| Firestar |  So, Logan, the X-Men play baseball for fun? What do the Ultimates do, Book Club?  |
| Wolverine | I know something else we could do, Firestar. You know....fun. |
| Firestar | So.... I'll pretend you never said that and... If you hit on me again I'll burn the hair off your nipples. |
Appearing in "Absolute Power (Part 1)"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Alpha Flight (First appearance)
- Vindicator (John Wraith) (First appearance as Vindicator)
- Sasquatch (Rahne Sinclair) (First appearance as Sasquatch)
- Jubilee (Jubilation Lee) (First appearance)
- Shaman (John Proudstar) (First appearance)
- Sunfire (Shiro Yoshida) (First appearance)
- Snowbird (First appearance)
- Aurora (Jeanne-Marie Beaubier) (First appearance)
- Anatol Spichkin (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Nikolai Rasputin (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
- Magneto (Erik Lensherr) (Only in flashback)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth-1610
- Russia (Only in flashback)
- Siberia (Only in flashback)
- Ust-Ordynsky Collective (Only in flashback)
- Siberia (Only in flashback)
- United States of America
- Russia (Only in flashback)
Items:
Synopsis for "Absolute Power (Part 1)"
In the past, Piotr is shown eying a poster of Captain America from WW2 when his father calls for him to milk their cows, warning him that one of the cows is acting up again.
As he begins milking the cows, Piotr is approached by armed gunmen who open fire on him after he confirms his identity to them. While the cows are killed, Piotr manages to activate his mutation in time to save himself.
Once the gunfire ends, the gunmen's boss, Anatol Spichkin, a Russian mobster, offers Piotr a job with him when he wants to really do something with his life.
In the present, the X-Men are playing a game of baseball against the Academy of Tomorrow as Piotr's boyfriend Northstar, along with Wolverine and new recruit Firestar, watch from the sidelines. Logan tries to flirt with Liz, only for the latter to threaten him in response.
During the game, Nightcrawler and Colossus have an awkward reunion, due to Kurt's meltdown some time ago, during which he'd told Peter the latter would go to Hell for being gay. Kurt tries to apologize, only for Colossus to tag him out.
At that moment, Bobby staggers into view in his ice form, missing an arm and overall badly injured. Barely able to stand, Bobby simply tells the shocked X-Men and Academy students to run before he collapses due to exhaustion, shattering into pieces in the process.
The X-Men's answer to what'd happened arrives not long after as seven costumed strangers arrive, who Logan id's as Alpha Flight, telling the team he'd had an unpleasant encounter with said team previously.
Alpha Flight's leader, Vindicator, tells the X-Men and the Acadamy of Tomorrow his fight isn't with them, but Wolverine attacks anyway, prompting Vindicator to blast him far away and causing Cyclops to order the other X-Men to attack.
Things go against the X-Men fairly quickly as Vindicator manages to floor Jean with a punch while the rest of Alpha Flight is able to hold their own against the X-Men and the Academy students.
As he teams up with Scott to take on Shaman, Havok wonders both how Shaman is able to handle his and Scott's combined powers and what Alpha Flight is after.
Hearing the question, Vindicator reveals Alpha Flight is after Northstar, with Aurora revealing she's Jean-Paul's sister. Though confused, Piotr vows he and the other heroes won't let Alpha Flight lay a hand on Northstar, despite the latter's protests.
No sooner does he say this then Aurora manages to snare Jean-Paul. Seeing this, Vindicator orders Alpha Flight to retreat, having gotten who they'd come for, which they do, though not before flooring Piotr and Scott.
Colossus quickly recovers and tries to restrain Alpha Flight's jet, only for Aurora to free them by teleporting Colossus away.
In the infirmary, Hank tends to the injured Bobby and Rogue, both of who he assures will pull through to Jean, Scott, Dazzler, Colossus and Warren. Though he suggests alerting Xavier to the attack, Jean refuses, believing they can handle the situation alone and because Charles needs rest.
Colossus insists they need to find Jean-Paul, only for Cyclops to counter that they need to find out how Alpha Flight could fight like they did as, though there were 25 of them present, Alpha Flight managed to beat all of them despite said team's smaller numbers.
Wolverine then arrives, revealing he'd landed in Maine and that he managed to snatch something off of Vindicator before he was sent flying: one of the strange red orbs from Vindicator's costume that contains a power-enhancing drug that's dubbed "Banshee" and that's how Alpha Flight could fight like they did.
Logan then mentions how there're similar drugs, like Mutant Growth Hormone and that Banshee's a liquid nightmare as it's both addictive and deadly. Dazzler, being one of the more 'street' members, explains its' effects when Cyclops asks about them, namely that it can give a normal person powers of their own.
Hank further adds that, given what they'd witnessed during their battle with Alpha Flight, it can give mutants a secondary or even a tertiary mutation should a mutant use it.
As Cyclops begins herding the X-Men and Academy students to the Danger Room to begin training in order to be better prepared for their next battle against Alpha Flight, Colossus makes a silent getaway.
Seeing this, Jean and Scott realize something's wrong with their friend. While Scott puts Peter's behavior down to Northstar's kidnapping, Jean senses something deeper and decides, despite Scott's desperate objections, to read Colossus' mind.
As she does, Jean discovers that Piotr went to work for Spichkin after his father accidentally discovered Peter to be gay. Though interested, Spichkin had revealed that while Piotr could be useful as he's bullet proof in armor mode, he can barely move in his armored form due to the armor's weight.
However, Spichkin had offered him the use of Banshee to give him superhuman strength, which Piotr had eagerly accepted. As she probes more, Jean discovers that, even after he became an X-Man, Colossus has still used Banshee during missions to keep up the belief he really has superhuman strength in armor form.
As this goes on, Colossus finally senses Jean in his head and realizes she now knows his secret as he shouts out her name. In the Danger Room, the X-Men and the Academy students stop their training session when they hear something.
A second later, Jean is brutally thrown into the room with a very irate Colossus storming in after her, yelling at her that she had no right to probe his mind, only for Storm to restrain him.
Recovering, Jean reveals Colossus' usage of Banshee to the astonished X-Men and Academy students. Piotr defends his actions, with Firestar suggesting it could be similar to the Ultimates, namely Giant-Man, who Angel claims to be a junkie.
Colossus further tries to justify his actions by stating it's no different than what Captain America did to obtain his abilities, only for Wolverine to make it clear that nothing he says can make what he's doing justifiable.
Kurt tries to come to Colossus' aid, stating it's easy to judge if your powers allow you to heal from wounds or stop bullets or other projectiles in mid-air. Colossus then argues that villains are getting more dangerous, and they should do the same.
Realizing he wants them to corrupt themselves with Banshee as well, Jean firmly makes it clear that the mansion is a drug-free zone and that anyone who uses them will be expelled without question or hesitance.
She gently offers to help Peter with his addiction, only for him to firmly turn her down and leave to find Northstar alone, telling the dismayed team to consider him expelled.
After packing up, Peter gets ready to leave, only for Cyclops to seemingly offer to come along, claiming he's doing so because he's uneasy around Jean's powers.
Accepting Scott's offer, Colossus reveals that he's also successfully recruited Kurt, Rogue, Angel and Dazzler, all of whom have now used Banshee and are shown with their new, advanced powers.