CJ grinned. “You know what I think?”
“What?”
“Vestals are important and rare.” CJ inclined his head toward Kendra. “You’re not going to hurt her. Why throw away a perfect resource just to make a point?”
“Don’t test me, hybrid,” yelled Michael.
Helen clucked her tongue. “You’re right, a Vestal is a rare resource. You hybrids… are less important to our future plans.” She pointed at CJ. “I think just killing you and harvesting your corpse for useful genetic samples would be the best use of our time.”
“No!” Kendra shouted. She rushed toward the nearest guard and punched him square in the jaw, letting the collar fall and clatter against the ground. He collapsed to the ground with a groan. Ignoring the pain in her knuckles, she yanked out his gun and pointed it at Helen. “We’re leaving unless you want a bullet in your brain, bitch.”
Helen raised an eyebrow. “Now this is interesting and more useful data. Apparently bonded Vestals can beat the mind control easier. Good to know.” She raised her hand and smiled. “Go ahead and shoot. If you don’t, I’ll kill your precious hybrid right in front of your eyes.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kendra fired. CJ expected her to take down the evil bitch. What he didn’t expect was for the bullet to stop in front of Helen and float in the air.
“This isn’t happening,” Kendra sputtered. “This is impossible.”
Helen offered a dismissive smile. “You stupid little girl. Did you really think you could kill me?”
Kendra fired twice more, but the bullets didn’t get any closer than the first. Helen flicked her wrist. The bullets clattered to the ground.
The scattered guards stared at the display. Knowing they were working for someone unusual and seeing it wasn’t the same thing.
CJ didn’t have time to be impressed, and he’d already faced everything from monstrous Glycons to the strange powers of Dr. Quinen. At this point, some weird force field didn’t come close to bothering him. He lunged toward the nearest guard to yank the man close for a headbutt.
The hybrid’s attack snapped the gathered guards out of their stupor. They turned toward CJ and fired off their stun guns. CJ held up the unconscious guard as a shield. The probes from the buzzing guns embedded in his body. The guard shook.
CJ yanked out the guard’s stun gun before tossing him into another man. He fired off the stun gun and nailed the next closest guard in the neck. The man collapsed to the ground, convulsing. The hybrid was already on the run and charging into the next man.
Michael scoffed and folded his arms. “See, Helen. I knew this would happen.”
“Just wait.” Helen smirked at Kendra. “This all could have been avoided.”
A growling CJ reached his next victim. One solid punch to the face was all it took to knock the man out so he could become another projectile used to take down a fellow guard. A lightning-fast jump off the ground sent CJ and his hard shoulder smacking into another man’s chest. A throat chop disabled the next man. The enemy numbers were thinning, and the panic grew on their faces.
Four men gave up on their stun guns and charged CJ as a group, all screaming in a feeble attempt at intimidation. He roared and smashed his fist into one’s man face before jamming his knee into a second.
Two men managed to get their arms around him, but he brought his elbow down on one man’s head with a loud crack and knocked the other man back with a kick. His quick stomp knocked the man out.
CJ had already taken out the bulk of the enemy. A handful of guards remained, along with the two NextGens. He was liking his odds.
“Permission to use lethal force!” shouted one of the few remaining guards. He, along with the others, backed up behind Kendra. They held their pistols out and pointed them at CJ.
He growled and glanced back and forth. Even a hybrid wasn’t fast enough to dodge bullets, but he didn’t need to. All he needed to do was anticipate where they might fire and not be in the way.
Michael jogged over to one of the heaps of bodies and snagged a gun. He pointed it at Kendra. “Enough!”
CJ threw one final elbow into the nose of a nearby guard and sent him to the ground before spinning toward Michael and growling, low and deep. “You hurt her, you’re a dead man.”
Helen sighed and patted her mouth. “This is becoming dreary.” She rolled her eyes at a nearby unconscious guard, his face battered. “Why did we even bother to bring these useless men?”
“You won’t hurt me,” Kendra said, swallowing. She looked down at her gun and dropped it with a sigh, putting her hands up. “You need Vestals. You said so yourself.”
Michael pointed the gun at her legs. “I’ve got medics. Even if I hit an artery, you’ll survive. It’d be enough to distract him.”
CJ ground his teeth. “You son of a bitch, you leave her alone.”
“It’s your fault, you stupid dog.” Michael scoffed. “But I’ll make you an offer.” He motioned to a guard near Kendra. “Put a gun to her head. The rest of you get your stun guns out.”
The guards complied, but cast a nervous glance at CJ, whose growl was now constant. He could roll, grab a gun, and put a bullet in the brain of the man aiming at Kendra with ease, but there were still enough men to make things difficult.
Helen’s power also presented a problem, and CJ had no idea what Michael could pull off. It was becoming obvious that the NextGens, much like the Alpha Squad hybrids, all had unique abilities.
“What offer?” CJ asked, his voice low and bestial. “Because right now I like the plan where I gut you all and walk out of here with
