being the leader of the Masters of Evil, which was all a set-up to throw the Thunderbolts off the trail of the real Crimson Cowl (Justine Hammer). Dallas was then arrested. Dallas was rescued from prison by the V-Battalion. She soon tried to track down the Crimson Cowl but instead found herself fighting the Imperial Forces of America (ironically, but unknown to her, they were funded by Baron Zemo). The V-Battalion ordered Dallas to assassinate Henry Peter Gyrich (who would become her co-worker in the Commission on Superhuman Activities several years later) because Gyrich and the CSA had been compromised by the nanite conspiracy spearheaded by Baron Strucker of HYDRA. Dallas refused and the V-Battalion sent their operatives to stop her from informing the Thunderbolts of their plans. When Dallas returned to the United States, she tried to get help from the Thunderbolts but a battle broke out between the two groups and Dallas vanished in battle, kidnapped again by the Crimson Cowl. Dallas wound up in a prison base on the border of Symkaria and Latveria. She managed to find a means of escape but chose to confront the Cowl instead. The battle ended with her falling off a bridge and into a river. Dallas washed up in Latveria (the country led by Doctor Doom) and her back was crushed, requiring her to use a wheelchair for mobility. Dallas soon began to get visitations from her ex-boyfriend Erik (who had been killed by Scourge). Eventually Dallas was freed from Latveria by the Redeemers at which point she came back to the United States. The Thunderbolts, who had previously disbanded, reunited during a battle with Graviton. Dallas reasoned that the ionic-powered Erik's visitations were similar to Wonder Man's visitations of the Scarlet Witch, who he used as an emotional anchor to tie him to the world after he had been killed. Erik didn't have a body to come back to and instead channeled his ionic energy into Dallas. In their ionic state, Dallas's body could walk and had various superpowers. Atlas re-joined the Thunderbolts to fight Graviton but after the battle, Erik and Dallas found themselves and their teammates marooned on Counter Earth. When they returned, the ionic energy recreated a powerless Erik Josten and Dallas retained a portion of the ionic energy. Thanks to the Fixer, Erik soon gained Pym Particle-related powers again. Dallas joined the Thunderbolts as Vantage