Leslie was one of her best friends and one of her trusted doctors next to Thomas, and Martha can't risk her in danger, to risk the chance of bad people taking Martha and experiment on her...god, if her baby survived this with the possibility of birth...the baby could have been taken away too...Even with Alfred to watch over Bruce, how is her son going to get through it?

Martha gave a nod, "He put his hands on me... he was trying to get the pearls...". She glanced around, seeing a few of them still around the alleyway since they probably exploded off from her neck if she had to guess when she changed.

"A big monster showed up...", Bruce spoke. Martha's eyes widened as she looked at him. "The monster... threw the man that killed my father and tried to hurt my mother...", he said, speaking a bit more of a mature tone for a moment as he was trying to hold back some more tears. Both officers were surprised to hear that.

"Well... that would explain the hole this guy is in...", the other officer spoke up as Gordon sighed. "Ma'am, we'll need you and your son to come down to the station to talk... among other things.". He glanced at Thomas' body.

"Can you reach Alfred Pennyworth?", Martha asked. "He's our butler, he... he was going to meet us.", with a deep sigh as her heart clenched again as she knew that Thomas saw Alfred as one of his best friends.

"Butler?", the other officer said. "Jeez, no wonder this guy tried-", before Gordon looked angry. "Murphy! Enough!", Gordon snapped. "Go back to the car and get a blanket for the widow, and don't say another word!". Murphy paled even deeper, nodding as he raced back to the car.

A widow...Martha stifled a sob as for the first time it hit her, she's a widow...a widow with a young child...She glanced at Gordon, "I...I'm sorry I disturbed the scene, Detective Gordon...I...Thomas...he was our everything...", before tears fell once more, shivering slightly from the chill as she is now realizing that she's running out of adrenaline to keep her warm.

Bruce piped up quietly, "Are we...are we in trouble, sir? I don't want to be alone from Mother too long...", looking at Gordon as he tried to hold back his sniffles, tears falling as he cuddled tighter into Martha's embrace, keeping her warm.

Gordon shook his head, "No... neither of you should be in any sort of trouble, but we'll need statements and... have to find this monster.". Gordon then looked at a nearby imprint on the ground of a much larger sized foot; a clear sign that the monster did exist. The creature, Martha thought, must have slammed its foot down before attacking the mugger. But Martha still felt a deep pit in her stomach upon Gordon's last words about 'finding a monster'.

"I'm so sorry, ma'am...", Alfred sobbed as he was trying to dab his eyes with his handkerchief. "I failed you all...". It was about an hour later when Alfred arrived to meet Martha and Bruce at the local GCPD station. Martha was now dressed up in some clothes that were a bit small on her, Alfred quickly bought some cheap clothes once word reached him on the way.

Now the two of them were in an office while Gordon was quietly asking Bruce questions in the other room once they had finished talking with Martha. She knew it was trying to make sure to get the stories straight since she 'blacked out' and couldn't say much of the mess that was made once Thomas was gunned down.

"No, Alfred...It was my fault...If I...I had insisted harder, we would have turned around and waited at the theater instead of giving in to Thomas and Bruce's logic...God, I...I can't...how am I supposed to...", Martha spoke as she was rerunning the memories over and over...Hearing Thomas's last laugh, his last smile, his last words of joy...God, their last kiss on the lips was in the dark, while watching the movie and Bruce was distracted...And the next kiss wasn't even real, but she wanted to remember before he got cold...

"Please, ma'am...", Alfred squeezed her hand as Martha went silent. "Please don't blame yourself, I couldn't live with knowing that you carry that guilt...".

"Well, you can't blame yourself either, Alfred...", Martha said as she closed her eyes and sighed. At this moment, she needed to keep her mind straight, as much as her heart was aching from having to put Thomas' death to the side.

"Look, we... we can't blame ourselves for this, Thomas didn't think anything would happen when he suggested for us to go through that place. I can't blame him either...", Martha shook her head as she was starting to feel a twinge of anger building in her again. The one to blame was the killer, but... she, or whatever she now was, was quick to avenge.

Yes, she was horrified that she killed a human intentionally, but if Thomas was here, he would have argued that it was self-defense too, as the human was intentional to kill too, with that gun, threatening them all before shooting Thomas, and then at her...God, if she was killed before she was healed, not having her avenger stop it, would he have killed Bruce too?

Along with the brief assault and robbery of money as well with Thomas having to give over the money...God, the money would have been flying anywhere by now...or in the guy's pockets...

If the guy had survived, he would have been in prison for a good long time...She felt guilty for taking a life like that, but at the same time, she felt relieved that he would never threaten her child or her again...

"You're right.", Alfred's voice brought her back to reality. "I'm sorry, Mistress Wayne, this is just a tragedy that no one could've seen coming... but I can't let go of some guilt.". She nodded. Yeah, some guilt, she would now wake up every day, just wishing she done things differently but, practically everyone did that.

She couldn't let herself be eaten away by all that; she now had to raise Bruce by herself. Well, maybe not entirely, Alfred would be there for sure, to hopefully take the role as a surrogate father as Bruce grows up. But she still had to be his mother...

Of course, if all this wasn't bad enough, there was also that creature that she now was almost deathly afraid of. The sheer fact that she couldn't remember anything and that she absolutely just caused a rampage... She sighed as she knew she was going to have to tell Alfred.

"The killer, I was told that apparently he was found dead not too far away...", Alfred said with a furrowed scowl. "Not here, Alfred... home. I... there's a lot that needs to be talked about.", Martha said as an officer walked by the office.

"Sargeant, what do you want me to do about the press?", the officer asked. "Press?", the sergeant replied as he looked up to the officer.

"Yeah, vic was Thomas Wayne, like one of the richest guys in town. Guess some tabloid photographers saw the wife and kid come in and word spread.", the officer nodded.

"Oh, damn it all...", Martha rubbed her temples. "Last thing we needed on top of all this.", muttering with a grimace.

"If you wish, ma'am, give me a few minutes to call the family lawyer or the company, have them put a message out. Not like we can hide Master Thomas' death.", Alfred explained as she nodded, "Lawyer. Leave the company out of this for right now... we'll... we'll deal with all of them after the funeral.".

Alfred glanced at her deeply, and then nodded, "Yes, Mistress Martha.", realizing that there is more implying what she said just there, and squeezed her hand again with a small smile at her before leaving his seat to ask the sergeant for permission to use one of the phones.

An hour later, Martha sat in the back of the limo, holding Bruce as she explained everything to Alfred, realizing that in the manor, there would be eavesdropping staff if they weren't careful, and with this limo practically canvassed and preciously checked for anything off every day by Alfred, having apparently a bit of history over in Britain for a while after Alfred told her the truth to her and Bruce's surprise that the limo is extremely private and overlooked with a fine comb.

Thomas's body is currently in a car behind them, after Martha came down to announce that he is, was her deceased husband, seeing his body stitched up of the bullet that took his life, and signing for him to get home...She knew there's a crypt cooler to keep bodies from rotting until it's time for funerals, thanks to having heard the details from her father.

"So... something to do with your treatment perhaps?", Alfred suggested as Martha nodded after she pretty much finished explaining what happened from her point of view. Bruce had explained the parts that she had no memory of and of course told them what he told the police; not letting it slip that the monster that avenged Thomas' death was Martha.

For the police, they were on the lookout for some sort of hulking green monster. They'd never find it... at that moment but now Martha was worried about what happens if it would happen again.

"Yes. That's the only explanation. When it happened... before I blacked out, I remember, the pain... it was exactly almost the same as when I was treated.", Martha said.

"Would you like me to get in touch with Dr. Thompkins then? Set up an 'appointment'?", Alfred asked. "No... not yet... I... I know I should, but right now, I want to focus on Thomas.", Martha breathed shakily.

Alfred nodded in the rearview mirror, "Of course...And the school will understand a few days of absence for Master Bruce...", and Bruce replied, "Mom?".

Martha glanced down at him, "Yes, darling?", even if her heart panged a bit at how her son is looking like Thomas a lot, and Bruce whispered, "I think the other one is scared of pain, but they don't know how to show it, like being angry means that they're scared of pain... I mean, Alfred said that bullies react to anger, because they don't want to show that they're weak or scared of getting hurt if they can't be strong, when I told him about the bully before I told you and Dad..".

Martha gave him a look for a moment when it sort of clicked for her. Maybe? Was it anger that caused it? I mean, she was so furious in that moment, that she could remember, even if it was for a brief moment, mixed with all the fear. But she certainly was wanting to tear that man apart with her own two hands when he shot Thomas through the chest. And in a way, that did happen.

"Bruce, what are you saying?", Martha asked him. "I just thought maybe that's why... the other one happened...", Bruce said with a sympathetic look in his eyes.

Alfred replied, "He may have a point. If gone too far, bullies are misguided, angry monsters in a way that they don't know what they are doing...After all, unfortunately, there are school shootings in other places that the victims just want to be done over with, shooting the bullies and such...Perhaps you and Dr. Thompkins would have to teach the other one somehow, to see that they don't have to be furious or angry in reaction to being scared in truth.", looking through the rearview mirror again.

Martha shook her head. "No, no...", she said. "Last thing I want is to teach... whatever this is! Do you have any idea the pain I felt, Alfred? The fear I feel upon seeing the aftermath of what happened? No, I want to get Dr. Thompkins to fix me of this whole... side effect, as soon as possible.".

She closed her eyes. She didn't mean to snap but... she was terrified. What happened before... perhaps it did save her life, but what if it would happen again? What if this creature ended up causing much more damage, hurt innocent people... harmed someone close to her? She took a deep breath as she tried to calm down. Right now, she needed to focus on Thomas; and to be comforting Bruce with this tragedy.

"Is he in bed?", Martha asked Alfred a few hours later; it was way past midnight now, almost 3 in the morning when Alfred returned to Thomas and Martha's room... or well, just Martha's now.

"It looks like he's finally asleep.", Alfred informed as Martha was sitting on the edge of the bed; still dressed in the clothes Alfred quickly picked up for her. "You should get some rest yourself.".

"No.", Martha shook her head. "I... I don't feel tired. I don't know if I can even sleep after everything. Thomas... this... thing...", she motioned to herself.

"I know what you said earlier, ma'am. And I thought about it, perhaps it might be for the best to have this new condition cured. The better for everyone, I would think.", Alfred advised.

"Yeah... because what's the alternative? Sure, what happened tonight, even I have to admit, Bruce might be an orphan if not for it, but... I'm scared of what could happen if it occurs... just at any time. What if I hurt or worse, kill someone again? Believe me, I'm still mortified I killed someone, or this other part of me did...", Martha stiffened as she stifled a sob.

Alfred sighed softly as he grabbed a chair, sitting down across from her, "Ma'am...Martha, ever since you got treated, you've not changed into the other one, and the few changes I saw was perhaps a healthier, hearty diet, more reactive to sounds and touches, and of course, your vigor with sex.".

Martha blushed red as she sighed, "It was obvious, huh?", and Alfred chuckled gently, "Even if I have tried to stop the staff gossiping at times, it was clear, especially the times the windows weren't quite locked or such.".

"Oh, god...", Martha blushed even more as she buried her face in her hands, and Alfred sympathetically smiled as he changed the topic, "All the same, it seems like Master Bruce is right as the other one reacts to extreme situations, to anger and pain, and I think the other one knows the difference between bad pain and good pain as far as we could know, which is more of the latter than the former here, and especially with Wayne Manor being more of peaceful sounds than stressful sounds like the city, which I am surprised about, but perhaps it's more of the bad sounds that would trigger...Like getting angry from being annoyed, being woken up by a really out of control party in the middle of the night or something.".

"I don't know...", Martha sighed. He made a good point. Not like there was some issues similar in ways before. She knew she had lost her temper at least once in the weeks since she was treated yet no change. "I'm just so heartbroken and scared, Alfred... I feel lost without Thomas... heh... imagine me saying that; a decade ago my younger self would've been upset with me. I was way more independent before.".

Alfred chuckled, "Oh, you were quite something as Miss Kane, and Master Thomas saw that in you...And look at you, you are still following your passion of being somewhat independent by helping the unfortunate all those years and making sure that all of the staff was treated right and happily. You can show the city that you are healed of the illness as I am sure you'd want to prove some people again that you are doing it once more, and Master Thomas would've wanted you to keep doing that...".

Martha sniffled, smiling sadly, "He would've for sure...10 years, Alfred...1998 Christmas this year, it could have been 11 years...", with a sob, "I thought we were...going to have 20, 30 years...at least before he...since he was 6 years older than me...".

"Maybe 50 or 60 perhaps...", Alfred said as Martha chuckled. "Yeah... I suppose it was kinda silly for us to keep saying 20 or 30... but you know the folks we constantly deal with; marriages lasting that long are more of a rarity.", she said.

Alfred nodded, "Fair enough.", with a small smile, "You know, Master Thomas would have sought all avenues of action to help you and the other one. ".

Martha sighed deeply, "I still don't know, Alfred, but I wouldn't dare ignore your advice as you helped so much all those years...Perhaps after whatever Leslie finds and theorizes about this...I just...", with a neutral shrug.

"It's okay. I won't push you there...Are you feeling a bit better now after talking?", Alfred asked, and Martha gave a small smile, "A bit...Thank you, Alfred...I...I'll try to go sleep, but I can't promise that it'd be...consistent...".

Alfred replied, "I understand...And Martha, please remember that you aren't alone...You have me, Bruce, all the staff here, Dr. Thompkins.", and Martha nodded softly, "I will.".