Three X's

The Three X's are a team of highly renowned American detectives consisting of the simply named 1X, 2X, and 3X. 1X is the primary investigator of the three, while 2X is known for his vast knowledge and 3X for his powerful brawn.

In 1940, the Three X's were assigned by the New York City police commissioner to investigate a series of apparent kidnappings. A woman had recently vanished after being hastily passed by a green car, and the police believed the culprit to be the mysterious Green Terror and his legion of henchmen. All the commissioner had to offer in the way of evidence was a glove left behind after the previous kidnapping. 2X examined the glove and found traces of a rare orchid only found in southern Africa. They further learned that a ship had arrived in New York from that region just a week prior to the kidnapping, and was set to leave that night. The X's boarded the ship and made themselves known to the Terror's henchmen, who took them to see the Green Terror himself along with the most recent kidnapping victim tied to a table. The Green Terror was a large green man who claimed to be siphoning blood from "healthy young Americans" to preserve his immortality—his previous fifteen victims had all been killed and fed to the sharks, and even the crew of the ship were being paid off by the Terror to provide his regular transport. The X's were able to overpower the Green Terror and his henchmen with a "disintegrating gun" and take them into custody.