The Chief’s wife, Jasmine, was sitting on a picnic table with a bunch of native women. Spotting Emily she stood up and opened her arms wide smiling. “Emily, good to see your.”

“Doc,” Emily said hugging her. She was Emily’s counselor on base. When she got on the island they had her go through a mental health testing sesson to make sure she was ok with going into a submarine then getting out of the said submarine to test if they could increase her superpowers. They had been meeting twice a week since then. It was because of her that Emily could sleep more than three hours at night now. The nightmares were mostly gone now.

“Come eat. I got some of that fried spring rolls that you love so much.” She told Emily pulling on her hand. Laughing Emily followed.

The women’s table was the center of the cookout. The men were cooking off to the side drinking beer and talking to each other. The kids and there were many kids, were running around playing all sorts of games laughing having a good time. Emily smiled it was a good time.

She found herself following the Chief’s wife as she talked about her time in Japan and how weird their culture was. She had an emergency that required her to travel to Japan and she had been gone for nearly a week. They were watching the kids who were jumping off a rock into the limestone pools that were made from the ocean constantly crashing into the island. Emily watched as the children jumped in with a bit of a smile. They looked like they were having a good time. After a while, a little girl came up to Emily. “Can you throw us into the pools?” The little girl asked.

Emily started to nod her head no but the Chief’s wife interrupted her and said: “Sure she can.”

The Chief’s wife smiled at Emily and waved at the ocean. The little girl held up her hands and after a few seconds Emily sighed and gently bent down and picked the little girl up. Carrying her to the edge of the rock she turned the little girl to face the water and gently heaved the little girl into the water. The little girl laughed as she flew through the air. She stopped laughing and pinched her nose shut just before she landed in the water. The little girl surfaced pretty fast and quickly swam back to the rocky shore and climbed out. She walked up to Emily looking mad.

“I thought you were a super. Can't you throw me higher? The little girl asked.

Emily looked at the Chief’s wife to find her laughing. “I am not supposed to use my superpowers when I am not working,” Emily told the little girl. The Chief’s wife started to laugh even harder.

“But the Chief and all his friends do it and they are all supers. Why can't you.” The little girl asked.

“They’re mostly all normals with three low-class supers on the team including the chief.” Emily corrected the girl in her head.

“Might as well do it. She's as stubborn as they come, that girl.” The Chief’s wife said calming down from her laughing fit wiping his eyes.

Emily sighed and tossed the girl high into the air. Only to feel a flash fear as the little girl went a lot higher than Emily intended. The little girl screamed happily as she splashed down into the pool. She came out laughing. Soon Emily had a bunch of kids lining up to be tossed into the pool. The kid's laughter was infectious and Emily started to smile and have a great time as she tossed them one by one into the pools.

“That is what you need.” The Chief’s wife said to Emily. “You need to remember what it's like to laugh. You need to remember how to have fun.”

Emily shook her head as the kids dragged her back to tossing them into the pool. When it got too dark to swim they invited her to play flashlight tag in the jungle. They played until it got too dark for even that and the parents called them away to go to bed.

“Hey Never, were heading to Jeff’s Pirate Cove,” Mandy said coming up to Emily slightly out of breath. She smelled of faintly of alcohol. “You want to go?”

Emily shook her head and said “No thanks. I think I am going to have to head back to the barracks.”

“Hey, you promised that you would be my designated driver for the night. Please. Pretty please.” Mandy said holding her hands together giving Emily a lopsided smile.

Sighing Emily gave her roommate a look then nodded. “Ok.”

“Nice. Thank you so much Never.” She said giving Emily a hug. “Hey, Isaac she said yes!” Mandy said to the Navy Seals behind her. They gave a cheer. Emily sighed and shook her head.

To Emily’s surprise, she had a good time. Jeff’s Pirate Cove was an old bar that sat right on the beach. The bar was open to the beach, where people wandered in and out to the beach all night long. Jeff’s had a dance floor and Emily ended up dancing with Mandy and the Navy guys for most of the night. Mandy headed off the dance floor with one of the guys while Emily followed some of the older Navy guys. They wandered out to the beach and sat down on some beach chairs. The moon was really bright and lit up the beach.

“So if you hang out here during the sunset sometimes you can see a flash of green just as the sun disappears over the horizon.” One of the older Navy guys told her drinking his beer. Emily sipped her Shirley Temple that one of the guys bought her as a joke.

“Have you ever seen it,” Emily asked watching two drunk tourists stumble around the beach trying to dance to the music.

“Once a long time ago. I was on the McDouglas a guided missiles frigate. We were hanging out on the fantail when I saw it. It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. It lasted for only a half a second but it was so cool.” The older Navy guy said sipping his beer.

Emily smiled then checked her phone for the time. She had to blink in surprise because it was nearly four in the morning. “Is it really four in the morning?” She asked the guys sitting on either side of her.

The Navy guy who told the story of the green flash laughed. “Yea. Haven’t you ever been to one of the bars on the Island? They only close when the last person staggers away. Jeff’s is open twenty-four seven as long as they have someone buying beer.” He said pointing with his thumb back behind them at the bar.

Emily looked around and only now notice that there were quite a few people passed out on the beach. Some of the people were sleeping suspiciously close to one another. “Where is Mandy?” Emily asked sitting up with concern.

“With Issac over there.” The Navy guys said pointing to a couple who were sleeping under a coconut tree.

“Well crap now what am I supposed to do. I’m her ride.” Emily said frowning.

“Get comfortable. They’ll wake up in a few hours then we will go to breakfast. I know a great place to go to. Its a hole in the wall but their pancakes are the best.” The Navy guy said leaning back and closing his eyes. Emily leaned back but looked around. She was not sure about sleeping like this but to her surprise, she fell asleep in less than half an hour later.

“Never, it's time to wake up.” Someone said shaking Emily’s shoulder.

Blinking Emily woke up to a sunny beach. It was mostly deserted except for a few people sleeping in the sand. Emily looked up to see the older Navy guy stretching. She sat up and looked around for her roommate. She spotted her by the coconut tree wide awake sitting on the sand kissing Isaac.

The group slowly found each other and all agreed to go out to eat. The breakfast place that the older Navy guy brought them to was really cool. Emily had the best ice tea. While the pancakes were pretty good the ice tea was amazing. Someone thought it would be a good idea to go to a place called two lovers leap. It was an old Island story about two star crossed lovers from different warring tribes that tied their hair together and jump from a cliff to their deaths because they couldn’t be together. Two lovers leap was were they were supposed to have jumped to their death together. They even had a bronze statue of the couple with their hair tied together.

They loaded up their cars and headed to the landmark. It was a really cool park. Someone mentioned that the World War Two museum wasn’t that far away and it was free to the military. So they loaded up in their cars again and headed to the museum.

It was a neat little museum. There was a lot of history in that little building. Once outside one of the Navy guys mentioned that since it was Saturday they should all pool their money and get a suite in one of the fancy hotels. It was close to all the bars and if everyone put their money together it should be cheaper than a normal hotel room. Emily was a little hesitant but she was having fun and decided to just go along with the flow.

They went to a hotel on the beach and reserved a really nice suite with four rooms and a big living room for next to nothing when they split it all up between each other. The room was not available until three and it was really close to lunch time. Someone suggested they head to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch and off they went. After lunch, they all headed home to get cleaned up and get their stuff to bring to the hotel room. Mandy drove Emily and herself back to the barrack where they each took a shower and packed an overnight bag. Emily’s bag was a lot smaller than Mandy’s.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

At three they met up at the hotel and saw their room on the seventh floor. The door opened up to a living room with a huge open bay window that overlooked the pacific ocean. They claimed their rooms and hung around the room for about an hour before they headed out to get dinner. After a quick stop at a fast food joint, one of the Navy guys saw a sign for an indoor shooting range.

Next thing Emily knew she was standing in a gun shop looking at a bunch of handguns. The guys were excited over a Beretta that fired three round bursts. Emily was fascinated by a Colt .45 revolver that looked straight out of a western movie. One of the guys noticed and bought her some time on the range.

“Damn Never that was some cool shooting.” Steven one of the Navy guys said when she got done. She had made a slightly off-centered smiley face in her target. Being a super with better than average sight and balance did have a few benefits.

She wanted to spin the gun in the worst way like a real cowgirl but suspected that the range guy would not be happy. She placed the gun down on the shelf and yelled “Ye-haw!” Some of the Japanese tourists looked at her funny but all the Navy guys laughed. The range guy smiled and shook his head as he handed her the paper target.

They walked to hotel strip and looked in at all the shops. There were some really well-known boutiques on the strip. Emily shook her head as one of the Navy guys bought a really gaudy watch and Mandy found a new lens for her camera. Mandy dragged Emily into a store that only sold purses. They were really cool looking but they weren’t Emily’s thing. She looked at a price tag and gasped at the price. There was no way she could afford one of the purses. She didn’t think Mandy could either on her petty officer salary. It was fun to pretend though and both girls looked around laughing at each others choice.

They went to Jeff's Pirate cove to watch the sunset hoping to see the green flash. They were disappointed when the sunset without a flash. They stayed at the Pirate bar until much later when the Navy boys wanted to head to an Australian bar. Emily ended up driving a very packed car as the Navy boys packed in Mandy's car. Mandy ended up riding to the bar on Isaac's lap.

The Australian bar was a two-story old house that the owners had turned into a bar. The bar itself was the entire first floor of the house. There was a roped off stairs that led to the second floor. Emily absently wondered if someone lived on the second floor.

Inside Emily found the walls of the bar covered in portraits of important British and Australian people with little bronzes plaques with the dates of their lives and what they did. There were hundreds of portraits all around the bar. The portraits started about waist level and went right up to the top of the walls.

Sitting right by the door to the bar was a weird pool table with black and white things bolted onto it. One of the Navy guys got excited and called it bumper pool. “It's like normal pool but you don't use a Cue ball. You challenge another person and aim for the pocket at the opposite side of the table but you have to dodge the bumpers. First one to sink all five ball wins.” He explained. Two of the Navy guy immediately broke off to start to play.

Sitting by the left side of the wall was a really long table version of shuffleboard. It was covered in sawdust. Mandy immediately challenged Issac to a game. She grabbed Emily on her left arm and told him that she was on her team. Emily was a horrible shuffleboard player. She kept sending the pucks right off the table. She finally quit when she sent her forth puck flying.

“Sorry, I suck at this,” Emily told Mandy who was on the floor laughing. Doc, one of the Navy guys who was their other designated driver, took her place.

Emily made her way towards a large circular table where the other Navy guys where sitting. As she sat down someone pushed a Shirley Temple towards her. Emily flipped the guys off but still drank the drink smiling. “The jokes on them. I happen to like Shirley Temples.” Emily thought to herself as she ate the cherry on top.

The bar was mostly deserted with an older slightly overweight man bartending and an older woman sitting at the end of the bar messing around on a tablet drinking a beer. As the night went on the place slowly filled up with most of the tables being filled. The older lady at the bar turned out to be the waitress and started taking everyone orders. Soft music started to play from speakers hidden around the bar playing songs from the fifties to the early eighties. The music was mellow and really cool.

Halfway through the night Emily got curious and wandered around looking at the pictures on the wall. She started at the bar when she was getting another Shirley Temple. She looked at the three pictures that were in picture frames behind the bar. The first was the Queen. Emily read the history that was written on the plaque below her picture. Emily was impressed to learn that the queen volunteered during World War Two as a driver and mechanic for the Army.

Winston Churchill was the next portrait on the wall. Had some cool facts like he was a prisoner of war at the turn of the century and that he escaped from a prison camp. The last one was of some guy named Andrew 'Banjo' Paterson. He was some writer and poet from Australia. According to the plaque, one of his poems got turned into a song. He also wrote 'The man from snowy river.' Emily wondered if that was the same story that was made into a movie.

Emily followed the portraits along the wall looking at each one and reading their plaques. There was a lot of portraits of athletes most of them having to do with cricket although there was a few rugby and soccer players as well. Emily was impressed with all the famous non-sports or military people on the wall. There was one guy named William Wilberforce who in seventeen-hundreds led a movement to abolish slavery in the British Empire. She also spotted a few famous British and Australia Supers. It shouldn’t have surprised her but it did when she found a new portrait hanging on the wall.

She stared at the portrait of Rags in his dress uniform. The picture was professionally done and captured him from the waist up like the ones they do at boot camp. He was missing a few medals that she knew he had so she knew it was a picture of before he was deployed to Afghanistan. She could not remember if he had ever given her his real name or not because the only name she remembered was Rags. Below on his plaque was his real name with his birth and death dates. The date that he died was listed eight months ago at the battle for KIAI at hells gate. Emily hadn't realized that the battle had been given a name.

“Miss are you alright?” The waitress asked surprising Emily.

“This is wrong,” Emily said angrily pointing to the stats about how many enemy Main type supers he had taken down.

“What is dear.” The Waitress asked looking up at the picture. Emily blinked surprised. And wiped the tears from her face. She hadn't realized that she had been crying. “Did you know him?”

“He had way more kills than this. I was there when he died. He saved my life.” Emily said looking at the picture.

“Emily.” Steven the older Navy Seal warned her.

“That's the downside of being a Super Soldier.” Emily thought to herself quoting the super Soldier School motto. “We are soldiers first and supers second. All our accomplishments are credited to our branch of service. Our participation is classified. We are Super Soldiers and we do not seek glory for ourselves we only seek it for our country.”

Emily took a deep breath and let it out. They were right. She did not join the army to be a superhero. She was a Super Soldier. Rags, she knew, would understand.

“You were there when his team stopped the invasion from the gate to hell?” Asked a gruff man behind Emily.

Turing Emily looked to find the bartender standing behind her. “I am sorry that's classified.” She told him giving a sad smile.

“Thank you for your service, Miss. Your drinks are on the house.” The Bartender said giving her a very serious look.

Emily laughed and held up her Shirley Temple. “I am DD for the night.” She told him smiling.

“Your friend's drinks are free if you take a picture with me and the misses. I promise not to put it online. I'll just hang it behind my bar.” The Bartender said pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the bar. There were already a few pictures not hanging in a picture frame hanging up already. Emily looked at Steven. He paused for a few seconds then nodded. Steven took the picture with Emily standing beside the two smiling.

The waitress gave her a quarter and told her to kiss it. Emily frowned but did as she asked. The waitress had Emily slid the quarter in between the glass and the picture.

“Its an old military tradition. A penny means that you came by to offer your respects. A nickel means that you trained together at boot. A dime means that you served together. A quarter means that you were there when he died. It usually left at the grave site but sometimes at a memorial. Every picture on this wall is a memorial to someone who changed or saved the world. Thank’s love.” The Waitress said gently laying her hand on Emily's shoulder.

They ended up staying very late into the night at the bar. When most of the other customers left the bartender closed the bar and hung out with Emily and the Seals. The Waitress challenged a few guys to bumper pool and killed them at the game. The bartender organized a shuffleboard tournament between everyone with a hundred dollar bar tab for the winner. Emily lost her first match even though the guy she was playing was obviously trying to throw it. It made everyone laugh.

They got back to their suite late that night. Emily lost her room to Mandy and Isaac who wanted some alone time. Emily ended up on the couch while a few of the guys ended up crashing on the floor. In the morning Emily woke up needing to go to the bathroom. She found one of the guys passed out in the tub with a blanket and a pillow. After taking a picture she woke him up and chased him out of the bathroom.

They had a very late breakfast then made plans to head to the beach after everyone took showers and changed into their bathing suits back at the suite. There was a nice beach at the end of hotel row which they ended up at. After a few minutes of playing in the breakwater, some of the guys wanted to go exploring by the cliff that surrounded the north side of the island. Emily followed them and had fun just being with the guys.

It was late when they got back. They all missed lunch so they stopped by a fast food restaurant. After eating some greasy food they headed back on base to watch a movie. It was an action flick about two super cops chasing a supervillain across the world trying to stop his overly complicated plans.

When the movie ended they hung around the parking lot making fun of the movie. It wasn't bad but there were parts that were pretty unbelievable. They split up afterward to head to wherever they were staying the night. Emily and Mandy headed back to the barracks. Emily took a shower and went to bed smiling. It was the most fun she had since she had been on the island. The next morning was Monday and Emily showed up to muster and was told her TAD had been canceled. She was getting new orders for Fort Bragg, North Carolina. She was going to Special Forces training school. She was going to be a Green Beret.