Given to Fly

Darkness Rising, Part 1

As soon as Marty finished her toast, she stood from the table and grabbed her backpack.

"You're leaving already?" Aunt Dana asked as she sat down.

"Need a ride?" Uncle Joe asked.

Marty shook her head. "No, I'm gonna walk."

She squinted as she stepped outside, the sun hitting her eyes in a bright beam. Adjusting the strap on her back, Marty began her walk down the sidewalk towards school.

)()()()()(

When Marty walked up the steps to Jasper High School, she was immediately greeted by Miko Nakadai.

"Marty! What up!" The girl said with her usual energy. Miko was a foreign exchange student from Japan. She had long black hair that divided into two black tufts atop her head with pink tips, and a long piece of hair that hung down her upper back that was half pink.

"Hey, Miko." Marty said with a slight smile. She never had many friends due to her antisocial personality, but Miko had marched right up to her during lunch and started talking. She hadn't stopped since. They both loved music, but Miko was more of a heavy metal fan while Marty enjoyed softer styles.

"Dude, my host parents are so lame!" Miko complained as they walked to their lockers. "All they wanna do is have a game night where we play board games."

Marty scrunched her nose in distaste as she opened her locker. "That does sound lame."

With their books in hand they went to class. Through the halls, they passed many students, but a few stuck out to Marty.

Jack Darby, a Junior with blue eyes and black hair kept sharing looks with Rafael Esquivel, a kid in middle school with wild brown hair and red glasses framing his dark eyes. There was something about the ways their eyes locked that told Marty they had more to them than meets the eye.

"Wanna come to my place after school?" Miko asked as the girls headed to their class.

Marty shrugged. "Sure. If you don't get detention."

Miko narrowed her dark eyes. "Har har."

That earned a rare smile out of Marty. "I'll see you then."

)()()()()(

Marty walked out of the school to find Miko sitting on the stone rail. She was focused on her sketchbook as Marty walked up. The brunette noticed Jack and Raf interacting again before Raf stepped into a yellow and black muscle car.

Jack seemed distressed, earning a raised eyebrow from Marty. He always seemed so calm. Shaking it off, the brunette approached her friend. "What are you drawing?"

"That sick bike." Miko said, pointing ahead of her.

Marty craned her neck to see what Miko was talking about, but saw nothing but the street. "What bike?" Miko loved to tell stories, but she was never a lair.

Miko looked up from her work to see what Marty was talking about, a groan escaping her when she saw her model was missing. "Oh, come on. I bet it's just around the corner." She hopped off the rail, gripping her sketchbook and pencils in her hand as she ran down the steps.

Marty followed if only to keep Miko from getting into trouble. But as she rounded the corner, she was met with a sight she wasn't expecting.

Jack Darby was talking to a tall, robotic, woman? She was blue with pink highlights. She was crouched down to Jack's height, but she still seemed small.

"...has requested your presence." She finished.

"Optimius who?" Jack asked. He seemed as confused as Marty felt.