Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners, particularly the characters taken from the animated series, Code Lyoko and the television series Star Trek. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Jeremie, Aelita, Odd, Jim and Suzanne watched as the bio-support suit enclosed their two remaining comrades. Once the unit sealed itself, it vanished in a cloud of green light.

I've beamed them back to my ship, Dr. Janeway explained through the interlink, I've got a gestation chamber set up and waiting for them. It will take a few hours to patch up Ulrich enough so I can detach Yumi, and then a few hours beyond that to complete the reconstruction.

"And what about the others," Jeremie said out loud, "what about Odd?"

Another cloud of green light suddenly appeared, and Janeway was suddenly standing in the midst of them.

"That's a little more problematic," he said, "oh, the procedure itself is simple, but it's going to take more resources than I've got to reverse these modifications right away. And I've got a time crunch here. Whatever I do, I have to get done as soon as possible, so these people can get back to their normal lives."

"Yeah, when are you going to do this?" one of the former drones asked, "I've got to be back at the precinct at six for shift change, and my captain is going to have a fit when he sees me. I'm surprised he hasn't sent someone out looking for me by now."

"He did. Us," said another drone, indicating himself and pointing at his companions, "I'll bet that old gasbag is thinking we've ditched patrol and gone off drinking!"

"Do you think you can buy me a little time by calling in and telling your captain that you're okay?" Janeway asked the officers.

"I can do that, but he'll probably tear me a new asshole," the first officer said. With that, the man looked about for his radio. "Well, I can't do squat if I can't find my two-way."

Janeway looked at the man for a second. He nodded then started speaking into the air.

"That'll do for starters," he said, "I gave him instructions on how to interface with the police band using the equipment here. I also told him to report an unusual activity going on in the factory and to cordon off the area. Hopefully, that will buy me some of the time I need to figure things out."

While Janeway and the policemen were talking, Odd was staring at the spot where Ulrich had lain. His remaining eye was wide open, and his mouth agape as his mind replayed the horror of his last seconds of possession.

Jeremie noticed Odd's behavior. "Odd, are you alright?" he asked his friend. Odd didn't reply. Jeremie started to walk over to him, to tell him that everything was going to be okay, but as soon as he took a step towards him, Odd recoiled and jumped back.

"St-stay away from me!" he shouted.

"Odd, it's okay," Aelita said, startling the boy.

"Leave me alone!" he screamed at the room. He turned and bolted from them, heading for the stairwell.

Jeremie and Aelita turned to follow him when a voice stopped them.

"No, leave him be, I'll go after him," said Suzanne Hertz, "I'm probably the only person in the room that truly knows what he's going through."

With that, she gave Jim's hand a quick squeeze, then ran after Odd.

"She's not the only one," Jeremie said to her receding form.

"Technically, you're right," Dr. Janeway said, "but I think I know where she's coming from, and I agree with her. Anyway, I've got another assignment for you. I need you to go down to the supercomputer and make sure they haven't done anything to it. Aelita, would you take two police officers with you and try to find the Borg drones? I need to know whether they're still in the building or have escaped somehow. It's bothering me to no end that I can't sense them through their ship's interlink, so the quicker I know where they are, the better I'll feel."

Odd ran blindly up the stairs, cursing the fact he no longer had hands to grab the stair rail with. He stumbled and fell quite a few times, and each time he would somehow pick himself back up and continue on, driven by the footsteps of whoever was pursuing him.

He finally made it out on the roof. He quickly looked about, then set off to one of the edges. There was only one thing left for him to do now, run. Run and keep running until Oblivion finally took him.

"ODD! Stop right there!"

The boy skidded to a halt, surprised. He had thought that Jeremie or Aelita was running after him to try and talk some sense into him. He never expected Mrs. Hertz to be the one calling out to him.

"Odd, I know what you're thinking about doing, and it won't help," she said to him. She was standing six meters away from him, a look of concern and hurt on her face.

"You couldn't have prevented it, Odd," she said, "I know what happened. They locked you inside your own mind and took your body away from you. Whatever they wanted, whatever little scrap of information you had that they needed, they took it from you. No matter how you resisted, no matter how you pleaded, no matter how you screamed, you couldn't stop what you were doing."

"BUT I SHOULD HAVE!" he roared back, "I SHOULD HAVE BEEN STRONGER!"

He collapsed to his knees, crying. "I've fought monsters before," he said, "and won! I've saved the world more times than I can count! I should have been strong enough!"

Suzanne walked up to him. He knew she was coming, but he did nothing, just knelt there, hanging his head down and sobbing.

"I should have been stronger too," she softly told him, "I should have fought off whatever damned thing they put in my head. I should have never lured you into my class, never told them what chloroform was and how to use it. I should have never brought Jim here."

She knelt down with him, and put her hands on his shoulders. "But I did," she said, the tears in her eyes now evident to him as he raised his head and looked at her, "they were too strong, too good for me to stop them. And they were too strong for you. And your friends know that, even Ulrich. His last thought before he fell was, 'forgive him.'"

"Odd," she said, "you are forgiven, even before you ask for it. We both are."

Odd couldn't take it any more. He lunged forward and wrapped his arms as best he could around Suzanne, and began sobbing into her chest. She, in turn, wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer, caressing his head as she cried her own anguish out.

Jeremie took the elevator down to the lowest level, the level that housed the supercomputer itself. If everything looked okay there, maybe they were home free.

When the door opened, Jeremie's hopes of a quick end fell. The supercomputer had definitely been tampered with. Borg technology was present all around the room, and wires and conduits were running into the supercomputer's core. It also seemed like cables ran up to the ceiling, and into the access way leading up to the scanner room. Every now and then, little robots of some kind would scurry about, adding something to the equipment, making another connection.

Dr. Janeway, we have a problem, Jeremie sent over the interlink, take a look.

There was a moment of silence, then he replied, I just can't buy a break today. Alright, we know it's bad. Go check the other levels and let's find out just how bad bad is.