What Do You Mean the Monster Is a Polar Bear?
by Starsinger
Okay, I'm one of the many who tried "Lost" and gave up when they discovered Polar Bears on a desert island, where they would never survive. I didn't get it, so I gave up. Even my incredulity has its limits. I blame my roommates, they brought up the Polar Bears. Yes, for those of you who are familiar with the end of "Meatballs" I plan on repeating it at the end of this story. I just don't know who will end up in their bed in the middle of the lake. Suggestions wouldn't hurt. I still don't own them, they belong to someone else, I think it's called Marvel? Yeah, that's it, Marvel…
"No more Pencils, no more Books
No more teacher's dirty looks
No more math and history
Summer time has set me free"
3rd and final verse of the Meatballs song.
The breeze blew gently through the trees playing with the twins hair in the early morning light. Mike didn't understand how they could be up this early and enjoying themselves much less exercising. At least that's what he thought they were doing. The slow easy motions of arms and legs in perfect unison moving gracefully through motions that teased at his memory. "It's called Tai Chi," a voice ventured into his thoughts. He turned to find a short, hairy man standing behind him in a flannel shirt and jeans, "They're centering themselves before the day's activities."
"Hey, aren't you the janitor?" Mike asked. The man nodded and walked away. He seemed strangely familiar. The twins finished their exercises and stretched before starting up the trail for their morning jog. He hurried after them, simply trying to keep pace with them as they continued up the path. By the time they reached the first turn he was huffing and puffing as they didn't give him a second glance. "So, what is this 'Tai Chi'?" he asked. He knew what it was, he just was curious where they learned it. "Was it something else that your 'Uncle Logan' taught you?"
Ilyana laughed as she took a swig of water, "Oddly enough, no, he didn't. Our Uncle Kurt, who used to study to be a Roman Catholic Priest before he married Aunt Rachael, studied this particular martial art and decided to pass it along to everyone at Xavier's."
"Do you mean to tell me that a former seminary student studied the Far Eastern Martial Arts?" he asked, incredulously.
"Why not?" Moira asked. "Kung Fu was started by Xiao Lin Monks who were fleeing the Chinese army. It was meant for self defense." She smiled wickedly at Mike's slack jawed face, "We're not normally patient. In fact everyone tells we've been in a hurry since we were born. Mom said it was about twenty minutes from the time she went into labor until we were born, and we've been in a hurry ever since." Mike keeled over in a dead faint. "First time we've had that reaction, Yana. Good thing we didn't tell him about the battle that was going on, too."
The blonde shook her head in disgust before dumping another bottle of water on the prone man, "Mom always said that being an X-Man was weird. Being one of their children is even weirder. I like it here, maybe we can talk Daddy into letting us come back here next year." It did not need to be said that they both had Colossus wrapped around their little fingers. As they ran back down the trail they came across Marilyn. Marilyn was a thirteen year old red-head whose couch potato lifestyle showed in her chunky form. The hitch in her stride made it obvious to the girls that she had tried to keep up. They slowed down to allow her to keep up. Extremely shy, the single conversation Ilyana had held with the girl promised a very witty and open minded friendship if they could just get her to talk.
"Hey," Moira said. "Out for a run?"
"Why, are you going to tease me too?" came the reply
"Why would we do that?" Ilyana asked carefully. She sensed the poor girl was the victim of frequent bullying.
"Because I'm fat and ugly!" came the cry.
The twins pulled up and looked at each other. They'd found their pet project for the summer. Moira walked around and pulled the girl's chin up so she was looking her in the eyes, "You are a beautiful young woman who has a healthy amount of weight on her," she told her firmly. "If you wish to exercise and take off some of the weight, we'll help you. Killing yourself trying to keep up with the two of us isn't going to do it. Come on, let's walk back to the cabin. I could use a shower."
The three of them made their way to the shower where the twins couldn't help but notice several of the girl's envious looks. By the time they made it to breakfast they noticed the "popular crowd". It was lead by Fred, the guy Ilyana bested in Karate. "Hey, look, it's the Walrus! She's made friends with the Muties!"
Marilyn tried stopping but the twins kept walking as Fred's girlfriend joined in. "What? Camp Greenbeans wouldn't accept Freaks?"
They reached the dining hall and sat to eat breakfast. "How can you just let them tease you like that? Why don't you fight back?"
Ilyana looked at her, "Because of our training. We could easily kill them, and neither of us are mutants, yet." Marilyn looked at her questioningly, "I will be. Moira, lucky girl, will just have dazzle the world with her stunning intelligence." Moira stuck her tongue out at her.
"Did you finish the chapter in the Physics book you were supposed to read?" Moira asked. Ilyana paused in chewing. "She pretends that she's dumb as a stick, but she was promoted to high school too."
As the day progressed they watched Marilyn and assessed her strengths and weaknesses. She was a strong swimmer, and had a beautiful singing voice. She also had only made two friends other than the twins. She never ventured an opinion and could be easily swayed to change it. If she thought she was right, or one of her friends was being bullied, she was fierce as a mother bear, but if she was the one being bullied, she backed down and did nothing as she became withdrawn and sullen.
The next morning she and her friends, Valerie and Wanice, joined the twins in their morning Tai Chi. The movements of the gentle art soothing hearts and minds as the twins easy acceptance helped build self-esteem. Ilyana and Moira's cadres started joining them as well, but Marilyn was the only one who attempted to join them on their morning jog. "Remember, the martial arts were developed for defense. Kung Fu and its origins being an excellent example," Ilyana said each morning. "You can inflict serious damage on an opponent if you're not careful, or he intends to inflict serious injury to you."
The twins taught the beginners with Martial Arts. Fred apparently thought it was beneath him to teach the newbies. Especially if they were overweight, uncoordinated, or different. "How'd this guy get a teaching spot, anyway," Moira muttered. "Uncle Logan would say he represents the very worst of his profession." She winced as a kid landed hard on his backside. Fred bellowed at him to get back on his feet and sit down. They never saw the figure standing behind a tree, grinning at the spectacle unfolding before him.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
The flashlight lit Ilyana's face as she picked up the tale, "At six months pregnant, Mother had gotten over the morning sickness, but the fainting spells persisted…"
Brand strode down the corridors of the second story of the school looking for Lockheed. SWORD had finally approved, with a little arm twisting, his green card. His homeworld had also agreed to wait until after the first of the year (Earth year) to hear his case. She had a feeling where she could find him and was headed for Kitty's computer class when she heard a commotion. Next thing she knew Lockheed was frantically trying to get her into the room. She hurried into the room to find Kitty passed out on the floor and her students standing around her. She hit the green button to get Hank's attention and knelt down to check Kitty's pulse.
"Hey, Kitty, what is it?" Hank's tired voice sounded over the speaker.
"Hank, it's Brand, I've found Kitty passed out again. I think you should get up here," Hank confirmed he was on his way as Kitty started to come around. She heard someone heavily running down the corridor to the room as she helped Kitty sit up.
"What happened?" she asked groggily. "I don't feel so good."
Hank soon entered the room followed by Peter who had heard the emergency alarm, "Peter, pick her up and let's get down to the Medlab. Brand, can you finish the class?" It really wasn't a question. Brand watched them leave and turned to the blackboard. Only to find that what Kitty was teaching was beyond her own level that she ended up asking the class what it was.
Hank helped Peter change Kitty into a hospital gown to examine her. "I'm not entirely sure what's going on, Kitty. I'm certain it has little to do with your pregnancy." He drew blood, "I'm sending a copy of your test results Reed Richards. Maybe he can help."
Kitty huddled into Peter's arms who stroked her back. His soothing words belied the worry in his eyes. It seemed like hours before Hank bustled back into the room an IV bag in one hand and two fetal monitors in the other. "I've talked to Reed and he's recommended a saline solution with his own special concoction of stuff. Apparently, Kitty, every trip you made through the stuff of Breakworld left that stuff in your system, and it slowly poisoned you. The babies are fine," he said, waving off her worried stammering. "They're doing better than you," both Kitty and Peter watched as Hank set up the fetal monitors and the IV. "The monitors are me erring on the side of caution," he said with a chuckle. "This is to flush out what's left in your system." He put the call button on the side of the bed, "Call me if you need anything."
Peter was forced to get something to eat that evening by Logan and Hank. Brand was cooking, and while the other two were dubious about that development, Hank assured them that it would be quite edible. Kitty was left alone and struggling not to worry when Ororo and Rachael rounded the corner, smiles plastered over their faces. Your babies are fine, Rachael reached out to her. Don't worry so much about them. We need to get you well.
Tears sprang to her eyes as Ororo gave her a big hug and planted a hand where one of the twins decided to protest the treatment of her mother. "Opinionated all ready, I see," Ororo laughed. "What did Dr. Daniels say?"
Kitty's obstetrician had been by all ready. He had pronounced the sonogram to be showing two normally growing fetuses, with no problems from what he could see. Rogue soon joined them and all kept a light conversation that was soon broken up by Reed Richard's entrance. He ran his own tests and soon managed to come up with a modified version of whatever they had put in the IV and stuck around to see how things went. The stress and worry finally frazzled her nerves enough that when she went to the bathroom, babies playing kickball with her bladder again, she broke down and cried.
Kitty heard the worried voices of her friends outside the door as they considered what to do. Finally, Peter moved in and entered the bathroom closing the door firmly behind him. He took in her red eyes and blotchy face and went to his knees in front of her. He took her in his arms and let her cry. "I'm sorry, Peter, it's all just too much. I never thought that…when Hank told me that if I had gone into that bullet, Emma wouldn't have been the only one lost…"
Peter took her face between his hands, "Katya, I would have found a way to get you home. No matter how long it took. By the way, Brand's food is edible now." Kitty looked at him and started to laugh as he pulled a plate stir fry from behind his back. She sniffled into his sleeve before he helped her to her feet.
"I'll be glad to see my feet again," she mumbled as she shuffled back into the room. The room was deserted. Everyone had left, erring on the side of caution. He sighed with relief as she settled back into bed and started to eat Brand's cooking. "This is actually quite good," she said between bites. Two days later McCoy announced she was out of danger and three months later the twins hurriedly entered their lives.
"All seemed normal, even after a rather interesting wedding, they settled back into being X-Men and had plenty of volunteers for babysitters when the Skrull decided to invade, we were a year old," Ilyana added.
The first explosion rocked them out of bed. It was nearly midnight as they scrambled into their uniforms and checked in on Ilyana who was up checking on the twins. They hurried out the door as chaos reigned. "I don't know, I can't reach Abigail! It's like we were cut off!" Hank yelled.
"Kitty!" Scott yelled. "Grab the kids and head west to Colorado. Dr. Jackson is expecting you, Ilyana, the twins and some of the younger students. Go on, I know you can pilot that jet!"
Kitty grabbed the suitcases that were always packed in case of emergencies, Ilyana, the twins, three students and headed out the door. What they didn't know was that they would never return here again.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The flashlight went off as Ilyana shooed the rest of the campers off to bed. "We need to do something about Canary," that was their nickname for Fred and his girlfriend, Whatsherface.
Moira pulled a face, "I'm sure we'll think of something."
Many years ago I was Marilyn, and the twins were two cheerleaders named Susan and Angela. They told me flat that if anyone threatened me to tell them, they'd take care of it. They are great people, and I dedicate this chapter to them. Thanks, I really needed the help you gave.