<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/>What was left of the Egyptian Air Force had redeployed to more secure Israeli airbases for the time being, but the truth was, there wasn't much left. Forty years of peace had impacted the Egyptian Armed Forces a great deal and thus Apocalypse's first strikes which focused primarily on Egypt, the apparent nexus of his power, struck with more devastation then even the Israeli airstrikes of the Six Day War. And Abigail Brand was pretty sure Egypt couldn't last six days, not without a massive influx of support, especially in the often overlooked area of command and control.<br/><br/>Military histories often glossed over the importance of a good generals staff and that rang true for a great deal of the militaries of the developing world. Thankfully, Abigail Brand brought a staff with her. From space.<br/><br/>Thanks to the fact her multinational team had previous employment running a massive intelligence, diplomatic and security organization as well as the fact Apocalypse's first strikes often targeted the military and civilian leadership around the world, her team was best qualified in rallying and then organizing the regional resistance by taking the job of the command team. And thus, after just over a day and a half ago her headquarters staff, once based on a space station at the beginning of the week running SWORD, was now taking over operations in this region of the Middle East, the one in which Apocalypse was believed to be in. And Abigail Brand knew Apocalypse wasn't finished yet.<br/><br/>So she kept on working bringing together former enemies and allies, terrorists and soldiers, militia and military and trying to organize them into a proper resistance that wouldn't prematurely shoot their bolt. It went far beyond the Egyptian Armed Forces too. The Isreali Defense Forces, especially their Navy and Air Force. The various Palestinian militias, Hamas and Fatah and the more radical Islamist ones, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and its more extreme branch cells, NATO air and naval assets, Saudi National Guard, Jordanian Air Force, Hezbollah militias, even HYDRA's Middle Eastern branch and a score of other factions all interested in one thing, stopping the current armageddon level threat that Apocalypse was so that they could go back to fighting each other.<br/><br/>Stepping into one of the main command centers, she immediately recognized Egyptian military and SWORD personnel manning most of the consoles, while the uniforms, or lack thereof of at least twenty different factions was discussing strategy in the neighboring conference room. On flatscreen monitors, the often static and corrupted images of other leaders, including an Italian Admiral from NATO, an Israeli Air Force Commander, and a Saudi Prince who was in charge of the that Kingdom's military, were listening in, among others while Agent Hariri was trying to moderate.<br/><br/>The conversations however died down as soon as Abigail Brand stepped in and pulled off the headscarf she had taken to wearing while amongst her predominantly Muslim allies. Even though she wasn't one of them, she was canny enough not to want to cause undue offense. “Gentleman and Ladies,” Abigail said. “Nightfall is about three hours away. I'm predicting they'll attack at dusk, thinking they can take advantage of low light and cause as much damage to the evacuation as possible. What's our sitrep?”<br/><br/>“We have over a hundred and fifty ships dedicated to evacuation that are heavier then two thousand tons. Everything from feeder container ships to tankers and even a cruise liner. In addition, there are about twenty amphibious vessels including a Turkish contingent that has just arrived,” the Italian Admiral stated from his position on his flagship somewhere in the Mediterranean.<br/><br/>“Good. And the evacuation flight paths are still secure?” Abigail asked.<br/><br/>“Some of the airfields in Saudi Arabia were struck by mutants but they've already been repaired. Evacuation flights can keep going as long as we can keep the planes in the air. From what we can tell, the mutants seem to underestimate just how effective our jets are at evasion and interception,” the Israeli Air Force commander then stated. “The only concern is that we may run short of ordinance by the end of the week.”<br/><br/>“If we get Iran on board with our alliance, hopefully that can be sorted out,” the Saudi Prince then stated distastefully, as a wave of tension rippled through the room.<br/><br/>“Well if they don't want to assist with the evacuation and fight, they can reap what they sow in the aftermath after we win,” Abigail stated firmly. “Now I want the evacuation ships to remain offshore until nightfall. Keep the evacuees on shore until after the attack,” Abigail then suggested in bold terms, raising a few gasps from the rest of the council, including the Egyptians in the group.<br/><br/>“They'll be exposed. That's who Apocalypse wants,” one of the Egyptian Generals then stated in disagreement.<br/><br/>“And he'll get them if he sinks our ships. I want us to pull back the evacuation vessels. We'll draw the mutants into a kill zone, several square kilometers, between us and Damietta,” Abigail then said, pointing out to the marshlands between Port Said and Damietta. How many refugees do we have currently?” she then asked.<br/><br/>“We've evacuated hundred fifty thousand estimated since the crisis began but are predicting we can exceed that tonight alone,” an Egyptian Admiral said. “If they're not kept from shore,” he then added, throwing Abigail's suggestion back in her face.<br/><br/>“Hear me out,” Abigail then said. “The Mutants.... Apocalypse,” she then clarified, not wanting to group herself and the good mutants that might still be out there with Apocalypse's ilk. “They want our evacuees and they want to destroy us as a threat. But to do that, they have to come get us. Thanks to their armored suits a lot of them can fly, but a lot can't. They'll have to deploy across the Nile Delta which historically has been quite difficult to move forces through. We draw them in and then we envelop and destroy them. Cordon.... sweep... and clear. Our goal is to inflict as much damage upon a superior enemy force as we can with our limited resources.”<br/><br/>“So basically you want to use tens of thousand of civilians as bait?” one of the Muslim Brotherhood spokespeople then said dispassionately. “Like Muslims lives are somehow worth less then that of you witchbreed infidels.”<br/><br/>Another uneasy mood swept through the room as he flat out insulted Abigail to her face, but she just shrugged and went back to the map. “Killing them now beats killing them later. We'll be able to evacuate a lot more people and conserve more planes and ships in the long term with this strategy,” Abigail said.<br/><br/>“Except that your plan involves bringing the mutants to the coastline where you'll herding our people like animals to the slaughter, just like Apocalypse is!” the Muslim Brotherhood leader then spat back, rising from his chair.<br/><br/>Still not facing him, Abigail pointed to the map. “It's only by drawing them to the coast that we can kill more of them. And that's the goal really. There might be civilian casualties, but keep in mind they have better chances in secure shore facilities then on some container ship in the middle of a battle. If you care about the refugees so much, I would recommend deploying your... irregulars to defending them tonight,” she then added before turning to the others.<br/><br/>“That's my plan. My objective is to defeat the enemy. We haven't lost yet. Evacuating civilians is secondary, but also important and this plan will assist in both of our endeavors. But my people and I are willing to work with whatever plan you all come up with,” she then added before nodding. “But we'll need a decision by the top of the hour! Good evening,” she finished before stepping out of the conference room to let the real planners and leaders hash it out. Truth was she wasn't a General or Admiral or Minister, the people in the room were far more capable of formulating a defense, she just wanted to offer her own strategic objective and a way to fulfill it and hoped that they would adopt and refine it into something workable.<br/><br/>As she stepped out of the bunker and emerged back into open ground again, she passed by the pair of Egyptian commandos standing guard outside and looked out to the streets of Port Said. They were largely empty now except for the abandoned cars pushed to the side of the road but truth was the population of the city now was greater then ever before, only it consisted mostly of terrified refugees huddled in basements and bunkers and in the marshlands and outlying buildings of the city or of various military and paramilitary forces being brought to bear here in what many were thinking was the last campaign of humanity. Abigail meanwhile, despite speaking of victory boldly in the conference room, wasn't sure if those doomsayers weren't correct.<br/><br/>Not that it mattered though. Even if the odds were long against her, she wasn't going to allow humanity to go down without a fight. Or better yet a slaughter. If she could help bring about such an utter devastation of her enemies, she would. It was then she noticed Agent Marquez emerge from the darkness of a nearby alleyway, clutching two metal mugs of steaming coffee. “It's actually pretty good here,” the Filipino-born SWORD intelligence analyst said, handing her a cup.<br/><br/>Abigail smirked and took a sip as they started to walk away. “What's the word in Cairo Agent Marquez?” she asked.<br/><br/>“We're getting a pretty positive confirmation that Apocalypse is in Cairo. There are reports suggesting he just sent out a non-traditional broadcast there. As well as sightings and rumors thereof,” Marquez replied as the two of them headed into an abandoned police station that was temporarily serving as SWORD headquarters or what was left of it. Passing by a pair of burly Bedouins who didn't even speak English that they hired as their front door guards, the pair entered the police station where other SWORD agents were  trying to set up a communications suite.<br/><br/>“No luck on comms Agent Tokoro?” Abigail asked one of the SWORD technicians as they fidgeted with their haphazard collection of equipment thrown together.<br/><br/>“Actually we got some bad news. According to an Advanced Ideas Mechanics transmission we intercepted coming out of Staten Island,” Agent Tokoro started to reply as a crestfallen look, as the color drained from her already pale face. Abigail glanced over at the other comm tech who just turned away, averting his eyes.<br/><br/>“What is it?” Abigail then asked.<br/><br/>“Nick Fury was killed in action. In New York...” Agent Tokoro then barely managed to say before smacking her lips together tightly and closing her eyes, trying her best to compose herself.<br/><br/>Agent Marquez's mug of coffee clanked as it splattered across the floor.<br/><br/>Even though SWORD and SHIELD were separate agencies, almost everyone in both considered Nick Fury to be the practical Father of Modern Special Operations and Intelligence. And even though Abigail Brand often disliked, even despised Nick Fury, she respected the hell out of the man.<br/><br/>She wasn't feeling grief. Before she even realized it, her fingertips were digging into the palms of her hands to the point she could feel pain even through her gloves. Her hands were already balling up into fists. Regimes rose and fell, despots and mass murderers of every kind rose, prospered and then floundered and somehow Nick Fury survived it all. And now he was dead. Apocalypse was going to pay for this.<br/><br/>She turned to Agent Marquez. “I need to talk to the Israeli's. If they want to follow through with this operation, we need them to release the Jerichos for deployment while the window of opportunity is still open,” she then said grimly.<br/><br/>“Agent Hariri believes that escalating to the use of nuclear weapons-,” Marquez started to offer before Abigail cut him off.<br/><br/>“Apocalypse escalating this conflict by killing a billion people a day and splitting California right along its fault line. The only reason this planet isn't a nuclear wasteland yet is because no one is available to order people to turn the keys for either side,” Abigail then stated succinctly. “These guys aren't your typical terrorist cell. We cut off the head this time, they aren't growing back like HYDRA. Apocalypse is the main target. We should never forget that his end is our endgame.<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