Barret Gage was an agent of the terrorist organization HYDRA, until the scientist Nolan Morelle turned him into a living cybernetic arsenal using an early version of the Sharksin project that would eventually develop the Nightwatch suit. Taking the name Salvo, Gage left HYDRA and became an independent mercenary, putting together a crew of mercenaries called the Warforce. Salvo planned to break the deadly hitman known only as "Deep" out of Ryker's, both fnishing his team and advertising his value as a mercenary to the criminal underworld, but Nightwatch and Spider-Man intervened. Salvo escaped, but Nightwatch tracked him down and used his suit to absorb Salvo's cybernetic upgrades before turning him over to the police.