Sorry for the late update! In this one Natasha gets tested by SHIELD and Clint goes with it. (It contains slight mentions of torture/rape.)

Rule #4: No tricking

Natasha

It happened about four weeks after her little trip to Canada. Natasha was woken up by the suspiciously shuffling feet on the corridor. She had always been a bad sleeper, she tended to wake up to any slight noise. But so far she hadn't had any problem in her room in SHIELD's headquarters because nobody dared make any noise on their floor where along with her and Clint 23 other agents or to be agents slept. So it was suspicious. She only had time to reach for Clint's arrow (#9) under her pillow before the door opened and seven men in masks barged in. She managed to punch someone in the stomach and caused a deep cut on a forearm with the arrowhead before everything went black.

She woke up still in her pyjamas, a tight red camisole and long white silk pants, with her hands chained to a massive iron ring above her head. She was about to start getting out of the handcuffs when she noticed the burning pain in her wrists. They were not in handcuffs but bound by the chain itself. It was so tight that she could not move her arms without feeling the painful bites of the iron against her skin.

She was in a cell underground. At least that was her guess seeing the iron ring and the wetness of the wall she sat against. She took deep breaths and tried to determine what she knew. She was apparently kidnapped from her room. But if the kidnappers could take her from there, they must have broken in SHIELD. Or it could be an inside job. Either way, SHIELD seemed to be compromised. The question was, was there anyone who could possibly know where she was and could come and rescue her?

Hawkeye. Her soon to be partner always kept an eye on her. He had driven to Canada to bring her back. He had gone out of his way several times already to help her, not to mention his decision not to murder her in Warsaw in the first place. Clint could find her, even if she didn't have his arrow with her. Clint could—

The door opened and Natasha gasped. "Hey Nat," Clint smiled as two guards pushed him down and pulled his hands up, handcuffing him and attaching it to the ring. He frowned seeing her chains. "Guys, is that necessary? Give her—" One of the men kicked him in the knee which made Barton hiss slightly. They remained alone as the guards left without even glancing at Natasha's reddened skin. "Jerks. You okay?" Clint asked inexplicably cheerful for their situation. Natasha found it hard to breathe seeing the person who she hoped was her saviour chained up together with her. Her vision of the room started to blur and all she heard was Clint repeating her name and the humming of her blood in her ears.

Clint

"With all due respect, sir, how could any of you think it's a good idea?" Clint asked. He had just come out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist when he had seen Fury sitting on his bed. The director had proceeded to tell him about the plan about Natasha's fake kidnapping tomorrow.

"Barton, why are you making this so difficult? You know we need to do a test. We did the same before you were sent on field."

"My test was shooting arrows at moving targets."

"But you weren't a killing machine beforehand. We need to see how she reacts to danger."

"She might kill someone. Did you think of that possibility?"

"Yes. That's why we send you in with her. We need you to monitor her. And if you think she can't take it or that she poses a threat to my guys, you call it off. You'll get handcuffs with a panic button on them. You press it, we get you two out."

"Hilarious," Clint huffed. "She will never trust me again."

Fury looked at him in a weird way. "I wouldn't worry about that, Barton. You two seem pretty tight."

So Clint sat there with the panic button under his thumb and watched as Natasha started hyperventilating. "Natasha," he called repeatedly but she was losing control. The agents had told him she had blacked out when they had taken her. He was there to make sure it would not happen again. He needed to get her back in the right state of mind without helping her too much or letting her know it was all fake. If he screwed this up, Natasha would have to go through this again.

"Hey, Natasha. You need to calm down, okay?" He said in a deep voice.

But she didn't pay attention. She tugged on the chains until the pain was taking over and mumbled to herself. "One hundred forty-nine. Zero. One hundred forty-nine. Zero. One hundred forty-nine. Zero."

Clint frowned. "Romanoff, listen to me." But Natasha only looked up when he stretched his leg and nudged her bare foot with his boot. She jumped slightly and squealed as the chain broke the tender skin on her wrist.

"Barton, you were supposed to get me out of here," she spat.

"I'm on it," Clint sighed. Natasha would kill him when she realised he was involved in this. "What are those numbers?"

Natasha took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a long moment before answering. "I was last tortured one hundred forty-nine days ago. Tomorrow morning that number will be zero."

Clint was first too stunned to talk. This test was definitely going in the wrong direction. He took his time to respond. "Why do you think they will torture you?"

"Because that is what happens when they capture the Black Widow," Natasha replied. "First they start with the slaps pretending that they are doing it to get information out of me. They they start groping my breasts, telling me they have never seen such a hot little spy. Then—" she paused and Clint saw blood on her wrist as she tugged on the bounds again.

"Nat," he murmured. "Hey, it's not the same. It is not that situation. You are a SHIELD agent now, okay?"

"It is always that situation," Natasha responded dryly. "One hundred forty-nine. Zero," she repeated.

"No," Clint insisted. "No, Nat, listen to me. Tomorrow morning it will be one hundred fifty. Your number will be one hundred fifty, I promise. All we need to do is find a way to escape. We can do this. We can get out of here. Together. Nobody will touch you."

Natasha shook her head. "It's always the same," she whispered. "Always the same. They want to break me. They will break me, this time they will break me," she murmured.

"No, they won't. We don't know what they want from us, okay? You need to stay focused, Romanoff. Okay? Stay with me."

Natasha continued to repeat her numbers and tug at the chain.

"Natasha, you need to sit still. You'll hurt yourself. Please, listen to me. We need to—"

"You said it would be different!" Natasha suddenly scowled.

"What?"

"You said it would be different," Natasha repeated. "That I would be protected by SHIELD. No more torture. No more corporal punishment. No more sex in order to obtain information or to stay alive."

Clint remained silent.

"Did you lie to me, Clint Barton?" Natasha prodded. "Did you? Because I have been kidnapped, SHIELD is compromised and I'll have to throw one hundred and forty-nine days out of the window. This was something I was prepared for working for the KGB. But what do you always say to me? It's not Russia."

Clint shook his head. "I didn't intend to lie to you, Nat. But you must have been aware of the risks. KGB or SHIELD, you are still an assassin. So if you could just focus for a moment, we could work out a plan. You need to focus."

"Why? Where can I go if we do escape? Find another secret organisation in need of a star murderer? Find someone else to put my trust in so they can abuse it?"

Clint narrowed his eyes. "I did not abuse your trust!" But he had. He had agreed to Fury's stupid plan. Natasha would never forgive him for that. "You're my partner. And I will protect you."

They heard footsteps on the corridor. When the sounds were joined by the clinking of keys near the door, Clint lost all hope to go through with the test. Natasha was crumbling before his eyes. Her trembles got so violent she caused new wounds on her wrists, she looked at his face but it was clear she didn't see him anymore and she couldn't stop repeating zero.

"Natasha," Clint called softly again and pressed on the panic button. "Nat? It's good. We're good. It's over, see?" He cooed as he opened his handcuffs and got on his knees before her. "See, nothing will happen to you. It's SHIELD. You're with SHIELD. You'll get out of here in a moment, okay?"

In the meantime the door opened and two agents stepped in. One crouched next to Natasha and took her still trembling forearm to stabilise her hands so he could remove the chains. Natasha kicked him in the kneecap with her bare sole and shouted at him. "Don't fucking touch me!"

Clint had serious doubts Natasha understood anything around her anymore. He turned to agent Rendón who cussed softly rubbing his knee. "Give me the key. Wait outside."

When they stayed alone, Clint slowly approached the key to her bounds. "Nat, you need to stay still for a moment. I'm getting these off, okay? They're coming off." He was relieved to see Natasha go rigid while he worked on the lock, making a mental note to find and yell at the agent who thought it was a good idea to bind her like this. She would need medical attention and they should all know by now how hard it was to get her accept medical attention.

"There you go," he smiled carefully helping her lower her hands. "It was just a test, Natasha. All fake. You're good. You're—"

The first punch landed on his jaw. The second one on the pit of his stomach as he fell back with her body on top of his.

"You tricked me!" Natasha growled. Her eyes were cold but Clint could see the shadow of pain there. She seemed actually hurt by his assistance to the test.

"Nat," he murmured. Before she could hit him again, he grabbed her wrists and sat up with her in his lap. "I swear I can explain."

"Don't fucking talk to me," Natasha hissed.

Natasha

She didn't remember how they got into Nick Fury's office, but here they were, Natasha with bandages on her wrists and in clean clothes and Clint with a remorseful expression on his face.

"Complete failure," Fury said looking up from the report in front of him. "What happened, Romanoff?"

Natasha found it hard to speak. The boss didn't seem particularly angry or frustrated, but Natasha had had multiple trainers and bosses smile at her announcing that she would get punished so it didn't mean anything. Fury got disappointed in her, that was all that mattered. She had one chance and it was gone.

"Sir, I would have been fine. Agent Barton called it off too soon and—"

"Do you think blaming your future partner will help your case here?" Fury growled. Natasha looked at Clint. The bastard had the guts to smirk.

"I got panicked. But that doesn't mean that I would have failed if it hadn't been all fake, sir. I can take anything. I can take torture."

"I know that, Romanoff. I know. But the objective of this test was never to test how much you can take. We wanted to see if you are ready for missions. But you are not. So…"

"No, sir, I am ready. I can show you. You can get me waterboarded right now. Break my bones, take my food away, whatever. I can take it. Please give me another chance. Don't get me executed. Please."

Fury and Clint both stared at her in dumb shock. "Oh fuck," was all Clint mumbled. But Natasha kept her gaze on Fury.

"What are you talking about, Romanoff?" Fury finally asked.

"The E341 protocol?" She started to feel especially stupid under the gaze of the director. "It says the Widow has to be accounted for, right? So if you can't send me on missions, you'll kill me, right?"

Fury looked over Barton. "Yes, I might have mentioned the protocol to her," the archer snapped. "But I didn't tell her she'll get killed."

"I figured that part out," Natasha responded coldly.

"Well, you figured it out wrong, Romanoff. All I wanted to say is that your training cannot be fulfilled yet. We'll have another discussion about it in three or four weeks." Natasha stared at the man.

"You won't execute me for the failure?"

"No. Whether you like it or not, you're the best among the new recruits and already better than many of my agents. You literally need to betray us to get killed by us. You need more training time. That's alright."

Natasha was still dumbfounded when they left Fury's office. "Natasha," Clint called that snapped her back into reality and into her seething anger towards the Favourite Archer.

"You tricked me," she said not looking in his direction. "And you called the test off early."

Clint huffed. "What are you mad for exactly? That I went with it as per my orders or that I didn't go through with it as per my judgement?"

Natasha stopped and turned sharply to face him, the fury in her eyes making him step back. "I want a new partner."

Clint frowned. "What? We haven't even been real partners so far."

"Yeah, because my real partner wouldn't betray my trust like that."

"Well, I tried to tell Fury it was a bad idea, Romanoff. He wanted to see how you react. And let me tell you, your reaction—"

He stopped when Natasha threw a punch at him, one he could only block when her fist already reached his chin.

"Don't," was all she said as she pulled her hand out of his grip. She turned on her heel and left without looking at him.

Clint

After the fight and Natasha's claim about wanting a new partner it was pretty surprising to see her on his bed when he returned from the bathroom wearing only a towel around his waist. She sat with her legs under her and a suspiciously calm expression.

"Are you going to snap my neck?" Clint asked as he stepped closer.

Natasha smiled with a smile that made him uncomfortable. "Haven't decided yet." She beckoned him to get closer. Clint wasn't sure what he was doing, but he knelt on the bed. Natasha wrapped her arms around his neck and lay back, pulling him down with her. "You smell nice."

"I thought you were angry with me."

She kissed him deeply. "Nothing sex can't fix," she murmured against his neck in a way that made him forget about his promise to her about making her wait until the right moment to take her to bed.

He kissed her back and slipped his hand on her breast and then lower, making her moan. He didn't know how much time had passed when he heard the click. Pulling back he looked up seeing that his right hand was cuffed to the bedpost. Natasha smirked and got out of under him, adjusting her t-shirt and leggings.

"Very original," Clint huffed. He didn't like being tricked like this, but it was all the worse in his current excited state. "What is this, your revenge?" Natasha shrugged. "I can just yell and someone will come to get me out."

"Do it. Tell them you lose your mind from a little kissing like some fourteen years old."

Clint sighed and tugged on the chain. "Are you planning to get me out of here some time?"

"Yeah, I'll ask my new partner to pop in and teach you a trick to get them off," Natasha responded. "Goodnight, Hawkeye."

Clint was not impressed with his own skills and with his partner's childish, vengeance seeking tendencies as he tried to find a less uncomfortable position to sleep in.

When he woke up and saw a figure next to his bed, he tugged on the handcuffs so harshly that the clinking of the metal on the iron bedpost was deafening in the silence. He reached for his arrow but a voice stopped him.

"I had a nightmare."

Clint groaned and reached to the bedside lamp, turning it on. Natasha stood there in a new set of pyjamas and she looked downright frightened. He had seen this look on her more than he liked, but on the other hand it was good to know she came to him, even after today's debacle.

"Why don't you go find your new partner then?" He grumbled. It was not something he could forget easily, even though she couldn't possibly mean that. She didn't trust anyone else enough to pair up with, he was certain of that.

"Clint." Natasha stood immobile and he didn't make any move either, waiting. "Clint, please," she finally said through gritted teeth.

Clint shifted a little on the bed and pulled the blanket aside to give her space. She climbed into the bed and curled up against him, pulling the sheets over them both. Clint rested his left hand over her stomach. He left the lamp on.

"Natasha?"

"Hmm?"

"Will you…" His right arm was positively going stiff.

"No. Serves you right." He could hear the smile in her tone. It made him smile too.

"What did you dream about?" She didn't respond but he could feel her body go rigid against his. "Nat, what is your number today?" He asked.

Natasha waited some moments before answering. "One hundred forty-nine."

"Now tell me what it will be tomorrow morning."

"One hundred fifty."

Clint smiled. "That's right. One hundred fifty."

He closed his eyes, his nostrils getting full of the smell of her hair as he was spooning her.

"Thank you," she suddenly mumbled.

Clint pulled Natasha closer. Not out of lust, even though God knew he wanted her. It ran deeper than lust, it was the desire to protect her even from her own dreams. "We good?"

She cuddled closer into his warmth. "We're good."

"Will you…"

"No. Goodnight, Barton."