<div class="floatleft">(http://i.imgur.com/1w6Sw.jpg)</div><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>Suez Canal Authority Building </strong><br/><br/>"All of my screens turned to snow!" Agent Kang suddenly shouted, breaking radio silence as his air battle group swept in from the North, over the Mediterranean Sea.<br/><br/>"Do you have a missile lock?" Agent Brand then asked, as she led her own task force over the Nile Delta.<br/><br/>Between them, a literal quarter of Port Said had seemingly been engulfed in a brilliant globe of ever expanding ruby red energy centered wholly on Count Nefaria and Apocalypse. It was a visually stunning sight, but on her own sensors, it was magnified as energies and particles only theoretically known to science seemed to erupt on her scanners readouts, as if suddenly spontaneously generating. She paused a moment, then realized that was likely exactly what was happening as a dust cloud rose from the epicenter of the presistant globule of crimson brilliance, while a shockwave erupted, billowing outward through the port city with enough force it kicked up an even thicker wave of dust, sand and dirt that spread throughout the city and even rattled Abigail as she flew towards the city inside her armored Sandstorm suit.<br/><br/>As soon as the wave of dust and concussive force washed over her though, she gave her command just as the city came into view once again. This time, there was no expanding, nigh impenetrable globe of light however. Instead, just as suddenly as they had been engulfed, the self described and self titled Apocalypse was standing almost  in the exact same place as before, only now he was in the midst ofn what looked like a blasted hellscape easily several hundred meters wide. The surrounding terrain wasn't just demolished, it looked like everything had been stripped and scoured from the very rock of the Earth. No rubble. No garbage. No detritus. Just dirt and sand charred black, the temperatures having grown so hot that the sunlight reflected off what was the blackened glass Apocalypse was now standing up.<br/><br/>Apocalypse hadn't budged, though she could detect a thick, billowing steam rising from his body as the mutants massive arms were extended outward, impossibly so as Abigail realized this mutant leader or whatever, could manipulate his body mass to some unspecified extent.<br/><br/>His other ability that was revealed was that he seemed to be able of taking Count Neferia's best without looking any worse for the wear, besides looking like a giant steam cushion.<br/><br/>But Abigail didn't spot Count Neferia anymore, though the ionic reading were still strong, albeit rapidly fading until she suddenly focused on the mutant lords extended arms and realized his massive hands had transformed into a giant round capsule of which glittering streaks and rays of ionic energy were barely melting through for fractions of a second, before sealing up all over again, thanks to Apocalypse's amazing apparent healing factor, or ability to modify his own body. Then another crack would occur in the containment, and a split second later be sealed up again. Somehow, this mutant was able to contain the powerful supervillain literally within his grasp.<br/><br/>Then, in barely a fraction of a second, the flesh globe that Apocalypse had encapsulated Count Nefaria in suddenly collapsed inward, almost like an implosion.<br/><br/>In an instant, the ionic readings reduced to a mere flicker, as Abigail Brand realized Apocalypse had literally snuffed Count Nefaria into oblivion.<br/><br/>"OPEN FIRE! All units fire!" Abigail then screamed, lifting her arms ahead of her as panels lifted up from her shoulders, and a salvo of miniature rockets led the barrage as behind her, dozens of aircraft unleashed their own barrage, most of the missiles directed at Apocalypse but others spread among other targets of opportunity nearby.<br/><br/>Apocalypse turned to face the interlopers led by the woman in the iron suit coming in from the southwest, his hands transforming from half circles, as the charred red remnants of Count Nefaria simply shook free from his palms and fluttered to the ground, barely a wisp of humanoid ionic energy now it seemed. In an instant, those same hands transformed into massive rectangular barriers curved outward to deflect the incoming missile barrage.<br/><br/>"All units open fire!" Agent Kang then ordered as he led his air group coming in from the North, when just as they passed over, the remaining Naval vessels also unleashed a scattered barrage of missiles of their own.<br/><br/>Apocalypse paused and then suddenly the barriers that were his hands grew twice as wide as he pointed one barrier to the southwest, and another to the north.<br/><br/>Then three voices cut into the SWORD channel, as from the East, a pilot speaking in Arabic, another in Farsi and a third in Hebrew, all gave their commands to fire.<br/><br/>Apocalypse seemed unperturbed as the massive barriers that were his hands started to glow with some unidentifiable energy, and Abigail Brand started to order evasive maneuvers when, out of nowhere, a giant naked man literally crashed on top of Apocalypse from high above.<br/><br/>Juggernaut had finally finished his descent to Earths surface, and colliding with the top of the mutant lords skull as irresistable force met an immovable object.  Juggernaut was stopped cold. But the object in question was staggered a moment before it was engulfed in a near constant barrage of missiles and rockets continuously slamming into his form, and any mutants or other servants that dare try to assist him second after second.<br/><br/>"Keep pouring on the fire," Abigail Brand then ordered as she saw the powerful Mutant Lord literally disappear in a barrage of flames, smoke and explosions from a near constant stream of ordinance striking him. "Keep him off balance! Don't let him recover!" Abigail screamed as she left a sonic boom in her wake as her Sandstorm armor punched through the sound barrier while streaking low across the ruined city at near rooftop level. Missiles were streaking over her armored form, still crashing into the smoke and ember covered form of the would be destroyer of the human race, as she then spotted the ionic energy signal that remained and dropped down even lower, cutting her way through the city into one of its narrow alleyways, doing everything she could to avoid the curiosity of Apocalypse, even as he was wreathed in explosions.<br/><br/>Emerging into the several block wide circle of destruction that Nefaria had unleashed, and found short of being capable of eliminating Apocalypse, Abigail made a beeline for the ionic readings she detected and saw Count Nefaria, or what was left of him, sprawled across the blackened glass in the center of the crater, his once luminous ruby red ionic form reduced to literal tatters, looking almost like a ghost.<br/><br/>Soaring under the shadow of Apocalypse himself, Abigail lowered her arms and scooped up what remained of Count Nefaria up into her arms. A moment later a spiked ball of blue organic flesh slammed into the spot where Nefaria had just been as proximity alarms started to blare within her Sandstorm armor. Not needing to glance back, an optical feed popped up on her heads up display, showing the Mutant Lord had unfortunately taken notice of her and even as missiles and rockets, joined by actual gunfire now almost uselessly skittering across his armored hide, he was able to notice the little armored woman trying to steal away his prize.<br/><br/>"Shit!" she finally cursed, glancing down at Nefaria, clinging him tightly to her arms and then realizing, rather to her shock, a pair of glowing red eyes feintly glaring back at him as she kicked in the afterburners to escape northward. "You're still with me Count?" she asked before suddenly banking to the side, narrowly avoided a lunging tendril that tapered off into a monomolecular armor piercing tip.<br/><br/>"Not for long I'm afraid..." the Count stated weakly, in a wispy and now... all too human and frail voice as the afterburners finally kicked in and the Sandstorm armor literally rocketed away, leaving Port Said, and Apocalypse, in the dust as she cleared over the beach and headed to safety.<br/><br/>"We still need you Luchiano. So does the rest of the world. This is your time to shine!" she suddenly found herself saying, literally trying to inspire one of the worlds greatest supervillains, and actually give him a peptalk. She realized only after the fact what she was saying, and how utterly ridiculous it must've sounded, yet she continued. "You have to stay with me Luchiano. Humanity needs you." She paused. "I know you stole the nuke. Where is it? We can still detonate it. You can be the savior of humanity."<br/><br/>For a moment, it sounded like he was choking on air, but it turned out to be a chuckle. "I absorbed the nuclear weapon and I used it all on him. That was the light show you see. There's nothing left. Nothing," he said. "You need to start recording this."<br/><br/>"What? Why?" Abigail asked, already doing what he said, and recording what he was about to say both on video and in audio as she landed on the Italian amphibious carrier, the flagship of the fleet Nefaria had brought to Port Said only a day ago.<br/><br/>"Because I want you to extend the same offer to my people that you offered to me," he then said.<br/><br/>"Amnesty for past crimes? Who for?" she asked as she landed on the flight deck of the vessel and gently laid him out.<br/><br/>"All of them. In exchange for Amnesty for everyone who joins you, I'm going to make you my heir. The Big M of the Nefaria branch of the Maggia. Supreme Hydra of Europe. You already have the hair for it," he then added in a surprisingly dry delivery, one that brought a smile to her face under her armored mask. "And one more thing."<br/><br/>She was still reeling from her sudden promotion when he made his last request. "And my daughter. Whitney. Please find her for me."<br/><br/>She stopped the recording. "Where is she? Do you know?" she asked, already doubting the chances of finding Madame Masque of all people, even if she was alive.<br/><br/>"New York," he replied. "She was always a Daddy's Girl. I want her to know how I died in the end," he then said, before the red orbs slowly slid shut and the ionic energy seemed to trickle away from the emaciated mortal coil that remained.<br/><br/>Abigail Brand rose to her feet and glanced back at Port Said. The air forces were pulling back, having run through their ordinance all in an effort to take down Apocalypse once and for all. It was a constant barrage of missiles, rockets, cannons and even bombs dropped directly upon him. But as the planes pulled away and the smoke cleared, a single plume of dark smoke remained rising from Apocalypse himself standing tall amidst the ruin of an entire city.<br/><br/>"God damned mutant took a half hour of our best shots. Wish we had some nukes," one of the sailors spat as others covered Nefaria's form with a tarp nearby.<br/><br/>"We did. Didn't work," Abigail spat back in disgust. "We bought our friends in town a half hour. Keep up the barrage as best we can until our search and rescue teams withdraw. Cyprus will be our rally point. If a ship can't make it, head down the coast to Mersa Matruh," she then said to the highest ranking officer on the deck nearby before checking her radar.<br/><br/>Agent Tokoro was still in the HYDRA stealth transport with Spymaster and Nightcrawler. She planned on joining them, and plan their next move.<br/><br/>Count their losses. Remember the fallen. Then what?<br/><br/>Truth was, she had no idea what that would be.