BIOGRAPHY - page 7
Needless to say, Viper responded to the unmistakable threat on her life by planning another attack on the X-Men. She caught up with Storm’s team in London months later and purchased a second-hand Murderworld from Arcade to run them through their paces. Viper blamed Sage for humiliating her in their last encounter, and attempted to get her revenge by shooting the woman through the head. Unfortunately for Viper, Wolverine caught her scent earlier that day while she spied on the team, and reasoned out her plans. 
Logan used an image inducer to replace Sage in the team, and survived the blast to the skull. Viper went on to keep the X-Men busy by attaching a baby nuke to the London Eye while she attended to her secondary goal: a paid assassination on Courtney Ross of Fraser’s Bank. Courtney made Viper a better offer, however, and they joined forces with Sebastian Shaw to recreate the Hellfire Club as a force to be reckoned with. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #448-449]
In exchange for access to Fraser’s and the Hellfire Club’s resources, Viper assumed the role of Warrior White Princess in alliance with Ross’s new position as White Queen. By working with Shaw, they infiltrated a mutant slavery ring to bring down the auctioneers and establish themselves as major players on the world stage once again. Although Ross and Viper succeeded in their endeavor, they lost their controlling interest in the Hellfire Club. Sebastian Shaw intended to establish himself as Lord Imperial of the Club as it reopened, but Sage manipulated him out of position so that the X-Men’s ally Roberto Dacosta became Lord Imperial instead, leaving Shaw as a mere Black King and the Club at least somewhat hampered by the X-Men’s mortality. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #452-454]
Despite this setback, Viper and Ross continued conspiring for their own mutual benefit. Viper orchestrated an invasion of the small African nation of Zanzibar with the help of Scimitar and the mercenary Weaponeers. The intent was to conquer Zanzibar and use it as a beach head to eventually assume control of the nearby Genosha as well. The Weaponeers turned against Viper during the assault, however, and she actually found herself working alongside Archangel, Callisto, and several other mutant heroes in defense of Zanzibar so that she could claim her revenge. What no one realized was that the invasion’s failure was an acceptable back-up plan for the Hellfire Club. Courtney Ross stepped in on behalf of Fraser’s Bank to provide grants and loans for Zanzibar to rebuild after the attack, netting herself and Viper a foothold into the region anyway. [Excalibur (3rd series) #11-13]
Meanwhile, Viper’s accumulated resources through the Hellfire Club and control of Madripoor gave her the necessary backing to reclaim control of a splinter HYDRA faction. While working with HYDRA, she occasionally referred to herself as Madame Hydra once more. Viper also detected a change within HYDRA, the result of the Skrulls’ infiltration efforts on Earth (although she wasn’t aware of that at the time). 
While seeking to maintain control of a “true” HYDRA faction in opposition to the corrupted factions, Viper began making alliances with various parties. She linked her HYDRA with part of the Hand, and also tried to reunite with Kenuichio Harada to bring the Hand, HYDRA and Clan Yashida of the Japanese underworld together under one banner. Viper also used HYDRA in an effort to put Jessica Drew under her thumb, restoring Spider-Woman’s fading powers in exchange for making her a triple agent within S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers. Unbeknownst to Viper, “Jessica Drew” was actually the Skrull Queen Veranke, who masterminded the infiltration and invasion of Earth’s power bases. In fact, Viper’s own HYDRA faction wanted “Drew” to assassinate her and become the new Madame Hydra. The only reason she survived was because Veranke chose not to follow through on HYDRA’s plot for her. [New Avengers (1st series) #3, 11-13, 23]
Eventually, Viper’s control over Madripoor became a threat to global security that S.H.I.E.L.D. could no longer ignore. As Viper continued using Madripoor as a staging ground for HYDRA terrorist attacks throughout the world, the newly elected director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony Stark, decided it was time for a regime change. Unable to overthrow or sanction Viper openly without a United Nations resolution because of her sovereign status, Stark instead placed an operative in Madripoor to look for candidates from within the people of Madripoor to lead an insurrection.
Stark attempted to enter Madripoor and meet with his covert operative by hiding in plain sight, using his cover as a “billionaire playboy” to arrive as just another member of the jet-setting idle rich visiting Hightown. Viper was not deceived, but publicly welcomed him to the island in an effort to maintain international appearances. Her first attempt to kiss him hello with her toxic lipstick failed, and so she arranged for assassins to go after Stark that night. When Stark visited Lowtown to make contact with his spy, Agent Huang, a brawl broke out at the Princess Bar. As the dust settled, Viper arrived with her entourage and publically announced her men had located the man responsible for attacking Tony Stark in the Bar: Agent Huang. Conveniently, she even found witnesses willing to identify Huang as the instigator. Ignoring Stark’s protests, Viper used this as an excuse to execute Huang publically, and handicap Stark’s efforts against her.
Despite Huang’s death, Stark located and made contact with Tyger Tiger, the local crimelord Huang identified as the most likely candidate to overthrow Viper. Stark openly confronted Viper at the royal palace, and used his technological abilities to trick Viper into admitting on a live video feed that the people of Madripoor were nothing but chattel to her. Tyger Tiger used this admission as an excuse to rally the people of Madripoor behind her rule, and S.H.I.E.L.D. got its insurrection. Viper was overthrown as princess of Madripoor and Iron Man helped the Tiger’s new government shut down HYDRA operations on the island. [Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Annual #1]