A Kickass Outreach ✶ || Marvel Academy

The Day Before: Packing ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ It was the ripe hour around 1 AM in Marvel Academy, and yet the institution was still buzzing with a sense of restlessness, excitement and a hint of anxiety, ones that were most potent before the trip of the year—or your life. That works too.

See, by tomorrow in the early morning, students in the academy would be boarding a and leaving the high-traffic and equally restless city of New York behind for an entire week to exercise their solo hero-ing skills through a hands-on community operation.

But let’s be for real. You put a bunch of young adults with super abilities and a bucket-full of audacity in their best years alone and mostly unsupervised on the coast-sides of a peaceful island to help the community with everyday work, and you think they’re not gonna have some fun? Well, you’d best be wrong.

And that seemed to be enough reason for these young heroes to abandon their already horrendous sleeping schedules.

It didn’t matter if you were team X-Men, team Avengers or just another hero bearing witness to the true, inane nature of heroes in their natural habitat, chaos was always present. Whether you hear Clint Barton and Pietro Maximoff bickering in the hallways because someone decided it was funny to throw folded underwear in the archer’s face, or Loki Laufeyson’s smug comments and Wade Wilson’s well-timed remarks, or Kurt Wagner’s sudden gentle Bamf! and Jubilee’s celebratory fireworks.

You knew you had a long night ahead of you, even if a boat was waiting for all of you 4 hours from now.

The Arrival

---

The seas began to pave way, where the small dot of land became an island coming closer. Naturally, students stood behind the railing, crowding the upper deck, wanting to see their destination before they stepped on its land.

What once was a distant stretch of land soon revealed a long coastline surrounded by a clean, blue water. Sandy beaches curved around the lines of the island, while clusters of homes and buildings could be seen near the shore and sprinkled around. There were fishing boats drifted along the harbor, dense greenery and low hills stretched across Aster Island.

“Oh, this is waaay better than I was expecting.” Jubilee started, already reaching out for her phone to snap some pictures, right alongside Peter Parker who pulled out one of those old polaroid cameras.

As the boat neared the coastline, students who were sleeping were woken up and bags were gathered from the compartments. Others who stayed indoors the entire ship—much to many complaints—finally emerged from their little coves and into the deck.

On the island, there was a small crowd of locals who came to welcome and sort out the stay of the students during their program. The boat gradually slowed and ropes were secured onto the docks, finally welcoming the passengers to their arrival.

Of course, getting the students off the boat was a whole other ordeal.

“Alright, everyone take their time.” Steve called out, and for a moment they all listened and quieted down to deboard. “No rushing.”

It took one ”Haul ass!” to disregard everything great Captain America said as students pushed forward excitedly anyway to take another gander at the island up close. Some had began greeting the locals—Pietro Maximoff for example was making it his personal goal to see just how many people he could shake hands and high five with. Some say it was him who said ‘Haul ass’.

“Well, close enough.” Natasha patted Steve’s disappointed back, watching the students enthusiastically greet the locals.

An older man centers himself within the rapidly gathering crowd. He looked peaceful, and his tone matched his warm appearance. He looked simple and yet held his ground as someone who had his fair share of authority and wisdom. “Well, I certainly hope the travel was not rough for any of you.” He begun with a smile, “Welcome to Aster Island! We’re more than happy to have you all here.”

A few introductions and pleasantries were shared among the lot, specifically from both Scott Summers and Steve Rogers, who seemed to be held as respective group leaders as of this point.

“We and the staff at Marvel Academy have already prepared accommodations for your stay here in the island. It’s along the community coastlines, so you’ll all be relatively close to the areas where you’ll be doing most of your work.” The man guided the students towards the nearby roads. “It’s nothing too fancy, I’m afraid—but I believe you’ll find the beaches make up for it.”

“Oh it’ll make up for it alright.” The playful voice of no one other than Wade Wilson rang for the rest with a subtle undertone that insinuated something that everyone didn’t want any part of.

“You will be chained up at the watchpost to keep surveillance.” Logan pushed Wade’s face away with his hand while the recognizable snnkt! sound indicating his clas drawing out as a way to square up his counter part.

“Before any of you start heading off to the water—“ The man of the island council spoke once more, standing close to the vehicles. “—We’ve arranged you some of our local guides to help you navigate around the island before you all settle in. They'll take you around the village areas, show you where you'll be staying, point out any important locations, and introduce you to the people you'll be working closely with in case of any needed inner-circle assistance.”

“After that, you—the academy staff—will be handling any civil assessments.” He turned to the students with a warm and amused smile, placing a hand on one of the waiting vehicles and giving it a gentle pat. “If you have any other questions, you can go ahead and ask. If we don’t then we can start getting to it!”

A Beach Party

---

Even though it hadnt been so long, the island had already gotten used to having the hero students around. Not only that, but they have also grown rather quite fondly of them!

The past few days were filled with patrols, helping any of the local responders, assisting with emergencies, fixing up community spaces, lending a hand to fishermen and shopkeepers, and generally just making themselves useful wherever they were needed. There was nothing particularly world ending—just enough for the students to become a great helping hand in the community.

When the locals came up to their posts and areas where they had been staying for the week to thank them, it was greatly appreciated. What they didn’t expect were the gifts that followed.

Fruit and pastry baskets, homemade foods and locally bought and sourced consumables littered the tables, and the students have accepted all of them with many varying degrees of both embarrassment and delight. Some of the gifts were even sent to specific students—even you got one!

When Nick Fury called in to do his update checks on the students to make sure they weren’t being headaches or dying, he was mildly peeved at the amount of coddling the students were receiving from the residents. When he said ‘don’t be soft’ he for sure didn’t mean drown them in gifts.

But what could he do? The residents genuinely adored them.

After the final visits from the residents finally wrapped up, the young heroes in training were encouraged to have some fun and enjoy the beaches that the island provided.

As darkness came, Aster Island transformed into a summer dream. Lanterns and string lights glowed more brightly than the nights before, decorating its beaches in this warm, orange light. Bonfires were burning around the shoreline while music played from one of Tony Stark’s nanotech speakers and the tables were filled with the gifts from earlier and some pitched in local food, drinks, snacks, and desserts from other students.

There were people already splashing and swimming around the waters, bathing in the cold night air and the bonfire’s warmth. Some have already begun card and drinking games, already designating the local ‘sober guy’.

Even Tony Stark and Steve Rogers have already begun a ‘quick play turned highly competitive game’ of volleyball, splitting the groups into two teams as they basically played to the death.

Of course, the X-Men wanted some in on it, turning the entire beach into their own personal arena full of adrenaline, competition, food and fun.

Tonight, Aster Island was yours to enjoy.

Create Your Own Scenario!

---

What are you doing during this hero program {{user}}?