<hr/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>  Name:</strong>Abigail Brand<br/>  <strong>Title:</strong>Agent Brand or Ma'am or Miss. Not 'Hydra-Hair.'<br/>  <strong>Affiliation:</strong>  Resistance<br/>  <strong>Location:</strong>   Northern Egypt, Near Port Said<br/>  <strong>Tags:</strong>Open<br/></span></span><hr/><br/><strong>Four Kilometers Southwest of Port Said, Egypt<br/>   Agent Fisher, Recon</strong><br/><br/>Agent Fisher clung to her sniper rifle tightly as she remained half immersed and all hidden inside a muddy spiderhole she was using as her base of operations. Three kilometers away, across a green colored marsh lake that bordered Port Said's southern end, was the closest nucleus of resistance to Apocalypse. Only two hundred twenty kilometers... or about a two or three hour drive away. Abigail Brand was convinced holding on here, so close to his power base, was worth a shot. Now, as Agent Fisher looked up and saw the invading army of armored mutants approaching, she wondered if everyone would be willing to pay the price of holding this real estate.<br/><br/>Fisher herself had a front row seat to the battle that may... or may not... decide the fate of humankind.<br/><br/>Adjusting the leaves and grasses on the hood of her ghillie suit, she slowly lifted her head from her position, her eyeballs alone the only thing not camouflaged as she felt the gentle ripples of a thousand plus impacts all around her. The mutant forces didn't attack during the nightly evacuation like Abigail had predicted. They were attacking at the crack of dawn instead. And there were a lot of them. Brigade strength at least, she assumed. While some of the mutants could fly, analysis of their power armor pointed out that most were equipped with jump jets and they were using these to 'hop' their way across the nearly impassable Nile Delta to strike at Port Said and the closest threat to Cairo, Apocalypse's seat of power.<br/><br/>From marshy island to causeway to an agircultural dike, thousands of armored mutants, most of them created unnaturally in the past few days since this crisis began, were swarming upward under the cover of nightfall to attack them as soon as the sun rose. Fortunately, despite the element of surprise, Abigail and the military staffs planning had been versatile. Agent Fisher remained almost perfectly still, briefly flirting with the thought of hiding her body heat but figuring the mud, humidity and layers of clothing she was already wearing dissipated her heat enough that she didn't need the climate control apparatus of her SWORD fatigues. As dozens of armored feet thudded onto the vegetation covered sand bar she was located on, several pairs of feet landing within earshot of her.<br/><br/>“Keep on coming in,” Agent Fisher thought to herself. She was trained as a scout sniper, but direct action wasn't her modus operandi. She focused far more on the scouting aspect then the sniping aspect. If she was doing her job right, she should've never needed to take a shot with her rifle. Instead as wave after wave of enemy troops moved over her position, she silently recorded and transmitted their passing, sending short range burst transmissions over push to talk analog transmissions back to Abigail and her little command center. Others had told her communications were secure, but Agent Fisher was too paranoid to believe that, especially in a situation like this. Short ranged and quick transmissions is what she would stick to. Let everyone else gamble with so-called secure sat lines and long distance transmissions. Not her, not when it was her hide on the line.<br/><br/>She watched the first wave then jump even further north, after their jump jets recharged, and saw them land along the Port Saaed-Alexandria highway, the last stop before jumping directly into Port Said.<br/><br/>It was then that Agent Fisher increased her body count far beyond she could ever do from simply using her sniper rifle for a week in a target rich environment. Sinking really low into her hole, the cold swamp water reaching up to her chin as she practically squatted down in her little muddy sinkhole, she then produced a handheld detonator and and gave it three quick clicks with her hand.<br/><br/>A line of fertilizer, old artillery shells, low grade packed explosives, and fuel based bombs all wired together  along the northern edge of the road suddenly had their detonators spark, igniting thousands of pounds of explosives at the same time at a ground level. The power armored suits the first wave of mutants were using protected them far better against explosives, small arms and shrapnel then even the highest quality body armor available to conventional militaries, but the amount of explosives suddenly detonated sent their shockwaves rippling through the armor plating through sheer massive force. They exploded with the same amount of force as the IED's used by insurgents and terrorists to blow up armored vehicles. Unless survivability or regeneration was a superpower, a great many of the mutant attackers were simply blown apart. If their armored suits remained intact, whatever was inside was more or less reduced to chunks.<br/><br/>In a split second it was all over and Apocalypse's assault had started off in a demoralizing bloodbath. Unfortunately for the defenders of Port Said, morale was not an issue for the attacking mutants. The jammers they brought along were taken from Egyptian military bases and meant to disrupt and jam radio and cell phone signals that could detonate IED's. They turned them on now and sent in a second wave straight where the first went, not expecting anymore surprises to blow up in their faces.<br/><br/>Another loose line of mutants charged forward, jump jetting another kilometer towards the same section of causeway that had just blown apart their comrades a minute earlier, the trees and vegetation along the north side of the road turned to kindling and aflame. Their jammers were on. Agent Fisher could tell because her own datapad blacked out. But as she picked up the second detonator, she clicked it three times.<br/><br/>This time, a slightly smaller amount of explosives were detonated along the south side of the freeway, just as the first mutant touched ground. Agent Fisher didn't need a cell phone signal. She helped string along the waterproof telephone wire herself with several backups in case one or more were cut. There was no jamming of the detonation of her IED's. No amateur hour here would cost humanity its last chance at resistance. The second string of IED blasts struck most of the second wave of mutants just as they were in an uncontrolled descent towards the ground, the shockwave and shrapnel of the second explosion smashing into them with a force greater then a hurricane. Using their own descending momentum against them, the explosion smashed into them violently, shattering limbs inside their armored cases, and sending bodies spinning end over end or hurtling prematurely into the marshy swamp that surrounded the southern approaches of Port Said. Those that were too badly injured or whose armor was damaged beyond mobility, died slow drowning deaths in the marsh lake or, in an ironic twist of fate in Agent Fisher's opinion, became a fine repast for the monitor lizards and crocodiles of the delta who were roused by the commotion of the growing battle.<br/><br/>Agent Fisher grimly smiled.<br/><br/>As much as she hated to admit it, she was having the time of her life as the world was falling apart. She had wreaked so much havoc and death and destruction upon the most wickedly evil army in the history of the planet, she had to will herself not to laugh with giddy glee.<br/><br/>More mutants were coming and as the smoke cleared from the previous blasts, she noticed a great deal of those attackers caught in the blast weren't stopped by the explosions. Some by luck. Others because they could shrug off explosions. The battle wasn't over yet.<br/><br/><strong>Northern Coast of Port Said<br/>   Agent Marquez, Intelligence Analysis</strong><br/><br/>Agent Marquez couldn't see the explosions that were wreacking havoc roughly ten kilometers south of his own position on the Mediterranean coast. Parked on the coast, Agent Marquez was standing outside, on the beach, binoculars in hand. He wasn't the only one. The military staff had decided that this was the best place to place there heavy anti-aircraft ordinance and for the longest time, none of the SWORD agents understood why. They thought the best place to place the heavy weapons would be on the southern edge of the city, so they could blast away at the mutants as they came across the lake to attack them. But the military commanders chose instead to place almost all of their anti-aircraft artillery right along the coast where it almost seemed exposed as well as completely unable to engage the invaders since there was a city located between them.<br/><br/>Just then, a few minutes after the two large explosions, Agent Marquez realized why they had moved all of the anti-aircraft vehicles, guns and launchers to the coastline. It was a three kilometer 'final jump' into the city proper which meant the mutants had to attain a lot of height to make the journey. They launched upwards, high in the air, and then Marquez suddenly saw the entire sky fill up with targets.<br/><br/>No one actually said 'Open fire' or anything silly like that.<br/><br/>Everyone just opened fire.<br/><br/>As soon as they heard the booms, they threw on their radars and now a minute later, the great mutant turkey shoot began. It was like when you went duck hunting and spooked the entire flock into taking off at the same time and opening fire with a shotgun. Only instead of using a single shotgun, they were using hundreds of autocannons, light artillery, even surface to air missiles meant to shoot down helicopters and airplanes. They filled the air with lead and the targets, little more then specks, started falling just like ducks. A great many of them.<br/><br/>But many were weathering the storm, or simply managed to avoid it as they plummeted back down out of sight. And some were firing back. Agent Marquez saw pulses of energy, green bolts of superheated plasma, blasts of focused coherent light, sizzling bolts of unnatural lightning and a hundred different other projectiles were unleashed in a responding salvo. An Egyptian Army Humvee, having fired off a quartet of Stinger missiles at its target a second before, suddenly had a bolt of nondescript green energy thud into its engine block, melting clean through it and then detonating its fuel tanks, sending the small vehicle blasting upward in the air atop a fireball and roasting alive its crew.<br/><br/>Another few meters down the line, mounted on the rooftop of a seafood restaurant, a twin twenty three millimeter autocannon suddenly blasted apart inexplicably, splattering bits of blood and molten metal outward inexplicably, as if at random. All around Marquez, the mutants were firing back. But most of it was erratic, and off target, thudding harmlessly into the sea behind them, or harmlessly into the buildings in front of them. And the reason was obvious. Both sides looked like specks to each other. But one side was equipped with weapons solely made to engage enemies kilometers away, the other unless they possessed super marksmanship or other senses, were relying on their eyeballs.<br/><br/>And that just wasn't cutting it.<br/><br/>Dozens of mutants capable of independent flight swarmed over the city proper, intent on closing distance and flew in low over the buildings rooftops, meanwhile waves of mutants braved the enemy anti-aircraft fire and landed on the south end of Port Said, quickly charging into the city proper and somewhat surprised beyond the IED's, there didn't seem to be any gunfire coming from the southern edge of the city itself. It was like they had left the beach completely undefended.<br/><strong><br/>   Port Said Communications Bunker<br/>   Agent Tokoro, Communications</strong><br/><br/>Agent Tokoro stood amongst the staff, monitoring the radio calls and listening to the scouts and observers using walkie talkies as they reported the mutants were both flying over the city and making landfall all along the southern shore. The military commands orders were explicit, do not open fire on them after they landed. They had their own plans. And they waited until every mutant of this wave had landed before they revealed exactly what they were going to do.<br/><br/>The last few mutants of the second and third wave assaults landed on the southern shore of Port Said when, almost at the same moment a large series of booms could be heard in the distance. Just beyond the horizon, several dozen naval ships were opening up with their cannons, as an almost deafening cacophony of mortar rounds whistling downward followed up a moment later. All of the artillery and mortar rounds were right on target. They had been pre-sighted hours in advance, in expectation of a blind night battle.<br/><br/>Instead of firing a mix of illumination and high explosive rounds though, they were loaded solely with the lethal stuff. Within a minute of arriving within Port Said's city limits, the villainous attackers now found themselves under an almost immediate and saturating barrage of light artillery and mortars while the airspace above them was still filled with lead being shelled out by the string of AA defenses located along the northern coast of the city. The entire city had been turned into a killzone and only the fact they had power armor and superpowers was what was keeping them alive. For any mere human army, being drawn into such a crushing ambush would've been devastating and demoralizing.<br/><br/>But for Apocalypse's armies, as far as they were concerned, only the weak were being winnowed out. Those not bulletproof. Those who couldn't survive drowning in their armor. Those who couldn't endure explosions and being set ablaze. Those who couldn't dodge cannon fire. And so on and so forth. Only the strong would survive this trial of fire. And thus, even as the attackers were being felled by their supposedly puny human opponents, the survivors felt resurgent, and charged headlong into battle, heedless of casualties.<br/><br/><strong>Al-Abassi Mosque, Center of Port Said<br/>   Abigail Brand, Director of SWORD</strong><br/><br/>She heard the reports being filtered in and shook her head slowly. They should've broken by now. They should've ran. The casualties had to of been heavy for them. But they were still coming in. Two waves were decimated, but so many of them had survived and now literally a third wave had just landed amidst an artillery bombardment and yet still was charging into the city. And it looked like a fourth wave was moving in. Each one comprising of literally a thousand plus mutants clad in their fancy mass produced power armor. Agent Fisher was right, an entire brigade of superhumans. That was a lot. Thank God they were amateurs Abigail thought.<br/><br/>If they weren't, they'd all be dead by now.<br/><br/>As it was, if they were fortunate, maybe they'd last the morning.<br/><br/>She heard gunfire erupting all around here, as someone gave the order over the radio command, one of the Egyptian Generals. “All units open fire!” Agent Hariri translated from Arabic to English for Abigail's benefit.<br/><br/>It made sense. The enemy was in the streets. There was no need to hold back now. It was a fight now. A city fight. Fallujah. Hue. Arnhem. Stalingrad. And everyone would keep on fighting until one side or the other was literally broken. Abigail knew that there was no retreat for her people and surrender simply wasn't an option. Meanwhile their foes were literally incapable of retreat unless they were commanded to by their mutant God or whatever Apocalypse was to them.<br/><br/>“I'm going out there,” Abigail then announced as Agent Duchamp looked up. It made sense, everyone realized. There was no way anyone could control this battle now, especially her. Not with the diverse forces in an urban battle. The best they could do was call out incoming threats. Redirect artillery. And hope people responded. And Abigail wasn't needed for that. Agent Tokoro or any of the dozens of military commanders could handle that job.<br/><br/>The best way she could contribute she realized was getting out there and help finish the fight for their side.<br/><br/>“I'm going with you,” Agent Duchamp said as he slung a Carl Gustav recoilless rifle over his shoulder and hefted a big light machine gun in his hands and followed her towards the back alley door. “Where we heading eh?” the muscular Canadian soldier asked.<br/><br/>Abigail Brand, checking her Kree Plasma Assault Rifle one final time, glanced back at him. “We'll take a scenic route, check on the command bunkers. Kill any bad guys we see along the way,” she said simply.<br/><br/>“Sounds fun,” he replied before handing her a spare bandoleer. “Here... have some frags.”<br/><br/>Taking it and slinging it over her shoulder, Abigail smiled. “You're a real treat, you know that,” she replied before pushing open the door and heading outside, Duchamp following her out and politely closing the door behind them.<br/><br/>It took them about twenty steps to get into trouble...<br/><br/><strong>Northern Coast of Port Said<br/>   Agent Marquez, Intelligence Analysis</strong><br/><br/>"Marquez, the Admiral is signalling us," an excited Egyptian sailor then sscreamed, pointing out over the ocean as they saw in the distance, an Italian warship, the San Marco, was flashing them a transmission using a light based code. It took a few moments to translate it, but when they did, Marquez frowned.<br/><br/>"I knew it wouldn't be that easy," Marquez practically shouted over the steady din of autocannon and artillery fire that was still erupted all along the coast.<br/><br/>"What is it?" the Egyptian sailor asked in rather good English.<br/><br/>"They're telling us they are detecting two more enemy forces moving towards Port Said. One going straight up the Suez Canal, the other coming in directly from the East," Agent Marquez said.<br/><br/>"The East?" the Egyptian stammered.<br/><br/>"Yeah..." Marquez said with a frown.<br/><br/>"What are they doing over there?" No one said they would be coming from over there. Our defenses are focused southward," the sailor replied.<br/><br/>"I know. No one expected them attacking from the East. That's where Israeli reinforcements are supposed to be coming from," Marquez said with a frown. "Get me Director Brand, she needs to hear this before its too late. We need to transfer some of our defense to the East as soon as possible before they smash us," he said.<br/><br/>The Egyptian sailor nodded and with a sharp salute, quickly ran off as Marquez then noticed the Italian warship was signalling them again.<br/><br/>This time, their transmission made even less sense.<br/><br/><strong>FRIENDLY SUPER EN ROUTE FROM THE NORTH! DO NOT ENGAGE</strong><br/><br/>Super?<br/><br/>As in superhero?<br/><br/>That sounded amazing.<br/><br/>But who? Europe was just as devastated by the initial strikes as everywhere else. Apocalypse made a point of taking out as many heroes as he could early on. Who exactly was north of them... supposedly in Europe, that could come to the rescue that was powerful enough for the Italian Navy to bother telling him of their arrival. It just made no sense.<br/><br/>And made finding Abigail Brand all the more important. The situation was becoming confusing... rapidly.<br/><br/><em><strong>MAP:</strong><br/><br/>- Green points are friendly defensive points.<br/>- Blue arrows are the avenue of attacks of Apocalypse's forces.<br/><br/>And yes I majorly geeked out on this via MS Paint.<br/></em><br/>(http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af134/MNBlend/Comic%20Book%20Scans/Said.jpg)<br/><br/><em>Other SWORD Agents:</em><br/><br/>Agent Hariri (http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af134/MNBlend/Class/PaulaGarces.jpg) (Lebanon): Linguistics and Diplomacy.<br/>Agent Marquez (http://i.imgur.com/xmUcy.jpg) (Philippines): Intelligence Analysis.<br/>Agent Duchamp (http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af134/MNBlend/Guys/PatrickCote.jpg) (Canada): Weapons Specialist.<br/>Agent Fisher (http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af134/MNBlend/Class/PaigeWyatt2.jpg) (United States of America): Reconnaissance Marksman<br/>Agent Tokoro (http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af134/MNBlend/Class/AmiTokito.jpg) (Japan): Communications Technician<br/>Agent Coffeecake (http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af134/MNBlend/Susan%20Coffey/1decadentdesigns.jpg) (LMD): Offworld Consular Relations