BIOGRAPHY - Page 11
Iceman also worked with a splinter faction of X-Men from time to time, gathered by circumstance and continuing to associate with each other. When they were infected with nanotech bombs by Karma's half-sister, Bobby escaped the threat by melting into liquid, then reforming himself without the nanotech inside. [Astonishing X-Men (3rd series) #53-56] They also helped Wolverine clean up some of his mistakes from X-Force, such as trusting the Nightcrawler of the Age of Apocalypse. This led into a cross-dimensional war with Celestial-created beings known as the Exterminators, alongside residents of the AoA and Dazzler's team of dimension-hopping X-Men. They were forced to rely on the Deathseed that empowered that Earth's version of Apocalypse, but it was stolen by the Dark Beast before Jean Grey could use it. Grey was eventually transformed into an Apocalypse once the seed was recovered, but Beast saved a small portion and secretly embedded it in Bobby, in the hopes he could retrieve it later. [X-Termination crossover]
The Apocalypse Seed had a strong effect on Bobby, unleashing his darker impulses and more of his untapped potential. A worldwide cold snap began affecting the Earth, initially attributed to 
freak weather conditions. Bobby's subconscious also began working through his powers, causing Iceman doppelgangers to pop up around the globe through any existing source of water and ice, manifesting different aspects of Bobby's personality as they did so. This was initially humorously awkward, as different aspects of Bobby contacted all his former girlfriends, Lorna, Annie, Opal and even Mystique. They all met up when Bobby was having lunch with Kitty and his team, but Bobby had no memory of calling any of them. Kitty felt neglected as Bobby was clearly happy to see these women, causing another chill to form.
The situation quickly stopped being funny. Several of Bobby's exes were kidnapped by Icemen, aspects of Bobby that cared about these women and wanted to preserve them against the catastrophe the darkest aspect of Bobby was carrying out. Indeed, the cold snap soon reached natural disaster proportions, hospitalizing many people and causing death as well. Bobby's power levels had always been in contrast to his feelings of inadequacy, instilled in him by his father at an early age. This new Bobby attempted one more reconciliation with his father, but the old man proved as intractable as ever. As their conversation ended, Iceman numbed his father's heart with cold, causing William Drake to suffer a heart attack.
Iceman was truly all-powerful at this point, able to manifest an endless series of bodies, large and small, at any point on Earth that ice existed. Listening to the Apocalypse Seed and his own 
negative thoughts, Bobby was seriously considering whether to seize power or merely end all life on Earth simply because he could. Listening to his captive Mystique did him no favors, either. In a battle with the X-Men in New York, however, the Apocalypse Seed was dislodged from Iceman's ice-form, giving him the chance to recover. The world survived, but only just. Bobby's jokes just didn't come as easily anymore, for he had been forced to confront everything he had repressed in his life. Almost everything. His relationship with Kitty also seemed to be hopelessly damaged. [Astonishing X-Men (3rd series) #62-65]
Not long afterwards, the original five X-Men situation became more complicated as X-Men from the future came back to the present to force the originals to return to the past. Most of the X-Men agreed this was necessary, but Kitty sided with her students and said it needed to be their decision to make. It proved moot when the time machine failed to send the original five back for some reason. Feeling mistrusted and seeing little reason to stay, Kitty took Bobby's younger counterpart and the other original X-Men to Cyclops's school from then onwards. [Battle of the Atom crossover]
For a time, Bobby became a stricter disciplinarian at the Jean Grey School because he was troubled by Kitty leaving, and he and his ice avatars became known as the most feared teacher among the students. [Wolverine and the X-Men (1st series) #38] His love life didn't become any less complicated with Kitty's departure, either. Warbird had backed off earlier because of her respect for Kitty, but now that Bobby was single again she renewed her aggressive pursuit of mating with the man of ice. New teaching assistant Angelica Jones (Firestar) also harbored a crush on Iceman when she arrived at the school. [Amazing X-Men (2nd series) #1]
Life with the X-Men continued as it always did: dramatically. Iceman found himself fighting soul pirates in the afterlife, Wendigos and the Great Beasts in Canada, and facing the return of the Juggernaut. [Amazing X-Men (2nd series) #1-19] He was also forced to truly confront the death of Charles Xavier when the professor's will was set to be read. When it was stipulated Scott Summers must be present as well, Bobby became the most vocal against Scott, revealing just how deeply betrayed he felt by his friend killing his father figure. [Uncanny X-Men (3rd series) #23-24]
And then, one day, life changed. Iceman's younger self came to talk to Bobby. Young Bobby had recently admitted to himself that he was gay, and he wanted to know what that meant for his older 
self. Bobby was stunned. However, after a moment of silence and shedding a single tear made of ice, Robert Drake admitted that he was gay as well. The weight of being a mutant, of prejudice, of his parents already never accepting him, had made Bobby push this part of himself deep, deep down, because just one more "unacceptable" thing would have been too much to bear. But now, seeing his younger self willing to come forward with who he really was, Bobby decided now was the time for him to do so as well. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #600]