Inside ULTRA's hospital ward, Peg Puppy was working around the clock. Being a mom to a doctor, she knew a thing or two on medical emergencies. Because she was such a hit, she landed a position in the dormitory that connected to the Medical Ward although she visited ULTRA HQ often. At this moment, Peg was working with a couple other nurses patching up some operatives returning from the field of battle and she felt a little unsure about Dudley. Before he became a secret agent, she was certainly an overprotective parent. Ever since Dudley's father died, she took it upon herself to make sure Dudley didn't get into anything that would be dangerous so he wouldn't end up like Donnagon did. Sad to say, her efforts were unsuccessful and Dudley became a member of TUFF. She was skeptical at first, but after Dudley proved he had the right stuff, she accepted his occupation as long as he took all options into consideration.

"Oh Dudley", she thought to herself, "please be safe."

One of the helping nurses( a tuxedo cat) noticed her expression right away. Just to clarify, her name tag read Carol.

"Mrs. Puppy, you okay?", she asked kindly.

Peg finished up the bandaging she was doing and turned to talk to Carol.

"I'm just worried about my son."

"We can't always be there for our children.", Carol assured, "Sooner or later, they grow up and leave home to make their own living."

"Tell me about it.", Peg said, "My son just moved into the tree house his dad built in the yard when he was little. He always figured Dudley wouldn't move very far."

Carol smiled as she walked with Peg to another patient.

"Well, they never really grow up, they just learn how to act around people if you ask me."

"Yeah, Dudley was always eager to leave", Peg stated looking a little discouraged, "but I just didn't want him to get hurt."

Carol could see Peg needed encouragement so she handed a tissue over and Peg blew her nose.

"Yeah, your son must be pretty hard to get used to", Carol assured, "I would know. He looked pretty bad with the removal of that mark on his arm. Boy, that must have been painful."

Peg looked curious.

"What mark?", she asked.

"Jeremiah found a mark on Dudley's left arm before bringing him here.", Carol explained, "We think it was you-know-who."

Peg could tell who Carol was talking about. Even she dared not to say Zero's name aloud because she got shivers just trying to remember him.

"I still hear that infernal laugh ever since that day.", Peg said rather scared, "Zero, the monster that took my husband away and now he's taking over. I just hope Dudley can stop him so others don't feel the same thing I did."

Carol nodded.

"He will Mrs. Puppy. We just need to have hope."

By now, Dudley and the group had just entered Hades through a faulty portal generator Jeremiah had( hard to believe he actually had one). Being in this place again still brought frightening memories to Dudley's mind.

"Remember", Jeremiah warned, "Zero is going to have patrols and guards at every crossroad and path. Keep hidden, don't make a sound, don't get ideas, or we're dead."

Jeremiah headed off with Iris, Dorian, Kitty, and Dudley following. The further they went, Jeremiah kept look out. Just then Jeremiah paused.

"What's wrong?", Dudley asked.

"Shh.", Jeremiah instructed quietly, "I'm getting something."

Jeremiah listened intently, and Dudley could swear he heard a faint tunneling sound around. He looked around the wastes, but nothing stirred.

"Get down.", Jeremiah stated.

Jeremiah, Dorian, Iris and Kitty quickly buried themselves in the cold sand with Dudley following. A short distance away, a giant worm burst through the dunes. It's head opened to reveal a large eye and three large pieces that formed a mouth that had several large fangs. The roar was enough to rattle the dunes. Jeremiah and the others tried to keep quiet, but Dudley felt a sneeze coming on. The worm was about to leave when Kitty clamped her hand over Dudley's mouth to muffle his sneeze. Luckily, it didn't get the worm's attention as it tunneled back beneath the sands and vanished. Only then did the agents return above ground.

"What was that?", Dudley asked.

"One of Zero's waste worms.", Jeremiah stated as he spit out a few specks of sand, "They patrol around here. But they aren't the only ones. Let's keep moving."

Dorian had his assistants folded into his harness to avoid detection. As they made their way across the dunes, Dudley saw more of the wastelands than he originally saw. Huge skeletons becoming brittle in the desert winds, crumbling ruins of some kind of civilization, and believe it or not, raided campsites.

"Wow, this place is astounding.", Dudley said.

"Dudley", Kitty shushed, "keep quiet. You want to let Zero know we're here?"

That shut Dudley up. Then he noticed something in the cloudy sky. Jeremiah saw it too. It seemed to be a cloud moving fast. Jeremiah knew exactly what it was.

"Scavengles!", Jeremiah exclaimed, "Hide!"

Jeremiah and his team ran for cover under some huge desert brush, but Dudley was in the open. Scavengles? What were they? Rest assured, he was about to find out. Kitty grabbed Dudley's arm and pulled him down under a ruined pillar before the sound of vicious birds were heard. Suddenly out of the sky, a flock of huge birds flew in. They had huge feathery bodies, long legs of ostriches with large eagle talons, large wings, and a sharp silvery beak that was extended from a couple of ghastly eyes and fiery plume of feathers. Their shrill squawks gave Dudley a sense of dread and they circled around for a while before flying off. As Dudley, Kitty and the others came out of hiding, Dudley looked to Jeremiah.

"First giant worms with fangs, now birds that kill large mammals? What's next?"

Jeremiah felt like he shouldn't answer that. Didn't want to draw attention.

"Just keep your guard up.", Jeremiah warned.

With that in mind, they traveled a little further til they reached the edge of the wastelands where there was..wait for it...a watch tower. The towering pillar of dark iron rose high as a skyscraper and atop was a great eye lidless and sending a beam of light through the darkness and moving as if searching( yes I based this from the Lord of the Rings I don't claim anything here). Dudley remembered this. Carefully, across the sandy dunes, and boarder into the grassy landscape, the group made it's way past the tower. Careful not to get caught in it's beam of light. Unfortunately, Dudley stumbled and the beam fell over him. Dudley froze, but the beam stayed on him as if he had something the eye wanted. Jeremiah had to do something and fast or Dudley would trigger the alarm system and Zero would know someone was invading his realm. Dudley never felt this kind of light before it was like it was drilling into his being detecting something. Then there was a snap of twigs and the eye's gaze went elsewhere giving Dudley the time to get under cover before the light returned. The eye gazed at the area for a bit, then it went back to it's scanning of the surrounding area. When Dudley got into the thick brush on the now grassy landscape where the others were, Jeremiah wasn't looking too thrilled to see him.

"Don't get caught in Zero's tower sights or you'll expose us.", Jeremiah whispered rather harshly.

Dudley felt a little bit of frustration, but he settled quickly. Arguing would get nowhere in this forbidden place of evil. Jeremiah had been through this land many times, and knew what was safe and what was not. But in Zero's underworld, there was no such thing as safe only safer places due to the deadly wildlife, murderous plants, and who knows what else. And somewhere in this vile land was someone who needed help.

Now the patrols were more than a little different. Every few miles or so, a patrol made a sweep and scanned the area for signs of intrusion. Each patrol had several androids( a few in air mode the rest in ground form), and a squad of super soldiers with battle rifles, swat vests, and serrated blades. Jeremiah was sure to keep everyone on their best attempts to stay low( especially Dudley) and avoid detection. As one patrol vanished into the landscape, the natural hazards were lying in wait like lethal booby traps eager to trap any intruder who crossed by. At one point the group passed by what looked like the Roman Colosseum. Although it seemed silent, the sound of chomping and braking of bones could be heard outside the walls. Just being near it filled Dudley with despair.

"What is this place?", he asked quietly.

"The Pit of Carnage.", Jeremiah stated.

"Pit of Carnage?", asked Kitty, "What's that?"

"Zero's favorite way of executing people.", Iris stated.

"His prisoners are taken away all their weapons, and left to fight against a swarm of plague organisms with only their hands", Jeremiah added, "and Zero and his fellow members watch the whole thing as the victims are eaten alive."

Then Dorian's eyes brightened.

"I got an idea."

He made it to Jeremiah and whispered something in Jeremiah's ear. Jeremiah listened and thought it over.

"That might work Doc", he whispered back, "proceed."

Dorian made his way to the Pit's outer walls and reached into his pocket and put something near the base where the wall met the ground. He moved to another spot and repeated for about seven times before returning to the group.

"What did you do Doc?", Dudley asked.

"Don't worry", Dorian said smiling, "you'll find out."

By the look on his face, Dudley dared not to ask anymore. He didn't know what, but something didn't feel right. Jeremiah saw his face and after they paused to hide behind some brush to avoid a patrol, put his nose in the air and sniffed.

"Something's wrong."

"Like what?", Kitty asked.

"Zero's on Earth, but someone is still holding power in this place", Jeremiah stated.

The group paused a minute and after the patrol moved on, so did they. Somebody was definitely having a sway over Hades, but who? After avoiding several more watch towers, and more than a bunch of natural snares such as tar pits, they reached the outer limits where the trenches holding the wretched were. The moaning of agony and pain brought painful images to Dudley's mind all over. Jeremiah was not going to have Dudley jeopardize this assignment so he issued a huddle.

"Okay, here's what I figure: Jack is somewhere in the lower parts of the citadel where the torture chambers are. One team will go liberate our target, while the other goes to find the portal generator."

"What's there?", Dudley asked.

"The Portal room", Jeremiah explained, "is where Zero sends his goons to Earth. So team one will be Kitty, Iris, and Dorian. Dudley and I will get the Portal assignment."

"Why you and me?", Dudley asked again.

"Because you and I are going to have the most fighting.", Jeremiah stated.

Jeremiah pulled out two battle plans and handed one to Iris.

"Be careful.", Jeremiah told her.

"Will do.", Iris assured.

With a brief good-bye, both teams set out and began to carry out their plan. Nobody knew how, but they had better do good or Jack was a goner.

At the citadel's base, the group deployed their grappling hooks and scaled the wall quickly and quietly. Upon entering through a window, the team split up. Navigating down into the dark floors of the citadel were certainly a scary task. Kitty, Iris and Dorian carefully scanned each room before even entering. They managed to avoid a few patrols, and managed to make their way to the torture chambers far below. The chambers were lined with many kinds of torture mechanisms from the iron maiden, the scavenger's daughter, the rack, and many more on benches and tables. On a rack on the wall, there was Jack. He certainly looked like he had been through a lot. From the slashes on his chest, his black eye, and burns, he looked pretty bad. Kitty wanted to go to him, but Iris stopped her.

"Wait, it's too easy."

Kitty agreed. Something like this had to have a catch. Dorian pulled a scanner from his pocket and after a quick sweep, he turned to the others.

"Clear."

Dorian kept a look out while Kitty and Iris made their way to Jack and undid the metal cuffs that held him to the rack. Jack slowly stirred, and Kitty gave him some water from a canteen to get him hydrated. As the girls made their way back, Dorian turned and looked alarmed.

"Patrols!"

Quick as a wink, Dorian's assistants shot out and assembled a fake look alike of Jack on the rack before sliding back in. They hid behind the tools, under the tables, and kept their voices down when a couple guards came in. After a brief conversation, they left to continue their patrol. The agents waited a couple minutes to make sure they had gone before leaving themselves. Jack seemed to have enough strength to move slightly, but not for long. They had to move, and fast. Dorian got Jeremiah's signal and the team was off.

Now Jeremiah and Dudley had made their way to the portal room, and after a few minutes of tampering, Jeremiah opened the electric lock, and both dogs entered. Inside, the large portal generator stood. Towering a good twelve feet and about nine feet in diameter, it had a location device on the side with a keyboard to type in the location needed. Just then, a hooded figure landed in front of them and the door slid shut behind them. Jeremiah and Dudley prepared for battle right away.

"Looks like we got an obstacle to overcome", Jeremiah stated.

The figure attacked as soon as Jeremiah finished. Even though the fight was two against one, the fight was even. After a couple rounds, Dudley and Jeremiah pulled back.

"Okay", Dudley stated, "this is getting weird."

"It should.", a familiar voice answered.

The figure threw it's cloak off to reveal...Monster 01?! Dudley gasped, and Jeremiah just looked surprised.

"What? Did I scare you?", 01 asked, "No matter, Zero has me running the place while he's gone."

Jeremiah quickly got out of his trance and assaulted, but another figure blocked his path. This time Dudley saw..Keswick and Herbert? Jeremiah was retaliated, but landed on his feet.

"So what do you think?", 01 asked smiling, "I take your friends and make them your greatest enemies."

01 laughed evilly as Herbert and Keswick attacked. Dudley was reluctant to fight, but Jeremiah went all out. That was when Dudley discovered Jeremiah posed his fingers, and out shot sharp claws( think Sabertooth from Marvel) which he then used to attack. 01 wasn't about to let Jeremiah win so he joined in. Dudley could fight 01, but his fellow agents? Then Dudley noticed something on Herbert after a metal shard cut his arm. Herbert's arm looked mechanic. Keswick had a metal face revealed when Jeremiah scratched it. Now that he knew he was fighting robots, Dudley fought harder. Soon, both robots were down for the count and 01 looked very winded. Soon the other team came in after blowing the door down. Dorian made his way to the computer, typed in the location codes, and after the portal powered up, went through followed Iris, Jack and Kitty. Dudley and Jeremiah had managed to put 01 down, and Dudley looked happy.

"By the way, 01 isn't very scary now."

"Alright, than I'll be know as...Damien", 01 sneered.

"Works for me.", Jeremiah stated, "Farewell, Damien."

Jeremiah and Dudley ran to the portal, but Damien hurled a fireball their way. Jeremiah turned just in time to hurl lightning to intercept and the resulting explosion sent him and Dudley through the portal and back to Earth.