be_compromised | for wizbey: Silence the Past 1/2

A Gift From:

sneakronicity
Type Of Gift: Fic
Title: Silence the Past
A Gift For:

wizbey
Rating: M
Warnings: some scenes of torture
Summary/Prompt Used: Clint captured and experimented on by HYDRA/Red Room. Natasha isn't going to let that happen and goes to save him (off SHIELD's radar // with no help from SHIELD // present day rebuilding SHIELD with no resources exist). Bonus points for (fraction) Kate Bishop as Natasha's backup; Something with wings for the experiment on Clint; Cute comfort between Natasha and Clint.
Author's Note: Tried to MCU-ize a few characters here so I hope I did them justice. Loved this prompt and had a great time with this! Thanks to shenshen77 for the beta!

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ohmydarlingdear

Surveying her neatly folded piles of clothing and various other items and toiletries, Natasha began to carefully pack her bag. She packed no weapons, not that she needed to. Everything she required was waiting for her in a little house in Asov, Russia; a house of her own that not even S.H.I.E.L.D. was aware of.

Before she could finish her task, a knock sounded at her door. Assuming it was Coulson come to tell her not to do anything stupid, she threw her bedspread back to cover the half-packed luggage and answered the door. The face that greeted her was a surprise.

Agent Kate Bishop was a rookie, barely in her twenties, and only with S.H.I.E.L.D. for six months, but Clint had taken an instant shine to her once he had seen her natural prowess with the bow and arrow. He offered her private lessons, and he claimed that after only a few months she was almost as good as he was. They had gotten to be pretty good friends as well, but Natasha hadn’t spent much time with her, so why was she here?

“I was supposed to have a training session with Agent Barton, but he never showed,” Kate said by way of greeting. She clearly wasn’t about to waste the Black Widow’s time with pleasantries, a fact Natasha appreciated, especially considering the time crunch she was feeling.

“I’m sure he has his reasons,” she stated, keeping her post at the door so the girl couldn’t enter.

Kate’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Maybe, but then I asked around. He was supposed to return from his mission two days ago but nobody has seen him.”

“Sometimes complications arise and missions run overtime. It’s not unusual,” Natasha answered in the same even tone, not betraying a hint of emotion.

“Except that he completed his mission,” Kate responded, clearly irritated with the attempt to put her off. “Rumour has it he didn’t come back. Rumour has it he was taken.”

The first hint of a reaction was the slightest twitch of Natasha’s eyes that would have been near imperceptible if Kate hadn’t been looking so hard for it.

“You shouldn’t believe every rumour-”

“Look, I’m worried, okay?” Kate cut her off, deciding it was time to just be frank. “Nobody will tell me anything official, but... they’ll tell you.”

The look Kate gave her made Natasha stop and consider the young woman before her. She was highly competent, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s best new recruits with her scores being in the top five percentile, both on written and physical exams. More than that, though, was the praise Clint had heaped upon her, and the affection he seemed to have for her. He had always told Natasha that she needed to learn to trust people, and he trusted Kate...

Stepping back from the door, Natasha motioned for the girl to enter before heading back toward her bed. “Close it behind you,” she instructed.

Kate hesitated a moment, clearly taken aback, before stepping inside and closing the door. She lingered awkwardly by it until Natasha threw back the blanket to reveal her luggage. “You’re going after him,” Kate said, moving further into the room.

“SHIELD has no answers because it is not SHIELD business. It’s personal,” Natasha replied, “and I don’t intend to wait around for them to decide whether one agent’s life is worth the risk and resources.” While she spoke she continued to pack, and without looking she could tell that Kate was processing this information, and trying to decide which of her dozens of questions was most important to ask first.

In the end she decided that they all could wait.

“I’m going with you,” she stated. Natasha paused a moment before placing the last few things in her bag and zipping it up. Only then did she turn to meet Kate’s eyes.

“They took him because of me. This is my battle and it will not be an easy one,” she said, studying Kate closely.

“Then you’ll need back-up,” Kate replied, straightening her back and putting on a defiant air.

Natasha knew she should refuse, that she couldn’t risk another life for a personal vendetta, but she also knew it would be fruitless. Kate was clearly not the type to take no for an answer, especially when it was something important. If Natasha told her no the girl would undoubtably follow her and become a hindrance to the entire thing. Natasha could knock her unconscious, but perhaps she was right. This wasn’t about either of them, it was about finding Clint and getting him out safely. Kate was an exceptional agent and could only be an asset on this mission; and besides, she obviously cared about him.

“Meet me in the garage in twenty minutes. Bring only what you need, no weapons. Everything else is taken care of,” Natasha finally agreed after a prolonged silence. Kate’s expression at these words shifted from determination to surprise, then to excitement.

“Twenty minutes. Got it,” she said, practically running for the door. Thankfully she didn’t leave with the cliché you won’t regret this, as Natasha wasn’t sure whether it would be true in this case or not. She did know, however, that she had a lot of explaining to do. She had to make sure Kate knew exactly what to expect when they got to Russia, and as much as Natasha preferred to keep her past to herself, this had to be a full disclosure mission. For Clint’s sake.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Clint awoke with a jolt and a scream, his entire body spasming and jerking as electricity coursed through it. It lasted only a moment, but even when the source was removed the pain continued, leaving him twitching and whimpering.

“Oh, good, you are awake,” a distinctly female voice said, making him wince. The electricity had done a number on his hearing implants, and amidst the static buzzing and crackling he was hearing, her voice cut through like nails on a chalkboard.

He tried to move but of course he was restrained. Heavy leather straps bound his wrists and ankles, and another stretched across his bare chest to hold him to the table where he lay. Finally blinking through his tears he got a look at his captor. “Tasha...” he murmured before his vision truly cleared. There were similarities, at least on the surface, but this woman was nothing like Natasha. The look in her eyes and the sneer on her lips was something he had never seen his partner wear. It was a look of pure hatred.

“Natasha,” she scoffed. “Do not even speak that name. Natasha.” Spitting the word out again she shook her head. “Natalia, that is her true name. But of course you know that.”

An old enemy of Natasha’s, then, that much was obvious, but why take him?

“Who are you?” Clint asked. He had seen this scene in enough movies to know what part to play. Who are you? What do you want with me? Those were the kinds of questions to ask, questions to keep her talking while he tried to figure a way out of this, and just maybe she would even tell him something useful, something that could help him escape.

“Me?” she said with a terrible grin. “I am Yelena Belova. I am the true Black Widow. Natalia has gone soft. You made her that way. She no longer deserves that title.”

“What do you want with me?” Someone from the Red Room, someone who had undergone the same training as Natasha. A glimpse of what Natasha could have been had she not turned away from it all.

“Is it not obvious? You are bait,” Yelena said, and for a brief second Clint felt relieved. Bait meant she would keep him alive, it meant he had more time, and he knew this woman would be no match for Natasha.

The relief didn’t last.

“Unfortunately for you, I prefer my bait cooked,” Yelena grinned that same malicious grin before sending another shock through Clint’s body.

The last thing he heard was his own scream before his hearing aids shorted out and there was only silence.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

They had been on the road for ten minutes, and not a word had been spoken since leaving the garage. Natasha had to give Kate credit: it was clear the girl was practically itching to know who had taken Clint and why, but she didn’t ask. Maybe she was feeling intimidated by the journey ahead of her with the Black Widow for company, or perhaps she had the patience of a saint. Either way, it was rather impressive.

Glancing over at her, Natasha was tempted to see how long the silence would last, but she knew she owed Kate an explanation, and it wasn’t right to drag it out.

“How much do you know about me?” she finally broke the silence.

Kate started slightly and turned her head to look at Natasha. Personally she didn’t know the Widow well, and for a moment she just observed her as if trying to determine if there was a correct answer to the question, and what it might be if there was. “Just what Clint told me,” she said, and catching the quick look her words earned she pressed on. “Nothing really personal or anything, just... you come up a lot. It’s actually kind of annoying.”

Clearly that was the correct answer as it earned a smile, albeit a fleeting one. Of course there were the rumours, the things she’d heard from other agents, but she figured that went without saying. She was right.

“I’m sure you’ve heard the stories of how I joined SHIELD,” Natasha stated, receiving a nod in reply. “But it’s not exactly common knowledge what I did before I went freelance.”

People knew she had been an assassin for hire before Clint had brought her in, but Fury had managed to keep her affiliations before that buried. It was need to know information that, as far as he was concerned, nobody else needed to know. Until now Natasha had agreed with him, but what if he was wrong? Maybe they should have talked about it, should have flushed out the Red Room years ago, should have found their new location and destroyed all that was left instead of only picking off the individuals that showed their faces.

You can’t live on maybes, remember.

“The Red Room was an underground faction of the KGB, so underground that it remained operational even after the Soviet Union fell. Its purpose was to create super-spies, and their favourite program involved training young girls to lie, manipulate and kill without thought or question.”

There was so much more to it, of course, but it was hard enough for Natasha to offer even the most condensed version to anyone, let alone someone she didn’t know all that well.

“I was the best, and earned the title of Black Widow, but they made a tactical error and I left,” Natasha continued, not elaborating on the ‘error’, though she could sense Kate’s curiosity. The girl didn’t need to know about Alexei, and how Natasha’s grief over his death had turned her away from the Red Room instead of ingratiating her further into it as they had expected. That part of the story had no bearing on today’s mission. “If Clint hadn’t found me first, I’m sure they would have.”

For a while there was silence, and Kate took the opportunity to try to digest everything she had just learned. It wasn’t much, purposefully vague, but to hear it directly from Natasha made it feel weightier and more deserving of careful consideration. “So why now?” Kate asked after a few silent minutes. “Why come after you now, after all these years?”

“I don’t know,” Natasha admitted. “They didn’t say. They only said...” she hesitated a moment before continuing. “They said they had something of mine, and that if I wanted him back I would have to go back in time.”

“Back in time?” Kate repeated, confused.

“They gave me a date, one that corresponds to one of my most famous missions,” Natasha explained.

Kate nodded as she put the pieces together. “So where this job took place, that’s where they have Clint.”

The girl was quick, Natasha had to give her that. “It’s not too late to turn back...”

“No way,” Kate protested with determination. “I’m your ace up the sleeve. They think they have your marksman... they won’t see me coming.”

“That’s what I’m counting on,” Natasha replied, pleased with the answer. “I’m supposed to come alone. They can’t see you.”

“Don’t worry, they won’t,” Kate said with such confidence that Natasha believed her. “I’m gonna be so good that when we get Clint back he might have to start calling me ‘Hawkeye’.”

The rest of the drive they discussed tactics, and once they boarded their plane it was agreed that they should try to get as much rest as they could so they would be at their best for what was to come.

Easier said than done.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

If there was one good thing about being deaf it was that he didn’t have to hear his captor talk, didn’t have to hear her describe all the ways she was going to torture him and what she planned to do to Natasha once she arrived to save him. Clint had read her lips a few times, enough to get the gist of it all, and that had been more than he needed to know.

He had tried to convince her that Natasha wouldn’t show, that S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn’t let her, but Yelena laughed it off. “Natalia cares for you, and that is her weakness. She will come for you,” she had said, and he had given up arguing.

They both knew she was right.

Eventually she had left him alone, presumably to rest and prepare, and while escape was the first thing on his mind, he couldn’t figure out how. He was still strapped securely to the table, and his body was weakened by the electroshocks and the blood loss from the many shallow cuts that now littered his chest and arms, not to mention the lack of sustenance.

Come on, think! You can get out of this! Clint tried to tell himself, but at this point even just trying to think hurt. After searching the room with his eyes as best he could from his prone position, in the end he had to accept that there were likely only two ways out of this: he had to trust that Natasha could beat this nutjob and save his ass, because otherwise the only way out was in a body bag.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

It was mid-afternoon by the time Natasha and Kate reached the former’s safehouse in Asov, and she was glad for the remaining daylight. The house was off the beaten path, had no power, and for all intents and purposes it looked abandoned, which she supposed it was.

Stepping over the threshold, Natasha paused just inside the doorway as a flood of memories washed over her. The last time she had been here she hadn’t been alone either, but it had been another archer by her side. Both her and Clint had been battle worn and weary, and had spent the first night tending to each other’s wounds and keeping watch. The next day, satisfied that they hadn’t been followed, they decided to stay another two. The days and nights had run together as they found comfort, solace and pleasure in each other’s arms, and closing her eyes she swore she could still feel his touch, still hear him whispering her name...

“I like the minimalist look. Very in right now,” Kate’s voice broke her out of her revery, and when she looked over at the girl she could see both concern and urgency in her gaze that was completely opposite to the flippant words. She really was very perceptive, not to mention discreet, and Natasha found herself more and more glad to have the company.

“I never was one for decorating,” she replied, quickly pulling herself together and striding across the room.

The fireplace looked as old and commonplace as everything else, so Kate was a little surprised when Natasha touched something and a hidden panel was revealed. Surprised, and impressed. “Nice little arsenal you have there. All yours?” she asked, though she was pretty sure she already knew the answer when she spotted the bow and quiver hidden along with several guns.

“I have never heard Clint praise another agent the way he does you,” Natasha said, running her fingertips along the bow before removing it from it’s hiding place. “This one he handcrafted himself, his own design.” Turning, she held it out to Kate.

The bow was beautiful, painstakingly and lovingly constructed, and Kate actually hesitated a moment before taking it, as if it was some holy artifact she shouldn’t touch. Once in her hand, though, she tested the weight, the draw strength, and it all felt right. “Only fitting I save his ass with it then, huh?” she said, grinning at Natasha who couldn’t help but smile back, no matter how faintly.

“I’m walking right in the front door and I’m packing light,” Natasha said as she handed Kate the quiver of arrows. “I get the feeling this is going to be a close fight. They’re not going to bring me the whole way here just to shoot me.”

Securing the quiver on her back, Kate nodded. “Figure it’ll be one of those talky villains that wants to explain everything before killing you?”

“Something like that,” Natasha said, slipping a small knife in her boot before closing the hidden panel once more. Truthfully she didn’t expect them to try to kill her at all. She assumed they wanted to capture her, perhaps try to brainwash her back to their cause. She couldn’t be certain, but it seemed like a lot of trouble if they only wanted her dead.

Once the fireplace appeared to be nothing more than that once again, Natasha found some old paper and some pencils and pulled a chair up to the small wooden table. “I was told to come alone, but I doubt they will exercise the same courtesy.” She started sketching a floorplan of the building from memory and pointing out the most likely spots for backup to be stationed. “This is where you come in...”

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

“It almost seems a shame to ruin such a handsome face,” Yelena said, and Clint read the words clearly on her lips. She had a sharp knife in her hand and seemed to be contemplating where to make the next cut. “Do you think she will still want you back once I am done with you?”

“I’ll still look better than you will once she is done with you,” he replied with the cockiest grin he could muster under the circumstances. Him and his big mouth.

The words were clearly unexpected and her expression shifted to rage. She seemed to get over her uncerntainty pretty quick, but just as he felt the first prick of the knife against his cheek she stopped, her head shooting up to look at the door behind him. After a moment she withdrew the knife.

“Lucky boy. She is early,” Yelena said, tucking the knife into her belt. “We will finish this later.”

She disappeared from view and Clint closed his eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. He had to get out of here. Yelena had spoken to someone at the door, so clearly she wasn’t alone, but Natasha most likely was. How many people would she be up against? He had seen her take on some pretty uneven odds and come out on top, but if Crazy Pants had similar training...

Struggling against his bonds, Clint tried to make some wiggle room, but suddenly a hand clamped around his throat and he looked up to see a rather large and mean looking Russian looking down at him. When he could hear it he could understand some of the language, but he couldn’t lipread it, though he was pretty sure whatever the man had just said wasn’t pleasant.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Two guards were stationed at the entrance to what was left of the old, burned out hospital, and as Natasha walked boldly up to them they stood aside and let her pass. A minute later they both slumped to the ground, a single arrow through each of their hearts.

Moving swiftly, silently, Kate located an alternate entrance and took the guards down there just as efficiently before slipping inside. Her mission was clear: while Natasha took care of her personal business, likely a face-to-face meeting with someone from her past, Kate was not to interfere. Her only goal was to find Clint and get him to safety by whatever means necessary.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

for wizbey: Silence the Past 1/2

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