#be_compromised

All for One | AO3 by ultra_fic (PG/K+; warning for canonical character death) Prompt: Creativeprompts: Prompt #1274 "Why are you here?" "You have no business asking me that question. Why are you here?"

and i'll never go home again | AO3 by @clintnatasha (Gen; choose not to warn) Prompt: “ I want to meet you in every place i have loved ” from This is how you lose the time war

Body Count | AO3 by @alphaflyer (Teen; no warnings apply) Prompt: Other SHIELD agents trying to guess Nat and Clint's body count.

Brawling Ballerinas | AO3 by @agentsofpuppies (T; no warnings apply) Prompt: Early in their partnership, Clint is stuck on a job in Malaysia, Laura and Cooper are home with the flu, that leaves Natasha alone to go to Lila's dance recital. She just has to show up, right?

Be My Baby | AO3 by ultra_fic (PG/K+; no warnings apply) Prompt:Dirty Dancing AU

Blaze of Glory | AO3 by ultra_fic (PG-13/T; warnings for implied character death/mentions of suicide mission) Prompt: “i don’t care what happens to me.” “i do.”

Back to the Future | AO3 by @cassiesinsanity (G; no warnings apply) Prompt: Their kid from the future plays matchmaker.

Be there when I’m up | AO3 by @sceniclola (Mature; graphic alcohol consumption, violence, not graphic vomiting) Prompt: (Whumpy H/C) Yelena is in crisis (Could be mental health-related from trauma/being alone after Nat left to go back to the Avengers, could involve substances &/or self-harm). Nat & Clint find her, & Nat takes care of her all night through the worst of it. Clint sits out of Yelena's eyesight & just within Nat's reach, taking care of Nat so she doesn't get triggered/dissociate (ASL is a good tool)

can you hear me screaming "please don't leave me" | AO3 by winged_arrows (G; choose not to warn, spoilers for Endgame) Prompt: "Nat, where's Clint?"

Gold Medal | AO3 by @firlalaith (PG; no warnings apply, werewolf!Clint) Prompt:: Winter Olympics! Competitors on the same team, rivals, coaches, volunteers/staff/organisers/audience, AU, undercover…

How Much? | AO3 by ultra_fic (PG/K+; no warnings apply) Prompt: "I'd fight a bear for you. Wouldn't win, but I'd do it."

If You Don't Mind, Then It Don't Matter | AO3 by ultra_fic (PG/K+; no warnings apply) Prompt: Since Clint spent some time brainwashed by Loki, everyone keeps shoving him at Bucky Barnes. Like, 'they have so much in common', and 'you know how it feels', and 'you might be able to help him.' And Clint doesn't want to, but he kinda resents it. Because it's not the same as what Bucky went through, he's trying to ignore that it happened thanks, he doesn't have his own shit together let alone feel capable of helping anyone else, all of the above… (Eventual friendship, poly, deciding it's okay not to be friends, whatever you like!)

Love and War | AO3 by @mx-loar-tev (Teen; Warnings: war, bombing, hospital) Prompt: A Saint Valentine's legend inspired prompt - getting married in secret.

Little Girl Lost | AO3 by ultra_fic (G/K; no warnings apply) Prompt: Natasha lost her arrow necklace.

Last night I told you | AO3 by @sceniclola (Teen; no warnings apply)  Prompt: we’ve woken up hungover and last night i told you i was in love with you

Match | AO3 by @mx-loar-tev (Explicit; smut, swearing, threats of violence) Prompt: Escape room. Collection of characters of your choice. Shenanigans. AND Nat and Clint match on tinder with intentions of just hooking up. After they both realize that they actually liked the other person, but are worried that they are only interested in FWB arrangement. Pinning.

Memento Mei (Quia ventus est vita mea) | AO3 by by @mx-loar-tev (Teen; temporary character death, amnesia) Prompt: “you remember everything barton does! that’s love!!” “no, that’s intel.”

One Giant Leap | AO3 by ultra_fic (PG/K+; no warnings apply) Prompt: Time travel, but into the future.

She Doesn’t Give a Shirt | Ao3 by ultra_fic (PG/K, no warnings apply) Prompt: from twitter: my girlfriend was looking for a shirt to wear from MY closet and had the audacity to say "we need more shirts" AND Drabbble challenge! Exactly 100 word fill/s for any prompt.

Sharing is Caring by @cassiesinsanity (G; no warnings apply) Prompt: from twitter: my girlfriend was looking for a shirt to wear from MY closet and had the audacity to say "we need more shirts"

Soul Meets Body | AO3 by @isle0fmisfitt0ys (Mature; Major Character Death/Fix-It & all the grief & despair that comes along the way, PTSD moments (mentions of suicidal ideation-fleeting, not explicit; discussion of seeing Natasha unalive- again, not graphic), injury & pain (just enough to make the story good, I promise :) ) Prompt: Natasha in space after events on Vormir

The Freezer | AO3 by @brekitten (Gen; no warnings apply) Prompt:Clint finds out he's half alien

Tell Her What She Wants To Know | AO3 by ultra_fic (G/K; no warnings apply) Prompt: Clint gets to know that Bucky is in love with Natasha. During their talk, Clints basically ends up giving Bucky a pep-talk to go for it. Bucky is surprised that he would be so chill about it. “I pretty much assume that everyone is in love with her at all times”, Clint shrugs, “doesn’t bother me.” (Could end in OT3 or just as Clint&Bucky conversation about Nat.)

The Right Decision | AO3 by @brekitten (Teen; minor violence Prompt: Natasha undercover in HYDRA

Third Wheel | AO3 by @inkvoices (PG13; open relationships, polyamory) Prompt: Third-wheeling with this post as inspiration

Clint cursed as he was shoved through a door. His foot caught on something and he hit the ground hard, nearly cracking his head against the floor. As he scrambled to get up, the guys he'd been fighting slammed the door shut and no doubt locked him in.

This wasn't good.

He shivered and took a look around. His heart sank as he realized why he was cold — he was in a large freezer. With several suspiciously body-shaped bags strewn about.

These guys really were crazy.

He raised his hand to his comms and tapped on it, going over to the door. "Hey, Nat? I kinda need some help." There weren't any handles he could turn or locks he could pick on this side. Of course.

"Can it wait? I'm a little busy." Nat was in the middle of a fight, if the sounds of guys getting their butts kicked were any indication.

Clint shivered again and wrapped his arms around himself. Was he just imagining things, or was this freezer colder than it should be? "Well, uh— I guess I can hold out until you're done. It's just a little chilly down here."

"It's the middle of summer, Clint. Why would you be cold?"

"Oh, y'know, just got locked in a freezer." He grimaced, wishing this shirt at least had sleeves. Probably wouldn't help much, but his bare arms weren't liking the cold. Neither was the rest of him, for that matter. "But at least I've got some company? I think there's some dead bodies in here I can chill with."

There was a curse, and he winced as he heard an oomph from Nat. He'd distracted her and she'd gotten hit.

"You're what?" Nat cursed again. "I'm coming. Just try to stay warm."

"I'm trying." Clint started pacing, careful to avoid the bodies.

"Good. I'll be there soon."

Five minutes passed, then ten. Nat kept assuring him that she was coming, but the guys that had previously overwhelmed him were now overwhelming her. He knew she would be able to fight them off — she'd always been a better fighter than him — so he wasn't worried about her getting stuffed in a freezer or something too. He still wished she would get here quicker, though.

At fifteen minutes, the cold started to fade away. Wasn't it a bad thing when people started to feel warm in the cold? He was pretty sure it was. He didn't feel warm, though. Just… not cold.

He'd stopped pacing now and was just standing by the door, barely shivering anymore.

At almost twenty minutes, Nat finally got to the door. "I'm here. Just hold on." The door swung open, and she stepped inside before going completely still, eyes widening. "Clint—"

"I'm okay, I think. May or may not have some light hypothermia, but that's okay, right? Easy problem to fix." He laughed weakly. When she still didn't respond, he came forward and lifted his hand to cup her cheek. "Nat, what's—" And he froze (almost quite literally).

His skin had turned an icy blue.

His breath hitched. "I— I don't—"

Nat cupped his cheeks but immediately jerked her hands back, her gloves covered in frost. She quickly ripped them off, her hands slightly red from the cold. "Woah— that's new." She glanced up at him. "Come out of the freezer."

Clint nodded and stepped out. Frost began to form at his feet.

"What—" He swallowed. He needed to get it together. It couldn't be that. There was no way. "What do I look like?"

Nat pulled out her phone and turned it around. The selfie camera was on, showing his face.

His face that looked just like— just like—

He sank to the floor, heart hammering in his chest. This had to be some kind of nightmare. A horrible, horrible dream that would all be over soon. It had to be.

Because this couldn't be real.

Please, this couldn't be real.

"Clint, I need you to breathe." Nat said firmly. She was crouched in front of him — when had she moved? "Okay? Breathe, just like we practiced."

Right. The breathing exercises for the panic attacks. The ones that were supposed to help him calm down, but they didn't work and Nat knew that, so he didn't know why she even bothered anymore—

"Clint." Nat was still there, still giving him that look of you'd better listen to me or I'll just knock you out. "Look at me. You're going to be okay. We will figure this out together. But first you need to calm down."

He wanted to reach for her. He wanted to hold her close and cling to her and put his hands on her pulse so it could ground him like it always did, but then he remembered the frost on her gloves and the ground and how it was spreading with every breath he couldn't take and it was spreading up her boots right now and he didn't want to hurt her—

"I'm right here," she said as she slowly inched forward, closer to him and closer to the danger— "I'm safe and so are you. You just have to try to breath for me, солнце."

He drew in a ragged breath, but it didn't help. His chest ached, and his head felt fuzzy, the ringing in his ears growing louder. It was almost like he didn't have his hearing aids, but he knew he did because he could still hear her. He tried to take another breath, but it caught in his throat, and he couldn't— he couldn't—

"You remember that mission in Mexico?" Nat asked suddenly. "Where we went to Isla Pasión?"

He struggled to focus on her words, and gave a jerky nod when they registered. Their time on the island had been like a beach episode, sunny days on a pretty beach for over a week.

Nat hummed. "Coulson and Fury said we needed to intercept a smuggler, but it turns out, they just set us up on a vacation because we hadn't taken one since Delta was formed. Once we realized that, we actually enjoyed it."

It had been nice. Almost every day after they'd realized what the "mission" actually was, which didn't take them long, they'd laid out in the sun together on a soft towel and swam in the ocean, and then had drinks while watching the sun set on the water. It had been the most relaxing thing they had ever done, really, and he knew Nat had loved the warmth. He had too.

It was nice to be able to just… breathe, without having to worry about some important mission or threat.

"Still glitter-bombed their offices after though," he mumbled.

Nat snorted. "They deserved it for lying to our faces."

Yeah, they did. Their expressions as they were doused in hot pink glitter had been priceless, too.

"I'd like to go to Hawaii again sometime," Nat said. "We didn't get a lot of time to relax there last time."

Clint nodded. "Should go when there's not so many tourists, too."

She let out a huff. "If there even is a time with less tourists." She shrugged. "We can try out Elafonissi Beach. I've heard the sand is pink depending on when you go."

"That's in… where is that?"

"Crete. That could be our next vacation spot — I've only ever been to Greece once for a mission, so I'd like to go sightseeing someday."

He nodded. "Some cool stuff there."

"Exactly. It would be nice to do the touristy thing, and I bet Fury would let us go. It's been a while since Isla Pasion, and we haven't taken a vacation since."

"Another vacation would be nice." Really nice, actually. He had never been one to go on vacations before he met Nat, and they rarely went on vacations anyway, but Isla Pasion had been great—

Nat wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. He hadn't even noticed how close she'd gotten. "Then that's what we'll do, as soon as we can."

Slowly, Clint brought his arms up to wrap around her and rested his head against hers. His skin was its normal human color again, and the frost was all but gone. "…Okay. I think I've had enough of missions for right now."

"Me too." She pulled back slightly and cupped his cheek. "Are you okay?"

He almost nodded, but stopped himself. "No, I don't think I am."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He knew she wouldn't pressure him if he said no. That was one of the many amazing things about her. But he didn't know if he could hide this. He needed her to know.

"I… when Loki took over my mind, he saw into it. He saw my worst memories, my deepest fears. But him looking into my mind gave me a window to look into his, and… I saw who he is — what he is — and now—" His voice broke. "Now I'm the same monster I saw hidden underneath all of his illusions."

"You're not a monster," Nat said softly. "Trust me, солнце, you're not. You're the kindest man I know, and you're nothing like Loki." She kissed him gently before he could argue. "You may look like him, but it's not what you are that makes you a monster, it's what you do. You love your family and friends with your entire being, and you devote your life to doing good things to make up for all of the bad. I know monsters, and that is something you are not."

It was the exact thing he'd said to her, years ago. He was surprised she'd remembered, but maybe he shouldn't be.

"But—"

"No. Don't be a hypocrite."

He bit the inside of his cheek. "I'm scared, Nat," he whispered. "I don't want to be this— this thing—"

"We'll figure it out. Together." She pressed their heads together. "I promise."

He closed his eyes. "I trust you." Even if he didn't think this was something they could just figure out.

The Red Room and Hydra had never gotten along.

Natalia wasn't entirely sure why. After all, they were quite similar to one another — both were very powerful organizations with people all over the globe, and their goals were quite similar in many ways. They really should have been allies, but maybe they were just too similar for that to work. They were constantly fighting to usurp each other, though neither had succeeded so far.

But that was Natalia's mission — to help the Red Room gain the upper hand.

She was working as a scientist that had recently gained a place deep within Hydra's ranks, deep enough to get access to special projects. She was certain that Dreykov had been planning this for years; the position she was about to take wasn't one gained through a few lies and manipulations. That meant this mission was important. So, Natalia Romanova became Nikoletta Richter, one of the best scientists in Germany.

Her mission was simple, at least in theory. All she had to do was destory Hydra's newest weapon and any records of it so the experiment couldn't be repeated.

In practice, however, this task was going to be much more difficult.

As she was led down the winding halls, she noted how complex the layout was. Few hallways continued in a straight line for very long, and the number of branching halls she saw seemed to grow in number the further into the building she went. It would take her a while to memorize the layout, if she was permitted to explore at all, and she wasn't looking forward to trying to escape this maze at the end of her mission.

There were also cameras in every main corridor (if any of these halls could be considered a "main corridor." It truly was confusing) and even some in the smaller hallways. It would be impossible to avoid them all. There were also guards stationed in several places, protecting what she assumed were the more important areas, as well as many others in the same uniform patrolling the halls.

She'd had some difficult missions before, but this probably already made it to the top the list. She didn't think she'd be able to flirt her way out of trouble this time.

"Welcome, Ms. Richter." A familiar man greeted her outside the door to the lab she'd been brought to. He nodded to the two men flanking Natalia's sides, and they left. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person."

Heinrich König. Not the head of the project, but still very high up on the ladder according to the file she'd read. He was also the one that had been communicating with "Nikoletta Richter" all this time.

"The pleasure is all mine." Natalia plastered on her best professional smile.

He smiled back, and she could already tell he was going to be an easy man to please. "Come. I'll show you where you'll be working." He pulled a keycard out of his pocket and swiped it.

The door slid open, and Nat noticed several things when she stepped in. One, despite the sterile smell permeating the lab, there was still a strong stench of blood. From all of the uncleaned blood she could see around the room, no doubt. Two, many of the tools laid out on the tables looked like straight-up torture devices rather than actual medical tools. And three, there was a man about her age strapped to a chair in the center, blood dripping down his chest from a long and jagged cut a man in a lab coat had just made.

Heinrich turned to Natalia again. "We're currently testing the weapon's healing factor. Just small cuts, nothing too serious."

She wouldn't consider the gashes on the man's chest "small cuts," but that wasn't her problem. He was going to die anyway.

"I see." She glanced around the room again. "What else have you done?"

Heinrich opened a drawer and pulled out a file, passing it over to her. "This details all of our experiments so far, as well as any other important information. The guards will take you to your quarters, and I would recommend that you read through the file before tomorrow morning so you will be caught up."

Natalia nodded. "I will."

"Excellent." He led her out of the lab and handed her a dark red keycard with Hydra's logo in the corner. "This will give you access to anything you'll need during your stay."

"Thank you." She slipped it into her pocket. She doubted it would give her access to much — probably just the lab and her room, and maybe one or two other areas she'd need for her job. It was highly unlikely that it would give her access to the things she needed for her mission, though.

"Of course. I will see you in the morning, Ms. Richter." He waved over the men from earlier. "Take her to her quarters. It'll be in the east wing."

"Yes, sir," they said, and they briskly led her away.

Once again, she was taken through winding hallways that she was certain she would get lost in if she wasn't being led around by the guards. This really wasn't ideal. If something went wrong — and it shouldn't, but she knew not to just hope for everything to go perfectly according to plan — then she would likely never make it out of here.

She really had to make sure that she didn't fail.

She glanced around as she stepped into the bedroom and shut and locked the door behind her. There were a few obvious cameras with equally obvious blind spots, and she almost scoffed at such an apparent trap. She could already see the hidden cameras and she wasn't even looking. Did they really think she was that stupid? She didn't doubt that there were also listening devices scattered across the room, but she had no reason to go looking for them and make herself seem suspicious. This was a no contact mission.

She sat on the bed — soft mattress. This was going to be horrible to sleep on — and opened the file. Inside were dozens of papers.

She had a feeling this was going to take a while.

~*~

The man's name was Clint Francis Barton. He had been sold to Hydra by his father about twelve years ago, and he had been experimented on ever since. Hydra had apparently tried to fix his hearing impairments, first through surgeries and then through actual experiments, but all of those efforts only made it worse until he was completely deaf. Natalia would have assumed that they would have just given up and killed him because he was defective — the Red Room wouldn't have even gone those lengths to fix him — but he was apparently the best shooter they'd ever had, so they continued their experimentation to make him the "perfect soldier" by pumping several different variants of the super soldier serum into his body.

It was really a miracle he'd survived this long.

Currently, Hydra was testing to see if anything else needed to be modified, such as his healing or senses (while his hearing still hadn't changed, his sight was apparently "like that of a hawk").

It wasn't part of her mission to feel anything for her target, but she still felt a pang of sympathy for him. He'd been put through a lot.

She quickly shoved that feeling down; it wouldn't do her any good to dwell on how horrible his circumstances were. That would just make it harder to carry out the mission, and she could not afford to fail.

At precisely seven in the morning, there was a knock on the door, and Natalia opened it to find the same guards from yesterday.

"The boss told us to come fetch you," one said. "Are you ready?"

She nodded. "Yes. Lead the way."

As they took her down the halls again, she told herself that adding to Barton's suffering would be more beneficial than not. She could at least learn his weaknesses now.

(Why was she calling him by his name? Doing so would only make this worse on herself. No, he needed to be referred to as the weapon or the test subject or the target, because that's what he was. Not a man that had been through too much pain.)

Barton— no, the weapon was being pulled into the lab from a door off to the side when she stepped into the room, and she watched him get strapped down into the chair without a fuss. Judging by the look in his eyes, he was already starting to dissociate.

Not that she could blame him. She doubted they put him on painkillers.

"So, Ms. Richter." Heinrich grinned at her. "Where would you like to start?"

She glanced over at B—the weapon and bit back a sigh. "Let's see what he's made of." She grabbed a tool and got to work.

~*~

It was on day five that Natalia was left alone with the weapon for the first time.

It had been a slower day; they were only doing some strength assessments, so the only scientists she'd seen were the ones that brought the weapon to and from his cell, and they always left soon after Natalia arrived. Partway through one of the tests, Heinrich got a call and had to leave the room, so she allowed the weapon to set down the weights he was lifting.

"You're new," he said softly. His voice was slightly hoarse, like he didn't speak often. He probably didn't; she'd never heard him speak before.

She lowered her clipboard slightly and looked over at him. "Yes, I am."

He nodded slowly, staring at her face as if he was searching for something. "You're different from the other scientists."

She quirked a brow. "What, because I'm a woman?"

"No."

"Then why?"

He just shrugged.

Natalia eyed him. "I've never seen you talk to anyone before. Why are you suddenly talking to me?" He undoubtedly wanted something.

"Just curious."

"About?"

"Why you're so different."

Natalia let out a huff. So helpful. "I don't think I'm any different."

"You are." He was still watching her, studying her. "You don't have the same look the others do."

She was shocked he'd noticed — she was usually very good at blending in exactly how she needed to, and few could see past her masks — but he wasn't wrong. Everyone else watched his suffering with a sadistic glee she supposed she couldn't quite replicate.

Natalia didn't show her surpise on her face, though. "Is that so?"

"Yep." He cleared his throat, sounding more hoarse with every word that came out of his mouth. "So why are you different?"

"I'm just doing my job." Her eyes flicked over to the door as it slid open.

"Sorry about that. Couldn't leave him on voice mail." Heinrich clapped his hands together. "Now, where were we?"

Barton didn't say another word during the session, but his eyes were always on her.

~*~

Natalia didn't get many opportunities to talk to Barton after that — and yes, she had unfortunately taken to calling him that rather than something more impersonal. She tried her best not to dwell on anything other than her mission, but that was proving to be incredibly difficult.

She'd never actually cared about her targets before. It was usually quite easy to focus on the mission and ignore any feels that may arise from it (not that it happened often). But now?

Now, she felt bad for her target. He didn't seem like a horrible person; he was just a victim of Hydra's cruelty.

She could relate to him, to some extent, and that alone threatened the entire mission.

Just why did she have to start caring now? When she was so deep in enemy territory that she would certainly die if she failed?

She was doomed.

After a few weeks, Natalia had figured out how to navigate from her room to the lab and back without the aid of the guards, but she still didn't know how to actually get out of the building. She hadn't been outside since she'd arrived here, and Heinrich had refused to let her out when she asked, even after she gave him her best smile, the one that always got her what she wanted from men.

"It's a bit of a precaution, you see. We want to make sure there's no chance someone can steal our information and use it for themselves, so very few people here ever leave, and even fewer know how to get out of here unassisted. Most of the guards don't even know the way out. I hope you understand, but I just can't let you leave right now."

She did understand, but even if it was a smart move on their part, it was less than helpful for her. Heinrich wouldn't even give her a map — that was one of the first things she'd asked for.

That meant she had to do things the hard way.

She walked down the twisting halls one night with the utmost confidence, just like she had been every day. The guards didn't need to suspect that she was doing anything wrong, and they didn't, as no one stopped her. At least, not until she reached the lab.

The guard standing in front of the lab door held out his hand as she pulled out her keycard. "I can't let you in here. This area is off-limits at night."

Natalia raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "I'm here to do some testing."

"This late?"

"Yes. The time is part of the experiment, though I don't believe you have a high enough clearance for me to tell you the details."

He narrowed his eyes. "Was this experiment sanctioned at all?"

"Yes. If you would like to call Heinrich and confirm it, be my guest. But I don't think he would appreciate being woken right now. There's a reason he's not here for this test." She maintained eye contact and didn't waiver. She was one of the best liars in the Red Room for a reason.

The seconds seemed to stretch into minutes as the guard stared at her. Then, "Fine. But try not to take too long."

"Thank you." She swiped her keycard and headed inside.

The lab seemed more ominous in the dim lighting of the small floor lights they turned on at night. The glint of the metal tools made them look sharper, the shadows were longer and swallowed much of the room, and the deathly silence that had fallen over the normally sound-filled lab made Natalia feel as if something terrible was about to happen.

She had never been afraid of the dark — it was such a childish fear — but this place put her on edge.

Deep, slow breaths, she reminded herself. Fear clouds the mind and makes people sloppy.

She could not afford to be sloppy.

She opened the door at the other end of the room and made her way down the darkened hallway until she reached the only locked door. She pulled a pin out of her hair and picked the lock, then pushed open the door.

Inside the room was a pitch black void, one that the dim lighting in the hall could barely even begin to illuminate. It took her a moment to sort through the darkness and find Barton, who was curled up in the far corner facing the door. He was fast asleep and probably wouldn't wake any time soon.

It would be so easy to kill him, right here, right now. She could try to finish her mission — she wasn't sure where she would find all of the experiment records, but they had to be here somewhere. She could return home.

But she'd made up her mind long before she stepped out of her room tonight. It was probably the stupidest decision she'd ever made, but… it felt right, for once.

As she stepped into the room, she noted that the floor was padded. She was suddenly reminded of the sensory rooms in the Red Room — but unlike those rooms, everything she could see was painted black, not white.

How odd.

She ventured further into the room and carefully nudged Barton with her foot. She didn't want to get too close, unsure of how he would react. It would be rather counterproductive if she got injured.

His eyes snapped open and he bolted upright, but he didn't attack like she'd half-thought he would. Instead, he sat there and squinted at her. Even though she could barely see him in the light, it was quite obvious how tense he was. His breathing was slightly heavy, too. She doubted anyone ever came for him at night, and she had definitely never come for him herself, so she couldn't blame him for being nervous.

Natalia sighed and held out her hand. "Come on. We're getting out of here."

He slowly reached forward and took her hand, and she pulled him to his feet.

"We need to be quick," she said, letting go of his hand. "Once we leave this— what?"

He just looked confused, and he didn't seem to be calming down at all. This in turn confused her, and it took her a moment to remember what she'd read in his file. Right, he was deaf, and the room was so dark he likely couldn't read her lips. How had she forgotten that?

She stepped outside of the room and turned towards him, making sure she was facing the dim lights. "Let's try this again. We'll have to be quick, because once we leave the lab, there's no going back. We'll have to make a break for the exit, wherever it is."

"I know where it is," he said softly. "Vaguely anyway. Most of the hallways are connected some way or another, so we shouldn't run into many dead ends."

That surprised her. She would have expected there to be plenty of dead ends in this labryinth of a facility. She wondered how much she could really trust him, but even if he only vaguely knew where the exit was, he was still better off than her, so she didn't have a choice.

"Good to know. You'll lead the way, then." She took a deep breath. Calm mind meant a focused mind. "Are you ready?"

He nodded. "I'm ready if you are."

She was far from ready, actually. This was by far the worst idea she'd ever had. But there was no going back now. "Then let's go."

She led him out, and she made quick work of the guard. He had barely even turned towards the door as it slid open before she'd snapped his neck and dropped his body. She grabbed his gun and checked that it was loaded before proceeding down the hall.

They didn't get very far before an alarm sounded.

Natalia cursed and pushed Barton in front of her so he could take the lead, and they started running. It wasn't long before guards swarmed them, and she began shooting. The guards dropped like flies.

Then she ran out of bullets, and she was once again reminded of what a catastrophically bad idea this was.

Until Barton slammed his fist into a guard's face, and the man crumpled to the ground, followed by another, then another.

Looks like he had been holding back in his strength tests.

Natalia didn't focus on him for long. She threw the gun at a guard's face and lunged. They needed to get this fight over with quickly.

They worked… surprisingly well together. It was almost as if they'd been fighting at each other's sides for years — he easily covered her weak points and she covered his, and their fighting styles, though very different, seemed to compliment each other well.

They took down the guards somewhat quickly and only had a few cuts and bruises to show for it. Both of them grabbed a couple guns from the downed guards and quickly continued down the hall.

From there, it was almost too easy to get to the exit. Any other guards they came across were taken care of with a single bullet to the head — Barton really was an amazing shot — and they encountered no other resistance as they eventually burst through the exit and out into the crisp night air.

Natalia let out a small sigh of relief. They had actually made it out alive.

"Come on. I don't know how much time we have." Barton went over to a truck and tried the door before breaking the window and unlocking it.

Natalia got in on the passenger side and silently watched him hotwire the truck. At least he knew what he was doing.

As the truck fired up, Barton looked over at her. "What's your name?"

She almost lied and gave him the name she'd been using, but what was the point? There wasn't a reason to hide her identity anymore. "Natalia."

He gave her a small smile. "I'm Clint."

She bit back a comment about how she already knew that and instead turned to the window.

"Hey— uh, thank you. I didn't think I'd ever get out of there." He averted his eyes as she looked over at him. "I really appreciate it."

"Sure." She wondered what he thought her mission had been. Would he ever suspect she had been sent to kill him, not save him?

He took a deep breath. "Where are we going?"

"I… don't know. Just drive." She looked back at the window.

She saw him nod from the corner of her eye, and he drove off.

She really didn't know where they could go at this point. She knew the Red Room wouldn't be any better than Hydra for him, and Madame would surely punish her for disobeying anyway. She hadn't even gotten rid of the records. Dreykov was going to be furious.

She couldn't go back now. She knew that for a fact, because the Red Room did not tolerate failure. Especially on a mission they'd been planning for years.

TIMELINE

TODAY: You can start leaving prompts from right now (but please don’t post any fills yet, so we can a nice pile of prompts to get us started) SUNDAY 3 AUGUST: You can start leaving fills (and you can also keep prompting!) MIDNIGHT SUNDAY 29 SEPTEMBER: Promptathon, both prompts and fills, ends at midnight in whatever your timezone is.

A masterlist will be posted shortly after the event ends, on Dreamwidth and tumblr.

HOW PROMPTATHON 2025 WORKS

Promptathon takes place on Dreamwidth, but you do not need an account to prompt, fill, or join in. Anonymous comments are enabled; if you comment anonymously please consider including your online handle(s) in your comment so we know who you are and can credit you!

Leaving Prompts

Please post each of your prompts in a separate comment to the Dreamwidth post.

You can leave as many prompts as you want. We’re serious. Keep coming back. We want as many prompts as we can possibly get.

Prompts can be anything – simple or elaborate, words or pictures, songs or poems, lyrics or phrases, anything that could inspire a fanwork. Use your imagination. Go wild! You can also re-use prompts from previous events, whether they were filled or not.

Please put a spoiler warning at the start of your prompt if it contains spoilers/speculation relating to any films/tv shows released in the last six months.

Submitting Fills

You can post your fills anywhere, but you must leave a comment on the Dreamwidth post in a reply to the prompt that you are filling in order for your fill to be included on the masterlist at the end.

The subject line of your comment should be: ‘FILL: title, rating’ to make your fill easy to spot among all the prompts.

You can post your entire fanwork in the comment if it’s short enough AND/OR you can post your fanwork anywhere else on the internet and post a link to it in your comment.

Your comment must also include: > Title > Author/Online handle if you’re posting anonymously/without a Dreamwidth account > Rating (ie film ratings or AO3 style ratings) > Any warnings OR you can say ‘choose not to warn’ (please use the AO3 warnings or take a look at our comm guidance if you’re stuck) > A spoiler warning if your fill contains spoilers/speculation relating to any films/tv shows released in the last six months. (Not everyone has Disney+/can get to the cinema.)

It would also be helpful for the masterlist if you could please update the Username Database with your online handle/s before the end of the event.

Following these guidelines 1) makes it easier for people to find your fills during the event as a one-stop shop, and know what they’re clicking on and 2) makes it a LOT easier for your mods to create a masterlist at the end, and without missing any of your fills. Thank you!

If commenting with a link to a fill posted elsewhere, consider including a teaser to catch people’s attention! For example, the first few paragraphs. If you’re posting on AO3, we have a ‘Community: be_compromised’ tag and a promptathon collection if you like those sorts of things. If you’re posting on tumblr, we track #be_compromised and #clintasha, and we’ll reblog to the be_compromised tumblr. We want people to be able to find and appreciate your fills <3

There’s no length requirement on fanworks submitted. You can create drabbles and three sentence fics to epics. You also can vids, art, fanmixes, anything at all; promptathon is all about sharing ideas and getting creative! Fills do not have to be complete or completed during the promptathon. You can fill as many prompts as you want, and prompts can be filled multiple times by whoever wants to fill them. You can fill more than one prompt in one fill, or make a series out of fills for various prompts. Zero pressure; all fun.

Questions and Squee

The first comment thread on the Dreamwidth post is for questions and any general chat. We will also post some useful Q&A from previous promptathons there so that you have everything helpful in one place.

We welcome reactions, discussion, and cheerleading in comment replies to individual prompts, and we love comments, kudos, and reactions to fills. (This is where posting each prompt separately and labelling the subject line of fills helps to keep things organised.) We also have a be_compromised discord server if you prefer to chat in a chatroom-style space. However, all prompts and fills will be in the Dreamwidth post as a one-stop shop. Commenting, cheerleading, and enthusiasm is a huge part of fandom and you are very welcome to join in! Yes, even if you don’t post any prompts or fills.

Event Rules

Our Community Rules apply to this event. To summarise: > No character or ship bashing. This is a positive fandom space. > No plagiarism, or use of AI please - we want to see what YOU create. > Please no RPF (Real Person Fanfiction) or any gossip/speculation about actors’ off-screen non-work lives, as the primary focus of this community is fictional characters. > Please include a rating for fanworks and a warning OR say that you ‘choose not to warn’. > Be kind and have fun!

If you have any questions about anything please feel free to ask! The easiest way is to use the questions thread on the Dreamwidth post, or @ a mod on the Discord server (in the ‘general’ thread or direct message), or send a message to this tumblr. Your mods are @inkvoices, @cloud--atlas, and @quidnunc-life.