Generation Next (X-Men fanfic)

Fifteen

Brittney looked up from her chipped manicure with a grimace. She soo needed to get her nails done. "Lenny, why are we here?"

"Because, as I told you the last twelve or so times, we can't stay at the lab building any longer. Those idiots will come back looking for us, especially since A'Cadia skipped happily over to their side! We need a new place to hide until I can finish my plans." Again, he realized he was surrounded by morons. He was also in desperate need of a new crown, the other one had been disastrously ruined by the water in his hasty getaway from the lab building.

"But this place is so," she paused and gazed around the deserted building. "Beneath me."

"Just shut the heck up! This is where we are staying, so deal with it!" He stalked across the room, as far away from her as possible. Honestly, you'd think he'd brought her to an abandoned roach motel for God's sake! His gaze roamed the room, it was a close second, he supposed. A few critters were skittering about he couldn't exactly identify. It was, however, not a roach motel. It was a former PEZ factory. He hummed and picked up the pieces of a PEZ dispenser before tossing them aside. Pfft, PEZ, stupid. Lamest candy ever made. Great idea, horrible candy. Force kids to buy a cute little dispenser that's refillable, add in cheap candy. Mom and dad are suitably impressed by said price. Then mass produce millions of dispensers in all the little brat's favorite cartoon characters so mummy and daddy must buy them all. Brilliant.

No one was going to think to look for him here. It was the perfect hideout.

He rubbed his hands together and turned to look at his people scattered around the production area of the abandoned factory. "All right people, we need to get moving and put this plan together. I need action here. Movement! No more sitting about like losers!"

A hand rose and he rolled his eyes. "What is it, Buck?"

"What exactly is the plan?"

Always a wise guy in the bunch, Lenny thought. "We need the Compound 13, moron. I also need A'Cadia back, as well as Ziva on our side. Is that clear enough for you?"

Buck nodded slowly and dumbly. "Uh, boss?"

"Now what?" Lenny grumped.

"How do we find this 13 stuff? I thought it didn't exist no more?"

"Come on, scientists are egomaniacs, do you honestly think they destroyed all the formula? All their brilliant work? No, it's out there somewhere, trust me. We simply have to be the first to find it." Before goody-two-shoes Craig and his idiot team did. Craig would want to protect his daddy's good name. He would want to find the formula first and destroy it.

Lenny wasn't about to let Craig win, not this time. Craig won everything. It was time he came in first. A teeny little smile lifted the corners of his lips. Oh yes, he was gonna win everything. A little cackle escaped.

"Boss, you okay?" Buck asked.

He waved a hand at Buck. "Fine, I'm fine. Let's go, we've got work to do. I need Ziva and A'Cadia."

***

"Oooh, guys!"

Ziva was starting to hate when the curtain climbers entered the room. It usually meant trouble. For them. "Mellissa, can you shut down the theme music, it's kind of annoying."

Mellissa slid a finger across her throat, an indication to Stevie to kill the music. "Happy?"

"Dying of happiness," Ziva told her dryly.

"Good. We can move on then. We have a new and worrying problem."

"Great, what is it," Craig asked.