"So, almost all the time before... that was you?", Mary asked. "Until ten years ago, yes, I was the one running around, putting Gotham's criminals in their place even though it was very much like trying to whack a mole, but... I do look back and see that I made some good efforts...", Kel explained with a chuckle and a proud smile.
John gave a nod, "I heard rumors that Gotham was a gritty, awful, dark place, but when we checked the city out, it seemed like it's much better, brighter and cleaner...Wow, so Martha and Poppy are patrolling the city with Batman, Catwoman and Killer Croc...I guess that's Thomas and Bruce and Selina then?".
Kel shook her head, "Bruce is the Batman, through Thomas occasionally takes over if Bruce got a good hit to the face or something or being with Damien and Selina on their own family outing. Killer Croc is Waylon, and Catwoman, you got it on the nose as that is Selina.".
Mary nodded before tilting her head in confusion, "Batwoman isn't related then?", and Kel replied, "She isn't, but she's a fabulous ally, and we know her true identity, but we promised not to tell anyone about her, including you guys since you are technically temporary Gotham citizens.".
John replied, "That's fair...Wait, hold on, I get it about Batman and Catwoman, having costumes and such, but Killer Croc...Is that something the bad guys judge him as, and Waylon is a shapeshifter too into a croc man?".
"It's... a bit of a longer story with Waylon, I'll admit.", Kel said. "Basically, he had a genetic condition from birth that was giving him more... reptilian like skin. It wasn't as bad when he was young but as he started to grow up, it really began to spread.".
Mary exhaled, "Oh, my...I couldn't imagine him in the circus, even if we are all good and nice with him, there would have been some people calling him a monster...", with a frown.
Kel sighed, "Unfortunately, you are right...he was bullied and hated himself for a while until we came in. Oh, sure, Caroline truly loves him no matter what, and she always tried so hard to convince him that he wasn't a monster or a freak or anything, just a human boy with very sensitive feelings...It took Poppy mostly of the time to tell him that he's worthy of a deserved good life and a family, and they fell in love with our support and love behind them. And for his Croc form, it came active when he came across an affected crocodile and some aid of gamma medicine to save his arm and life from infection.".
"Gamma medicine?", Mary asked as Kel nodded, "It's the reason I'm here... why Martha and Poppy can change... it... basically started this huge snowball effect of how we are all here today. If not... I've seen what had and would happen...".
John replied, "Like?", and Kel gave a deep, sad growl, "Bruce would have grown up an orphan, Alfred would never have met Caroline or had Jane, Waylon would have been abused by hunters and bad circus owners, and become Batman's enemy, no twins or Poppy, Damien would be still Bruce's, but the mother would have been another enemy which we had still, Talia, an assassin and a rapist essentially on Bruce's will, and Selina would be still a dark burglar, but still on and off with Bruce, no marriage, yet eventually an ally with help to curb her tendency to rob, and Dick...he would be adopted by Bruce and become a crime fighter.".
"So, we don't make it?", Mary asked as Kel gave another sigh, "Perhaps, perhaps not; it's never a truly clear picture... sometimes it's a randomness of cause and effect. What's happening now though is that you two are still alive, and there's a chance to save you, to keep you amongst the living... to be there for Dick.".
"Kel... I must ask... was there something special with Dick? I didn't think of it until now, but why he seems to be so... I guess the way I could describe is that he seems to feel as almost close with Poppy as he is with Mary. Not to mention, there's a resemblance to her and Waylon and there's Damien's resemblance to him as well.", John asked with a blink.
Kel sighed, "Yes, it's true that all the same, Damien is my grandson, but Dick is also my grandson too. You see, on Dick's birthday, Poppy had lost quadruplets as you recall, and I was here to receive their souls from the first moment of the accident they lost their lives in as Poppy didn't know that she was pregnant while she was in a competition meet of gymnastics...I took care of them for a timeless span in heaven while Poppy was going through miscarriage and labor at the same time, eventually laying the egg of the twins.".
"Wait, the egg?", Mary widened her eyes in surprise, and Kel replied, "Yes, turns out that Waylon has croc instincts, seeing Poppy as his destined mate, and with her permission, he claimed her, and they became mates next to being girlfriend and boyfriend at the time, and the quadruplets were also in eggs, but their shells weren't strong enough to withstand the accident's hit, being crushed, and it was quick, luckily as they didn't know what happened, no pain for them...And the twins came shortly after the miscarriage of the quadruplets, in their egg, two babies in one egg, and they were the strongest and most developed to survive the accident much to Poppy's relief and shock and all.".
John exhaled, "7 babies, essentially...Crocodiles lay really a lot, huh?", and Kel replied, "Actually, it was totally 17 eggs...The first 10 eggs failed to be compatible over time, the genes didn't work out, like the tries of baby-making wasn't the right timing until the five eggs, and the egg of the twins proved to be viable and very developed.".
"So... Dick isn't exactly ours?", Mary asked as Kel shook her head, "No, he's still very much yours... he does have his traits from his original parents, but he also has yours...".
John thought for a moment before his eyes widened as he understood, "Damien and Dick was two of the quadruplets, weren't they?".
Kel nodded, "Poppy wanted her lost children to have the choice to stay with me or live again in being born on the same day/night per sec after Poppy lost them, so four of them chose to be born again, including Dick. Damien stayed with me because he wanted Bruce, but he was waiting for Bruce to find his true love, which was Selina.".
"And the others?", Mary asked. "With other families, perhaps they will run into the family, perhaps not. One way or another though; all of Poppy's lost children have been living their lives.", Kel explained.
Mary was amazed, "And to think we thought we saw everything with the circus over the years...You really swear that the others have good lives?", and Kel replied, "Yes, as far as I have watched over the years, but I will warn the family through spiritual means if they are in major trouble or worse.".
John replied, "That's good...Are...can we remember all of this when we get back?", and Kel replied, "I think you two might remember all of this, but I am not entirely sure. Thomas and the hospital are patching you up all the best they could, but Thomas is determined to save both of you from the damn hospital to the manor by the help of a wonderful and powerful ally, if the doctors there presume that you two aren't going to survive the night if you are suffering.", with a growl.
Mary replied, "How...how can we tell Thomas if we want to be saved his way? And how is the gamma medicine going to save us?", and Kel replied, "You must tell him with all your grit and strength through your unconsciousness, and for the gamma medicine, it's up to you if you really want to have part gamma in your genes, not enough to be hulks or anything since Thomas is looking at your blood type, to see if Poppy, Waylon, or any of the kids match, for the kids also have gamma genes. The twins are part hulk, part croc, part human, while Damien is part human, part shapeshifter which is not hulk, but still gamma, and Dick, being the closest related, possibly is the best chance since he's mostly human, but still part gamma.".
"I think it might be best if we do pull through this that we don't exactly become like you. Don't get me wrong, it would be... interesting but I think it would still put quite a burden on our backs.", John said.
"You're righter than you know about that...", Kel closed her eyes and sighed. Just the sheer trouble with Ra, Talia and the League of Assassins alone.
Mary whispered, "John, we don't know what kind of shape we're in...I...I don't want Dick to see us suffering if we take the normal way...", and John exhaled, "It's bad which is why we're here, aren't we?", looking at Kel.
Kel sighed deeply, "Yes, it's bad...I can't lie...It's a miracle that you haven't broken your necks and some other things, but they are trying to stabilize you guys, as you two had a lot of blood loss and broken in several places, which could be viable for infection and all, and the hospital would need to see if you need to be transplanted with new organs and such which I am sure you know takes a long time to find a perfect match, even among family, and with Dick being a kid while you two are adults, you wouldn't probably live with your own kid's organ for longer than some years...Blood transfer with gamma blood could help easier and faster in healing you guys, and it would mean less suffering, and there would be no thoughts of pulling you out and such from any doctor's minds.".
"B-But Thomas would be overwhelmed...", Mary spoke softly, and Kel replied, "He won't because he isn't alone. He has Martha who knows some basic doctor stuff, thanks to working with him down in the med bay, and there's just someone else who was there from the beginning, and that is Dr. Leslie Thompkins...She is the one who invented the gamma medication, if it wasn't for her, some of us would have been dead or having scars as the next best thing.".
There was a pause for a few moments as both John and Mary thought about it. At the very least, if they didn't make it, Dick would certainly be taken in by the Wayne family... in some ways, he'd be returning to his true family. But... there was a chance still, and both of them knew they had to take that chance at least. If it failed... well, better to have tried and failed rather than never trying at all.
They looked at each other in that way where married couples knew how to read after so long, and they then looked at Kel, "We're taking the chance, Kel.".
Kel smiled about the widest they had ever seen her through this conversation, and hugged them warmly yet gently, "Give the family the best hugs you got for me, okay?".
Mary smiled, "We will, Kel...And thank you...I'm sure we would hear more stories either way.", and John replied, "We will say that you said hi.", with a nod.
"Thank you, guys. Now, this is going to feel a bit fast and weird but try your best to at least speak a bit through your unconscious, with all your strength you got. You really raised a fantastic kid in Dick, and I'm proud of him as my grandson. See you later.", Kel replied as she then let go of them, and then snapped her fingers, and before they knew it, they saw the limbo place vanishing fast with Kel waving with a hopeful, warm, and sad smile before she was gone too.
Thomas was tucking the blankets over John gently yet not too tightly as he nodded, checking the IV bag and blood bag before turning over to Mary, hearing a young doctor's voice asking to an older doctor, "I know that Dr. Wayne is trying his best, but all those x-rays and everything...even with the pain meds, they look awfully bad...Do you really think they could make it overnight?".
"It's a slim shot...but to be honest, they were really suffering even before the pain meds...It would take months and years to fix them up, even with Dr. Wayne's money...He shouldn't have been here because of personal relations with them, but he's damn stubborn...", the older doctor replied.
Thomas replied in a low, sharp voice, "And you shouldn't talk closely in the same room, so unless if you want to think really carefully of what to say next, get out before I snap at you two.", looking at them with the human-patented Batglare, and they gulped, shivering, departing quickly.
He took a deep breath, muttering under his breath, "Damn pessimistic opinions. They're fighting to live, for damn sake.", before hearing a barely weak voice, "Thomas...Kel...", as he looked immediately at Mary, unconscious, but he saw her heart spiking a bit on the machine.
"Mary! Listen to me, I'm touching your hand, it's broken, but tap a finger if you're hearing me.", Thomas clearly spoke, and saw her finger tap on his hand, "Good! You saw Kel? Did she tell you of...", looking around to make sure the coast's clear, before speaking clearly yet carefully, "The gamma medication?".
Her finger tapped again, and Thomas replied, "Do you want to take the chance?", and immediately, he felt her finger tapping firmly on his hand, and he replied, "That's great, Mary, it's going to be alright, and-", before hearing John's barely weak voice through his unconscious rest, "Mary...Thomas...".
"That was John. I gotta ask him. Rest and think of Dick, save your strength.", Thomas replied quickly before leaving her side, and immediately went to John's side, "John! It's Thomas. And Mary's alive but saving her strength. She said yes to the gamma medication...If you hear me, and you want the gamma medication too, tap a finger on either hand as they're broken, but not your fingers.".
A quick tap and Thomas nodded, "Okay then...". He took a few deep breaths, "It'll be risky, can't guarantee success but it might be your best chances. Either that or... well, the rest of the doctors don't give you the greatest odds of making it as normal procedures. I can't blame them; I know the odds too...".
Another tap from John, and Thomas replied, "Right, no taking regrets back. Rest and save your strength, John. I got to call some people.", before departing a bit, keeping his eyes on the unconscious couple as he rested against the counter bay of the single window view of the city under the night sky as he pulled out his phone, tapping a contact.
"Alfred? Is everybody home? All clear at the manor?", Thomas asked, and he nodded, "Good, and yeah, keep the kids including Dick distracted, but tell Martha to warm up one of the guest bedrooms, the one with the two single beds, and get all the stuff from the manor med bay hulk style to the bedroom, including the blood matching computer machine and the blood transferring machine. Got permission unconsciously from John and Mary to take gamma medicine, since it turns out that Kel talked with them in limbo. Yeah, it's great, but we better hurry. Can you call Leslie to get to the manor while I call Fate? There's no time with even a car or ambulance; we need a portal.".
"Thanks, Alfred. Yeah. I know, but we need to try, and trying is better than doing nothing. The damn doctors are being pessimistic here. Alright, bye.", Thomas then replied, and then finished the call, and taking a deep breath before tapping another contact, "Hey, Fate...I'm at General Gotham Hospital. Yeah, I know it was on the news. We were at the circus, and their kid is one of Poppy's. I will explain more, but can you please freeze the hospital while you're here? Thanks, Fate. I'm on Floor D, Room 34. See you in a moment.".
It only took a few moments before Fate arrived in the room. "You better make this quick; having just this place paused... it's going to cause some problems if anyone else needs to get here in a few minutes.", he said as Thomas nodded.
"Right. Just get these two down into the med labs below the manor and then hopefully, you can just simply hypnotize a few doctors and nurses to think I was never here, and that John and Mary were taken to another hospital.", Thomas explained.
Fate nodded, "That I can do.", before moving his glowing hands and chanting in Latin, as a copy of two hospital beds, and the current machinery off and such appeared, while the occupied beds and the on-machinery functioned under magic, floating, with a portal appearing straight into the med bay of the Batcave, as Thomas went to hold into the beds with his hands guiding them through the portal to see Bruce waving and running, bringing up the cords of the still functioning machinery under magic to the plug-ins as the beds landed in an empty corner of the med bay, before floating down gracefully and carefully as the magic then vanished.