BIOGRAPHY - Page 7
When a group of the students were transported to the demonic dimension of Limbo, the X-Men 
had to work fast to get them back. Travelling to the Hell-like realm, Piotr was shocked to come face to face with his long-dead sister, his little snowflake, Illyana. Having been resurrected by the demon-lord Belasco, Illyana was a soulless and conflicted version of her former self. Piotr barely had time to talk to her, as the young girl, so disgusted by what she now was, teleported everyone out of Limbo again. [New X-Men (2nd series) #41]
In the months that had passed since he had returned, Piotr had grown closer to Kitty than ever before and their relationship eventually turned romantic. The two finally consummated their love for each other but their happiness was about to be tested. Emma Frost, under the sway of the malevolent telepath Cassandra Nova, attacked the team and trapped them in psychic illusions designed to break them down. Colossus believed he was fighting Sebastian Shaw and the illusion was so real that, when Shaw defeated him, Piotr’s real body fell unconscious. Piotr recovered but didn’t quite realize how Nova’s schemes would affect his and Kitty’s relationship going forward. Kitty had been telepathically forced to live a fake life in which she had a child with Piotr, but he eventually betrayed her by taking the child away. Even when Nova’s plan unraveled and Kitty saw the illusion for what it was, she was still wary of Piotr, which put a strain on their relationship.
Unfortunately, the two didn’t get any time to discuss the events, as Ord and Danger suddenly attacked the team, having seemingly teamed up to defeat them. Just as the two were subdued, 
Agent Brand and her S.W.O.R.D. squad burst in and teleported everyone on board their spaceship. Since Ord’s appearance, Brand had been looking into his claims that a mutant would destroy his home planet, the Breakworld, and her investigations indicated that, ironically, it would be Colossus, who he resurrected. Since Ord’s previous plan had failed, the forces on Breakworld had launched an armada to destroy Earth. Brand had been forced to take Colossus and the X-Men off-world in the hopes of luring the armada away. As S.W.O.R.D. and the X-Men made its way to the far-off planet, the armada caught up with them and destroyed their ship. Luckily, the X-Men managed to get on board escape shuttles and landed on Breakworld. Colossus saved Kitty during the crash but the two were separated from the rest of the team. Colossus began to worry that the prophecy the augurs of Breakworld had predicted would come true and that he would be responsible for the destruction of a planet.
The two found themselves being attacked constantly by people who recognized Colossus’ face from the prophecy and wanted to kill him. Eventually they were found by a woman, Aghanne, who offered them sanctuary, as she believed the prophecy was more of a metaphorical, rather than physical, destruction of the planet. Soon after she managed to reunite Colossus and Kitty with the rest of their team, the X-Men began to hatch a plan to put an end to the chaos. When Brand and Beast analyzed the source of the Breakworlder’s prophecy, a giant stone tablet that showed Colossus destroying their planet, they realized that things weren’t as clear as they seemed. The prophecy was actually more of a plan and everyone was being manipulated into acting it out. The current ruler of Breakworld, Kruun, had built an enormous space station that could fire a missile at Earth. The team split up again, with Kitty heading to the space station to disarm the missile, whilst the rest of the team took on Kruun's forces. Colossus was saved as an 
ace in the hole by going to the main reactor that gave the planet energy. He would essentially threaten to destroy Breakworld, unless they disarmed their missile and called off all attacks against Earth.
Unfortunately, things did not go exactly as planned, as Kruun was unwilling to cooperate and Ord ambushed them at the reactor. During the battle, Colossus was forced to enter the reactor, where he discovered that Aghanne was the one behind the prophecy. She had calmly manipulated everyone around her, as she wanted to wipe out her race since she saw them as brutish and unworthy of survival. Only Colossus and his unique, metal body could survive the heat of the inner core and damage it to cause a chain reaction that would annihilate the planet. Colossus was adamant he wouldn’t help her destroy her world and so Aghanne fought him, trying to force him to damage the core. Realizing that he was no match for the warrior woman, Colossus made a choice and began to turn his metal body into flesh again. Before he could do it, though, Ord surprised them both by attacking Aghanne and removing her protective suit. Without protection, Aghanne succumbed to the heat of the core and died, putting an end to the whole scheme. Colossus spoke to Ord, who was also dying of the effects of the core, and made peace with his former imprisoner. Having stopped Aghanne, Kruun, and Ord, Colossus declared himself ruler of Breakworld in a bid to stop the constant aggression that the planet seemed to thrive on.
Tragically for Piotr, the drama wasn’t over, as he discovered that the missile aimed at Earth had been launched and that Kitty was trapped inside it. What’s more, they discovered it was actually a bullet and there was no way of stopping it. At the last moment, Kitty managed to phase the giant bullet through Earth, saving the planet but condemning her to a life inside the bullet traveling ever farther into deep space. It was travelling so fast that no one could catch up with it and Piotr was helpless to do anything but watch as his girlfriend was lost forever. [Astonishing X-Men (3rd series) #13-24, Giant-Sized Astonishing X-Men #1]
There was no time to dwell on the tragic events, though, as it was all-hands-on-deck for the X-Men when the first mutant birth since M-Day occurred. The X-Men, Mister Sinister, and the Purifiers all wanted the child for their own purposes and a game of cat-and-mouse ensued. When the child went missing, Colossus and a team of X-Men tracked down some former Acolytes in a bid to get information. Exodus and his current Acolytes were working with Sinister, so Colossus felt obligated to use heavy-handed tactics to make the Acolytes talk. The baby was eventually found in Sinister’s possession on Muir Island and a great battle broke out over the child’s fate. Whilst the villains were defeated, Professor Xavier was seemingly killed during the carnage. Tired and demoralized, Cyclops disbanded the X-Men, as he felt Xavier’s dream was finally over. [Messiah Complex crossover]
Now a free agent, Colossus was one of the superheroes drafted into the Defenders Initiative by Tony Stark. Unfortunately, the team’s first mission involved them fighting the Sons of the Serpent and the end result was the destruction of a large hotel. Though no-one was killed, the news coverage and clean-up cost was so much that the team was forced to disband immediately. [Last Defenders #1-2]
With some time on his hands, Piotr took a road trip across Europe with Nightcrawler and Wolverine in the hopes that he would find some inner peace after recent events. They ended up visiting the graves of Piotr’s parents in Russia but it only reminded him of how much he had lost. Despite the three trying to maintain a low profile, they ended up getting into a bar fight and revealing who they were to the locals. Piotr and the others left the town but the damage was done and the Russian government was now aware that Colossus was alive and well.
The three were later ambushed by agents of the Red Room, a secret Russian government program that was dedicated to creating super-soldiers and spies. They were captured and taken to a secret facility where Wolverine and Nightcrawler were tortured in the hopes of getting Colossus to comply. The Red Room had lost many of their mutant agents on M-Day and the leader of the facility was highly suspicious that the X-Men’s numbers were still healthy. He wanted Colossus to work for them but he underestimated the three former X-Men, who soon broke out. As they made their way out the facility, they were cornered by Omega Red, one of the few remaining mutant agents the Red Room had left. He proved to be more than a match for the trio, with Colossus taking a particular beating off him. In the end, Nightcrawler defeated Omega Red by dropping him from a great height, after which the trio watched as SHIELD took him into custody once more. As Piotr and the others contemplated their next move, they received a call from Cyclops, telling them that the X-Men were being reformed and they had a new home. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #497-499]
Colossus travelled to San Francisco, where Cyclops had set up the new base, Graymalkin Industries, on the outskirts of the city. It was hoped the tolerant people of the city would welcome the mutants and that the move would be an important step on the way to a peaceful coexistence. Naturally things didn’t go as planned, as they were attacked by Magneto, who managed to launch Colossus out of a skyscraper during the X-Men’s welcoming party. Colossus also found himself in the midst of battle when the Skrulls enacted their plans to take over Earth. He was one of the many X-Men to take to the streets to defend the civilians of San Francisco from the alien invaders. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #500, Secret Invasion: X-Men #1-4]