BIOGRAPHY - page 9
Viper focused on consolidating her resources for a while. She even sent tips to Jessica Drew for the Avengers to dispose of upstarts trying to gather power in her territory. It amused her to be 
supportive of her “daughter” while using the Avengers as a distraction to steal S.H.I.E.L.D. tech from elsewhere in the city at the same time. [Avengers (4th series) #30] Naturally, she was only biding her time, and soon led a massive strike on Avengers Tower. It was a real embarrassment when two versions of the X-Men’s Angel held off her entire HYDRA army until the Avengers arrived. [All-New X-Men (1st series) #8]
Although Tyger Tiger had usurped her position as ruler of Madripoor, Viper still possessed a controlling interest in the island, which was recognized by the international underworld. She was surprised when she received a bid for Madripoor from Mystique of the Brotherhood. Mystique wanted to make Madripoor into a new mutant homeland, and she was willing to pay Viper an obscene amount of money for a peaceful transition of power. The X-Men interfered with the 
transaction, however, leaving the paranoid Viper suspicious that it was all a set-up. [All-New X-Men (1st series) #13-14] After some reflection, she realized Mystique must have already made contact with the other controlling factions on Madripoor if she expected her claim to be honored. This led to a gang war between HYDRA and the Hand faction on Madripoor, which ultimately weakened Viper’s position anyway, just as Mystique had planned. [Uncanny X-Men (3rd series) #11]
Mystique’s rule of Madripoor stumbled when she caught flak from both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the X-Men. [Uncanny X-Men (3rd series) #22, 34] This gave Viper the chance to reestablish her status in Madripoor. She received a delightful opportunity to broker a contract for Abraham Cornelius, seeking the procurement of any and all sources of Adamantium known to be out in the world. In particular, he sought Logan delivered to him, alive. In the midst of this contract, Viper also acquired the services of Sabretooth. Poisoned with a toxin that even he could not survive, Creed received a daily antidote in exchange for serving as Viper’s dog. Having recently served as 
usurper grandmaster of the Hand, humbling Creed was another display of Viper’s returning power to the people of Madripoor. Logan inevitably tracked the contract to his beloved ex-wife, and she pitted Wolverine and Sabretooth against each other before making herself scarce and moving on to other business. [Death of Wolverine #1-2] Logan died shortly thereafter, and Viper found herself at an auction, claiming to sell pieces of him. She was one of the three whom Daken left alive to spread the word of what would happen if people tried again to traffic in his father’s remains. [Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy #5]
The Viper came to play the part of the jaded nihilist, an “old school” terrorist who longed for the days of classic megalomaniacs with spectacular world domination schemes. She joined Baron Helmut Zemo and his all-new HYDRA, who accessed the world through an Infinite Elevator in Ecuador. Zemo’s plan to sterilize the world with the exception of inoculated HYDRA forces wasn’t flashy enough for her tastes, but Viper went along with his plot until Misty Knight and the new Captain America, Sam Wilson, foiled HYDRA’s plans. [All-New Captain America #1-6]
Viper’s boredom was called out when she received a visit from Elisa Sinclair, the newest Madame Hydra. Elisa remembered an alternate history of the world where she was the lover of Daniel Whitehall, the Kraken who once saw such potential in Viper. She recruited Viper to fulfill that potential as part of the new High Council of Hydra. Elisa’s goals were impressive, and she had already planted her history’s version of Steve Rogers in place as Captain America and the new head of S.H.I.E.L.D. Thanks to a series of crises orchestrated by HYDRA, the emergency powers act led Congress to witlessly transfer national authority to Rogers, allowing HYDRA to conquer the country through totally legal means.
Viper sat on Rogers’ High Council, working with HYDRA to remake America in their image. She oversaw public security, imprisoning Inhumans, dissidents and other potential threats in their 
detention centers. However, whatever higher loyalty Elisa intended to inspire in Viper failed to emerge. Viper continued making deals for herself, manipulating the Hydra Supreme’s infrastructure and her position of power in order to set up an underground narcotics trade for profit. When Black Widow let herself get caught, she tempted Viper into looking the other way while she arranged an assassination attempt on Rogers. It failed, and Viper remained with HYDRA until its regime fell by other means, but clearly her heart was never in the takeover. [Secret Empire crossover]
Madripoor started to get crowded for Viper as Tyger Tiger reestablished herself as ruling crime lord and Magneto also moved his X-Men team to the island. Viper and her new minions, the Femme Fatales, were hired by Soteira to oversee a series of rocket launches to place satellites in orbit, and so Viper had Magneto captured so he could not interfere with their plans. From the Fatales, Sapphire Styx’s soul stealing power and Mindblast’s cyber-psionic enhancements were 
enough to weaken Magneto and keep him prisoner. Unfortunately, a crew of X-Men from New York arrived to speak to Magneto just before the launch window, forcing Viper to improvise. She and the Femme Fatales ambushed the X-Men and captured several members, but the remaining mutant proved troublesome when left on the loose. Viper was beaten, but she completed her contract and the rocket launched. [Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #1-4]
Viper found herself involved in several shadowy cabals as months passed. She became part of the mysterious J.A.N.U.S. alongside G.W. Bridge, Malcolm Colcord, Valentina de Fontaine, Henry Peter Gyrich and James MacDonald Hudson. This curious and unexpected mix of covert figures showed interest in the Ravencroft Institute, but their full plans were never disclosed. [Ravencroft #5]
Meanwhile, Viper also coordinated with past foes of Natasha Romanova (such as Snapdragon, Weeping Lion, Arcade and the Red Guardian) in a plot against the Black Widow. Fearing the repercussions from other heroes if they killed her (and honestly doubting whether it was possible), 
this alliance instead planned to brainwash Natasha into retirement. They implanted a new identity as architect Natalie Grey, gave her a fiancé named James, and even engineered a baby boy, Stevie. The hope was that this was a trap which the Black Widow would never want to escape, even subconsciously. She would be removed from the playing field, and everyone’s schemes could proceed without future interference by Romanoff.
Viper was the most clear-headed and openly respectful of Black Widow’s abilities on the cabal. She regularly had to remind Arcade and Weeping Lion that killing Black Widow was exactly what 
this alliance had been formed NOT to do. And yet, the Lion’s vendetta overcame his common sense, and he forced “Natalie” to confront her past and her lifetime of hardened instincts by making attempts on her life. When the Widow started to “awaken,” Viper detonated the cognitive implant intended as a failsafe. Even that failed to kill Natasha Romanov. Viper’s first instinct was to run very far away, but she accepted that her best chance was to ally her forces with the others in the cabal and make one last attempt at killing the Black Widow before she found them. Even so, Viper continued to clinically and professionally remind her allies that they were very likely about to die. In fact, they only lived because the Widow needed witnesses when she faked James and Stevie’s deaths, sending them into hiding for their protection. Viper survived in order to tell others there was no way to reach the Black Widow through those she loved. [Black Widow (8th series) #1-5]
While some enemies she treated with respect, others Viper took a particular glee in tormenting. In a cosmic battle of multiversal proportions, Jessica Drew was severed from the Web of Life and Destiny. She was returned when the war was won but, for a few days, she ceased to exist in the lives and memories of everyone she ever knew. In that time, her infant Gerald Drew was completely alone, and HYDRA detected him as a candidate with genetic potential. HYDRA abducted Gerry and put him through age acceleration and brainwashing procedures, rearing him to become their agent, the Green Mamba. Once Spider-Woman returned to existence, Viper realized who HYDRA had in their clutches. She requisitioned HYDRA’s psychic network to sweep all memory of Gerald Drew from the world. Only Jessica remembered her son existed, and Viper had an amusing new play toy.
A gang war broke out within New York’s criminal underworld, and Viper decided to amuse herself by staking a claim for HYDRA. She backed a former Kingpin candidate named Diamondback, having her chemists help refine his genetic boosting drug, Diamond. HYDRA’s resources would give Diamondback an advantage against other crime lords like Madame Masque, Beetle, Owl, Hobgoblin and other contenders. Spider-Woman’s search for her son put her in Viper and Diamondback’s path, however, so Madame Hydra sadistically made Green Mamba into Diamondback’s liaison and enforcer for the gang war, forcing Jessica to fight her own artificially-grown son. Diamondback proved to be the wrong horse, but it mattered little to Viper. Hurting Jessica Drew was enough for Viper to declare this side operation a success. [Spider-Woman (8th series) #1-4]
The Viper was once a woman with a cause, a fanatic dedicated to a dogma of Nietzschean nihilism that could only be brought about by global terror. Then she lost her lover, every mentor that mattered, and saw the organization she devoted her life to devolve into in-fighting and squalor. Today’s Viper does not care… she only wants to live long enough to watch the world burn at her hands.