Moving on to Captain Carter

As fun as it’d been to mess with the Girl of Steel, I needed to move forward with my plans for Captain Carter. Supergirl’s downfall was coming, and it was coming fast thanks to my clever planning, but a single superheroine did not make a harem. And a superpowered harem was ultimately my goal at the end of the day. Supergirl was a great start, but ultimately, that was all that she was. A start.

I checked Captain Carter’s Submission Score once again on the app.

Peggy Carter - Submission Score: -55

It made sense that a woman as independent and used to taking charge as she was would have such a high score. It was a challenge, but it was far from daunting. All I needed to do was to use my head once again and get clever. Fortunately for myself, with enough time and enough scheming, I could get very clever.

Thumbing through the app, I wondered idly on how some of its features worked. I accrued points by making my victims carry out my orders, but did they need to know that the orders came from me? Would their submission score remain unchanged if they followed an order from me if they thought it was actually coming from Nick Fury? Or did the pretext not matter so long as the command being followed came from me? Furthermore, if they did gain Submission Points from following orders that were unknowingly given by myself, were the amount of points gained based off of how humiliated they were in the moment? Or how humiliated they would be if they knew they were following an order given by me specifically. So many variables. So many questions.

I grinned to myself.

Well, that just means that I’ll have to test the app and find out.

I scooted my chair closer to my supercomputer and started typing away. Ever since the world’s more notorious genius-level villains (Luthor, the Calculator, the Tinkerer, Von Doom) were captured or killed, most government agencies and corporations allowed their cyber-security to grow more lax. It was the sort of thing that a short-sighted supervillain would’ve exploited right away and attempted to topple an entire organization with. An act which would, of course, draw plenty of attention from the cape community, and cause said organization to shore up their defenses.

I much preferred playing the long game. A hole in an enemy’s defenses could be exploited for quite a long time if you didn’t kick up too much dirt. I myself currently had access to the files, systems, and databases of multiple organizations worldwide. Mostly, I’d been using them to spy and acquire information, selling said information off at exploitative prices to the few criminal organizations and supervillains that remained around the world.

They had little choice than to pay me whatever I wanted. My information had a reputation for being good, and the few villains that remained were aware that the heroines were cracking down hard, looking to remove the final vestiges of the world’s ‘bad eggs.’ The money that I acquired from these transactions usually ended up getting funneled into the various brothels that I ran around the country. You’ve got to spend money to make money after all.

Now though, I planned on using my access to test my theories on the Submission Accelerator.

More specifically, I was going to use my access to SHIELD’s network to try something with Captain Carter.

I quickly found a directory of live texts being sent in the field. In the past, communications would have happened verbally via commlinks, but in recent years, orders had begun being sent out over a text based messaging system, with comms only being used during live operations. Budget cuts apparently, due to the world being ‘a much safer place’ than it had been a few decades ago.

Regardless, it wasn’t too difficult hacking into their messaging system. I would only be able to do it in short bursts, and I would need to cover my tracks after every message I sent, but that wouldn’t be a problem. Not when SHIELD’s IT department was less competent than the Geek Squad.

I smirked as I pulled up Captain Carter’s communicator.

Time to test my theory.

I paused just before I started typing my fake message. There was no reason to rush into this headfirst. The reason I’d been so successful with Supergirl had been because of my careful planning. There was no reason why I shouldn’t apply the same level of planning to Carter, even if I was eager to find answers to how the Submission Accelerator worked.

Pulling away from my keyboard for a moment, I picked up my phone and dialed the number to a dry cleaner in New York who’s owner owed me a handful of favors (and a sizable tab at one of my many brothels.)

“Hello.” I greeted, as he answered the phone. “If you want to pay off some of that debt you owe me, listen very carefully…”

PEGGY

I stretched as I finished my early morning run. True, my perfect physique and rippling muscles would always be pristine due to the effects of the super-soldier serum, but there was an honesty to working up a sweat that I just couldn’t deny myself. Besides, long distance running beats the hell out of sitting behind a desk all day.

I sighed as I stripped down and stepped into my shower. That desk was still waiting for me though. It sat there, smugly, in the corner of my loft, silently threatening me with the prospect of paperwork.

“God, would it kill the supervillains of the world to be the least bloody bit competent?” I complained as I let the warm water wash over me.

Things had been so new and so exciting when I’d first woken up out of the ice. So many threats to face, so many villains that needed putting down. Now though? Now I was lucky to get called in on a minor international conflict. Myself and the other heroes of the world had just done too bloody good a job of keeping it safe.

I’d gone into the ice as a soldier. I’d woken up a hero. Now I lived as a bloody secretary.

I was just toweling myself off when I heard my communicator ping in the other room. My heart almost skipped a beat at the sound. It had been months since SHIELD had contacted me about a mission. Wrapping the towel around myself, I went to answer it.

SHIELD communicators were very similar to the communicators that the Avengers used. In fact, I was almost certain that SHIELD had co-opted the technology for their own use. Regardless, the screen of the SHIELD communicator showed a flashing envelope icon. A new message.

I tapped the icon with my thumb. The message displayed immediately.

SHIELD DIRECTOR MARIA HILL: Captain Carter, an issue has made itself known that requires your immediate attention. Go to the attached address and await further instructions.

I clicked on the attachment and frowned at the address it gave me. It was just some random street in Brooklyn. Why would Director Hill send me there?

Stop complaining. I told myself. This means you can avoid the desk for a couple of hours.

I let the towel fall, opened the footlocker where I kept my gear, and started suiting up.

If Maria Hill had contacted me personally, it had to be important. And if it was important, me spending time questioning her every word put people at serious risk of getting hurt, or worse.

Putting the last bit of my costume into place, I grabbed my shield and slung it over my shoulder.

“Finally.” I said. “Time to go to work.” (PEGGY: +5SP)(-50SP)