In a world that hates and fears them, the X-men, under the mentorship of Tony Stark and Charles Xavier, continue to fight in order to privatize peace between humans and mutants. This task proves to have some difficulty, especially as presidential-hopeful Senator Edward Kelly makes the attempt to get the X-men under control of the government as he pushes for a mutant registration act.

As the X-men were in court in Washington, D.C, their hearing was viewed by Ororo Munroe, a young woman whom Xavier and Tony had once helped two years ago after she'd thieved from Tony under the manipulation of her former boss, Ebony Apophis, who is known as the Shadow King, a telepathic being who goes from body to body stealing people's lifeforce and minds.

Unfortunately, for Ororo, Apophis has found her while she was stealing food in the streets of Cairo out of desperation to survive. The Shadow King has taken over Ororo's mind and body, and is telepathically manipulating her to flood the streets of the city she calls home.

Issue 24: Overflow Part 2

Skies over Western Sahara – The Blackbird

The Blackbird soared at top speeds over the continent of Africa, Beast piloting the jet with Xavier in the cockpit with the portable Cerebro helmet residing on his head as they flew towards Egypt. It was a race against time to get to Ororo Munroe, who was causing destruction to the one place in the world that she called home. Xavier, wearing Cerebro, could feel and sense her distress and fear.

"She's causing destruction beyond anything that I had ever thought she'd be capable of," Xavier whispered.

"How could this Ororo girl do something like that?" asked Marvel Girl. "Sure, I've seen what her powers are on Cerebro, but how is she so capable?"

"Years ago when Tony and I had met her, I'd just thought she was an alpha class mutant. But, I think she's closer to something a lot more powerful than I what I'd first thought her capable of," Xavier said softly. "She's close to a class-five mutant . . . she's not an omega class, but, she's the closest thing to just that. It explains why "

"But, who exactly is the Shadow King? What does he want with her?" asked Cyclops from where he sat behind Beast.

"The Shadow King is another telepath, but, he transfers himself from body to body. He took the form of Ororo's first boss who had used her as a thief. Ororo, she had no choice. She had to thieve for survival because she didn't have anything left. It shocks me that she had managed to survive as long as she did. I can only assume that the Shadow King is angered from our last encounter and that he wants to see her destroy the one place in the world that she has left to call home," Xavier explained. "I would know, because, I was the one who had helped her defeat the Shadow King the first time."

Ebony Apophis' Hideout – Two Years Ago

Sixteen-year-old Ororo Munroe rushed into the hideout of her crime boss, Ebony Apophis, determined to get in there on time. She knew that if she didn't make it back in time with her stash of what she'd stolen that day, she'd be in trouble.

She only had a small amount of stolen goods in her rucksack with her; she knew that it wasn't nearly enough, but, any little bit would have to do.

She'd managed to pick-pocket three wallets which had four-hundred dollars in them total, a Gucci watch, a Michael Kors watch, and some pieces of gold. Apophis was so filled with greed that he only wanted the best of the best. Ororo being the most promising out of all the thieving orphaned children he'd "taken in"; she was the one that he was toughest on. However, it seemed as though he constantly expected more even though Ororo already felt as though she was doing so well.

Ororo rounded the corner to find Apophis standing there at his desk. He was a huge, balding man with a curled, dark mustache, and he wore dark sunglasses that shrouded his eyes so that nobody could see. Ororo quickly dumped her stolen goods out onto the table.

"Not nearly enough, Ororo!" shouted Apophis, banging his fists on the table. "What were you doing this whole time? I told you, that you have twenty-four hours to get me much more than this!"

"I-I'm so sorry! That's-That's all I could get!" the young weather witch cried out in fear, backing away towards the door. "I swear, I will have more tomorrow!"

"No, you won't!" Apophis told her. "You are always the disappointment, Ororo . . . always."

"I swear, I won't fail you tomorrow . . . but, I just . . . I was just meeting a friend! He-He told me that I was more than just a thief!"

"A friend?" scoffed Apophis around a round of laughter. "A little runt like you has no friends! Who could have you possibly met that could care for a thieving weakling like you? Who is his name? Tell me!"

"I will not!" Ororo said strongly, feeling loyalty to the two men she'd just met a day ago: Professor Charles Xavier and Tony Stark. Suddenly, that was the moment she felt her boss entering her mind and pulling the information out of her against her will.

"Their names are Tony Stark and Xavier. You will pay for this you ungrateful beggar!" Just as Apophis started to storm towards the helpless Ororo, she felt a hand resting on her shoulder, and she turned to see Charles Xavier there with Tony at his side. That was the moment Xavier started to speak to Apophis telepathically.

'Your power over his innocent child ceases now, Ebony.'

"Ahh, the friend is a telepath," said Apophis in fascination.

"Well, I'm not a telepath. I'm just a genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist," Tony said with a shrug and a very cocky tone of voice.

Apophis just ignored Tony as he proceeded to enter into a mind battle with Xavier. From what Xavier could gather from reading this man's mind that he was taken over by an entity known as the Shadow King, and the only way that the Shadow King could survive was that it needed a host. It was clear to Xavier what he had to do. Engaging in the mind battle, he found himself battling the Shadow King, determined to get him to at least leave Ororo alone. It was quite challenging, considering that the Shadow King was an entity who had been living for probably over billions of years, but, it had to be done. Xavier allowed his psyche to attack the mind of the Shadow King, knowing if he kept him away long enough; the Shadow King would be defeated. This carried on for a total of ten minutes, until finally, it all ceased.

Skies over Cairo – Present Day

"So, that's how you stopped him the first time?" asked Iceman.

"Indeed, Bobby. Tony could tell you the same thing. He was there with me that day when we'd rescued Ororo the first time. I guess you could say that she was one of the first mutants that I've helped in those early days before X-Corporation became a huge, corporate business. But, I did it once before, I can do it again," Xavier said.

"But, if he's in the body and mind of someone who is close to being an omega-level mutant as is, how are you going to manage that?" asked Angel.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, Warren," said Forge.

"Well, we better hurry up with a plan, because we're in Cairo now, Forge. And let me tell you, it's not looking good out there," Marvel Girl said as she looked out the window to see high, intense winds, heavy rain, and bolts of lightning coming down from the sky. Marvel Girl could also see that hail and sleet were pelting down, too from the dark, grey clouds. The fact that Ororo was doing this, it surprised her heavily. Peering out the windows of the jet, she, Iceman, Cyclops, Beast, Forge and Angel were shocked to see that the city of Cairo was already flooding up to three feet of water.

'Holy shit,' Cyclops thought. He turned to Iceman. "Iceman now would be a really good time for you to test how far you can go with your powers!"

Iceman nodded, going into his full organic ice form and signaling for Beast to lower the ramp to the jet down. He proceeded to make a bridge of ice to slide down. Marvel Girl jumped out of the jet with Angel as Cyclops slid down the ice path that Iceman had made.

Marvel Girl had to concentrate her powers especially in the eye of the thunder storm, which was equivalent to a hurricane. The fact that a single mutant alone was doing this amazed her. Narrowing her eyes, Marvel Girl proceeded to search along with Angel since they both had a bird's eye view of the city.

Finally, after five minutes of searching, they could see the stately, African-American young woman actually flying in the air. She was clearly using the high winds she was controlling to levitate her body, manipulating the air pressure. Her electric-blue eyes were glowing in a bright white color as she continued to force the rain and winds to come down harder. She was destroying the whole city and not even realizing it. She was the definition of a storm.

"Alright, Professor, Beast, what do we do?" asked Iceman.

'You must attempt to get through to her somehow, to get her to see what it is that she is doing. After that, I can take it from there,' the professor said.

"Okay, X-men, you've got your objective," Cyclops said, taking charge. "Angel . . ."

"On it, fearless leader," Angel said, half-heartedly joking as he proceeded to fly towards Ororo, knowing what it was that he had to do, even though he hated the idea of fighting a woman.

Just as he was about to get closer to Ororo, the winds picked up at higher speeds and they could see F-4 tornadoes flying towards them. Angel was then caught in one of the tornadoes, causing him to go crashing towards the ground below. Marvel Girl had him, though, concentrating her telekinesis so that she could catch him before he fell below into the flooded streets. She set him aside on a fallen down tree. Angel shook his head.

"Damn, Professor, when you said she was close to omega level you weren't kidding!"

"You okay, Warren?" Cyclops called out to him from where he stood beside Iceman who looked as though he was about to pass out. He hadn't been around that much water before, so the fact that his powers were being pushed so hard beyond typical limits was concerning.

"Yeah, I'm alright, Scottie!" Angel called out.

"Okay, Scott, do you have a suggestion?" asked Marvel Girl.

Cyclops took some moments to think. "Alright, Jean, have you had a chance to test your telepathy?"

"Scott, I know what you're thinking, I can sense what you're thinking . . . but, are you sure about this?"

"Positive, Red."

"But, I don't know if I can . . . I've never used my powers to break through to a mutant this powerful before!" Marvel Girl sounded uncertain.

"Jeannie, we believe you can do this!" Iceman sounded confident in her.

'I believe you can do this too, Jean. You can do anything you set your mind to,' said the professor.

Marvel Girl let out a sigh, knowing that the weight of all of this was going to be on her. "Okay, I can try." She proceeded to use her telepathy to mind-walk inside Ororo's mind.

'Ororo . . . Ororo. I do not know if you can hear me. But my name is Jean Grey, I'm with the X-men. You've got to stop . . .' Marvel Girl tried to tell her.

'W-What?' Ororo's psychic voice sounded as though it were filled with panic and fear.

'Listen to me. Try and take some control over your mind. You-you do not know what you're doing! Cairo isn't burning. You're the one destroying it right now!'

'What do you mean?'

'Let me show you. Let's clear some of this up . . .' Marvel Girl proceeded to use her telepathy to show the terrified weather witch exactly what it was that she was doing to her homeland. However, Marvel Girl could also sense the voice of the Shadow King as well as she felt Professor Xavier joining in with her.

"All that she is telling you is a lie, Ororo," the Shadow King was saying to the weather-controlling mutant.

'No it is not! Leave her alone, Shadow King. You have used her for the last time!' Xavier was saying.

'Xavier?' Ororo was asking.

'Yes, my dear. I am here. Let me help you . . .' Xavier was saying. 'All of this is just in your mind, Ororo . . . '

'I-I . . .' soon enough, the high winds around them all ceased as Xavier and Marvel Girl worked together at the same time, finding the presence of the Shadow King inside Ororo's mind, and together, the two telepaths attacked the mysterious, ominous cosmic entity psychically.

'Try to keep this going, Jean. The Shadow King needs a host to survive. Without a host, he will be utterly gone,' Xavier said.

'I can try, Professor!' Marvel Girl's psychic voice sounded as though she were grunting as she concentrated her telepathy. She could feel her nose starting to bleed as a pounding headache came over her. More than anything, she wanted to black out. But she knew that that wasn't an option at this point.

Groaning through the pressure in her head, Marvel Girl and Xavier unleashed a powerful, telepathic burst, and before they knew it, the Shadow King was out of Ororo's body. However, both Ororo and Marvel Girl were weakened as a result.

Marvel Girl could feel that she was about to faint when she suddenly felt Iceman swoop in and grabbing her around the waist to give her someone to lean onto. Angel caught hold of Ororo, whose encounter with the Shadow King had taken a lot out of her. The high winds and the rain and thunder and lightning came to a halt, and that was the moment they could all see the beaming, shining sun again.

However, the flooded city of Cairo was another problem. All around them, they could see that the streets were flooded with five feet of water, homes and other types of debris floating along. Getting into the jet which was still high in the air, Marvel Girl became weaker as she felt as though she were about to collapse. Cyclops caught her against his chest, holding her to him.

"You okay, Jean?" he asked her softly.

"She's alright. She just over-exerted herself," Iceman said with a half-hearted grin. Angel came in carrying Ororo against him as well.

"She's exhausted, but someone's going to have to deal with that mess outside," he said.

"I will inform my contacts at Alpha Flight. They will for sure know how to clean all this up," Xavier said.

"Well, what are we going to do about Ororo? I mean, she was just used to flood almost the whole city," pointed out Angel.

"I will do what it takes to help her. It will take her some time to recover from an ordeal such as this. Until then, let's just go home. Jean, you rest, you're deserving of that," Xavier said.

Marvel Girl nodded against Cyclops, exhausted as he led her to her seat, where she promptly passed out, and the last thing she felt was him pressing a soft kiss to her forehead.

Up next: New Developments

A/N:

Be sure to REVIEW. Like I've said in the Authors Note on last weekend's issue that I am posting this issue a day early due to me going on vacation tomorrow morning.

Also, be sure to read the reflections from Volume 1.

DC-MarvelGirl 1997