Chapter 4
Jason felt calmer the next morning, oh don’t get him wrong, he was still pissed over what happened last night, but he right now he wasn’t seeing green so that was great.
He had already made breakfast for him and the kid, they were eating in a comfortable silence.
It was the weekend so there was no school today. Ikol had finished his homework in the morning, having woken up earlier than Jason, the boy was now on the couch reading some of the books Jason had in his collection. The kid looked entranced as he read the pages.
Then a loud knock on the door startled them both, Jason motioned for Ikol to hide just in case, when he opens the door he immediately relaxes when he sees who the visitor is.
“Dames, didn’t think would drop by again so soon” He welcomes his little brother, motioning for him to come in.
"My apologies for not warning you ahead of time, akhi, but I didn’t want to tip Gordon off that I was coming here to warn you" The boy said, getting inside and greeting Ikol who had come out of his hiding spot.
“Shit, what happened?” Jason asks, already feeling anxious, what the hell did those two do?
Ikol quietly casts a spell on the door so nobody can enter without his authorization. He had a feeling that the two intruders - yes he knows now that they are his father’s brothers but they didn’t act like it sooo - from yesterday will probably try something from the boy’s tone.
Damian looks around and starts to check if there was any kind of bug that the other two let inside the house.
“I’ve already checked yesterday, there are no bugs, it’s safe, kid” Jason reassures him.
The boy still looks nervous as he says. “Akhi, I assumed you were unaware of this, but Drake took DNA samples of your son and–”
The man interrupts. “Oh yeah, Ikol noticed that, it’s okay, I mean it’s not but it’s not like they’re going to find anything”
“...”
“Dami?” Jason asks gently, trying to not sound too concerned by his silence, did they really find something?
“The results say Ikol and I share the same DNA…” Damian admits, still looking around as if expecting anyone to break in at any moment.
“What?” Jason asked, his heart skipping a beat, barely processing Damian’s words.
“And that you’re his biological mother” The boy continued.
Jason blinked slowly at that, hold on, Ikol somehow is his biological child? Wait, did he say he just said that he is the kid’s mother?!?!?!?
While Jason was having an existential crisis, Damian stepped forward, his face unusually sincere as if offering support.
"Akhi, I did not know you were born female, I hope you know I do not see your transition as something bad or wrong—"
Wait, what? He looked at his little brother confused for a second then he realized what he was saying. "Damian"
"—I wholeheartedly support you—"
Jason rubbed his face, torn between being touched by Damian’s sincerity and the sheer absurdity of the moment. "Damian, I’m not... I’m not trans."
Damian stopped mid-sentence, looking completely lost. “...but the results…”
Ikol, who had been quietly observing, finally chimed in, his voice calm yet amused. "I may know what is going on, I did not tell father about it because I did not think it was worth telling, but now..."
Jason, still confused and panicking, glanced at him. “What’s up, buddy?”
The boy turned his attention to Damian. "Father did not tell you I'm a God" It was not a question, Ikol knew Jason didn't.
Damian’s eyes widened, his sharp mind racing as he shakes his head. “A god?” He looked at Ikol, disbelief flickering in his usually composed gaze.
"Yes, I'm Loki” The boy says, letting go of his glamor and showing his Jotun form.
He stills looked like Damian, though his face had so many markings that if you didn't pay much attention you wouldn't be able to tell.
The other boy looks at him in awe, he never saw a God, he knows they exist since Wonder Woman herself was the daughter of Zeus, but Loki was a norse God, wasn’t he? Do all Norse gods exist as well?
Ikol was relieved when Damian did not react badly to his appearance.
He took a steadying breath before speaking again, his voice quiet but deliberate. “My adoptive parents were Odin and Frigga, and... well, the All-Father decided I was no longer useful, so he banished me to another universe” He finally admitted. It wasn’t a detail he’d ever imagined would be significant here, but the moment had come to lay it out.
“I suspect it was supposed to be my universe’s Midgard,” Ikol continued, eyes narrowing in thought. “But Frigga must have intervened with her seidr, her magic, and redirected me here instead”
Damian didn’t miss a beat. “The multiverse is nothing new to us” He said with his usual confidence. “So we believe you”
Jason, however, looked bewildered, his brows knitting together as he tried to make sense of it. “Wait, why would your adoptive mother send you here of all places?” He asked, the confusion evident in his voice.
Why Gotham? This place was such a shitty city!
Ikol shrugged, his expression equally uncertain. “I do not know” He admitted.. “But to explain why I’m telling you this, the existence of the multiverse means anything is possible” He looks at them with a firm look. “Now, with that in mind, it seems obvious why Damian and I look alike”
Damian was quick to piece things together, widening his eyes slightly in realization. “We are... alternate versions of each other” He said, the awe creeping into his voice.
“Exactly” Ikol confirmed, nodding. “Which is why the test results showed...” He gestured toward Jason. “That you’re my biological mother”
Jason’s jaw practically hit the floor. “Because your mother and I are the same person in different universes… holy shit, this is bonkers”
All this talk was giving him a headache, the multiverse thing was not a problem, hell, Flash had gone through a lot of these as well as time travel, so that wasn’t a hard thing to grasp. But him apparently being a mother in another universe felt mind blowing.
Jason frowned as another thought came to him. “Hold on, even if your mother’s DNA and mine are similar, there is no way the bats don’t have samples of my DNA from before, why do they think I’m suddenly a woman?”
Damian looked nervous. “About that... one of the samples Drake got from the cups had your DNA, and they compared it just to make sure you didn’t have a ‘clone sister’ running around. The results came back still saying you’re... female? So now they think the original sample in the database may have been corrupted or altered and that you have been hiding your gender?”
Jason blinked, utterly dumbfounded. “...what?!”
Ikol chimed in, his tone thoughtful but cautious. “I don’t know much about Jotun biology—I was always taught they were monsters—but… I have always felt this strange instinct to change my gender sometimes, I used to do it in secrecy at Asgard, If that’s a Jotun thing… and if my mother was half or pure Jotun…”
Jason’s head whipped toward him. “Wait, are you saying I could be half Jotun? No way, I’m human! Both my shitty parents were human, and trust me, I’d notice if I suddenly turned into a woman!”
“There’s a chance” Ikol said carefully. “I don’t know how a Jotun ended up in this universe, since I haven’t sensed any presence of Asgard or the other realms here, but... it’s possible. Maybe you wouldn’t notice, maybe Jotun bodies can change gender to suit different roles”
Damian, clearly trying to wrap his mind around it all, jumped in, eyes narrowing. “Are you suggesting akhi could be subconsciously changing his gender without realizing it? Because he’s raising you?”
Ikol nodded slowly, his gaze contemplative. “Possibly, as I said, my knowledge of my species is limited, but in Jotunheim, they have two women ruling as Queens, and they managed to have biological children….”
Jason let out a breath, half laughing, half reeling. “So, if by some wild chance I am half Jotun... my body’s been slowly turning me into a woman because I’m playing ‘Mom’ to you? That’s... that’s kinda sexist, actually” He muttered, his tone wavering between a joke and a full-on existential crisis.
Loki’s expression shifted, a rare look of guilt crossing his face. “It’s possible… yes…”
Jason blinked, processing the information as he ran a hand through his hair. “So… does that mean I’m like, part magic or something? Or is this just a Jotun thing? And is there a way to stop it? No offense to women, but I really don’t feel like one”
“I sense seidr locked within you” Loki admitted, a little surprised himself, he has noticed it before but…. “I thought you already knew I can help you unlock the rest of it if you want, but about the gender shift, It's likely a Jotun ability, I could… try to teach you how to control it?”
He had magic? Well, he was able to wield the All Blades, but it seems Ikol was talking about a different kind of magic, this is so wild, he never thought anything so bizarre like this would happen to him.
He thought himself just an average human, but again, normal humans didn’t come back from the dead…shit he may really be magic and half Jotun after all, what the fuck is his life?
Jason noticed the guilt in his kid’s eyes and his expression softened. “You know I don’t blame you for this, right? And if you want to change gender whenever, that’s cool by me, I don’t mind”
Loki blinked, taken aback. “Truly?”
Jason gave him a gentle smile. “Yeah, kid, I really don’t give a shit about people’s gender or sexuality, live how you want, but me? I don’t feel like a woman, and I really don’t want to be one”
Loki nodded, feeling relieved at the acceptance. “Understandable, I’ll help you maintain your male form, then”
Damian, who had been silent up until now, sighed tiredly. “There’s something else, Richard and Drake haven’t told father yet, since he’s off with the League, but I’m certain they will once he’s back, and when they do... you know father will confront you about this”
He did not like to admit it, but his father wasn’t the man his mother had described when he was still at the League of Assassins, he is not kind, he is not understanding nor he loves enough to forgive, at least not when it’s about Jason, because his akh will always be an exception to him.
Damian also wasn’t blind to his siblings’ behavior, they were controlling and kept breaking his akh’s boundaries, they think they have the right to break his privacy, they are polite and try to get his brother on their side only to break that trust in the same day it was built when Jason’s help is not necessary anymore.
Jason sighed feeling tired just by the mention of Bruce.
“We need to move to another place” He concludes with disappointment coloring his tone. “You think mom would help me with keeping B away from us?”
Damian nods firmly. “Of course, mother would do anything to keep you safe, you know that”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get in contact with her in a minute” Jason says, getting his phone ready.
“Do so, tell her I’ll be moving in with you”
The man almost drops his cell phone in shock. “Wha–Damian, you can’t, B will go nuts if you do!”
Damian’s expression hardened, crossing his arms with that determined look that Jason knew all too well. “Perhaps, but I do not wish to remain with them any longer, they disrespected you” His tone was calm, but his eyes burned with resolve.
Jason felt a surge of gratitude, but this was too much, the last thing he wanted was for Damian to sever ties with the rest of the Bats because of him. “Dami, it’s alright, you don’t have to do this for me” He tried, his voice gentler than usual.
“No” Damian’s voice was fierce. “It is not alright, you are my family too, more than they ever were” His posture straightened. “You helped mother raise me at the League, Richard may have filled in when Father was absent when I came to Gotham, but that doesn’t mean I will take his side when they’re in the wrong”
Jason blinked, caught off-guard by the intensity of Damian’s loyalty, he means, they were close since Talia had them interact at the League, but after they went separate ways, he thought part of that connection they had, had been lost with time, specially after years or Bruce pushing him away, he thought the boy would never try seeing him again until last night.
“Kid, are you really sure about this? They’re not gonna let you go without a fight, you know how they are, they’ll pull everything to get you back”
Damian met his gaze without hesitation. “Let them try, mother will ensure they do not get near us”
Jason sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, feeling the weight of the decision. “Shit… okay, kid…”
Ikol, who had been quiet in the corner, hesitated before speaking up, his voice soft. “Will… will I still be able to go to school? I was starting to like it…”
Jason shot him a reassuring look, his expression softening as she shuffled the kid’s hair gently. “We’ll figure something out, kid. Don’t worry.” He then turned his attention back to his phone and dialed the one person he knew could handle this.
The call barely rang once before the unmistakable voice answered.
“Hello abni, my love, how have you and your son been doing?” She asks genuinely sounding so soft and caring that one would say this was not Talia al Ghul.
“Hey, umm,” Jason started, his words rushed. “Sorry to cut to the chase, but we need your help, the bats... they might come after us”
The shift in her tone was instant. Softness turned to iron, a protective edge slicing through her words. “What do you need?”
Jason took a deep breath. “Well…”