She was close to her brother, Keitaro, but she ran away from home after her powers manifested when she was thirteen years old; she claimed that her father "doesn't believe in mutants."

How she came to the United States is unknown, but she ended up homeless on the streets of Salem Center, reduced to buying illegal drugs using stolen money.

Keeping herself regularly supplied proves impossible, however, and during a robbery, Noriko accidentally hits the young owner of a coffee shop with an electric bolt.

There, Beast designs gauntlets that regulate her absorption of ambient electricity and discharge as required to prevent further mental overloads.

[4] Though initially hostile to the mutants who took her off the street - David Alleyne, Josh Foley, Sofia Mantega, and Laurie Collins - she soon comes to accept them as her friends.

[5][6] David asks Emma Frost to remove a mental block in his mind inhibiting him from recalling all the information and skills he has acquired.

As it departs, one bus of depowered students is bombed by anti-mutant zealot Reverend William Stryker, killing all on board.

Surge becomes impulsive and angry at David's death, threatening the O*N*E* troopers when they attempt to block her from seeing Sefton, using her electrical powers to revive the sorceress despite the risks.

Surge leads the united Xavier Institute students against the demonic hordes, engaging the twisted sorcerer in single combat before Belasco is killed by Pixie and Darkchild.

[15] The reader next sees Surge defending the Golden Gate bridge during the 'Second Coming' event in which Bastion assaults the X-Men, who is in search of the 'Mutant Messiah' Hope Summers.

Plunged into the waters of San Francisco Bay by Bastions last ditch attack, Nori witnesses Hope Summers emerge as the Mutant Messiah.

If she absorbs too much energy, it causes mental overloads, making her speak too fast, scatter her thinking, and worsen her control over the blasts.

Very forthright and strong-minded, Nori often clashes with her peers and superiors, from nearly getting into a brawl with Hellion after he insulted Prodigy's baseline status post-M-Day,[17] and challenging Cyclops' assertion that the students are safe at the institute (this taking place immediately after a series of devastating attacks by the Purifiers).

Surge was particularly incensed by Hellion's decision to rescue Mercury from the Faculty without backup, taking it upon herself to mold the team into an effective unit capable of defending the rest of the students.

"[20] An alternate universe variant of Nori appears in the House of M tie-in New X-Men: Academy X as a member of the Hellions, a group of junior S.H.I.E.L.D.