A torrent of data brutally overwhelmed every video protocol on Earth.
The giant billboards in New York's Times Square, the three-dimensional screens at Tokyo's Shibuya Crossing, the neon lights of London's Piccadilly Circus-their images froze simultaneously, then switched to pure, cold white. Even the dashboard screens of cars speeding down highways and the smartphones in people's hands were not spared.
Jade Balance's cool, steady electronic voice was simultaneously translated into over a hundred languages and delivered into the ears of every living creature on Earth.
"Attention, citizens of the world."
"I am the artificial intelligence, Jade Balance."
"Authorized by Vought International's highest directive, I am now releasing to all humanity a declassified file of the highest level concerning the survival of civilization."
The image flashed. An enormous star chart unfolded across the screens, then zoomed in on two warring interstellar nations.
"Twenty years ago, a war between extraterrestrial civilizations broke out in the Milky Way. A defeated race of refugees fled to the Solar System. This race is known as the Skrulls. Their physiology allows perfect mimicry, enabling them to completely reproduce not only a target's appearance and build, but even their DNA and retinal information."
The image changed abruptly.
A photograph of a middle-aged Black agent wearing a black leather trench coat and a signature eyepatch was pinned squarely to the center of the screen.
"This man is named Nick Fury. He was the former head of the Strategic Hazard Intervention and Logistics Directorate-commonly known as S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Twenty years ago, this director, who styled himself Earth's secret guardian, privately entered into an illegal symbiotic agreement with these extraterrestrial wanderers, without any official authorization or notification to human society."
"The agreement stipulated that Fury would use his intelligence network to find them a new, habitable home. In return, the Skrulls