The Final Crusade

by Enfield

Who Are You?

Two weeks before school started James was woken up particularly early in the morning. As he rolled around trying to see who was waking him up he was a little surprised to find his dad opening the curtains to his room.

“Dad,” James said groggily, “What’s going on?”

“We have to be somewhere early,” Dave said, “Get dressed and get something small to eat.”

“Where are we going?” James asked.

“We all have to have blood drawn for tests,” said Dave. He stepped over Sweetie Bell just as she woke up.

“Wha-what’s going on?” she asked.

“Well we have to go out and get blood drawn for tests,” James said.

“No, no I don’t want to do that again,” Sweetie Bell said as she cowered under the blankets.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to,” said Dave.
Sweetie Bell relaxed and sat up.

“So can we come?” she asked.

“No, we only have the Mercedes remember?” said Dave. He was right, the SUV was at a repair shop because the back door had somehow become jammed and it refused to open.

James went into the bathroom, and dressed in the most incognito shirt and shorts he had. Only three days ago he was mobbed by people trying to get a picture of him because of the video, lucky for him James’ Enforcer squad mates were nearby and they managed to drive off the mob. But it wasn’t the mobs that was making James uneasy, it was the place where he was going to have blood drawn.

James didn’t like the place, he had only been there twice and each visit creeped him out. The people who ran the place were very friendly but the fact that the interior had no sort of warm, welcoming look to it made James feel that everyone there had some dark secret past. James left the bathroom rubbing his arm, he knew the needle was going into the vein in his arm and he didn’t like the though of it. James checked up on Apple Bloom and Scootaloo in the spare room, they were still fast asleep. It had been two days since Scootaloo fell off the bike but she had healed abnormally quickly. The following morning after Scootaloo had suffered the crash and James patched her up, she came downstairs ripping the bandages off the wounds and James was surprised that they had healed overnight. He slowly shut the door and went downstairs to get himself ready. James managed to find his favorite hat and grab the car keys from the counter, he took a small bottle of juice and a granola bar from the pantry and headed for the car. Just as James stepped out the door he remembered that the Crusaders were going to be by themselves for a few hours. James turned back and went inside to find his parents, fortunately he found them in the hallway.

“Mum, dad,” James said, “Are we leaving the girls behind?”

“They don’t need to come with us for this,” said Dave.

“Yes, but are they going to be here by themselves?” James asked.

“No we hired someone to take care of them,” Katherine replied.

“Who did you get?” James asked.

Just then there was a knock on the door. James whipped around and saw Jessica, the girl from down the street, standing at the door. James started to tense up, he had a small liking toward Jessica, but he didn’t want to admit it to her until he could find a way to stand out from everyone else.

“Well get the door for her,” James’ mother said.
James slowly went to the door and opened it for Jessica, he stood there in complete silence as he took a good look at Jessica. Her hair was somewhat like his but darker, she was about the same height as James and she had the same sense of humor, James was just waiting for the opportune moment when he would tell her about how he felt about her. Better yet would be if Jessica told him that she liked him, James would be rather relieved, then he would relay the same thing back to her.

“So are you going to let me in?” Jessica said, snapping James out of his daze.

“Sorry, thought I saw something behind you,” James lied, he didn’t want her to suspect anything.

“So your parents called me about taking care of a few kids,” said Jessica.

“Yep, they’re upstairs, asleep,” James said.

“I didn’t know you had any cousins,” Jessica said.

“Well, they aren’t my cousins,” said James.

“What, did you take them off the streets?” Jessica joked.
James’ mood shifted a little, even though Jessica was joking he still was feeling rather defensive about the Crusaders.

“Yes,” James said, “Yes I actually took them into my care after I found them.”
Jessica was both surprised and confused.

“James, we’ll be waiting in the car,” said Katherine. James’ parents left James and Jessica in the hallway.

“So, you actually took the kids in because they were homeless?” Jessica asked.

“Not homeless, just lost and scared,” James replied.

“Will they be any trouble?” Jessica asked.

“Oh no,” James said, “They are perfect little girls, they might be a little shy and confused at first but they will warm up to you eventually. Make sure that you tell them where I am and why you’re here.”

“Anything else to tell me about them?” Jessica asked.

“They will fill you in once they get over their shyness,” said James, “Just let them know you’re a friend and call me if anything goes wrong.”

James walked out of the door, Jessica shut it behind him but James blocked the door with his foot and leaned back.

“One more thing,” he said, “There’s a 1911 under my bed in a case and it is loaded.”

“Should I keep that away from the girls?” Jessica asked.

“No, if anything goes wrong I want you to give it to Susie,” James said, “She knows how to use it.”

James pulled his foot free from the door and got into the car with his parents, he hoped that the Crusaders would understand what was going on and that they would trust Jessica. James felt that it was best since she only lived down the street and her parents were very good friends with his. Dave and Katherine had told the Crusaders James’ cell phone number in case they didn’t know what was happening. The one thing that was bugging James was his empty stomach, his dad hadn’t told him why he had to basically starve himself this morning. It probably had to do with the blood tests and that on the way back they would get donuts. All James could do for now was relax and wait for the arrival at the doctors office.

The doctors office was located in a plaza, which didn’t ease James’ nerves. He shakily got out of the car, steadied himself and followed his parents. James slowly entered the building, it was exactly the same as the two other times he had been here. He sat down and looked over to the door and his parents who were talking to the receptionist.
Several minutes passed and James’ phone started ringing, he was relieved to see it was his home phone that was calling, it was either Jessica or the Crusaders.

“Hello,” James said, “Who is this?”

“James!” Scootaloo said.

“What is it Scoot?” James asked calmly.

“James there’s someone here who says she’s taking care of us until you get back,” Scootaloo said, she sounded uneasy.

“It’s okay,” James said kindly, “Jessica is very friendly and the most trustworthy friend I have on the street.”

“So, so she’s just here until you get back?” Scootaloo asked, sounding as she had relaxed a little.

“Yes, but she’ll take good care of you, I promise,” James said.

“Just be back soon okay?” Scootaloo said.

“I will, I will,” said James. He hung up and leaned back in the chair.

“James Rogers?” A doctor said.
James stood up and went over to the doctor, he turned to get one last look at his parents before the door shut behind him.

“Hang on,” James said, “I thought that they were getting blood drawn too.”

“They did but that was a week ago,” the doctor said.

The doctor led James to a room and instructed his to sit in a large plastic seat. James did so and shifted uneasily as he tried to get comfy on the cold chair.

“So have you ever had this done before?” The doctor asked as he wrapped a rubber band around James’ arm.

“I helped keep someone calm as they had their blood taken out,” James replied.

“A sibling?” the doctor asked.

“In a way yes,” said James.

The doctor dropped a small table in front of James and placed an assortment of devices and needles in front of him, every passing second felt like hell for James. The doctor attached a particularly long needle to a large vial.

“Just relax and we can get this over with,” the doctor said.

“The needle’s pretty big,” James said.

“That because we got a new blood scanner that can read your DNA in a matter of minutes,” the doctor said. James, after hearing this, became interested.

“Ooh wow,” he said, “Can we use it after the extraction?”

“That’s why you’re here,” the doctor asked, “Not only is it for school but you’re the first person to have it tested on your blood.”

“Come on, the needle is beginning to freak me out a little,” said James.

The doctor inserted the needle into James’ arm and pulled out a great amount of blood. James clenched his hand into a fist and tightened his grip on the chair, after the needle was removed James’ arm was bandaged and the doctor took the blood vial to the machine. The scanner looked like a centrifuge mixed with a computer microscope. James wondered how it might work, he watched as the doctor took the blood sample and insert it into the machine, the machine clicked on and whirred. James watched as the computer started to power on and display a flurry of information. He wasn’t particularly interested in medical science but James was rather impressed with the technology in the building, which after some time started to feel more like a medical laboratory.
The doctor pressed a few keys and a long strand of paper came out of the side of the machine. He examined it and stopped. He adjusted his glasses and read the paper again.

“What is it doc? That new machine bring new problems?” James asked.

The doctor ignored James and pressed a button on the machine and it started up again and spat out another piece of paper. The doctor took the newly printed paper and read it.

“No, no surely this isn’t right,” the doctor said.

“What?” James asked, a little scared now, “Do I have some sort of rare disease or blood defect from my parents?”

“Which parents?” the doctor asked.

“What do you mean which parents?” James asked, “My birth parents of course.”

“If you’re talking about the people who were with you as you came in then no,” he doctor said.

James had become suddenly confused, he had no idea what the machine had scanned in his blood that had the doctor questioning if his parents in the lobby were really his parents.

“What do you mean when you say ‘no’?” he asked.

“This might be difficult for you to understand, but you have four birth parents, and your current parents' genetic code does not show up in the database,” the doctor said.

“Impossible,” James said, “I know for a fact that’s it’s biologically impossible to have for birth parents.”

“And who told you that?” the doctor asked.
James stopped and though for a minute, he then remembered that it was his dad that told him that no person could be born from more than two birth parents. If what the doctor had told James was proven true, then what secrets could James’ parents be hiding from him?

“I’ve got to ask my parents about this,” James said, moving the table out of the way so he could get up.

“I have the DNA code papers for your mother and father,” the doctor said, “I’ll also come with you so that they know that you’re not making this up.”

“Let’s get this over with,” said James.

He and the doctor walked out of the lab and into the lobby, where his parents were sitting in plastic chairs reading magazines. James’ mother was the first to see James and the doctor.

“James, you were a while,” Katherine said, she saw the disbelieve on James’ face, “What? What’s wrong?”

“What have you been hiding from me for the past sixteen years?” James asked, arms folded across his chest and head tilted to one side.

“What are you talking about?” Dave asked, a little irritated with James’ attitude.

“I think the real question is this, who are you?” said James.

“I’m your father,” Dave said.

“Not according to this little test, tell them doc,” James said.

The doctor drew a deep breath and held up the papers.

“It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen in my whole twenty years of being a doctor,” he said, “This DNA coding paper proves that James Rogers is not the product of Dave and Katherine Rogers.”

“No,” Dave said grabbing James, “No he’s our son, we raised him and he’s been our son ever since.”

“Then how come I’ve never seen my own birth certificate?” James asked. Dave stuttered and looked to his wife, who was just as defeated as he was. He shook his head and looked back to James.

“Look James,” he sighed, “Me and your mother, we’ve been hiding something from you for a long time now and I think it’s best we come out with it now.”

James took a step back from his supposed father and looked him dead in the eyes. Dave sighed once more and broke contact with James, knowing that what he was going to say would tear the family apart forever.

“James,” Dave said, “You weren’t born from your mother, you were bred in a test tube.”
James was not ready to hear that, as he watched the line between him and his parents degrade he could only think about trying to turn this situation around so he and his supposed parents could live together happily.

“Wow,” he said, “I was born in a laboratory?”
Dave looked at the boy who was once his son, and he was relieved to see that he was laughing and joking like he always had been.

“You don’t care?” Dave asked.

“No, not at all. This is actually something amazing,” said James, “I was a successful experiment.”

“But this still doesn’t explain the four different DNA codes the computer found,” the doctor said, but he was ignored by James and his parents.

“Tell me this,” James said, “How come there are no pictures of me in the hospital as a baby?”

“You grew too fast for the doctors to put you inside me. The rate of growth was unpredicted and rather amazing,” Katherine said.

“That’s why the only pictures of you at the hospital are at the exit when we left,” Dave said.

“It all make perfect sense now,” James said, he then hesitated for a moment and then threw his arms around his mother and father, “I love you both.”

“Excuse me,” the doctor said. James jumped a little, he forgot that the doctor was there behind them.

“Like I said before, this doesn’t explain the four DNA codes that we found, nor does it confirm that you are his true parents,” he said.

“I don’t care who they are,” James said, “They’ve put up with me for the past sixteen years and I don’t give a toss if they made me or not.”

Dave ruffled James’ hair and Katherine kissed his cheek. The doctor sighed and handed James the DNA coding papers and told him that he could solve the puzzle if he wanted to, James took the papers and looked at each of the dots and dashes that marked traits and genes. The doctor said that the blood sample taken from James would be analyzed and the final results would be forwarded to him and his family.

The minutes passed and James and his parents were in the car heading back, James was flicking through the DNA code papers and looking at himself in the reflection of the window, so far he had gathered that his dusty blond and black streaked hair wasn’t passed down through in any possible way, for starters his dad had a silvery look to his hair and his mother was a brunette. As James looked through the papers he saw his Dad’s hand on the steering wheel, it was tensed up and the veins were popping out if the back of his hand. James guessed that he was keeping a tight and enraged grip on the steering wheel. That’s when the realization hit him, his parents had been keeping his true birth a secret for some reason, and now that truth was exposed. James knew that he was treading on hallowed ground, this little intervention wasn’t going to end well at some point, James feared for when that would be, and if it would change his life and his family forever.

Comments

[CrystalHero97]

An experiment? and hes happy about that? well, that escalated quickly STACHE

[Godiswithus3]

oooo. I have got a bad feeling about this.

[I am forgotten667]

Anyone else facepalm so hard they smacked themselves?