In HFU Post 5, Hero Force ventured into Hell with the help of the demon Acidspitter, in HFU Post 6 they find that there appear to be no souls around. Louis explains that the souls are now sent to the Afterlife due to the clumsy logistics of the previous system. Now Hell is solely the domain of the demons. He also explains how there is no longer a Devil and that the Demon Lords are all vying for control of their domains. They reach Pandæmonium and Hero Plus One questions the sense of going inside the creepy, demon city but Flax doesn't want to walk through Hell in search of Britt because he's too out-of-shape and Flax blames American junk food for his condition. Winters leads the way through the city, prompting a snide remark from Ffion who Winters then dubs as Space Girl for her superhero name. A short conversation about superhero names later and the group is suddenly confronted by a ten-foot tall woman with flowing red hair named Medusa. Louis recognises her and thinks she's his friend but she then attacks him and turns him to stone, claiming that trespassers will be punished. Seraphim must then fetch a chisel to free Louis.
Post[]
HPO: "Why is it so..."
Seraphim: "Desolate."
Louis: "You were expecting all night long parties?"
Seraphim: "I was expecting souls."
Louis: "Ah. They're all gone. Souls now reside in the Afterlife and not in Heaven or Hell. Truth is a lot of people would end up in Hell and be angry that it was not their religion's hell. So we kept having to create new hells for all the different religions. Worst was when someone would show up with no belief in Hell at all. It's all being dealt with elsewhere now. Hell is just for demons now. This is the city of Pandæmonium."
The city is a great, hulking mass of stone kept within huge, unscalable walls. Around the walls is a moat that doesn't contain water but a crevice that falls deep into slow-moving lava. The colossal portcullis is kept wide open for any lost soul to wander inside. The drawbridge is down too, the big, chains rusted over with centuries of zero use. Brambles of red and green grow on the walls and a beam of yellow light shoots up into the black sky, though no one can see where the light is emanating from.
HPO: "Do have to go into the creepy demon city?"
Louis: "No. If you want to walk."
Flax: "Let's go inside."
Magick: "You're just being lazy, Flax."
Flax: "I haven't done this much exercise in months. It's killing me."
Magick: "You haven't walked anywhere yet!"
Flax: "I've been standing."
Ffion: "Shut it, Chubs."
Seraphim: "We follow Acidspitter's advice. We go in."
Louis: "Don't worry, I have some pals still here in Hell!"
Magick: "Why aren't you the Devil, 'Spit?"
Louis: "Difficult question."
HPO: "They sacked you didn't they?"
Louis: "There was a rebellion against the throne. Now Hell is in turmoil. There's no one leader, each Demon Lord is out of themselves."
Flax: "Sounds like Hell to me!"
Louis: "I just hope my friends are still in the city."
Ffion: "You just said--"
Louis: "I know what I said. I just don't know for sure what happened here."
Seraphim: "There's only one way to find out..."
Hero Force walk across the drawbridge and into Pandæmonium. The buildings inside are transparent, ghostly visages that are only half-real. They have the aesthetics of a broken and abandoned Medieval city, complete with dozens of taverns with names of great innuendo. Once this was the capital city of Hell, the very throne of the Devil situated within the grand fortress. Now there is no one. No soul to be tortured into infinity and no demon overlords to do the torturing.
Seraphim: "It's just empty. It doesn't look like even demons are here now."
Louis: "There must be someone."
Flax: "Does anybody hear that hissing sound?"
Ffion: "It's probably your ass."
Magick: "It doesn't smell bad enough."
Ffion: "Ha!"
Magick and Ffion high-five the jibe but Magick relents when Flax looks like he might cry.
Flax: "It's not my fault, you know? It's all this American junk food! It's so unhealthy!"
HPO: "Then stop eating so much of it!"
Flax: "I can't resist. It tastes too good!"
He sulks to himself.
Flax: "I need to get back to eating space food."
HPO: "What's the difference?"
Flax: "One is for eating in America and one is for eating in space."
HPO: "Ooooof course. I bet there's a whole lot of difference between our chocolate cake and space chocolate cake."
Flax: "A whole world of difference!"
He grins.
Flax: "Get it? World of difference?"
Nobody replies and everyone wears a sour face. Flax deflates and Magick just pats him on the back.
Flax: "Women used to always laugh at my jokes."
Ffion: "I'm sure there're some chubby-lovers in the world that would want you, Flax."
Louis: "We should go to the fortress. There may be portals to other parts of Hell we can travel through."
Winters: "Yes! To the castle!"
Winters, with her usual childish determination, marches off down the street. Without any other choice, the group follows her.
Winters: "Following the leader, the leader, the leader. Following the leader wherever she may go[Ext 1]!"
Ffion: "So long as she goes to the fortress and not wherever else."
Winters: "Don't ruin my song, space girl."
Ffion: "Space girl?"
Winters: "That's your new superhero name!"
Ffion: "No way in Hell!"
Everyone rolls their eyes.
Ffion: "That was not deliberate."
Magick: "What about me? I want a superhero name!"
HPO: "You're called Magick. That is a superhero name."
Magick: "Ben can be called Rat Boy."
HPO: "I already have a superhero name. I'm Hero Plus One."
Winters: "And the fat guy can be Captain Spaceman!"
Flax: "Well I do have my own spaceship back out there in the depths of space. It's shaped like my c--"
HPO: "Please don't finish that sentence."
Flax: "But it-- hey, there's that sound again."
Ffion: "Stop eating beans so much and you won't fart so much."
Flax: "It's not my--"
Louis: "Oh heeeeey! Medusa!"
They all turn to see a massive woman in the middle of the road. She is ten feet in height with a slim but fit body beneath a thin, white dress that hangs tight to her skin. Her beauty is easily a rival for Seraphim and her high heels add a few extra inches to her ample height. Her red hair is incredibly long, hanging below her knees, and drifts around as though in water. Without water it's as though her hair has a mind of its own as its sways and curls around her. Her skin is pale and eyes a sparkling blue and with them she stares straight at Louis.
Medusa: "Welcome back, Acidspitter."
Louis: "See? Told you my friends would still be around!"
Without warning, Medusa snaps her head and her hair elongates into a whip that curls around Louis' neck and yanks him forward. He stumbles straight into her outstretched grasp and she hoists him off the floor with inhuman strength. As she looks into his eyes her own eyes glow for a brief instant before Louis' entire body turns to stone. She drops him and he clatters to the ground.
Medusa: "This is my domain. Trespassers will be punished."
Seraphim: "Everyone, split up and take cover!"
Everyone runs. Seraphim glances at the statue body of Louis.
Seraphim: "Now I need to find a chisel."