Redemption (Midas x Reader)

• XXIX •

I screamed, or at least I thought I did, the sound still muffled as a hand gripped into the front of my shirt, and it wasn't until Skye began to shake me that I loosened my defensive grip on her wrist. Her mouth was moving, and I realized that she was yelling at me even though I couldn't make out the words, my gaze following the length of her arm to where it was stretched towards the army of henchmen just cresting the top of the stairs at the end of the hall.

Time seemed to stand still, the hopelessness of our situation evident in my inability to set my body in motion. The other agents were gone, leaving me and Skye as the only barriers between Shadow and the fall of the Shark, and one of us had proven time and time again to be nothing more than a liability.

She had both hands wrapped in my shirt now, shaking me back and forth, trying to elicit a response from me, her lips still forming words that I couldn't quite focus on. She was tugging at my clothes, patting me down, and it wasn't until she took off running down the hall in the opposite direction from the henchmen that I realized what it was that she intended to do.

She was headed towards Midas' cell, the keycard she'd pulled from my pocket clenched firmly within her dainty fist.

"Skye, WAIT!!!!" I bellowed after her, but she didn't stop, running full speed to casually release the man who'd been imprisoned for aiding Shadow, delivering him right back into their hands. They wouldn't even have to blow his cell open.

In her simple mind he was innocent. She knew how powerful he was, that he could be an asset, help defend against the onslaught. I'd seen him kill with his bare hands in the past, he'd have no issue dispatching the handful of henchmen who currently outnumbered us. The only problem was that I wasn't entirely sure which side he'd be fighting for.

It couldn't be a coincidence that Shadow had chosen now to attack, when everyone had been called away for an emergency mission. Had Midas been patient here, biding his time, knowing that they would be coming? Despite his apologies there was a part of me that didn't know where his loyalties lie. That still believed he could've somehow planned this.

But in my shock all I could do was watch, remaining rooted to the spot as Skye skidded to a halt in front of his cell and swiped the keycard. The ringing in my ears began to subside, the sound of footsteps in the other direction causing my head to swivel to where the Shadow henchmen were closing in on my position. I whipped my head back around just in time to see Midas emerge, eyes glowing like molten metal as he began to sprint towards me, barefoot and shirtless, and my heart stopped as I noticed the gold on his hands starting to spread up his forearms.

I was trapped. On the one side rushed my former captors, destined to drag me back to servitude if they got their hands on me. On the other ran my current one, a single solitary man who was more dangerous than all of them put together, having seen with my own eyes exactly what happens when that gold takes over. The only question was which of us his fury would be directed at.

I didn't have a choice but to try to trust him. I stumbled to my feet, withdrawing the gun from my waistband as I aimed it towards the Shadow henchmen. I'd die before I went back there. And even if Midas weren't on my side, I doubted a bullet would pierce the gold now creeping across his torso anyway.

The henchmen were almost upon me, seeming to move in slow motion as I held my arm aloft, my hand shaking so much that I wasn't sure I'd hit one of them if I even fired a shot. I wasn't even sure I could fire a shot, the memories of executing my friends still fresh in my mind. But it was these men that had caused it. And now was my chance for revenge.