The soul organisms reminded Mary Jane of cattle, grazing together out in the open. They resembled more amorphous blobs than bovines, and one could have easily mistook them for low-hanging fog on initial observation. Mary Jane hefted the proton pack and activated the vacuum, which Pym assured her was specifically programmed to target the electromagnetic signature he'd recorded in Harry's brain. The fog was sucked up into the machine, and Mary Jane turned it off after a moment. She peered inside the transparent window inside her backpack. Reflected in the reinforced glass, she could swear she saw the face of her old friend, looking back at her.

"I got you, Harry," she whispered. "We're going home. Peter is going to be so happy to see you."

She was so overcome with happiness, she didn't even notice the sky darkening around them, the flashes of lightning, or the geysers that began erupting with increasing strength from the lava pools around them.

"Um, Mary Jane?" Pym said.

She looked up and thunder crashed in her ears, lightning lit up the sky around them, and then a new form stood in their midst. Not as tall as Asmodeus, he was smaller and lankier. Smoke billowed from his body, but she could see pointy ears and crimson skin, flowing, red hair and the glowing eyes of a feral cat.

This was the demon that Human myth had been based on.

This was a creature ancient and terrible.

This was Mephisto.

"Who are the foolish mortals who have entered my realm?" Mephisto hissed. "Just to save one, lost soul?"

Mephisto disappeared and reappeared abruptly next to Pym, staring into the scientist's eyes. "No pure heart beating in the chest of this behemoth," he said. "A soul already twisted by its own madness is no prize at all."

Before Pym could respond, Mephisto disappeared and reappeared again, this time next to the Vision. "And I see you brought your pet toaster. Your creation's creation. The bastard child of artificial intelligence. Do you think loving a Human woman means you have a soul, robot? You are useless to everyone, including yourself."

In a clap of thunder, the Hell Lord had teleported in front of Mary Jane, and she quickly averted her gaze. However, she had stared in his eyes for a moment too long.

"Hmmmmmm," came the otherworldly growl. "This is interesting. The force of will that breached the walls of my kingdom. A power greater than science or magic combined. The pure love of a woman for a man."

"I'm not here for love," Mary Jane protested.

"Don't be a fool," Mephisto snarled. "Your intentions are as transparent as that dress you wore for Fashion Week."

Mary Jane turned her head back towards the Hell Lord. "You know me?"

"I didn't before," Mephisto said. "But I'm starting to, now. I'm very interested. How could a mortal woman love a mortal man so much?" He circled around her. "That she would risk, death, dismemberment, and the wrath of a creature older than your civilization…just to give him back his best friend?"

"Mephistopheles," Pym spoke up. "I believe you're putting your focus in the wrong place. It was my technology that allowed us to breach the walls of your realm. It was my fists that mashed your servants like potatoes. It is Goliath who incurs your wrath. Not this insignificant creature."

"Stop trying to be noble, Doctor Pym," Mephisto said. "It just sounds stupid coming from the man whose creations have rained down more destruction on Earth than my kind could ever dream of."

Mephisto then appeared behind Mary Jane, resting his finger on a piece of her equipment. "A Pym Particle dispenser, is it?" His finger lit up and the tiny machine sparked and smoked. Dead.

"I'm afraid this is one challenge, Mary Jane, that you can't shrink from," Mephisto said.

In those moments, Pym and Vision had been communicating with their eyes, in a way that only grandfathers and grandsons can. At Mephisto's last words, they launched a coordinated assault. But the Hell Lord proved to be faster than either of them had imagined. The Vision came away with a battered face and a cracked solar gem. Hank was both severely scorched and slashed. Mephisto suffered absolutely no damage at all. Mary Jane cried out at seeing her friends so viciously wounded. She was grateful when Pym shrunk out of sight, and Vision was not far behind.

Then Mephisto turned his full attention to her, and a cold splash of fear drenched her.

"A love so pure, I would have paid uncountable riches to possess it," Mephisto said. "But here, it just walks into my grasp…for no cost at all. What a funny little universe we live in."

He appeared in her face again, stroking her chin with long, sinewy fingers. "You will pray for the tender mercies of Asmodeus when you see what tortures I have in store for you, girl."

Mary Jane was on the verge of giving up hope, when she remembered something the devil had said. "A force stronger than science or magic," she repeated. "A power that even the ancient Hell Lord Mephistopheles covets."

The devil stared at her curiously.

"Pure love," Mary Jane whispered. "Did you imagine, Mephisto, that such love only went one way?"

Abruptly, a red-booted foot collided with Mephisto's face. The demon who had shrugged off the attacks of two Avengers like they were nothing…lost his balance and toppled to the ground.

"WHO DARES?!" the devil shouted.

Perched on a craggy rock a few feet away, Spider-Man's voice rang out in hell. "When it comes to dares, there's no one with more derring-do in all the dimensions than the one-and-only wallcrawler." He bowed theatrically, but still had plenty of time to dodge a stream of hellfire that shot towards him.

The whole place seemed to erupt into a deadly firestorm as the Hell Lord turned his realm against them. But-Mary Jane reflected, as her husband's powerful body hurtled through the air towards her. The power of the devil was no match for Spider speed and agility.

Spider-Man dove and dipped through the chaos like a kid playing in a candy store.

Seconds later, he scooped her into his arms, fired a webline into somewhere, and began bouncing crazily from crag to crag, carrying Mary Jane safely through the chaos.

"FOOLS!" Mephisto shouted from somewhere behind them. "You may be fast, but there's no way you can escape me on my own turf!"

The Hell Lord teleported next to them, launching a lightning-fast attack—which stopped like a bird against a windshield just inches from their faces. In the air between them, Mary Jane's eyes caught the faintest sheen of a magic spell.

"Ahh, you see," Spider-Man said. "When I found out that my wife had taken a day trip, I couldn't afford to take the long way around. I came directly through Doctor Strange's Portal Express. And the Doc is kind enough to provide our very own Shield of the Seraphim as part of his premium vacation package."

The whole realm shook as Mephisto's cry of rage echoed throughout the erupting lava geysers and storms of rock shrapnel. With his natural agility, Spider-Man dodged and weaved, carrying his wife safely through the chaos. Ahead of them, a portal was open. As they flew towards it, Mary Jane said, "Tiger, I'm so sorry."

"Aw shux, Red," Spider-Man said. "I forgive you."

They passed through the portal, which closed behind them as they landed in a rolling dive on the floor of the Sanctum Sanctorum.

Mary Jane opened her mouth to apologize again, but found instead her husband's lips pressed against hers, his impossibly strong arms holding her in the embrace of a grateful man who had nearly lost his wife.

They stayed like that for several long minutes.