The X-men continue to fight for peace between humans and mutants in a world that hates and fears them. However, after having exposed their identities publicly to the world after the loss of Candy Southern, our heroes now find that they are under a lot more scrutiny from the government than usual. With new developments on the horizon, the X-men have recently been called into a court hearing to Washington, where Senator Kelly had hoped to get them under a government contract to force them to work under his thumb.

As this court hearing happens, the X-men's exploits have caught the attention of an orphaned Ororo Munroe, a young woman with ability to control elements and the weather whom Xavier and Tony have encountered after Ororo had pick-pocketed Tony's wallet while he and Xavier had been on a business trip two years ago. Ororo had been working for a mysterious man named Ebony Apophis, who had mentored her to become a thief. As Ororo continues to live on her own in the streets of Cairo, Egypt, Apophis is back, looking to target her.

Issue 23: Overflow Part 1

Cairo Egypt – Ororo Munroe's Hideout

The next morning was a blur for Ororo Munroe. However, she knew that her daily routine was going to remain the same: go out, sneak around, search for food, run away, and find some shelter somewhere else in Egypt. It was a routine that she had lived by since she was twelve years old when she'd lost her family.

Ororo got up from her make-shift bed of her old traveling rug and newspapers and proceeded to sneak out of her hideout. Music was playing loudly throughout the markets early that morning. The sun blared down, the sandy roads scorching hot. But, Ororo was not complaining despite being barefoot and wearing old, raggedy clothes that hung off her undernourished body loosely. She didn't have the option to complain. She had to survive; she was going to do whatever it took, even if it meant stealing and sneaking around.

'Another day awaits me,' she thought solemnly. 'Not that I am by any means looking forward to this. I haven't had much to look forward to in years.'

Ororo got out of her makeshift home to take the streets, hoping that she wouldn't be seen. She used her old traveling rug to hide herself, completely covering her back and her head. Scoping the area out, she noticed a vendor selling fresh, juicy melons. Lord only knew how badly she wanted that right there in the moment. You'd do anything to get anything to eat when you were hungry.

Skillfully, stealthily using her powers her manipulate the wind; she snuck a small melon into her rucksack she used as a bad for the stolen goods she'd thieved over time. She only had a small amount of money she'd stolen, so she wanted to make sure to save as much as she possibly could. Sneaking away quickly, she found another vendor who was selling turnips . . . a lot easier to slip away with due to the fact that she could steal a few turnips at a time.

'That was almost too easy . . .' she thought. 'Thank God I wasn't caught this time around . . .'

Quickly turning a corner, she found another food vendor selling dates and figs, and she managed to slip away with those too. The hard part of finding breakfast was over. Now, she needed to find another hideout and fast before someone noticed her thieving. She closed her eyes, hoping that she wasn't seen doing what she was doing.

Ororo had become a master thief over the years, finding it to get easier and easier with time as she spent more time out in the streets. It was better than being a beggar and going dumpster diving for rotten food like she'd used to before. It was much more agreeable to find fresh food to eat. Water was a challenge; luckily there were hoses and water pumps and sinks in various abandoned homes that still worked decently enough. Her street smarts had outweighed her book smarts, but, it was her street smarts that had allowed her to survive as long as she did.

Managing to find yet another abandoned apartment complex, Ororo hid herself in the room, the only light shining through coming from the beaming sun. There were boxes surrounding the room. Setting her traveling rug down, she sat and proceeded to eat her breakfast which she'd stolen that morning. She knew that lunch was going to be a much bigger challenge, given that more people arrived in the afternoons to wander around the market places. She just didn't care.

She'd take being a street rat than living in an orphanage. Anything was better than living in a children's home where people just looked at you and pitied you. She didn't want anyone's pity or sympathy. All she wanted was to just live. But, she also knew that she was barely living as it was. She didn't thieve out of enjoyment; she did it out of pure necessity. But, she did know that she didn't want to go back to working for her previous boss Ebony Apophis, who used to tell her that she would amount to nothing. She didn't want to believe that. She in fact wanted to prove him wrong.

'I am so tired of this,' the young woman thought as she nibbled absent-mindedly at a piece of melon. 'This is no ideal way of living, but, it's better than being pitied by those who do not know me . . . I gave up on pity a long time ago. If only there were a way for . . . for me to be safe from all of them – those who cannot understand anything that they see that is right in front of them. But at least I am away from Apophis . . .'

By the time the afternoon rolled around, Ororo found that she was feeling hungry again, and she knew that she needed to go and search for something to eat for her lunch. Getting up off the filthy, dusty floor and using her traveling rug to cover herself up again, she snuck out of the apartment to go and search for more food. However, that was the moment she felt someone coming into contact with her exposed skin, and she felt a surging power flowing into her and taking over her mind.

Unknown

"Ororo . . . Ororo. It's been a while, my dear child . . ."

These deep, ominous words haunted the mind of the bewildered Ororo Munroe, who was standing there in shock as her knees grew weak with fear.

"W-What's happening to me?! Who-Who's there?" she asked, her voice shaking with fear and apprehension as she stood there, not knowing what to do. She could feel her whole entire body breaking into a cold sweat.

Looking around, she saw that she was standing in a place that was dark and shadowy, ominous and eerie. However, it soon became a swirl of colors surrounding her and odd shapes were dancing before her eyes. She suddenly felt a dark, eerie presence near her, almost as though it were behind her. She looked behind her quickly, and she saw no one was there.

"Shhh . . . my dear child, don't be afraid. This will all be over, my dear Ororo . . ." The voice sounded as though it belonged to a man.

"YOU – I-I don't know you! Who are you? What do you want with me?" the young weather witch cried out.

"You really do not remember me, dear child? That's a real shame . . . because I remember you so well, Ororo. You should know who I am. After all, I was at one point like a father to you," the voice told her.

"I don't know what it is you speak of! L-Leave me alone!" Ororo begged out in pure terror.

The evil, spine-chilling voice just laughed. "My dear, if you do not remember me, I guess I should have to show you somehow . . ." That was the moment an image materialized before the young mutant's eyes, and she saw a shadowy, dark figure who seemed to tower above her by at least five feat. He had blinding white teeth and glowing red eyes that were shrouded with darkness."I am the Shadow King, and you should remember. Do you remember the name of Ebony Apophis? Well, he and I . . . we were once one . . ."

Ororo's voice grew faint. "I-I remember!" she cried out. "B-But I thought – I thought!" The last she remembered of Ebony Apophis, Charles Xavier had defeated him two years prior after she'd met him and Tony Stark on the streets of Cairo. 'I-I thought that you were gone!'

"Good, child good to see you still know who I am. But you might want to take a look around. Because I want to see you without a home; now watch as your precious Cairo burns to nothing but ash!" That was the moment images flashed before Ororo's eyes as she saw the city of Cairo in ablaze, flames warping the buildings surrounding her; her only home for the past six years of her life. It was a sight that caused the young woman to go white in panic.

"NOOOOO!" she cried out in a terrified state of panic as she watched the destruction of the one place that she had left in the world to call home. She knew what she had to do in that moment in time, and she proceeded to use her full range of power, summoning dark, ominous clouds to create a thunder storm over her head. Concentrating her abilities, the rain pelted down, flooding Cairo as she remained helpless underneath the mercy of the Shadow King.

X-Corporation Tower – Tony's Office

Warren Worthington III and Hank McCoy found themselves not in the greatest of moods, and that was putting in generously. That was considering they'd gotten the news from Pepper that Tony was demoting them from their positions at X-Corporation. The fact that Warren was getting demoted after having just gotten his job at the company, he wasn't happy.

"Tony, I quit!" Warren announced.

"Wait, what?" asked Tony in surprise at the sight of an angry and frustrated Warren and Hank walking into the room.

"Tony what is this we're hearing from Pepper that we both just got demoted? You do know that these jobs that we've both got here at X-Corporation are the only thing that we have in life to give us an income!" Hank said a glare on his face and his jaw clenched. Being the personal doctor to all the X-men, he did not want to hear that he was being removed from the medical labs of X-Corporation.

"Guys, guys, guys, just chill the fuck out and hear me out, gentlemen. I understand your frustrations with this. But, contrary to what you may think, you two aren't getting demoted. You're getting promoted!" Tony said with a grin on his face.

"Promoted? To what?" Warren asked, skeptical over what new job position he and Hank were going to be given. Hearing that he was being promoted so soon despite having started his career just a few months ago was almost too good to be true for the young man.

"The new CEO and executive director of Stark Pharmaceuticals," Tony announced.

"Wait, what?" asked Hank. Hearing that he had gotten promoted to Tony's pharmaceutical branch was something that deeply surprised him. Of course, working with medicine was nothing short of a dream for Hank. It had been a dream ever since he'd worked as a prodigy under Doctor Reed Richards, years ago before being recruited by Tony. But, hearing this news was more than he could have ever hoped for. It was asking him to be trusted with operating something that was part of Tony's brand. It was much more than being a doctor at X-Corporation. It was overseeing a company that could potentially help hundreds of mutants around the globe by creating medications that would be safe.

"Yes, yes you two boys can get over the shock of it all. I just figured that that's where the two of you should be. Don't worry, McCoy, you're still our personal researcher and doctor and you can still volunteer at the eye clinic, but, I just hired Cecilia Reyes from Claremont Regional to be your lab assistant. She'll be mentoring Jean in the medical labs here as far as helping her with her career. She will relieve you of that duty," Tony told them.

"Really?" asked Warren. "So, you're asking me to be in charge of your pharmaceutical company?"

Warren was quite taken aback. This was the last thing he'd ever expected to hear. Hearing Tony say that he wanted Warren and Hank to oversee Stark Pharmaceuticals shocked the winged mutant. To say Warren wasn't the best at science would be an understatement. He'd almost failed college biology class and physics class, and had needed to go to tutoring for years. Why Tony had selected him, Warren didn't know. But in many ways, he was glad he had Hank by his side; Hank's scientific expertise could help where Warren was lacking in.

"Yes, Warren; I feel that your expertise in finances could be a huge asset to the company."

"But science was never my subject in school, Mr. Stark, you know that."

"True, but you make up for it with your smarts in other areas, namely finances. You're excellent at math. It's one of the many reasons why I had wanted you and Candy to be my CFOs, because you both were hard-nosed and business-minded. You both were perfect for the job, despite how young you kids were. But, this, if you really think about it, is a gift, because this will allow you to directly help mutants by having a say in everything. You're very business-savvy; that's why I need you over there, because I need to put my focus where it matters most: Stark Industries. You'll have a say in all executive decisions made, and Hank, you'll be in charge of the projects that will be started. Who knows what the two of you can do for mutants everywhere by bringing the world advancements in medicine?" Tony sounded confident in the two of them as he grabbed a bottle of Champagne and three glasses.

"I don't know what to say, Tony." Hank smiled a toothy smile.

"I don't know what to say, either," Warren said. He was shocked that Tony had that much faith in him to run a company and become a CEO.

"The both of you boys can thank me later," Tony said to them with a smile. "Cheers." Just as they were about to celebrate Hank and Warren both getting promoted to their new positions, they could hear Charles on the intercom link.

"Warren, Hank, Jean, Scott, Bobby; Forge; everyone meet in Cerebro; something's come up," the professor said.

"Well, duty calls," Warren said, smiling sheepishly as he and Hank made their way down to the Cerebro room in the basement. "Well, that was a surprise. I come up here before lunch pissed that I might be losing my job. Turns out, I'm getting a promotion as the CEO of a pharmaceutical company."

"Well, it most definitely gives me a comfort that Cecilia Reyes is hired. For the longest time she's been working out of that hospital; this is a step up for her in a very big way. I know for a fact that this is the kind of break that she has been waiting for," Hank explained as they made their way down to the basement. When they arrived, they saw Forge, Jean, Scott and Bobby down there already, surrounding the computer and in full uniform as well. Whatever the professor needed them all there for, it was clearly something very serious.

"You wanted to see us, Professor?" Warren asked.

"Yes, Warren, I called you all because there are some intense mutant readings in Cairo, and it's exactly what I had feared it would have been." Xavier pulled up an image of a dark-skinned, white-haired, blue-eyed young woman who looked to be close in age to Scott and Jean. "Ororo Munroe . . . I met her two years back when Tony and I were doing business. She'd pick-pocketed Tony using her mutant abilities due to the fact that she was working under a thief named Ebony Apophis. She's your age, Scott, Jean; she'd just turned eighteen."

"What are her abilities?" asked Bobby.

"Weather manipulation; she was orphaned at twelve when a plane accident killed her mother and father; she'd been trapped underneath a collapsed house as a result," Xavier explained, taking the Cerebro helmet off. He knew Scott and Jean would be able to sympathize as far as that was concerned.

"So, what's going on with her in Cairo?" asked Scott.

"It appears that she's under mind control and is being made to believe that Cairo is set ablaze."

"But, who could convince her of that?" asked Jean.

"The Shadow King," Xavier said grimly.

Up next: Overflow Part 2

A/N:

Be sure to REVIEW!

Also, I've read the first issue of Johnathan Hickman's House of X X-men comics, and I'm officially hooked. It's hands down one of the best comic books I think I've seen as far as the story goes. Also, I'm thinking about posting weekly again, just because I want to get volume 2 off the ground and build up my following with it, so that's why I am posting this week. Let me know in the reviews what you think of this idea rather than having an update twice a month. Next weekend, though, I will be posting a day earlier because next Sunday I'll be going away on vacation. Keep bringing the reviews, everyone! Excelsior! -

DC-MarvelGirl 1997