BIOGRAPHY - Page 3
For the next several months, Guido‘s life hung by a thread at the Hidalgo Research Institute in D.C., where he was being held in suspended animation in an amniotic fluid, giving his heart muscles time to recuperate. [X-Factor (1st series) #114]
A lot happened in that time and, when Strong Guy finally woke up, things were very different with the people he had known. X-Factor had broken ties with the government and gone under- ground, their former leader Havok was now leading the Brotherhood, and Jamie Madrox was alive and well again, (only one of his duplicates had succumbed to the Legacy Virus) but operating at odds with both groups. After Forge perfected a surgical device to strengthen Guido's heart against further damage and stress from his powers, he took a vacation to try and work out where he fit into the world as it was. [X-Factor (1st series) #133-135]
Spending some time with his old boss and friend Lila Cheney, Carosella ended up agreeing to tour with her and her rock band again around the galaxy as the head of security. Besides a short side trip back to Earth a few months later, Guido enjoyed getting back into his full-time job keeping Lila out of trouble. [Strong Guy Reborn, X-Men Unlimited (1st series) #21] Something happened out in space, though, a falling out between Lila and Guido that he has yet to fully open up about. [Madrox #1]
After returning to Earth, Carosella got himself involved with the underground network of mutant gladiator games known as The Arena. He got in too deep, becoming indentured to one of the organization's managers, Masado Koga. Some time later, while trying to track down the slaver 
Tullamore Voge, Storm of the X-Men entered The Arena herself and unwittingly became the Japanese arena’s new champion. Guido wanted to keep her safe and tried to talk her out of it, but she was too was excited by the thrill and adrenaline rush. Competing in another challenge, Storm lost, and ended up a slave of the Arena’s true ruler - Masque. However, in due time, Storm and the equally enslaved Callisto fought back. Along with the help of Guido and Storm’s friend, Yukio, Storm threw out the corrupt Koga and Masque, and ensured freedom for all those fighters who wanted it. [X-Treme X-Men #37-39]
Strong Guy took that option, and reacquainted himself with Wolfsbane and Jamie Madrox, who was setting up a detective agency for himself. Madrox was operating out of New York City's District X, otherwise known as "Mutant Town," with an agency originally called XXX Investigations. Guido thought it sounded too much like pornography, so he changed the sign to read X-Factor Investigations. [Madrox #1-5]
As M-Day fell, a large percentage of the mutant population suddenly lost their powers, and Xavier's people shut down their X-Corporation offices around the globe in order to "close ranks." Few places felt the Decimation worse than Mutant Town in New York, and X-Factor Investigations' phone began ringing off the hook with a wide variety of "mutant problems," ranging from people wanting to know the story behind M-Day to mutants having trouble coping with their new situations, and many more besides. To deal with all these problems, X-Factor Investigations recruited a few more operatives, including the mysterious young girl, Layla Miller, and old friends Siryn, M, and Rictor. [X-Factor (3rd series) #1-6]
X-Factor continued to look into Damien Tryp and Singularity Investigations but found themselves fighting an uphill struggle. They caught a lucky break when one of Singularity’s scientists, Henry Buchanan, decided he couldn’t work for the company anymore and sought out X-Factor. Strong Guy was out for a walk when he ran into Buchanan, and he helped save the man from a team of gunmen sent to silence him. Buchanan revealed that Singularity was creating a virus that would kill mutants and all the information on it was locked in a bank vault. Strong Guy was assigned to be Buchanan’s bodyguard as he retrieved the files that would expose Singularity. What no one 
knew, however, was that Guido had, at some point in the recent past, been brainwashed by Singularity to be a sleeper agent for them.
During the car ride to the bank, Damian Tryp called Guido and triggered the brainwashing, causing the otherwise hero to kill Buchanan with a punch to the throat. Disposing of the body, Guido went back to X-Factor and made up a story about Buchanan just disappearing in the bank, a lie that (thanks to his programming) he completely believed. However, Wolfsbane smelled Buchanan’s blood on his hands, prompting Monet to force her way into Guido’s mind to find out the truth. The psychic intrusion not only revealed Guido’s double-status but also triggered the brainwashing again. He attacked the team and would have killed Rictor, had it not been for the timely intervention of Quicksilver. Guido was chained up whilst the rest of the team took the fight to Singularity, stopping the company’s plan to unleash the virus on the mutants. [X-Factor (3rd series) #10-12]
After Singularity’s defeat, Strong Guy was set free, as his masters could no longer control him. Jamie thought it best the team visit Doc Samson, a psychiatrist who specialized in treating super-powered people. Guido revealed that he had visited a hypnotist, as he could no longer deal with the pain his powers caused him. He now realized that they had obviously worked for Singularity. Guido could not forget about the moment he killed Buchanan and blamed himself, as he believed the brainwashing simply brought something to the surface that always lurked deep within him. [X-Factor (3rd series) #13]
Guido decided he needed to confront Buchanan’s wife and admit his role in her husband’s death. To his surprise, the woman remained calm and forgave him, as she saw that Guido was just as much of a victim as her husband had been. [X-Factor (3rd series) #14]
After X-Factor went head-to-head with the newly reformed X-Cell, it was obvious that Mutant Town was in disarray. Val Cooper approached Strong Guy to be the area’s “sheriff,” in the hopes that he could maintain a semblance of peace in the district. Guido was surprised at the offer and graciously accepted. [X-Factor (3rd series) #17-21]