The migraine hit Marcus like a breaching charge.
He was in the middle of a training sequence when the pain detonated behind his eyes, turning the warehouse's dim lighting into searing spears. His enhanced tactical awareness, usually a constant hum of information, fractured into jagged shards of sensory overload.
"Down!" Maya's voice cut through the haze. She caught him before he hit the training mat, her movements precise despite his dead weight. "Doc! We need you here!"
Marcus tried to push through it, to access the precognition, but attempting to see the future only intensified the present agony. His vision tunneled, tactical enhancement scrambling the input until he couldn't tell walls from threats.
"Don't fight it," Doc ordered, suddenly there with a penlight and medical kit. "Sarah, get over here. We need readings."
Time fragmented. Marcus was vaguely aware of being moved to the medical bay, of Sarah's instruments and Doc's concerned voice. His tactical memory tried to catalog the symptoms, but even that enhancement felt like broken glass in his skull.
"—neural activity off the charts—"
"—temperature spiking to 103—"
"—chemical markers similar to extreme combat fatigue—"
The voices faded in and out until a cool darkness finally claimed him.
He awoke to the soft beep of medical monitors and Maya's quiet breathing. The migraine had receded to a dull throb, leaving his thoughts clearer but his powers ominously silent.
"Twenty-six hours," Maya said before he could ask. "Doc had to sedate you when the convulsions started."
Marcus attempted to sit up, but his body refused basic commands. Even his enhanced tactical awareness felt distant, muted.
"Sarah thinks she knows what happened." Maya helped him drink from a water bottle, her movements efficient but gentle. "Your abilities aren't just tools, Marcus. They're changing your brain chemistry every time you use them."
"The team—"
"Is fine. Bobby's on overwatch, Morgan's processing data, and we've maintained security protocols." She met his gaze. "But we need to talk about what this means for the mission."
The medical bay door opened as Sarah entered, followed by Doc. Both wore the expressions Marcus recognized from delivering hard truths to patients.
"Your neural patterns are fundamentally altering," Sarah began without preamble, showing him a tablet of brain scans. "Each use of precognition creates new pathways, but it's burning through resources faster than your body can replenish them."
"Like overclocking a computer," Morgan added from the doorway. "More power, but at the cost of stability."
Doc took over, his combat medic experience evident in his directness. "You've been pushing all three abilities simultaneously – precog, tactical enhancement, and the physical improvements. Your system can't sustain that level of demand."
Marcus processed this through his sluggish tactical analysis. "Cross won't have these limitations."
"Actually," Sarah countered, "he might have worse ones. His powers seemed more intense than yours. If the neural degradation scales with power output..."
"He's burning himself out faster," Maya finished. "Explains his aggressive timeline. He knows he has an expiration date."
The implications hit harder than the migraine. Everything they'd trained for assumed Marcus's abilities would be reliably available. If they were deteriorating...
"How long?" he asked.
"Unknown," Sarah admitted. "But we can slow the progression. Carefully managed usage. Regular recovery periods. Proper neural support."
"We don't have time for careful," Marcus growled. "The outbreak's coming in eight weeks. Cross is building an army. Unknown players are probing our defenses. And now you're telling me my powers are killing me?"
"No," Maya's voice cut through his frustration. "We're telling you that you need to trust your team more than your powers."
The room fell silent as her words sank in. Marcus forced his tactical enhancement to focus, really looking at his people through trained eyes.
Bobby, now visible in the doorway, whose parkour skills had already saved them multiple times. Morgan, whose understanding of the virus grew daily. Sarah and Doc, combining scientific brilliance with battlefield medicine. And Maya, leading in his absence without hesitation.
"What are our options?" he finally asked.
Sarah laid out a tablet showing multiple neural enhancement protocols. "We can stabilize the degradation with targeted treatments. But you'll need to be strategic about power usage. No more running all three abilities at once. No extended precog sessions."
"And you'll need to let us handle more," Maya added. "The team's solid, Marcus. Let us carry some of the weight."
The old Marcus – the one who'd died in Afghanistan – would have pushed through, damn the consequences. But that Marcus hadn't learned the lessons that came with a second chance.
"Define strategic usage," he said.
The next hour was a crash course in neural chemistry and power management. Sarah and Morgan had mapped usage patterns against biological markers. Doc translated it into practical medical protocols. Maya and Bobby added tactical considerations from their combat experience.
"Think of it like a battery," Sarah explained. "Each ability draws power at different rates. Precognition burns fastest, tactical enhancement is moderate, and physical improvements are relatively stable. The key is managing your total output."
"And having a real recovery plan," Doc insisted. "Not just pushing until you crash."
Marcus absorbed the information through his gradually recovering tactical enhancement. "How soon can we restart training?"
"That depends," Maya said with dangerous calm, "on whether you're ready to train smart instead of just hard."
He met her steady gaze, reading the concern beneath her challenge. The same concern reflected in every team member's face.
"Alright," he conceded. "New protocols. Limited power usage. Full team integration." He managed a small smile. "Happy?"
"Ecstatic," Maya deadpanned. "Bobby, you're up first. Show our fearless leader how to run operations without burning out his brain."
As the team began planning modified training scenarios, Marcus felt something shift in their dynamic. They weren't just adapting to his limitations – they were growing beyond them.
Maybe that had been the point all along.