A/N Okay just to tell you I don't really know exactly what time period GC is set it, but I fudged a few things, mostly because Lady Aly's character requires certain historic event. (Ie. Creation of the United Nations, Canada being an independant country, etc.) So, the time period is a little messed up. Not to say that people are going to start wielding lasers or flying around in jet packs or anything. All technological aspects will stay the same. Just pretend that the UN was created in the nineteenth century or something instead of the twentith.

A Victim's Knowledge...

Noir stared at her in shock. Her baring, the way she moved all suggested, if not a military life then at least one which had inured her to the harsher realities of life. He'd expected her to tell him that she had grown up on the streets and instead he learned that she had had enough money at 15 to begin a trip around the world that had lasted five years. Her family must have been rich, which probably meant she had been just as sheltered, or more so considering she was female, as Florian. The idea of someone that innocent at the hands of a group of ruthless terrorists made him shudder. Even Azura hadn't been that rough on Florian the first, not wanting Noir to realise what was going on.

"It was two weeks after my capture that Rico and his men finally broke into the compound. The place was like a fortress and it had taken careful planning and a week and a half of recon before they had any chance of success. By that time the leader of the group had taken a liking to me and had made me his personal whore. I had more freedom than the other members of my tour group and using what I had learned in my travels I might have been able to escape, but I didn't want to leave them behind. Especially since I knew what would happen when my "master" realised I was gone. He would have killed them all in his rage. Rico and his men didn't know we had been captured and I didn't expect rescue team to come, so you can imagine my surprise when he climbed through my window one night dressed in full assault gear. I was pretty freaked out. He'd chosen my room as an entry point because it was relatively unguarded; my "master" didn't trust his men not to fuck me behind his back. He came through the window and I reacted I had him pinned and his own knife at his throat before he could blink. Though had he been expecting me to be there it wouldn't have been that easy." Lady Aly had given a small laugh at this memory and Noir had again looked at her in amazement. The idea that she could look back on such an event and laugh at any part of it had shocked him.

Lady Aly had continued quietly "Rico and exchanged stories, each explaining what we were doing there and I told him about the other prisoners. He promised to get them out and I told him that I could handle the leader of the group by myself. He fought me on this one at first but I told him if he didn't agree I'd alert the guards and sacrifice him and his men to save myself and my fellow prisoners from the terrorist's wrath. This was, of course, a lie, but at the time he believed me and agreed. Rico went to release the prisoners and I waited in my room. It was almost time for my "master's" nightly visit. He came in the room, ordered me to strip and then began taking off his own clothes. When I made no move to follow his orders he moved closer and raised his hand to strike me and I kicked him in the groin. It didn't phase him for long but I was able to grab his gun. I told him not to move and at first he seemed disinclined to follow my orders, but after I shot his earlobe off he changed him mind about disobeying. Eventually Rico came, tied him up and we all went on our merry way. We took the leader back with us and left his men with the local authorities."

Noir stared at Lady Aly yet again in disbelief. "And you taking out this leader was enough to get you a position as one of the most powerful people on the planet?" He was incredulous.

Lady Aly had laughed delightedly at this statement. "Oh no! That didn't happen until later. We arrived in the states, turned over the leader and it was decided that we would all be rewarded for our bravery. They were also discussing putting together the group I'm now in charge of, but at that time there was never any suggestion that I would have anything to do with the organization. It was actually turning into a major debate because every country wanted one of their own people to run it. What tipped the scales in my favour was the reward ceremony. There was a big shindig planned to present us with our medals. The leaders of all the different countries would be there, supposedly to offer us their thanks for helping to divert a world war, which is what a fight between China and the US would have become. The leaders of the countries were impressed with my language and cultural skills, I was able to converse with all of them in their native tongues, and many suggested that I be made an Ambassador or be given a position in the United Nations. I had just finished translating for the Korean and Swedish leaders when all hell broke loose." Lady Aly rubbed her forehead as if remembering the headache that that particular event had brought on.

"It seems that the terrorist group we had caught was only a smaller faction of a much larger organization. The leader we had caught also just happened to be the younger brother of the leader of the organization and he was quite annoyed to find out that his brother had been captured. He was out for revenge, especially against me. He spotted off all this crap about how I had betrayed his little brother, completely disregarding the fact that I had been, captured and raped. Anyway, he sent his men to take out Rico and capture me. It seems he had a special punishment in mind for me, something involving knives and torture. I never really paid much attention to his ranting after we caught him." Lady Aly had concluded this sentence with an airy little wave of her hand, as if she was shooing away a bug.

"His men attacked, we fought back. I formulated a plan, relayed it to Rico and we ended up taking out our enemies without any deaths, on either side. It was this last action that secured my place as the leader of my organization. One of the major worries in setting up such an organization was casualties. When someone is given the power to basically police all countries and regions, leaders are obviously worried about what might happen to their soldiers, their citizens in general. So, that fact that I could come up with a plan that allowed me and my severely unarmed comrades to overcome our heavily armed opponents without any fatalities was quite impressive to them. That, plus Rico's support and all the leaders agreed to allow me to run the organization. We worked out all the details, though most were my own suggestions and the rest is history." Noir just stared at her. This woman was nuts. She had gone through all of that, had been given such responsibility at the age of twenty, had basically denied herself the possibility of ever having a normal life and she just waved it all off as if it were nothing. For the first time in his life Noir might have found someone who was more of an adrenaline junkie than he was and it almost scared him.