BELLA DONNA: Page 3 of 3

Biography - Page 3

At some point around this time, Candra resurfaced. She had been killed years ago but, as an External, she would always return eventually unless specific conditions were met. Returning to life wasn’t always easy, though, and this time Candra needed the life energy of other people to rebuild her body and her powers. Belladonna and the Assassins Guild somehow became her acolytes, treating her with religious respect as “the Red Death,” and bringing sacrifices from their assassination assignments to her chapel for Candra to feed on. Either in rebuilding the Assassins after the Unified Guilds separated, or to serve the Red Death’s needs, Belladonna opened up the Assassins Guild to outside contractors. No longer a tight-knit group of family bloodlines from New Orleans alone, the Assassins Guild now contained mercenary killers of all kinds willing to serve Belladonna and the almighty dollar.

Belladonna and the Assassins Guild had a territorial dispute with the ninjas of the Hand, who were engaged in human trafficking and moving “product” through their city in New Orleans. The Assassins intended to punish the Hand for this intrusion and hired the mercenary Domino to give them some extra “luck” during the mission. When Domino found out about the slaves, though, she abandoned the Assassins and made off with the girls and the $200 million and change meant for the sale. Belle negotiated a temporary truce with the Hand so that both forces could pursue Domino for stealing from them.

Belladonna sent out Razor-Fist and her assassin elite to find Domino, but Neena reconnected with her X-Force teammates and brought Wolverine into the mix. Seeing the need for additional firepower, Belladonna called in all available contractors to fortify the Assassins Guild. Wolverine brought Domino to the Assassins’ chapel in New Orleans to settle accounts. However, while Belladonna expected bargaining or contrition, Wolverine offered neither. Domino would live and, in exchange, the Assassins wouldn’t die. Period. Belladonna could not let this insult go unpunished and unleashed her Assassins on Logan and Neena. It wasn’t enough, especially after the rest of X-Force arrived too. With her entire available forces either unconscious or dead, Belladonna was forced to acknowledge that X-Force was a very different animal than the X-Men. Out of options, she relented and gave Wolverine her vow to leave Domino alone. [X-Force: Sex & Violence #1-3]

Belladonna and the Assassins Guild hit another roadblock when one of their members failed to kill Dr. Donald Meland of Houston. The assassin reported that he was interfered with by a local hero named Scarlet Spider, who was actually a former competitor of the guild named Kaine. Belladonna put pressure on Kaine by dispatching several of her top killers to Houston, keeping him on the run. He temporarily got the advantage over all of them, but the guild would inevitably wear him down. In order to save himself, Kaine negotiated with Belladonna. In exchange for his life and Meland’s he would perform an assassination of any target, at any time, at her command. Belladonna was satisfied with this offer and called off the guild. [Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #3-4]

It wasn’t long before Belle had the perfect choice of a target for Kaine: Wolverine. Belladonna was still fuming over the disrespect shown to the Assassins Guild by X-Force and was perfectly happy to pit Kaine and Wolverine against each other. Belle placed a spotter outside the X-Mansion, who seemingly confirmed the kill when Kaine stabbed Wolverine in the chest. However, Kaine actually used the many telepaths in the mansion to alert Wolverine to his intentions, and they faked Logan’s demise. Afterwards, the Scarlet Spider and Wolverine joined forces to bring the fight to the Assassins Guild.

Wolverine and Kaine infiltrated the guild’s New Orleans headquarters and began killing assassins. Belladonna brought out her specialist contractors to confront them, but their intrusion provoked the attention of Candra, the Red Death. Candra had been absorbing life energy from the Assassins’ sacrifices for months, but her body still hovered on the edge of death and true life. Candra was prepared to absorb the two men’s essences as the Assassins’ latest tribute, but these victims fought back. Belladonna and the Assassins tried to help, but Wolverine and the Scarlet Spider’s attacks began wearing down Candra’s power reserves. She inevitably turned on the guild’s cannon fodder, killing her own people in order to sustain herself. Belladonna was too shocked by her “goddess” betraying them to act at first, but the other Assassins joined in fighting against Candra. They wore her down until Scarlet Spider stabbed Candra in the head, returning her to the grave.

Belladonna was livid at Candra’s death, and the religious fervor she had built up for Candra did not subside with the External’s demise. Belle was prepared to order the Assassins to kill Wolverine and Scarlet Spider, if not for the surprise appearance of the Arranger. The Kingpin’s fixer had been called in by Kaine before the mission, and he was prepared to claim dominion over the Assassins Guild in the name of Wilson Fisk. The Kingpin had recently taken control of the Hand in New York and expanding into the Assassins Guild’s territory was a profitable move on his part. Belladonna’s battered and weakened assassins were surrounded by the Hand ninjas, leaving her with no leverage to contest the “merger.” [Scarlet Spider (2nd series) #17-19]

The Kingpin fell shortly afterwards, but the Assassins Guild passed through multiple hands before Belladonna Boudreaux was able to retake her family business. As with X-Force and Kaine, though, Belladonna continued to pick fights her assassins couldn’t win. The guild was hired for a local hit, killing a businessman named Charles Helder at Mardi Gras. However, Deadpool had been hired to protect the same man. He killed several of Belladonna’s specialists plus many of the rank ‘n’ file assassins before learning Helder was a genuine scumbag and offing the man himself. Belle was furious and sent more specialists after Deadpool, only for the majority of them to die as well.

Deadpool snuck into the Assassins’ guildhouse to meet Belladonna face-to-face in her private quarters. He wanted peace with the Guild and foreswore any right to the Helder contract, letting the Assassins Guild claim credit for the kill. Belle was still angry that Deadpool killed several of her best men, and Wade only mocked her that they weren’t that great at killing to begin with. He gave her his card, offering his services to the guild in the future, if the target and the price were right. The disrespect infuriated Bella Donna, and she prepared the Guild for all-out war with Deadpool, and anybody who would stand beside him.

Bella Donna had the Assassins track down Deadpool’s handler, Weasel, attacking him and his wife at their house. Deadpool soon returned the favor, gathering his own squad of hardened mercenaries from Hellhouse to attack the Assassins. The mercs and assassins cleared out each other’s ranks, allowing Deadpool to stroll in and face Belladonna personally. Belle delegated his execution to her subcontractors, sending out eight super-powered or exotically-armed assassins to face Deadpool at once. They failed. Deadpool proved to be utterly unstoppable when his people were being threatened, and he proceeded to shoot, impale, electrocute, decapitate and otherwise maim and kill his way through Belladonna’s entire entourage. In shock, Belle finally realized Deadpool had been taking it easy on her from the beginning and tried to reopen negotiations. Deadpool wasn’t having it at this point, though, and stabbed her through the chest, leaving Belle’s body on the floor of her guildhouse. [Deadpool: Assassin #2-6]

In time, Belladonna recovered from the injuries inflicted on her by Deadpool. She learned of the whirlwind wedding of Gambit and Rogue, and went to pay her respects. Though their time was long past, Belle was still wistful with Remy about what might have been. To the point, however, she also warned him that his status as King of Thieves was in jeopardy from him marrying a super-hero and card-carrying Avenger. [Mr. and Mrs. X #6] In fact, Candra had returned to take advantage of Remy’s divided loyalties between the X-Men and the Thieves Guild. Trapped in a child’s body after her most recent resurrection, Candra offered power to the Thieves and Assassins in exchange for helping her regain her strength. Belladonna felt obligated to agree for the benefit of her guild and to prevent the Thieves from having the advantage over them. However, Candra also intended for the two guilds to eliminate Gambit in order to secure her power base.

Gambit returned to New Orleans and walked into a trap. Candra had Belladonna’s Assassins and the traitorous Thieves waiting for him, and Remy was quickly captured. Rogue also came to Louisiana, fighting her way to her husband’s side, but she too was defeated and strung up. Belladonna had been unwilling to see Gambit and Rogue killed, so she had secretly coordinated with Jean-Luc for aid. Candra apparently didn’t know about this, but she still betrayed Belladonna. Candra needed a human sacrifice to fully restore her powers, and she planned to offer Gambit the choice of letting Rogue or Belladonna die for her. Remy refused and broke free of his chains to fight Candra and the Guilds. Jean-Luc arrived and, with Rogue and Belle freed, the four of them subdued the Guilds. Gambit reasserted his authority, and he and Belle reclaimed command of their respective Guilds. [Mr. and Mrs. X #11-12]