Gaz stared into Zim's upside down face, suddenly reminded of a Spiderman movie she had seen while she had been channel surfing. Nowadays, it was considered ancient. She refused to think of that moment.
Zim grinned stupidly, wiggled his three fingers in a little wave, then went up into the cieling. He had apparently escaped through the air vent.
'Ugh, the little creep, was he spying on me?' Gaz thought angrily. Then, she realized, probably not, because if he had, she would have seen him in the mirror. He must've fallen through. Suddenly, she came to her senses and realized that she should probably call someone to catch him.
She pushed an intercom button next to her mirror and yelled, "SOLDIERS! I NEED SOLDIERS TO MEET ME IN THE MAIN HALL IMMEDIATLEY." She slid on her boots as fast as she could and ran out of her room, then realized something and turned back.
She pushed the button again and added, "Wait, make that soldiers levels 3 and up, plus the two new soldiers I promoted from guards today." Her soldiers were ranked 0-5. 0 is beginners, 1 is below average, 2 is average, 3 is above average, 4 is the leaders of levels 0-3, and 5 is the few who are qualified enough to protect their Lord Gaz personally.
She ran to the Main Hall as quickly as possible and was relieved to see that most of the soldiers she had called were already there. She saw her royal messenger nearby and told him to tell the announcer who spoke over the castle intercom to warn all the guards. He nodded and ran away, his short legs surprisingly fast.
"Alright, soldiers, we have an emergency situation," Gaz began, pacing back and forth on a platform in front of them, her hands behind her back. "Our little intruder, who happens to be an old friend of mine, has escaped his cell and is crawling around in the air vents."
"How is that possible? The cells are inescapable!" One of the soldiers burst out. He instantly covered his mouth, surprised at his outburst.
Gaz stopped and leaned down so they would be face to face. She narrowed her eyes and looked at his patch. Rank 3.
"Do you not realize..." she stood up again and yelled at everyone else. "Does anyone realize, that he is at least as powerful as me?"
Everyone stared, shocked.
"Yes," Gaz bent down to look at the Rank 3 soldier again. "He is at least as strong, fast, and powerful as me in every way. He claims to be even stronger than I am. I extremely doubt it, but it's still possible. Is it really any wonder he escaped?"
He shook his head nervously. Gaz stood straight again, her hands on her hips.
"So, it appears that an extremely powerful prisoner has escaped and is prowling around in the air vents. In fact, he even snuck into my room." Everyone gasped again.
"I think the best thing to do is search for this intruder. So, Rank 3 soldiers are to search the left side of the building, Rank 4 on the right, where my room is, and Rank 5, come with me to search the middle."
She watched as some soldiers separated to one side of the castle, and a few others stand in front of the platform, waiting for her next move. She looked at the two Rank 0 soldiers waiting her command.
"You," she pointed to the one on her left. "Go with Rank 3. And you," she pointed at the other. "With Rank 4. You two are the only ones other than me who knows what he looks like, so if he gets a disguise from somewhere, he won't be able to fool you." They bowed and separated, looking back at each other.
"Ugh, I swear, they're like a couple or something," Gaz muttered to herself. "Anyway," she said louder, "Rank 5. You are the best my military has to offer. Several of my Rank 4 are close to being you, but they don't have what it takes. You come from all over the universe to protect me, your Lord." She looked at them each in turn. There were about 10.
"What I'm trying to say is, don't screw this up, or you're all freaking dead. You got that?" They shook their heads, nervous and exited at the same time.
"Okay, this guy is a big threat, so keep an eye out and never let your guard down. Forward, march."
On her word, they turned and marched in front of her. She followed them, giving them orders and explaining what Zim looked like.
Even with all these precautions, she had the feeling that she was in deep shit.