CrimsonStreak #1

"Pilot"

About a year ago a teenager by the name of Zach "Matthew" Cage applied for work at KRANE Labs and was struck by lightning on his first day. He had been rushed to the hospital for serious injuries and was in a three month coma. Miracously he survived but Zach had found out that he had been gifted with the ability of super-speed. With this and the assistance of his friends at KRANE Labs he uses his newfound powers to fight crime and battle other mutants or metahumans in Chicago. His name is the Crimson Streak!

(KRANE Labs)

At KRANE Labs, both Charlotte Ross and her fiancé Victor Krane were researching the aspects of Zach's super speed. Charlotte wore a black dress but had a white lab coat on with black high heels as her blonde hair was braided into a ponytail. Victor Krane wore black pants, boots a black sleeved shirt and a lab coat with his hair combed backwards.

"So how is Zach and his powers developing?" Charlotte questioned as Krane simply smirked at the results before looking at his fiancé. "So far everything seems okay with speed slowly increasing every time he trains but I do recommend he take it easy. Who knows what would happen if he were to go at light speed..." Krane stated as Charlotte nodded as she folded her arms. "Your right...chances are he could end up killing himself.." she said before noticing Dr. Robert Evans enter as she smiled and greeted him.

"Morning Mr. Evans how is everything?" Krane asked as Evans gave the usual reply which was "so-so". Dr. Evans wore the traditional lab coat along with white boots, black jeans and a white shirt. His hair was long and he usually pushed it back. "I'm wondering as to when the new lab assistant will be coming.." Evans stated earning a eyebrow from Krane but a nod from Charlotte. "Oh yeah she's supposed to arrive today from what I got" Charlotte stated as Krane looked at her. "And you know this how?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Because I got a message from Evans telling me this and I'm sure he sent you and Zach a text but you two just didn't look at your phones.." Charlotte said as Krane pouted folding his arms. "Hey not my fault me and Zach were testing the theory on what would happen if we placed hotdogs in a microwave. We have to know" Krane stated as Charlotte simply rolled her eyes smirking as she kissed Krane on the cheek. "You may be a idiot..but your a great worker and my fiancé" Charlotte smiled as Krane nodded. Suddenly the two felt a pressure of wind past them as they could of sworn they saw the color crimson red. '"Well he's here" Evans smiled.

Suddenly what appeared in front of the three was a crimson red attired superhero. (Zach's attire would be that of Quicksilver's from Age Of Ultron except mostly all the color of crimson red with some black highlights and a mask to conceal his face)

"Sup dudes and dudette" Zach greeted the three with Charotte raising an eyebrow at him. "Okay first of all why are you in your costume? And second of all dudette? Seriously?" she asked as Zach nodded. "Well first of all your a girl and that was the best I could come up with at the time and second the reason for wearing my CrimsonStreak costume is because I can't be caught using my speed powers in public. It's a secret identity for a reason and I would of been in big trouble if the public caught me" Zach explained earning a shrug from Charlotte as she returned to her work.

"Well secret or not you need to be careful Zach. Remember you are not the first metahuman or mutant in this world.." Evans exclaimed as Zach nodded understanding. "I know that..." he said as he zoomed out before reappearing in his lab coat. "I'm back!" he smiled as Krane chuckled. "Well if that's over...Zach, Krane will perform his daily check up...so meet him in his lab in about-" Evans stopped when he noticed Zach was gone before sighing. "Two mins..."

Krane seeing this simply shook his head. "It's days like these when you wonder when we can have just normal days...but then the world would be boring.." Krane stated as he walked to his laboratory. As he entered Zach waved at him smiling before asking, "hey what's this about a new assistant joining us?"

"Oh you've heard? Well Evans managed to get another helping hand at KRANE Labs and we managed to do some filing and so far from what we gathered...she seems fit for the job" Krane explained as Zach raised an eyebrow. "So...does this person know about my...secret?" Zach asked as Krane shook his head no. "No not to worry but she does know of the accident with the lightning bolt striking you. In fact most of Chicago knows but not about the powers. If she can be proven trustworthy will tell her about your powers" Krane explained.

"Gee I feel so safe about this.." Zach rolled his eyes as Krane slowly took a sample of Zach's blood before checking the results. "But here's another question...what if she was to get suspicious of my in and outs?" he asked as Krane thought for a minute.

"Will say...your a intern?" he offered with immediately earned a glare from the teenager metahuman. "Out of the hundred excuses you could of chose...you chose the intern excuse?" Zach asked as Krane held his hands up in defense. "Hey we're going to need something to say to her so we don't end up revealing that you have powers. The government could in fact try and take you away" Krane warned. "Well telling her I'm CrimsonStreak is out of the equation so how about we just say I have a second job that gives me on and off hours which is why I'm here and not here sometimes?" Zach offered as Krane nodded.

"That could work...just a few minor tweaks and it will believable" Krane said as he looked at his computer screen. "Okay so far everything seems to be in order, however you seem to have lost a few pounds aka burning calories" Krane explained as Zach folded his arms.

"And that's bad how exactly?" Zach asked. "Well you see when you push yourself while speeding Zach your burning more calories than the average person and because of this you must consume large amounts of nutrients to maintain your physical peak. If you were to continue speeding you would ultimately pass out as a result of low blood glucose" Krane explained as Zach gulped. "Is there anything I can do to prevent this?" Zach asked as Krane nodded before pulling out what seemed to a be tube filled with yellow pills. "What are those exactly?" Zach asked as Krane smiled.

"Glad you asked because these are what I call metabolism pills. They contain the daily nutrients the average human would need. So instead of stuffing your face with food you can simply take one pill a day just to keep you healthy" Krane explained as Zach nodded his head understanding. "Quick question...are they bacon-flavored or grape-flavored pills?" Zach asked as Krane just slammed his forehead onto the keyboard. "Why would you care about what pills they are?" Krane asked as Zach shrugged. "Well because I don't want to daily take pills that taste like my mothers meatloaf" Zach joked as Krane sighed. "Well luckily for me I managed to make them all different flavors so I wouldn't need to hear this or do any silly changes" Krane stated as Zach nodded.

Suddenly Charlotte ran in stating "Zach we have a problem!" as Zach quickly hopped out his seat and followed Charlotte with Krane tagging along. As the three arrived they saw that on the screen there was a robbery in process with someone had frozen half of the bank much to Zach's surprise. "A bank robbery in process? Sweet!" Zach exclaimed as Charlotte raised an eyebrow at him. "And how is this sweet?" she asked as Zach smiled.

"Because now I can fully use my speed powers against those with similar powers of their own" Zach stated as Evans shook his head. "I'd be careful, from what I heard this man is a dangerous foe to reckoned with so I might warn you to be-" Zach immediately put on CrimsonStreak attire before speeding off as Evans sighed saying "careful". "Let's just hope that he doesn't end up doing something stupid" Krane said as Charlotte & Evans nodded in agreement.

(Next Issue: Zach/CrimsonStreak comes up against the unknown villain of Marvel "Blizzard" who proves to be a equal match against the speedster. And just who is this new assistant Evans speak of? All this and more along with a special guest star of the X-Men in CrimsonStreak #2: Fire & Ice)