Prelude to Insanity


To say that he was slightly angry would be an understatement.

Shadow the Hedgehog was furious.

He looked around wordlessly, not even daring to step inside and risk ruining his precious shoes. His kitchen floor was covered in water. So were the soft, velvety carpets that led into his living room. Everything was soggy and ruined. All he had was a pair of socks and his sleek hover shoes.

Thank goodness I don't wear clothes… He thought to himself graciously. Still, he was fuming. It was unlike the black and red hedgehog to make such a foolish mistake. He looked back at the mongoose whose eyes were as wide as saucers.

"Erm… Mister Shadow, could you please tell me what happened?"

Shadow stared at him lividly, unintentionally scaring the poor guy.


Shadow poked the frozen meat, sighing impatiently. He remembered Vanilla, Cream's mother, advising Amy of one of the many ways to thaw out meat. One of them included filling the sink up with warm water and leaving the meat in there to soften. So Shadow did as the mature rabbit had said, gently placing the packaged flesh into the sink. As he waited for the water to fill up, he noticed that he got a phone call.

"Commander?" He answered in his usual, monotone voice.

"Two blocks down from Club Rouge, a gray hedgehog was spotted trying to kidnap a small fox. Witnesses say he's still in the area. You do have the most valuable powers that can be used to find this guy."

Shadow raised an eyebrow.

"If it's so close to Club Rouge, why didn't you call batgirl?"

"I did." He said with a sigh, "3 times. Her cell went straight to voicemail; I'd assume she doesn't have a signal… wherever she is."

Shadow felt a surge of anger rush through him when he realized she was probably up on Angel Island taunting Knuckles… and maybe doing a little more than just that.

He shook his head of those vile thoughts.

"Okay." He muttered, grabbing his infamous emerald and saying the two magic words…

"Chaos control!"


"…And yeah. I kicked some ass, came home, and this is the end result." Shadow said.

The mongoose nodded slowly, jotting some stuff down on his clipboard. He looked up at Shadow, giving the Ultimate Lifeform a sheepish smile.

"Well, the good news is we can definitely clean this up, and even send in some of your valuables for repairs." He eased a little as he noticed Shadow beginning to relax, "Bad news is with damage like this, well… it's not gonna go away in the blink of an eye."

"What are you saying?" Shadow asked, his ears twitching and his expression concentrated.

"It's going to take us at least a week to fix this place up for you. You'll need to find a place to stay, perhaps a hotel? Or maybe with a friend…"

Rouge.

It was the first thought that came to mind. She was his treasured ally, and, if he were to be completely candid, his best friend. Besides, in a way, it was her fault that his house was flooded. Well… not really. But because she didn't pick up her phone to capture the creepy kidnapper, Shadow had to be the one to go get him. Basically, she owed him. Even if she didn't realize it.

He nodded, acknowledging and accepting the fact that he would need another place to stay.

"Okay," he said. "I know just where to go. But you guys better clean this up as quickly and efficiently as you can." He glared at the mongoose threateningly.

"Y-Yes sir!" He squeaked.

Shadow skated off before he could say anything else.

He finally made his way to Club Rouge. As soon as he saw the buildings, memories came back to him like a river breaking through a dam. Back before he shocked everyone with the news that he had, in fact, survived after saving the world alongside Sonic; this was the first place he came to. He would stay in Rouge's home nearly every night until finally, she gave him a key and they became unofficial 'roomies.' All good things had to come to an end, though. Eventually he decided that as much as he cared for his strong and beautiful ally, her lifestyle outside of work was a bit too jaunty and scandalous for his liking. So he found a place of his own after almost a year. The less he knew about her outside the world of professionalism, the better. Unfortunately the two were so close that they knew each other better than anyone else. Still, he was sure Rouge had a couple secrets that he didn't need to know about. He still had a key to Rouge's home, but didn't think it would be wise to use, as it had been a long time since he last did so.

He knocked on the door to her personal quarters, away from the loud music and crazy lights of the club.

A bit of shuffling could be heard from inside, but then slowly the door opened – just a little bit though. A head covered with luscious, white fur peeked out from inside.

"Well hello there handsome." Rouge said, giving her dark friend a seductive grin.