Section 10: Nothing to Lose:

(A/N: All I own is this fanfiction, Som-Ri and Radu. Invader Zim is not mine. I have gotten the glitch taken care of. Enjoy!)

Radu went down to the lab and called the two robots down for their maintenance. He hooked the two robots up and started their update downloads. Radu dropped into a chair and told the computers to store his sowing equipment. He leaned back and sighed.

Had Dib finally started to feel for him? Or was it just Dib's curiosity that got the better of him and made him a little more touchy feely than before? Radu was running out of time to give him. He had taught Dib how to use his pod, gotten him a robot slave, and made him more traditional Irken clothes, there was little more for him to do.

Radu stayed down in the lab for a few more hours, checking and changing a few things as the updates were uploaded into the two robots. Then he decided to head upstairs and get Dib something to eat. He entered the transport and headed back up.

No sooner had the transport stopped and opened, than an earthshaking explosion rocked the house. Radu stumbled and almost fell into one of the counters as he tried to steady himself. Smoke spilled into the room from the living room and stung at his eyes.

Radu forced his way into the living room through the smoke, coughing as he breathed in the smoke. Through the smoke, he could see daylight pouring in through a big hole in the front of his house. Chunks of metal and stone were lying all over the floor and on the furniture.

Before he could even get a clear image of what was going on or who was attacking him, something hard cracked into his skull. He hit the floor dazed and his head pounding. As he was trying to control the pain and get himself back up, something slammed into his abdomen and knocked the wind out of him, doubling him over. He coughed and sputtered, holding his aching body, trying to look up at his attacker.

"Look at him. He's still trying to get up," it was a guttural language of alien that Radu had heard before, but with his head pounding and his abdomen aching, he couldn't think of the name.

Radu squinted through the smoke, and tried to see their face. His eyes were watering and stinging from the smoke and he still couldn't quite breathe. He tried to pull himself up by grabbing hold of the beings leg, but they threw him off into one of the counters. Radu let out a groan as he tried to pull himself up. His back sent shockwaves of pain shooting up his spine as he tried to pull himself up. He crumpled to the floor, gasping and reeling from the pain.

"Don't hurt him too much. We still need him to come after this one," this voice was deeper than the first, sounding a little older as well.

"Radu? Radu where are you?" Dib's voice cut through Radu's pain like a knife.

He raised his head and looked through the smoke. He couldn't really see too far, but he could see the dark shape of one of the intruders carrying something that was struggling. Radu gritted his teeth and hauled himself up.

"Radu!" Dib screamed.

"Let go of Dib!" Radu roared running into the smoke at the dark shape.

The one that had hit Radu when he first came upstairs grabbed him and threw him toward the couch. He was thrown with such force he crashed right through it. He could hear Dib scream for him again, but something cut it off.

"This should shut 'im up. Let's go," said the second one, the dark shape moved and headed for the hole in the wall.

"See you soon, Radu," laughed the first shape as it too headed for the hole.

Radu lay in the splinters of his couch, breathing hard and trying not to move. He could hear the engines from their ship fire up, then fade away. Gradually, the smoke began to clear. Radu closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and sat up. He cried out as pain shot up and down his back. From outside, he could hear another ship approaching. He sat still a moment as he tried to ride out the pain.

"Oh Tallest," it sounded like Zim.

He heard two pairs of feet go sprinting across the ground toward his home. That was the good thing about his home. He had set up base in a typical neighborhood, but had put a barrier around it so then it always looked the same. Even with a big gaping hole in the front, his neighbors would see the same old house.

Som-Ri stopped right at the edge of the hole and took everything in quickly. She saw Radu and was at his side in an instant. Zim paused in the new entryway.

"Radu what happened?" Zim said looking everything over.

"Come on. Let's get you up," Som-Ri tried to help him up, but lowered him down again when he cried out in pain.

"What's wrong? What hurts?" Zim was by her side in a second, trying to help Radu lay back down.

"No. I need to get up. Those pethics took Dib," Radu barked as he tried to stand.

"What if you broke something?" Som-Ri asked.

"They took DIB!" Radu roared it as he hurled himself up onto his feet, grunting from the pain.

Som-Ri and Zim were by his sides, helping to hold him up as he tried to make his way back to the transport. He was unsteady on his feet and couldn't seem to keep himself in the right course to the transport.

"Som-Ri, you saw this happen didn't you," Radu gasped as he pressed a button for the doors to open on the transport.

"Yeah. But it wasn't soon enough. I'm sorry," Som-Ri dropped her voice a little.

"Don't apologize. You can't control those blasted things," Radu cursed as he hauled himself into the transport, dragging Zim and Som-Ri along with him.

"Radu, how will you rescue Dib if you can't even move on your own?" Zim asked, trying to help keep Radu on his feet.

"I'll be fine," Radu kept his eyes ahead, not looking at either of them.

"Do you know who they were?" Som-Ri asked, keeping her voice level.

"I heard them talk. One of them grabbed me. I know I've heard their language before…" Radu closed his eyes, thinking back to all the planets he'd been to, all the planetary meetings, and even all the interstellar calls he'd heard and made.

The transport brought them down into the lab and the doors opened. Radu shrugged out of their helpful hands and staggered his way over to where Tin and Leo were getting updated.

"That's why we didn't see them upstairs," Zim said, going to unhook them.

"Don't touch them. They aren't done yet. If you do, they'll crash," Radu grabbed Zim's hand in time to stop him.

"Who were the intruders, Radu?" Som-Ri asked, putting herself between him and the computer.

"Let me think a minute okay? I'm in pain and it's making it hard to think," Radu tried to keep his voice calm and level.

"I'll try to access the computer security systems and see if I can get an image," Zim started on the computer, typing away.

Radu remained quiet, thinking. He knew the language, but with all the planets he'd been too, it was impossible to remember which one. Then Patches call seemed to bubble up from his memories. Grithoc. They'd found him. He opened his eyes only to see that Zim had found the security cameras.

He saw the explosion, but the intruders were hidden by the smoke. They could hear Radu get hit by one of them while the other slunk off upstairs. Then they heard and partially saw Radu get thrown into the counter. Zim flinched and Som-Ri placed a hand on Radu's shoulder. There was no way that he'd have been able to fight back. He was outmaneuvered. Then they heard Dib screaming for Radu. Then, as the smoke began to clear a little, they saw Radu pull himself up and charge the one carrying Dib, yelling for them to let Dib go. They only saw the other shape intercept him, and throw him into the couch, they weren't able to see who it was. Dib kept screaming for Radu only to be gagged and dragged away by the two figures.

It was just as painful to watch as it was when it happened. Radu cut the clip and pulled up his contacts list. He typed in 'Patches' and sent out the call. Som-Ri moved next to Zim .

"Don't say anything," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Why?" he asked as Patches' image came up on the screen.

"Radu. I got the feeling I'd be hearing from you again soon. What happened to you? Som-Ri? Who's that with you? What's going on?" Patches took in all the sights quickly but asked all the questions that came into his head.

"Those Grithociens that were looking for me took Dib," Radu grunted as he tried to stand up straighter.

"They found you? How did they find you?" Patched exclaimed.

"I had placed an order yesterday for fabric to make Dib some Irken clothes. It's possible that they could have gotten my name from the order codes," Radu said after a moment's thought.

"How could you have been that careless?" Som-Ri asked looking at him.

It was not like Radu to make a mistake like that. He knew that there were aliens looking for him, he even had to look after Dib, and yet he still made a mistake that could cost him his life or Dib's. Radu shut his eyes tightly before he looked up at them.

"For a moment, I forgot about the Grithociens. Because of me, Dib is in danger. It's my fault, and I will get him back. But I don't have the strength to do it all myself right now," Radu hung his head as he leaned on the computer frame.

"Wow. I've never seen you like this," Patches leaned in a little.

"Radu. You aren't alone in this. You've always had all of us on your side," Som-Ri smiled at him.

Zim, doing as he was told, smiled and nodded.

"What do I need to do?" Patches asked.

"I need to make sure they don't get away. I can find Dib. But if you two could fly the ship up there, and you, Patches, could stop them if they try to get away. This will let me heal a little before I try to fight them," Radu said looking at Som-Ri and Zim, then at Patches.

"I'll meet out just outside of the Earth's gravitational field," Patches said before hanging up.

"Let's go get Dib," Zim said as Radu readied the ship.

(A/N: New scene.) Dib looked out of his glass prison at his kidnappers. They were taller than Radu, and he was taller than Dib. They were covered in thick hair that was tannish. The hair on one seemed to be darker than the other. They both had large brown eyes and horns that came out of the sides of their heads.

He didn't even know if Radu was okay. He'd only gotten a brief glimpse of him getting thrown into the couch before they dragged him away. From what he saw, Radu looked like he was already hurting. He'd heard something crash in the kitchen not long after the explosion, but he wasn't even sure if it was Radu or not.

He found himself getting a little scared. He didn't know why these aliens wanted him, or what had happened to Radu, or what would happen to him. He didn't know how to fight in his new body yet, and he didn't have enough skill with his spider legs to be able to fight two big aliens like these two. One of the aliens looked at him.

"I can see why Radu settled down with her. She sure is a pretty little Irken, eh?" the lighter one said to the other.

"Fair skin, beautiful eyes, unique antennae, and a slight frame. But she doesn't really have any boobs though," the darker one said, shifting his blaster rifle in his hands.

"Well, maybe Irken girls don't get big boobs. I don't think they even have kids," said the other.

They both looked at Dib. He couldn't help but think that it was a little weird that they thought he was a girl. Did he really look like a female Irken? He didn't think he looked anything like Tak, and she left a long time ago. He wasn't even sure how he could understand their strange language.

Dib sat there and looked around the room. It was a large room, almost like an airplane hangar, only a little smaller. His own prison was just a hovering glass jar. He missed Radu. He didn't love him, but he'd come to like the big alien. Radu had always taken care of him, and took extra care to help him. Even when he was obviously in pain, he still charged at two foes he couldn't see to save him.

He slumped against one of the walls of the glass jar he was in and hung his head. If only he was stronger. Then he'd be able to fight his way out of here. But his body still hadn't fully recovered, and Radu had tried his best to let Dib rest up and get back up on his feet gradually.

"How long do you think it will take for Radu to find us?" asked the lighter one.

"Well, if you didn't hurt him too badly, Grezz, then he should come soon," said the darker one to the lighter one.

"This is Radu we're talking about. He can live through anything," the one called Grezz said.

"I don't know. You did throw him into a counter. Do you forget that Irken's always build with metal?" the darker one asked.

"That is true. But I thought that Irken's spines could bend backwards," Grezz said leaning against one of the walls.

"Only if they are relaxed enough or bend them themselves," the darker one scolded.

"He'll be fine," Grezz waved his companion off.

The door at the far end of the room slid open. Silhouetted in the doorframe stood Radu. Dib leaned close to the glass. He was never so happy to see an alien in all his life. The two aliens straightened up and stood directly between Dib and Radu. Radu walked into the room and stopped halfway to them. His eyes were cold and hard. It chilled Dib to see him this way.

"See? Told you he would be fine," Grezz said, nudging his companion.

"I've come for Dib," Radu commanded, not looking at Dib, but focusing on the two before him.

"About that. You can have her, only if you win against us," the dark one said.

"We took your little sweetheart to lure you hear, to fight us, so we could get revenge for what you did to our people," Grezz said pointing his gun at Radu.

"I'm not in the mood to deal with you two younglings right now. You have your whole lives ahead of you, yet you make a stupid choice like this?" Radu tilted his head a little, looking at the shortness of his opponents horns.

"We have to do this in order to show you Irkens that we won't just sit around and be your pets," Grezz said, spitting on the ground.

"Lezt, maybe we should move this one. Can't have her getting hurt in the cross fire. When we kill Radu, she'll make a lovely pet," Grezz said to his darker companion.

"No. She's fine," Lezt replied.

Radu only sighed heavily and cracked his shoulder. Grezz fired at Radu, only to have Radu lazily turn to the side. Between Grezz and Lezt, they couldn't land a single hit on Radu. He dodged with all the flexibility that Dib had seen from Zim. Radu dodged one of the blasts, bounded off of the wall and headed straight for Lezt. Just before Lezt had the chance to shoot Radu, Radu kicked the gun from Lezt's hands and leapt over his shoulder, skidding to a halt just near Dib. Grezz tried to hit him, but Radu crouched low and sprang into Dib's prison, moving it out of the way of the blast.

Dib was rocked to the side from the force of Radu's jump. He just managed to get himself up when he saw Radu throw a small Irken knife into the barrel of Grezz's gun, causing it to explode in his hands, burning his hands and lighting some of the hair on fire. While he tried to put out the fire, Radu pulled an Irken short sword out of a hip sheath. He rolled across the ground and got inside of Lezt's down slice with his knife and brought his own blade up into Lezt's forearm, causing him to drop his blade in a howl of pain.

Dib stifled a gasp as he saw the rich blood pore out of Lezt's forearm. He couldn't believe that this was the same Radu who had so tenderly picked him up in his weakened state and carried him like a child. No, this Radu was bloodthirsty and ruthless.

Grezz tried to grab Radu, but Radu used his foot to hook it behind Grezz's head and pull him down to the ground. While Grezz held his head from the impact, Lezt grabbed Radu and tossed him hard into the wall. Radu slid to the ground, crying out in agony as he felt something in his back pop. From across the room, he could hear Dib scream for him. He looked up at Lezt, who stood over him holding his short sword, his arm bleeding slightly. He went to roll away from the swing, but with his back aching again, he felt the blade sink deep into his side. He grunted as he brought his legs up into Lezt's crotch. As he hit the ground moaning, Radu pulled himself up, holding the hilt of his sword as he watched the blood trickle down his side.

He grabbed one of his knives he'd hidden in his boots and drove it right down into the back of Lezt's neck. Grezz let out a howl of rage and charged Radu. He grabbed at the sword in Radu's side, and almost grabbed it, before Radu was able to grab his wrist and twist it around. Grezz hit the floor in a minute, screaming in pain as Radu twisted with all his might. With his other hand, he grabbed another knife and drove it into Grezz's neck. He pulled it out and let the body hit the floor. He stood a moment, catching his breath and watching the blood pool on the floor.

He staggered his way over to Dib, keeping his head down as he looked for a way to open it without breaking the glass and potentially hurting Dib. He hit a button on the hover control panel. The hovering jar lowered to the floor and opened. Dib tumbled out and looked up at Radu as he caught him. Radu smiled tenderly down at him.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. I'm so glad you're okay," Radu said hugging Dib closely to him.

Dib tried to push away from Radu, and had to try several times before he let go, and looked down at the sword still in Radu's side.

"We have to get this looked at! Pull it out or something!" Dib panicked, not knowing if he should pull it out or try to fix it himself.

"Dib, go get Som-Ri and Zim. They're outside," Radu pushed Dib toward the door and sunk down onto his knees.

Dib ran to the still open door and blinked a few times to adjust to the light. He could see Som-Ri and Zim standing by an Irken ship. As soon as they saw him, Zim shrugged off of the ship, his brow furrowing. They ran to him.

"Radu needs help," Dib breathed, feeling the panic in him rising.

They ran inside and were immediately around Radu. Dib placed his hand on Radu's arms.

"It'll be okay. You're going to be okay," Dib said.

Radu smiled up at him weakly as Zim and Som-Ri set to work. Dib moved away from them a little, to give them room to work. He looked at the bodies that lay on the floor. Radu had cut them down almost quicker than he could see. Had Radu killed others like these two before?

"Dib? I'm sorry. I couldn't protect you from my past," Radu said weakly, grunting as Zim pulled out the sword.

Som-Ri used a light laser to cauterize the wound a little to help stop the bleeding. Then she started to apply some medicine that made Radu gasp with pain as she moved her hands carefully around the wound.

"This should help you recover a little better. Zim, call in Patches. He can lift Radu without hurting him," Som-Ri said wrapping some bandages around the wound.

As Zim ran outside to get Patches, Dib sat beside Som-Ri. Radu had rested his head against the hover container and looked to be sleeping. He looked so fragile. It was hard to believe that he had just cut down two huge aliens a second earlier.

"Has he killed many aliens?" Dib asked looking at her tentatively.

"He hasn't told you about his past?" Som-Ri looked at him carefully.

"He told me about his first planet. He showed me his scar. But has he killed before?" Dib asked again.

"Yes," she replied after a moment.

"Why didn't he tell me that?" Dib asked almost a little hurt.

"It's not my story to tell, but all I can say is that Radu settled down on Earth to leave his old life behind. He was tired of killing, invading and always being hunted. He thought that living on Earth, that living with you, would give him a clean start," Som-Ri said, gently rubbing Dib's arm.

"I just don't know what to think now. Why would he hide that from me?" Dib looked at her with teary eyes.

Som-Ri pulled him close and hugged him tightly.

"He didn't know how you would react to it, and he felt that the less you knew, the better it would be for him to start knew," she whispered to him softly, trying to calm him.

"I would have understood! It was like it was here wasn't it?" Dib asked, holding her out at arm's length and looked her dead in the eye.

"It was in the sense that he was fighting for his life. But all the times he killed his attackers, he was very unstable for a few days after. It really messes with him," she replied.

"I would have understood," Dib murmured looking at Radu.

Patches walked into the room, his boots making no noise as he walked over toward them. Zim trotted just behind him. Patches knelt down beside them and looked Radu over. Then Dib.

"Hello. I'm Patches. A friend of your lover's. Don't worry little one. I'll take good care of him," Patches winked at him with his one yellow eye.

"Just help us get him on the ship," Som-Ri said pulling Dib up with her.

Dib watched with amazement as Patches long, frayed ended sleeves began to move on their own, looking almost like little individual tendrils. They wrapped around Radu and lifted him up into the air. Just as Som-Ri had said, it didn't hurt Radu. Patches carried him all the way to the ship and lay him down carefully on one of the medical beds. Dib sat beside him the whole way home with Som-Ri beside him, helping to hook up Radu's pod to an IV.

When they got back to Earth, Patches took extra care to get Radu into bed without hurting him. Dib looked briefly at the damage to the house before fallowing Patches up the stairs to the bedroom. Som-Ri fallowed and told Zim to try to fix the house. Zim sighed but started to do his work with the aide of the houses mainframe computers. Patches lay Radu down carefully.

"Now I expect to hear from him when he wakes up fully. And you, I want to hear more about you," Patches winked at Dib.

Before Dib could say anything, Patches walked through the wall and vanished. Dib sat down beside Radu as Som-Ri hooked him up to all the medical equipment he'd needed. She rested a hand on Dib's shoulder and gave a little squeeze.