X-amining X-Factor #49

"Power Struggle"
December 1989

In a Nutshell 
Iceman and Archangel battle in the arena. 

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Paul Smith
Inker: Allen Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Tom Vincent
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Plot
As the Chosen stream into the arena in anticpation of the Archangel/Iceman match, Lev continues to take bets against Iceman before flying off to visit him, where he tells her he'll kill Archangel if he can, and assure the ascendancy of the Dualers in the process. Meanwhile, Beast and Agrom lead a group of Rejects into the city through the sewers. They attack a group of guards, hoping to use their uniforms as a disguise, but the guards turn out to be Cyclops and his band of Beginagains, having already done the same. Meanwhile, Palik visits Archangel and blinds him. That way, he explains, Iceman will easily win, foiling Rask's grab for power, but an autopsy will reveal the blindness, which Palik can blame on the Dualers, thus crushing their newfound power. However, a Dualer overhears this and rushes off to warn Lev, but he arrives just as Iceman enters the arena and the fight begins. Meanwhile, on Earth, Apocalypse ponders if the strange alliances amongst Earth's villains are of a sign of the armageddon he's long anticpated.

X-amining X-Factor #48

"Common Ground!"
December 1989

In a Nutshell
More Celestials arrive as prisoners are exchanged.

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Paul Smith
Inker: Allen Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Tom Vincent
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Plot
In the common ground between their cities, representatives of the Chosen and the Rejects exchange prisoners, with the Rejects successfully bargaining Marvel Girl for Agrom and ten other gladiators. Meanwhile, inside the Chosen City, Seera is told to prepare for her alliance with Rask, but she resists, telepathically attacking the guards and rushing off. Outside the city, Cyclops and the Beginagains plot their route inside as another Celestial lands on the planet. Inside, Seera frees a drugged Archangel just as Rask arrives. Archangel tries to flee with the woman, but is shot down and recaptured. Rask then strong arms Palik into tying Seera's fate to Archangel: should he fall in his battle with Iceman, so to will Seera die.

X-amining X-Factor #46

"Exchange"
November 1989

In a Nutshell 
Marvel Girl wakes up and Seera is found out. 

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Paul Smith
Inker: Allen Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Tom Vincent
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Plot
In the Reject city, Zharkah remains suspicious of Beast, and plans to use the upcoming prisoner exchange involving Marvel Girl to test his loyalties. In the Chosen city, Iceman and Lev entertain bets on Iceman's upcoming arena battle with Archangel while a distracted Seera rushes back to her home, unknowingly spied on by a flying Dualer. In the Beginagain dwellings, Ryest shows Cyclops his telepathic discovery of Marvel Girl amongst the Rejects, but doesn't want to disrupt the prisoner exchange for fear of making the war worse and hastening the judgement of the Celestials. But Cyclops rushes out after her. In the Chosen city, Rask oversees the practice of a drugged Archangel, but Archangel manages to wound Rask in the leg. As the Rejects depart for the prisoner exchange, Beast oversees the unconscious Marvel Girl and rushes to her side, exposing himself as a Dualer spy in Zharkah's eyes.

X-amining X-Factor #45

"Arena!"
October 1989

In a Nutshell 
Archangel fights in the Arena and Iceman battles Lord Rask. 

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Paul Smith
Inker: Allen Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Tom Vincent
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Plot
In the arena of the Chosen, Archangel is forced to battle a large Reject named Agrom. Though he is initially reluctant to fight and kill for the amusement of the Chosen, Lord Rask orders the guards to release the goads, small barbed spheres laced with a drug which saps his control over his wings. In the end, he nearly kills Agrom, and when he turns his rage on the Chosen, is zapped unconscious by the arena's force field, much to Seera's horror. Meanwhile, in the Reject city, Beast joins Zharkah for the birth of a child who unfortunately dies shortly after being born. That evening, at the child's funeral, Beast offers to look into the Rejects reproduction problems, but Zharkah insists that is the way of the Chosen. In the Chosen City, Seera steals nurtient for Christopher, using her telepathy to cover her tracks.

X-amining X-Factor #44

"Another World!"
September 1989

In a Nutshell 
The scattered X-Factor take stock of the alien world. 

Writer: Louise Simonson
Layouts: Paul Smith
Finishes: Allen Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Tom Vincent
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Plot
With the Celestial descending rapidly above him, Cyclops realizes he has only one chance to survive, and blasts the ground beneath him. Elsewhere, Beast travels with the Rejects to their spired city, playing along with the idea that his memories were damaged by a Jammer attack to explain his lack of knowledge about the war. In the Chosen city, Lord Rask displays a captive Archangel to Lord Palik and Princess Seeraa. Archangel freaks free of his bonds, but is felled by Rask, though Seera finds Archangel magnificent. As Seera returns to her rooms, accompained by her robot companion ZeeZee, she walks past a lab where a scientist is examining Iceman. With no memory of who or what he is, the Dualer Lev is given responsibility for his re-orientation and good behavior. Elsewhere, the Celestial gone, Cyclops blasts free of the ground, having created a depression to protect himself. He is found by Zalph, a Beginagain to wishes to see the war end.

X-amining X-Factor #43

"Kidnaped!"
August 1989

In a Nutshell 
X-Factor gets embroiled in a war on an alien planet. 

Writer: Louise Simonson
Breakdowns:Paul Smith
Finisher: Allen Milgrom
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Tom Vincent
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Plot
Compelled by some unknown force, Ship suddenly takes off, blasting into space. It creates a dome to protect X-Factor, but Marvel Girl smashes through it, possessed by the memories of Phoenix to fly into space. Working together, X-Factor manages to retrieve Marvel Girl and repair the dome just as Ship enters hyperspace. Emerging seconds later but light years from Earth, X-Factor finds themselves in orbit around an alien world. Just then, a massive Celestial appears and silently takes Ship in its hand. Suddenly, X-Factor finds themselves transported down to the planet, landing in the middle of a massive battle between two different groups of super-powered individuals.