<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, Nightcrawler<br/></span></span><hr/><br/>Agent Brand let out a tired sigh, which could've been either of relief, or stress. "Well, at least we don't have to attack him," the Director said, glancing up at Agent Fisher who was still gawking at Nightcrawler as he was crouched on the folding chair. It wasn't out of malice, but Agent Fisher had the incredible urge to kick the chair everytime she saw his tail wagging about slowly in the air above and behind him for some reason.<br/><br/>"Defending is easier when you are in possession of an inferior force," Agent Fisher replied.<br/><br/>"Plus we can better facilitate the evacuation of noncombatants," Director Brand then said before turning to Nightcrawler as she rose from her seat and glanced at the clock. It was still dark outside, the early morning hours. Nightcrawler's warning had been spare on most details, except that the attack would be powerful and inevitable and led by the head honcho himself. "Thank you for bringing this information to us Mr. Wagner," she then said, offering her hand to shake his again. "What are your intentions now? It'd be nice if you could rally the X-men again. We could definitely use the support," she said, before turning to Fisher. "Get Tokoro on the line. We need to summon the Council, we can meet at the Suez Canal Authority building again. We pretty much pulled out every trick in the book defending this place last time. We're going to have to come up with something new this time," she added.<br/><br/>Fisher nodded. "The Council including Count Nefaria?" the sniper asked, perhaps a bit defiantly.<br/><br/>"Especially Count Nefaria," Abigail replied sternly in a tone that would brook no more discussion on the matter. "Better or worse, Count Nefaria is the most powerful individual asset we have in our theater of operations. Plus until someone fishes our Mandroids out of the Mediterranean, HYDRA and their Dreadnoughts are basically our only individual superhuman or power armored support. If Apocalypse will oblige us with attacking us directly, we shouldn't squander the opportunity."<br/><br/>Fisher nodded, leaving the unspoken counterpoints hanging in the air. Apocalypse was basically an unknown threat whose direct capabilities were more or less an unknown to everyone it seemed, at least as far as Director Brand knew. The second point was, with that in mind, there was no guarantee that even Count Nefaria could defeat Apocalypse, even with the help of the rest of the resistance, as unlikely as that seemed. And even if he did win, what then. As Agent Fisher left, respectfully not bringing up either of those obvious objections, Abigail turned to Nightcrawler now that they were alone, hoping for a bit of frank discussion with an unbiased party but first opened up with a bit of sympathy.<br/><br/>"I'm sorry about the loss of your Professor Xavier," Abigail Brand stated in a terse voice, the cold tone betraying the genuine sympathy she felt for his loss. But ultimately she didn't want her emotions to get the best of her, even know. "I don't want to waste words since you knew him far better then I ever could, but he had done far more for mutant rights then anyone by far. I'm sure I'm not alone in stating that I probably wouldn't have known the success I have in my life if it wasn't for his advocacy, and I barely knew the man."<br/><br/>With that bit of unpleasantness out of the way, she took a deep breath to recompose herself. "Since you knew the Professor far better then I ever did, I was wondering if you had any special insight into the matter we are facing now. I'm sure you're generally aware of the situation right now, but if not, let me appraise you. HYDRA and Count Nefaria basically saved our butts. We're working with them basically because enemy of my enemy is my friend, but I'm pretty sure that as soon as it's practical, he'll make a martyr out of me. I'm disinclined to let that happen. But I'm also disinclined to diverting the time and effort and resources from needless political maneuvering and infighting. You're Professor knew Magneto... personally. Had to work with him a few times even." She paused, getting straight to the point of this side conversation. "If you have any tips, I'm all ears."