Gotham City, three hundred feet beneath Wayne Manor.
Physics Lab No. 7, in the deepest reaches of the Batcave.
The half-meter-thick lead-zinc alloy isolation door locked shut with a dull mechanical clunk. The ventilation system ran at full capacity, and a pungent smell of ozone filled the air.
Bruce Wayne had taken off his bespoke Savile Row suit and changed into a black turtleneck. He stood behind the blast-resistant glass, both hands braced on the metal console, his deep-set eyes fixed on the chamber beyond.
In the center of the Containment Chamber, eight Robotic Arms held an extremely crude metal ring suspended in the air. Copper wires lay exposed, and the solder joints were ugly, but at its core, a mass of ghostly blue light pulsed steadily like a living thing.
"Alfred, bring the redundancy simulator for Wayne Enterprises' backup power grid online." Bruce's voice was cold and hard.
"Master Bruce, I must remind you." Alfred stood beside him, his fingers flying over the keyboard.
"Our database has no matches for this device's energy fluctuation curve. Forcing a grid-connection test could burn out the Batcave's entire primary substation."
"Five percent power. Execute." Bruce wasted no words.
"As you wish." Alfred pressed Enter.
Humm-
Inside the Containment Chamber, the ghostly blue light suddenly flared.
The row of holographic screens above the console was instantly engulfed by a waterfall of data.
"Voltage output holding steady at thirty million volts. Amperage... good heavens." A rare tremor entered Alfred's usually unruffled British voice. He adjusted his reading glasses and leaned closer to the screen.
"Energy conversion efficiency at ninety-nine point nine percent. That's impossible. It's sustaining its own cycle."
"Increase it to ten percent." Bruce's jaw tightened.
Crackle!
The words had barely left his mouth when a blinding burst of sparks erupted across the