BIOGRAPHY - Page 8
Piotr was still noticeably depressed over the loss of Kitty and, despite everyone’s best efforts, they couldn’t help him through it. One night when he was in the city alone, he came across a restaurant owner being threatened by a man covered in tattoos. Piotr realized that it was the same tattooed man that had threatened his family many years before. He followed the man to a bar where he proceeded to knock out his bodyguards. The tattooed man did not recognize Piotr and so, when he offered the X-Man a job as a bodyguard, Piotr took it.
Piotr quickly found himself in the criminal underworld and was soon assigned to guard a shipment of something illegal. Piotr expected to see drugs or weapons but was outraged when the shipping container opened and he saw a group of malnourished young women. He knocked out the rest of his group and took the women back to the X-Men’s base, so they could be looked after properly. He confessed to Cyclops about the true nature of his night-time activities, only offering the man assurance that everything would be taken care of. He found an unlikely ally in Emma Frost, who had her own issues she was working through and seemed just as much in need of punching something as Piotr did. The two tracked the tattooed man down and Piotr beat him to within an inch of his life. Whilst the incident didn’t cure Piotr of his depression, it did put him on the right path to dealing with his emotions. He even got a tattoo honoring Kitty put on his chest. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #504-507]
With the loss of Kitty still hanging over him, Piotr’s mind constantly turned to his sister Illyana, who still hadn’t resurfaced after being resurrected many months before. Piotr was becoming 
increasingly frustrated with Cyclops, whom he blamed for not making more progress in tracking her down. Unbeknownst to both of them, events were unfolding that would bring the young woman back to the X-Men. When the students were sucked into Limbo previously, Pixie had given a part of her soul to Illyana in return for the ability to help her friends out. Pixie now possessed a soul-dagger and, whilst she was training with Nightcrawler one day, she accidentally summoned the soul-sword that he was taking care of. Illyana sensed the sword’s presence and teleported to the X-Men’s base and took it for herself. Piotr was overjoyed to see his sister but, once again, she lashed out at those around her and teleported away before he could speak to her. That brief interaction was enough to light a fire under Piotr and he demanded that he be allowed to take a team into Limbo to bring his sister back. Cyclops agreed but decided to give command of the team to Nightcrawler, as Piotr was too emotional given the situation.
When the group teleported into Limbo using a spell Pixie learned, they were quickly set upon by demons. Surviving this, they made their way inside Illyana’s castle base to discover she was at the mercy of Belasco’s daughter, Witchfire. Colossus was immediately possessed by Witchfire and forced to fight the rest of his team on her orders. Only Nightcrawler remained free and he managed to get hold of the soul-sword once more and use it to purge Witchfire’s influence from 
Colossus. With the team reassembled, they joined Illyana in stopping Witchfire from summoning the demonic Elder Gods. Illyana was still very conflicted about who she was but Piotr begged her not to run away again. Despite her reservations, she decided to stay, giving Piotr the first true bit of hope he had felt in a long time. [X-Infernus #1-4]
Colossus was forced to step up and fight some of his own team when Simon Trask and Norman Osborn whipped the city up into an anti-mutant frenzy. Mutant civil rights were on the line and some of the other mutants staying at the X-Men’s base took to the streets to riot. Colossus ended up fighting Rockslide during the chaos and easily took down the student. He met his match though when Osborn unleashed his Dark Avengers on the city and Piotr went toe-to-toe with Venom. In the end, the X-Men came out on top but they wound up leaving the main city of San Francisco and setting up a new base on the floating island of Utopia in the bay. [Utopia crossover]
Even setting up their own island state didn’t stop the X-Men from being attacked, as the threats to mutant-kind became deadlier. Colossus soon found himself defending Utopia’s shores when Selene sent her army of undead mutants to destroy the X-Men. The student Blindfold received 
a vision that Muir Island would also be a place of significance during this onslaught and so Cyclops sent Colossus, along with a group of other X-Men, to investigate. When they landed, it became obvious something eerie was going on and a big clue to the cause was when Colossus touched Blindfold’s shoulder. The young girl was acting very strangely and the mere touch of Piotr’s metal hand caused her to reel away in pain. It turned out that Blindfold had been possessed by Proteus, the young son of Moira MacTaggert whom Colossus had killed many years ago. Proteus still remembered what Piotr had done to him and angrily lashed out, catapulting the man across the island and out of the fight. It was Magneto who finally brought an end to the reality warping mutant, and the X-Men hurried back to Utopia to continue to fight the undead. [X-Necrosha crossover]
For the first time in a long while, Piotr got some good news whilst he was on a mission with his team. When Cyclops radioed through and said that Kitty was on her way back, Piotr raced back to Utopia to see what he meant. A few weeks before, Magneto had come to the island looking to join the X-Men but the team was understandably wary at his request. In a bid to get them to 
trust him, he decided to use his magnetic powers to reach into deep space and bring the bullet carrying Kitty back to Earth. Piotr made it to Utopia just in time to see the bullet enter the atmosphere and Kitty emerge from it alive and well. Unfortunately, because she had spent her time constantly phasing the bullet so it didn’t hit any planets, she was unable to become tangible again. When Piotr went to embrace her, he passed right through her, as if she were a ghost. Regardless of that, he was still pleased to have her back and waited patiently by the stasis tube the X-Men had built to contain her whilst they figured out what to do. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #522]
Heartache was just around the corner again, though, when the future-Sentinel Bastion attacked the X-Men. Hope Summers, the first mutant baby that was born after M-Day, had been sent into the future to be raised by Cable. When she returned to the present as a teenage girl, Colossus and the X-Men raced against Bastion’s forces to get hold of her. In the struggle, Nightcrawler, one of Piotr’s oldest friends and teammates, sacrificed his life to get her to Utopia. Naturally, the X-Men were devastated and Piotr helped carry his friend’s coffin at the funeral. Sadly, he wasn’t given much time to grieve, as Bastion was still launching his assault on the team. The robotic man opened a portal into a dark future and through it Nimrod Sentinel’s poured out over San 
Francisco. Colossus put himself in the center of the action, taking on many of the killer machines. Even his immense strength wasn’t enough though and he had his arm snapped by a group of them. He was at their mercy until the arrival of Xavier’s omnipotent son Legion saved him from certain death. Despite his injury, Colossus stayed in the battle and was there to witness Hope destroy Bastion herself and put an end to the carnage. [Second Coming crossover]
Much like his last broken arm, the combination of the X-Men’s science team and mutant healers fixed him up pretty quickly. This time, though, he had something positive to look forward to, as he had both Kitty and his sister back in his life. Even so, he was unable to really interact with Kitty whilst she was in his phased state and Illyana had been evasive and mysterious ever since she re-joined the New Mutants. The reasoning behind Illyana’s strange actions were eventually revealed when the rest of the New Mutants were taken to Limbo. Colossus and the X-Men staged a rescue mission but it turned out Illyana had manipulated them all into fighting and vanquishing the demonic Elder Gods. The X-Men succeeded but Illyana was placed in Utopia’s brig as punishment, as she could no longer be trusted. It was only Colossus who stood by her side and visited his “little snowflake” every day. [New Mutants (3rd series) #20-21]
Colossus was still concerned about Kitty, as the science team had made very little progress in solving her phasing problem. He wasn’t even able to talk to her but he did manage to convince Emma Frost to telepathically link his and Kitty’s minds together so they could at least share some thoughts. Eventually, a special suit was created that allowed her to leave her stasis tube and talk to Piotr, even though she was still phased. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #526-528]