The inclusion of X-Factor to the battle soon took on a philosophical tone, as the group of heroes questioned the ethics of killing Proteus or trying to help them. This new Proteus used his powers to reshape Edinburgh, Scotland to his own whim. Their intervention failed, and Gilbert's body exploded, resulting in a fusion entity that was both Gilbert Benson and Kevin MacTaggert. Her mission was almost thwarted by the New Mutants, New Warriors as well as Moira MacTaggert and a number of her mutants from Muir Island. Gilbert had the ability to absorb the energies that were once Proteus, and his mother intended to collect it all.
Sometime later, a woman by the name of Erika Benson (also known as Harness) was hired by AIM to use her son, Gilbert Benson, to collect the energies of Proteus for their own use. Before he could possess another body, Proteus was punched by Colossus who's metal body disrupted his psionic energies and effectively killing him. However, his powers soon burned out his fathers body, destroying it. While possessing his fathers body, he battled the X-men. Eventually he made it to Edinburgh and took over his father's body. Using only a fraction of his mutant powers, Proteus was able to easily defeat Storm, Wolverine and Nightcrawler. Problem was that the energies these host bodies had would soon run out (killing the host), thus Proteus needed more and more host bodies.Īlong the way he encountered the X-Men, who were hot on his trail. Using several host bodies in witch he could reside his own persona along the way. Proteus however managed to possess one of Madrox's clones, and escaped from Muir Island using it, heading towards his father's house in Edinburgh. who where at Muir Island at the time Although he defeated Polaris and the Multiple Man quite easily, Phoenix nearly killed him. After Proteus escaped confinement, he battled the X-Men members Phoenix, Madrox, the Multiple Man, and Polaris. During this time Kevin went mad because of his seeming endless suffering, getting a huge resentment against his mother and father. For this reason, Kevin's mother, Moira MacTaggert, placed him in a chamber of her own design to protect himself and others from his powers. When Kevin MacTaggert's mutant abilities manifested, his psionic energies burnt out his body.