Henry Kenkoy was a high-ranking member of the covert-operations division of the Department of Defense in the United States, already active in the 1950s. He recruited a number of telepaths to the organization, creating an ESP group. He eventually had one of them, Theresa Bellweather, killed to be able to harvest her brain for experiments. Leading to the genetically engineered virus "About Face" acquiring telepathy through use of Theresa's genetic material. Nick Fury, a subordinate agent, was angered enough upon learning it to attack "General" Kenkoy.
Kenkoy planed to release the virus in a public location to witness the effects on crowds, choosing a busy subway line. He had 23 agents hurl one vial each to the tracks on June 13, 1963. However the virus dissipated when it contacted atmospheric air. Only one vial of the virus never broke and carried the last surviving sample. Kenkoy decided to cut his losses and destroy all evidence on the virus by killing his own agents. Only one of them, Eddie Passim, used his telepathy in order to escape with his life. Meanwhile Fury was taking legal actions against Kenkoy. The General was court martialed for conspiracy and murder. He was dishonorably discharged from the military.
Over the following yeas Kenkoy started a new and profitable career as a drug dealer. While the addictive tendencies of his products delighted him, the eventual death of clients disturbed him. The first would ensure that the paying customers would return to him. The second would endanger his financial survival. Searching for an answer to this problem, he returned to the "About Face" virus. He was certain it could prove as addictive as any drug without killing its users. But he needed to find that last surviving vial and the only man who knew the location was long missing Eddie Passim.
Thirty years after losing track of the man, Kenkoy hired Silver Sable to locate Eddie for him. Meanwhile he approached the Snakeroot for assistance in his efforts. They instead attacked and almost killed him, considering him weak. But when the old man fought back and even managed to kill one of his opponents, the Snakeroot was happy to recruit him into the ranks. His new title was Budo ("military way"). His efforts to find Passim were plagued by involvement of superhumans. Daredevil convinced Sable that her client had deceived her and the mercenary rejected any further contact. Venom learned of the virus and started looking for it, killing Kenkoy's agents in the process.
Budo helped his new teammates in helping Erinys and they in turn helped him to find Passim. Passim was tortured into revealing the location of the vial. Holding his prize into his hands, Budo approached the telepath to put him out of his misery. But Passim used his last breathing moments to shatter Kenkoy's mind, taking his former commander with him to the grave. Passim was the surviving lover of Theresa and wanted to avenge her at long last.
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