Chapter 3: A Minor Inconvenience
Panting heavily Michael leaned against the seat of the airship, his lungs burned like fire but that's what happened when you run five miles nonstop it wasn't his fault they went to the wrong airship yet it wasn't Velvet's fault either so he could try to blame her not like he would anyway. Coughing a bit he turned to look at Velvet who was in the same boat, she was leaning forward breathing hard her shoulders rising and falling rapidly as she tried to catch her breath, "Y-You...didn't have to drag me...I-I could have kept up..." She wheezed between each breath causing Michael to laugh softly which only turned into another cough from his dry throat as he groaned softly, "J-Just wanted to make sure you could." He choke out another laugh when he felt a light smack on his arm as he groaned softly the burning in his lungs slowly going away but still there mixed with his heart pounding in his chest he was in pain, he did feel bad for making Velvet run like that but they would have been late and would have missed the airship if they didn't run. Though when he glanced at the clock he saw they still had five minuets to spare, coughing again he shrugged to himself it was better to be safe than sorry though he was feeling pretty sorry now.
Once they caught their breath they couldn't help but laugh at their own stupidity, they should have payed more attention to where they were going but once they talked it was revealed that they were following each other assuming the other knew where they were going. This only caused them to laugh out loud again at the absurdity of it all causing them to get a few weird stare from the other passengers, this caused Velvet to calm down slightly as she seemed to shrink under their gaze, Michael on the other hand didn't seem bothered by any of it and he kept laughing which seemed to help Velvet relax. He had learned a long time ago from his mom to, in simple terms, not give a shit what people thought of him and really he had to think her because he became what he was now because of her advice and he couldn't be happier, "So you're sure this is the right flight right?" He looked over at Velvet rolling his eyes, "Yes I'm sure..." Though he felt a pang of doubt the moment the doors hissed slightly expelling pressurized air into a thin cloud of smoke as the doors slid closed locking into place as the entire cabin jerked forward slightly signaling that whether or not it was the right flight it was too late to get off now. He cleared his throat to get the thought from his mind as he turned and looked out the window watching the town of Vale slowly shrink away into the distance as he smiled slightly turning to Velvet, "Were on our way huh?" She smiled back at him giving him a strong nod as she focused on looking out the window, he could help but smile at the look of wonder on her face. He decided to lean back in his seat resting his head on the window the low vibrations radiating through his body as he yawned closing his eyes deciding to take a short nap.
He felt something press against him as he groaned slightly opening his eyes glancing up at the clock seeing he wasn't asleep for more than fifteen minuets, he looked around seeing people still casting glances in his direction as he scoffed turning towards the pressure on him his eyes widened a bit as he felt heat in his cheeks. Velvet had decided to do the same and take a nap though she decided to use his shoulder as a pillow, he blushed slightly looking down at his feet, she was strange being so comfortable around him after only just meeting him maybe it was just her species nature though he expected her to be more shy than anything. He looked off to the side sighing softly shaking his head as he tried to ignore the strangeness of her sleeping on him and tried to nod back off himself but found it rather difficult, the soft sounds of her breathing reaching his ears only caused his cheeks to burn up effectively keeping him up. Muttering to himself he sighed as he gently moved Velvet or at least her head to lean against the window as he stood groaning softly as he stretched hearing a few pops as a numbing sensation flashed through his body before he shook his hands out moving over to the window as he looked at the ground flying below, he winced slightly he wasn't all too keen with heights he wasn't exactly happy being up high but he could deal with it for the most part.
Turning around he leaned against the cold glass sighing softly, he started to wonder what life at Beacon would be like if it was anything like back in Vale he knew he was going to have a hard time fitting in or rather he was going to be getting in trouble a lot neither thought really bothered him because it wasn't his fault. His eyes scanned the group of students around the air ship watching as they glanced over at the two of them, eying the weapons that were visible for the most part and just in general keeping an eye out for anything strange...like that guy that keeps looking over here. Michael frowned slightly but decided to ignore it after all there wasn't a lot you could look at on an airship if anything he had lost things to stare at and was going over everything again but...There it is again. His eye twitched in frustration slightly it wasn't like his eyes were wandering they kept glancing over to Velvet then to him then he would look quickly away as if he wasn't trying to be noticed, but doing a damn poor job about it. He looked down to Velvet who was still happily asleep her chest rising and falling slightly as he cleared his throat looking away as he felt a heat starting on the back of his neck as he looked through the cabin again, once again seeing that guy looking over here as he growled slightly pushing himself off the window and making he way over to him. The boy was maybe seventeen with deep gray hair and bright emerald green eyes though he was heading to Beacon something told Michael he wasn't much of a fighter, "Hey you..." The boy looked up at Michael jumping slightly his eyes darting to and fro trying to look anywhere except for Michael standing in front of him, "You think I can talk to you for a second?" The boy looked up at him obviously trying to think of an excuse to not speak to him but sighed heavily before nodding, "Come on its kind of stuffy in here we can talk outside." He walked over to the door on the other side of the cabin that opened outwards to a small walkway around the airship, there was a dull howling as the ship had a Dust powered shield to protect the students who wanted to stand on the outside, hearing the door close behind him he turned to see the boy inching nervously towards him, "So what are you looking at?"
The boy made a strangled sound as he stumbled over his words causing Michael's jaw to tick as he turned quickly grabbing the boy by the collar, "You never see a Faunus before?!" The boy shook his head stuttering over his words as he seemed to whimper slightly, "I-I-I wasn't looking at you I was looking at the one next to you." He leaned back as he let out a slow collected breath, "Wrong answer..." He pulled the boy forward throwing him over the edge of the railing causing the boy to scream in a rather high pitch as he kept a tight grip on the boys shirt glaring down at him, "Try that again, what were you doing?!" The boy babbled incoherently as Michael growled slightly acting like he was going to drop him causing him to cry out again, "I-I swear I was just looking at the girl next you please I'm sorry!" The answer still didn't sit well with him as he faked dropping him again causing the boy to scream yet again, "Why were you looking at her?!" Why do I care so much? He shook his head he would have to worry about that later as he looked down at the boy whose life he held in his hands, "I-I just thought she was cute I-I didn't know you two were together I-I'm sorry please I won't look at her anymore just...please pull me up!" Michael glared at the boy neither confirming nor denying his statement as he lifted him up slightly, "What's your name?" The boy looked confused but decided not to argue with him, "I-It's Jacob b-but why?" He pulled him closer to his face practically nose to nose as he glared at him, "So I know what to put on your headstone if you piss me off." He scared him again before pulling him over the edge tossing him onto the metal walk way leaving him to scurry back into the cabin shaking uncontrollably as he Michael sighed softly, "Well that was interesting..." Turning to see the students looking at the shaking Jacob he wondered how he was able to get away with something like that, he grumbled to himself shaking his head slightly feeling a gentle breeze on his ears he sighed stuffing his hands into his pocket trying to figure out why he suddenly snapped like that.
Scratching his head he huffed slightly turning to look at the expanse of open air before him noticing a black speck in the distance, Probably another air ship, he watched it for a while tilting his head in confusion as he watched the black speck split into two then three. What is that? The specks seemed to increase in size as the approached the airship rather quickly, it was only when they were almost upon them did his eyes widen with realization, turning quickly he threw open the cabin door. "Hold on to something!" The students looked at him with a confused expression until the entire ship rocked violently sending most of the students to the ground, as he was in the doorway it sent him stumbling backwards his back slamming into the rail as the second explosion sent him tumbling over the edge only barely managing to grab a hold of the rail as he grit his teeth, "What the hell is going on?!" He twisted around slightly just as the Bullhead came into view from his position he could see directly into the cockpit two members of the White Fang sat piloting the aircraft, "Shit I knew you idiots wouldn't give up that easy..." He reached for one of his weapons pulling it from his sheath gripping the handle as he flipped it forward feeling the metal shifting into its gun form as he took aim with Roaring Thunder firing off a few rounds at the window to the cockpit only to have the shots ricochet off. Flipping a switch he could hear the small click of metal over the chaos as he flooded his weapon with his aura seeing a dim glow of electric blue shining over the weapon, he pointed towards the cockpit once again pulling the trigger as a thick blue bolt fired from his weapon connecting with the Bullhead, moments later a loud crack echoed through the sky as the Bullhead seemed to fall slightly before being salvaged. It rose back up to where he was hanging, gritting his teeth as he watched it turn the large doors on the side opening revealing more members clad in white and blue aiming automatic weapons at him, quickly returning his weapon to it's sheathe he pulled himself up back over the railing his arms burning from the exertion. He pulled his aura forward again the glyphs on his arms glowing a bright blue before they opened fire on him, he crossed his arms in front of himself as the bullets pelted into his aura freezing in mid air as a blue glow appeared around the shots, the glyphs on his arm began to glow brighter as he growled softly throwing his arms out as the bullets flew back leaving blue streaks in the air striking a few of the White Fang members dropping them onto the floor of the Bullhead.
He made his way back into the airship breathing heavily as the other students around him were panicking and shouting breaking into chaos as he made his way over to Velvet who leaped up and threw her arms around him giving him a quick hug before backing up, "What's happening?" He swallowed hard catching his breath, "The...The White Fang are attacking, why I have no idea but-" He was cut off when a low hum caught his attention causing his ears to twitch, it caught his attention because it was lower than the chaos aboard the airship, quickly moving over towards the window his eyes widened as he clenched his fists. Quickly moving back another Bullhead appeared in the window followed by a third and a fourth one, the airship was surrounded causing it to stop and merely hover in the air as he grit his teeth. He quickly pulled both weapons from their sheaths snapping them into their gun mode, he sighed softly as he held them together as the metal shifted in his hands fusing the two guns together into a short-barreled shotgun, snapping the barrels forward he looked around the cabin seeing the student's still in a panic before he placed two fingers in his mouth giving off a shrill whistle catching everyone's attention, "Enough with that! Yes there are White Fang out there but you all need to calm the hell down." With everyone looking at him he decided to continue, "Now I need someone to graciously part with two vials of refined blue Dust." No one moved though when his eyes scanned over the students some of them seemed to be glaring at him causing him to bare his teeth, "We don't have time for your racist bull-shit you can either help or be known as that person who got an airship full of students killed because they were to full of themselves!"
A girl with long black hair walked forward, she said nothing as she shoved the two small vials into his hands before turning and walking back into the crowd of student's, she wasn't very friendly but she could at least see the severity of the situation. He slid the vials into the barrels of the gun snapping them backwards as he slid the gun into the back of his pants as another explosion rocked the airship before another followed right behind it as a large gust of wind blew through the cabin causing him to stumble back. Looking at the back of the cabin it was fairly obvious that it was no longer there if the fire burning the jagged metal edges was any indication for that, he took an unsteady breath before moving towards the hole in the cabin, Velvet went to stop him but he made it apparent that it was alright. As he stood on the edge he let out a breath he had been holding as another Bullhead rose from beneath him turning sideways as the door opened revealing, "Roman..." Michael bared his teeth growling ever so slightly as he watched Roman tip his hat towards him before pulling out a megaphone clicking it on the loud feedback hurt his ears but Roman's voice was more grating than he rather deal with, "Well it's nice to see you're doing well pup." Michael's ears twitched as he tried to keep his cool, his fingers twitching eager to use his weapon on him but would rather wait for the right time, "What the hell do you think you're doing Roman!" His shoulders shook, it looked like he was laughing though it was hard to tell with the howling wind rushing around them, "You didn't think we'd actually let you get away now did we?" It was Michael's turn to laugh as he shook his head, "Seeing the way I took your friends out I thought you would have given up on me." He could see Roman frowning as he lifted the megaphone to his lips again, "You have one last chance to reconsider kid either that or you can go down with the ship, what do you say?"
Michael reached behind his back wrapping his fingers around the grip of the gun sighing to himself, I hope this works...The doubt grew in his mind considering this was only going to be the second time trying something like this as the first time was completely on accident, "I say...go to hell." He pulled out the short-barreled shot-gun, Blitzkrieg, holding it out as he pulled the trigger as the gun kicked back he watched as the vials of dust began to glow brighter sailing over the Bullhead before shattering in the air the dust dispersing. "Hahaha...w-was that really your best shot kid?" Michael said nothing as he watched the sky the blue slowly being overtaken by dark gray clouds as the weakness he felt in his body left him making him feel suddenly full of energy as the glyphs on his arm began to grow brightly electricity running over his skin as he smirked, "I never miss Roman..." The man ignored him jerking his head as the Bullhead closed the door turning towards him as the gatling gun on the front began to spin to life, flooding his weapons with aura he snapped them apart back into their separate gun states as he aimed at the windows pulling the trigger as a blue bolt fired out flying towards the Bullheads, just as they were going to strike them a bolt of lighting cracked down from the sky slamming into the Bullheads overloading their circuits as they began to spiral down before the sound of them exploding echoed in the air. Turning Michael did the same for the other Bullheads firing at them as bolts of lining rained down from the sky striking and destroying them, dropping to his knees Michael panted heavily feeling run down after using so much of his aura at once. Weakly he raised his gun again aiming at the Bullhead containing Roman as he pulled the trigger he watched as the lighting barely missed the ship instead destroying one of the thrusters causing it to fall towards the ground spinning wildly.
Falling on his hands and knees Michael panted heavily the strain on his body was great everything was hurting almost like he had went one on one with an Ursa, the glyphs on his arms shining brightly before slowly dimming as the markings disappeared on his arms. The storm outside slowly subsiding leaving on rain to pour down as he crawled his way over to where he was sitting managing to get in the seat with Velvet's help, "M-Michael that...that was incredible, how were able to do that?" He waved his hand coughing slightly, "J-Just practice is all...n-nothing but practice." He leaned forward groaning slightly before sitting back, the pain was slowly going away but now he was just aching all over he stretched his arms forward looking at the skin noticing red marks in random places, he still couldn't handle that much aura it seemed either that or he couldn't handle using that much of his aura he wasn't sure which as he tended not to do something like that unless he really needed to. Looking towards the hole in the airship she sighed, if the White Fang were stupid enough to do something like this he couldn't help but imagine what else they would do, and for what someone like him? He looked down at his hands clenching his fists, he didn't understand why they wanted him so badly but nonetheless he was going to keep fighting them off until they learned to not come after him again. He looked towards Velvet who hand her hand on her chest taking slow breaths, he chuckled slightly then again the whole situation was pretty terrifying, after all this he couldn't wait to get to Beacon. Leaning his head back on the window he groaned wrapping his arms around his stomach, "Michael whats wrong?" He frowned slightly before turning to Velvet her eyes full of concern, "I'm hungry..."
