"Then you don't have to. Keep resting up, keep recovering. You don't owe anyone anything."
Bucky nods as Steve watches the byplay… only to freeze when Tony suddenly turns those knowing eyes onto him.
"Captain Rogers. Do you want to go fight aliens with me?"
Suddenly, its not just Tony looking at him. Its Bucky and Peggy as well. Except Bucky is his Bucky, but Peggy isn't his Peggy. Steve squirms under their gazes all the same, turning Tony's words over in his head. Until finally, Bucky rises from his chair and leans over to whisper in Steve's ear. "It's okay Stevie. You don't gotta worry about me. Do what feels right."
Funnily enough, that's what cinches it for Steve Rogers. Because he knows Bucky is right. He doesn't have to worry about his best friend. Bucky has been with Tony and JARVIS for years now and they've helped him regain his mind. He and Bucky had talked about how hard it had all been at length, and his best friend had made it clear that without Tony and J, he would still be a mindless murder machine incapable of even stringing two sentences together.
So yes, Steve could leave Bucky in JARVIS' nonexistent hands and the other man would be alright. But…
"I'd rather stay here if it's all the same, sir. Think you've got everything under control out there and Bucky needs me."
Tony gives Steve a smile and a nod, showing that he doesn't mind one bit. But then, it's not Tony who Steve feels is judging him for his decision.
"Captain Carter. Do you-?"
"Yes! Of course I do! Give me a disguise if you have to. Supply me with a cover story. But I can't just… stay cooped up here for any longer! I want in."
Far from upset that Peggy had interrupted him, Tony's smile only grows.
"I'm happy to have you on board, Captain Carter. That said… you will need a cover story. More than that, I need to know you can follow my orders. No going off half-cocked, no doing your own thing. You follow my lead or HYDRA will have all of our heads on platters, alright?"
Steve winces at the descriptive imagery, but Peggy just huffs and rolls her eyes.
"I was a trained agent of the Strategic Scientific Reserve before I was ever dosed with the Super Soldier Serum, Stark. I know how to follow orders. And I understand the need for secrecy, obviously. Let me know what you need me to do and I'll get it done, no questions asked."
Tony laughs at that before shaking his head. With a hand gesture, he beckons her to follow him, which Peggy does without even one last glance back at Steve and Bucky.
"Don't make promises you can't keep, Peggy. You're definitely going to have a lot of questions by the time we're done designing your… cover. See, I'm thinking something of a refuge in audacity will work best for us here-!"
As the elevator doors close and Tony's voice cuts off, Steve shares a look with Bucky who just shrugs and shakes his head. "I think we're better off not knowing, Stevie."
… Yeah, fair enough.
-x-X-x-
"Alright everyone, just had to pop home for a moment to pick up a pair of ladies I think we'll want present for this!"
Eyes turn towards Tony as he saunters back onto the bridge of the Helicarrier like he owns the place. Then, eyes widen as they see the two women he's brought with him. Only Bruce doesn't seem to have much of a reaction to the two women, other than to clock their presence and quietly note the similarities between Sif and Thor now that Sif has armored back up.
In Thor's case, his eyes widen because Lady Sif is on Tony's left and looking rather pissed at her Prince. Probably because the All-Father was willing to spare the energy to send Thor to Earth in order to stop Loki but couldn't be bothered to bring her home.
In Rumlow's case, his eyes widen because Sif and the other woman Tony has with him are total hotties, and it's obvious that the STRIKE Team Commander, who's only here because he's the leader of the Iron Legion, is enjoying the view immensely.
In Natasha's case, she's gone wide eyed because she doesn' t recognize the other woman besides Sif that Tony has brought with him. He'd trusted Nat with a lot of things over the years, but while she was aware he had the Winter Soldier stuffed away somewhere, she was not aware of Steve Rogers or Peggy Carter.
Finally, in Nick Fury's case, his one working eye widens because he DOES recognize the other woman that Tony has brought with him. Nobody on this bridge had known Peggy Carter back in the SSR days, but Fury HAD known Peggy Carter as SHIELD's Director and his predecessor's predecessor. And even if the first time Fury had met Carter would have been when she was in her fifties at the earliest, it didn't mean he wouldn't be able to recognize a younger version of the same woman.
And sure, Tony could have given Peggy a disguise that would keep her face hidden from all interested parties. But why do that when he could do something really, really funny instead?
"What the fuck, Stark?"
Still grinning, Tony gestures to his left and then his right.
"You're familiar with Lady Sif, of course. And this here is Penny Carter. My new Personal Assistant."
On his right, Peggy steps forward and comes into Tony's field of view. Very much rocking the modern attire of a twenty -first century secretary right now, the female Super Soldier, hidden in plain sight, walks up to Fury at a clipped pace and holds out a hand with mechanical, exacting precision.
" Greetings Director Fury. I am Tony Stark ' s Personal Assistant and Bodyguard, Penny Carter."
Fury stares for a moment before hesitantly reaching out and taking the woman's hand. Which is when he proceeds to yelp as 'Penny' grips down with a bit more force than necessary while shaking the SHIELD Director ' s hand up and down quite… vigorously.
When he's finally able to extract his hand from Peggy's, Fury looks at Tony bewildered and more than a little outraged. And for what might be the first time Tony thinks, Fury actually gives his completely unvarnished and entirely honest thoughts, not holding even a single thing back in his confusion and bafflement. "Did you seriously build a lifelike robot replica of Peggy Carter from her SSR days, Stark?"
It takes every fiber of Tony's willpower not to bust a gut right then and there. When he'd first explained the 'Life-Model Decoy' ploy to Peggy, she hadn't been entirely convinced by the plan. But eventually she'd come around to the idea, since it allowed her to rather brazenly be out in the open without having to spend all of her time stuck in one of his suits. Not to mention, it would also explain the capabilities granted to her by the Super Soldier Serum without tipping anyone off that she might actually be a Super Soldier.
After all, what was more likely? That Tony had built a Life-Model Decoy of Peggy Carter to act as his PA and Bodyguard, or that he ' d somehow stumbled across an alternate universe version of Peggy Carter who ' d been injected with the Super Soldier Serum in Steve Roger's place?
In the end, he just gives Fury a shit-eating grin as he saunters over to the table. "Don't know what you're talking about, Nicky. That's Penny Carter, not Peggy Carter. They're two entirely different people."
Fury growls at that, even as Peggy uses the physical self-control granted by the serum to move with mechanical efficiency and precision over to his side, coming to stand slightly behind and to the right of him.
"We don't have time for your games, Stark."
"I could say the same to you, Nicky. We've got a Goddess in lock up and a Cube to find, and you're interrogating me about my PA for fuck's sake! Get your head in the game, Fury!"
The SHIELD Director ' s eye twitches as the vein on his forehead pulses in a very worrying way. Finally though, he lets it slide. Just as planned. Tony grins wider as the matter of his new ' Personal Assistant' is dropped for the time being, and they get down to brass tacks. He was probably having a little too much fun with all of this. But they had some time to kill before Loki instituted the next stage of her little plan. So he might as well have some fun until then.
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