Strife is a half-elven pirate with gray skin and strange eyes similar to those of Trenton. She and her ship, the Tenacious Devil, seem to possess strange powers of illusion and misdirection.
It has been determined that Strife is actually Finesse, the sister of superhero Bullettrain.
Having grown up in a family of superheroes, but without powers herself, she was overwhelmed by jealousy, and by the seemingly insurmountable ideal of living up to her father’s achievements and reputation. Even the large "F" on her costume, in her own mind, stood for "failure" rather than "Finesse." She ran away from home and met Etnia Gryffinclaw and Pandora’s Box, who told her that her half-elven genome would enable her to be reengineered with great power.
However, before the promise could be realized, Felix and Madison Verner escaped, burning down the Pandora’s Box compound, and Etnia died in the fire. The research was destroyed, and the other test subjects scattered.
After a time, Strife managed to track down Etnia’s assistant, Ramses Corsair, who had managed to piece together much of the work and improve upon it somewhat, which he applied to Strife. Though imperfect, she received an infusion of beholder DNA granting her similar powers to those of Trenton, though not without cost – she is often in great pain, with her eyes bleeding when she becomes overly stressed.
She joined some of the other former Pandora’s Box test subjects, who had started an organization called Pandora’s Children dedicated to the destruction of soulmechs and other "abominations" while embracing genetic engineering and other forms of biological modification, including darker arts such as necrophagic grafts.
More recently, she found out that her brother had been captured by the Baron von Petrol, and offered to purchase him, though even she was not sure to what end. During a meeting with Boris and the Wednesday group, she had a long talk with Fey, who patiently helped her deal with her angst and begin down the path to redemption.