The car was too small. One slip, and her parents would be dead. Anna would have no one left to look after her. A one-legged orphan. Broken and unloved.

Unacceptable.

Elsa kept a tight rein on her powers, staring out the window at the darkness and the passing halos cast by the occasional street light, thinking of nothing but control. Breathe in. Conceal. Breathe out. Don't feel.

Elsa noticed her breath wasn't fogging the glass.

In. Conceal. Out. Don't feel.

That just meant the cold was inside her.

In. Conceal. Out. Don't feel.

Where it belonged.

A phone rang, and Elsa's father startled so hard she felt the whole car shake.

Elsa hadn't flinched, hadn't lost control, hadn't stopped breathing, hadn't lost track of her mantra.

Good, for you. Elsa didn't let the thought distract her.

In. Conceal. Out. Don't feel.

"Yes," Elsa's mother whispered. She cleared her throat, then, louder, "Do it. Whatever you need to do."

That's the leg.

In. Conceal. Out. Don't feel.

Elsa felt something fall onto her arm and bounce to the floor. She was considering whether or not she could spare the focus to investigate when another fell into her lap.

In. Conceal. Out. Don't feel.

She picked up a tiny shard of ice.

Inside is fine, she allowed herself to think.

She returned to her mantra as the useless bits of ice continued to fall.

ooooooooooooooooooooo

Elsa stood apart from her parents, her family the sole occupants of the hospital waiting room until the man entered. She watched him take in the space as he approached her parents.

Black suit and tie, white shirt, earpiece: government. Department of Superhuman Affairs? This is when they take me away.

"Mr. and Mrs. Arendelle? I'm Geoffrey, with the Boston Guardians." He held out his hand, then let it drop when Elsa's parents ignored it.

"And you must be Elsa. It's a pleasure to meet you, miss." He leaned down and tried to smile disarmingly, but Elsa could see the way his eyes were examining her, piece by piece. Already taking her apart.

"I'm ready to go," she told him, and he tilted his head minutely, reevaluating her. She was considering if she should turn to her parents, if… if they would let her say goodbye (conceal don't feel) when her father took a step toward the man.

Geoffrey turned smoothly to face him, hands up and spread, saying, "Actually, we do have rooms prepared for you all at the Workshop. It's only a mile away—"

"I'm staying here," Elsa's mother cut him off.

"We all are," Elsa's father said, crossing his arms.

Elsa blinked. They want to keep me, she realized, and it hurt.

Geoffrey was smiling regretfully at her father. "I'm afraid that isn't possible. Just because we're already in a hospital doesn't mean we want people getting injured."

Elsa bit her bottom lip, tasted warm, salty blood. She ran around her father to the man, stopping short of grabbing his hand. "I'll come with you," she said. "Just don't hurt them, please don't hurt them."

"You're not taking my daughter," Elsa's mother snarled, before looking to Elsa's feet and freezing.

Elsa looked down and watched an ice chip fall to the floor and skitter across the tiles. She saw another that must have been three tears stuck together shatter when it hit the cold ground.

"I'm not taking your daughter," Geoffrey said carefully, seeming to watch everything at once, "And this isn't really the place for this conversation, but if we can all remember that there are some special circumstances that we are better equipped to deal with at the Workshop, maybe we can agree that at least Elsa needs to come with me."

Elsa's father's jaw flexed. "I'm coming with you."

Geoffrey eyed him cautiously. "Fabulous."

Elsa kept watching the collection of frozen tears grow, biting her lip. Finally, she peeked up at her father through her bangs, saw him still watching Geoffrey, saw her mother watching her and looking like she wanted to cry. Elsa took a half step toward her mother. "You… You really want to keep me?" she asked, whispering at the end.

"Oh, honey," her mother said, rushing to her but stopping just short; crouched down and arms reaching, but not touching. And then she was holding Elsa's face, cupping her cheeks, pressing thumbs to frozen tears and they melted and flowed.

ooooooooooooooooooooo

Elsa refused to get in another car, and so Geoffrey walked with her and her father to the car to retrieve their bags, then led the way out of the parking lot and down to street level.

"It's only about 15 minutes to the Workshop," Geoffrey said, waiting for her to catch up and then taking a position between her and the street.

"You're next to the Boston Common?" Elsa father asked from her other side.

Geoffrey nodded, scanning the mostly-empty roads. "The Event, and the events after the Event… opened up some space. It's centrally located and well-connected. The Guardians are Boston's A-team, so we got the best location."

Elsa noticed a shadow pass over the moon and started searching the sky. Geoffrey noticed and looked up too, then half-turned to watch Elsa. Elsa gasped when she saw what had blocked out the moon: a flying man in a white suit, cape billowing behind him. "Is that Atlas?" she asked in awe.

Geoffrey grinned. "Don't let him hear you say that. Atlas-type. Apex. He's with the Watertown Warriors."

Elsa's father spoke up, speaking slowly, "This isn't Watertown."

Geoffrey gave a small shrug. "Only a couple miles if you're flying. All of the Boston teams patrol all of Greater Boston." After a moment, he added, "But yes, he's probably here to keep an eye on us. We keep in touch." He looked at Elsa's father, then added, a little dryly, "We're professionals."

They walked in silence for a while, and Elsa saw Apex fly by a couple more times. She also noticed that Geoffrey kept giving her looks out of the corner of his eye, in addition to his constant scanning of the rest of the street. "What?" she finally said.

Geoffrey didn't slow, but he did catch her eye, measuring her for a moment before speaking up, "I can't believe you thought I was there to abduct you." His voice was even, but he still sounded a little offended.

"I've seen The X-Files," Elsa said, and she caught him rolling his eyes for the briefest moment. "What? You were saying all that stuff about," and she lowered her voice as much as she could, "'We don't want anyone to get hurt, here,' so what was I supposed to think?"

"I was talking about you, miss," he said, and now he was watching her with his full attention. "I didn't want you having another accident."

That quieted her. "Oh." …another accident, like before, she heard. Another accident like the one where you—

No, she thought. No, not again—

—I can't—

—Papa's right here—

—she had stopped, and he touched her and she shoved his hand away, wide-eyed and hyperventilating—

—I can't I can't I can't—

—conceal don't feel conceal don't feel conceal don't feel conce—

"Elsa," Geoffrey said, crouching right in front of her, startling her into locking eyes with him. "Elsa, that place you're going to?" He shook his head. "Don't go there anymore."

Elsa suddenly became aware of her father yelling, at Geoffrey and at the cape in white, who was now standing in their midst, holding her father back with one unmoving arm to his chest.

"Problem, Platoon?" the cape in white—Apex—asked.

"Maybe," Geoffrey replied. "Get him back a bit, just in case." And he grabbed her shoulders.

Elsa tried to back away, but his grip was solid. She couldn't stop thinking, couldn't start her mantra, couldn't get control of her power with him looking at her like that and touching her which was exactly when she needed control the most and she was going to freeze his hands—

"You're not going to freeze my hands," Geoffrey said, shocking her mind into silence. He lifted one hand and waved his fingers in front of her wide eyes. "See? Still here."

He paused while Elsa continued to stare at his hand.

"Or maybe you will freeze me," he said easily with a small shrug, and her eyes darted back to his in alarm. "But I imagine I'll be fine." He smiled at her, and then the smile turned sad. "It must have been so hard for you, trying to learn control while surrounded by such fragile things." The smile warmed again. "But you don't have to worry about that anymore. We're going to help you learn to control your gifts, really control them. Everything's going to be fine. Genuinely fine, not—" he waved his hand, "—'I'm dead inside and nothing matters' fine. So don't go there anymore, okay?" He gave her shoulder a brief squeeze and let her go.

Elsa stared at him. "You're a cape, aren't you?"

"You didn't think they were going to send a normal G-man after you, did you? Like I said, we're professionals." He grinned and stuck out his hand. "I'm Platoon, but you can call this one Geoffrey. Nice to meet you."

She eyed his hand carefully, then smiled shyly and shook it, skin to skin. "Elsa. Nice to meet you."

ooooooooooooooooooooo

Geoffrey showed them to their rooms in the Workshop, then turned to Elsa, saying, "Your exam is scheduled for nine in the morning. You'll get a wake up call."

Elsa blinked. "Exam?"

"For your powers."

"Oh."

After a moment Elsa and her father thanked him, then waited, looking for some kind of signal that it was okay to go as Geoffrey just stood there. He seemed to be considering something.

"We're going to take care of Anna, too," Geoffrey finally said.

Elsa and her father both looked at him sharply. She felt hope welling up within her. "You have someone who can heal her?" She hadn't even considered the possibility that everything might be fixed so easily.

Geoffrey grimaced. "No. I should have been clear about that. I'm sorry, but no. As far as we know there aren't any breakthroughs that can heal physical damage for anyone except themselves yet. But we do have someone right here who should be able to take care of any psychological trauma, and as for her leg…" His lips quirked, and he continued, "Tell me, have you heard of Horrendous?"

ooooooooooooooooooooo

I'm sorry, but yes, we absolutely can. The law is still unclear, still being written on a lot of things regarding breakthroughs, like, for example, whether or not we actually needed to show you Elsa's examination results—we're making an analogy here between superpowers and medical records with respect to minors to decide that yes, we probably do—but on this, we are crystal clear, the legal precedent set and upheld, the appeals struck down. Your daughter will stay with us for training until we have determined that she is no longer a danger to herself or others. End of story.

ooooooooooooooooooooo

AN: Next chapter will be back to Jack on Monday.