Biography page 9
Hope’s intrusion into Fantomex’s thoughts finally provoked him to turn completely against X-Force. Compulsively nano-programmed to believe he was the best at everything, the cognitive dissonance of… not being that… was driving him mad. His sentient diagnostic function E.V.A. purged Meme from his system, then started attacking the team. The group was saved by the arrival of Domino, who shot Fantomex in the head, but that ended up making things worse. E.V.A. had previously tried copying the Volga effect from Hope while they interfaced as Meme, creating a digital form of the psychic copy Hope’s system contained. It didn’t seem to work at first, but Domino killing Fantomex gave his system a chance to reboot and integrate the Volga effect, allowing the madman to basically create new powers at will.
X-Force fled from the encounter, but their mission retrieving Domino from the Yellow Eye also exposed Hope as Meme to Cable. Hope was scared Cable was going to shut off Meme’s life support to prevent her from copycatting the vegetative girl’s powers, but also feared Cable had simply gone too far to be trusted at all. Nathan had gone off and captured Volga on his own 
without bothering to tell the team, then started torturing the arms dealer for the secret to curing the Volga Strain. Volga was killed by Marrow, but not before revealing there was no cure, for either Hope or for Nathan. Meanwhile, the insane Fantomex was traveling the world, attacking national intelligence operations and super-teams just to prove himself the best. It had all gone wrong.
Hope was approached by Forgetmenot, a mutant X-Force had used and tossed away in order to gain access to the Yellow Eye. A data echo of the real Meme’s consciousness had kept him alive using the droids running X-Force’s headquarters. The real Meme’s mind was about to fade out, meaning Hope wouldn’t be able to interface as Meme anymore either. Forgetmenot got Hope to confront just how far gone X-Force was from doing “the right thing.” It turned out Cable had been goading Fantomex into attacking the intelligence organizations, calling him out in order to use the power-mad lunatic to weaken potential threats to mutantkind. By the time X-Force got around to pulling the plug on Meme, the girl was already gone and Hope had nothing to say to any of them. [X-Force (4th series) #11-13]
Before losing Meme’s powers and going back into her coma, Hope put Forgetmenot to work setting up a real plan to deal with Fantomex and the Volga effect. Cable’s taunting of Fantomex was exposed, driving a wedge between him and what remained of the team. With Nathan relieved of command, Hope summoned Fantomex to X-Force’s base for the final conflict. Forgetmenot 
used the teleport system to bring Fantomex to Hope’s bedside, allowing her to copy the controllable digital copy of the Volga effect interfaced with his powers. Able to move again, with the godlike powers of Fantomex and the copied abilities of the rest of X-Force, Hope took action. A swarm of Cable copies were unthawed to help X-Force delay Fantomex while Hope and Doctor Nemesis’ combined super-smartness worked on a final cure.
The solution came from exploiting Fantomex’s own flawed programming against him. Hope crafted metaphysical malware, a psychic virus containing the human emotions of fear and inadequacy culled from all of X-Force, then implanted it in Fantomex. The virus was a direct 
assault on Fantomex’s belief in his own perfection, and he ordered E.V.A. to conduct a full systems purge to rid himself of this infection of feelings. In doing so he also purged himself of the Volga Strain and all his enhanced powers. And Hope, with her powers, was able to copy the cure back down the line, from the digital copy of the Volga Strain to the psychic copy infecting her, back to the original version still incubating in the original Nathan.
The day was saved, and the battle was won, but a rift now existed between Hope and Nathan. Hope’s father had been her personal hero for as long as she could remember, but the lengths he had gone to as leader of X-Force disturbed her. In the end, Hope was an idealist and couldn’t 
countenance a dirty tricks brigade acting without principles, regardless of who might benefit from their actions. While a lingering doubt remained over whether Cable’s clones were truly acting the way the original would have in the same circumstances, it was clear X-Force had to be better. And so, while Nathan was convalescing in a hospital after the Volga Strain purge, Hope contacted her father via video call to inform him he was fired, and X-Force answered to her now. [X-Force (4th series) #14-15]
X-Force ultimately folded, and Hope went on to plan her own missions from a bunker hidden in an airport graveyard. When the young, time-traveling version of Jean Grey started receiving visions of the Phoenix Force coming for her, she reached out to other former hosts for advice. Hope and the others gave Jean what information they could, but resisting the Phoenix seemed to be a lost 
cause. [Jean Grey #2] When Hope detected the arrival of the Phoenix, she rushed out to meet it and defend Jean if possible. The Phoenix Force seemed to have no sentimental feelings lingering for the “mutant messiah,” though, and cruelly brushed Hope aside while zeroing in on her intended target. Jean survived (inexplicably, despite the Phoenix’s best efforts), and the adult Jean Grey was soon resurrected by and divorced from the Phoenix Force as well. [Jean Grey #9-10]
After some time, Hope came in from the field to catch up with the X-Men at their new Central Park mansion. However, she was attacked in the night by a techno-organic morpher named Metus, an old enemy of Cable’s who scarred Hope’s eye like Nathan’s as a message to her father. This prompted Cable to appear in Central Park, leading to a reunion between father and daughter for the first time since the Volga event. These two proud, stubborn soldiers managed to express their feelings and reconciled with each other. Cable apologized to Hope for his actions and asked for 
her help against Metus. Monstrous as Metus appeared, it turned out he was a child victim whom Nathan had accidentally infected with the T-O virus when he was much younger. Nathan needed Hope to copy his powers so together they were strong enough for him to extract the virus from Metus’ body and purge it from his own. Metus had stalked and threatened Nathan for years after the accident but, by choosing to save his old friend instead of eliminating a threat, Cable went a long way towards redeeming himself in Hope’s eyes. [Cable (1st series) #155-159]
Tragically, their reunion wasn’t to last, as Cable was soon killed by a past version of himself in order to craft a new timeline. Hope mourned her father at the X-Mansion, but still wasn’t ready to listen to Bishop of all people offering his condolences. Jean Grey insisted on coming along with Hope as she cleared out and dismantled Nathan’s safe houses. As Jean suspected, Hope intended to find a time machine to go back and undo Cable’s death. Jean convinced Hope this wouldn’t have been what Nathan wanted, and consoled her as Hope accepted Nathan was gone. [X-Men: The X-Terminated #1]
Not long after that, mutantkind reached a crisis point. Most of the X-Men were apparently killed in a major battle, and the United States began pumping out a vaccine to prevent the X-Gene from activating in children while the Office of National Emergency was hunting mutants in the streets. Still mourning her father, Hope fell back into the role of a soldier and assumed a militant response to the growing anti-mutant fervor. She conscripted the Mutant Liberation Front to work for her and 
began conducting terrorist attacks on clinics and other facilities handling the vaccine rollout. Cyclops had banded together a small team of ad hoc X-Men still active, and resisted Hope when she planned to assassinate an anti-mutant politician. Hope was in no mood to listen to Scott, however, as she was determined to win the war for mutantkind. Hope shot out one of Scott’s eyes and killed her target before Wolverine managed to bring her down. [Uncanny X-Men (5th series) #13-15]
Despite her actions, Hope was offered a place in the X-Men after being captured. Cyclops had turned control of the group over to democracy, and Magik and the majority were willing to fight beside Hope if she was willing to fight beside them. Hope and the X-Men fought a number of threats in rapid succession, including Sinister, the Brotherhood, Upstarts and the Asgardian 
invasion. They learned Emma Frost had been manipulating them while forced into service to the O*N*E, but was actually playing both sides in order to further mutant goals. For a time, they achieved a hollow victory, but in the end the fight for mutant validation continued. Fortunately, the majority of their fallen friends from the X-Men returned, having cheated death yet again. [Uncanny X-Men (5th series) #16-22]