"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.
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