Batman lost one of his longtime allies this week, despite his best efforts to save them.
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Spoilers incoming for Detective Comics #995, so if you haven’t read the issue yet you’ve been warned.
In the last issue of Detective Batman faced a mysterious villain on a rooftop after it decimated Leslie Thompkins‘ clinic. It was charging after her for no reason it seemed, though she put together that it was trying to bait out Batman by attacking her. During the fight, it infected her with a dose of Joker’s laughing gas, and this issue starts out with Batman rushing her to the Batcave for treatment.
He calls Alfred and lets him know to prep the antitoxins as he races against the clock. Thompkins tells him she doesn’t want to die and that there’s so much work to do, and he tells her she will keep doing it. They get her on the table and Alfred injects her with the first inoculation, but it doesn’t work. Thompkins starts telling Bruce about all the ways he’s made the city better, not just as Batman, but as Bruce Wayne as well.
Alfred then injects her with two more inoculations, but they aren’t working. Alfred tells Bruce “She’s been infected with a mutated toxin variation…none of our antidotes are working.”
Leslie then tells Bruce “who knew that when I helped a young boy…I would help save a city?…hahaha…but be careful. The war you’re waging to keep Gotham alive…is also a war you wage against yourself…” As her eyes well up with tears she tells Alfred to “look after our boy” and tells Bruce “I’ve very proud of you, Bruce…Ha…so proud of…” Those would be her last words, but Bruce isn’t ready to give up just yet.
He has Alfred charge up the paddles and hits her with a shock to the chest. Memories start to flood his mind of their time together throughout the years, and he keeps shocking her, telling her “we still have more work to do!” Unfortunately, she never comes around, with Alfred saying “she’s gone, Bruce.”
Bruce tells Alfred he needs a minute after wondering why this happened to a “woman who always ran toward people in trouble…people in need…with open hands and open heart.” He closes her eyes and takes a minute to mourn, but as we see later with Alfred, he isn’t the only one mourning.
You can check out the spoiler images above.
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