She is later shown in a secret base donning a helmet that is a combination of Cyclops' and Magneto's in preparation for her next move, as she is now wanted and on the run from both the Inhumans and the X-Men for her actions since Cyclops' death. During the "Secret Empire" storyline, Emma Frost is revealed to be the true leader of the mutant nation in New Tian, which is somewhere in California, following Hydra's takeover of the United States. She is using Xorn as her puppet ruler and controlling him with her telepathy. A flashback showed that Emma Frost claimed a Cosmic Cube fragment from an unconscious Shang-Chi. When the time-displaced original X-Men rebel against New Tian's government, Emma has Xorn send a group of mutants after them, succeeding in capturing most of the team except for Jean and Jimmy Hudson. She then talks to the younger Cyclops in his cell and telepathically torments him. It is revealed that Emma has been secretly working against Hydra. She, Beast, and Sebastian Shaw lead the raids on Supreme Hydra leader Steve Rogers's throne, until Arnim Zola infuses a brainwashed Rogers with a power of the Cosmic Cube, and he bests them all easily. Later Emma approached Iceman in order to request his help to save her brother Christian from their abusive father, however as they arrive at the Frost Mansion, they find that Christian is perfectly fine. In fact, he seems healthy and happy. Emma maintains her suspicions, which are ultimately confirmed when she finds the dead body of her father. It turns out that Christian is also a mutant, whose powers include, besides telepathy and telekinesis, the ability to perform astral projections. Thus, after killing his own father, Christian made an astral projection of him that ends up battling Iceman. Following this, Emma promises to spend the necessary time to heal Christian's broken mind, taking on the role of head of the Frost International Company. Following Magneto's attack, Emma talks the X-Men into taking out the Inner Circle members of the Hellfire Club, while she goes after Sebastian Shaw, the man who made her the White Queen so many years ago. Though Shaw is still immune to her telepathy, Emma had an associate place a paralytic agent in his drink, allowing her to defeat him. Emma assumes the role of the Hellfire Club's Black King, including a new darker outfit, and explaining in a letter to the X-Men that she intended to fix the broken world for mutants in her own way by taking control of the Hellfire Club.