"Knuckles…" Shadow said heavily as he spoke into his cell phone. "I think we may have a problem."

The room around him was bare, save for the less valuable jewels not worth anyone's time to take. Cases upon cases had been cleared. Everything from the most exquisite blue diamonds to the dullest scrap of tanzanite was gone.

But how? Shadow thought as the dread began to sink in. If Rouge was here this morning... Did she discover this herself? Certainly she would have called me; she always likes to have a little extra muscle when dealing with the thugs she sells to… If everything was fine when she arrived… where is she?

"What's going on?" Knuckles replied harshly.

"Rouge is gone. Gems are gone. She hasn't answered any of my calls." Shadow said, trying to keep his voice as calm as he could. He was ready to explode with a strange mixture of fear and frustration, but wasn't ready to lose it until he had fully assessed his situation.

Knuckles needed no more explanation and quickly promised to arrive there shortly before hanging up. Shadow was never one to panic; he'd faced a hundred foes and world ending threats, but that didn't mean seeing his friend go missing wasn't a blow to his nerves. Surely everything would be alright. Right?

Tails! Tails had seen her most recently! He debated calling Knuckles back, but figured it could at least wait until he got there. Anxiously he paced back and forth. He should have warped back to retrieve Knuckles; that would have been faster. It was likely too late now, as the echidna would already be on his way. How much time had he wasted sleeping the day away without a care in the world! How long had she been gone? Unable to wait, he scrolled through his contacts, looking for anyone that might get him in contact with the fox.

With a soft, "Ah, of course!" he selected Amy's number and put the phone to his ear. With each ring his impatience grew. "Pick up, Amy, pick up." He muttered under his breath.

"Hello!" Came her cheerful voice. A wave of relief washed over him until it continued. "This is Amy Rose! Sorry I missed you, but leave a message and I'll call ya right back!"

He growled in frustration as he hung up. She was working, so naturally she didn't answer the phone. He made his way back up the steps and into the alley, deciding he'd rather pace back and forth where he'd see Knuckles as soon as he arrived. Perhaps it was better this way. Amy would have questions, and he would rather not worry her if he didn't have to. He could always call Sonic, of course, a number he had only for the most dire of emergencies… but it wasn't that dire. Not that Sonic would answer a call from him anyways, after their exchange last night.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait more than a few minutes before Knuckles arrived, looking out of breath and redder than ever.

"What's going on?" He demanded as he burst into the alley.

Shadow gestured towards the door, making sure to put on a mask of coolness, as there was no sense in getting his hotheaded companion more worked up than necessary. "See for yourself. And, give me your phone. I'd like to talk to Tails."

Knuckles tossed him the device as he headed down the dark steps. "0467." He called over his shoulder. Shadow typed the number in and unlocked the phone, searching briefly until Tails' number came up. Holding his breath, he brought the phone to his ear.

"Hey, Knux!" Tails answered, as chipper as Shadow ever remembered. He cringed in a bit of distaste, but spoke as calmly and detached as he could muster.

"It's Shadow, actually. You saw Rouge this morning, yes?"

"Shadow? I... ah... um…yes, I did, but it's not what you think, really—"

"I couldn't care less. She was here, at her club with you?"

"Er, yeah."

"And she was here when you left?"

"Is everything okay?"

"Answer me." Shadow demanded through a snarled expression.

"Yeah, she was. What's going on?" Tails replied, more and more concern coloring his voice.

"What time was that?"

"Uh, about 9, maybe 9:30?"

Shadow glanced down at his watch. 12:48. Damn. He cursed. More than 3 hours lost. "Anything seem off to you?"

"No, everything was fine. Shadow," Tails said, pleading through the phone. "You're really freaking me out, can you tell me—"

Shadow didn't bother to say his goodbyes before hanging up the phone. He once more descended the steps to find Knuckles in a bit of a frantic state. The echidna was attempting to inspect every inch of the darkened basement, as if some clue would appear out of thin air to tell him where to find the missing bat. "Did you call the cops?" Knuckled demanded as the hedgehog came into view.

"And tell them what, exactly?" Shadow asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "I can't see any scenario where that works out in our favor." Red eyes scanned the room idly as he spoke. "We'll have to handle this ourselves."

"Well then handle it!" Knuckles demanded. "You're the one always talking about being the ultimate lifeform, always saying how much better you are than everyone else! So—"

"Damn it, Knuckles, I know," Shadow replied forcefully. "But this isn't some stupid scheme Robotnik has cooked up, alright? Real criminals don't just announce themselves and their schemes at every turn!" Shadow rubbed his eyes in frustration. "I'm going to head back into the bar, maybe there's something..."

Knuckles stopped him as he began to walk away. "Aren't there cameras?"

"There are," Shadow began, "But only Rouge had access to them. On her phone, I believe, but I didn't find that anywhere."

"Her laptop is at home," Knuckles said. "Maybe it had access."

Shadow pursed his lips. "It's probable. Go find it, then. I can meet you back at your home."

Knuckles nodded, then sprinted past Shadow back up the stairs. Shadow felt better now, that Knuckles at least was helping him, but he couldn't help but feel responsible. If he'd have only checked his phone sooner instead of lazing the day away dreaming of Amy of all things, he could be that much closer to his best friend coming home safely.

As he headed back into the ransacked backroom, he felt his phone buzzing. It was Amy. Of course she was returning his call. Suddenly what had seemed the most important thing in the world to him only a few hours ago was now a thorn in his side. He rejected the call, muttering "Sorry, Amy," under his breath as he did so. Better to not get her involved. She had a tendency to worry.