Chapter 47: "Penny" Carter

A/N: Time to check in on Peggy.

-x-X-x-

"Hey there, gorgeous. Penny Carter, right?"

Peggy finds herself very grateful for the briefings that Stark had given her, even as a hand falls upon her shoulder and turns her around. She has to let the man actually turn her, because he's not nearly strong enough to do so if she didn't want him to. Likewise, she has to hold back from the urge to break his hand right then and there, especially given just who the malcontent harassing her IS.

Brock Rumlow, the STRIKE Team's Field Commander. Now also the Commander of the Iron Legion. Basically, he was the best of the best that SHIELD had to offer, so good at what he did that he was put in charge of SHIELD's other best agents so they could take care of the tougher missions that came up.

Only, he was also a member of HYDRA… as was ever other member of the STRIKE Team according to Tony. Peggy had seen the evidence of course. She believed what Tony had told her. Didn't make it any less… disappointing.

Once she's fully turned around to face him, Rumlow makes a show of looking her up and down and wolf whistling before giving her what he probably thinks is a charming smile.

"I'd ask if all of Stark's Personal Assistants are built like you, but I know where Agent Romanoff has spent the last few years so I suppose I already have my answer. Still… damn."

Peggy would love to kill this man right here and right now… but as Tony had told her, they needed Rumlow for now. It was all part of Tony's plan to infiltrate and destroy HYDRA from the inside. Peggy might have been more inclined to break from Tony and try and work with SHIELD… if HYDRA hadn't in turn already infiltrated and all but destroyed the other organization from the inside.

Rumlow was direct evidence of that. Even if Director Fury was a good man, he was also a fool who had allowed HYDRA to lead him around by the nose for quite a long time now. The sort of man who thought he had all the answers, but apparently wouldn't know the truth if it was constantly smacking him in the face with its DICK.

… Okay, that was rather unusually crass of Peggy, even in the privacy of her own thoughts. She mulls over why that might be, before deciding it was simply because parts of her were still reacting to waking up from the ice. The truth was, ever since she'd been dosed with the Super Soldier Serum, she'd had a much more active sex drive than ever before. Something, Peggy was irritated to find, her counterpart in this world didn't share.

The Steve Rogers in this world didn't seem to know what sex was. HER Steve, while frail and sickly, had at least known how to get from Point A to Point B. Once she'd shown him how it was done, the two of them had done the horizontal tango with gusto pretty much every night using some experimental drugs that Howard had whipped up for them.

Alas, her Steve was long gone now. Not just seventy years in the past, but also in another dimension entirely. Peggy was all alone and she'd already decided that she wasn't about to jump this dimension's Steve. He just… really didn't seem like her type. Especially since he seemed more inclined to protect Barnes from his own mind than to protect the world from an alien invasion.

That didn't mean Peggy was inclined to fuck Rumlow either though. A girl had to have standards and HYDRA scum definitely didn't meet them. Actually, she was a little confused at how strong Rumlow was coming onto her in the first place. He might be a HYDRA douchebag, and Stark had made a point of letting her know he could be both impulsive and reckless in his briefing of the man… but Rumlow still had a reputation to keep. He was still supposed to be the ruggedly handsome but squeaky clean SHIELD Agent, after all.

"I'm sorry sir, but I have orders from Mr. Stark to carry out."

Peggy moves to gently tug her shoulder from Rumlow's grasp… but he clings onto her, still grinning.

"Oh come on now. Stark and I are good friends. I'm sure he'd want you to make sure I'm nice and comfortable. Besides, I figure we've got hours to kill before him and Banner make any progress."

Seriously, where was this coming from? Fortunately for her sanity, Rumlow reveals his thought process a moment later.

"Thought you seemed familiar when I first laid eyes on you. And then Fury just came out and said it. You're some kind of android, yeah? And apparently you look exactly like a young Peggy Carter. Damn, if Director Carter was this hot back in the day, I only wish I'd been alive during World War 2."

Peggy's lips thin out at that, but fortunately Rumlow doesn't notice. He's too busy staring at her tits. Still, at least she understood now. He thought she was a damnable robot, just like Fury did. It was such a stupid idea that it was honestly kind of brilliant, Peggy had been forced to acknowledge. Putting her in a suit of armor would have been one way to hide her true identity, but if the armor had been damaged and her face had been revealed, Stark would have been forced to answer uncomfortable questions. The armor would have made it clear he was hiding something about her.

But by brazenly walking her right onto the bridge of the Helicarrier, parading her around half of SHIELD and it's Director besides, and allowing Fury to come to his own conclusions about her inhuman strength… Stark had let them decide she was a fucking robot. Peggy hadn't been convinced it would work right until the moment that the words, albeit filled with disbelief and outrage, had left Director Fury's mouth.

Still, as much as she'd come to appreciate Stark's plan, this altercation with Rumlow was rapidly beginning to sour her to the idea. Especially since the man was only getting handsy.

"Now then, Stark has to have some way to make you more compliant and docile. How exactly do I go about turning you on…"

One hand is still on her shoulder, but the other is reaching for places that will leave Peggy no choice but to respond. If he actually tries to touch her, she can't be held responsible for what happens nex-

"Agent Rumlow."

Like he's just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Rumlow draws back, looking away from Peggy for a moment and giving a big bright smile to Commander Maria Hill as she approaches down the hill.

"Commander Hill. Just figured I'd see if Stark's PA knew anything juicy, working with Stark and all."

The look on Maria's face is one of confusion. She, Peggy knows, is not HYDRA. She also doesn't know that Rumlow is a scum fuck. Already, Peggy can see the other woman making excuses in her own mind for what she thinks she just walked up on. It's both funny and sad how often Peggy has seen that look on a woman's face, where she tries to justify the actions of a man she thinks is her friend towards another woman. It's enough to make Peggy sick, to be honest.

"Director Fury tasked me with asking Carter some questions. You should make sure the rest of the Iron Legion are ready to move out. You'll be deployed the moment Stark and Banner have found the Cube."

"Right. Of course. A pleasure meeting you, Carter."

Rumlow is all smiles as he holds out a hand for Peggy to shake. Smiling right back, Peggy takes advantage of the HYDRA infiltrator's mistake, grabbing his hand fast and squeezing it even harder than she squeezed Fury's. She doesn't quite break Rumlow's hand… but she does make sure to purposefully grind the bones together, causing him to gasp and buckle a bit as she beams down at him.

"A pleasure to meet you too, Agent Rumlow."

When she lets go of his hand, he just laughs it off, shaking out his no doubt tingling fingers and commenting on her strong grip. Then, he leaves them there, with Commander Hill watching him go for a moment with a strange look on her face. Then, she looks back to Peggy.

"Agent Carter."

A clear attempt to trip her up. Fortunately, Agent hasn't been her designation for a long time. It's Captain Carter, though obviously she can't correct Hill with that. Instead, Peggy just smiles blandly, playing her role to a T. It's not hard… she had plenty of experience at playing the vapid secretary back before she was dosed with the serum.

"I'm sorry, Commander Hill? I'm no Agent. I'm Mr. Stark's Personal Assistant, Penny Carter."

Maria presses her lips together tightly.

"… Right. Except that's not quite the truth, is it? We know Tony Stark likes to make Artificial Intelligences. We know he has more than one. And we know what you are. What we don't know is just how much you're based on your template. How much of you is Stark's AI… and how much of you is Peggy Carter, the woman who helped found SHIELD?"

Director Fury must have put Maria up to this. Perhaps because he thought that Peggy would appreciate a friendly female face. It's a pretty basic attempt at manipulation, but to be fair if they think she's a newborn AI in an android body, they might be trying to keep things simple for her sake. Still, this is a little ridiculous. Had Tony known this would happen when he'd gone with this strategy? Had he known he'd have the few remaining actual SHIELD agents running around like chickens with their heads cut off over her?

Tony had assured her that he had the situation with Loki and this would-be Chitauri Invasion completely under control… and so far, Peggy had no reason not to believe him. But this was still such a waste of time. Unfortunately, she couldn't tell Maria that. No matter how much she wanted to take the other woman by the shoulders, shake some sense into her, and tell her to get back to work.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about, Commander Hill. Even if I resemble this other woman, I am not her. I am Penny Carter, Personal Assistant to Tony Stark."

Huffing, Maria shakes her head… and then changes tactics all of the sudden.

"Has… has Mr. Stark ever made demands of you? Has he or his wife ever had you do anything you didn't want to do? Look… Penny. If anything untoward has happened, SHIELD can help you and-!"

Jesus fucking Christ. Rumlow was a hairs breadth away from assaulting her… or rather, from suffering a few broken bones from ATTEMPTING to assault her, and not only had Maria completely glossed over that fact, she was now accusing Tony Stark of sexual malfeasance instead! Peggy had just found that she could in fact reach the end of her rope. Fortunately, she had enough self-control to rein in just how badly she was going to snap.

Reaching out, she places a hand on Maria's shoulder, applying just enough strength to make the other woman freeze in place as she leans forward.

"Is this relevant to either of our work, Commander Hill? There is an alien invader aboard this spaceship and yet you seem more concerned with Mr. Stark, the man who invented the technology that made it possible for that alien invader to be captured. Perhaps you have your priorities out of order, Commander."

"I-!"

"Good day, Commander."

Then, giving Maria Hill a perfect robotic smile, Peggy lets go of the other woman's shoulder and spins on her heels, walking away. She'd asked for this, she reminds herself. She wanted to be on the ground floor, she wanted to be in a position to help. Tony had tried to tell her how stupid the people he had to rely on could be, but she hadn't believed him.

Ugh, the worst part was, while no part of her wanted anything to do with Rumlow… Hill's insinuation that she might be engaging in sexual acts with Tony and his wife had put the mental image in her head and now Peggy couldn't get it out. Stupid overactive sex drive. Stupid SHIELD. Stupid Tony Stark. Stupid fucking alternate universe.

… She better have something to punch sometime real fucking soon…

-x-X-x-

His technopathy combined with the numerous backdoors he and J have into SHIELD's systems at this point means Tony sees everything that happens on the Helicarrier, and around it at all times. Even as his physical body is hard at work in the lab helping Bruce set up his detection network for the Tesseract, Tony is also multitasking, watching Thor and Sif talk about Loki, and Rumlow and Hill both make fools of themselves with Peggy.

Fury also goes to talk with Loki himself instead of sending Natasha, either because he thinks Natasha is compromised or because he thinks she's not the best fit this time around since Loki is a woman.

Either way, it doesn't go very well for him. Luckily for Fury, Tony has taken the liberty of derailing some of Loki's plan. The scepter is not being held in the same room as him and Brucie doing their work, and thanks to the drug Bruce is on, it'll take an actual direct threat to his life to get him to Hulk out. Now to be fair, the attack on the Helicarrier might still do it, but Tony is willing to take that risk.

Of course, just as he's thinking that… he gets a call from someone he's been expecting for a while now. Pulling a modicum of his focus back to his physical body, Tony gives Bruce a smile.

"Sorry Bruce, that'll be the Secretary of the World Security Council. Have to take this one."

"Oh! No problem… should I leave?"

"No, no, don't mind me. Just keep working."

Then, because Tony can be a little extra at times but he thinks Bruce has gotten to a headspace where he really doesn't mind… he turns and lets his 'holograms' out to play, turning them into hardlight that covers him up like a cocoon or an ominous pyramid and gives him total and complete soundproofing. Well, one way soundproofing. He still hears Bruce quietly say 'holy shit', which brings a grin to his face even as he finally answers Pierce's call.

"Mr. Secretary."

"Tony, I'm hearing some concerning things."

"Well, we've apprehended Loki and are currently hunting down the Tesseract, so I'd say everything is going pretty good, Mr. Secretary."

"Tony…"

At the warning in Pierce's voice, Tony sighs and changes tone.

"What's got you concerned, sir? Is it the personal suit of armor or the Life-Model Decoy?"

There's a telling beat of silence on the other end at that.

"… So your new PA is actually an android based on Peggy Carter?!"

"Look, Mr. Secretary. Everything I'm doing has a purpose. Keeping Fury off balance by flying out in my own suit and bringing 'Penny' into the mix is by design. Because I'm going to let Loki escape."

And just like that, Pierce is sufficiently distracted.

"Excuse me?!"

"Think about it, sir! Sure, I could lock Loki up tighter than Fort Knox. I could make sure every attempt she made at getting off this Helicarrier failed. Hell, I could go down to her cell and kill her myself right now, giving us all the time in the world to find and secure the Tesseract. But I'm not going to do that… because we need this to be an actual invasion, sir."

"Explain, Stark."

"So far, we've got an incursion. Loki is one crazy bitch who's managed to mind control a few dozen people with a glowing stick. At the moment, this isn't any more desperate or destructive than the New Mexico incident a couple years back. The rest of the Council is still sitting on its hands regarding Project Insight, but consider this… how fast will they sign off on building those six Helicarriers if New York itself is attacked by an alien army?"

There's a long pause at that as Pierce considers everything Tony has just said. In the end, he asks the obvious.

"… How do you know it's going to be New York?"

Tony rolls his eyes at that, knowing full well Pierce can't see him.

"Because sir, she's going to want to use my Tower. She doesn't like me very much. But more than that, Stark Tower is powered by the same limitless energy source as all of my Repulsor Technology as well as the Iron Legion. It's the perfect place for her to open the portal. Anywhere else and she's not going to have the sort of spectacle she wants."

"And that you want, Stark. While I agree that this would certainly light a fire under the World Security Council's ass… I'm not sure it's worth the risk. We don't know how strong the enemy army truly is. Can we even guarantee that we can close the portal once its open?"

Tony smiles. He knows exactly how strong the Chitauri are, as well as their main weakness. He also knows exactly how to close the portal precisely when he wants to. That all said…

"No sir, but that's even more reason to open the portal. First, we let Loki start her invasion in earnest and allow some of her army to come on through. Then, you manipulate the WSC into launching a nuclear missile at New York that I'll make sure gets delivered right to the alien fleet's doorstep. Two birds with one stone. The people who matter will see just what sort of threats from beyond the stars that we're dealing with, and Loki's army will get blown to kingdom come."

Reluctant silence fills the air, which is amusing because Pierce and the rest of the WSC had signed off on the nuke the first time around. Still, Tony supposes the situation isn't quite so dire yet. No Chitauri have made it to Earth so far after all.

"Launching a nuke at New York City would be… career ending, Tony."

That gets a scoff from Tony before he can really help himself. In the end, he just has to roll with the instinctive reaction.

"That's why I suggested you manipulate the Council, not suggest it outright sir. Surely there's someone on the Council who you'd rather wasn't there. And surely someone of your skill can fool them into thinking the nuke is their plan when the time comes. All you have to do is have the missile on standby for me."

This time around, rather than falling silent, Pierce hums consideringly. And in that moment, Tony knows he has the older man.

"… It's not a bad plan, Tony. Though there's quite a lot of room for error, and that error could lead to catastrophe."

"You don't have to tell me twice, sir. I'll be right there in the city itself, fighting and protecting New York and my Tower. I already told you I'm ready to fly that missile through the portal personally. I swear to you, if you have my back on this, I can destroy the enemy and deliver a performance worthy of the funding we need for Project Insight. New York itself will have been attacked… people will be stumbling over themselves to make sure it never happens again."

"Heh… you're damn right, Tony. You're damn right. Well done my boy. Go forth with my blessing. And not to worry… I'll have your back."

Tony sure hopes so. Because if at any point Pierce gets cold feet, Tony is more than ready to kill him and the entire Council if he has to, at which point JARVIS can take over, pretending to be the World Security Council for as long as Tony needs the charade to last.

But… no. It probably won't come to that. Yet.

Just as Tony opens his mouth to speak, he receives a ping from JARVIS. Barton and Loki's other mind controlled servants are on their way and closing fast with the Helicarrier.

"Thank you sir. Loki's escape just began so I'm going to have to let you go."

"… Godspeed, Stark. Godspeed."

With that, Tony ends the call and releases himself from his hardlight cocoon. Bruce looks over at him and smiles, which Tony returns with a big, wide grin.

Then, the entire ship rocks and Bruce's smile drops from his face as Barton and Company's assault begins. Show time.

-x-X-x-

A/N: So nice of Pierce to be so helpful and supportive of Tony's plans.

Is everything still going according to Loki's plans? Well, SHE thinks it is.

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