"I may be pregnant, but I ain't helpless with my frying pan! Never mess with me in the kitchen!", Caroline growled as she bashed another head, and Alfred muttered, "I admit I am turned on by that.", as the remaining assassins soon got wary of Caroline and Alfred, their egos enraged by being beaten by an old guy and a pregnant woman.
Of course, the assassins didn't see the pots that were coming straight for their heads until it struck them before Alfred and Caroline saw where they had come from. Bruce timed and aimed them just right, knocking two of them assassins out before he jumped on the third one, disarmed him and then a few quick punches before the assailant was knocked out.
"You two alright?", Bruce asked as they nodded. "Nice timing.", Alfred said as there was another roar.
"This way! We found it!", Thomas' voice echoed nearby. The trio moved fast before sure enough they found what looked to be a large storeroom/garage with several vehicles and plenty of cold weather clothes. "Looks like most in our sizes...", Bruce said before he looked to the She-Hulk. "Almost.".
"Watch the door, Bruce.", Thomas said as he walked over to She-Hulk. "Martha? Are you still in here? Kel? Please... who is it?", he asked as he reached up to place a hand on her cheek.
She-Hulk's eyes dimmed slightly into grief as she rumbled with a sob, "Thomas...Kel's gone...She saved me from the pain...we lost her, Thomas...I want to cry and scream and hide right now, but I can't...I need to protect all of you, to save us...".
"Martha...", Thomas whispered as he wrapped his arms around her as he started to feel her beginning to shrink. It was only a few moments before she had herself wrapped around him too and was silently crying. It felt so good to be in Thomas' arms again, but at the cost of Kel... it felt like all the pain before when Thomas died, hitting all at once again.
"We'll mourn her, Martha... trust me... I'll be there to cry with you.", Thomas told her before the sounds of loud footsteps were approaching. "Hey, it's Waylon!", Bruce called out. "...and... no way...", he muttered.
The others looked, and their eyes widened to see another She-Hulk, with Poppy wearing a torn curtain as a rough shirt to hide her upper body on the way.
Poppy grinned, "I know, right? Was a major surprise, but I guess it was a matter of time.", before smiling in relief as she saw Martha, "Mom!", before seeing the tears on Martha's face, and she gasped, "No...Mama, she's...".
Martha spoke, "She gave her life...but she knew that because she loved all of us...Your mama is at peace now but watching over us for she truly has a soul.", as Alfred then replied, "Er, sorry to interrupt, but we found the platform just around the corner!".
Thomas said, "Right, let's fill up those snowmobiles and suit up!", before suddenly, they heard faint explosions, and Waylon replied, "That's from the boiler room and the Pit! Dorji must be getting close to the final line of grenades now for the other side of the temple!".
"Then let's not be here when he's finished.", Bruce said as everyone was quickly getting bundled up. "Uh, Poppy...", Bruce cleared his throat.
"Oh, right... um...", Poppy took a deep breath. "How exactly do I... um, shrink?", she asked as Waylon was trying to find things to her original size.
Martha replied, "Focus on the thought of getting smaller and seeing human skin.", and Poppy nodded, "Okay, Mom.", focusing on getting smaller and being human again, and under a few moments, she changed back to normal.
"Ha-ha!", Poppy cheered as she looked at herself, and Waylon smiled, kissing her on the cheek, "That's my brilliant, beautiful Poppy.", handing her clothes as he himself shrank back earlier, now wearing his winter clothes.
Poppy blushed with a smile, "Thanks, Wally.", bundling up quickly with Bruce and Thomas and Alfred starting up the gas strings by pulling, and Thomas replied, "Right, Waylon, you're going to be behind your mother with Alfred in front after you push the controls for the elevator, and Poppy, you ride behind Bruce, and I got Martha!".
They nodded, taking up his orders, and revved over to the platform, with Waylon at the controls, pulling up the lever, as the explosions became louder from the basement of the temple, and everything shook around the ground, and a rumbling sound was heard as the secret snow floor opened up, with Waylon jumping up high into the platform to land besides the waiting snowmobiles.
Bruce widened his eyes, "I think that was the mountain behind the temple, and if I am not mistaken, that is going to be an avalanche, and with this blowing up to high hell with Dorji's help soon, maybe causing the side mountains to add their own avalanches!".
"Truly bury this place... smart idea, you two...", Thomas complimented his children as the group kicked started the engines and began to move out, trying to get as much distance as possible from the place. Where they go next, they'd think about that when they would be in the clear.
Talia groaned as she dragged her broken body back towards the Pit. She would use it to heal her wounds and then after that, take stock of their losses and pursue the Wayne/Jones family. Explosions kept rocking the place, but Talia was certain that it wasn't just from the machine blowing up, it was something more. Somehow, they managed to build an escape from underneath the League's noses. Something she would be sure to figure out before she heard some nearby sounds.
Talia immediately took out her dagger, narrowing her eyes as she carefully turned a corner, and saw Dorji checking through the sanctum, the high bell tower, and such through the stairways, with a trigger in his hand, leading to wires to the grenades in the sanctum, the bell tower, as nearby from the back, as Talia's eyes widened in horror, realizing that the Pit and the boiler room is exploding, and realized that Dorji was behind the whole explosions!
"Dorji!", Talia shouted as he almost jumped before turning and seeing her in a pitiful state which put him at slight ease. She wasn't going to be quick enough to stop him from finishing the job. If anything, she had probably given him a better chance to seal her fate by being so much closer rather than at risk of escaping.
Dorji gave a confident smirk, "Oh, my, looks like you got majorly injured by something big, perhaps a She-Hulk, hmm?". Talia growled, "You knew! You saw Poppy Wayne transformed in your vision!", coming closer in a limping canter which Dorji wanted, keeping a finger on the trigger.
Dorji's eyes widened a bit by hearing that. "No... I actually didn't. Pleasant surprise.", he told her as she growled. "You bought it on yourself though. Did you really think kidnapping a whole family was going to pan out in the end? They always would resist.".
Talia snarled, "You weren't just dead, were you? No, you somehow talked with Thomas Wayne, he knew of the escape plan!", with a glare that would kill him on the spot.
Dorji chuckled, "Now, I did, but I wasn't behind the plan in the first place, until now in the last place I will ever always be happy to leave forever behind me.", moving up the trigger into Talia's view closer, and gave a sad smile, "They were right. It's time for me to do the right thing by being a hero. For once, I think my monk family would forgive me for saying this, but die in hell, bitch.", as he then pushed the trigger as Talia screamed in anger, running the last few feet as best as she could with her broken leg, her dagger moving to kill Dorji.
Talia never reached him before the explosion went off; destroying both their bodies beyond any sort of recognition if they would ever be found while the final chain of explosions that reduced the League's base to rubble and began causing an avalanche to bury the place forever.
Poppy looked back, and shouted, "Faster! Major avalanche!", having seen that the combo of three mountains crumbling into three avalanches which combined into one major avalanche coming fast to bury and destroy the temple forever, killing off any barely surviving League people next to destroying remains into dust and ashes, and over the temple, filling up the tunnels and such through the platform elevator, and through the pass at the family.
The three snowmobiles revved faster, focusing on keeping the gas on, with Thomas, Bruce, and Alfred looking in front to find any way out, and Martha shouted, using her Hulk sight, "There! On the right!", seeing a cliff trail.
Thomas shouted, "Line up!", as the snowmobiles went into a line, revving up the trail around the cliff just in time to escape the incoming avalanche below, the rumbling roar echoing in their ears next to their engines and such, and Bruce shouted, "Slow down, brake!", seeing the end of the cliff, letting go of the throttle and putting on the brake, sliding and turning into a u-around.
Everyone took deep breaths as they tried to quickly wrap their heads around what had happened; that the avalanche is behind them and nearly going off a cliff. They just needed a moment because for the first time in days, they suddenly felt safe.
"We did it...", Caroline whispered in shock before laughing, "We did it!", hugging and kissing Alfred as he turned around to embrace her with a large smile and a laugh.
Waylon jumped off to hug Poppy who jumped off from Bruce's snowmobile, and laughed as he swept her off her feet, kissing her warmly and happily, "We're free!".
Bruce smiled at the gleeful scenes, and glanced to see his mother and father kissing and hugging, and admittedly felt a bit jealous and sad, that if Talia hadn't tricked his mother, being an assassin for years, and raised by a power-hungry man, and toyed with him like a prize, he would have considered Talia as a potential date, but not really his true love, because in the end, he'd rather want someone who sees him as Bruce Wayne, a protector and a family man than a playboy, a prize.
Of course, there was the pain that for the moment they were trying to hold back as their freedom came at a great cost in both Dorji sacrificing himself for their escape, but Kel as well to save Martha and cheat Ra of his prize.
Thomas cleared his throat, and replied, "Let's get out of here, and head down. The avalanche gotta be over by now, creating a new path for us to get to the airport. At least we'd be warm in one of the hangers if Doctor Fate's plane isn't there yet.".
Everybody nodded, even if they have questions, and so, after their moment of reveling in their freedom, they went back on the snowmobiles after checking the gas and for Caroline's pregnancy which is gratefully strong with Jane kicking actively, and revved back down the cliff trail, and indeed, there's a whole several new feet of snow, along with forest debris and such as they landed into the thick and packed snow, carefully avoiding downed trees and such.
"So...", Waylon spoke up. "Anyone want to say anything or is this going to be a quiet trip?", he tried to break the ice; part of him want to try to quickly get everyone back to a sense of normality like before, even if a lot had changed.
Poppy exhaled, "Yeah, I do...Is this Doctor Fate someone who can help?", looking at her father, and Thomas nodded, "He is. Dorji knew him, and Doctor Fate is a man of powers, powers that can help us presume a life again with me having come out of a coma like the gunshot had hit somewhere vital, but not life-threatening all the same, and for Caroline to have a Gotham citizenship by marrying Alfred and changing her surname, since Gotham doesn't know her, with most of Eustice down in Louisiana not knowing her with some having known of her death in the hospital and such, though of course, her advantage in being younger again is helping out already.".
"Gotham citizenship?", Caroline chuckled. "Thomas, I'm not from a foreign country; you're just describing a simple address change. The only real thing that needs to be done is to find where my death certificate is and get rid of. Not that anyone would really be checking; I'm just a nobody to the world. Barely anyone would remember.". She kissed Alfred's cheek. "Present company obviously excluded.".
"And of course, your grave.", Waylon added. "Though maybe we should keep that around somewhere for eventual use. Just need to take care of the death date so no one would raise an eyebrow if they found it somewhere in the manor.".
Martha replied, "And don't forget changing the birth date either, face it, people would be suspicious if you are 20 years older on the certificate when you are looking younger, even if we use the excuse of skin therapy and creams.".
Alfred said, "I'm still an old man...", and Caroline replied, "We couldn't care as it's 10 years or 20 years' difference. It's going to be alright, Alfred.", as he nodded.
Poppy replied, "How are we going to explain the kidnapping thing? We never told the staff that we were going on a vacation or all, and Gotham is literally talking as the staff would be in panic and all...".
Thomas replied, "We can't change too many things, Poppy...We can explain away the kidnapping thing easy enough, since nobody never knew who exactly kidnapped us, but we can say that a friend of ours paid for our freedom, and I woke up like if I heard Martha in danger or something.".
"Maybe wait a bit longer in terms of waking up, Thomas.", Martha suggested. "Like we just need to have you hidden away for an extra week or so without it being too coincidental. Less questions to ask, you know?", with a hum. "Perhaps. Maybe our Fate friend will let me stay with him for a short time if we do that.", Thomas said.
"And we can say we escaped, Mom.", Bruce added. "Had to fight our way out but we can get our stories straight on the flight back. Kidnappers broke into the manor and took us in the night and stole our plane. There's plenty of ways for us to do this without having to get too many questions to follow us. Questions that we don't need.".
Martha nodded, "That actually sounds reasonable enough, and closer to the truth in a way. And of course, maybe Fate has an idea for masking our young age, since the kidnapping stress would age me fast in worrying about Thomas's situation, and of course, Thomas in aging through the coma. There are so many times I can excuse about having that kind of face that looks younger than what I actually am, or the skin cream experiments... Commissioner Gordon heard it already...", with a sigh.
"Or good genes.", Poppy chuckled. "I mean, getting some hair dyes and adding a touch of gray would be fine, at least for Dad. You, on the other hand, Mom... I think you're still fine with the skin cream excuse for a little bit longer.".
"Yeah... starting to worry a bit lately though if I still look so young in another decade or two.", Martha sighed. "And speaking of genes...", Poppy added. "Heh... those genes kicked in right in time for me to really mess Talia up...".
"Never thought I would see that again.", Bruce admitted as Poppy looked over to him, confused. "What do you mean by that?", Poppy asked, and Martha exhaled, "You remember the story of your dad being there for your birth and all?".
"Yeah...", Poppy replied slowly, and Martha exhaled, "It was true that you were born from Kel, but you weren't always human...You were a bit bigger for a newborn, and that you couldn't help changing from tan to green, due to your emotions, which happened for only a few months, but there was some close calls here and there with the staff...".
"Wait... you mean I was gamma'd out when I was born? I was able to do this sort of thing as a baby?", Poppy said, her tone a bit upset. "Why did none of you tell me this?".
"Because after a while, you stopped and just stayed normal. We thought maybe it would come back once you got older but there was as much of a chance it wouldn't, and we didn't want to get you excited or worried about it.", Martha explained.
Alfred then replied, "It was both a relief to your mother yet a bit upsetting to your mama, but it was for the best since even with the contracts for the staff, they would still spill the beans accidentally or such, since with the close calls, there was the worry of you being kidnapped and experimented in the wrong hands, which I believe Dorji never saw that night, or anything involved around that, otherwise we all could have been captured earlier by the League. Leslie was there at the birth, and as you know, she loves us, and never betrayed us all this time, because she saw you as an innocent being, and all of us as a unique family full of love and affection, even if from the outside world, it may have looked weird or wrong, but all the same, it was lucky that you stopped after a few months.".