What happened in the next minute would be the subject of debate in the House of Mouse for weeks to come.

"Got the bouquet?" Brad Parnassus whispered to Reginald Bushroot as they headed backstage.

Bushroot held out a beautiful bouquet of flowers. "Yup."

Brad slipped a small packet into the bundle. "Minnie Mouse?"

The female mouse turned. "Yes?"

Bushroot blushed and held out the blossoms. "These are for you!"

"For me?" Minnie accepted the gift. "Why, how sweet of you!" She inhaled deeply. Suddenly, she caught a whiff of something fowl mixed with the fragrant blooms before she fainted.

"What was that stuff?" asked the mutant plant-duck. "Chloroform?"

"Nah. Leftover stink powder from when I framed Ingrid Third," answered the juvenile delinquent. "She'll wake up in a few minutes."

Bushroot gave an unhappy sigh. "Boy, do I feel like a rat."

"Well, so do I. You think I wanted to betray my mother's hopes and dreams? To turn into the very type of scoundrel I once protected X Middle School from?" Brad turned away. "But that's spilled milk now, and there's no sense crying over it. Besides, it's time we series villains got some recognition for our deeds."

"We definitely need to step back out in the sunshine."

At the same time, Fat Cat was getting ready to perform his role in the takeover. "Is this necessary?"

"Don't be stupid," replied Cruella de Vil. "Everyone knows dogs can't resist chasing cats. Now run before I make a bag out of you!"

The overweight feline sighed. "The sacrifices we must make for greatness." He ran as fast as his short legs would carry him.

Pluto took the bait, running and barking angrily.

Fat Cat curved sharply. The pursuer was unable to turn and slid on some conveniently placed floor wax. The golden-furred canine slid out the doggie-door, which Thailog immediately blocked with a large crate.

Pain and Panic were stretching a string across the kitchen doors.

The inevitable occurred. Goofy tripped, flying through the air and rolling right out of the House of Mouse, crashing into his son in the process. "YAAAHAAAHOOOIIIIEEE!"

Simultaneously, Clarabelle felt herself being grabbed by Ursula's tentacles.

"Honk, honk!" The cook, Donald Duck's cousin Gus, burst out of the kitchen being chased by Don Karnage, Croc, and Professor Nimnul.

Daisy was arranging the seating chart for the next night. She didn't feel herself levitate until she noticed her fingers moving away from the keyboard. "Hey!"

"What's the matter?" Hecate taunted, making the duckette float toward the door. "Not on Cloud Nine?"

"Hey! You can't do that!" protested Donald. He squawked as a magic sandblast from Sadira sent him hurtling out the doors.

Near the control room, Steelbeak bit off the doorknob with the help of his steel beak. "Reminds me of dose sting operations in the Derek Blunt movies."

Demona nodded and aimed a bazooka straight at the stage manager, Horace Horsecollar.

Horace threw up his hands and backed away from the controls.

"All yours, Sparky," concluded the female gargoyle.

"Don't call me Sparky!" snapped Megavolt, seating himself at the control panel.

Mickey, who had been telling jokes for the past five minutes, had scarcely noticed. "And I think I saw Hades! He was really painting the town dead!"

The entire club was plunged into darkness.

Mickey's falsetto voice quavered. "What's happening?"

"The DASAC is taking over this joint!" came Big Time Beagle's voice.

There was a crash. "Where's the kitchen?" called Burger Beagle. "I'm hungry!"

"I'm warning you!" yelled Mickey. "Don't cheese off this mouse!" He felt himself being grabbed roughly from behind and being passed from hands to hands. He couldn't tell in the darkness.

"Consider yourself cheesed off!" called Pete as Mickey was thrown out the front doors. As soon as he was out of earshot, he asked the others in the room. "Why couldn't we have killed him now? Walt always did like him best!"

"Patience is a virtue," replied Dr. Sevarius.

Just outside, Minnie, having recovered from the poisoned bouquet, pointed overhead. "Look!"

Mickey groaned. The "House of Mouse" sign had been replaced with another. This one was the same size, only the lettering was red and the font looked like dripping blood. "Club Dread?"

"Guess they thought 'House of Villains' didn't have the same ring to it," observed Max.

"Zippy do darn! I should have known this was a trick. Lonely and broken, ha!" Mickey crossed his arms. "Now I know why Loki's known as the trickster god!"

Minnie opened the glass door. "Step aside. I'll go in there and show that Coalition! Humph!"

"Wait, Minnie!" called Daisy. "Remember last time? You didn't scare anybody!" No response.

Minnie approached the stage. "I'm giving you one minute to turn this back into the House of Mouse!"

Shego leaped in front of her, poison-green ray gleaming from her glove. "Oh, really?"

Daisy folded her arms as Minnie ran out of the occupied club. "I told you so."

Mickey was dressed in a red robe. On his head was a blue cone-shaped hat imprinted with white crescent moons and stars. "I'll handle this." He stepped inside the club.

The entire Magic Committee was waiting for him. Before the mouse could take aim, he saw their hands glow before a blast of pure black magic nailed his chest. Mickey crashed through the window, leaving a mouse-shaped outline.

"Mickey! Are you okay?" Clarabelle asked.

"Yeah. We're going to need to take a new approach. Meet me at my house." Mickey ran down the street until he reached Ajax Architects. "I need blueprints for the House of Mouse!"

The clerk looked confused. "Some guy was in here yesterday asking for the same thing."

"Anything suspicious about him?"

"Other than the black mask?" The clerk opened a filing cabinet. "Good thing I've got another set."

Mickey snatched the blueprints. "Never mind! This plan of mine's so crazy it's got to work!"

TBC