Then Nanny takes even more away from her. Storm is reduced to a child's body, loses much of her memory, and the X-Men believe she's dead again.

Then Nanny takes even more away from her. Storm is reduced to a child's body, loses much of her memory, and the X-Men believe she's dead again. The young Ororo falls back on stealing to survive. That's where her childhood skills become useful in a very literal way. She's frightened and being hunted, but she can still think, escape and look for an opportunity. Gambit meets her in that situation. Their connection starts with two thieves helping each other, well before he's settled into a place with the X-Men. She gets to know him through what he actually does when they're in trouble. The Shadow King is after her during this period too, which gives the eventual Muir Island confrontation a history beyond whatever is happening on the island itself. X-Tinction Agenda finally restores her adult body. Genosha tries to turn her into an obedient mutate, and the process doesn't work out the way her captors expect. Storm gets herself back in a country built around taking mutants' freedom away.