New York City, a bar in the meatpacking district, where Storm and Wolverine are enjoying some burgers:
He hears she’s been making trouble for Hank, Wolverine remarks. They finally get an hour together and he wants to talk about Hank? she asks. Hank seems to think she tried to overthrow the Santo Marco government. She just rained on some clowns, Ororo scoffs. Kind of a big deal going solo in a foreign country, he points out. She spent half her life “going solo in a foreign country,” Ororo shoots back.
Logan chuckles. She’s getting a little wild. He likes it, but he worries. Ororo retorts he's the one who lost his healing factor. She should worry about him. He’s fine, Logan claims. Ororo takes his hand. Until he pops his claws and rips holes in the back of his hand. If anyone needs to slow down…
He accuses her of changing the subject. What’s going on with her? Ororo gets up. She doesn’t know, maybe she’s just tired of holding it in. She walks to the jukebox. Maybe he’s a bad influence on her, she suggests playfully. She offers her hand to drag him up. He chuckles he has a feeling she had a bad girl hiding inside her long before they said hi.
They start to dance. Ororo reminisces she started off picking pockets in Cairo. And then she became a queen. She tried to stay true to herself but she had to think about everything she did with a few million other people in mind. And those gowns are tight. She just doesn’t feel like getting pushed into anyone’s box again.
The barkeeper interrupts, telling them dancing is forbidden. They’re just a bar. No license, so— Thunder rumbles and outside a downpour starts. Bit much, Logan remarks. Like she said, tired of holding it in.
Logan gets ready to leave. Mysterious secret mission? Ororo asks. If he ever needs her help… He can still take care of himself. And as wild as she might think she is, he doesn’t wanna pull her too far into his kind of crazytown. They kiss, after which he puts on his Stetson and leaves. She forgot something, Storm decides and plants another kiss on him. He can go now, she tells him haughtily.
Later she walks the streets, not feeling like flying. She sees a note on a lantern about a missing young woman named Angie. She’s not a cop and there are hundreds of missing people in this city right now. But only this one is looking at her.
Flashback:
Cairo, years ago:
A small Ororo, trapped beneath the rubble of a house. She was found by some street urchins and joined them as a thief. She remembers what it was like to be trapped, lost, hungry and scared.
Present:
The lower eastside:
Ororo talks to Ms. Columbari, the woman who posted the fliers who works at a shelter. Angie lived here for three months but then started getting threats from her ex-boyfriend. She told the police but the man lives in New Jersey, making it a jurisdiction nightmare. She hasn’t seen Angie since June, second. She reported it but Angie had just turned nineteen. The police say adults disappear all the time on purpose. She thinks something happened to Angie. She left her phone. Why would she do that? Ororo promises to take care of this.
She calls Beast and explains she has the girl’s old cell phone. And she figured he’d break half a dozen state and federal laws, he sighs… To find a kid no one else seem to be willing to do a damn thing to find, she points out. He groans but complies. She called the right doormat. Her name is Angie Williams. Last call she made from the phone in Storm’s hand is to a new prepaid no-contract phone. She got a new phone, wanted to make sure it worked. Not the best plan if you want to disappear. So now he’s tracking the new phone. He uploads a map that’ll show her where Angie’s phone is. He also ran some cross-references. Those extra blips represent three more missing teenagers. They are here in Manhattan but three hundred feet underground.
Storm changes to her costume and soon stands in front of a subway entrance. A couple comes up and the man wonders if it’s Comicon already. Despite her dislike for enclosed spaces, Storm enters and runs on the tracks till she finds a way further down. She tries to control herself, fighting the claustrophobia.
She focuses by thinking of Angie and the other lost kids and she remembers the first time she came down into these tunnels hunting a kidnapper. So she makes a little more noise than she should, giving herself away.
Callisto appears behind her with a metal staff. Storm is ready for her and strikes with a lightning bolt, only to find Callisto’s new battlestaff absorbs lightning. She knew she’d come eventually, Callisto snaps. Just can’t quit her, can she?
Storm figures she could blow it apart with a thought but if she overdoes it she might short out the entire subway system. She has to hold back and it drives her crazy.
Callisto used to run an army of outlaw Morlocks down here. The first time they fought was when they wanted consorts, so she kidnapped Storm’s friends Kitty and Warren.
Storm snarls if Callisto’s hurt these children she’ll— Kill her? Cal mocks and shoves her back with her staff. She tried that last time, remember? Does Storm think she wouldn’t have prepared for a rematch? Storm’s got the whole damn sky! She can’t leave her a little cave? Who the hell does she think she is?
Storm goes for the staff, only to be hit on the head by one of several hooded individuals who show up behind her. Cal calls them idiots and orders them to run. Storm figures they are Morlocks. Callisto is building another army down here.
They run into room and Callisto throws the door shut. Storm blows it off its hinges. What she sees surprises her. Namely Angie and the other new “Morlocks,” just teenagers looking after the beaten Callisto. Who the hell is she? Angie shouts and tells her to leave them alone.
Doesn’t she recognize her? Callisto asks weakly. She’s Storm, the goddess. Here to save her. Follow her back to the surface and all her problems will magically vanish.
Storm looks around. The room her entrance messed up is a nice room with bunkbeds, some comfortable chairs, a TV and books. A banner reads happy birthday, John-John.
She thought Angie was kidnapped, Storm utters. What the hell is she talking about? Angie shouts. She was sleeping in the subway and John-John found her. He told her there was a safe place. Her cousin Ronnie told her about it and he was right.
Cal gets up. She'd been minding her own business. She’s not a mutant or a leader anymore. She just put together a little place for a little peace and quiet. And then these kids start showing up. They’re lost, hungry. She gives them food and a place to sleep. A door that locks, some books. They seem to be taking care of each other pretty well. Better than what they had going on upstairs. But she wants to take them off her hands? Feel free. She told her she’s not going back! Angie snaps. Pitiful, aren’t they? Cal groans. She never could turn away a stray.
Storm remembers the community she had with the other beggar and thief children. She apologizes and helps the kids clean up the room.
Afterwards, she tells Cal she charged up all their backup batteries. The next day, Kurt will drop off a new water purification unit. And then the cops arrive on Tuesday? Cal asks suspiciously. Come on, Storm sighs. Don’t give her that, Cal shoots back. They’ll never trust each other. What is she playing at here? She’s not trying to think about the two of them, Storm explains. She just thinks those kids look like they know where home is. She smiles and rises, telling Cal to be good now.
Up in the sky, she calls Beast, who monitored the whole thing. He tells her he’s searched records and what’s waiting for those kids at home is worse than… It’s terrible what people can do. Storm asks him to keep on monitoring them for her. Let her know the minute anything weird happens.
Beast reveals he took care of Angie’s ex-boyfriend. He poked through his computer and phone. He’s been selling weed, cheating taxes and last week he poisoned his upstairs neighbor’s dog. But for some crazy reason, he sent e-mails to his local precinct and the FBI and IRS, confessing everything with detailed evidence attached. Grinning, he watches the cops take him away.
Storm finds Wolverine and blows his hat off his head. What kind of trouble has she been up to? She’d tell him, but she doesn’t want to pull him too far into her kind of crazytown. She kisses him. He knew she was a bad girl. No, she replies. She’s good. Very good.
