Shadow took an alternative route home just because, and certainly not for any other reason. Traversing the back alleys normally would have taken twice the time, but with no one around to see him, he was able to move at his natural pace and arrived home in less than a quarter of the time.

He allowed himself to slow to a stroll only when he arrived at his complex. The jackal was probably just another tourist, he decided. A tourist haughty enough to open carry a nasty looking weapon, but a hooligan at most. That was all. It would be fine to put it out of his mind.

He inserted the first key in the lock and to his horror, the lock did not turn, which could only mean that the top lock was already unlocked. He tried to next look only to find the same and a hand against the doorknob confirmed that the same was true of the doorknob lock.

Shadow had learned to be cautious above anything: there was absolutely no chance he had forgotten to lock his doors. He leaned down and placed an ear against the wood, listening through the door—silence.

Someone had been in his apartment; whether they were still there or not was another question. Shadow furrowed his brow and clenched his jaw. If someone was waiting for him in his apartment, they would try to catch him off guard—an ambush.

The audacity to try such a pathetic tactic! But it wouldn't matter, he was ready for anything they threw at him. He leaned down in a runners start, hand still on the door handle. Even without his rocket skates, Shadow had never met a being capable of outrunning him. He would turn the surprise attack onto the intruder.

In one motion, he threw open the door and launched into the room.

"Hiya, Shadow!" A sing-song voice assaulted his eardrums.

Shadow nearly destroyed his kitchen cabinets scrambling to slow his attack. He rolled into a ball and skidded to the side, crashing just below the sink and landing on his back.

The intruder was halfway out her seat, eyes wide and gripping the table. "Jeez, Shadow! Is that how you greet an old friend?!"

Shadow jumped to his feet, eyes ablaze. "What are you doing here?!" He hissed.

"Spring cleaning." She replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. A dramatic hand motioned to the table now free of the newspaper stacks that littered it this morning. "Love the new look, by the way."

Shadow was sure he discovered a new dimension of self control when he resisted the urge to fling the bat through his window.

—-

"Don't be so mad at me, Shadow. You're so hard to get in touch with, what else was I supposed to do? Would you prefer it if I showed up at your workplace instead?"

Shadow grumbled, crossing his arms as he leaned against the kitchen counter. "You're lucky to be alive, you know."

The bat rested her chin on interlocked fingers. "Please, if I was actually trying to ambush you, you wouldn't have known I was here."

"Rouge." He snapped, patience paper-thin. "What do you want?"

"Like I said, I was in the area. I have my own business here, yknow." She huffed, taking a sip of tea she had helped herself to from Shadow's fridge. "I just figured it'd be good for you to see a friend."

His look was all she needed to know he was not impressed.

"And," she continued, lifting a manila folder from her lap, "I have updates from HQ."

Shadow's mouth twitched.

"So, do you want to keep standing, or is there another chair in this place?"

—-

Shadow was fine sitting on the counter (and definitely not because he did not own another chair).

"The good news is that Project Shadow is still under clearance level 9. So, you shouldn't have to worry about the government or GUN organizing any high-resource capture attempts." Rouge explained. "Even if they did try to launch a campaign, the fact that you're in a foreign country certainly complicates things for them."

"They know I'm in a foreign country?"

"That's the theory they're working under right now—" she rolled her eyes. "Because of course if you were in their jurisdiction, there's no way they wouldn't have found you by now with their state-of-the-art surveillance technology. But that does bring me to the bad news.

She retrieved a sheet from her folder and handed it to him. "They aren't hunting you under official channels, but I know you're aware of GUN's determination in getting what they want no matter what laws they trample over."

Shadow observed the file. Two blurry black and white photos topped the page. It appeared to be stills from security footage. They weren't the highest quality, but Shadow immediately recognized himself, or at least how he used to appear.

"This was posted a few weeks ago on some of the nastiest bounty hunter channels I've had the displeasure of viewing." Rouge grimaced. "I wish I could have warned you sooner, but I only managed to get out here today."

Shadow scanned over the information. Under the photos, there was his name, a description of his appearance, and a brief detailing of his abilities. It truthfully wasn't as in-depth as he would have expected but it was enough to be of concern, especially regarding the pictures. Even during the height of his military "career," he was very careful to avoid having his picture taken. And then there was the bounty, a sum large enough to make even an emperor sob.

He passed the paper back to Rouge. "So, GUN has resorted to mercenaries, then."

A moment of silence passed between them. Rouge spoke up first. "You're perfectly aware that these kinds of guys aren't just amateurs, and a lot of them don't work alone either."

"Naturally." Shadow scoffed. "But I've faced worse than a few mercenaries. This doesn't change anything."

"I see you've adjusted to Orléanan life." Rouge changed the subject. She gestured to his whole self, thoroughly amused by his new look.

"Trust me, I'm not a fan of having to do all this. But especially now that my face is out there, it just became that much more important."

"Well, your disguise could've fooled me—if I didn't know you so well, that is." Rouge winked.

"You said you had other business here?"

"Ah, so you were listening to me! Glad to know you care what I'm up to."

Shadow rolled his eyes. " I'm just confirming that you have other housing arrangements. In case you haven't noticed, I don't exactly have much room here."

"Hmph!"

—-

Rouge insisted on staying for several hours, doing most of the talking as usual. She talked about work at GUN HQ, but focused more on coworker drama than anything Shadow could gain useful intel on. She talked about missions and about her flight to the country and the horrible time she had at Jean Marcois International Airport. Shadow sipped on his own glass of tea, saying mostly nothing but listening all the same.

He let her talk, because truth be told, her presence was…pleasant.

Shadow made it a point to converse regularly with no one outside of Mr. Marmotte, and even then their conversations were purely professional, as Marmotte was never one to pry into Shadow's personal life. Neighbors and town locals were far from the level of even acquaintances by his own choice. It was a lonely life by design, to protect himself and those around him.

But then there was Rouge, a comrade he had given little regard to for most of the time he knew her. She had turned coat for his sake. Rouge, who helped him escape the hell of being a dog for GUN and continued to risk everything to help him to this day. And now, she had come out to help him again, and she had stayed just to chat.

He would never dare to say anything about that to her though, knowing he would never hear the end of it.

"No treasure worth a sniff has evaded me yet." Rouge stated matter-of-factly. "All the worlds gems—"

"—are yours to keep?" Shadow finished, pouring more tea into her empty glass.

"Precisely!" She took another sip. "And your little town happens to be the spot of some of the greatest treasures this side of the planet."

Shadow narrowed his eyes. "Are you talking about the supposed missing royal fortune? I've heard all of that is just a myth."

Rouge stuck her finger in his face. "To the wannabe treasure-hunters it may as well be. But if it's out there, Rouge the Bat will be the one to find it!"

She placed her hands on her face and fluttered her eyelashes dreamily. "Soon I could be the sole owner of all the remaining wealth from before the Orléanan revolution!"

"Assuming the locals don't redistribute it by force again." Shadow mumbled.

"Funny today, are we?" Rouge pouted. "All I want are the jewels. They can melt the gold or statues or whatever dead kings keep around their tombs for all I care."

"Then I wish you luck with that endeavor." Shadow replied as he stepped to the sink to wash out his glass.

"I'll even grab something just for you. That way you can afford a bigger apartment and more than one chair."

"Now why would I possibly need any of that?"

Rouge smirked. "Two jokes in one night? Am I really talking to Shadow the Hedgehog?"

"You should probably refer to me by Henry from now on, since that's who I'm known as, here."

Rouge stood up with a yawn. "Alright then, Henry. I suppose I should be taking my leave now." She tucked the folder under her arm and fished through her pocket, retrieving a device she placed into Shadow's hand.

"Here, it'll let us stay in touch. Don't worry, it's totally secure" she winked. "Custom made. And this way, I won't have to break into your apartment anymore."

Rouge opened the window. Both parties preferred to avoid any nosey neighbors witnessing a strange woman leaving Shadow's apartment at 9 pm, so this was the logical way to do that.

"I'll try to visit you again before I leave the country, okay?"

Shadow responded with a curt nod and a half-raised farewell wave from his crossed-arm position.

With that, the bat fell backwards through the window, wings expanding and flapping to propel her back up into the sky and out of sight.

By the time Rouge left, it was past the point Shadow usually went to bed. The surprise appearance caused him to completely forget about needing to re-dye his quills.

He snapped on a pair of latex gloves and got to work, slathering his quills with handfuls of dark gel in front of the bathroom mirror. Forty-five minutes later, the stuff had processed and he washed the excess off, blackened water trailing all over his face and body. Body soap cleaned his muzzle of any stains, but the same could not be said for his bathtub. Bathroom cleaning was a problem for future Shadow, he decided.

It was just after 11:00 pm when Shadow placed a towel over his pillow and crawled into bed.

Sleeping didn't come very naturally to him, but he had gotten the hang of it over time. Now, he fell asleep within minutes, once again alone in his world.