Sweet oxygen filled his lungs as he finally escaped the choking smoke of the city that burned below. His wings beat away any tendrils that attempted to sneak into his nostrils as he took multiple deep breaths, relieved that his ability to fly had finally counted for something instead of being a constant nuisance. Wheezing noisily, he took another breath and squeezed his eyes shut. He tore away the cloth that covered his lower jaw, nostrils and muzzle, and allowed it to rest around his neck.

Below he could hear the terrified wails and screams of the denizens of St. Martial as flames greedily lapped at their skin and ignited their hair. Everyone—everything—had been set ablaze while they slept in homes that now crumbled. He snarled loudly and turned his face down toward the people that he had often taken advantage of. Just because they lived on the Rogue Isles, the so-called City of Villains, it did not mean they deserved to be set ablaze in the middle of the night. They were like anyone in any other city: they tried to make a living, even when plagued by mutants such as him, the people that commanded him, Lord Recluse himself, or the many gangs that roved the streets and demanded money for the citizens continued 'protection'.

He snarled loudly and peered out into the distance. His vision allowed him to see that the entirety of the Rogue Isles burned and that there were no villains, or even heroes, who worked to stop it.

Earlier

Azrael awoke to the sound of someone pounding their fist against his door, screaming obscenities in various languages and cursing the fact he had magically sealed it shut for this very situation. Calmly he shoved his covers away and swung his legs over the edge of his bed, popping up and rummaging around in the darkness for his pants. The person that kept banging away continued to scream as he pulled them on and snapped his belt around his hips, carefully balancing it on the wing fin that extended down his tail. It would do him no good if it tore the membrane.

Stretching his wings over his head and bringing the magical barrier down, his superior who was simply known as the Grand Widow came barreling in. Her black and white streaked hair flared out in various directions as, by magic likely known only to her, the mask that covered her eyes dropped to half-mast in a sharp glare. Quickly he pulled the cloth around his neck over his muzzle to conceal a massive grin.

"By Arachnos, if you weren't the only doctor I could get to work for me, I would have had you put to death by Lord Recluse himself long ago!"

He had to force himself to refrain from bursting into riotous laughter. Not only did the Grand Widow look fashionably ridiculous with her wild hair and bland attire, she had threatened him with that exact sentence before. Actually, and she would deny it vehemently, she had been yelling that exact warning since the day they met. He couldn't help but make his presence a purposeful, and often painful, thorny rose vine that tightened every day; case in point being the ward.

"I assume you wouldn't have come raising hell if you didn't have something that required my presence?"

Reigning in her anger took nothing more than a momentary pause. Now she stared at Azrael evenly, lips forming into an ever perpetual frown.

"Captain Mako has called on you."

Azrael visibly stiffened, tail ceasing its calm sway behind him as he processed that single sentence. If his mentor needed something done it was nothing less than a high priority mission that had been sent down by Lord Recluse. And more often than not it always required the death of a hero—a death of someone he had known when he was a child wandering the streets of Paragon City. While there were many old heroes wandering around, most had since been replaced by those he had run into when first learning about the nuances of being a hero or villain. While he was always up for putting another dog down, he wasn't as evil to go around killing or betraying his friends.

Well, he had thought he wasn't. Turned out he was willing to do anything to rise in rank and become seen by Lord Recluse. It had long been his mission to replace one of the Lord's men and become the newest mentor to rising villains.

"I recommend you start moving. Unless of course you want to make a poor impression by being late. You know how Captain Mako feels about those who are even a millisecond past the time he wanted them there by."

Azrael swallowed and cleared his throat, turning away from the Grand Widow and moving over to a massive desk that was seated in a corner of his abnormally dark room. Digging through it he retrieved a police radio set to a band the heroes of Paragon had been known to use when trying to communicate with one another. Apparently they weren't intelligent enough to use the psychics that riddled their oh-so wonderful home to connect them to one another. Not that he wasn't grateful for this oversight; it had often proven useful when he was hunting for Mako.

"Already gone," he announced to the Grand Widow before darting around and past her. Leaping as high as he was capable and spreading his wings, he flew down the halls of their hidden base and directly toward the teleporter that waited at one end of the many corridors.

Snapping a sharp turn and nearly crushing his wings against the narrow brick tunnel, he saw the subtle energy pulse of the teleporter. Flying directly into it he was instantly brought to Lord Recluse's fort, nearly veering into one of the many massive televisions that Recluse had put up in order to extend his reign and worm his way into the minds of the people. To say it had proven effective since its installment would have been an understatement, capable of attracting nearly any super powered being into working under him. Granted he had total control of the Rogue Isles, but that did not mean there were not any with a rebellious nature that sought to overthrow him.

Swiftly banking around it and flying through a checkpoint barrier that had been erected without slowing down, he flew through a set of massive doors that seemed to be constantly open. Travelling down a wide corridor, he took a turn to the left and then multiple turns around various corners that finally ended with a small circular opening that housed a powered door. Hovering in front of it, he softly landed and then pressed his muzzle against the cool purple metal.

A biometrics scanner that had been built into it confirmed his identity and allowed him to walk through, bringing him into the Great Hall that housed statues of every (currently living) enforcer. Stalking past it and through a semi-transparent barrier colored in shades of blue and green, he came face-to-face with Captain Mako. Although he was known to stalk the grounds of Sharkhead Island as it had been given to him by Lord Recluse for his personal domain, he often came back to Recluse's base when he needed one of his subordinates.

Carefully bowing in front of him, he stood at attention and carefully tucked his wings in closer against his body as he waited for Captain Mako to speak.

"Normally, I would never have passed this onto anyone," the mutant spoke. His sable eyes appeared to be pits in his otherwise scaly and colorful skin. "But sending everyone we can through has proven to be a high priority."

Mako paused. "Most have been struck down by unknown forces, but they were weak; even in groups. But you and those who work with the other 'Mentors', you lot are more than capable of succeeding where they gloriously failed."

Azrael couldn't read any expressions the shark may have given, his lips seemingly pulled into an eternal scowl that bared incredibly sharp ivory teeth. Quietly he cleared his throat and spoke softly. "Sent them through what, exactly?"

"Portal. It opened recently here in the Isles and in Paragon. As we have done the heroes have as well, but they've lost both aspiring and well-known heroes as we have villains." He fixed Azrael in place with a cold glare. Or it could have just been his normal way of looking at people. "I have sent numerous subordinates that have also fallen, surprisingly. You and a few others are the only ones left who currently rival—possibly even surpass—our skills. We intend to send you through to scout whatever is beyond and return with what you learn."

Azrael worked his jaw as he mulled over what the captain told him. Why were they risking virtually every villain known on this side of the Isles to some mysterious portal that had apparently been killing everyone who had passed through? Did they feel it was that much of a threat to their existence and simply wanted it gone by any means necessary? The same seemed to go for the heroes as well. He cocked his head to the side.

"Do you have any idea what is beyond?"

"None. Those who have passed through have returned lifeless. We can only assume those on the other end of it are killing them. Why they are sending them back through after their death is likely easier than burying them there or leaving their corpses to rot."

Flaring his wings a little as he shuffled in place on clawed feet, he considered what doing this task would bring him and whether or not it would be worth it. As though sensing this, Captain Mako brought up the one thing he had always wanted.

"If you alone make it where all others have failed, including those we intend to send you with, you will personally meet Lord Recluse and be made one of his enforcers. Or mentor as the lot of you refers to us."

Tapping his taloned toes idly against the soft carpet under his feet, he bowed his head in agreement.

"Even without such a prestigious reward I would have done this for you, Captain Mako," he murmured in response. "When are we to go?"

"Tonight," he responded.

"Is there something special about that time?"

"It is when they return everyone that has fallen. We do not desire to needlessly send you out when someone may have survived with information that we could use to our advantage."

"Understood Captain Mako."

"Dismissed."

Tilting his head in acknowledgement of the command, he turned swiftly on a heel and calmly walked out of the room. As the door sealed and its locks audibly popped shut, it took every ounce of his will to keep from loudly cheering. With his control over gravity, ice, and capability of shifting enemies into different dimensions for short periods of time there was no possibility that whatever lay through the portal could stand against him.

Stalking out of the fort and returning to the Order of the White Widow's hideout, he went directly to his room and began planning in the darkness.

Shortly Before City Fire

Something had gone horribly wrong and Azrael was beginning to suspect it was the fault of the sorcerer that stood next to him in shock. For a reason that they initially thought would have been a good idea he had sent a massive fireball through to sear and possibly kill anyone who was beyond. Instead it was not only reflected back, but it had grown—and continued to grow even as it passed back through the portal. They barely managed to dodge around it.

Simultaneously the portal in Paragon City spat out a similarly deadly bout of lightning that set everything it touched ablaze as effectively as the ball of flame.

Now

Without thinking clearly and furious with his inability to put out the blaze the monumentally moronic sorcerer had begun, he shifted his dimension and exact placement in reality with his hold over gravity before diving through the portal. As soon as he cleared it which only took a few seconds, he came face to face with a man covered in red and gold metal.

Screeching in surprise and aggravation, he took his anger out on this cybernetic being by creating a localized gravitational field that was capable of immobilizing anything.

"Why have you been trying to kill us!" he screamed.