CIA operative Valerie Cooper seeks the X-Men's help in bringing down the Egyptian terrorist leader Amahl Farouk, fearing that the US military might use a deadly orbital weapon called "Starcore" if Farouk's terrorist syndicate grows too powerful. The X-Men investigate the weapon and discover that it was built by a mysterious industrialist named Sebastian Shaw, who is secretly the "Black King" of a secret society called the Inner Circle.
