The merged Proteus is a much bigger problem than the collection operation that created him. Now Gilbert and Kevin can impose their thoughts on reality, and Edinburgh starts bein…

The merged Proteus is a much bigger problem than the collection operation that created him. Now Gilbert and Kevin can impose their thoughts on reality, and Edinburgh starts being transformed around them. The city's people and surroundings become part of this attempt to impose mathematical structure on the world. That connects to what Kevin experienced while his energy was dispersed. The order he found there becomes something he wants to recreate. But other people are living in the world he's rearranging, and they don't get a choice about becoming part of it. X-Factor arrives to find a situation that ordinary attacks can't resolve. Even the old vulnerability to metal no longer gives them the answer it did during the original Proteus story. Having fought Kevin before doesn't mean they can repeat the same solution against this combined being. There are still two damaged people inside all that power. The heroes are exposed to the suffering behind it, including Gilbert's abuse. That doesn't remove the danger to everyone else, but it makes it impossible to treat the situation as nothing more than a powerful enemy who needs to be knocked down. Harness wanted to use Gilbert's ability to collect something she and her employers could exploit. What comes out of it has far more power than she can control. Yet even then, she keeps trying to order him around. The way she talks to him doesn't suddenly improve because he can reshape the world.