To Our Own

Chapter Four

When Willow walked into the library Buffy and Angel sat facing each other at the table nearest the check-in counter. Buffy was repacking a first aid kit, and Angel was inspecting the bandage neatly taped to his forehead with his hand.

Cordelia was standing in front of the book cage glaring at... Ethan Rayne? Giles was leaning against the door frame of his office reading a book.

Buffy and Cordelia still wore their costumes. It made sense in Cordelia's case, but Giles let Buffy keep extra clothes in the library in case she had a rough night slaying. And tonight definitely counted as rough.

Willow watched Buffy and Angel make goo-goo eyes at each other as Buffy latched the kit closed.

Willow rolled her eyes and smiled.

It's all so clear now.

"Hey guys," Willow greeted.

When Buffy saw Willow she let out a breathy 'oh, my god!'.

Angel jumped to his feet when he saw Willow in all her Borg glory. His expression was a mix of fear and disgust. Giles dropped his book and his face went extremely pale. Cordelia kept glaring daggers at Ethan and didn't acknowledge Willow's arrival at all.

"Willow, what… what happened to your eyes?" Buffy asked.

Her eyes? Willow could only guess what they must look like if they stood out more than her chalky complexion and the enormous implant on her face.

Willow approached them slowly. She didn't believe any one there wanted to hurt her, but Willow couldn't ignore how twitchy Angel and Giles looked as she came closer.

"She was assimilated," Giles said.

Cordelia's head swung around at the word assimilated.

"Holy crap!" Cordelia said, gaping at Willow with a rare display of uneasiness.

"But, how?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, weren't you a ghost, or something?" Cordelia asked.

"My body wasn't."

Buffy got up from her chair and rushed over to hug Willow much to Angel and Giles's visible dismay.

"Are you okay?"

"No," Willow replied, "but I'm not dead either, so I guess it could be worse."

"This is what you were talking about," Giles said to Ethan.

With his fingers clawed through the links of the cage's door, Ethan observed Willow with curiosity gleaming in his eyes.

"Certainly seems like I missed one." Ethan paused. "Wait, you said you were non-corporeal?"

Willow looked at Giles, wordlessly asking if she should be answering Ethan's questions. Giles gave her a short nod.

"I'm pretty sure I died and my spirit left my body. What are you thinking?"

Ethan peered at Willow for a beat then smiled and said, "You already know what's happened to you, don't you, young Miss?"

Willow had a good idea about the 'science' part of what happened, but was sketchy about the magic part.

"Oh, I get it," Cordelia said.

Cordelia walked up and looked Willow over before she went on to say, "When the Borg assimilated your body, Borg implants—you have a bunch, I bet—took over your involuntary and autonomic functions. You were literally a Borg zombie until your soul went back into your body."

Willow gaped at Cordelia.

"What the—! How do you know so much about Borg stuff?" Buffy asked.

Cordelia suddenly looked like she got caught picking her nose and eating what she pulled out.

In a show of mercy for her long time nemesis, Willow saved Cordelia from having to explain her nerdy sci-fi knowledge.

"She's right," Willow said, "and I'm kinda stuck with them because they're fused to all my vital organs."

Captain Picard survived after Doctor Crusher removed his Borg implants, but that was with 24th century medicine. It wasn't even the millennium yet. And 400 years is a long time to wait.

"Fascinating!" Ethan said, earning nasty looks from everyone in the room except Willow.

"It is not "fascinating", you jerk!" Buffy exclaimed. "You're going to fix this, or so help me I will beat the smarmy out of you!"

"You'll have to get in line," Giles said, his voice more growly than Willow had ever heard it sound before.

Ethan rolled his eyes and sighed.

"I told you before, I don't understand how those Borg things—" Ethan looked at Willow. "No offense, young Miss—bolloxed my spell. And I've never been good with high-tech, scientific," Ethan's nose scrunched when he said the word scientific, "drivel."

"But is it real science?" Angel asked. "Cordelia told me Borg are from a fictional television series. How can their technology still exist in Willow without magic to make it real?"

"How indeed," Giles said.

Eventually all eyes gravitated towards Cordelia much to her visible dismay. She cringed and looked as though she wanted to disappear down a very deep hole.

"What are you all looking at?" Cordelia exclaimed. "I am so not the nerd you're looking for!"

When she realized she quoted Star Wars, Cordelia grimaced and ducked her head like she hoped no one noticed what she said.

"I-I mean where is your resident nerd, anyway? That's who you should be asking!"

Willow and Buffy exchanged looks. Willow had wondered if Buffy said anything to the others about Xander's costume, but going by the blank expressions on their faces Buffy had kept it to herself. And Ethan, it seemed, hadn't connected the set of black motorcycle body armor he sold Xander to the Borg's exo-plating.

"Oh. Yes. Where is Xander?" Giles asked as though it only just occurred to him Xander was missing.

Willow and Buffy shared another look.

"Don't tell me the dweeb got hurt, or something," Cordelia said.

"No. I mean, I don't think he's hurt," Buffy said, but she didn't sound very confident.

Willow stepped forward and said, "Xander dressed as a Borg for Halloween."

The library went quiet as the others absorbed what Willow told them.

Ethan finally broke the silence. "Ah, patient zero," he said.

"Good Lord! Were is he now?"

Cordelia tsked and said, "Probably too embarrassed to show his face after his lame costume almost killed the whole town."

When Willow charged forward Buffy captured Willow by the wrist before she could get within throttling distance of Cordelia's throat.

Cordelia raised her hands up defensively and stepped back. "Whoa! Calm down, girl!" she said. "I know it's not Xander's fault," she pointed her thumb over her shoulder at Ethan in the book cage, "it's his."

Willow took a deep breath and forced herself to relax. When she felt like she didn't want to strangle the life out of Cordelia anymore she turned to Buffy who looked at her with a shocked and confused expression.

"What's wrong?"

"You're strong," Buffy whispered. "Like, really strong."

Willow blinked. She knew she could lift a 200 pound man a foot off the ground now, but strong enough to amaze Buffy? Like things weren't scary enough!

"I'm fine now," Willow whispered back and Buffy let go.

"Um, so where is Xander?" Cordelia hazarded to ask.

"I don't know," Willow said.

Willow took another deep breath. She needed to stop wigging out and tell them everything. About Xander and the missing kids.

"I think he's still Borg."

"What do you mean he's still a Borg?" Buffy asked. "He should've turned back into himself like I did."

"He didn't. I-I'm not sure why—and there's something else. I think he assimilated the kids he was chaperoning. I think they're still Borg. Maybe others, too."

"Explain," Giles said. "Are they like yourself?"

Willow shook her head. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she was certain whatever Xander and those kids might be, it wasn't like her.

Cordelia gasped and the color drained from her face until she was almost as pale as Willow. She walked over to the nearest table and dropped heavily into one of the chairs.

"Willow is only partially assimilated," Cordelia said.

"What—?" Giles started then fell silent.

All at once he, Buffy, and Angel knew what Cordelia's declaration meant.

Angel said, "They were changed into one of those robot looking Borg."

Willow and Cordelia's eyes met. Willow could tell by Cordelia's haunted expression that she understood what it meant to be fully assimilated into the Borg.

Buffy stalked over to the book cage.

"No more games. You fix this. Now."

Ethan stumbled away from the cage door, and Buffy, until his back hit wall.

"I told you, I can't! Whatever these Borg are they're more science than magic!"

"He's right," Cordelia said, lowering her head so she could stealthily wipe tears from her cheeks.

"Magic started this mess, magic can unravel it," Giles scoffed. "Perhaps Ethan's magic is too weak, but surely stronger—"

Giles paused. Willow recognized the look on his face. It's the one he had when he remembered something important.

"Never mind. Go on, Ms. Chase," Giles said.

Whatever Giles recalled, he chose not to share it.

"Uh, okay. So… Borg use nanoprobes, and nanoprobes are just a fancy way of saying nanobots, and nanobots are real. Not as advanced as nanoprobes but, one day, they will be."

Cordelia returned her gaze to Willow.

"That means it's theoretically possible for Borg nanoprobes to interact with the human body and change it's cells into a version of itself that doesn't need magic to be real."

"That could explain why after beseeching numerous gods Ethan was still unable to fully reverse the effects of the spell," Giles opined. "Even with all that magical power… These nanoprobes must be powerful indeed."

"What are you two not telling us?" Angel asked.

Cordelia was actively trying to fight back her tears now, and failing. So she covered her face with her hands and shook her head.

Willow understood why Cordelia didn't want to tell them everything, it was just too heartbreaking. But the others needed to understand. They needed to know the truth.

"When the Borg assimilate people they don't give them suits to wear, the armor is fused to their bodies. Their limbs and organs are removed and replace them with cybernetic components. And… And…"

"You feel everything. When they cut off your arm, or drill into your head, you feel all of it," Cordelia said, her face still hidden behind her hands.

Buffy walked up to Willow and stared almost pleadingly into her eyes.

"Not the kids, right? They don't do that to kids?"

Willow wanted to tell Buffy of course the Borg didn't assimilate children, but she couldn't lie. Willow pulled Buffy into a hug. Buffy held on fiercely and buried her face in Willow's shoulder. Giles removed his glasses and roughly massaged his brow. Angel's face was blank, but Willow noticed his fists were tightly clenched on top of his thighs.

Buffy pulled out of their hug and asked, "What about Xander? He was transformed into a whole Borg by the spell. Shouldn't he be back to normal?"

"I don't know, Buffy," Willow replied. "Something's wrong, or he'd have shown up by now."

Cordelia wiped her tears away with an aggressive swipe of her hands and stood up, her expression settled and resolute.

"Definitely something went wrong," Cordelia said. She walked up to Willow. "Do you have nanoprobes?" she asked.

Willow's eyes nervously swept over everyone in the library before she answered.

"Yes."

Cordelia bit her lower lip and her eyes looked to the side as she considered Willow's admission.

"That strengthens our theory," Cordelia finally said.

"Does that mean Willow can assimilate people too?" Angel asked.

Cordelia shrugged. "Probably."

"My, God! There could be thousands out there have the ability to create more Borg!" Giles said.

"I don't think so," Willow replied. "Not thousands anyway. Ethan probably did turn most of Sunnydale back to normal."

"Damn near killed me," Ethan said.

"Too bad it didn't," Cordelia said. Then she went on to say in the same breath, "You know, people walking around like less hot versions of Seven of Nine isn't what makes me want to lock myself in a panic room and scream forever.

"Have you heard the Collective in your thoughts?" Cordelia suddenly asked Willow.

Willow's eyes widened. "No, I haven't! Maybe that means—"

Cordelia shook her head. "It doesn't mean anything," she said not unkindly. "It could mean the Collective cut your connection when they sensed your soul return to your body. Or, maybe, you were never part of the Collective to begin with."

"Collective? What are you talking about?" Giles asked.

"That freaky modulated chorus we heard back at Ethan's," Cordelia said. "That was the Collective. A bunch of networked super computers speaking and acting as one."

"That sounds quite ominous," Giles said. "I'm guessing the Borg wield great power in such a state?"

Cordelia nodded. "Imagine a hundred billion Stephen Hawkings working together to perform countless trillions of calculations per second. Add nanoprobes, and there's no limit to what the Borg can do."

"Like assimilate everybody?" Angel asked.

"The Borg want to attain perfection above all else; assimilation is just one of the ways they try to get there," Cordelia replied.

"So the question now is: what do the Borg that may still be out there want?" Giles said.

"We shouldn't start thinking they're just Borg!" Buffy exclaimed. "They could be back to being themselves like me!"

"That might be worse," Cordelia said.

"How on Earth could that be worse?" asked Giles.

Willow answered for Cordelia, having reached the same conclusion after she came across Harmony earlier. She held up her Borg modified arms, and said, "I know why this happened to me. What if they don't?"

A ponderous silence descended over the library once more.

"They must be terrified," Buffy finally said.

"We need to find them, and help them," Cordelia announced.

"Agreed," said Giles.

Everyone, except Ethan, gathered around the table where Angel sat. After Cordelia took a seat Giles asked her where do they start. For a moment it looked as if she was going to protest.

"Alright," Cordelia began, "since we know the Borg are giving the full makeover that means they set up base somewhere."

"What makes you so sure?" Buffy asked.

"It's what they did in First Contact and Voyager."

Cordelia blushed at the questioning looks she got. Willow had never seen Queen C look so flustered before—it was very cute. And her costume's cat ears and whiskers elevated her cuteness to utter adorableness.

"A-Anyway," Cordelia went on, "I'm pretty sure they found a nice out of the way location and assimilated it to suit their needs."

"Just a moment, I have maps of Sunnydale and the surrounding area," Giles said, before he hurried into his office.

"There's a cave system that connects to the sewers—are they a possible location?" Angel asked.

Cordelia pondered for a few moments before she replied, "Maybe, but I think it's more likely they'd use someplace they can more efficiently assimilate. Somewhere with a lot of technology."

Giles returned with several rolled up maps.

"The military base?" Angel asked as Giles unrolled each map on the table.

Cordelia shook her head. "If they have the numbers I can see them trying to take it," she said, "but if they have access to Xander's memories then they know high caliber rifles would kill a lot of them before they're able to adapt. If they even can. Tactically, it'd be risky."

"Here." Buffy jabbed a finger at spot on a the maps that marked the location of the docks.

Even before Cordelia said anything Willow knew Buffy was right.

"Yeah. Yeah, it's perfect. Nearby warehouses full of machine parts and electronics coming in and going out port. And not a lot of people around to notice, who can be quickly and quietly assimilated if they do. Yeah, this is—"

Cordelia stilled.

"What's wrong?" Willow asked.

"I'm an idiot," Cordelia whispered.

Cordelia looked to each of them before her gaze finally rested on Willow.

"We're thinking too small."

"I don't under—"

A powerful tremor shook the library. Books tumbled from the shelves and Giles's office window wobbled before it cracked and shattered. When the shaking stopped ten seconds later Willow heard car alarms and dogs barking outside.

Cordelia slammed her fist against the table startling everyone. She stood then dashed outside through the library's back entrance, Willow, Buffy, and Giles hot on her heels. They chased her around to the front of the school. Cordelia skipped down the front steps and came to a stop on the street in the bus drop off zone. She was looking to the west, towards the docks.

No, Willow realized, Cordelia was staring up.

"I'm so stupid," Cordelia said to herself.

They all watched a Borg cube rise into the sky as dawn broke behind them.

Willow turned on her sensory node and zoomed in on the cube. Sunlight from the rising sun hit the cube revealing its ugly perforated facade of black plating, pipes, cables and neon green incandescent lights. The cube was small, three times wider than Sunnydale High's entire campus. Still much smaller than the Borg cube Willow saw on TNG, which was almost 30 cubic kilometers.

"They used one of the docked ships," Cordelia said. Willow had never heard her sound so resigned, so thwarted. "Probably a cargo ship, or a tanker. They assimilated the ship, its crew, and the surrounding area for raw materials. They had the whole night to do it. Plenty of time."

"I-I should contact the Council," Giles said, but he was reluctant to look away from the spectacle above.

"This is bad, right?" Buffy asked, also mesmerized by the Borg cube's slow ascent into the sky.

"I don't know," Cordelia answered. "They haven't started craving Sunnydale like a turkey, yet, so that's nice."

"Let's hope they don't, because I'm going to have heck of time trying to slay that thing from down here."

Willow closed her eyes and turned off her super-vision. When she opened them again she said, "Xander's up there."

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. The kids too," Cordelia agreed.

"Is he still our Xander?" Buffy asked.

"There's only one way to find out," Willow said.

Willow closed her eyes again and accessed her Borg subroutines until she located her neural transceiver. Her HUD showed it was remotely disabled the second her soul returned to her body. Confirming Cordelia's theory on when Willow was cut off from the Collective. After preforming a diagnostic on her transceiver Willow discovered it wasn't damaged in any way, just simply turned off.

It was strange. Why would the Collective only deactivate her beacon if they wanted to separate her messy humanity from their perfection? Willow wanted to ask Cordelia what she thought, but time was running out, she could feel it. So without hesitation, Willow reactivated the beacon.

"What did you just do?" Cordelia asked after Willow opened her eyes.

"I made a phone call."

Cordelia's cheeks puffed before she exhaled and asked, "Are you sure?"

"What?" Buffy said looking from Willow to Cordelia and back again. "Sure about about what?"

"I reconnected to the Collective," Willow said.

"Is that wise?"

"Giles, we need answers," Willow said. "I can't think of another—"

Willow suddenly found herself in another place.

"—way?"

She stood on one of many walkways suspended over an immense chasm of Borg machinery. Harsh green light emitted from almost every visible surface, and an electric humming filled the warm, humid air. The hum was almost soothing, even pleasing, the more Willow paid attention to it. On either end of the walkway were countless levels of alcoves that, as far a Willow could tell, extended from one end of the cube to the other.

Even with her enhanced vision Willow didn't see any Borg installed in the alcoves. There also didn't seem to be any Borg in her immediate vicinity, either. From what Willow remembered, the cube should be swarming with drones performing tasks to maintain its systems.

Am I here alone? Willow wondered.

No.

Someone, or something, was here.

"Hello?"

Her greeting was met by silence.

"Xander?"

A buzzing hum followed by crackling static reverberated through the air. It lasted a few seconds before Willow could make out any words. One word, really, spoken with a thousand voices.

"SORRY."