Shayera had waited in the forest for more hours than she had liked. Being in that forest by herself allowed her to get swallowed in her thoughts and she found that her thoughts were nothing but utterly disparaging. Shayera was not only angry but also disgusted with herself at this point.
Once dusk had settled, she had proceeded to fly towards the industrial buildings she had seen earlier and found a town nestled behind them. Thankfully the darkness cloaked her well enough that no civilians had noticed her. She eventually found her target, a small convenience store. All Shayera had to do was bid her time until the store closed. From what she could tell it wasn't a 24/7 store. She didn't want to have to involve any humans in this if necessary.
"What the hell am I thinking?" Shayera quietly asked herself as she was perched on top of a building across the street from the store. She bit her lower lip as she watched the worker lock the front door and then proceed to their car. She lightly shook her head, "I can't do this. This isn't right."
Shayera turned to fly away but stopped herself. She didn't have a choice, right or wrong. She needed to get food. She let out a small sigh as she turned back towards the store. She analyzed the store closely, noticing two security cameras at the front of the store. Shayera lightly frowned as she recognized that she would have to try to go through the back and hoped there was in fact a rear entrance.
Shayera let out another sigh to calm her nerves as she flew well above the building so that the security cameras could not pick her up. She alighted on the roof of the store and peered over the edge. Sure enough the rear of the store had an entrance but it also had a security camera right over it. Though the singular camera was little trouble for Shayera as she ripped it off of the wall as she vaulted over the edge of the roof and onto the ground. Shayera looked at the camera in her hand and dropped it with a look of disdain. Human technology was still like the stone ages to her. Though she also knew she was going to have to fully adapt to it now. She didn't have a choice.
Shayera found that breaking the lock on the doorknob had been no harder than it had been five years ago. A simple, forceful twist snapped the lock and Shayera effortlessly pushed the door open. She allowed herself a small, satisfied smirk as she walked in. She paused before she moved too far within the store. She saw a camera above the register and it was at least pointed at the till and not within the store itself. She glanced around to see that there were no other cameras and that her path was clear to proceed.
Being a Thanagarian, Shayera knew she could eat any food and it would give her enough energy to keep flying for at least another two days before she would have to repeat the process. Thankfully Thanagarians metabolized their food more efficiently than humans so even the worst of junk food was a source a vital sustenance to them. Though even Shayera knew that two bags of Doritos and a six-pack of soda still wasn't the same as eating an entire meal. If she could manage to get a regular meal in her than she could easily go a week without eating. Yet Shayera was limited in what she could grab that was easy for her to carry.
Shayera immediately grabbed a bottle of water and chugged it down in its entirety. Never before had water tasted so good or felt so refreshing. She was already feeling guilty and she so far had only stolen a bottle of water. She took a deep breath as she grabbed a bag of potato chips and ripped it open. Whilst her least favorite of all of the junk food she'd normally eat, Shayera wasn't about to be picky.
She meandered about the store for quite a while, eating whatever small bags of chips she came across or candy bar in front of her. Once she got to a small section of medical supplies she frowned. All they had were regular band-aids and simple pain relievers; neither of which would be any use to her. Shayera knew she needed burn cream ointment and gauze bandages.
"Put your hands where I see them!" A male voice suddenly commanded.
Shayera immediately froze and her eyes widened. She hadn't once thought of a security system. She internally chastised herself for her stupidity and rookie mistake. She should have just grabbed some food and left instead of perusing about the store at a leisurely pace.
"I won't tell you again Thanagarian! Put your hands up now!"
Shayera swallowed as she slowly raised her hands up. She knew the whole routine police officers went through. She knew how she could get away. She just hoped she wouldn't have to seriously hurt the officer in anyway while she did so.
"This is Officer Mitchell requesting backup at the Citgo on the corner of Meyers Boulevard and Parker Street. Robbery in progress. Suspect is a female Thanagarian," she heard him say. She slowly exhaled in relief as she now knew he was alone. She just needed to incapacitate him before backup could arrive.
"Now you just take it nice and easy Thanagarian," he calmly said to her as Shayera heard his foot steps get closer to her.
She felt the officer's hand tightly grab her wrist as he began to pull her right arm down and behind her back. She knew he was about to handcuff her and that this was her only chance. Shayera quickly moved before the officer had a chance to react and threw him over her shoulder and against the counter. Before she had the chance to exit out the rear door, she heard gunshots. Shayera wouldn't have thought anything of it except she felt two burning sensations immediately afterwards. One on her right calf and the other on the upper part of her right wing.
Shayera didn't have time to assess the damage as she quickly took to the air as soon as she got outside. She ignored the searing and burning pain from her right wing as she flew. She clenched her teeth as her eyes involuntarily watered from the pain. She couldn't stop flying, not now. She couldn't be caught by humans.
Shayera flew for at least ten minutes and after she felt like she was far enough away. She didn't hear any sirens or see any police cars coming after her. For now she was relatively safe. She landed on the nearest roof of a building and finally checked over her fresh wounds.
She didn't know whether to feel relieved or not that the gunshot wound to her wing had been a through and through shot. That and her right calf had only been grazed by a bullet and not fully struck. Either way Shayera felt her luck to be horrendous at the moment. Not only did she have a burn to deal with from before but now she had two open wounds that were bleeding. She also figured this was karma catching up with her as well.
Shayera tore a piece of her t-shirt off and wrapped it around the wound on her leg. For now that was the best she could do to bandage it. Even if it wasn't close to ideal as the shirt was dirty and hardly sterile in the least. As disastrous as this robbery had went, Shayera knew she was going to have to break into a pharmacy to get something to treat her injuries at this point. Though Shayera recognized she wouldn't be able to do it in this town. The police would be on high alert and they knew to look out for a Thanagarian in the nearby vicinity.
So Shayera took to the air and began to fly in the hopes of finding a neighboring city or town nearby before the night was over.