Life in the Underground
Born in rural China, Min Hua was orphaned when her family died from a horrible disease. As was common practice, Hua was sent to a state run orphanage and quickly "adopted" by the Chinese Triad. Working in a sweat shop as a child, Hua did her best to stay under the radar, however after an incident where she attacked another orphan over some food her captors took notice of her. Impressed by her violent streak, the Hung Kwan of her Triad cell saw potential and began to train the young girl as a Cho Hai. Eventually her prowess in a fight gained the attention of one of the Triad's largest benefactors- Xi Zhou Chen. Seeing potential in the teenager, Chen purchased Min Hua from the Triad and arranged for her to be turned by one of his Kizoku underlings.
It was as a thrall of Chen's that Min Hua, now calling herself Abella Rose, first met Sylvester "Spike" Allen and the two quickly became friends. Thanks to her necromantic training Abella was able to ease Spike's physical pain, deadening the pain receptors in his arms. Thanks to her treatments Spike was even able to gain control over his deformations, creating weapons from his own bone.
After several years of acclimating to her new life Abella and Spike were given a chance to become Covenant Assassins- a position in which Abella reveled. Training under the renowned assassin Aubryn Darkveil, Abella and Spike were paired with another would-be killer- Maxi Shadowheart and formed a group known as The Triumvirate. Abella was immediately enamored with Maxi and his charm, much to Spike's chagrin. The Triumvirate became one of the top assassination squads for the Covenant, often sent after high value targets. After Aubryn's defection Abella was determined to cement the team as the Covenant's best and made sure to take the highest ranking contracts available.
The Fall of Shadowheart
During the assassination of a high value human soldier named Langston the team was interrupted by their missing master and her new friends- an opportunity to prove themselves the best by killing their former sensei had fallen into their laps. Unfortunately, the battle quickly turned against the assassins, with Maxi being critically injured by their mentor and the group being forced to flee. Despite his injuries, Maxi was determined to take out the group's secondary target- an accomplished hematologist by the name of Eleanor Webber. Deciding to use his injuries as a cover, Maxi dismissed both Abella and Spike, going after Dr. Webber alone. Unfortunately, the injured Maxi ran afoul of Aubryn's allies once again and did not survive the encounter in Webber's clinic.
Having failed in assassinating both their targets, Abella and Spike were prepared to face execution upon returning to the Three Vipers. To their surprise the information regarding Aubryn, Jonas Hunter and this new group known as OMEGA was considered valuable enough to save the lives of the former members of the Triumvirate. Crushed by the loss of their leader, Abella and Spike vowed revenge.
Shortly after returning to the fold, the Covenant was thrown into disarray after the defection of Kalenn Korpse (technically their commander), and the subsequent deaths of Malcanthet, Xi Zhou Chen, and Arkady Tsargovi at the hands of OMEGA. Taking advantage of the turmoil Spike and Abella defected from the Covenant ranks, deciding to start their own assassination outfit.
Triumvirate Assassination Squad
Despite the third member of the Triumvirate team having been killed, Abella and Spike decided to keep the team name as the name of their new organization. Recruiting several young assassins and training them up to their standards, the Triumvirate eventually began taking contracts as an independent agency. Abella eventually began a relationship with a subordinate assassin named Sliver (again, to Spike's chagrin). Sliver was eventually elevated as the third leader of the Triumvirate.
With the trio completed once again, Abella decided it was time to go after OMEGA and finally get vengeance for the death of Maxi Shadowheart. During one of Jonas Hunter's personal missions to recruit new "Prodigals" the Triumvirate prepared to attack. Unfortunately, the demon Methuselah Testament had other plans. Intercepting the Triumvirate assassins, Testament prevented the group from interfering with his planned ambush of Hunter. Although the trio was able to hold its own against Testament for a bit, the beast was eventually able to overpower the Triumvirate with sheer force and hellfire. During the battle Abella almost fell to the might of Testament however Spike saved Abella by pushing Sliver in the way of the attack. Unfortunately, Sliver did not survive the encounter as his head was crushed and subsequently melted off by Testament's hellfire. Abella and Spike quickly fled after the death of their partner.
A New Tactic
After the failed attack on Hunter, Abella lashed out at Spike for his perceived betrayal. After Abella threatened to dissolve the Triumvirate over his actions Spike finally came clean to Abella regarding his feelings for her. Unfortunately Abella had little use for Spike's feelings, deciding to leave the Triumvirate instead of dissolving it.
Abella spend the next several years finding moderate success as a solo assassin, targeting only humans in order to prevent any further interaction with OMEGA, Hunter, or anyone else from her former life. She eventually found herself regularly employed by her former "family", the Chinese Triad, and made quite a lucrative living as their personal hit-woman. It was in the Triad's employ that Abella eventually came back into contact with the Triumvirate which attempting to fulfill a contract on Angela Maxwell in New York City.
An Alliance of Necessity
While scouting the mission Abella quickly noticed she wasn't the only one hunting Ms. Maxwell- a trio of other assassins seemed to be involved as well. Confronting the competition Abella was surprised to discover that they were the new Triumvirate, lead by Spike and accompanied by two new assassins- Zero and Alessandra Beaumont. Since both Abella and the Triumvirate had contracts out on Angela Maxwell, the decision was made to work together to ensure the contract was completed as ordered, much to Spike's chagrin.
The first sign that the assassins were not fully briefed on their target came after the reformed Triumvirate sent several lower level assassins in to take care of the target. The assassins carved their way through the office, killing all they encountered until Angela herself arrived. Instead of running at the sight of her dead colleagues, Angela leapt at the assassins. Before Abella and the Triumvirate leaders could react, two of the would-be assassins were thrown through to 30th story safety windows and a third was beaten to death with Angela's own hands. By the time Abella and the others reached the office their second surprise had arrived- Jonas Hunter. Realizing they were not prepared for an encounter with Hunter, the Triumvirate fled the scene.
Regrouping at a Triumvirate safe-house, the group contacted the client for a full debrief. The client informed the team that Maxwell was not human after all, but the Dhampyr daughter of the former Akikage sovereign, Kalenn Korpse. With this new information, along with the knowledge that the team would also have to deal with Jonas Hunter, the assassin's formed a new strategy- divide and conquer.
Tracking Hunter and Maxwell to an OMEGA facility in New York City, Abella and the Triumvirate put their plan into action- Abella and Spike would run interference, keeping Hunter busy while Zero and Beaumont would deal with the Dhampyr. Although Abella and Spike were successful in separating Hunter form Maxwell, the Triumvirate did not prepare for the fact that Hunter had time to get Maxwell turned, resulting in a new threat- Samikara Kain, Scion of Samael. Zero and Beaumont quickly fell to the raging might of this new Methuselah resulting in Abella and Spike retreating to lick their wounds once again.
Servitude to the Triad
Having failed in her mission, Abella was at the mercy of the leaders of the Triad. Expecting to be forced to fall on her sword for her failures, Abella was surprised when she was brought before The Incense Master of the Triad, discovering him to be Yuesheng Jun, her former Hung Kwan. In exchange for the subservience of Spike and the remaining members of the Triumvirate Abella would be granted leniency for her failures. Although Spike was hesitant to join the Triads, his own failures had also caught up to him and serving the Incense Master would protect him, so he accepted. Once again the Triumvirate was reformed as an elite group of Triad assassins, now under the leadership of Yuesheng Jun, Abella and Spike.
