The Final Crusade

by Enfield

The Initiation

As they were driving to the Enforcer Compound James could barely contain his excitement, but was also incredibly nervous. He had no idea what Enforcer training would be like but he had read enough and he learned it was tough and unforgiving but James had the mental capabilities to deal with it. Once they reached the Compound James tried to calm himself down before he presented himself to his superiors, he didn’t want to look weak in case there were other Enforcers waiting to prove themselves.
James jumped out of the car once it was parked near the front gate. He approached the guard, the guard stepped in front of him and his mother.

“State your name and ID number,” the guard said.

“James Rogers, 1485523,” James said.

“Cleared for entry,” said the guard. James entered the Compound followed by his mother, the Crusaders and a soldier who led the way to the main building. The lobby of the main building was rather normal looking for a military base; pictures adorned the wall, several models of battleships and tanks sat in glass cases, there were two door leading out of the lobby. James saw one door open and stood to attention when two officers walked in.

“James Rogers?” one officer asked.

“Sir, yes sir,” James said saluting the officers.

“At ease,” said the second officer, “So you want to be an Enforcer? You’re a little young for a soldier.”

“I wanted to join because I wanted to make use of my skills, sir,” James said.

“How old are you?” the first officer asked.

“Sixteen, sir,” replied James.

“He’s confident,” said the first officer.

“Is this your family?” the second officer asked.

“Yes sir,” said James.

“Katherine Rogers,” James’ mother said shaking the hands of the officers, “I’m so proud of my son being a soldier.”

“Who are the children who are with you?” the first officer asked.

“Sir, these are my cousins Abigail, Samantha and Susie,” James said.

“They sure look like interesting characters,” said the first officer.

“Well if we’re done here you can follow me,” the second officer said. He led James through one of the doors and into a waiting room filled with Enforcer recruits. James, just by looking at the other recruits could tell he was the youngest recruit. A few other Enforcers walked over to him, they had both rank pins and medals on their uniform.

“So what do we have here?” one Enforcer asked.

“A kid who has a death wish,” said a second.

“I’m just as good as you are,” said James.

“Well the Enforcers don’t have kids around here unless they’re really good,” said a third Enforcer.

“Why am I here then?” James asked. The Enforcers were stumped, they wandered off after a few seconds. Another Enforcer walked up to James, he was much older than anyone else in the room and appeared to have more campaign ribbons and medals than the officers.

“I like soldiers with smarts,” the Enforcer said, “Makes for wins in the field.”

“Thank you, sir,” said James.

“Sorry I forgot to introduce myself,” the Enforcer said, “Petty Officer Campbell Jones. I monitor the proving grounds.”

“James Rogers, sir,” said James, “When do we start, sir?”
Jones chuckled and slapped James on the back.

“I like you kid, you’ve got what it takes,” he said. Jones then saw James’ mother and the Crusaders sitting on a few chairs. James noticed what he was looking at.

“Sir, they are my mother and my cousins,” James said.

“Strange hair color,” said Jones, “Did they dye it like that?”

“Yes sir,” replied James, “Do you want to meet them?”

“That will not be necessary,” said Jones, “You sit with them until your name is called then you go to the Proving ground.”

Jones left the waiting room and James went to sit with his mother and the Crusaders. Names were called and recruits and their families joined them as they disappeared behind a large door with “Proving Ground” printed above it. The hours passed by and more recruits were called to the Proving Ground, James was starting to get impatient.

“When are they going to call me?” he asked.

“How long have we been here?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Three hours,” Scootaloo moaned.

“Can’t be long now,” said Sweetie Bell, “There’s no-one left.”
James looked up and saw that Sweetie Bell was right, there was only him left to call.

“James Rogers, 1485523 report to the Proving Grounds,” the intercom said.

“Finally,” James said as he stood up and dropped the magazine he was reading.

“Do we come as well?” Katherine asked.

“Yes,” said James.

James led the way through the door, they entered a long hallway and proceeded down it until they came to another two doors and a guard post, the guard told Katherine and the Crusaders to go through the door which led to the observation booth and James to go through the other door and to suit up. James went through the door he was instructed to enter and he ended up in a locker room, he was by himself and only one locker was unopened. The locker had his name on it, James opened it and took the combat gear that was inside. The combat gear was black just like his uniform, the helmet had a visor attached to it and looked as if there was communication gear installed inside it. The armor looked heavy but once James put it on he could barely notice any weight gain, the pants and boots didn’t look special but they were neatly pressed and well made. After James donned his combat gear he left the locker room and entered an armory, assault rifles, carbines, pistols and shotguns coated the walls. There were several empty spaces where the other recruits had taken weapons, James saw that there were very few assault rifles and shotguns, he deduced that the recruits had taken the heavier weapons rather than take what would be useful. James took a Beretta M9 and an M4A1 carbine and left the armory, he then was in a dark room lit by a single bulb that hung over an ammo crate.

“Load up and be ready to deploy,” said a voice, James thought it was an intercom and that the voice was Officer Jones. James took several magazines and stood in front of the doors to the Proving Ground.

“Okay Private Rogers listen up,” Jones’ voice boomed, “Your mission is to infiltrate the enemy outpost and neutralize all hostiles. Once you deploy you are to take out all hostiles outside then move inside the building where you will use close combat weapons and clear out the building, then move outside and you will engage four more hostiles in Close Quarter Combat. Once all four hostiles are taken care of you are to head to the extraction point. You will be using live rounds so exercise caution. Your examination score will we evaluated by how many hits you receive and how efficient your shots are on target. The fastest time holder is Private Hector, four minutes and fifty eight seconds. Break this and you’ll get extra points. Good luck.”

James stood ready and shouldered his carbine, a buzzer sounded and the doors flew open. James ran to cover and got ready to open fire, he peeked over the wall and saw a few targets sitting in the open, he stood up and shot each one in the eye once. He moved up and then bullets flew his way, James dove behind a crate and looked around for the shooter, there was a sniper on the roof, it was another target but this one was like an automated turret. James ducked again as bullets exploded in front of him and hit the wall, James span around and fired two shots at the sniper, hitting the target in the face. James looked in each of the house’s windows and saw no more guards. As he moved to the front door he saw the targets were ballistics gel shaped like people and filled with fake bones and organs, James then saw that the bullets that the sniper was firing were actually paintballs, it made sense about why the officer was saying stuff about deducting points for being hit. James moved into the building, it looked like a mansion rather than a military base, James put it out of his mind and shot a target through one ear, the bullet blew through the target and flew into another target’s head. James was proud of that shot, he pulled out his M9 and shot a target that was hiding behind a corner before he went into a mock living room with several automated targets with machine guns pointing at him. James rolled and fired at the target closest to him, then James was pinned down by enemy fire. The targets had him pinned behind a table, James dove out of cover and was pushing himself around on the floor while he shot back at the targets. Each one of the targets received no more than three bullets each and stopped firing after the first hit. James cleared out the building shortly after the targets had been hit, he let the house out of the back door and was ambushed by four men wearing ninja outfits, James thought that this was a little unbelievable but before he could pull out his pistol he was disarmed in a flash and left with no weapons. James had to fight off the ninjas, but they had weapons of their own and all James had was his CQC knowledge. He then realized that CQC was all he needed, he could beat his attackers.

The first ninja flew at him with a pair of tonfas, James blocked them and knocked the attacker out, the second ninja was sporting a nunchuk, James had to time his counterattack just right, he dodged the weapon and kicked the ninja in the face sending him sprawling in front of the third ninja. The third ninja swung a staff at James, James jumped back and then leaped forward and disarmed the attacker, he then broke the staff over the ninja’s head and tripped him up. James turned to face the final ninja, this one had a ninjato sword.

“You shall suffer,” the ninja said.

“Drop the weapon,” said James.

“Never, you are the enemy and you shall die!” the ninja said. He lunged at James, James was still holding the two broken halves of the staff. He used them to block each swing and thrust of the sword, James knew the sword was real and could easily sever an arm or a leg, but he wasn’t going to let that happen. James just barely dodged the sword when the ninja caught him off guard and kicked James in the chest, he flew back a few feet and dropped the staff halves. James tried to get up but the ninja had pinned him to the floor.

“Any last words?” the ninja asked holding the sword high above his head. James looked around for something to help him with, he looked up and saw the observation booth with the Crusaders watching James, their noses pressed against the glass. James felt that he was about to let both himself and the Crusaders down. The ninja saw what James was looking at.

“Aw, some of your sisters came to watch you die?” the ninja asked, “Shame they have to see this.”

“Yeah, shame for you,” James said slyly. The ninja looked down at James and was hit in the face by a pair of goggles, James kicked the ninja, disarmed him and knocked him out. James retrieved the goggles he had taken off his helmet and attached them back on his helmet once more. While the ninja had been distracted, James had whipped them off his helmet and pulled on the strap until he had a makeshift slingshot that he used to hit the ninja in the face.

James retrieved his weapons and left the Proving Ground, he had to deposit his weapons and ammo on a table before he was allowed to leave. James left the Proving Ground and entered a dark room, the lights suddenly flared on and applause followed.

“Well done there kid,” said a voice. James blinked through the light and saw all the other recruits and a few officers were congratulating his run.

“Best show so far today,” said one officer.

“Nice moves you used in there,” said a recruit.

“It was nothing,” James replied.

“The precision of those shots,” said an officer, “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“I’m just a good shot is all,” said James.

“Well I have your time here,” said Officer Jones, “Five minutes and three seconds.”

“So close,” James said.

“But I have to award points for the mix of shot precision and adaptive combat tactics,” Jones said, “You excelled at the gauntlet.”

“So what does that mean?” James asked.

“Congratulations James Rogers,” said Jones, “Welcome to the Enforcers.”

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