Shyventures: The Invader

Chapter 2: Winner Winner, Pigeon Dinner

It was a bright, sunny afternoon as Stella walked to their alleyway from school, obviously in their human form. They were looking at their phone, checking their blog. People had commented on the pictures they took last night of the battle against Scarlet in the town square, some amazed at how awesome the shots were, others commenting about how cool one of the heroes looked, and a fraction still asking how they managed to get such up-close photos of the action. Stella rolled their eyes and responded to the curious commenter:

"Magicians never reveal their secrets! ;)"

They hated that question, but there was always gonna be someone who asked it, so might as well be kind. In all honesty, there was quite a big secret behind how they managed to get such awesome shots of the heroes in the heat of battle: shapeshifting.

To get those shots, they took on various animal forms to not only be able to escape quickly if things get ugly, but also so the heroes don't notice. One time, they're a bird, the next, a cat, the next, a teeny little bug. Nonetheless, they get what they need and upload them onto the blog. Nobody knows their process, and absolutely nobody, not even their closest friends, knows about their shapeshifting ability. If people knew they shapeshifted, they would probably somehow figure out their alien origins... and they've watched enough human Sci-Fi movies to know what would happen if they found out they were an alien.

After walking for a while, they eventually arrived at their shabby little alleyway. They walked up the alleyway then turned to a dead end part. They opened the curtains they found in a dumpster which camouflaged their humble abode perfectly at night, and stepped into their space. It had a dirty mattress, an old, broken shelving unit where they kept their belongings, and over them, a few tarps and shower curtains to keep the rain out held up by string. They took off their sweater and laid on their mattress, wrapping themselves in a dingy old blanket and continuing to check the blog, liking and responding to comments. After a while, they received a message from one of their good friends, SunsetKat.

> SunsetKat: DUDE.

Star_flyer: WHATS UP ‼️‼️

SunsetKat: CHECK THE HEROES WEBSITE, LIKE RIGHT NOW.

Stella cocked an eyebrow, curious.

> Star_flyer: Wait, why?

SunsetKat: Just do, seriously trust me.

Stella was suspicious, but did as their friend asked. They went to the heroes' website and logged on. There was an update on a raffle the heroes had hosted, where the grand prize was a private meeting with a hero of your choice.

To Stella's disbelief, they had won the raffle. Right on the screen, their name was displayed.

WINNER: STAR_FLYER, STELLA JONES

Stella blinked a few times, and even reloaded the page. It couldn't be, could it? But no, they had won the raffle. They quickly went to their email app, where they received a link to schedule the meeting with their hero. They obviously chose Roseheart. She was cool, they liked her. Summer break was in a week, and they still had to get through finals, so they scheduled the meeting to occur two days into summer break, sometime in the afternoon.

They laid back and stared at the tarp above them. How? How had they won? They couldn't believe it at all... they laid there dumbfounded when their phone buzzed. It was Sunset again.

> SunsetKat: soooo did you see??

Star_flyer: Yep... I still can't believe it, I just scheduled the meeting.

SunsetKat: Damn, I'm a little jealous but you're awesome, you definitely deserved to win that raffle.

Star_flyer: Thanks... I mean, I dunno. I guess we'll see when I meet with the hero!

SunsetKat: You have to tell me how it goes... what hero did you choose?

Star_flyer: Roseheart, you know I like her.

SunsetKat: Oooh ok, anyway my mom's calling me, see ya!

Star_flyer: Bye!

Stella laid back and connected their phone to the battery pack they changed at school. The battery was below 50%, and it would run out eventually. They put their phone and the battery pack in their backpack, then took out their homework. They had to do some algebra things, and astronomy, that's all. After dragging through the algebra, they got started on their astronomy homework. They liked astronomy, their teacher was nice and they constantly complimented how much Stella knew about space.

Of course Stella knew a thing or two about space, they lived there at some point. But obviously, they had lied and told the teacher that their idol was Galileo Galilei and that they wanted to follow in his footsteps. Stella hated lying, but it was to protect themselves. They even lied about their last name, Jones. It was actually Starflyer, but again, too alien. They needed something more... human. So they chose Jones, based on a store they like to go to called "Jones 24 hour shop".

Finally, they finished. It was dark, and their stomach rumbled, they were a bit hungry... They hid their phone under their mattress and quickly shapeshifted into a cat. Rats were prominent in these alleyways, so they were an excellent food source. But to their absolute surprise and luck, they found an injured pigeon struggling on the ground. They promptly took it out of its misery and began to feed on it, purring happily. They ate until there were merely bones left, then left it behind, happy with their meal. After going back through the curtains, they shifted back into their human form.

They stretched and got ready for bed. They took off their jeans and shirt and put on some ratty old pajamas, then once again pulled their blanket over themselves. They took their phone out from under the bed and checked their social media. Nothing new. And so, they put their phone back in their backpack, turned it to face a wall, and stared at the tarp above them. They really did hope nobody found out they were an alien... And as their eyelids grew heavy, they thought about the life they had lived beyond the cosmos... Before everything happened, before they had to jump on a spaceship and quickly leave, all those years ago.