Simona sat at her desk, her fingers tapping the keyboard. The console screen before her was divided into dozens of surveillance feeds, densely crowded with red alert windows. In the bottom-right corner of the screen, Jade Balance's voice came through her headset:
Simona pressed the communications button beside her ear, directly connecting to the Avengers Compound and several key members' private lines.
"Everyone, according to data from Vought's global monitoring network, localized spatial breaches have appeared in Norway, northern Canada, and Africa's Great Rift Valley over the past twenty minutes."
Simona pulled up a set of images captured by drones at the scenes and sent them to everyone over an encrypted protocol.
"Some extraterrestrial creatures have gotten out. Mr. Lucian says that if you have no pressing business, you can head out and deal with them. Local troops and police can't hold off those thick-skinned creatures."
The communications channel went quiet for a few seconds.
Tony Stark's voice cut in first, accompanied by the scraping of a robotic arm tightening screws.
"Alien animals? Didn't we just finish putting Fury on trial? What's this now? Did the Skrulls lose their pet dogs?"
"They're not Skrulls," Simona corrected him. "They're native creatures from other dimensions or other celestial bodies. They're large, and standard-caliber rifles can't penetrate their hides."
"All right. JARVIS, set the suit's thrusters to cruise mode." Tony disconnected his private line.
Steve's voice came next. He asked for the exact casualty count, then ended the call after receiving the village coordinates from Simona. After exchanging looks with Natasha and Hawkeye, he prepared to set out.
Ever since the public trial in Times Square, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s organization had split completely in two.
Alexander Pierce had gained full authority as acting director, but had no desire to deal with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s everyday messes. Over