The migraine hit during Martinez's virus briefing.
Marcus managed to keep his expression neutral as the pain lanced through his skull, but Maya caught his micro-expression immediately. Even without enhanced abilities, she'd learned to read him too well.
"Take five, everyone," she announced, smoothly interrupting the briefing. "Let's process what we've learned."
The expanded command center – their third base in two weeks – quickly cleared as specialists returned to their stations. Only the core team remained, watching their leader with varying degrees of concern.
"Neural interface is showing anomalies," Sarah reported, already scanning his vitals. "Power usage is minimal, but the baseline readings are... unstable."
"Define unstable," Doc demanded, medical kit in hand.
"It's like the powers are trying to activate on their own." Sarah's expression held professional concern. "Even with the dampeners engaged."
Marcus gripped the tactical table as another wave hit. This time the precognition crashed through his mental barriers: dozens of overlapping visions, each showing slightly different versions of the next few seconds. His enhanced tactical awareness tried to process them all simultaneously, creating a feedback loop of information.
"Get him to medical," Maya ordered, but he was already shaking his head.
"No time," he managed. "Martinez's report – there's something important. Something I almost saw..."
"Something that's worth burning out your brain?" Doc's voice carried both medical authority and genuine worry. "The dampeners are failing. Your powers are evolving faster than our containment measures."
Bobby appeared from his surveillance position, for once completely serious. "Cross's latest attacks have been probing actions. Testing our responses, mapping our capabilities. If the boss is compromised..."
"I'm fine," Marcus insisted, even as his tactical enhancement sparked random insights about threat vectors and defensive positions. "Just need to adjust the dampeners."
"You're not fine," Maya countered. "You're experiencing exactly what happened to Cross. The powers are consuming more neural resources than your brain can sustain."
The truth of her words hit harder than the migraine. They'd seen Cross's deterioration through intercepted communications and surveillance. The former black ops commander's abilities had grown exponentially, but at a devastating cost to his mental stability.
"Sarah," Marcus forced the words through clenched teeth, "show them the pattern analysis."
The scientist hesitated, then brought up their latest research data. "The viral markers we've been tracking... they're not just spreading. They're evolving. Adapting to potential countermeasures before we can deploy them."
"Because someone's guiding the process," Morgan added quietly. "The same way Marcus's powers are evolving beyond our controls."
The implications settled over the room like a physical weight. Everything connected: the virus, the powers, the impossible task of stopping an apocalypse that seemed determined to happen.
"We have options," Doc said firmly. "New neural dampeners, modified containment protocols—"
"No." Marcus straightened, pushing through the pain. "We need to understand what's really happening. Why the powers are evolving, why the virus keeps adapting, why..."
The precognition hit like a tactical nuke: not seconds of future sight, but waves of possible timelines. His enhanced tactical awareness tried to process the flood of information, threatening to overwhelm his neural interface completely.
Maya caught him before he hit the ground. "Medical! Now!"
The world fractured into overlapping realities as they moved him to Doc's facility. Each timeline showed slightly different versions of the same essential truth: this was more than just power evolution. Something was orchestrating events, pushing both abilities and virus toward some incomprehensible convergence.
"Neural patterns are critical," Sarah reported from somewhere far away. "The dampeners can't contain—"
"Then we remove them," Marcus managed, fighting to focus on one reality. "Let me see what the powers are trying to show me."
"That could kill you," Maya objected.
"Or it could show us what we're really fighting." He grabbed her hand, anchoring himself to the present. "Trust me."
The command center fell silent as his core team exchanged looks. They'd followed him through impossible missions, trusted his judgment in crisis after crisis. But this was different. This was asking them to risk his mind, possibly his life, on an intuition.
"Parameters," Doc said finally. "We do this under controlled conditions. Full medical monitoring. And the moment your vital signs crash, we shut it down."
"I'll modify the neural interface," Sarah added. "Create a buffer to prevent complete overload."
"And I'll be right here," Maya's grip tightened on his hand. "Ready to kick your ass if this goes wrong."
Marcus managed a smile despite the pain. "Wouldn't expect anything less."
As his team prepared for the controlled release of his powers, Marcus focused on the fragments of insight breaking through the agony. Something was coming. Something bigger than Cross, bigger than the virus, bigger than all their carefully laid plans.
Time to find out what destiny had really sent him back to face.