The hangar was an enormous chamber with steel planks on the ceiling. Crate stacked on the right, and a few spaceships rested on the left near three SPD gunships and two shuttles, being maintained by the crew. A couple of mech fork lifters marched around, loading crates to the stacks.

Toward the center was the Undertaker, Purple Squad's bat wing-shaped vessel. John wished he was flying his ship to hell instead of the dropship. He hasn't flown in his ship for weeks since the SPD arrested him. But Lena had the satisfaction of flying it while he and the other girls were in prison. John could see the frown on her pale face, understanding she wanted to pilot the Undertaker again. Sadly, not this time.

A middle-aged man in a white SPD officer uniform approached him with a salute. He has short gray buzz-cut hair and sharp wrinkles across his chisel face. "Purple Squad, I'm Officer Ford. Please follow me to the drop pod."

He didn’t twitch at the squad's unusual appearance. Especially at Tiara, the only living demon among them in a cyber suit.

At least some SPD members didn't care what they saw on their ship. Whoever signed up to join the agency should know what they will see.

Officer Ford led the Purple Squad toward the drop pod behind the cannon. The projectile launcher aimed at the giant hangar doorway, protected by a blue energy shield to prevent the space vacuum from sucking everything out. Any ship or vehicle could fly through the force field.

Ford approached the pod and pulled the lever down. The hatch opened. “This ride will be fast, but it should bring you to Earth unharmed. No supernatural enemy should detect you.”

“Thank you, sir,” said John.

Tiara peeked inside the pod. It has three rows of seats with harnesses, facing the flight panel. But there was enough room for her to fit her wings through. “I’ll take the back.”

Kara grinned. “Good, because I don’t want to sit next to you.”

The demon lady beamed her red eyes at her. “Why? So you won’t bite me?”

The vampire pointed her finger at Tiara. “I’ll bite you when I feel like it, bitch. Just remember your-”

“Enough!” John growled. “No more fucking catfights! We need to work together to save the world. Got it?”

Kara hissed through her fangs. “Understood.” She gave Tiara one more glare and climbed into the pod.

John moved in next and sat in front of the flight controls. Lena sat next to him, ready to man the controls.

Kara sat with Alexia while the demon lady took the back, sitting alone with enough space to stretch out her wings. It looked tough for her to sit, but she didn’t show any difficulty getting comfy.

Ford leaned through the hatch and saluted the squad. "Good luck. We are counting on you.”

John saluted back and watched the officer close the hatch with a click.

“Has anyone seen Copper?” Lena asked. “We haven’t seen him since we left Hades.”

“His superiors probably reassigned him back to guard duty on Hades,” Alexia suggested.

“Good. He was annoying.” Kara pulled her harness down across her shoulders.

“I found him quite unique,” said Tiara. “I never met an automation with a soul.”

“I think our squad is big enough for the mission.” John clicked his harness. “Take us to hell, Lena.”

The zombie girl grinned at him. “You got it, wolfie.”

John wondered if Lena was going to keep calling him that. After he shrugged, John watched the window as the pod moved through the cannon's back. The cannon’s hatch closed behind the pod, and the projectile machine rose, aiming its barrel toward the force field.

“Launch sequence commencing,” a female computer voice announced, “in 5...4...3...2...1...Ignition!”

A strong invisible force pushed John back as the pod shot out. The pod flew over the floor and out through the open hangar door. It soared through space like a bullet, passing a dozen United Planetary Federation ships around the red sphere.

The portal grew bigger and brighter as the pod rocketed closer.

“Here we go!” John shouted.

As soon as the pod descended through the portal, everything flashed red-

-and then a ship’s hulk appeared in the pod’s path.

“Look out!” Alexia shouted.

Lena steered the pod to the right, only nicking the hulk’s surface. She turned again, passing more metal scapes and floating machinery pieces. Gears, pipes, and corpses in UPF uniforms drifted everywhere in sight.

“Are we flying through a junkyard?” Kara exclaimed.

John beamed his eyes. “No….. This is a graveyard.”

The pod flew further into a clearing where John could see hundreds of starships floating dead in the red space of hell. All blown into pieces as if they were models, torn apart by children. Not a single ship survived outside the portal.

“They must be the fleet who entered the portal,” Alexia suggested. “It looked like a nuke wiped them all out.”

Tiara giggled. “Welcome to hell.”

John glanced at her. “Can you tell us what we are dealing with here?”

“What do you think? We demons use thousands of ships to invade a world in our realm. Your fleet engaged foolishly, costing their souls. Our ships are stronger, capable of destroying a single vessel with full power. We will be lucky if none of their patrols find us.”

“Then we better keep flying to Earth.” John tapped Lena’s shoulder. “Keep us moving.”

“Descending now.” Lena pushed the handles forward, diving the pod downward from the floating ship graveyard. Earth was directly below the wreckage. The only blue world amid the darkness.

While the pod sped up toward the atmosphere, John noticed red lines stretched across the North American continent. All the lands were black around red areas with glimmering yellow spectacles. The ocean seemed fine, but every single populated area blacked out. The entire Earth had changed into a war zone.

“We are getting through!” Lena shouted.

The pod rattled as flames burned across the window, blocking John and Lena’s vision. After a few moments, the flames cleared as the pod left the atmospheric entry.

At first, the entire sky was dark, with red lightning flashing all over the airspace. Then the dark clouds cleared, reviewing a large city near the dark coast. New York.

Red and black clouds swirled across the entire sky as the red lightning-sparked over the dark ground. It appeared as if a hurricane engulfed the entire Earth, rendering the concept of day and night away.

"Brace yourself!" Lena pulled the handles back, straightening the pod so it could land smoothly.

The pod flew past the buildings, reaching closer and closer toward the street. When it hit, the window blacked out with a violent shock from the impact. The engine behind Tiara's seat slowly turned silent, calming the pod to rest.

John unclipped his harness. "Time to get out."

“Ladies first.” Tiara reached the hatch before Kara and pulled the lever down.

“Hey! I’m a lady too!” Kara complained.

The demon lady glanced at her. “Oh…..I thought you were an adolescent.”

“I’m thirty years old!”

“And I’m a million years old. To me, you are an adolescent.”

Kara grinned. “And that makes you an old hag.”

Tiara only narrowed her red eyes at the vampire, not taking her insult too lightly.

“I said no more fucking catfights!” John shouted. “Get us out!”

Tiara shrugged and pushed the hatch outward, unleashing warm air and a concrete smell. John followed her out, dropping to the ground in a small crater around the pod.

He clambered out and rose on the street, glancing at his surroundings. "Wow….."

All the city skyscrapers remained untouched beneath the red thunderstorm. However, the concrete street has large cracks through the center as if an earthquake occurred. It appeared the demons did not attack yet the city, but nobody was wandering around.

"Was this city evacuated?" Lena joined John and Tiara while the other girls climbed up toward her.

"If they were lucky, they should have," said Tiara. "My kind doesn't destroy much structure. We abduct and torture the victims to harvest their souls. The more pain, the more delicious the souls are."

Kara grimaced. "How sickening."

John tipped the left side of his noggin. His HUD within his cybernetic blue eyes appealed, viewing his Ecto energy tracker radar, targeting, and an analyzing system display. He switched to his x-ray vision as he glanced at the ruins. Still, no life signs and no corpses rested behind the buildings.

John changed his HUD back. "I see nothing around here. We should proceed to the base now."

"What if nothing is there?" Lena asked.

"Then we will find another one. If the survivors still have military defenses, they can help us find the beacon.”

"Understood," Alexia replied.

John glanced around. If there were no survivors, the demons could still lurk around.

Indeed, Hell has arrived on Earth.

*****

Down the street, John and his squad sat in a red pickup truck while Alexia drove it.

Further in the city, John didn’t spot any life signs still. He still hoped most of the people had evacuated successfully.

"Seriously? This is the thing your kind rode in?" Tiara asked, stretching her arms up while her wings folded.

"It is called a truck," Lena explained. "What do you ride in hell?"

Tiara glanced at her. "Ships are our main transportation, but we can fly anywhere we want. We don't need trucks or dumb animals to help us travel. Flying is our way of traveling."

That made sense, considering demons had wings. What would be the point of having wings if they didn’t use them?

John’s left ear twitched when something exploded from two miles. “Stop!” He tapped the top of the truck. “I hear something!”

Alexia stopped the truck in the middle of the street. “What is it?”

John rose, keeping his wolf ears open. More explosives and blasts echoed close by. “I think there is a battle down the street. Let’s head there.”

“Good! I am ready for a good fight!” Tiara cheered.

Alexia drove the truck further and stopped in front of a fallen freeway bridge across the street. Since they couldn't drive over the debris, they clambered over the bridge.

On the other side, John spotted ten humanoid figures charging through a parking lot toward what appeared to be a three-story tall indoor mall. A sign next to the parking lot entrance states, "Shopping Spree Central." It definitely sounded like a shopping mall to John.

He wasn't a shopping type unless he needed to buy new guns and booze. Sometimes his squad would go shopping on their days off. Who knew how they could blend in with society.

Through his HUD vision, John zoomed in on the strange creatures. Only one word could describe them perfectly.

Demons.

But not just any demons.

They wore black armor suits, carrying dark rifles bigger than a marine’s plasma rifle. Bat-like wings flapped on their backs, red skin, bald heads with horns, and their yellow eyes glowed like lanterns.

While charging, they shot red plasma balls toward the mall entrance, barricaded by metal plates nailed on wooden boards together. Behind the barricade, a man and a woman fired their guns back. Apparently, they were defending their hideout.

“They are attacking civilians!” John shouted.

Kara smirked and held up her sniper rifle. “Then let’s save them.”

John held up his metal fingers, extending his sharp alloy claws from his fingertips. He charged into the parking lot, running on all fours. He leaped over a wrecked car and pounced on one of the demon soldier.

On the ground, the demon dropped his mouth, gasping at John's face.

"First time seeing a werewolf?" John asked with a grin. "It will be your last."

John slashed the demon's face-off, exposing the demon's bony face in blood. The demon screamed before John ripped the demon's head off.

He tossed the head and wiped the blood off his muzzle. The beast inside truly drove him to be vicious, not caring how he killed his target.

Another demon soldier clambered into the car and aimed his plasma rifle at John. He blasted, but the cyborg werewolf rolled toward a car.

Behind the car, John morphed his left arm and fired his plasma mini-gun. The demon's head exploded and fell off the car.

John rose from his cover, seeing the girls fired on the other demons.

Lena punched a demon on the ground and stomped on his face, splattering his head. Kara hid behind a van, sniping at one demon at a time. Alexia projected an energy shield in front of the entrance, protecting the civilians inside.

Tiara flew over two demons, blasting her flamethrower at them. They screamed in agony as the flames consumed them. Indeed, demons weren't fireproof.

John heard a roar from the left. "What the fuck?"

A several-story tall demon with twin-barreled plasma cannons equipped to his arms approached the parking lot. Instead of legs, the demon has two massive individual tank treads below his rotating mechanic waist. No wings, sharp horns, and a faceplate with one red eye on his forehead.

John had never seen a cyberized demon before. He looked like a tank, preparing to rip the entire parking lot apart.

Tiara landed next to John. "Take cover!"

She pushed him down behind the car. Red plasma bolts flew over their heads.

"What the hell is that thing?" John shouted.

Tiara glared over the car hood. "A Dreadnought. Built to destroy an army. We need explosives to kill him."

John curled the corners of his mouth up. "I know a girl who can do that. You keep that thing distressed so I can get her."

Tiara nodded and ran from her cover. She hopped on a car and waved her arms up. "Over here!"

The Dreadnought demon rotated toward her and drove over a couple of vehicles, smashing them. Whether or not he knew her, he moved like he was curious.

Tiara flapped her wings and flew off, staying in the Dreadnought's sight.

John raced toward the center lot where Lena was still punching the demon soldier's face. In fact, he no longer has a face on his flat, bloody head.

"Lena, I need your help!" John exclaimed.

The zombie girl dropped the demon and glanced at him. "What do you need?"

John pointed at the cyborg tank demon. "Blow the hell out of that thing. Can you do it?"

Lena observed the Dreadnought chasing Tiara. She glared in determination. "Yes, I can."