Chapter 10

-All In Good Time-

'What characterizes a member of a minority group is that he is forced to see himself as both exceptional and insignificant, marvellous and awful, good and evil.'-Norman Mailer

Watches were rather ominous if one truly though about it. The rhythmic ticking never ceases, dull clicks which passed by with calculated and infallible precision. The fact that time itself does not stop for anyone, even if the world were crumbling apart and the very earth was being devoured by the molten lava beneath it, was truly frightening.

Elsa scrunched her brow, shaking her head as she did. Thoughts like served her no purpose, nothing but a reason to despair and pull away from her surroundings.

She detached her watch from her wrist and examined it. It truly was a marvel all in itself. It had living parts and a pretty frame, cogs and ticks which were integral to its prolongation. The flick of its second hand, the tiny 'tick' that followed, the gleam it let off in the warm fluorescent light; it was as if there was a tiny beating heart beating beneath the metal frame, with all its clogs and pins pumping and turning cohesively to bring it all together.

It was funny really, the way she could amuse herself. Whilst her new friends were busying themselves with the pin-ball machine, the self-serve bar or the gramophone, Elsa was sitting on the couch. Her legs were stretched out, with one shoulder against the back of the sofa and with her father's watch in her hand.

She had never really looked at it before now, not properly at least; she hardly wore it. She kept it in her pocket or the abyss of her bag.

It truly was a piece of art. A gold trim studded with writhing filigree, ink-black roman numerals against a fallow face. The hands themselves were raven in shade, with a gold outline to finish it off. The straps were worn, of course, but not far from it's prime.

Elsa soon found herself completely oblivious to her surroundings. She could feel herself becoming completely and utterly absorbed with the beauty of her father's watch. She could no longer hear the cries of triumph and groans of disappointment from her friends, or the ever-blaring gramophone rolling out the smooth sounds of Elvis Presley.

All she could hear was the tick of her watch, growing louder as time passed.

Time.

It was the one thing she didn't seem to have enough of. Something her family no longer had.

Elsa felt a little queasy; she could hear her own heartbeat beating in rhythm with the beat of her watch and growing faster still.

Suddenly, she felt something on her shoulder. A strong hand had grasped, clutching and shaking it. Fuzzy sounds began filtering her ears, rich deep notes. As it began to tune out itself, Elsa finally realised that it was simply Alex, asking her if he could sit down.

She looked up. Alex truly had a kinder face than what Elsa gave him credit for. His normally stiff and nerved appearance afforded him a rather quiet-psychopath vibe. It was clear that his shy, outwardly manner was a mask. But as to whether it was malice or kindness that hid beneath, Elsa was not entirely sure. But from she had gathered, it was likely to be the latter.

His bright blue eyes glistened, his smile reaching his eyes as his right cheek formed a dimple. His long nose twitched.

"So…can I?" he asked.

"So can I what?" Elsa replied, still a little dazed.

"Can I sit here?" He seemed a little baffled, no doubt wondering how she had not heard him. He was motioning to the minute space behind Elsa.

She didn't know how he would even fit. And if the lack of space wasn't a deterring factor, the glass of liquid in his left hand and its potential to cause a horrendous mess should have been. There were plenty of other seats available; why did he have to sit here?

"If you can fit." said Elsa, shrugging her shoulders. She tried to keep her cool, but Elsa could feel her palms slickening with sweat and her heart beating furiously.

With a wicked smile and inhuman speed, Alex sat down in the crippled space, pushing against Elsa a little before he finally settled. His glass of liquid sloshed dangerously, before finally settling with nothing more than a quiet ripple. His arm over the head of the sofa, the glass swung close to Elsa's face.

Elsa could feel the heat rising in her face. She was mortified at their closeness; she could feel his heart gently pounding away against her back.

Though very uncomfortable at her current predicament, but thoroughly surprised at Alex's calm nature, Elsa couldn't help but catch a whiff of the blonde boy's drink. It looked like Cola, but the smell suggested otherwise.

"Wh-what is that supposed to be?" Elsa gagged.

"OJ mixed with Cola." he replied happily.

"Good grief."

"You should try it." said Alex. He leaned forward, pushing his chest even harder against her back as he struggled to shove the revolting drink under her nose.

"No! That's…get...Al..." Elsa thrashed her head from side to side, conscious that any sudden movement would result in a dark wet stain on her pants.

Beside himself with laughter, Alex finally settled down. He took a sip of his drink, unable to do even that as he began to choke on the liquid with laughter. Elsa had never felt more revolted, yet strangely attracted.

Was he flirting? Was that what it was? Was that how Americans flirted? Shove the girl completely out of her comfort zone and then force-feed her his affections?

Elsa was about to excuse herself, firm in her stance that anything would do, and run at warp speed back to her bunk, when Hank came flurrying in through the double doors. He was sporting his white lab coat, something he would have normally removed when he was around the others. His dark hair rested in an elegant mess on his angular head, with his check white shirt a little damp with sweat. He was carrying a thick pile of paper in his hand, ruffling and re-ordering the pages as he walked through.

He looked up briefly and saw Elsa instantly.

"Oh good you're here!" smiled Hank. He sat down on the sofa opposite and placed his papers on the coffee table between the two pieces of furniture. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped abruptly when he noticed Alex. He seemed a little confused, but quickly shrugged it off.

Despite Elsa's pleading looks, it was clear that Hank wasn't the type to realise when a friend was in need.

"I've got the results from your scans." said Hank rather hastily. He riffled through his papers and carefully selected a dark, floppy picture.

"Scans for what?" asked Alex.

"I took some X-Ray scans of Elsa the night before. And a few blood samples as well."

Alex poked Elsa hard in the shoulder. "Why wasn't I invited?"

"I thought that was obvious." retorted Elsa rudely.

Alex scoffed before he skulled the remains of his absurd mix of drinks.

Elsa rolled her eyes.

She liked Alex, but now that the initial awkwardness had died down a little it seemed that he was coming out of shell. Like everything else, Elsa was yet to judge its benefits.

Elsa turned back to Hank and with little effort, managed to intrude Hank's brilliant mind.

'Save me, Hank.'

At first a little startled, looking around wildly, a large grin spread across his face as he realised. He seemed more than happy to join in Elsa's game. He picked up the scan and held it in the light.

"Uh,uh...come-come here Elsa. You'll need to look at this properly." Hank stuttered.

"Yes, lets!"

Quick as a flash, Elsa pushed herself off the sofa and darted over to Hank. Alex held out his arms to his sides and sneered, with an expression on his face that clearly asked 'wwhaaatttt?'

Smiling, Elsa turned back to the bespectacled boy.

"So?" pushed Elsa eagerly. "What do the results-?"

"Oh, it's incredible." Hank suddenly sprang to life, offering Elsa an enthusiastic toothy grin.

It was quite a strange looking scan. Her skeleton itself was clear and defined; the upper half of her body, however, was a little cloudy. A clash of bones so intertwined with each it was quite hard to define them individually. Not only that, her scan was very dark. Darker than most scans she had seen. She assumed it was the quality of the machine, but it can't have been. She had seen the machines used in the Division and they were far from shoddy.

She noticed knobs at her shoulders, which she presumed were the joints of her wings.

Hank pointed to two long, curved bones. "You see this? These are your wings-"

"My skeleton," interrupted Elsa. "Why's it so dark? Shouldn't it be lighter? And it looks so bloody thick."

"That's the thing, it should be. But obviously you're a mutant, nothing is as it should be." He looked up and smiled at Alex and Elsa.

"It's carbon fibre."

"What?" asked Elsa, smiling but incredulous.

"Your bones are coated with naturally occurring carbon fibre." Hank was practically bouncing with excitement. "I mean, I knew-I knew I was on the right track! The carbon fibre on your bones makes them very hard to break. And it's part of the reason why your body can cope with holding your wings. But-"

"There's always a 'but'." laughed Alex.

"Yes." replied Hank. "The carbon fibre found on your wings isn't nearly as dense or strong as the carbon fibre found on the rest of your bones. That and your wings are completely hollow. That's why they're so flexible. I mean, whilst they're hollow they're also very dense and strong. Do you understand what I mean?"

Elsa slowly nodded. "No marrow, but still very dense? There's a tunnel of sorts in there?"

"Precisely!" smiled Hank. "But the lack of carbon fibre makes them a hell of lot more flexible than the rest of you. It's incredible."

"I suppose that's why I've never broken an arm." said Elsa quietly, staring at her scans with amazement.

"Probably. But if you look here," Hank pointed to a section between her upper rib-cage, a place Elsa realised was the space between her shoulder blades. "See how empty it looks? Not as dense as the other parts?"

"Yes?"

"That's a weak spot. There's little carbon fibre there, for whatever reason, so the added protection isn't there. If anything gets to you in this particular area, you'll be in serious trouble."

Alex leaned forward in his seat. "So what you're basically saying is that...she's hard to kill, but it's not impossible?"

Hank laughed, nodding his head.

Elsa pouted and ignored the boys' laughter. "What about my blood results?"

"I only have the first set of results here; the second will take a little longer."

"Ok."

"You asked me, when we were doing your tests, why you can't put on weight? That you couldn't put on weight despite the fact that you, 'ate like a pig', I believe it was?"

Alex laughed heartily.

"Yes." Elsa muttered quietly. She had told Hank such a thing simply because she thought there was some sort of doctor-patient confidentiality code.

"Well, that's simply high metabolism. Something many people have. However, your blood tests show that your body processes food and nutrients more efficiently than a normal human being even with high metabolism. You utilize it in the most efficient way possible, so you don't actually store any excess of anything harmful."

"Is that even possible?" smiled Alex. "You've got every girl's dream digestive system."

"There's more to come. But it will take a while." said Hank, readjusting his glasses.

"Well, I'm grateful for what you've given me so far." said Elsa. The trio turned as they heard an eruption of laughter coming from the corner of the room. The others were still attempting to annihilate each other's pin-ball scores and it seemed that Sean had come out the winner. He just needed to challenge the reigning champion in order to seal his title of 'Division X Pin-Ball Champion for All Eternity.'

"Alex, get up here!" called Darwin. "Put this boy back in his place!"

Alex scratched his head. "I,um...let him have his moment. It's-"

"Oh, come on!"

Alex turned to Elsa and Hank.

"You'll be fine without me, right?"

"Yes, of course."

"Alex, I'm not going to eat her whilst you're gone."

Placing his glass on the table with a 'clink', Alex pushed off the sofa and swaggered over to the pin-ball machine.

"Who dares challenge the King...?"

"I never really liked pinball myself." muttered Hank quietly, staring at the others with a sort of forlorn. He gave Elsa a quick smile before settling against the couch. Elsa sniffed, twisting her fingers in her lap. She wondered if she was being rude or if it was entirely her business, but...

"Hank?"

"Yes."

"May I ask you something?"

Go ahead."

"When I...when I was getting those scans done. In your laboratory-"

"Yes."

"I saw, um...I'm not sure how to put it." Elsa was in fact very aware of how to put, but the fear of seeming nosy thwarted her words. "Shall I call it, a serum?"

Hank scratched his nose. "I have many serums. What colour was it?"

"Like a, green. I suppose. A bright green." replied Elsa.

"Ah, yes." said Hank. "It's my appearance normalizing serum. I'm yet to find the right name." After noticing Elsa confused expression, he added. "For my feet."

"Why?" asked Elsa slowly.

"Why?" repeated Hank, chuckling a little.

"Well, I mean...it's your mutation, why get rid of it?"

"I'm not getting rid of it." said Hank defiantly, suddenly stiff. "I'm just going to make them look normal."

"Why?"

"Ever since I was a child, I only ever wanted to look normal." Hank adjusted his glasses. "Ordinary."

"Ordinary?" laughed Elsa, her tone unmistakeably harsh. "Hank, what you can do is extraordinary-"

"Thank you." interrupted Hank. "But if I say so myself, it's ok for you. Your wings, your telepathy, you can hide it if you need to."

"Hiding." said Elsa bitterly, crossing her arms over her chest. "That's why I'm here isn't it?"

Hank did not say a word. In actual fact, he didn't know why she was here. They had all only been together for a few days; it was impossible to know every detail. He had always sensed a difficult story with her. He just never had the nerve to ask.

Elsa seemed to be recomposing herself. She smiled briefly and in that instance, Hank thought she looked beautiful.

"When my oldest brother, Klaus, was five his mutation manifested." began Elsa, staring into the distance. "He went from good-looking kid to a-a freak of nature."

She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "He looked like a...a giant bat. Huge ears with even bigger, bug-like eyes and fangs that poked out over his bottom lip. But he could jump to incredible heights, latch himself onto any surface and he could see in the dark, like you and I see in the day. He could hear things too, things my siblings and I couldn't. Klaus, physically, wasn't the most endearing creature you'd ever seen...but he was my brother and I loved him. But he...he hated himself so much, it was like he was ill. He hardly went outside. He was so frightened of what others might say that he spent most of his time cooped up in his room." Her eyes widened and a deep sadness settled in them. Tears settled at the rims of her bottom eye-lids.

"He never lived Hank; he never lived because he was afraid. I don't want that for you."

Hank remained quiet for a while. He didn't want to seem as though he hadn't listened or didn't care for what she had to say. But the truth was that he had already made up his mind, many years ago, and he wasn't about to let it go simply because a girl told him to.

"I appreciate your concern, Elsa and I see where you're coming from, but I'm not like your brother. I'm diff-"

"Different? Hank your intelligence does not make you any less vulnerable than my brother." Elsa seemed a little irritated, but her annoyance quickly turned into sympathy as she placed a hand on Hank's arm. "I don't mean to boss you around. It's clear you're far superior to me in almost every respect. I like you Hank, I don't want to see you get hurt."

Trying his hardest to show her some sort of reassurance, Hank bumped shoulders with her and smiled. He looked right into her eyes, in an attempt of sorts to reassure her of his position.

"Don't worry, I won't."

A/N: In regards to Hank's informative little speech about Elsa's structure, please don't beat me over the head if any of that sounded biologically retarded (because I'm sure it was). Thank you so much to katnisseverdeen and as always LizziePikie-Aiko and S-Dawg 101. You know, I'd really like to know how you all feel about Elsa. What does she look like to you? Like her or not? And Alex? Even Warren? Thoughts?