Chapter Text
The group had taken it down to the cave after Diana's very quick suggestion. Before everyone could start asking questions.
Diana had told Bruce to set up the Bat-computer to record, telling all of them not even to speak while she does this, and everyone had taken to standing (or sitting) around it.
She faced Them seriously, but with the respect due Them, and pressed the record button.
“I am Diana of Themyscira, Heir to the throne and ambassador to the world of men, what shall I call you?”
Bruce looks like he’s going to interject but Diana puts her arm up and gives him the briefest of glances.
The-one-who-is-Jason refuses to look at anyone other than Diana, The-one-who-is-Gotham agrees. Diana nods for them to continue.
“You may call us Gotham.”
Everyone startles at Their voice, deeper and richer and older than it was, and words, an unshakeable truth that is irrefutable - They are one, Diana silences them with a look.
“Am I speaking with both of those who are Gotham?”
“You are.”
“May I speak with the Gotham-who-is-Jason?”
Gotham relinquishes her half-hold on Their voice, “Yes, Diana, I’m here.”
She smiles, “I have a few customary questions.”
Jason nods and smiles back, “I understand.”
Diana leans forward, placing her elbows on her legs, “Are you a City Visitant Holder of your own free will?”
Jason ignores the others shifting in the corner of his eye, “I am.”
“Are you willing to swear this on your Founding Family?”
“I swear this on my Founding Family.”
Diana nods, “Next, how long have you been a Holder.”
“I, Jason Todd-Wayne, have been a Holder for eleven years, She chose me at nine, I am now twenty.”
She nods again, “Thank you, Jason, may I speak with Gotham-who-is-Her?”
Jason nods back and allows Gotham to take his body fully, “I am here, Princess Diana.”
“It is lovely to meet you Visitant- I- what shall I call you?”
Gotham crosses her Holder's legs, not hers, this body is Jason’s, and folds Jason’s hands in his lap, smiling, “Visitant Gotham if you must use full titles, but you can simply call me Gotham. I know Washington D.C.’s a stickler for formality, but I don't have a stick up my ass like he does.”
Diana laughs, “Yes, well, I think I’ve annoyed him enough to get him to relax a bit. You may call me Diana if you wish to forego formality. I must ask you to swear by your Founding Family before we begin.”
Gotham nods, “I swear by my Founding Family that all these questions I answer truthfully, with nothing to hide.”
“Lovely, some basic ones to begin, who is your Founding Family?”
“My Waynes.”
The room at large twitches.
“Would you list them by first name please?”
“Alfred, Bruce, Richard, Jason, Harper, Stephanie, Timothy, Cassandra, Duke, Cullen, and Damian.”
There is a very very quiet ‘holy shit’ from Tim who seems to have caught up with what’s happening a bit, and starts whispering with Steph.
Diana smiles, “And your Head Guards? Full names this time.”
“James Gordon, Bruce Wayne, Richard Grayson-Wayne.”
“Perfect, now an obvious one, who is your Holder?”
“Jason Todd-Wayne.”
“Did you mean any ill will towards Jason Todd-Wayne when you claimed him as your Holder?”
“No.” Gotham answers viciously.
“How did he become your Holder?”
Gotham looks down at Jason’s hands, “A spirit grab-slash-return, I- I couldn’t- he was a child. He was my child.”
Diana nods sadly and places her hand on Jason’s, “I understand.”
Gotham looks up, and gives a melancholy smile, “You really do, don’t you?”
Diana frowns sadly, “Yes, I- I know from my side anyway, I was only a Holder for a few years, centuries ago, but- I understand,” she pulls her hand back and wipes her eyes, “That is all for my questions. Just a basic interview to make sure everything’s okay between you two.”
Gotham smiles and looks at her Waynes with eyes that do not belong to Jason, and a voice all her own, “I know you certainly have questions.”
Bruce, of course, steps up first, “You’re Gotham.” it’s not a question.
Gotham rolls her eyes, “Honestly, My Bat, if you have to ask, I do believe I went wrong somewhere.” Bruce looks mildly offended, Gotham giggles, everyone’s a little weirded out seeing Jason’s body doing it, “But yes, to answer your not-question, I am.”
“And Jason-”
“What can you do?” Dick gets out in a rush.
Gotham grins, “A lot of things, Song Bird, you’ll have to be more specific.”
“Song Bird?”
“What I call you- a nickname of a sort, though it really is a claim. A name I gave to you as your… I hate to say keeper, but it’s really the best I have.” Gotham frowns, “I’ve been trying to come up with something else for decades, the closest I can get is ‘mother’ but I don’t think it’s correct.”
Dick looks thoughtful, “Can you sense people? Like you know where everyone is in, uh, you?”
Gotham laughs, “Just say Gotham, it avoids confusion, and no, not while they’re inside my borders. My People are a blob in my borders because they are- me, so to speak, outside of them I can pick them out,” Gotham snaps Jason’s fingers, “Think of it like thermal vision, I and all My People give off heat. So near me, it’s just a big yellow splotch, but outside it’s a bunch of little groups that I can pick out.”
“This is so cool!” Harper whisper-yells.
“Why thank you, Summer Bird.”
“Why is B Bat?” Tim cuts in, he has a notepad that he’s been scribbling on since he figured out what the fuck was going on, “What are all of our- Claim Names?”
Gotham grins at Tim, “Well, Baby Bird,” Tim groans, and there’s scattered laughter, “I Name you after meaningful things, to both you and me. So My Bat is Bat because it means protector to my people, Richard is Song Bird because of Robin and his quite beautiful voice, Jason I don’t have a Name for because he’s my Holder and different rules apply, so I call him a variety of different things, Harper is Summer Bird because summer was an important time for her before you found her, Stephanie is Wild Bird because she came into this family differently then most of you did, sort of a ‘wild’ catch. You’re Baby Bird, mainly because Song Bird beat me to the punch and named you that, Cassandra is Little Bat because I like it that way, and it sounds adorable, Duke is Sun Bird, because of his powers. Damian is Mini-Bat because he’s My Bat’s blood child, blood has no bearing on literally anything, I just thought it was an adorable chance, and Cullen is Spring Bird because he likes spring.”
“And Alfred?”
Gotham smiles sadly, “I can’t claim Alfred.”
Steph is outraged by this, “Why not?!”
“Alfred belongs to a town in Scotland, you can claim him, and therefore make him part of my Founding Family, as Thomas and Martha did, but I cannot claim him myself.”
Everyone seems at least a little put out by the news.
Bruce gathers himself first and asks a few more questions about Gotham’s abilities and about Jason and how she affects him. By the end, everyone seems to have come to terms with the idea of her, and Diana ends the recording.
{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}
“So… can we talk to Jason?” Duke asks.
Gotham huffs and crosses Jason’s arms, “He’s being stubborn.”
<I am not!>
“Come out then.”
Jason huffs.
“Uh.. come out then?”
“That was to Jason, he can hear me speaking.”
“Oh… Why doesn’t Jason want to come out?”
“He’s a pussy.”
Jason makes an outraged squawk, <I AM NOT!!>
Gotham puts Jason’s hands on his hips and stares at a blank wall, “Then come. Out. Here.”
<No!>
“Pussy.”
<Fuck you.>
“I’m basically your mother.”
Jason gags, <ew! Stop it!>
“You’ll have to come out here to stop me.”
Jason doesn’t budge, everyone’s staring.
Gotham raises an eyebrow, “Alright, then I’ll tell them about the time when you were fourteen and-”
<NO!- “ -I’m coming out! Stop it G! I-” Jason cuts himself off as he realizes he can move his body, “oh.”
Dick approaches him tentatively, “Jay.”
Jason flinches and looks away, “Fuck off Dick.”
Dick does not, in fact, fuck off, Dick hugs Jason fiercely .
{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}
“So is that something you can do all the time?” Duke asks from the armchair.
Their motley group moved back to the Den after some tears, with a few retiring to bed after Diana’s succinct explanation. Bruce, Dick, Tim, Duke, Steph, Cass and Jason are the only ones still up.
Gotham’s turned from his mind to give them some privacy.
“No- well, yeah technically, but it takes a lot out of me,” Jason’s currently stuck on the love seat again, with his feet in Cass’s lap and the rest of him being trapped by Dick, “I’m probably going to crash in a few minutes.”
Tim looks up from his place on the couch with Steph, their faces stuck in the notepad, “That just means, like, tired right?”
Jason nods, “Yeah, it takes a lot of mental energy.”
“Why didn’t you tell us.” Is the not question posed by Bruce from the other armchair.
Jason laughs, it’s hollow and just a little bit cruel, and looks down at his hands, “Please, when would I have told you? We didn’t even know Diana was a Holder until tonight. It's a rather archaic practice, I thought I was the only one.”
“When you were younger. I thought-”
“Yeah, sure,” Jason looks up and glares at his father, “that would have gone well, ‘oh hey B, just thought I should tell you that I can hear a voice that isn’t mine and it belongs to a damn city.’ that would have gone over well.”
Dick hugs him tighter, “What about after you came home? I mean-”
“Dick, do you realize the amount of things that were happening then? I had just come home from being dead , Damian with me, we found Cass and got Steph into the family. Then, hardly a few months into being an actual family, Bruce fucking dies, when the hell would I have told you?”
“I-” Dick shoves his face into Jason’s shoulder, “Yeah okay…”
“On that fun note,” Steph says, “do you get any neat powers from it? Like, she can sense where Gothamites are so you can too?”
“Eh,” Jason waves his hand in a so-so gesture, “I can to an extent, but it’s not as prominent, I can’t track a Gothamite when they’re out of borders, but I’ll know when I meet one, or when they die.”
“You can feel people when they die?!”
“Only the ones outside the borders!”
“Moving on,” Tim says, “Is that how you’re able to track people in Gotham so easily?”
“Yep.”
“Sweet.”
“Does this mean I’m not the only meta in the family anymore?”
“Duke, babe,” Jason grins, “this shit’s all-natural, ain’t no genomes about it.”
Cass throws a pen at him, “That doesn’t even make sense.”
“Does so.”
“Does not.”
“Does-”
“Children. Please.”
They look at Bruce with wide eyes, “What’s wrong B?”
Bruce sighs, “Jason.”
“Dad.”
Steph giggles.
Tim goes to raid the kitchen and comes back with snacks and a binder, Jason grones.
“I'm gonna turn into one of your science experiments, aren't I?”
“No.” Tim says, dropping his spoils of war on the coffee table, he turns to Jason with a gleam in his eye that only means trouble, “You’re turning into a case study.”
Jason tries to run, Dick locks down his arms and Cass lays on him. His fate is sealed.
Gotham giggles and all is well.