Olivia POV
The stairs feel like they'll never end. I force myself to keep going, put one foot in front of the other, and, though the climb feels like it takes an eternity, I find myself before the roof access door far too soon. I pause before opening it, mind racing. Am I making the right decision? Can I stop this? Can they bring me back? My thoughts race around my head, doubts creeping in and thoughts of despair swirling, before I finally gather my courage, remembering that they took Clint. I shoulder open the roof access door, stepping out onto the roof. I scan the expanse warily, eyes landing on a figure standing near the edge, seemingly unaware of my presence. It's too far away for me to make out any particular details, and it seems that the person is turned away from the door I've exited through, staring out over the chaos below. I take a step towards the figure, lightning crackling quietly at my fingertips. Maybe this won't be so difficult…if I can just take out this guy now, maybe all this can end. I slip into the shady cover of a ventilation unit, steps silent. As I peek around the edge to study my target, I hear a sound that chills my bones. The door to the stairwell slams closed, a woman standing in front of it. I tense, lowering myself into a fighting stance, suddenly very aware of my trapped position. I can't move far enough out from underneath the ventilation unit to fly without turning my back on the figure at the roof's edge, but I can't flee back down the stairs, now that the woman has blocked them off. I summon knives made of lightning to my hands, preparing for a fight, when something hits me from behind. My vision goes white for a second, the pain blinding, but then I'm up and rolling away, the threat of the figure forgotten as I turn to face my new attacker. Joining the woman is a small man, close to my height, with close-cut, dark hair and a wicked grin. Neither the man nor the woman physically exhibit their powers, but I have no doubt that they're both mutants. I press the offensive, attacking both of them with a flurry of blows from my lightning blades. The woman disappears from view immediately, making her one of the mutants who can turn invisible. The man dodges and weaves, faster on his feet than what should be humanly possible. His mutant ability must have something to do with speed, but his, at least, I can match. I draw lightning into me, storm clouds rolling in to cover the afternoon sun. I focus the lightning into my muscles, strengthening me and increasing my speed. I match the man's speed, managing to land a blow with one of my knives, shocking him in the process. He stumbles back, clutching his arm and wincing in pain, but otherwise doesn't seem affected. I stumble as an invisible blow lands on my kneecap, lashing out with my other blade. The woman gasps in pain, becoming visible again, but she merely stalks over to the man to regroup, neither taking their eyes off of me. I flip my knives in my hands, feeling the rage and force of the gathering storm above. I feel my eyes begin to glow with power, and both of my assailants back away a step, eyes narrowing. I begin to lunge towards them, to finish the fight, when I'm knocked to the ground by the force of a blinding pain in my skull. I drop, clutching my head, nearly screaming in pain. I can't see, can't think, can't move. It's like a knife's being driven through my head from the back, and I involuntarily release my grip on my knives, the lightning dissipating into nothing. For what seems like an eternity, there is only blinding, white-hot pain, and then it's gone. I pant, still curled around myself, and I'm fairly sure that I'm shaking. I manage to look up, and the figure from the edge of the roof is standing in front of me, the man and woman flanking him. His face would be handsome, if it wasn't for the sneer twisting his lips and the scar nearly splitting his face in half. He was tall, and wore a dark trench coat, with cruel-looking boots and a massive sword across his back. Looking at him HURT, like looking into the sun, and I had to look away, the pain too much. He laughed, the sound like knives raking down a chalkboard, and I cringed, the sound working its way through my ears and into my brain. A heartbeat later, a rough hand was on my face, forcing me to look up into cruel black eyes, and that same pain shot through my skull again, this time forcing a cry of pain out of me. The man held my face for a moment, like he was examining it, then let go, rising again.
"Bag her. She'll serve us well." The man's voice was gravelly, like he was speaking over a throat full of rocks. Though the pain from whatever he had done was lessened, moving felt like an impossible task. I couldn't resist the man and the woman when they clipped thick cuffs around my wrists and ankles, couldn't resist as I was dragged into a cage and locked inside. Neither of them said anything, just worked in a silent tandem as a faint crackling of radio static was audible, then the man in the trench coat's voice:
"We got her. Bring in the chopper." The radio crackled again and was silent, and then the man walked back into sight, looking pleased with himself. Rage surged through me, but exhaustion was rapidly winning the battle, and though I struggled against the cuffs binding me, I couldn't break them. The man leaned down to my level, smirking, and pain shot through my skull again. This time, the pain combined with the exhaustion, and blackness overtook me.