In the small African village, Uzuri Storm finds herself surrounded by the evil god Uovu’s zombies – including her resurrected parents. She begs them to fight his influence, but they cannot. In fact, her father takes her into a headlock and Uovo observes she cannot act without harming her parents, natural and adopted. Storm sees her foster mother Ainet among the zombies.
One village elder states that he offered Ainet a choice and she chose poorly. Uovu warns Storm not to make Ainet’s mistake. Any resistance would only hurt her and her parents. As well as the friends and villagers who once called her goddess. Whom she abandoned. Much like her hammer seems to have abandoned her. Could they talk, they would probably ask her how it feels to be abandoned by divinity.
Storm ask her goddess to forgive her and uses lightning to break free. Uovu is pleased at her fighting spirit but doesn’t think it will be enough to defeat him, as he hits her hard. Storm attacks him with lightning, which he shrugs off. He reminds her he is a god. She may have been once. Twice. When she was worshipped or when she wielded that hammer. But those days are over. He grabs her chin. She is now flesh and bone. Soon to be dead, then resurrected. And in his full control.
In Manhattan, an X-Men team has just attacked the X-cutioner. Iceman has frozen him in ice and marvels at his big gun - bigger than Cable would carry. Nightcrawler warns them that it is an atomizer as the X-cutioner breaks out. Kitty asks Prestige to hit him telepathically, but his psi-shields prevent that.
Plan B. Kitty orders Nightcrawler to take them for an elevator ride. Kurt teleports above the villain and Kitty phases through him. Then Kurt teleports the three of them high above the city, then leaves.
Kitty warns the X-cutioner that as long as she is phasing both of them they walk on air, but once she lets go… He spits that her kind shouldn’t exist. And his kind should be in jail, she replies unimpressed, but here they are.
She gets distracted when she sees Stormcaster flying past her. And they realize Storm is in trouble.
As Uovu prepares the killing stroke, Stormcaster reaches Ororo. She powers up and blocks his strike, as she transforms. For the first time, one of her strikes has an effect, as he bleeds from the nose.
The X-Men arrive and Storm gives order to evacuate the living while restricting the dead. She will take care of Uovu.
She flies after him and tells him here she was called a goddess. Today she will earn the name! She will try! he corrects her, as he tries to strike her.
Elsewhere in the village, Rachel marvels that Uovu brought hundreds of people back from the dead. She is trying to calm them, but he is all in their minds.
Pyro drives them back with fire. Iceman creates icewalls to corral them and Nightcrawler teleports inside.
Storm’s lightning attacks have more effect, as the faith of Uovu’s followers is waning. Not all of them! Uovu booms as he grabs her hammer. There is one whose faith is unshakeable.
But soon enough, Rachel finds and takes out Zuberi, Uovu’s right hand man.
Storm and Uovu still trade blows. He tells her that the power of godhood is more than just faith, it is eternal! She attacks with all her power but, even as she does so, she feels Stormcaster waning and prays its dying power is enough. Uovu falls and Stormcaster crumbles to ashes. Storm loses her supercharged status.
Uovu is gone and a horrified Storm realizes what the consequences will be. She flies to the others, who see Uovu’s zombie followers disintegrating. N’dare and David Munroe are just able to tell Ororo goodbye and assure her it was a blessing to see how she has grown, then they too crumble to ashes.
Ororo cries silently, to face Ainet. Storm admits she feels guilty about abandoning Uzuri and her. Ainet assures her she abandoned nothing. She followed her dreams. And gave herself to the world. Ainet couldn’t be prouder, she tells her, before she too passes away.
The next day, she is in the graveyard. Kitty marvels at the many graves. Ororo replies that they worked the night through to put them to their proper rest. Ainet’s final gift to her was forgiveness for abandoning her home. She promises she will return on a regular basis. Not as a goddess or the wind-rider but as a friend…
