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History

Mutant Town[]

X-Factor Investigations was founded as a detective agency run by Jamie Madrox, a.k.a. the Multiple Man, a mutant with self-replication abilities. Using his connections to FBI, Madrox became a licensed detective and established an office in District X, the neighborhood known as Mutant Town. The agency was initially named "XXX Investigations". In his work, he counted with help in the form of his former teammates from the defunct mutant government-sponsored team X-Factor, namely Rahne Sinclair, the lycanthropic Wolfsbane, and Guido Carosella, the Strong Guy. Madrox's duplicates had been acting erratically as of late, which became the central point in the mysteries he had to solve.[1]

When investigating the murder of one of his duplicates in Chicago alongside the psychic Stringer, Madrox learned about a connection to Sheila DeSoto, the wife of the multi-millionaire criminal Edward Vance. When meeting DeSoto, only to realize his duplicate was in a romantic affair with her, another duplicate of his was targetted for assassination at his office by Vance's hitman Clay.[4] Guido and Wolfsbane tackled Clay, while Madrox was captured by Vance, eventually discovering a duplicate of his was working against him.[5] Madrox was able to reabsorb his rogue duplicate and run away with DeSoto, who informed him Vance was obsessed about a mysterious mutant trying to take control over his criminal empire in Chicago.[6] The mastermind was ironically revealed to be DeSoto herself, who was Clay's actual employer and murdered Stringer. Madrox tricked DeSoto into believing he had killed Vance. As she counter-attacked, Vance surprisingly executed her. Back home, Madrox found his office rebranded as X-Factor Investigations, since his partners claimed it used to sound too much like a pornographic outfit. From then on, X-Factor focused on investigating bizarre mysteries, especially those involving mutant-related issues.[7]

Decimation[]

X-Factor Vol 3 1 Textless

Mutant Detectives

As a way to finance his organization and buy the building he was located in, Madrox found resources after winning a million dollars from a TV game show, using his powers to cheat. He recruited his is former colleagues of the Paris branch of the now-defunct X-Corporation, the mesmerizing Siryn and the flawless and clever Monet St. Croix, a.k.a. M. In between solving several mutant-related cases, X-Factor was astonished by their most puzzling mystery, the deactivation of the abilities of most mutants on the planet, an event which was baptized the M-Day.[8] In reality, the mutant decimation had been caused by an insane Scarlet Witch, a fact only some Avengers, some X-Men and the mysterious and weird kid named Layla Miller were aware of.[9]

In amidst the chaos created during M-Day in Mutant Town, X-Factor was joined by Layla Miller, who confused the group by her precise knowledge of unknown and upcoming facts. Meanwhile, Madrox and Wolfsbane attempted to reason with their friend Rictor, who was among the depowered and struggled with suicidal thoughts at the top of a building. Unpredictably, one of Madrox's duplicates pushed Rictor to his death,[8] who was luckily rescued by Monet and inspired to join the agency. Mostly due to Miller's bizarre influence, X-Factor directed their attention to Singularity Investigations, a rival company who worked against mutantkind's interests.[10] The unstable setting made Mutant Town vulnerable to mutant haters, a war X-Factor took part in to protect innocents. Following a sequence of illogical events surrounding the murder of Rachel Santiago by the superstar Jack Vaughn, X-Factor caught the attention of Singularity's headsmen Damian Tryp, Sr., and Damian Tryp, Jr., who represented and protected Vaughn. Unbeknownst to the Tryps, Miller had been aware of his plans all along and was able to keep up with his actions against X-Factor and eliminate a murder he had sent to X-Factor Investigations.[11] In the end, X-Factor was able to uncover the truth and punish Vaughn, foiling Singularity's intentions and restoring peace to Mutant Town as its protectors.[12]

X-Factor Vol 3 13 Textless

Layla Miller influences X-Factor Investigations

Seeking revenge, Tryp, Jr., badly beat Siryn and left her for dead after neutralizing her vocal powers. She was then captured and tortured by the macabre Doctor Leery, but escaped with Rictor's help, getting Leery killed in the process.[13] As a response, Madrox and Guido threatened Tryp in a very public warning.[14] In a subsequent confrontation, the Tryps made Madrox an offer to merge X-Factor with their firm, which was rejected.[15] Following this interaction, Madrox investigated the story behind the Tryps, finding out they were not father and son, but actually the same individual.[16] While Madrox investigated Tryp, X-Factor struggled with personal problems. Siryn was informed by the X-Men about the heroic sacrifice of her father Banshee, which she responded with denial.[15] Moreover, Layla Miller manipulated events in order to guarantee her permanent stay with X-Factor Investigations.[14]

The mystery involving the mutant decimation was eventually entangled after Siryn learned the truth from a mesmerized Spider-Man. Simultaneously, Mutant Town became an interest for the vile Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch's brother, who tampered with the Inhuman Terrigen Crystals to fabricate superhuman abilities. Despite Layla Miller's attempts to evade Quicksilver, he was able to approach X-Factor.[16] His intentions were to manipulate the group for his interests regarding rebuilding his reputation by repowering depowered mutants. His resurgence caught the attention of the X-Men, who were confronted by X-Factor due to hiding the truth about it. This marked the beginning of an uneasy relation between the two mutant groups. In addition to this, Madrox also decided X-Factor would take a public stance in defiance of the Superhuman Registration Act.[17]

A former Singularity employee informed X-Factor Investigations that Tryp planned to create a mutant-killing virus. Guido was charged of protecting the informant, but murdered him in cold blood.[18] X-Factor rapidly disclosed that Guido had been psychically turned into a sleeper agent by Tryp. The rampaging Guido was ironically put out of commission by Quicksilver. After breaking into Singularity Investigations, X-Factor was met by Damian Tryp.[19] He revealed that his efforts had been focused at preventing a possible future in which X-Factor reverted the effects of decimation, culminating in humanity's destruction at the hands of repowered mutants in a bloody conflict. X-Factor was convinced of the veracity of his claims, but still fought to put Tryp down. They managed to explode Singularity's building. During the incident, Madrox realized that Tryp had been manipulating his life since infancy. In the end, athough defeated, Tryp was finally able to identify Layla Miller's influence.[20]

The Quick and the Dead[]

Next, several members of the team had their own solo adventures. While Jamie left on a trip to gather his lost dupes, Siryn and Monet bonded on a trip to France after finding out he (or a dupe) had slept with both on the same night.[21] When they all got home, a group of ex-mutants believing the government had depowered mutants was now operating in Mutant Town. After Quicksilver restored most of the mutants' powers using his Terrigen Crystals, X-Factor, reinforced by a battalion of dupes, marched to face the group, but, in the end, it was their unstable powers that led to their defeat, resulting in the death of one of them and others' retreat. Quicksilver was dealt with by Rictor, who turned against him after he threatened Layla.[22]

X-Factor tangled with The Isolationist, a powerful telepath (among other things), who convinced Madrox, Cyclops, and Beast to organize a "Million Mutant March" political rally on Washington, D.C. to get mutants declared an endangered species by the U.S. government. However, Layla Miller told Madrox that one of Huber's agents had tried to kill her, leading to a confrontation between Huber and the team, which resulted in Madrox, Guido and Rahne being teleported to a frozen wasteland. Luckily, Rictor and Monet fought Huber soon after and forced him to retreat, rescuing the team in the process.[23]

The Fall of District X[]

Madrox, Rictor, and an accompanying Layla Miller were alerted to the Xavier Mansion by Emma Frost after the first mutant birth since M-Day.[24] Madrox and Layla were sent to Forge's headquarters to send two dupes into different alternate realities. Layla jumped in with one of the dupes at the last minute, claiming she had a part to play in their mission. Unfortunately, Forge informed Madrox that there was no way to retrieve Layla and his dupes, who received instructions to kill themselves once they received the information they needed to get reabsorbed into Madrox Prime.[25] Layla and the Madrox-dupe landed in Bishop's future, where they were captured and branded as mutants.[26][27] After learning what they needed, Layla stole a grenade and killed Madrox's dupe, allowing the team in the present to become aware of their findings.[28]

After Rahne's departure, Rictor decided to quit as well, but was kidnapped by the X-Men villain Arcade before he had the chance. In addition to that, Arcade also spread several bombs and placed a disintegration grid surrounding Mutant Town, preventing everyone from getting in or out. In the end, X-Factor managed to shut the grid down, but they were unable to save Mutant Town, as it was destroyed by Arcade's bombs.[29]

X-Factor Investigations Headquarters from X-Factor Vol 3 32 001

New HQ

In the aftermath of the event, Val Cooper met with the team and tried to recruit them, giving them 24 hours to think about it. Around this time, Madrox also began hallucinating a figure of Layla Miller, who would help him realize things that his subconscious already knew. Thanks to this, Madrox realized what Siryn had been trying to tell him for the last couple of days: she was pregnant with his child. After talking to her about it, the two embraced and discussed the future of the baby and Val Cooper's offer. The whole team then voted, but decided to escape and relocate to Detroit, Michigan.[3]

Cortex Equation[]

Secretly, Val reached Jamie again, and X-Factor started taking cases for the government as well.[30][31] After some of government cases, they took the case of Hector Muñoz, who was looking for his son, Darwin. Coincidentally, Darwin was in town, searching for Xavier with Longshot, secretly a skrull named Nogor the Talisman. There were some altercations with She-Hulk and her partner Jazinda, but "Longshot" was eventually revealed as an impostor and everyone joined forces to defeat Nogor.[32][33]

Darwin was reunited with his father, only to be betrayed and sold out to operatives of an organization known as the Karma Project, who were experimenting on living human beings. Meanwhile, the real Longshot showed up to find out why there was a duplicate of him in Detroit and ended up being crucial to finding and saving Darwin.[34]

Siryn also gave birth around that time and finally acknowledged that her father was dead. The baby was then named Sean, in his honor. As Jamie held his son for the first time, tragedy struck and he absorbed Sean, leaving Theresa in a deep state of sorrow.[35]

Armando Muñoz (Earth-616) from X-Factor Vol 3 46 001

Monet attacking Darwin under Cortex's control

Jamie also didn't deal well with the situation well and left X-Factor Investigations.[36] In his absence, Terry became the leader of the team, despite not being in her best state of mind.[37] X-Factor and new members Longshot and Darwin battled Cortex,[38] the other dupe who had been sent to the future by Forge and grown resentful of Jamie after getting trapped in a vortex for millennia.[39] Cortex briefly controlled Shatterstar and M, using them to respectively make assassination attempts on Rictor and Lenore Wilkinson. When Cortex lost control over Monet, she attacked him and his hood fell back revealing his identity. He tried to psychologically manipulate Monet and Syrin but they never hesitated to hit him with everything they had. In the end, he was teleported away before being able to kill his targets.[40]

X-Factor Reborn[]

Not long afterwards, Jamie also came back and took Guido to open a new branch of XF in New York, allowing Terry to stay in charge in Detroit. This didn't last long though and soon she disbanded X-Factor and returned to her family's home in Ireland with Monet, who was hoping her friend would "recapture her soul". Still, Monet felt she wasn't getting better and decided to travel to New York and try to convince Madrox to pay Terry a visit. This visit would force Monet to face her own demons when she received the news that her father had been supposedly kidnapped by terrorists.[41]

X-Factor Vol 1 224

Reunited in New York

Unfortunately, Monet had to postpone the search for her father after accidentally being thrown into one of Shatterstar's portals, which was being used by the rest of the team to get to Latveria.[42]

Once there, they reunited with Layla, who had been staying with Doctor Doom since her return from the future. They also learned that this Doom wasn't to blame for the kidnapping of Invisible Woman, that they were investigating. Apparently, an alternate version of him had been brought to their reality and was in New York about to kill Franklin and Valeria Richards. To stop him, X-Factor used another one of Shatterstar's portals to teleport back. While they were making the jump, Layla intentionally distracted Shatterstar at the exact moment that Strong Guy was punching the evil Doom, causing Shatterstar to abruptly close the portal and behead him, leaving himself and Layla behind.[43]

Layla and Shatterstar were next seen at the Dublin Airport to save Theresa (now going by Banshee) from Trask's MRD. After her rescue, the trio returned to New York, alongside Monet and Strong Guy, who were also returning from her father's rescue operation. With X-Factor now at full force, they defeated Trask, and Terry and Madrox finally reconciled.[44]

After an encounter with Bloodbath left Madrox temporarily dead, Havok and Polaris briefly took over the team on behalf of Wolverine,[45] but this didn't last long as Jamie soon returned and Alex realized they had very different leadership styles, causing him to leave.[46]

Breaking Points[]

In a short span of time, X-Factor lost even more members.[47] First, Guido fell out with Monet after a date gone bad. Later, while on a mission to fight an alternate version of Dormammu, Guido risked the life of a civillian, causing Monet to yell at him and call him a soulless monster. Guido got fed up and left X-Factor after being recruited by a mysterious figure.[48]

X-Factor Vol 1 245 Textless

The second to leave was Rahne. She had decided that she needed to find her son, Tier, to make up for abandoning him when he was born, and Rictor and Longshot helped her track him down. When they found him, however, they saw themselves forced to fight Darwin, who was hunting the child, and Vanora, making Rahne think that it was best to stay hidden with her son in order to protect him.[49]

Then, almost concurrently, Polaris learned that she was the one that killed her birth mother and stepfather, making her more unstable than ever before. Terry, hoping to help her friend, asked Layla to help her contact the Morrigan in an attempt to save Lorna's sanity. After summoning her, she learned she had to kill the Morrigan and become the new Morrigan, so killed her using a "Banshee's scream" and, with her new godly powers, she easily saved Lorna. With this new responsibility however, she decided to leave the team behind, promising to return if they ever prayed to her.[50]

Hell on Earth[]

Wolfsbane was the first of the former members to reunite with the team, but not under the most pleasant circumstances. With Darwin still hunting her son, she was forced back to New York with her son. They managed to get to X-Factor's HQ safe and sound, but were quickly followed by Darwin, and later by Jezebel and Strong Guy, all planning to kill Tier. Without much explanation, everyone present was then teleported before the Hell Lords, who were also waiting to kill him.[51] Seeing that the war was no longer avoidable, Jezebel turned tides and helped X-Factor escape, soon explaining that she was only trying to try kill Tier before to prevent the Hell Lords from beginning their war for Tier's life, prophetized long ago to be the decisive conflict to define the true Hell Lord of the Universe.[52]

They tried to lay low for a while, as Tier didn't want to charge to battle and he was the only one capable of killing the Hell Lords,[53] but when Mephisto turned against the other Hell Lords and declared himself the new ruler of the Earth, X-Factor finally decided to take the fight to him.[54]

Tier handled himself against Mephisto, but, to the surprise of everyone, he was instead killed by Guido, who was seeking the powers of the Hell Lords to revive a recently-deceased Monet. As he got his new powers, he ended the war[55] and dispersed the members of X-Factor through time and space, successfully disbanding the team.[56]

Krakoan Detectives[]

Mutantkind experienced a cultural shift with the foundation of the mutant exclusive nation of Krakoa by Professor Xavier.[57] Amidst many innovations, mutants became immortal through the implementation of the Resurrection Protocols executed by the Five. The Five was a group of mutants who communed to create cloned bodies of deceased mutants and infuse them with mind essences stored in Cerebro.[58] However, the method did not include ways to verify the death of mutants. An issue arose following the disappearance of Aurora. Although her twin brother Northstar requested the Five to resurrect her, they refused to do so until proof of death was provided in order to prevent the creation of a duplicate.[59]

Starting an investigation by himself at the Green Lagoon, Northstar was advised by Polaris to create an investigative unit tasked with solving mysterious mutant disappearances and deaths. Their plans were overheard by Daken who offered to join them. Instead, Northstar and Polaris recruited Prodigy and Prestige due to their suitable psychic abilities. As a last resource, Polaris shared their plan on a mutant social platform, and the new team was also joined by Eye-Boy. In Vancouver, the group's powersets and their combinations proved to be an efficient investigative method, which solved Aurora's murder case and found her corpse. Since her death was confirmed, she could be resurrected. Their actions were presented to the Quiet Council, in order to have the group sanctioned by the Krakoan authorities. Their request was supported by the Five. The Quiet Council approved the reformation of a new X-Factor Investigations, to be led by Northstar as per Polaris' nomination. Following their officialization, Polaris erected a metallic skyscraper on Krakoa dubbed the Boneyard to serve as X-Factor's headquarters.[59]

Counting with a Krakoan apparatus designed by Forge and Sage, X-Factor was granted immediate access to cases of missing mutants.[59] However, their first case came in the form of evidence of a murder sent by an anonymous individual collected by Aurora. The clues led X-Factor to investigate the victim's fate in Mojoworld, a mediatic dystopia that profited on the popularity of mutants. When inquiring the despicable Mojo, X-Factor was led to one of the Mojoworld's streamers, Spiral,[60] who revealed the victim to be Wind Dancer. In their investigation, Spiral sent them to Shatterstar's livestream show. X-Factor retrieved Wind Dancer's body and departed, sharing their intention of returning to help Shatterstar.[61] With solid evidence about her death, Wind Dancer was revived by the Five. Shatterstar had infiltrated deep within Mojoworld's cruel and planned for Wind Dancer's assassination alongside Adam X to bring attention to the situation. However, X-Factor's intervention caused them to be banned from Mojoworld.[62]

A subsequent mysterious case came in the form of Siryn being found deceased in an emerging and vicious cycle of death and resurrection.[62] Her cadavers prompted Prodigy to install a forensic body farm within the Boneyard. When confronted about her claimed accidents, Siryn lashed out at X-Factor and secretly manipulated Polaris to sabotage the investigation.[63] Daken took the investigation by himself and, due to Polaris' negligence, was brutally tortured by Siryn. X-Factor realized Polaris had been influenced and learned Siryn was still corrupted by the Morrigan. After Northstar rescued Daken, the Boneyard was haunted and tormented by the Morrigan.[64] Eye-Boy was able to see through her mystic perversions, but could not prevent X-Factor from being murdered. Following their resurrection, they returned to exorcise the Morrigan.[65] Due to a mental probe, X-Factor concluded Shatterstar could break Siryn free from the curse. As such, they contacted Dazzler and the New Mutants to spark a rebellion and liberate the enslaved people of Mojoworld. Now a free warrior, Shatterstar finished the Morrigan and saved Siryn.[66]

When attending the Hellfire Gala, Prodigy started to investigate his own past death, following clues he had set for himself before dying. His investigation got him to defeat his killer, the sexual predator Buck Thatcher in Los Angeles. Back to the Gala, Polaris was elected to join the recently reformed X-Men and celebrated her new position. At the end of the celebration, X-Factor stumbled upon a puzzling case, by encountering the deceased body of the Scarlet Witch.[67] In their investigation, alongside the X-Men with security assistance from X-Force, X-Factor Investigations selected Magneto as a potential suspect, igniting a brutal fight against him, which was escalated by the arrival of the Avengers.[68] The battle was interrupted by a very much alive and amnesiac Scarlet Witch who, in a display of stress, summoned monstrous creatures that ravaged Krakoa. X-Factor mobilized to stop the threat.[69] In the end, the culprit was informed to be the Toad. X-Factor collected evidence from Toad's home in the form of a Uru artifact used as the weapon for the crime, which led him to be sentenced to the Pit of Exile. In fact, the Scarlet Witch's murder was an elaborate ruse schemed by her and Magneto to mystically create the Eldritch Orchard and link it to the Resurrection Protocols as a safespace for mutant souls.[70]

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See Also

Links and References

References

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