X-amining X-Factor Annual #6

"King of Pain - Kings of Pain Part 4" / "Sacrificial Lamb - The Killing Stroke Part 3"
1991

In a Nutshell 
X-Factor enters the fight against Proteus, while Freedom Force's mission ends badly. 

Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Penciler: Terry Shoemaker, Steven Butler (2nd Story)
Inker: Al Milgrom, Joe Rubinstein (2nd Story)
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Brad Vancata, Mike Thomas (2nd Story)
Assistant Editor: Suzanne Gaffney
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Plot
1st Story: X-Factor arrives in Edinburgh, recognizing the disruption of reality being caused by Proteus and vowing to stop him. Fighting their way through the warped reality, they find Proteus holding both his mothers, Harness and Moira, captive. X-Factor attacks, but Proteus proves to now be immune to metal. He teleports X-Factor into his mind, where the combined New Warriors, X-Men and X-Force are waiting. Realizing that the emptiness inside his mind is what Proteus defines as happiness, Cyclops argues that they should give it to him, by convincing Proteus to kill himself. The group is divided, with Jean and Cable leading the argument to try and help Proteus instead of leading him to his own death. Ultimately, Proteus retrieves the heroes from his mind, and they offer him an alternative, to use the synthetic bodies created by AIM to house his form. But Proteus says this would mark him as a freak, and unwilling to live like that, chooses to leave the flawed world and go somewhere better, ending his life. In the aftermath, reality returns to normal, and the shadowy figures behind Proteus' resurrection, Gideon and Toad, call the entire affair a draw.

X-amining X-Men Annual #15

"Queens of Sacrifice - Kings of Pain Part 3" / "The Razor's Edge - The Killing Stroke Part 2"
1991

In a Nutshell 
The combined X-Force, New Warriors and Muir Island X-Men fail to stop the return of Proteus. 

Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Penciler: Tom Rane, Jerry DeCaire (2nd Story)
Inker: Joe Rubinstein and Co.
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Brad Vancata, Mike Thomas (2nd Story)
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Plot
1st Story: As X-Force and the New Warriors approach Muir Island, the Shadow King loosens his hold on the inhabitants there, but Moira and her X-Men still attack the two other groups until Moira realizes the odds are against them, and asks Cable why they are there. Meanwhile, Harness and Piecemeal arrive in Edinburgh, where Piecemeal immediately begins soaking up Proteus' ambient energy. As Cable explains the situation to Moira, she receives a call from WHO, informing her of a disturbance in Edinburgh, and the three teams realize this is Harness' final move. Rushing to the city, one group of heroes attacks Harness while Moira leads another in an attempt to remove the Proteus energy from Piecemeal. However, while Harness is defeated and revealed to be Piecemeal's mother, no method of stopping Piecemeal's absorption works, and the boy swells in size until Proteus emerges, declaring that he and Piecemeal are one, shortly before he triggers a massive explosion of energy.

X-amining New Warriors Annual #1

"Errant Knights - Kings of Pain Part 2"
1991

In a Nutshell
The New Warriors fight X-Force, then team-up with them. 

Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Mark Bagley 
Inker: Jeff Albrecht
Letterer: C. Eliopoulos
Colorist: Tom Vincent
Editor:Danny Fingeroth
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Plot
At the Genetch lab, the New Warriors and X-Force battle one another, until a pair of Genetech executives intervene, and it's revealed that the entire confrontation has been a setup. In Alaska, Harness and Piecemeal attack an oil refinery, where Piecemeal absorbs more ambient energy, growing larger in the process. Meanwhile, the New Warriors and X-Force have teamed up, splitting into three mixed teams. The first team, led by Cable, pretends to break Frenzy out of jail in order to learn more about who hired the Alliance of Evil, and she gives them the address of a Brooklyn warehouse owned by one of the dummy corporations. A second team breaks into the warehouse and learns it is truly owned by AIM, and that they're creating humanoid casings designed to hold some kind of energy. Meanwhile, the third team returns to Xavier's mansion, where they use Cerebro to learn that the information AIM has on the energy being absorbed by Piecemeal came from Muir Island. Reconvening at Genetech, the two teams put the pieces together and realize that AIM is using Harness and Piecemeal to gather energy which they intend to put into the casings, energy which originated in Scotland and came into being when Moira MacTaggert's son died; AIM is trying to recreate Proteus. 

X-amining New Mutants Annual #7

"Kings of Pain Part 1: Pawns of Senescence" / "The Killing Stroke - part 1: The First Cut"
1991

In a Nutshell
The New Mutants battle the Alliance of Evil. 

Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Penciler: Guan Yap, Kirk Jarvinin (2nd Story)
Inker: Dan Panosian, Joe Rubinstein (2nd Story)
Colorist: Brad Vancata, Mike Thomas (2nd Story)
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Assistant Editor: Suzanne Gaffney
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Plot
First Story: The Alliance of Evil attacks St. Simon Academy, the school attended by former X-Factor wards Artie, Leech and Taki. With the rest of the team running interference, Harness forces a young boy named Piecemeal to absorb some ambient energy lingering at the school. Artie, Leech and Taki try to stop the Alliance, but are easily overpowered. Taki wakes up to find the New Mutants waiting for him. After meeting their new members, he tells them what he knows, and Cable proceeds to devise a plan to find out why the Alliance has been attacking sites up and down the East Coast. Meanwhile, the IDIC Corporation, which hired the Alliance, is overseeing an energy absorption process that could have ramifications for both AIM and Genetech, and the whole situation is being monitored by two shadowy figures. Eventually, the New Mutants track the Alliance to Niagra Falls, where Piecemeal absorbs more energy. He and Harness escape, but the New Mutants defeat the rest of the Alliance, and using information given by them, proceed to infiltrate the headquarters of Genetech, where they find the New Warriors waiting for them.