Rouge's scream of terror could be heard from across the island.

"GET IT AWAY GET IT AWAY GET IT AWAYYYYYY!"

She was hanging from the ceiling, trembling with her eyes wide. Her wings were spread, her ears were flat against her head, and her teeth were bared.

The culprit? A tiny cockroach at the corner of the grotto.

"You're scared of that tiny thing?" Shadow scoffed, helpful as ever. "You're more pathetic than I thought."

"SHUT UP SHUT UP JUST KILL IT PLEASE!"

Shadow rolled his eyes, but Omega pulled out one of his lasers, aimed it at the intruding roach, and fired one blast, incinerating it.

"TARGET ELIMINATED. ROUGE'S SAFETY ASSURED."

All the same, it took a while before Rouge calmed down enough to rejoin her cavemates on the ground. "Sorry about that," she said in a painfully obvious attempt at saving face. "I just don't care for roaches."

"That's a funny way of saying you were scared," Shadow mocked, smiling cruelly as he finally took a rare chance at one-upping Rouge.

Rouge frowned at him. "Hey, we're all afraid of something," she defended herself, and that was enough to make Shadow's spines raise.

"Not me," he denied. "I'm not afraid of anything, so don't get any funny ideas."

"FALSE STATEMENT," Omega droned, calling Shadow out like it was his job. "OBSERVATION INDICATES THAT SHADOW FEARS-"

Shadow rushed Omega at full speed, knocking the robot over, his face twisted in a wild snarl.

"Finish that sentence and I'm ripping all your weapons out," he threatened.

"Shadow, come on," Rouge groaned. "It's nothing to be ashamed of! You know what I'm afraid of, I'm sure Omega has some things he'd rather avoid..."

"CORRECT," Omega supplied helpfully. "I FEAR THE STING OF REJECTION WHEN IT COMES TO THEN THINGS THAT I CREATE. AND SQUIRRELS."

Rouge and Shadow blinked in surprise. "Squirrels?" Rouge asked.

"AFFIRMATIVE. THEIR TEETH ARE BIG AND MADE OF EVIL."

Shadow scoffed, removing himself from Omega's prone form. "You both are hopeless," he jeered. "Afraid of something you could squish under your heel."

"...Gross."

"DITTO."

"Hmph. And this is why I'm your superior."

With that, Shadow sauntered off. There was no way Omega had read him like a book. There was no way he had pinpointed Shadow's true fears (which he didn't have, by the way!). There was no way that Rouge would dig that information out of Omega.

If they did any of that, roaches and squirrels would be the least of their problems...