BIOGRAPHY - Page 2
Plans changed, however. The inter-dimensional energies Mikhail was exposed to passing through the void remained with him, and he retained the ability to jump between dimensions even after returning to Earth. In a last moment decision, Mikhail transported himself, Callisto and the Morlocks to another dimension instead of following through on their suicide pact. Christened “The Hill,” the harsh world the Morlocks arrived in was dominated by an enormous mountain, while the terrain leading up to it grew strange, techno-organic flora and suffered from hostile weather conditions, such as acid rain. And yet, the dimension also had miraculous healing properties, so quickly and effortlessly undoing physical injuries suffered by the population that an unnatural death was now virtually impossible.
Mikhail’s psychosis shifted from martyr to savior in this new environment. Building a citadel for himself and Callisto atop the Hill and above the hazardous clouds, he forced the Morlocks into a Darwinian struggle for his favor. The Morlocks were encouraged to compete with each other for scarce resources on the hillside, fighting their way to the top of the Hill. The higher up the Hill, the higher their individual “status” was in the rough new society. The toughest survivors fought their way into the Citadel of Mikhail himself, to stand by his side. Time passed differently on the Hill. While only a few months passed on Earth, an entirely new generation of Morlocks came of age, becoming a gang of survivalists under Mikhail’s command known as Gene Nation. Having created an ultra-aggressive pack of unstable children, Mikhail chose to return them to Earth so that they could vent their violent tendencies on the surface-dwellers who once dared force their ancestors to live in the dark. Callisto opposed Mikhail’s decision, and followed Gene Nation back to Earth where she helped the X-Men defeat the Nationals, and returned them to the Hill. Perhaps out of sentiment, Callisto hid Mikhail’s involvement in Gene Nation from Colossus, Storm and the others, implying he died either in transit to the Hill or at the hands of Gene Nation themselves. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #325]
Once she returned, Mikhail punished Callisto for defying him by banishing her down the Hill to fight her way back up to the Citadel. Seeking a new queen for his kingdom, Mikhail took advantage of the situation when Storm performed the Morlocks’ Ceremony of Light while alone down in the tunnels. He kidnapped her inter-dimensionally while leaving a body double behind to convince the X-Men she was dead. Initially leaving her below on the Hill, Mikhail congratulated Ororo when she mastered the elements of her new world and made it to the top of the Hill and his Citadel. In an effort to convince Storm to stay with him, Mikhail unconvincingly claimed the passage of time on the Hill shifted back and forth in relation to Earth, and that Ororo’s friends had already believed her dead for years back home. He asked her to help him raise his "children", playing on her sense of duty to the Morlocks. Nevertheless, Storm stood against Mikhail as he orchestrated another Gene Nation attack on Earth, and forced him to reverse the transit effect to bring all the Morlocks and their descendants back to the tunnels. Mikhail returned to the Hill unaccompanied, a lonely lord to rule over nothing from his Citadel. [Storm (1st series) #1-4]
Whether from this or subsequent visits to Earth, Mikhail Rasputin eventually contracted the Legacy Virus. Fearing his own demise, Mikhail fashioned a way to use his powers to transfer all the viral cells out of his body and into another host. In his deranged state, Mikhail created a complicated scheme where he would contact his sister Illyana in the past and then transfer the Legacy Virus into her. Perhaps a genetic match was necessary to properly transfer the virus out of his system, but the mad Mikhail also convinced himself he could save Illyana from dying of the Legacy Virus with this act. Since historically it was the pre-adolescent Illyana who died of the Legacy Virus, Mikhail reasoned that the older, mystically-protected Illyana would be strong enough to fight off the virus’s effects.
Armed with this self-serving rationalization, Mikhail projected a message back in time to Illyana, when she was a teenaged New Mutant at Xavier’s school. This lured Illyana into the future with her New Mutant teammates, who inadvertently crashed a New Mutants reunion at the present-day mansion. Mikhail appeared to both teams and explained his plan to save Illyana from the Legacy Virus using his powers (though he neglected to mention the details of his own infection). Because the present-day New Mutants knew of Mikhail’s reputation, they opposed their younger counterparts, but were overwhelmed in a battle that followed. The young Wolfsbane and Cypher 
also grew suspicious of Mikhail’s motives, and Douglas uncovered the truth after reviewing Illyana’s medical scans from before and after Mikhail allegedly “cleansed” her of the virus. Mikhail had indeed succeeded in divesting himself of the virus, but Illyana's Darkchilde armor and mystical abilities had not prevented the virus from taking root in her system. Unable to accept the idea that he was now responsible for Illyana’s initial Legacy infection, Mikhail once again teleported back to the Hill to avoid the consequences of his actions. [New Mutants: Truth or Death #1-3]
Perhaps out of guilt, Mikhail began to haunt an art gallery in Boston, Massachusetts where a portrait Piotr made of Illyana was on display. He used his transit powers and the equipment in his Citadel to obsessively monitor the painting, creating a local legend about the “ghost” of the gallery. Mikhail’s psychosis continued to develop with his powers, which were now strong enough to actually create a semblance of life – inanimate objects could be transformed by Mikhail to look and act like living creatures. Believing he was now a god capable of creating life from nothing, Mikhail hoped to do penance for his past actions and bring Illyana back from the dead.
Feeling his first efforts were inadequate, Mikhail found Colossus and his former Gene National follower Marrow at the Boston art gallery and teleported them to the Hill. Mikhail believed Piotr’s artistic gift was the missing ingredient to bringing Illyana back, for Piotr was able to capture Illyana’s “true essence” in the painting he made. He hoped that by tapping into Piotr’s memories and feelings for Illyana, he could recreate that essential spark which would make his construct into a genuine recreation of their lost little sister. Horrified at the idea, Colossus and Marrow tried and failed to reason with Mikhail, but the argument quickly turned physical as Mikhail refused to accept how flawed his idea was. During the struggle, Mikhail experienced an energetic fit, revealing a parasitic alien entity that had somehow bonded itself to him. Seeing the entity as responsible for his actions, the X-Men and Mikhail fought to separate him from it. With his mind at least temporarily clear, Mikhail transported them all back to Earth while cutting his connection to the Hill, and apparently the entity as well. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #373-374]
[NOTE: The real influence the entity had on Mikhail is unconfirmed. Colossus stated the entity must have been native to the Hill, while Mikhail inferred it had been with him since his first trek through the void, influencing his every action from then onwards. Neither Rasputin can be considered unbiased or scientifically inclined enough to make that call. Furthermore, later stories would provide a second external force as partially responsible for Mikhail’s insanity.]
Back at the X-Mansion, Mikhail was given a medical review by Doctor Moira MacTaggert, who confirmed the entity no longer appeared to be influencing Mikhail’s powers or his actions. Before he could truly gather his thoughts, however, Mikhail was kidnapped by the Horseman of Apocalypse known as Death, for he was one of the fabled Twelve that Apocalypse needed for the High Lord Ascension. The dimension-hopping aspect of Mikhail’s power,combined with the 
energy-absorbing and time-jumping X-Man Bishop, represented power over space and time. Before Apocalypse completed his ascension, however, the Twelve broke free from their cages and interrupted his transformation. As the captives attempted to escape, they were confronted by the remaining Horsemen of Apocalypse. Mikhail sacrificed himself to protect the others by hurling himself and the Horsemen through a dimensional void produced by his powers, removing them all from the field of battle and that plane of reality. [Gathering of the Twelve]
Separated from the Horsemen in transit, Mikhail wandered the dimensional planes alone for some time. On the edge of sanity, Mikhail contemplated throwing himself into the Dark Zone, an infinite realm from which legend said there was no escape. Before he could enter permanent exile, however, Mikhail received a siren call from deep within him, calling him back to Earth. Met by his mad uncle Vladimir and the villainous Mister Sinister, Mikhail learned how his great-grandfather Grigory Rasputin was an ally of Sinister's in early experiments on the mutant condition. Rasputin, an apparent mutant, was encouraged by Sinister to father as many children as possible, spreading his genetically superior seed. Elena, Mikhail's great-grandmother, was the only known mutant among Grigory's women, and so his most prized lover. Elena's twin brother Ivan despised Grigory and his treatment of Elena, however, and conspired with assassins to have Grigory killed. As he lay dying, Grigory Rasputin cast his essence into his pregnant lovers, ensuring his future 
resurrection through one of his descendants. The multitude of children and grandchildren meant that Rasputin's essence was fragmented, but he retained some influence over his descendants. The weak-minded in particular showed a tendency towards madness, depression and suicide. Rasputin influenced his descendants this way because his essence was evenly spread out among his bloodline at all times, meaning that the fewer living descendants he had, the stronger Rasputin's presence was in those who remained. If only a single surviving descendant was left, they would become the complete reincarnation of Grigory Rasputin.
Sinister's telepathic influence and Grigory's own whispering in his mind led Mikhail to join Sinister in a quest to eliminate all his cousins and distant family members so that Mikhail would become the vessel through which Grigory Rasputin would be reborn on Earth. Colossus and his cousin Larisa discovered the scheme and confronted Mikhail, Sinister and Vlad. Piotr and Larisa tried to reason with Mikhail, but his twisted mind had embraced this new destiny, and soon the others were killed leaving only Mikhail and Piotr. Mikhail transported them to a dimension of infinite stone, where a small cave was surrounded on all sides by billions of miles of rock. Although he could not bring himself to kill Piotr directly, Mikhail abandoned him in this dimension to starve and eventually die, leaving him the sole survivor of Rasputin's bloodline.
Dimension-hopping without Sinister had shaken loose the geneticist's psychic hold on Mikhail, however, leaving him struggling to reconcile his actions. Sinister tried to reassure Mikhail by telling him the story of how his great-grandmother Elena killed her own brother Ivan for his treachery against Grigory Rasputin. Unfortunately for Sinister, his story reminded Mikhail of the man he saw visit Elena on her death bed when he was still a child, and Mikhail realized Elena lied to Sinister all those years ago to protect her brother, even after he helped cause Grigory's death. Realizing that family was far more important than power, Mikhail abandoned Sinister and returned to the cave dimension to rescue Piotr, just as he had rescued him from the cave-in in the woods all those years ago.
The Rasputin brothers returned to Earth and together they drove Sinister into retreat. Mikhail recognized that the threat of Grigory Rasputin's resurrection still loomed over them both, however. Whether or not his madness was caused by Grigory's spiritual presence, Mikhail was still insane 
and only experiencing a perhaps momentary period of clarity. He told Piotr he would return to the Dark Zone portal and willingly exile himself. The legend of the Dark Zone said that there was no exiting it once entered, even through death -- Mikhail would live and survive in the Dark Zone for eternity, never dying but never returning. Therefore, if Sinister ever killed Colossus, then Grigory Rasputin would be reborn through Mikhail in the Dark Zone, trapped where he could do no harm. Mikhail and Piotr buried Larisa at Lake Baikal and parted as loving brothers. Back at the portal's edge, Mikhail stood before the void of the Dark Zone and heard Grigory's whispers in his mind, begging him to reconsider exile. With a laugh, Mikhail Rasputin became the martyr one last time, throwing himself into the Dark Zone to ensure the twisted legacy of their ancestor never threatened his little brother again. [X-Men: Colossus – Bloodline #1-5]
