Vance Genohov, son of a poor butcher father, was forced to drop out of school at the age of 13 to help earn money when his mother took ill. When she died, Vance joined up with the KGB and was trained as an assassin. Several years later, Vance was assigned to kill his traitorous friend, Bantinuntskel. Unfortunately for Vance, Bantinuntskel survived. Considered to be not nearly good enough, Vance was forced to flee or be killed. When it became apparent that his father was dying, Vance tried everything he could to save his life. It wasn't enough, and after his father was killed by a misunderstanding, Vance swore to kill the one responsible. However, before he could accomplish his self-set task, Luther Von Lupin ran into him and recruited him. Now Vance does Luther's bidding.