Fox Universe

Miss X (February 1941)

First Appearance - Mystery Men Comics 19, February 1941

Alter Ego - Redacted

Group Affiliation - The wartime Mystery Men of America, The Chasers, Agent of FOX (freelance)

THE MYSTERIOUS MISS X

Not a lot is known about the young woman who began calling herself Miss X near the start of 1941, but her older sister was an Intelligence operative who died protecting a secret vital to national security, and was alligned with Lt Drake of Naval Intelligence.

Drake was pursuing the murdered woman's killers, when Miss X showed up, masked and wearing a thrown together science hero outfit in red with a brown fur cape style throw.

Once her sister had been avenged, Miss X vanished into the night, but over the next few months she popped up to assist Drake whenever his life was threatened. Resistant at first to her professional and personal interest in him, Drake came to realise that Miss X was a capable fighter, crack shot and skilled espionage agent. She once told him, that their father had taught her and her older sister all their skills.

It is believed that Miss X did confide her real identity to Drake at some point in 1941, and also confessed her feelings for him. As she was about 19 when they met, and Drake a decade older, he was reluctant to start a love affair with her, though by 1943 it appeared they had started dating.

When the president initiated the expanded MYSTERY MEN of AMERICA grouping as a wartime organization of civilian assets under military and intelligence jurisdiction following Pearl Harbor, Lt Drake was made an affiliate in the new Foreign Operations eXecutive (F.O.X.) which had the dual remit to run oversees missions and also be responsible for science hero costumed and powered assets.

Drake recommended Miss X for membership in the MMA and she was present at its inaugural meeting on March 8th 1942. Due to her lack of powers, but impressive skillset, Miss X was also granted freelance agent status with FOX and ran many missions with them during the war.

Her budding love affair with Lt Drake came to an abrupt end with his death in the fall of 1943, during an experiment to transport a pocket battle ship to a parallel earth. Drake was in charge of the skeleton crew and all hands died with the shock of the transition bar the powered and resilient science heroes, Black Fury and Kid Fury.

Heartbroken, Miss X nevertheless continued to act as a government operative during the duration of the second world war. Among the other Mystery Men, she developed friendships with Patty O'Day, the second Nightbird, Flame Girl, The Topper, Lady Blackbird and others, and was especially close with other FOX agents and friends of Drake's such as D-13 and Director K-51.

After the war, nothing was heard of from Miss X for a few years, though speculation has her acting as a deep cover operative behind the Iron Curtain. In late 1948 she was once again in her guise of Miss X and part of a team organized by FOX, code named THE CHASERS. Along with Black Fury, The Tumbler, Jaguarman and others, Miss X now went on global Nazi hunting missions until at least 1950.

During the Korean War, Miss X took on a few espionage missions behind enemy lines, and was invaluable at bringing back actionable military intelligence to her bosses at FOX. Despite commitments over long term periods, she maintained her original deal and was free to take time off whenever she wanted.

Miss X continued to be active during the 1950's, both as a spy and occasionally a detective. It is not known for certain if she was still an ongoing operative by late 1964 when she attended a reunion of the wartime MMA at the HQ of the third team. Like so many others, Miss X was caught in the attack of the Time Emperor and a burst of chronal energy that rejuvinated her to almost as young as she had been on her debut.

Few files remain on Miss X's activities with FOX and elsewhere over the next few decades, but certainly by the 1980's nobody had heard from her in years, indicating either death, retirement or perhaps the mysterious Miss X had shed her science hero skin and moved on to another life and another identity!