A/N: I have never posted a chapter so fast. I'm usually painfully slow to wait on; grass grows faster than the time it takes me to update a story! With that being said, I hope I can keep on this updating-roll I'm on for you lovely reviewers/readers! :)

Many thanks to the reviews, favs and alerts for this diabolical and twisted ghost story of mine. :D

Enjoy and review if you wish!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Decepticons/Autobots but any Original Characters belong to me…

THE POVEGLIAN VENDETTA

Chapter 2

"Breaking Mirrors"

One Earth Day was far too long to wait for the Decepticon's next mission.

It was a combination of many things: the cabin fever that had hit nearly everyone in the Nemesis, the illogical flickering lights that kept jumping from hall to hall (now currently back in Combaticon Hall) and lastly the constant annoyance of finding 'touched cubes'.

Swindle glanced from his table to the large pile of energon cubes that had been placed by the Waste Dispenser in the Common Room, everyone following suit with what Skywarp had done (not wanting to waste them but also not wanting to put their lips to something most likely defiled).

Swindle yawned, placing his chin in the palm of his hand as his optics dimmed tiredly behind his purple visor.

A week had passed by and the Decepticons were starting to experience the effects of all three—the Combaticons out of everyone else for the moment as insomnia struck every team member who had quarters in the unfortunate hall.

"Insecticons… or some stupid slaggin' prank by Rumble and Frenzy so they can get all the cubes they want," Vortex tiredly uttered, offering his conspiracy theory to the Swindle, who he sat across the table from him.

"If it was the Insecticons they would have just taken them," yawned Swindle, his chin nearly falling out of his hand like a High School student trapped in a boring class lecture. "Why… why just take sips? To bug us?"

"I don't know…" Vortex groaned sleepily before he finally let his head lower to the table. Swindle followed suit almost immediately as his head dropped carelessly with a loud bang, catching the attention of Astrotrain and Blitzwing.

"What's wrong with them?" asked Blitzwing, raising an optic ridge.

"They haven't been recharging. From what I've heard from Reflector the lights have kept waking them up—it's happening in their quarters now," Astrotrain answered, an energon goodie sneaking towards his mouth. Blitzwing suddenly reached out and whacked Astrotrain's shoulder plates.

"What the frag, you have energon? Give it here!" Blitzwing ordered brusquely.

"Get your own, or drink one of the soiled cubes," was Astrortain's reply, his round helmet nodding towards the energon pile next to the Waste Dispenser.

"Frag that! It won't kill you to give me one," Blitzwing said, shoving Astrotrain in the chest with a rough hand. Astrotrain shoved back in an almost humored gesture. Blitzwing shoved back. Astrotrain returned the shove—harder. Blitzwing's optics narrowed under his visor and he pushed back with both of his hands, causing Astrotrain to harshly bump into their table.

Astrotrain snaked a foot behind the back of Blitzwing's legs and tripped him, causing his fellow Triple-Changer to fall on his back. Astrotrain grinned, reaching to place another energon goodie in his mouth when suddenly he joined Blitzwing on the floor.

Astrotrain quickly shoved the energon goodie into his mouth when Blitzwing made a reach for it; Astrotrain chewed, smiling. "I win."

Starscream scowled as he passed through Combaticon Hall. Even though he had only experienced the nuisance once (in The Hallway of the High Command, where his quarters were) he still couldn't help turning a passive nothing into an infuriating something— it was his nature after all.

"Flicker, flicker, flicker," Starscream spat distastefully like an angry, screechy Shakespeare reciting poetry. "I HATE these flickering lights!"

"Welcome to the organization of mutual hatred," called a tired Blast Off from his quarters.

Starscream snarled at the sarcastic comment. Starscream stopped in the Combaticon's doorway looking in to see the shuttle mech on his berth with his arm draped over his visor. Starscream couldn't help but remain quiet…

"Wake up!" he ordered, when Blast Off refused to comply Starscream's face crumpled into a sour look. "I'm glad there is no one in this hall besides myself to witness your lazy presence Blast Off… it humiliates me just looking at you."

"Please Starscream must you start talking, how's a mech to recharge?" was Blast Off's reply.

Starscream scoffed. "Forgive me Blast Off, but let me ask you, how is a mech to stay awake once you start talking?"

"That was wonderful," Blast Off replied, "Now let's hear you come up with a response that doesn't involve you stealing from one of my previous statements."

"It is only logical that you should receive a meager copy of your own statement, for I have no desire to waste precious energy thinking of a statement too worthy of you, Combaticon… you are not worth the effort."

Blast Off smiled. "You have a lyrical way with cynical remarks Starscream, which is why you lack a single confidant that can stand you. A wall has a better personality than you; it doesn't talk back for one."

"Then I'll leave you to make friends with your wall since I tire of hearing lackluster and pathetic retorts," Starscream spat, leaving the Combaticon's doorway.

"Good," Blast Off said. "I'd rather have my quarter lights flicker than try to recharge with a coward's voice in my audios."

Starscream didn't hear his last remark, otherwise he would have turned around. Instead Starscream's processor quickly erased the bicker between him and the forgettable mech; Blast Off was petty compared to the silver and black veteran who Starscream often exchanged heated words with. He didn't care what Megatron said to him—he would have his say whether Megatron wanted to hear him or not.

The Decepticons needed to attack closer to the Nemesis rather than wasting it on a source farther away; even if the oil field provided more than the one the Air Commander had his optics on. Megatron's plan would still be waste of time and energy with nothing to gain—especially now with the 'spoiled' energon cubes appearing and piling up.

Starscream passed through the Hallway of the High Command (an entire stretch of hallway dedicated for Soundwave and Starscream; their quarters unfortunately across the hall from one another's).

He paused suddenly, the corner of his upper lip component lifting up into a snarl. He turned and looked behind him. Starscream glared at the reminder of another thing to add to his laundry list of things to complain about to Megatron…

Starscream tilted his head like an angry cat, a furnace of malevolent feelings erupting inside him as he watched the lights overhead continue to flicker, as if to personally agitate him. Starscream raised his arm and fired, fixing the light problem himself.

The long tiresome day eventually departed, along with the Decepticons participating in the mission, leaving Rumble and Frenzy behind in the base.

99.99 % of the time when they were left behind they were happy; it was the perfect opportunity to set up pranks for unsuspecting mechs. Unfortunately for them this time, it was the .01% they felt. They would have loved to of gotten out of the base but they weren't needed.

In Storage Room 16-A, which was the two twins sort of top-secret hangout, they pondered in silence; nothing coming to their processors of what they could do.

Frenzy sat upon on one of many rusty boxes, his chin in his palm and his elbow resting on his leg. Rumble meanwhile preoccupied himself by batting scrap metal with a rod he had found lying around the Storage Room; swinging it like a metallic Babe Ruth... just not as talented.

Frenzy's head turned to Rumble's direction, watching him with boredom and that was when a miracle occurred; he had an idea.

"Frag! Missed it!" cried Frenzy, shrugging his shoulders and letting the tip of metal bat clink to the floor.

"Alright my turn," Rumble called from the other side of the hallway as he picked up the large bulky and round piece of crushed metal they had fashioned into a rough baseball. Rumble picked up the same ball that Frenzy had used and hurled it into the air, swinging his bat and sending it towards the flickering ceiling lights in Combaticon Hall.

The ball shattered into the light, ceasing the spasmodic flickering and making Rumble grin, "That's 5-2 now for this hall!"

"Eh shut-it slagger," Frenzy returned sorely, waving a hand through the air. Frenzy picked up another 'baseball'.

"One more and this one's' mine!" Frenzy called, batting the ball towards the light and with success he hit it. Frenzy jabbed his elbow through the air with victory, smiling. "Told ya!"

"Don't matter I still won," Rumble called from across the hall, leaning his weight on his bat like a professional ball player. "I got 7-4 in Stunticon Hall, 5-3 in Combaticon Hall, 4-1 in Seeker Hall, and 2-1 in High Command Hall—I win Frenz; you owe me ten cubes slag-sucka."

"Whatevah I'll get ya stupid cubes afthead," Frenzy said rolling his optics bitterly.

Rumble lifted his hand and brushed his fingertips through the air like a prissy high-maintenance femme, "Off ya go Frenzy I'm thirsty—and don't give me the ones that have been touched either!"

"Ahh go frag somethin'," Frenzy called over his shoulder plates, heading for the Common Room.

Rumble chuckled to himself as he swung his bat like a cane as he walked to Soundwave's quarters, glass from the ceiling lights crunching under his feet; a reminder of his victory.

Rumble sighed in boredom as he watched the human movie with a complete and utter lack of interest. It was the only thing to keep him busy while Frenzy took his sweet precious time getting back. It had been nearly six breems and he hadn't even returned with one cube! Slag the Common Room wasn't that far away!

Rumble eventually got bored of the human movie and switched it the human's news channels, incredibly boring but he wanted to see when Soundwave and the others were getting back.

Apparently it would be soon since the headline read that the Autobots had defeated the Decepticons. Fraggin' slag…

Speak of the Unmaker…

Rumble quickly turned off the monitor to hide the embarrassing headline as the sound of shouting and cursing down the hall increased to an overwhelming volume.

Two recognizable voices boomed into Rumble's audios when they appeared in the doorway. Megatron's optics suddenly narrowed at Starscream after he had heard Starscream's infuriating remark about his leadership. Megatron backhanded Starscream across the face. Starscream yelped as he landed on the floor violently and on the broken glass of the lights that the twins had just smashed.

Megatron pressed his foot into Starsream's face, painfully pinning the Seeker to the ground.

"Be very careful Starscream," Megatron growled, pressing the Seeker's face into the floor harder as if to crush it to oblivion. "My tolerance for your constant whining is a thin as the line you walk."

Megatron ended with a firm kick to the Seeker's mid-section after his foot abandoned his face. Starscream's optics burned at the back of his leader's head as he stood, running the edge of his palm against his cheek; removing the glass that stuck to him.

Starscream retreated to his quarters, throwing Rumble an indignant look before he punched the keypad so hard Rumble swore the Seeker almost broke it. The doors slammed shut and Rumble rolled his optics. More Decepticons passed by, some injured, some functioning, but all livid…

Frenzy suddenly appeared in the door... not a cube in sight.

"Seriously what the frag Frenz, I've been waitin' here forever!" cried Rumble, jumping from the desk to the floor. "Where's my cubes?"

Frenzy shook his head, shuffling into the room slowly like a mech on the losing side of a fight. "We, we, we shouldn't…we shouldn't, have done that…" Frenzy stuttered, seemingly ignoring Rumble.

"What?"

Rumble couldn't tell if Frenzy was nodding or shaking his head, because his twin didn't seem to be able to choose between the two options as his head bobbed in an incoherent manner. "We shouldn't have done that…"

"Done what?" Rumble questioned, confused. "What the frag are you talkin' about Frenz?"

Frenzy sank his dental plates into his bottom lip plates, all the while staring at the floor to Rumble's right foot. "It was bad, very, very, very… bad, very bad… we shouldn't have done that."

Rumble snapped his fingers in Frenzy's face; Frenzy responding by casting a blank look in Rumble's direction. "What. The. Frag. Are. You. Talkin'. About!"

Frenzy's optics blinked and suddenly he staggered, as if he had suddenly lost his equilibrium, and placed a hand to his helm. "Huh?"

"Forget it!" Rumble exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in defeat. "I'll get the cubes my fraggin' self!"

Rumble stormed passed by Frenzy, huffing in annoyance as he exited the room. Frenzy shook his head, his processor scrambled. He snuck a hand under his visor and pinched the bridge between his optics. Finally when his dizziness did clear he quickly found himself narrowing his optics in confusion...

When did he get back to Soundwave's room?