Science and magic weren't supposed to mix.
That was what people told themselves they were doing when they pulled it off.
But I knew better.
Magic was science just on a level people couldn't quite wrap their heads around. Equations penned in symbols no human mathematician had been able to crack. Forces that warped reality without any use of technology.
And as it turned out, right now something was distorting both.
---
Wonder Woman took me to the center of the commotion a secret chamber deep beneath Gotham, buried under layers of forgotten history.
As soon as we entered, I felt it.
A warp in space-time.
As if the laws of physics were being rewritten.
The room was old, littered with stone tablets that cracked and crumbled under my fingers, covered in pulsing symbols. A combination of Greek and Sumerian and something I couldn't at first identify.
I pressed my hand against the inscriptions, allowing my mind to unfurl.
Processing. Translating.
The symbols reformed themselves in my sight, recombining until meaning clicked into place.
"This isn't a spell," I whispered. "It's a formula."
Diana's eyebrow went up. "Explain."
I followed the inscriptions with my finger. "Whoever did these wasn't applying magic as much as they were creating a system a method for combining arcane power with physics itself."
"Impossible," she told me.
I shot her a look. "You're standing next to me, Diana. You really wanna use that word?"
She let out a sigh. "Point taken."
I focused back on the inscriptions.
My brain was racing, considering options quicker than a quantum computer. The design of the carvings, the composition of the spell it wasn't read.
It was activated.
And already had been, by someone.
A burst of power leaped through the room, creating a ripple of distorting light along the walls.
Diana's muscles tense, her hand falling to the hilt of her sword. "What just happened?
I closed my eyes, allowing my cosmic perception to extend outward.
The solution slammed into me like a sledgehammer.
"This is not a ritual location," I grumbled. "It's a lock."
She furrowed her brow. "A lock for what?"
I opened my eyes, adjusting my sight to the realigning energy.
"Something that was never meant to be unleashed."
---
The puzzle fell into place.
Magic and science weren't merely clashing they were being forced together, distorted into an unstable hybrid.
Something someone had been locked away using both sciences.
But now, the seal was faltering.
Diana stood there, eyes on me, face unreadable. "Can you stop it?"
I didn't respond right away.
Because the truth was I could.
But that wasn't the actual issue.
Someone who had created this seal had employed technology centuries in advance of its time paired with sorcery strong enough to compete with gods.
And that meant they were still out there.
Waiting.
Watching.
My brain ran through possibilities. If I reprogrammed the sequence, I could stabilize the barrier. But that would only put off the inevitable.
I needed a long term solution.
And I required more information.
I looked at Diana. "We must locate the person who created this."
Her hand clenched on her sword. "And if they don't wish to be located?"
I took a breath. "Then we make them."
The lock wasn't the issue.
The key was.
And the person who possessed it was going to become my next target.
---
**End of Chapter 12**