Do a Barrel Roll 1

Xander pulled his car into the hotel parking lot with a relieved sigh. He'd survived graduation and could now take a nice hot shower, rub some icy hot on his bruises and get ready for his road trip. He figured it was some strange form of karma that he got the same room Faith had stayed in before joining the mayor. He winced as he shut the car door, his ribs telling him that while they may not be broken they were definitely bruised. He could have done this all at home, but he'd gotten a hotel room and moved his luggage into it yesterday so no one could call him at the last minute or show up and physically prevent him from going on his long planned road trip.

"Yep, it's all smooth sailing from here on out," Xander said, as he entered the hotel room only to find he was already there.

"Hello, me," his doppelganger told him cheerfully.

"Hello, Murphy," Xander said. "Was I too cheerful? Did my faint hope of having everything go right for once summon you?"

Murphy laughed and waved his hand, the door shutting and locking itself behind Xander. "I'm you from the future, about to send you to the past, to send yourself to the past etc."

"That makes no sense," Xander said, edging towards the bed where he'd hidden an axe just in case, when he paused and noticed how clean and new everything in the room looked.

"I got bored waiting so I cleaned the room a bit," Murphy told him. "The axe isn't under the bed, I shrunk it and made it into a tattoo." He pushed his sleeve up showing a tattoo of an axe on his left wrist.

"Well shit," Xander said, sitting on the bed, too tired to even care anymore. "I need a break, dammit!"

"That's why I'm here," Murphy told him. "Listen, we are in a time corkscrew type of deal. I had a Xander with the power of Spiderman show up and offer me what I am offering you now."

"What are you offering and how is it time is repeating itself if you don't have the powers of Spiderman? Cause, seriously? Cleaning the room like this and turning my axe into a tattoo is not Spiderman's gig," Xander said.

"Corkscrew, not loop," Murphy explained. "We are creating a new timeline every time we do this and in payment we are allowed to give ourselves a power up and go on the road trip to end all road trips."

"And you didn't take Superman?" Xander asked curiously, hope slowly rising in his chest once more.

"Way too powerful and his weakness is magic, which already hoses us," Murphy explained. "Nah, he chose Spiderman, along with all the knowledge needed to use his new abilities, very important that."

"So, whatever power set I request includes knowledge to use it, gotcha," Xander agreed.

"Good, now Spiderman is OK and all, since Superman is too powerful to request, but it made me think of our problems with magic, so I decided to go with mage, neatly solving our magic problems. I admit being strong and fast enough to give the pimp hand to master vamps would be cool and all, but magic is one hell of a multitool," Murphy said with a grin.

"OK, you definitely sound like me and think like me, if nothing else, what's the deal?" Xander asked. "I want all the details."

Murphy nodded. "We request a set of powers etc and the more power requested the further away we are sent, so yeah we could request Superman, but then our road trip would take god only knows how long, so try not to pick too much of a power up. Mage for instance only cost me a little over five years."

"And Spiderman?" Xander asked.

"Four and a half," Murphy replied. "Since it is a literal improvement, that means everything is in you. Spiderman secreted his own webbing, I don't need spell components or a wand."

"A request to be Green Lantern would make me a living lantern like Jade," Xander said with a nod.

"Exactly," Murphy agreed. "Now, you don't have to come back, but that would cost another Xander his shot at a power up and would be a huge dick move. When you find your way back you'll instinctively know how to empower the next Xander and send him on his trip."

"OK, I think I've got it," Xander said. "Considering your choice and Spiderman's I'm going to choose... silver dragon of appropriate age with clerical abilities and full knowledge of how to use my powers."

Murphy's eyes began to glow and a hole opened under the bed swallowing Xander and the bed, before vanishing with a pop. "Granted," Murphy said, shaking his head as the knowledge of how he'd empowered his other self vanished from his mind, despite all he did to try and hold onto it. Looking around the room he considered his options. He hadn't seen Sunnydale in years, but he could now take the road trip he'd planned on before he'd been empowered and sent on a trip.

After a moment's thought he decided to take the trip, he'd spent the last five years in England and he really did want to see the States. He conjured a bed to replace the missing bed and went to check out.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The young adult silver dragon crushed the bed beneath him as they hit the ground, his twenty foot length finding it cushioned very little. Instinctively casting cure light wounds he felt his aches and pains vanish. Quickly shifting into human form he found himself naked, so he made a toga out of the bedspread. Clothed once more he looked around and found he was in a desert beside an empty highway. With nothing around for miles he figured he'd better start walking. "It's good to be the dragon," Xander said with a grin, as he found the heat and the sun comfortable. He looked forward to seeing what was down the road and began to hum as he walked with the kind of optimism that being able to turn into twenty feet of teeth and claws bestowed on one.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Xander muttered under his breath as he gestured at his car, rust vanishing and dents making a slight pinging noise as they popped out. Another gesture caused all the dust and the dirt to cascade off the car making it look better than it had when it was brand new. The engine purred when he started it and he watched the traffic for a moment before smoothly pulling out and heading out of town. Traffic stilled as he reached the bus station, one of the buses had stopped in the middle of the road for some reason.

"Going to LA?" A hopeful voice asked and Xander turned and saw Cordelia Chase leaning on the passenger side of the car.

"I could be persuaded to," he admitted, happy to see the girl he'd once dated years ago.

"Is that a come on?" she asked.

"No, it's a polite way of saying yes," Xander told her with a grin.

"OK, let me cash in my tickets and grab my bags," Cordelia told him, rushing off to do just that.

The bus was still blocking the road when she returned and tossed her bags in the backseat.

"This car looks cleaner than it did earlier," she noted with a frown. "You look cleaner."

"I did shower and change," Xander told her.

"No, I mean dings and scratches I know were on both are gone now. There was a slight rip in the upholstery on my side, I know cause it always poked my arm, and you had one hell of a bruise on the left side of your jaw and it's gone too," Cordelia explained.

"Any guessed why?" Xander asked as they passed the Sunnydale sign.

"I'm dreaming?" she offered.

"Would that lead to you doing things you normally wouldn't do thinking you were just dreaming?" he asked with a mock leer.

"It could," she teased. "Are you going to take advantage of me?"

"If I say yes you are going to slap me in the face and then say you have to be awake because your hand stings," he said, after looking her in the eye for a moment before turning back to the road.

"How'd you know?" Cordelia demanded. "Am I really dreaming?"

"No you are not dreaming," Xander said.

"Then what's with you and the car?" she demanded.

"I left graduation to clean up and get ready for my trip and got sent back in time a couple of years," Xander said honestly.

"Sounds like I am dreaming," Cordelia said. "Well, since I'm dreaming… want some road head?"

Xander's mouth opened and closed a few times before he shrugged and said, "Sure."

*SMACK*

"Son of a- Did you have to slap me?" Xander complained.

"My hand stings so I'm definitely awake. I can't believe you were going to let me give you a blow job not knowing this was real! How would you feel if I tricked you into giving me road head?" she demanded.

"Switch seat with me and find out," Xander said rubbing his cheek.

"OK," Cordelia agreed.

"What?" Xander asked surprised.

"I said fine, pull over and we'll switch seats and see how you like it," Cordelia told him.

Xander pulled over on the side of the highway and got out, walking over to the passenger's side while Cordelia slid over behind the wheel.

Cordelia started the car and pulled onto the road. "Well?" she asked.

"You sure you aren't just going to slap me?" he asked cautiously.

"You were going to trick me into giving you head, it's only fair you give me head to make up for it," she said reasonable, pushing his head towards her lap.

15 minutes later...

"You've gotten really good at this," she admitted once she'd recovered. "Are you sure I'm not dreaming?"

Xander grinned. "If I say yes and try to trick you into sleeping with me are you going to slap me and then make me sleep with you?" he asked.

"Is it worth a slap to find out?" she asked.

"Yes, yes it is," Xander agreed. "I like your dreams."

*SMACK*

"Son of a- Not so hard, woman!" Xander complained.

"I'm still mad at you, but I also really want to sleep with you. This seems to cover both those really well," Cordelia explained. "I am planning on smacking you at least three more times today, four if you have the energy."

"I... can't argue with that," Xander said. "Did you want to know about the whole time travel thing?"

"After I've finished slapping you," Cordelia decided.

"OK," Xander agreed, glad he knew numbing and healing charms.

Typing by: Abyssal Angel