Alfred certainly felt it was almost too much in some ways when he heard that. He knew what he was doing when he accepted his line of work and when he entered the Waynes employment, but he never thought that he would end up being honored like that. Martha, on the other hand, took a deep breath; how close things came to that part of the message being true in the idea that Bruce would be orphaned.
"Finally, and I want to go a bit more off the record with this one, as it's more of a personal last message. But, to Bruce, Martha, if either one of you or both of you hear this; I want to say that I'm sorry that I'm no longer here; for whatever reason, be it accident, illness or any other way, and I pray that you never hear this; be the will as it is now, or hear it many years down the road. But I love you two so much... I'd give up all the money in the world for the two of you.", the message finally ended as Martha broke down into tears upon that last point. Just hearing his voice again broke her almost instantly.
Bruce himself was in shock, some confusion, some awe, some respect for his father to do all of that, and tears came over him as well, shuffling closer to hold into Martha's hand.
The lawyer then announced, "So ends the will and testament of Thomas Dorian Wayne, and let his last wishes and orders be exacted right now and then in this room, and mote it be. Thank you.", waiting for the commissioner to make his move with an inner secret smile as things will be even more interesting to watch, hoping that his amazing deceased employer was watching from the heavens, grateful that in secret when he updated his will, Thomas paid him too with a final wage, but also gave him some recognition with other well-known people to give his services as a lawyer as a gift too.
"Well...", Lucius Fox spoke first, "That was quite a surprise...", with a thoughtful look. "Sounds like you'll be having a handful for the next few weeks.", the lawyer said. "Of course, I'll be willing to help with many of the details, Thomas left quite a few with me.".
"Detective Gordon.", Martha cleared her eyes with a handkerchief. "What Thomas was saying and all... did his murder...?".
"So far, our investigations haven't turn up anything out of the ordinary. We ID'd the assailant, local vagabond by the name of Joe Chill. From the autopsy, seems like he was fairly inebriated and was just trying a simple strong-arm robbery. Seems he found the gun and the bullets from somewhere; gun was used in a cold case from a year ago so someone else may have left it and he picked it up before we could've found it.", Gordon answered.
The Commissioner next to Gordon, "But I'm sorry to say that it seems more like it was an open and shut case than anything else, Mrs. Wayne, but I'll give to Thomas' last wishes all the same as the board still got a lot to answer to.", looking at the board, no, ex-board of men with a sharp glare as they were pale, frozen to their chairs, realizing that if they dare escalate and attempt to run off, it would make things worse, and they wouldn't know if there are other cops outside or such.
"You...Thomas truly has talked with you about his suspicions, working together to discover the dirty secrets and skeletons in their closets about them?", Martha spoke softly in shock as she squeezed Bruce's hand back, taking a deep breath as She-Hulk was cheering with rumbling roars at Thomas's alpha move.
"Quite a bit, yes... I...", the Commissioner started to reply. "I want my lawyer.", one man quickly stood up. "I'll play ball if you lessen anything you've got...".
"Wilkens, you rat bastard!", one of the older men spoke up. "Wayne was probably bluffing!", with a scowl. "I ain't going down with you lot, I know the folks you hang around with!".
Martha almost wanted to laugh, seeing how quick they were already tearing each other apart. Even if they probably had nothing to do with Thomas' death, the sheer fact that they were scared said so much. Maybe some of them did have a plan for Thomas and just the random robbery seemed almost like a gift to them... only to turn into their downfall.
"Sorry, Mrs. Wayne... Gordon, call some back up; I think we're going to have to spend a lot more time with lawyers today...", the Commissioner said.
Gordon smirked, nodding, "Yes, sir.", using his phone and radio to call for backup, covering his bases two ways, and Martha let the commissioner keep an eye on the ex-boardmen, and then looked at Leslie as she walked over to her.
"I saw you giving a look of forgiveness to me when you heard that I was helping Thomas too in this...Does that mean...", Leslie asked, and Martha smiled reassuringly, "Dr. Thompkins...If Thomas had asked you to help pin those men down, you were brave to do so...Thank you for helping him...".
Leslie looked relieved, "Thank you, Mrs. Wayne. I still assume that you want the appointment next week?", and Martha nodded. Leslie then glanced at Bruce, "And I hope you and your mother has been eating well and all. You know that I am your personal doctor.", with a raised eyebrow.
Bruce gave a small nod. He hadn't seen her that many times, usually Thomas was taking care of him more often since he was a doctor too. "She's been doing good.", he answered.
"That's good.", Leslie smiled. The officers soon quickly arrived as the board members left the room along with Gordon and the Commissioner, while the lawyer and Fox left as well for the moment leaving only Bruce, Martha, Alfred and Leslie alone in the room.
Martha took a deep breath as she checked the surroundings, and glanced at Leslie, "The appointment isn't just going to be a checkup, but there's something else relating to the treatment.", and Leslie raised an eyebrow, "Good or bad?".
"Good. I'm only saying this because you were technically the inflictor, but I do not blame you, Leslie.", Martha replied, and Leslie both looked relieved yet curious, "Okay. I'll make double sure to visit you next week with the necessary supplies to check the side effects and such.".
Martha nodded, "Thank you, Dr. Thompkins. I suppose you'd need to talk with the lawyer with Thomas' gift for you. Alfred, will you look after Bruce, take him to the limo, while I talk with Lucius Fox, unless you want to stay too, and see to your gift from Thomas too?", glancing at Alfred, knowing that Thomas must have checks of the gifts and some paperwork to make it official with the lawyer.
"I'm alright to stay with him... best you have your few minutes with him anyways. Personally, I'm amazed that Master Thomas still did what he did.", Alfred nodded with a smile.
"So am I, Alfred... so am I...", Martha said as she left for a moment before seeing Lucius finishing talking with the Wayne family lawyer.
"Best you be talking with a bunch of your friends.", Lucius said. "I get the feeling you'll be swamped with work yourself with all the countersues and such.".
"I think they have more things to worry about at the moment... but don't worry.", the lawyer chuckled before he took his leave.
"So... quite the eventful day it seems.", Martha said as Lucius nodded. "Shall I start calling you 'Boss'?", he asked as Martha shook her head.
"Please, I know I got a degree in business, but I never had really ran anything before, much less a cooperation as big as Wayne Enterprises. You're much more experienced so I'll clearly need the help since I plan to try to keep all this afloat for both Bruce and the thousands upon thousands of employees that are a part of this.", Martha told him.
"Had the feeling you'd see things that way. And here I was about to try to argue with you about some things regarding it.", Lucius sighed. "For starters, we're probably going to need a new board of directors. Thomas did have it in his power to remove them; especially if he found anything incriminating and detrimental to the company, which is probably why he never did this when he was alive...".
"But obviously, Wayne Enterprises can't truly function as it has without a board.", Martha said as he nodded. "It's just too big for you and me to run by ourselves. But at least with cleaning house, we can finally bring in some much more friendly members.", Lucius said.
Martha nodded, "And you didn't mind having Dr. Leslie Thompkins as the head of the science department?", and Lucius smiled wryly, "Are you kidding me? She's a brilliant scientist, and I got to know her sometimes when Thomas introduced me to her on the work of discovering the ex-board members. She will be a great asset on the committee which is a far better name for a board of directors if you ask me, and Thomas made a great choice in promoting her which she deserves.".
Martha sighed in relief, and then smiled, "Thomas has told me much about you as he was fond of you, Mr. Fox, as you are brilliant at technology of all areas.", with a sad nod as she remembered the moments that Thomas raved about the progress at times with a curious look through, he would never exactly understand the entire schematics of technology like Lucius Fox, saying that he's humble and more considerate of his tests on technology than many in other places.
"That's high praise. Pity he couldn't be here to see all this...", Lucius sighed. "Watching the board practically sell each other out for their own skins...", shaking his head. "What'll happen to them?", Martha asked.
"Well, some of them might get off easy, losing their positions and probably a bit of cash in legal battles. Not all of them were truly despicable, greedy, out for themselves, corrupt, yes, but that's it. A few, on the other hand, can't tell you the risk we were taking finding out some of the things a few of those men had behind closed doors. Those ones... it'll be hard not to see them in prison even with how much wealth or connections they have.", Lucius explained.
"Any chance they'll come after me or Bruce?", Martha wondered in concern.
"Unlikely. The ones that might get off fairly clean will probably go elsewhere, no shortage of spots in other corporations and cities. Gothcorp could probably take one or two of them in, but they were the ones you least needed to worry about. The ones that will see prison was the ones to fear but they've clearly got their own problems now to worry about you and Bruce.", Lucius said with a reassuring smile at her.
Martha felt a deep relieved moan of relief in the back of her head, realizing that She-Hulk felt better now, but still angry, and Martha looked relieved, "Thank you, Mr. Fox...I don't assume if you have some recommendations for the other departments' leaders on the committee, do you?".
Lucius smiled, "I had a feeling today, even if I was already notified to be here a few days ago...I'm truly sorry that I couldn't be there yesterday for the funeral, but I was in a airport holding up my plane when I was at a convention, and I would have tried to take a rental car, but by the time I considered that, it would take me quite a while compared to a hour in a plane, since the convention was in Los Angeles. Anyhow, something told me that I should do this for Thomas while I grieved for him, and so I gathered the best I know of the best people in the departments I could offer to be the heads of their departments as a promotion.", taking out a thick envelope from inside his suit.
"I apologize for the creases and fold-ups and such, but I couldn't risk the chance of those people sneaking into a suitcase if I had one, and risk everything. Here's my card, so you can call me over this week of your picks and discuss if there are a couple or so that you are on the fence about. As there are still five more positions to fill the committee, I have three picks each for each department, and it should suffice your time to look through them, of their resumes and nitpicks of their personality profiles and appearances, I hope.", Lucius replied.
"The operations management department, the human resources department, the accounting and financial department, the sales department, and the marketing department, right?", Martha asked to affirm.
"Pretty much.", Lucius smiled. "I'm sure you'll find that many of them will all each be good to the roles. Thomas spent some time checking up on them as well.", he told her as she smiled.
"Yeah...", Martha took a deep breath. "Sorry for my little outburst in there... just hearing Thomas' voice again... even after yesterday, I still can't get over that he's gone. I keep waking up almost every morning since it happened, thinking it was just a very vivid bad dream.", she told him.
Lucius nodded, "I wouldn't blame you, Mrs. Wayne, but he has told me much about you as well...He had this look like he couldn't imagine life without you, as he truly loved you and Bruce, it's like you and Bruce were making his life rich with adventure...I saw him despair so much over the past year when you got ill...I'm beyond happy to see that you're healthier and better than those few times I had glimpsed you of visiting Thomas in those early few months at the manor.".
Martha smiled, "Thank you, Mr. Fox... That means a lot to hear...I just...I just never thought he'd take my place...Yes, I understand that an illness was beyond different compared to a mugging gone wrong, but...", with a weary sigh.
"Feels like someone had to go and if not you, then him?", Fox said as she nodded, "I know, but still, you can't just happen to think if that was truly fate... I'm only glad that at least one of us is still here for Bruce... I can't even imagine what would happen if I died weeks ago and then Thomas died like he did... or both of us dying that night...".
Lucius said, "Ah, that phase of 'what ifs'...Mrs. Wayne, it's not best to dwell on the past or those questions like that...It's best to remember the past in good memories, and take the present a day at a time, and look forward to the future.", patting her shoulder gently for a moment in a polite manner before lingering too much to be inappropriate.
Martha exhaled, taking a deep breath, looking at Lucius with a small smile, "No wonder why Thomas trusted you so well...Thank you, and let's hope our alliance together as partners will flourish.", as she held the thick envelope of premium picks for the remaining spots on the committee, and Lucius's card of his number.
Lucius smiled, "So do I, Mrs. Wayne...I bid you to have a good rest of your day. I shall not keep you any longer from your son and your advisor/butler. Many congratulations on being the owner of Wayne Manor. You deserve it. This world indeed needs to be progressive, and not be too much of a man's world, I say.".
"Isn't that the truth.", Martha nodded as Fox took his leave before she returned to back to Bruce and Alfred. "Well, I suppose that's pretty much it for things today at least; I need to let out some pent-up emotions as I said in the ride over here.".
Alfred nodded, "Of course, ma'am.", and Bruce piped up, "Can we get burgers at one of the drive-throughs? We ate breakfast early, after all...".
Martha exhaled, "I suppose we could make an excuse for a sorta of early lunch, but expect that we're eating Alfred's cooking tonight, okay, Bruce?", and Bruce nodded with a smile, and so they left Wayne Entreprises, getting burgers and soda.
They went home, with Martha loudly giving the excuse to any listening staff in earshot around Alfred, while handing him the envelope and card, quietly ordering him to put them in her bedroom dresser while Bruce headed up to his room, that she's taking a walk to take into the fresh air, which Alfred knew she's hinting to the deep underground caverns.
As the place is deep, nobody should hear She-Hulk as Martha went to the makeshift hidden cavern stair tunnel under a tree, the one she used in carrying Bruce out instead of the bordering ancient wall spot, figuring this must have been how maybe her great-grandfather hid alcohol or escaped slaves from the South back then.
Indeed, as soon as she was deeper and deeper into the caverns, into the flat cavern area, she let She-Hulk out in a mix of anger, grief, and relief, and She-Hulk indeed smashed rocks, cave formations, and even pushed boulders across different cavern floors as she ran and rampaged around, roaring and crying, lasting for an hour before she was panting, devolving back to Martha who saw the damage, but seeing that it was only disturbed bats or some hiding worms and such, she was relieved that it was a perfect place to release stress and anger when She-Hulk needs it.