Okay, I apologize ahead of time for the shortness of this chapter, but there really wasn't any more that needed to be said.

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"Gir! How could you have let the prisoner escape?!"

The small dog scurried behind his master to keep up, hopping on one leg as he was entangled in the string Dib had given him.

"I told you never to go down there!"

"Ooh, I'm sorry. I just--oof!"

He spoke in his high metallic voice before suddenly tripping over the lace to land on the ground with a small thud. Zim growled impatiently and lifted his companion as he tried to free himself. The alien soon crashed through some doors and entered a large meeting hall, where the Captain, Second-Captain, and many other powerful followers were already seated. Zim climbed up behind a tall podium and set Gir down to do whatever robots did.

The Irken cleared his throat before turning to the audience at hand.

"As you all well know, Prisoner #666A escaped today. If it weren't for our high quality prison guards, he'd still be running amuck. But how, I repeat, HOW did he get away in the first place? Hmmmmmmmm? Does anybody have any idea as to how this may have happened? Hmmm....?"

As he spoke, he turned his gaze to the Second-Captain, who promptly went to defend herself, but was quickly interrupted by the screaming Gir.

"Weeeeeeeeeeee! Woooo-hooooooo! I'm flying!"

The little green dog was keeping himself occupied by frantically running around the room, one end of Dib's black lace flying from his ear. Zim stared wide-eyed at his companion, before huffing in anger. He was the ruler of the planet! Why did he still have to put up with such insolence! The Second-Captain tried to ignore Gir's antics and continued on.

"..back to what I was saying. I know nothing of his means of escape. I can promise you of that."

Zim was about to reply when suddenly Gir began to yell out again and ran crazily around Zim's podium.

"Haaahahaha! Aaaahahahaha! I can bounce! Hahahaaaaaha!"

He left the podium and again ran over to the other side of the room. Zim narrowed his crimson eyes and attempted to continue on with the meeting.

"Yesss, yesss. I--"

For the third time he was cut short by Gir's maniacal screaming and laughter. Zim gritted his teeth and tightly shut one eye, while the other remained open wide.

"Would somebody PLEASE do something about that scrap of rusty metal so we can continue on with business?!"

Quickly one of the guards threw a bucket on top of the insane robot, trapping him underneath. Inside, you could hear a muffled voice.

"Aww, who turned out the lights?"

Zim sighed in frustration and continued on where he'd left off.

"Finally! Of course you're right, however. This time it was the fault of the worthless peice of junk in that bucket, and this I know. But, who's to say you won't help to free him in the future? Hmm..?"

The room fell silent upon Zim's accusations, and the Second-Captain quickly stood from her seat.

"I did NOT help him this time, and I would NOT help him in the future! He is a mere prisoner now! I care nothing of our lineage!"

Upon realizing what she had just done, she quickly sat back down and fumbled with the papers in front of her, avoiding the eye contact of everyone else in the room. But she soon looked back up to her leader's face, which was twitching with anger at her short outburst.

"What you fail to realize, Second-Captain, is that I am the ruler of YOU, and all your disgusting human race! I can very easily send you down to that jail to join your filthy scum of a 'brother' in a moment's notice! Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes...yes sir. I'm sorry. I had forgotten my place for a moment."

She cleared her throat and waited for the uneasy silence that followed to wash over. He watched her suspiciously, thoughts flying through his head. He wondered if Dib's return was beginning to enlighten her to her situation, despite the limited time the two spent together. He was already beginning to see small changes in her attitude, and that outburst was proof enough. He would have to get her back in line, and fast, or he would have another execution to add to the list.

"Now, onto business."

"I can assure you, Highest Zim, that Dib's escape, or anything like it, will never happen again."

"Yes, and I will make sure of that."

He looked back to the Second-Captain when she again spoke.

"In three hours, I expect to see all security cards upgraded, and I want a weapon detector placed in every doorway. Nobody will be making it in or out on my watch any longer."

"Yessir, I'll be right on it."

"Gooood. As for you two! Find those guards that let Dib escape, and put them onto the list of current executions."

He pointed to two of his workers sitting on the far edge of the table, and they immediately gave their agreement to their duties. And as for Dib, he couldn't very well leave him alive any longer to arouse more minds than he already had. He quickly slammed his black gloved fist onto his podium.

"Tomorrow, Dib dies..."