LIEUTENANT GORKY. Mikhail P. Gorky was born in Arkhangelsk in Soviet Russia and joined the Soviet Navy at an early age. He eventually made his way to the Black Sea regiment of the Naval Infantry, considered to the Soviet equivalent of the Navy SEALs. Only years before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Gorky was assigned to the October Guard after many of the team's original members were killed in action. By this time, the Guard and G.I. Joe were on good terms, and Gorky first met up with the team on a joint mission into Sierra Gordo to fight the Iron Grenadiers. On that mission, Gorky developed a mild crush on Lady Jaye, which didn't sit well with Flint or the other new Guard member, Sergeant Mischa, who thought Gorky was getting distracted. Gorky proved he wasn't so easily distracted and finished the mission as the group teamed up with some of the country's native Tucaros to fight the Grenadiers. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the October Guard was disbanded, but its former members often worked together. Under Russian Colonel Red Star, Gorky and the rest of the Guard headed off into space on a mission with the Joes. Once back with the Russian Navy, Gorky's unit came under the command of corrupt officers, who got involved in illegal activities as the chaos after the end of Soviet rule settled in. Gorky was reluctantly drawn into this corruption. When Gorky joined a team led by Daina assisting the G.I. Joe team and Destro's Iron Grenadiers in rescuing Flint and the Baroness from mobsters in the Czech Republic, he betrayed Daina and his former allies by helping the mobsters prevent their prisoners -- now including Daina and some Joes -- from escaping. The rest of the Joes's rescue team arrived along with Destro, whose Iron Grenadiers fired on Gorky and his accomplices. Daina was shocked at what her comrade had done, and as he lay dying in her arms, he told her he got in over his head and couldn't escape the corruption around him, but hoped the Joes would win in the end. Soon after, Daina visited Gorky's grave, believing that deep down, Gorky had still been a good man.