* * * *
Madame was alone in her rooms, sitting in front of her personal computer. The glow from the backlit screen was all the light in the room. The bright white light played against the starkness of her features and only magnified the severity of her look. Madame would never be considered beautiful. Comely was the word used years ago. But she did nothing to soften her look. She had to be hard to survive and to get the original group out of a living Hell. Hard, severe, that was what the world respected. And she at least commanded respect in most corners where she worked. And fear also. People feared her for what she took as her life’s work and severe worked for causing fear as well.