Phil Coulson walked into SHIELD headquarters. He got one day off a month and he was slightly grumpy at having it disrupted by a call from Fury—something about it being urgent. He wore a scowl instead of his usual expression of disinterest. He walked right into the director's office without knocking and tried to not convey the bewilderment that he felt.

Standing in front of the Director was one of the owners of the Submissive Compound; not far from the base. SHIELD had discovered a long time ago that certain people had submissive tendencies. These people, when paired with the right people of Dominant behaviours made the best operatives. They would obey orders, they never lied and because rules were strict with uncollared submissives they weren't likely to run.

This man had a compound that housed uncollared subs until they were purchased; if a sub was returned to any compound more than three times, they were sent to the compound in New Jersey for re-training. Phil had never heard of a submissive ever coming out of that place. He had his suspicions that the re-training was only a front for the fact that they were killing submissives that were undesirable. He'd been trying to gather intel on it for years, with little luck.

The man's name was Larry and kneeling at his feet was a bound submissive. He was on his knees (and judging by the grip that Larry had on the back of the blond's neck, he'd been forced there), his hands were tightly cuffed behind his back and there was a gag in his mouth. His eyes flicked to the door before anyone else even knew he was there.

"You wanted to see me, Director?" His eyes never left the bound man.

"Agent Coulson. I know that you said you'd never take another submissive. However, if you reject this one, he'll be sent for re-training. According to his file he had never been successfully dominated."

Phil walked over to the blond man, standing in front of him. He lifted the young man's chin and noted the unspeakable fear in his eyes and the scarring around his throat. Phil moved so that he was standing on the other side of the man and placed a hand in his hair. "I'll accept him as mine."

Larry let go of the back of the kneeling man's neck as he looked at Phil.

"Your reputation says that you've never returned a sub. Good luck." He bent down so that he was at eye level with the other man. He grabbed the bound man's chin roughly, squeezing his chin between his thumb and index finger and forcing his head up. "This is your last chance, with the threat of re-training maybe now you'll learn to behave yourself."

Coulson grabbed Larry's wrist, twisting it so that he had no choice but to let go and fixed the man with a stare so icy that it made Larry swallow hard. "Don't touch my property." His tone was level.

The man kneeling closed his eyes and tried to breathe, there were tears forming in the corner of his eyes. Phil noticed this and gently carded his hands through the short hair, gently scraping his scalp as Larry left.

After the door was closed, Fury released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, turning his attention to his agent and the submissive who was trying very hard not to show how much he liked the feeling of the hand in his hair and even though his eyes had slipped shut and his body relaxed slightly.

"So now what?" Fury's eye never left the man on the floor, who didn't seem to not notice he was being scrutinized or he didn't care.

Coulson continued to lightly scratch his scalp. He had seen many submissives like this. This man had probably been told he was bad, by what little he saw the young man had been abused and he was very obviously touch starved. "Well, I need one of SHIELD's submissive transport kits, just to remove him from the base. In the morning I'll get him looked at by medical, and he and I will have to have a long discussion. Any idea what his name is?"

Fury handed Phil a file from his desk. "His name is Clint Barton or submissive 1938274. This is all the background on him that I could get, including a list of his previous dominants and anything that they had done to him."

Coulson took the file and put it in his briefcase. The next thing Fury handed him was a plain, black, leather collar with SHIELD embossed on the front. Coulson could feel Clint stiffen as the collar was placed against his throat and buckled. Coulson put two fingers on the inside of the collar, just against Clint's throat to make sure that it wasn't too tight. Fury handed him another object that Coulson just folded into his hand, out of Clint's line of sight. Coulson could see Clint tighten his hands into fists, forcing his nails to dig into his palms as he moaned around the gag.

Coulson bent down so that he was at eye level with the younger man. "This is only temporary. I can't get you out temporary. I can't get you out of the compound and home safely without you being collared. Once I have you home, I will ungag, uncuff and uncollar you, I promise." Clint made a sort of snorting sound from the back of his throat. "Just be good for a little while longer." Clint rolled his eyes but nodded his consent.

Coulson grabbed him by the bicep to help him to his feet. Phil smiled as Clint got up, automatically putting his head down. He only lifted his head when Phil put two fingers under his chin to force him to look up. "This is only until we get to the house, I promise." He pulled out the object that Fury had handed him.

Clint closed his eyes against the embarrassment he could feel as Phil attached a leash to the loop in front of his collar. He bit down on the gag in his mouth. Had he not been gagged he would have snarkily asked if he was even allowed to walk to the vehicle or should he crawl. He closed his eyes again, believing that it was probably for the best that he couldn't talk.

Coulson opened the car door, waited for Clint to get in. After Clint was seated in the seat he latched the leash handle to the hook near the window on the passenger side door.

"Head down Clint." Coulson got in the driver side,checked the mirror seeing that Clint was staring at the floor of the car. "Good boy." Was his soft reply.

Clint tried to stop the blush that was creeping up into his cheeks. He felt a weird heat in his chest; he didn't like it and wasn't sure what it was from.

Coulson saw the blush and smiled. He had a feeling with a little bit of gentleness and rules that were realistic, Clint was going to be the perfect pet.