| Several years ago, as a young man, the mutant telepath Charles Xavier visited Cairo, Egypt, where his wallet was stolen by the child Ororo, who would later join Xavier's X-Men team as Storm. Xavier used his psionic powers to stop Ororo and took his wallet back. Suddenly Xavier himself was struck by a bolt of psionic energy. Recovering, he realized that the source of the psychic attack lay within a nearby tavern. |
| Within the bar Xavier met Amahl Farouk, the crime lord of Cairo, who was himself a mutant with vast telepathic powers. Farouk had sensed the presence of another powerful telepath and had struck him with the psionic bolt as a warning to leave the area his domain, the so-called Thieves' Quarters of Cairo. Xavier and Farouk sat at different tables in the bar and communicated solely through telepathy. Farouk asked Xavier to join him in his criminal activities. Xavier sensing Farouk's evil and depravity, refused. Contending that mutants like themselves had a responsibility to use their superhuman abilities for the benefit of others, Xavier vowed to bring Farouk to justice for his crimes. Xavier and Farouk's astral forms then began a battle, which ended when the former defeated his foe with a powerful bolt of psychic force. Xavier's astral form rejoined his body, and he left the bar. When Farouk's physical body died, however, he shifted his astral form to another plane. Weakened by the intensity of his duel with the crime lord, Xavier did not notice that Farouk's consciousness had thus escaped. Farouk seeks vengeance on Xavier and his students. |
