A couple months passed after Spiderman's death and the Runner picked up the mantle of protecting the city. Most things went back to the way they were before his death, and Runner was doing his best to cope and keep the city safe. Most of the people he was fighting were the old enemies of Peter who thought it would be easy to take over the city, but on a couple occasions some things were different. Several rumors were going around about a new person or creature, showing up around the city. Some videos on the internet captured brief glimpses of a creature escaping the scene, either by vanishing completely, or flying away. Alex saw the videos online, but with the poor quality he figured it was another hoax he'd seen before in the past.

Alex was sitting in his home eating a bowl of cereal and casually browsing his phone. Personally he never saw anything like that on any of his runs around the city or when fighting someone so he dismissed it. He didn't think too much of it, but it would suck to have another villain to have to deal with if it was real. He finished his bowl and moved to sit on a nearby chair and turned his tv on. It was automatically on the local new channel, and it was no surprise that it was reporting on Rhino destroying the downtown area again. "Urggghh." Alex groaned. "How many times do I have to beat this guy? Can't the cops keep one guy in prison?" Over the last couple months since Spidermans death a lot of Peter's old foes stopped coming around. Alex figured that maybe without Spiderman to kill they no longer had a purpose, almost like a hunter with no prey. He grabbed his suit and bolted it out the door running as fast as he could.

As soon as he approached the brute he was forced to dodge a car. "Aw Rhiny, what happened? Does destroying the city make your small ego feel big?"

Rhino turned and roared, "You think you can beat me? I'll crush you!"

"Uh, yeah I do it every Tuesday." Runner grinned. The two had fought before, and now Rhino was more set to defeat Runner after his own.

"Geeeraaaaah! I'll crush you into the stre-"

A loud roar followed by a large black blur quickly replaced where he was standing. "What the-?" Runner quickly turned and saw Rhino go flying past him into a nearby brick wall. He looked forward again and saw something he could not believe. A large dragon almost a quarter taller than Rhino, standing eight feet tall on four legs with steel like scales that shimmered in the sunlight. He let out a loud roar and his wings were spread, revealing the thin, leather like membrane making up his wings. "Who are..what are you suppose to be?" He called out.

The dragon craned his neck down, his eyes orange like fire with sharp irises.. "So...you are Runner." He let out a breath and smoke spewed out of his nostrils. He let out a low growl, and began to turn to the side and run.

"Hold on pal!" Runner gave chase after him and tried to follow after him which lead him into an alley. He looked around, but couldn't see anything. Going on a hunch, he looked up at one of the walls and focused his eyes, and noticed a slight shift in the brick wall. "So you can camouflage yourself huh."

The dragon let out a low growl and let his grip go, landing in front of him. "Persistent. Why are you following me?"

"Hey I'm the one asking the questions here!"

Another low growl. "I have better things to do than play 20 questions with you right now. If you want a meet, give me a location and I'll be there tomorrow night."

Runner bit back a witty remark, "Empire State Building. Come alone." Dreadwing gave a short nod and vanished again. Runner made his exit and the next day was waiting on the top floor of the Empire State Building. It was late at night, and completely void of people. Alex turned his head at the sound of wings flapping in the distance began to draw close to him. The dragon appeared before him but then began to shift. He was much smaller now, and while he retained the guise of a dragon, he looked like a human with normal clothes. He flew over and landed next to Alex. "So what is it you wanted?"

"Alright then. Who are you?"

"Call me Dreadwing."

"What are you?"

"What do you think?" Dreadwing grunted as he folded his arms across his chest.

"I don't know what to think, that's why I'm asking you." Runner retorted.

"Dragon. Mutant. What does it matter?"

Alex sighed, this wasn't a simple fact finding mission as he had hoped. "You weren't born called Dreadwing I imagine. What was your name?"

"Allen." He snorted. "Allen Drakkon."

"What like king Arthur?"

He let out another growl. "Nothing like him. So what is your name then?"

"Hey I'm asking questions here." Alex couldn't let his guard down, he had to look strong. "Where did you come from?"

"Nice try, but that is of little convenience. I'll ask again, what's your name?"

"Alexander Drake." He sighed. "How come I've never seen you before?"

"I'm haven't done too much to draw attention to myself. That and I stay hidden unless I wanted to do something." He tilted his head and looked out over the city.

"Well...it's nice to meet you then. What should I call you by?" Alex said holding out his hand.

"Just...call me whatever you want." He said shaking his hand. "I guess Dread or Allen.

"Nice to meet you then, Allen. So, what's your story?"

Dreadwing didn't answer at first. He waited a moment before speaking. "How it happened is irrelevant-"

"I don't care. I want the story."

"Fine." he growled. "I was walking alone on the streets when all of a sudden I began to change. I felt stronger and faster, and I had all these new...abilities. I had wings, a tail, scale stronger than the toughest steel. I had learned a couple times different people tried to take me, but none succeeded yet."

"Were any of them X-men?"

"Who? Oh them. I think so. I imagine it's only a matter of time until they try again."

Runner was shocked, he was amazed he had never heard of the X-men before, and was jealous at how easy he got his powers but did his best not to show either. "Interesting."

"So what's next then? I'm sure it won't be long before I get taken away. Might as well soak in as much time as I can while I'm still free."

"They won't lock you up. They train mutants. Just don't get involved with me. I have a promise to keep to someone."

Dreadwing grunted, "Oh? To who, Spiderman?"

"Yeah."

"What is it?"

"I promised to protect New York for him."

Dreadwing shrugged. "Place is decent enough. I'll help out."

"No." Alex snapped. "I can't let anyone else get killed."

"Heh, it's going to take a lot to kill me." He opened his wings, "What do you think some guy playing pretend as a rhino is going to do to me?"

Runner shook his head, "Thanks but no thanks." He quickly made his exit.

Dreadwing sighed and was about to jump off the building before he heard someone approaching. He quickly turned snarling, and had his claws out, "So you're Dreadwing." The figure said.

"Who are you?" He growled baring his teeth.

"I am Virus, a special agent and commander and Hydra. I have a warning for you and Runner. Stay away from us or else."

"Virus?" He let out a short laugh, "Right stay away from Hydra? Can't guarantee I can remember those exact words, but I'll tell him."

"You'd better." Virus warned before making his own exit.

Sighing Dreadwing leaped off the building and transformed into his full dragon form, "I'll look for him tomorrow."

The next day around midday he took off into the sky, risking the chance of someone seeing him so he could go faster. "Time to find a super teen." It wasn't long before he picked up on Runners scent and he changed into his half-human form before approaching him. This time his more human features were visible and messy brown hair could be seen along with his natural blue eyes and messy brown hair before the rest of him changed into a human, leaving him in a jacket and jeans. "Hey I have a message for you, some guy thinks I'm some kind of messenger."

"Some guy?"

"Yeah. Calls himself Virus, he works for Hydra. He said something about us doing the right thing, and that we should track down his boy band- I mean Hydra."

Runner sighed thinking for a moment. "We can't. At least not yet. You and I are no match for the Winter Soldier."

"Winter Soldier? I bet I could crush him with just one paw." Dreadwing growled.

"Dude. Seriously."

"I am serious."

Runner shook his head, giving him a stern look.

"Fine1 What are we going to do until then?"

"I don't know. Maybe you should go visit the X-men and get some practice in."

Dreadwing scoffs. "And where would I go for that? Send up a search light in the sky that's just a giant X? That's impractical."

"Good point. Try finding someone called Wolverine."

Dreadwing sighed shaking his head. "Right. I'll do what I can." He said jumping into the air and flying north.