Aflame

Chapter 5

Operation Assassination

Three hours before Star and Marco go to the DMV...

"Can somebody shut those two up?!" Mina screeched.

"What do you want us to do?" Manfred said. "We don't exactly have any food for them."

Mina was at her breaking point. Only a quarter of her followers at arrived at her early-morning meeting, she had received no response from anybody about her ransom note (despite her unrealistic expectations that she would already have one) and now the two babies that she had kidnapped just wouldn't stop crying.

"Manfred!" She yelled.

"Yes ma'am?" He asked, with noticeable annoyance in his voice. He was also at his breaking point, but mostly because of Mina.

"Where are the others?" She asked. "Why is everybody not here?"

Manfred sighed. "It is four in the morning ma'am. It's likely that most of them aren't even awake. When you told them about these early morning meetings, you saw that they didn't like it."

"So?!" Mina said. "Do these people not realize what we are doing here? We are liberating Mewni! We are making it better for all Mewmans! And humans. That takes precedence over all other things! Especially sleeping! How dare they skip this!"

"In all fairness…" Manfred said. "We're not exactly doing anything right now. We're all just waiting for a response from either the police about the ransom note or the stranger about what we did."

Mina looked around the room and saw that he was right. They weren't accomplishing anything at the current moment. All of her followers were either sitting or standing in random places, waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly, a loud ringing sound rang out. Everybody suddenly fell out of their stupor, and Mina smiled at the noise.

"Speak of the devil…" She said. "Manfred! Bring me the device."

"Yes ma'am." Manfred said, his spirit defeated. He walked over to one of the nearby tables and grabbed what Mina was asking for: A small, square shaped black object that appeared outside of the DMV for Mina one day. Specially used for contacting her informant, or "the Stranger,'' as she called him. Or her.

Manfred grabbed it and handed it to her. Mina pressed a small button on the side of the device and put it up to her ear like a phone. Everybody in the room looks at her, waiting for the response.

"Stanger!" She said enthusiastically. "Did you hear the news? We kidnapped those babies like I said we would. Now, I know you weren't in complete agreement with those plans, but I do think that-"

Mina was quickly interrupted by a voice on the other end, which to everybody else in the room just sounded like incomprehensible mumbling.

"I know." Mina said, after was on the other end of the line finished. "But you have to admit, it was a success! It all worked out in the end."

The stranger responded, and everybody watched as Mina suddenly frowned. "First off, It was a great idea! I don't think why you would-"

More incomprehensible speech, and Mina suddenly got a smile on her face. "Oh...I see. You're right! This is the perfect time to do that. That's the last place they'll think to look for us! But are you sure that will work? You've set everything up?"

Minas followers simply stared in confusion, not having any idea what she was going on about. "That's a great idea. And we have to go now?"

"..."

"Right. Good. I'll tell the others immediately. We won't let this plan of yours fail. And after we're done, we'll take control of Mewni. Goodbye."

Mina presses the button in the device, set it down on a nearby table, and turned towards her followers.

"New plan everybody !" She announced. "We're going to the monster temple and assassinating the queen!"

This remark was met with shock around the room, and anybody who was half-asleep was now wide awake.

"Assassinate?!" Somebody said. "Are you serious?"

"Yes!" Mina said. "Why aren't you? Just yesterday you were all practically jumping for joy at my suggestion that we would kill Meteora's baby if we didn't get what we wanted."

"But...how are we supposed to get to her?" Doug-Doug asked. "She's likely surrounded by guards."

"You're kidding, right?" Mina said. "Don't you remember? Eclipsa made it so that she wasn't constantly surrounded by guards at all times. To make it look like she was a benevolent peace-loving ruler. She thought she was safe! It's also the best time as well. Early in the morning, when everybody just woke up, they'll never see it coming!"

"Wouldn't it be better to do this at night?" Manfred asked. "Use the darkness to disguise us like we did when we stole the babies?"

"That's the genius of it." Mina said. "Those fools will be expecting us to do something at night. But if we do something at a time that nobody expects, like early in the morning, then we can take them completely by surprise. Then, once Eclipsa's dead, her husband Globgor will go on a rampage."

"How can you be so sure?"

"He's a monster! That's what they do! Now, once that happens, the people of Mewni and this town will see that deep down monsters are violent, bloodthirsty animals. They will turn on them. Then we will sit back and watch the fun, and when all monsters have been exterminated, I will take control. All traitors will be executed or exiled. We have no need for them."

"And what of the babies we kidnapped?" Somebody asked.

Mina smiled maliciously, in anticipation of what was to come. "We kill Eclipsa's little monstrosity. The human kid we'll just give back to the traitors. We don't need her. We only got her because she was at the house as well and two is better than one. Plus it gave us more leverage."

"So...how are we going to kill her?" Manfred asked.

"Simple!" Mina said, walking over to the whiteboard where they wrote their plans and grabbing a marker. "We sneak into the castle." She said, drawing a diagram. "But we have to be careful. According to the stranger, that little butterfly brat and her boyfriend are staying there, not to mention other monsters. We have to take caution. Then, we find Eclipsa. She'll either be asleep, or very sleep deprived. I doubt she slept a wink last night with her child gone. Then, we do the deed. I have a weapon with me that will be perfect for this job. Then we sneak back out. All of us are going. We can't take any chances here. We need numbers so that if we run into any monsters, we'll be able to take them down. As much as I hate to say it, those filthy creatures are stronger than most of us, so we need to work together."

"Then, we go back and do the other stuff I said earlier. Kill the brat baby, and wait for monster hate to spread. Simple as that."

Everybody in the room thought this over. Like the easily convinced buffoons they were, they nodded along and agreed with Mina's plan.

"Excellent!" Mina said. "Now, drink the end meeting corn drink, then lets go. No time to lose. This is happening now!"

So off they went. After drinking their odd corn drink, the fools left the building, and quickly ran off towards the monster temple, eager to finish the plan.

Present day…

"They're gonna kill Eclipsa?!" Star yelled. "We-we have to stop them! Marco! Call the police! Tell them to get to the temple!"

"Where's your phone?!" He asked.

"I left it at your house! I don't have it! Call the police on yours!" Star said, not sure how much time they had.

"Right." Marco said, reaching around in his pocket. But after a moment of feeling around, he turned white-faced.

"I...don't have it." He said. "I don't understand. I had it back at the hospital, I didn't put it anywhere, why- Wait. Janna! She must have taken it while I was there. How did she even do that?!"

"Arghhhh! No time to dwell on that!" Star said. "If we can't call the police, then we have to go to the monster temple! Maybe we can stop Mina!"

Not wanting to waste any more time talking, Star and Marco ran out of the DMV with the babies, taking caution not to injure them. But, they still ran as fast as they could to the temple. Who knew when Mina and her followers left.

'This is horrible!" Star thought. 'All that time spent searching for Mina could end up being worthless if Eclipsa dies. Meteora and Mariposa are safe, but what does that matter? If Eclipsa dies, then all we've done is trade a few lives for another one.'

After three minutes of straight sprinting to the monster temple, Star and Marco finally made it their destination. But when they saw what was in front of it, they stopped in their tracks. There were six police cars in front of it and dozens of officers. Several people could be seen inside the cars, in handcuffs. Unfortunately, it did not seem that Mina was not among them. Eclipsa, Globgor, Archibald, and everybody else who lived in the temple were also outside.

"What- what happened?" Star asked.

2 hours ago…

Mina and her numerous followers who had accompanied her to the temple watched from their hiding place as Star and Marco left the temple, traveling down to the town.

'Good.' She thought. 'With those two gone, this should be a whole lot easier.'

She turned towards all her followers, eagerly awaiting her command.

"Alright. She whispered. "It's time." She pointed towards Manfred. "Manfred, you're lookout. If you see anybody, you rush inside and warn us. Everybody else, you're with me. I'm going to need help if anyone attacks us. Best to take then down quickly and quietly. But for Eclipsa herself…"

Mina took out a large dagger out of her pocket. "Ah yes." She said. "The same dagger I trained with 300 years ago. Almost unbreakable, and created so that it's sharper than even the largest swords. Small, yes, but a true weapon for a Solarian. And now, fittingly, I'm going to use it to get rid of our worst enemy."

Mina's entourage smiled at the thought, and slowly they moved towards the temple. They quickly entered, and Manfred waited outside of the door.

They made their way through the temple, sneaking down hallways and up staircases. Despite being a relatively large group, they managed to make it so that they were almost impossible to hear.

Despite everybody else hoping for the opposite, Mina was itching for a fight. Listening for footsteps, voices, anything that might indicate that a filthy monster was nearby.

'Where is everyone?' She thought. 'This is the capital of Eclipsa's ugly monster empire. I know for a fact that several monsters lived inside. And while I know it's still early in the morning, I expected somebody to be awake. All I saw were those two brats leaving the temple earlier, but they couldn't be it, right?'

Finally, they made it to the Eclipsa's door. Mina recognized it from the time she and the other solarians stormed the monster temple back when Mewni was still...just Mewni.

Mina slowly opened the door and looked inside until she found was she was looking for. Eclipsa. Well, at least Eclipsa's figure, beneath a blanket on her bed. The fool was still asleep. 'This will be easier than I thought.' Mina thought. For some reason though, Globgor did not seem to be next to Eclipsa. But she didn't even think twice about this. If he wasn't there, then that would just make everything easier.

'This is perfect!' She thought. 'Whenever Globgor comes back from whatever he's doing, he's going to see Eclipsa dead! And then after we kill that little child of his, he's sure to go mad! I'm positive of it! I couldn't have a better plan!' Mina thought, forgetting that the stranger was the one who had put it in her head.

Mina slowly crept towards Eclipsa, dagger in her hand, ready to stab her. All of her followers crowded in the doorway, watching her prepare to carry out the final part of the plan. When Mina reached Eclipsa, she stopped, raised the dagger above her head, and said, "Eclipsa, Queen of darkness, lover of monsters, and traitor to Mewni. I kill you in the name of Queen Solaria."

Despite these words, Eclipsa didn't stir. 'Huh. Was hoping for her to be awake for this, but if the outcome is all the same, then I don't care!'

Mina thrust the dagger down, piecing the figure underneath. She then grinned widely, happy to see the job finished.

But the smile faded.

She could feel it. Something was not right. She grabbed the edge of the blanket and yanked it off the bed, revealing…

"A fake?!" Yes, a fake. A mannequin to be exact. Mina and all the others had been duped. It was a trap.

Mina realized this at the same time that several police officers appeared out of nowhere and started to surround them.

"FREEZE!" They yelled, aiming several guns at them. "YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!"

"The donut patrol?!" Mina said. "No! Not today!" Mina dropped her dagger, sprinted past the officers and leaped out of the window, falling over twenty feet to the ground. She groaned and crawled away from the temple, dragging her now broken leg behind her. Manfred suddenly appeared and approached her.

"Manfred!" She said with joy, which quickly turned to confusion and anger. "Wait, why didn't you warn us about the donut patrol?"

"Ummm…" Manfred quickly looked away. In truth, he had left the second Mina and the others had gone inside, wanting to be rid of them. "I...tried to, but there were too many."

"Huh. Well, help me up! We have to leave! The donut patrol will find me soon!"

Manfred thought about this. On one hand, he didn't want to help Mina, but on the other hand...there was no other hand.

"Help me or when I'm arrested, I'm dragging you down with me!"

Manfred sighed, slung Mina over his shoulder, and the two hobbled away out of sight. With the officers attention focused on Mina's followers inside, they managed to get away.

"Quickly Manfred!" Mina said. "Back to our base."

"Yes...Mina."

One hour later

Star and Marco approached one of the many police officers in front of the temple. Neither of them knew what had happened, and confusion reigned in their minds.

"Hey!" Star said. "What happened? What happened to Mina?"

The officers looked over at Star. "Oh, it's you." He said. "We got an anonymous tip last night after we left that hospital about how Mina loveberry would try to assassinate the Queen, so we set up a little sting operation for her. We couldn't get Mina herself unfortunately, but we did get everybody else from her group that was with her. I think it's It's just her now."

"Why didn't we know about this?" Marco asked.

"Eclipsa didn't want you to get involved and possibly get hurt." His eyes then fell on Meteora and Mariposa. "Although it looks like you got yourself involved anyways…"

"Umm. Yeah." Star said. "But that's not important. Listen! We know where Mina's base is! It's the old DMV in the abandoned section of town! If she escaped, then that's probably where she went!"

Star now had the officers full attention. "Are...you sure?" He asked.

Star nodded. "Positive."

The officer nodded back. "Alright. Thanks. We'll send some cars over there. But in the meantime, you should probably get that one back to the Queen." He pointed toward Meteora.

Star smiled. "Oh yeah, I probably should do that. Come on Marco."

The officer stopped her. "Don't think this is completely over though. Expect a visit from us later so we can know exactly how you got those babies back. We need all the details."

"Yeah yeah." Star said, walking past him, followed by Marco. Eclipsa noticed them and practically ran up to them, immediately taking Meteora out of Stars arms.

"Oh my baby!" She said with joy. "Star, where did you find her?"

"The old abandoned DMV. Along with Mariposa. It's Mina's base. I told one of the officers that, so she should be arrested soon. Hopefully we can finally put her behind us."

Eclipsa nodded. "Good job. Both of you. Thank you for getting the babies back."

"Wait." Marco said. "Why don't you care that we basically stormed Mina's base by ourselves? I thought you didn't want us to get hurt. That's why you didn't tell us about that sting operation in the first place."

"That is true…" Eclipsa said. "But I also didn't tell you because I knew you would try and find Meteora and Mariposa by yourselves. I knew I shouldn't try to stop you, because you two always seem to figure things out whenever there's a problem."

"Hold on." Star said. "So you didn't tell us on the faith that we would find Meteora and Mariposa by ourselves?"

"Yes." Eclipsa. "Trust me, I had plenty of faith in you. And if you didn't find them, well then nothing would change. But if you did, then it would all work out in the end. Besides, neither me nor your parents can be too overprotective of you. You're not random teenagers that don't know any better. You both saved Menwi countless time. I've seen enough of you to know that."

"Wow…Thanks Eclipsa." Marco said.

"You're welcome sweetie. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take Meteora over to Globgor. You should probably get the other one to Mr and Mrs Diaz. They're at the police station."

"Alright." Star said. "See you around Eclipsa."

Eclipsa smiled and walked off towards Globgor, while Star and Marco left the monster temple.

"So…" Marco said. "You wanna get some lunch after we take Mariposa back to my parents?"

"Ugh. You read my mind Marco. How about Britta's?"

"Sound perfect Star. Sounds perfect…" Marco said, happy that it was finally over. Unfortunately, in all the excitement of finally stopping Mina and Eclipsa being safe, Star and Marco forgot one vital thing.

It wasn't over, was it?

At Mina's base...

"Put me down there Manfred!"

Manfred obeyed Mina's command and dropped her into a chair, then started wondering why he was still putting up with any of this. He then walked off to check on Meteora and Mariposa.

"Alright." Mina said. "That was a failure. I broke my leg, everybody got arrested, and we accomplished nothing. At least we still have those babies."

"Actually…" Manfred said from the other room. "They're gone."

"WHAT?!" Mina screamed. "What do you mean they're gone!"

"I mean they're not here anymore!" Manfred said. "I wouldn't be surprised if those two kids found this place and took them…"

Mina thought about this and practically growled at the thought. "Forget about that!" She said. "It's time for a new plan. Even though it's just us now, I have an idea."

"No." Manfred said.

"What?" Mina said, looking at Manfred with newfound contempt.

"I'm not doing this anymore." He said. "I thought you would be a good investment for me, but your latest plan just failed entirely. I should have seen that it would. We're completely alone now. I'm leaving. And besides, if those two brats were the ones that took the babies, then they probably told the police about this place. They're likely going to be here any moment!"

Mina just stared at Manfred, unable to handle the fact that her last follower was now leaving her. Manfred walked towards the door.

"Don't!" Mina said. "If you leave, then I'm taking you down with me, like I said!"

"You know what, that's fine by me!" Manfred said. "Better than spending one second more in this place." With that, he left.

"NO!" Mina said, attempting to get up and chase him. But an explosion of pain came out of her broken leg as she did, and she immediately sat back down.

"Fine!" She said. "I'm going to do this myself! Once I find a way to get up, I'll contact the stranger and he's going to sort this whole mess out, and he'll bring you back to me with your head on a stick!"

"Well, you're right about the first thing…" A sudden voice said.

Mina whipped her head around. The voice had come from her left, where she could see the silhouette of an unknown figure.

"He's smart, that one." The voice said. "Like all those other people I scared out of town, he knows when to quit. He knows when he beaten. And he knows who's responsible when it happens."

"Who are you?" Mina said.

"Glad you asked…" The figure stepped into view. Their appearance was odd, to say the least. It was a boy. He looked no older than either Star or Marco, with a head of ash-white hair and burning orange eyes that seemed to stare into Mina's soul.

"You're...you're him, aren't you?" Mina asked. "You're the stranger, my informant!"

"Correct." The figure said. "But "the stranger" is just a stupid nickname you gave me. You can call me...Bren."

Mina paused. "That's a stupid name." She said, after a moment of contemplation.

"Bren" sighed. "Well, that's also just a nickname. In my dimension's culture, the process of naming things and names in general are different then in this one. But I'm not here to talk about what. I'm here to talk about you."

"What do you mean? Mina asked.

"Simple." Bren said. "When I first arrived here, I saw you as a potential ally. We have the same enemies after all. I thought you could be useful. So I set myself up as your informant. To help you. And to help myself. But then I saw what you were. I heard about your failures. I heard about everything. I wasn't impressed. Quite the opposite in fact. You're incompetent."

"Incompetent?!" Mina said, her voice filled with rage. "My plans almost succeeded. For instance, back in Mewni, If it hadn't been for magic being destroyed, then the Solarians wouldn't have failed!"

"But they did fail." Bren said. "Because you took unnecessary time. When you want to destroy someone directly like you did with the Solarians, you don't give your enemy time to move against you. You don't wait for a response. You should have stormed that temple and killed them all if you really wanted them gone. You shouldn't have allowed any negotiations. That is how you destroy something with a head on assault. Granted, that's not really my style. I like to take my time and do it from behind the scenes for as long as possible. But that doesn't mean I don't know how to do it in other ways."

Mina almost couldn't contain herself. If it hadn't been for her broken leg, she would have charged at Bren in anger already.

"Just because that plan failed, that doesn't mean that the others would! If the police hadn't been tipped off about our plan, then we would have been able to assassinate Eclipsa." Mina said.

"True." Bren said. "But I was the one who gave you that plan. And I was also the one that ruined it, considering that I was the one who "tipped them off," as you put it."

"What?" Mina said. "YOU?! IT WAS YOU?!"

"Calm down." Bren said. "And yes, it was me. Why, you ask? It's simple. After you told me your baby plan a few days ago, I knew I had to get rid of you. You and your pathetic little group. I knew you would always fail after you told me your half-assed idea that you called a plan. So, I called the police last night and told them what you were going to do. Then I called you and convinced you to assassinate Eclipsa. It all fell into place. And like I hoped, you managed to evade arrest. But even if you didn't, it was the same outcome. Either way, I would have gotten rid of you. Well, going to get rid of you, now that we're here."

"What do you mean?" Mina asked, now slightly worried.

"Mina, did you really think I would reveal myself to you and then just allow your to get arrested and tell the police everything? When I show myself to the world, it's going to be at the right time. Which is definitely not now. I can't have you ruining everything I've worked for. Not when I'm so close."

"Close to what?" Mina asked.

Bren smiled. "Sorry, but I'm not even going to give you the privilege of knowing that. You're not good enough for it."

"Not good enough for it?!"

"Yeah. Not good enough. You see, Mina, I don't see you as being a threat to anything. Even if you had succeeded in some small victory over your enemies, they would still find you and stop you. You would never have been able to take over the town with that pathetic little group you had. So I just decided to speed things up."

"But why?" Mina asked. "So just because you thought I'm not good enough, you decided to pose as an informant and stop me?"

"Thought you weren't good enough? I still think it. You're not good enough to get your revenge on the Butterfly's. You don't really belong in this world. You...are a mistake Mina. Nothing more than an accidental mark of the pencil that must be erased. And that eraser shall be me."

"..."

"Hmm?" Bren said. "Nothing left to say? I should let you know, I really had hope in you at first. But just like everyone else, you disappoint me. Now I only have myself. But I suppose it's more fun that way."

"What side are you on?" Mina asked. "Are you for the monster? Or for the Mewmans? What is your end goal in any of this?"

"I already told you that you're not good enough to know what my end goal is. But as for your first question, I have quite a few sides. I am on the side of vengeance, honor...and even God. A god of flame."

"I don't care about your "God of flame!" Mina said. "I'm going to do exactly what I told to Manfred. I will cleanse this world of monsters, no matter what!"

"As interesting as that sounds," Bren said, "None of it will happen. Your plans will die with you Mina."

Mina nearly shook with rage at these words. "How dare you say that to me. You-you traitor! You're a traitor to me and to Mewni! I don't care how many sides you have, or what you think of me! Your nothing but an annoying piece of shit who I will defeat!"

Bren laughed. A long, echoing laugh. "Come now Mina, you have to admit, you're quite the piece of shit yourself. I mean, just look at you. Your so-called "army" was reduced to a bunch of low-life's, your solarian warriors have all failed, and your grand plan is to kidnap a baby?! With all your talk of a monster-free Mewni, a paradise for Mewmans everywhere, you managed to screw this up pretty well, didn't you?"

Mina lunged at Bren in pure rage, but she forgot about her broken leg, and she stumbled over and fell to the floor.

Bren looked down at Mina and shook his head. "Exactly what I expected of you. But I think it's time to wrap this up. You're useless to me now."

He took a match out of his pocket. "You see, the wall, ceiling, floor, and other every single surface is coated with an invisible, impossible-to-detect substance that I made myself. It's also extremely flammable. It'll burn until there's nothing left of the material it's burning. It took months to create. But it'll all pay off in the end. So now, you get the honor of being the first person killed by it."

Mina looked at him, and for the first time in her life, she felt truly and utterly afraid. "How did you-"

"I did it a few days ago." Bren responded. "After you told me your baby plan. I realized that it would fail. It was then that I realized that you would always fail. I've planned this for a long time, and I don't need you getting in the middle and screwing it up. Do you know how long it took me to create that substance? Earth chemistry is so complicated, but at the same time, fascinating. I gave this "science" a chance, and it worked great for me. I think if you had given it a chance as well, instead of just sticking to your guns and doing pointless plans that were obviously going to fail, you might have succeeded in some small way. But that didn't happen, did it?"

Mina didn't say anything. She could only listen to the words that he was saying.

"With the right materials, I could build a bomb that could take out this entire town. I could destroy everything. But...I don't want that. I want to savor my victory. When the world burns, one town at a time, I will be there watching it. I'll start with this one. The one with the Butterfly. She took away my dimension, so I'll take away hers."

He struck the match again the wall, igniting it.

"Goodbye."

Mina's eyes widened as he dropped it. He quickly stepped out of the room into the doorway, excluding himself from the danger zone.

Mina scream in rage at him as everything caught fire, as everything suffered under the flames.

Bren watched her burn until she finally stopped moving, then walked out of the doorway and the building, with no care for its sole inhabitant, leaving her to be turned to ash.

"Well then." He said.

"Time to go catch a butterfly."

A/N: And we finally get a name and a look at our big baddie. I hope I wrote him well, and I can't wait to write his backstory and why he's doing all this. It's gonna be fun.

And it took much longer than it should have to decide on a name.