills necessary to do so, complicating the injury and eventually forcing Plaintiff to undergo several costly surgeries. Plaintiff estimates that the cost to himself of treating his injury has been increased at least twelve thousand dollars due to the failed cure performed by Defendant Raven Roth aboard Flight 910 on March 31, 2006. Plaintiff alleges that in attempting to treat an injury that was beyond her skill to treat, the Defendant Raven Roth committed medical malpractice.

Plaintiff requests compensation from the Defendants for his injuries as follows: $12,000 economic damages for extra medical costs incurred by Defendant's medical malpractice, $29,500 economic damages for lost wages which Plaintiff would have earned at his job as a lawyer during the four days in which he was incapacitated by the foot injury, had he not been so incapacitated, and $300,000 non-economic damages for the pain and suffering of Plaintiff.

Dated this 7th day of April, 2006

2300 W. Main Street

Jump City, CA 91665-0001

Aaron Zapater, Attorney


Your court case is scheduled to begin June 2, 2006, at 8:00 a.m. Inquiries about any out-of-court settlement of the case should be directed to the Plaintiffs' counsel.

Jump City District Court

162 N. Second Avenue

Jump City, CA 91665-1340