BIOGRAPHY - Page 8
Concerns about Emma's trustworthiness circled back around as the Hellfire Club prepared to attack the X-Men from within. Or rather, Emma did. Months ago, when Emma trapped the Mummundrai consciousness of Cassandra Nova in the body of the Superguardian Stuff, Cassandra's thoughts reached out and planted a seed in Emma's mind. A mental virus of sorts, this thought grew in Emma over time, playing off her survivor's guilt from the death of the Hellions, of Genosha and even the Decimation, to convince her she had been evil all along. It created false memories that convinced Emma she had been a sleeper agent for Cassandra Nova since even 
before the Genoshan holocaust, and the various members of her "Hellfire Club" were actually extensions of Emma's own mind. "Perfection" even turned out to be a representation of Emma herself, in all her glory as the ice cold White Queen. These aspects pressed her to obey the viral Cassandra's plans. Specifically, to release the real Cassandra from her containment vessel in the mansion.
Emma's Hellfire Club made their move, with different "members" confronting the X-Men as psychic avatars of Emma's own telepathic assaults on the team. Emma herself took out Scott first, confronting him with his own doubts and self-control issues to leave him catatonic with his powers shut off. Emma alerted the other X-Men to Scott's condition, leading them to scatter and be easily picked off. Kitty Pryde saw through Emma's guile, however, and tried to confront her former nemesis directly. Instead, Emma planted over three years of false memories in Kitty's head, leading her to believe her own fictional child was trapped inside the stored "manger" containing Stuff's body. It was for this reason the Cassandra virus had Emma suggest recruiting Kitty back to the X-Men months before: to penetrate the defenses surrounding the cage.
As Kitty was completing her task, however, Scott awoke and began fighting back against Emma's avatars. Using the student Blindfold for added psychic protection, he used a gun to dispel the "reality" of the Hellfire Club, "killing" Emma's representations. Scott had understood a few hints Emma left him, and reasoned out the rest of Emma's situation himself. Kitty wasn't so quick to forgive Emma for all her past sins, as well as the three years of torture and the loss of a child she had experienced in the last hour. She took up Scott's gun and was prepared to end Emma. Scott pointed out, though, that Emma's messages to him meant she was literally of two minds about the situation. And while "Cassandra" may have recruited Kitty to open the cage, Emma had 
recruited her to do exactly what she was doing: eliminating Emma Frost if she became a threat to the X-Men. This understanding was enough to make Kitty stand down, and Scott reached out to Emma, showing her the lie of what Cassandra had said. Emma chose to reject Cassandra's influence, severing her mental connections to the Mummundrai or her consciousness. [Astonishing X-Men (3rd series) #13-18]
The X-Men were drawn almost immediately afterwards into a conflict with the people of Breakworld. It was all exploding spaceships and prophecies of doom for a while before Emma and Scott really had a chance to talk. Emma's defenses were up because she expected scoldings and recriminations. Instead, Scott basically yelled his first "I love you" to her during an alien dogfight. In the climax, Breakworld fired a moon-sized bullet at Earth, and Kitty Pryde was trapped inside. 
Destroying the bullet was top priority for saving the Earth, and Emma and Kitty had a tender moment telepathically as Emma tried to console her before the end. At it happened, all other efforts failed and the Earth lived only because Kitty phased the entire bullet as it passed through the planet. Shadowcat remained trapped in the bullet as it continued on its course through space, and Emma mourned the one woman above all others she trusted to keep her honest. [Astonishing X-Men (3rd series) #19-24, Giant-Size #1]
Everything changed when a new mutant birth erupted in Alaska. Emma and the X-Men were too slow to prevent the Marauders and Purifiers from getting there first, and the baby was lost in the chaos. Emma psychically accompanied an away team to track and battle the Marauders in case they had the child, psychically countering Mister Sinister's telepathy with her own. Surge and the new X-Men chose to pursue the Purifiers on their own, however, and the psychic backlash of their confrontation with Lady Deathstrike and the Reavers separated Emma from the team facing the Marauders. Cable had independently procured the baby but lost her to the Marauders, and so all forces soon converged on Muir Island to retrieve her. Emma counseled Surge to learn from her mistakes and left her at the mansion to defend Hellion, Elixir and the other injured team members. In the end, Cable took the baby into the future, promising to raise her and keep her safe until she could return to the present without being made a target. [Messiah Complex crossover]
Emma and Scott temporarily disbanded the X-Men while they decided how to move forward as a species. After a vacation in the Savage Land to rekindle their relationship, a rogue mutant named Martinique Jason brought them to San Francisco. The X-Men saved the mayor Sadie Sinclair and earned themselves a new base of operations in California. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #495-499] As the X-Men congregated in the Bay area, they also earned the respect of the city's general public during the Skrull invasion. The mutant heroes drove off the alien scourge in a series of very public battles defending civilians. [Secret Invasion: X-Men #1-4] With a hollowed-out series of military bunkers and tunnels in the Marin Highlands as a starting point, the X-Men established "Greymalkin Industries" as the public face for their new operations with the help of Emma and Warren's financial backing. Once everything was set, Emma helped Cyclops telepathically broadcast a welcome notice to all mutants in the world, letting them know the X-Men were back in business and San Francisco was an open sanctuary city for mutantkind. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #500]
Emma Frost remained part of the X-Men's "alpha team," acting as the public face of the growing mutant faction. She still harbored insecurities about her role on the team, though, and the vulnerability that came from allowing others to touch her diamond heart. Emma bristled when Storm returned to the team, seeing Ororo as Jean's best friend and a former personal foe. Her outsider stance was finally challenged by Wolverine, who essentially told her she had earned her 
place in the X-Men and to stop worrying. [Astonishing X-Men (3rd series) #25, X-Men: Manifest Destiny #2] Still, her happy life with Scott was marred by his obsession with Cable and the mutant baby, still out of touch in the future weeks after their departure. She would find Scott up in the late hours of the night, assembling a crib for when the baby returned. The X-Men learned Bishop had a maniacal hatred for the "mutant messiah" from his future, and was pursuing Cable through the timeline. Scott was helpless to save his son from this threat, and Emma was helpless to comfort him. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #501, Cable (2nd series) #6-10]
After Scott was psychically compromised during a mission, Emma dug into his head to make sure there weren't any lingering effects. Although Scott swore she was free to look around at any thought she liked, Emma discovered a psychic black box in his head. Scott claimed this mental lockbox 
was only to hide away tactics and strategies, compromising information about the mutant race that he could otherwise be tortured to disclose. The idea of secrets in their relationship didn't sit well with Emma, and the fact that Jean taught Scott how to make this psychic defense didn't improve her mood. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #504]
It became clear to Emma that Scott was keeping secrets above and beyond what he claimed. Because of this, she felt reluctant to share an offer she had received from Norman Osborn to meet with him in New York. At a loss for how to proceed, Emma surprisingly received advice from Storm. Ororo said if Scott was keeping secrets, it was because he thought it was in the best interests of Emma, the X-Men and mutantkind as a whole for him to do so. If Emma thought she had what it took to be a leader among mutants, then she should do the same. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #505]
Emma met with Norman in New York with his unlikely Cabal: Doctor Doom, the Hood, Loki of Asgard, and Namor the Sub-Mariner. With the downfall of Tony Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. during the Skrull invasion, Norman Osborn had been named the head of the Initiative and his own 
H.A.M.M.E.R. He was interested in an exchange of favor and support, with each member of the Cabal working with the others to further their independent goals. Emma, in particular, would keep the X-Men and mutantkind in general from becoming Osborn's problem, and Osborn would ensure the government largely stayed out of their way.
Side deals were inevitable in such a gathering. Having regained her memories of their time together some while back, Emma arranged to renew her association with Prince Namor. To secure Namor's loyalty to mutantkind if and when Osborn turned on them, Emma offered to finally eliminate Sebastian Shaw for the slight he showed Atlantis years earlier. With Namor watching from a concealed room, Emma lured Shaw to one of their old clubs and severed his head with a sword, literally offering it to Namor on a platter. Satisfied with their arrangement, Namor swore an oath to Emma and mutantkind. Before he left, Namor also made clear his intentions to have her in his bed again one day. Only then did Emma allow the telepathic illusion to drop, revealing Shaw 
was only incapacitated. Although she wasn't a killer anymore, Emma needed Shaw out of the way, and so she brought him back to Greymalkin Industries and secured him in the prison bunkers maintained by the X-Men. [Secret Invasion #8, Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1, Uncanny X-Men Annual (2nd series) #2]
If anyone asked (like Scott), Emma was holding Shaw for crimes against mutantkind. Keeping his survival a secret from Namor was paramount to her plans, but Emma also held Sebastian responsible for Genosha, for the Sentinels that Shaw Industries helped build for years while Sebastian was hiding his true nature from the government in order to make a profit. Yes, the Hellfire Club were protected from the Sentinels by certain programming Shaw incorporated into his Sentinels, but millions of mutants did not fare as well. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #507]