BIOGRAPHY- page 4
Under unknown but apparently severe circumstances, Viper and the Silver Samurai eventually terminated their partnership. Harada remarked shortly after that Viper was “as one dead to him”, but the details of their falling out have never been revealed. When she next raised her head, Viper instituted a plan to take control of the Serpent Society, a trade union of serpent-based super-villains that evolved out of her earlier Serpent Squad concept. She first arranged for several serpent operatives loyal to her to gain admittance to the Society as new members. Once they were in place, Viper tracked their signal beacon and teleported into the Serpent Society’s headquarters. She personally poisoned the Society’s leader Sidewinder while her agents began securing the rest of the organization. [Captain America (1st series) #341]
With Sidewinder out of the picture, many of the Serpent Society joined up with the Viper simply for the promise of work. Viper’s old ally Cobra joined mostly out of fear. Some of the Serpent Society remained loyal to Sidewinder even under torture, though, and Diamondback managed to escape the base with Sidewinder and summon help from her occasional ally, Captain America. The Captain’s sudden arrival forced Viper to flee in a Serpent Saucer, and she was captured by her old nemesis after a short pursuit. [Captain America (1st series) #342-343]
Despite this setback, however, the Serpent Society was already putting Viper’s plan into motion. Using a mutagenic compound derived from Viper’s servant Slither, the Society poisoned the water supply of Washington, D.C., causing anyone who drank the water to begin mutating into a humanoid serpent. Mass rioting and chaos began breaking out in the streets, and Viper managed to escape from the Captain’s allies to join in on the fracas. She made her way to the White House and blasted her way inside, with the intent of killing the president personally. Cap anticipated her goals and made his way to the White House as well, only to get into a fistfight with the crazed and serpentized president. Viper enjoyed the show until the Secret Service arrived and chased her from the building. She was caught off-guard and subdued outside by Cobra, who recognized how crazy (and unprofitable) her scheme was, and wanted the Serpent Society out of her clutches. Cobra turned Viper over to the Captain before escaping himself. [Captain America (1st series) #344]
Some months later, Viper was recruited from prison by “Dr. Tyrone,” an alias of the immortal deposed Roman emperor Tyrannus. The armies of water-breathing Lemuria and Deviant Lemuria had joined forces under the command of Ghaur and Llyra to resurrect the Elder God known as Set through the use of the Serpent Crown. Because of her past association with the Crown and unique skill set, the agents of Set had Tyrannus recruit Viper for their plot. Even before the Celestials visited Earth, Set had enjoyed the occasional use of “Serpent Men” as his agents on Earth when he could not appear himself. Viper’s recent scheme in Washington D.C. offered him the means to recreate his favorite henchmen during his rise to power. Under the alias of Leona Hiss, Viper and “Dr. Tyrone” funded a homeless outreach program call Save Our Society. It doubled as a drug treatment clinic, and SOS began injecting the poor and addicted with the serpent serum. In small doses, the serum initially cleansed the system of other poisons, allowing Set’s forces to attract converts with the promise of a cure from their addictions. Punisher and Moon Knight discovered the Serpent Men while tracking a former drug dealer, though, forcing Viper to roll back her activities.
Seeking shelter at Dr. Tyrone’s commune, Viper was unnerved by how the Serpent Men seemed almost reverent of Tyrone. Indeed, Tyrannus intended to circumvent Ghaur and Llyra’s plans, turning the Serpent Men into his own personal entourage. Tyrannus believed he could beat their employers to resurrecting Set, and thus steal from them the ultimate power Set promised his worshippers. Tyrannus used his will-sapping powers to take control of Viper, and force her into acting as the sacrifice for his ritual summoning of Set. Viper was left mesmerized and helpless before the demon Tyrannus summoned, until Doctor Strange and Daredevil burst onto the scene. Tyrannus redirected his powers to dominate the creature he summoned, and therefore failed to focus on keeping the strong willed Viper under control. A vindictive Viper flung Tyrannus into the pentagram before her, leaving him at the mercy of the demon. Although the demon was not truly Set, it was just as unpleasant and Tyrannus vanished beneath the demon’s fury. [Atlantis Attacks crossover]