juniorcaptain:

Peggy Carter shows up for her first day as head of SHIELD. Her first task is to interview the roomful of men and women (but mostly men) who are waiting outside her new office. She can only hire a handful and she has to pick the best to ensure that SHIELD doesn’t get shut down (and to prove that she’s capable of running the thing in the first place).

She’s been in plenty of fights before but she’s nervous as she approaches her desk for the first time because the people she hires today could decide the fate of the entire organization.

The door flings open and a young woman enters. She profusely apologizes for being late and introduces herself as Peggy’s assistant, hired by Howard to help her through the day to day minutia of running SHIELD. Peggy’s relieved for the help.

The day constitutes boring interviews and plenty of potential but eventually Peggy winds up with her first response team. Months go by and over time Peggy realizes that her assistant is a capable fighter and starts to bring her along on missions.

One day, Howard witnesses her in action and openly tells Peggy he wishes he could have a secretary that good. Peggy asks why Howard didn’t tell her the girl had combat experience. Howard reveals he never hired an assistant for Peggy.

Cue the reveal the the assistant was one of the initial job candidates. Realizing there were plenty of more experienced agents in the room and not wanting to miss out on being part of SHIELD, she decided to secure a job using the only way she knew – deceit. Turns out she was an undercover agent during the war and, like Peggy, she was told she was no longer needed once the men came home. She made it to that final SHIELD interview but saw that Peggy looked flustered and took advantage of the situation. 

She’s made head of espionage instantly.