"Look at the size of those machines," Buffy said as they came around a curve in the highway and saw a construction yard off to one side, filled with massive gleaming yellow construction equipment in long rows of increasing sizes.

"Must be where they store them between jobs," Xander guessed as the pair unconsciously slowed down on their motorcycles and turned to enter.

"That's not a piece of equipment, that's a building with wheels," Buffy said and gestured at a dump truck that required you to climb stairs to reach the cab. "Those tires are at least twelve feet tall and it'd take up both sides of the street at once!"

"If it doesn't, it's not by much," Xander agreed. "If we were driving that, we could clear most of a small town just by driving down mainstreet once."

Buffy laughed and got off her bike, vanishing it into inventory. "I don't think it gets even a full mile to a gallon, which is still pretty impressive miles per gallon for a building."

"Good thing gas prices are so low right now," Xander said thoughtfully. "Want to take it for a spin and try it out on the nearest town?"

"You really think we could drive it?"Buffy asked.

"Of course we can," Xander replied, "it's a vehicle."

Buffy grinned widely. "Okay, let's find the keys and drive a house!"

0o0o0o0o0o0

Xander and Buffy pulled out their phones as they beeped, letting them know they'd received some messages.

Buffy slowed the dump truck to a stop and put it in neutral so she wouldn't be distracted while driving.

"Dawn sent me some pictures and videos," Xander said, slowly paging through them. "Apparently she and Willow had a slumber party with Cordelia, Harmony, and someone I don't know."

"Willow is a lot better about explaining things," Buffy said as she read the messages she'd received. "Cordelia and Harmony would like to join the harem, Cordelia wanting a temporary contract and the girl you don't recognize is Kendra, who was called after I drowned and the Council never told Giles about."

"There is a lot to unpack there," Xander said, quickly switching to text to read what the girls had written him.

"The Scourge of Europe is no more except for Angel, who turned in his membership card over a century ago," Buffy said smugly. "Giles said the Council is pleased about that and hadn't told him about the second Slayer because they never tell a watcher who's Slayer has died about the new girl, feeling it's a bit cruel."

"That actually makes a lot of sense," Xander said. "I can see why they kept mum, even if you didn't stay dead."

"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "So... Harmony and Cordelia?"

Xander shrugged. "No idea how that happened," he said. "I'm the Treasurer of the We Hate Cordelia Club and Harmony... actually I have nothing against Harmony, she plays a mean girl in school, but it's always been obvious she was just acting."

"We'll have to see if they can fit in with us," Buffy decided. "I kind of like Cordelia, she reminds me of what I was like back in LA, but not nearly as big a backstabber. Kinda like a bitchy sister if that makes sense. It'll be nice to have someone to talk fashion with."

"Remind me to get something that prevents people from accidentally making love confessions before we do another temp contract," Xander said.

"We don't have to accept them if you don't want to," Buffy told him.

"It's not that," Xander said, "I just don't like the idea of them accidentally making lifetime commitments when they don't mean to."

"I can see that," Buffy agreed. "So... Kendra?"

"Is a Slayer and deserves everything we can do for her," Xander said firmly.

Buffy just grinned.

"Huh, got a message from the Company," Xander said with some surprise, "the office that handles my contract said they were price gouging me too much and refunded me twenty points and asked me to pick them up some decent office furniture as a bribe for good service."

"Seriously?" Buffy asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Xander said with a laugh, "apparently their office is filled with nothing but Ikea furniture and they hate it."

Buffy laughed. "I can understand that. Best place to find the really high quality office furniture is either a law office... or a courtroom. Judges were once lawyers and they pride themselves on having really impressive furniture. It's a status thing."

"Courthouse it is," Xander said. "We can copy all the records while we're there and kill two birds with one stone."

"Huh," Buffy said as she continued reading. "Check out the message from Willow on stretchy powers."

"Stretchy powers," Xander repeated and clicked on a video file that showed a smirking Dawn who proceeded to pull off bends and twists that were unreal.

Buffy noticed Xander's wide eyed stare and leaned over to look at what he was watching. "Whoa!" she exclaimed. "Can we all do that?!"

"All of us?" Xander asked, confused.

"Yeah, if you'd read Willow's message and hadn't gotten distracted by all the pictures of girls in their underwear… it said we all got telekinesis and stretchy powers. Dawn hogged all the stretchy and Willow the telekinesis so they only got a little of each other, but being in between we should have a good degree of both," she explained.

Xander switched off Dawn's video and quickly found the message from Willow. "Dawn can pull off a decent Reed Richards while Willow can just stretch a bit."

"They discovered it while playing Twister, which is kind of ironic," Buffy said, "not sure how long it would have taken us to find out otherwise." Buffy extended an arm and tried to reach the windshield in the massive cab which even with her arm at full extension was still a good two feet away. There was a look of concentration on her face and suddenly there were two arms outstretched and she turned and found she was literally beside herself.

"That's not stretchy," Xander noted, having been pushed further down the bench seat from the sudden splitting off of another Buffy.

Buffy and her twin lowered their right arms and looked themselves over. "The Black Panther perk was the right choice," they chorused, "cause damn, I am smoking hot!"

"Hive mind?" Xander guessed.

The two Buffys looked at each other in confusion and shrugged. "I'm not a bug," they chorused.

"I mean do you share the same brain and know what each other are thinking," he explained.

"I don't think so," the Buffy behind the wheel said.

"Yeah, I think we've got individual brains, it's just... we're the same, so..." the other offered.

"More Buffys is never a bad thing and you were already really flexible," Xander said with a grin.

"I bet he's having dirty thoughts about us," Buffy told her clone smugly.

"Why not, I know I am," her clone offered, before they both burst out laughing.

"Give it a shot, see if you stretch or duplicate," Buffy told him eagerly.

Xander reached out, trying to touch the windshield in front of him. Nothing seemed to be happening so he closed his eyes and concentrated, thinking of splitting into two like Buffy while still trying to stretch his arm. He felt a full body shiver but didn't feel the glass yet or a body next to him so he continued trying.

"You can open your eyes now," Buffy chorused with herself, clearly amused.

"It didn't work," Xander complained as he opened his eyes and then rubbed his throat as his voice had come out sounding like Buffy's.

"You didn't stretch or duplicate," Buffy told him.

"Well... he kinda duplicates," her clone offered.

Xander looked down at her chest, which was definitely not his chest, but those breasts were very distinctive, so looking in the rear view mirror was unsurprised to find she looked exactly like Buffy. She shoved a hand down her now loose jeans. "Yep, I'm a you now."

"You can shapeshift... which is kinda stretching if you think about it, just like making two of myself is," Clone Buffy said thoughtfully.

"Yeah... but it's really a stretch," Buffy said with a grin.

Xander laughed, making her breasts bounce, startling her out of it. She closed her eyes and was shortly himself once more. "That was a good one," he told her.

Buffy shifted the massive dump truck into gear and started driving again while her clone used her phone to continue reading what the others had written.

"So the vials gave us all two powers or were there more and we just don't know what they are yet?" Clone Buffy asked.

"Probably more," Xander said, "I have a vague sense that's almost a memory that agent me had planned something, I just don't know what."

"Is there a power to tell you what powers people have?" Buffy asked as she streered around a knot of cars, the massive construction vehicle barely even acknowledging the change in terrain as she crushed a road sign or three.

"There is probably something in the power manipulation category," Xander said, "but that's usually expensive and hard to get your hands on unless you have the catalog, as they get first pick of what's available. I'll have to toss it to the chatroom and see."

"Maybe a device or something?" Buffy asked. "Perks cost points, but an object or spell or something is probably a lot cheaper."

"I'll send a note to Amelia," Xander decided as Buffy simply ran over a sports car that was in their way, making them bounce in their seats a little.

"Wednesday night we'll be done," Clone Buffy said thoughtfully, "though it's really a shame you didn't get a clone power too, we might have been able to do contracts while also staying at home."

"That would have been handy," Buffy agreed. "Still, as long as we start the next contract Thursday after school, we'll have it finished before Monday."

"And mom can't complain about me missing school if I'm on a contract but also home," Clone Buffy said, "we just need some way to cover for Xander."

"If not for Willow I'd drop out," Xander admitted as Buffy took the off ramp into Springfield, Oregon. "I'm pretty sure I can get a college education downloaded into my brain for a single point or two, possibly even a doctorate in something sciencey."

"I think school is more about learning to socialize while still getting your work done," Buffy said, "with college making you cram even more in, while drunk or exhausted."

"At least from the few stories we've heard from Mom and Dad," Clone Buffy added.

Xander considered that. "That... fits well. Not sure that was their intention, but that does seem to be the effect."

"This is a lot bigger than the town we arrived in," Xander said as Buffy crushed numerous small cars beneath the massive piece of construction equipment with a grin.

"I think it ranks in the top ten somewhere of biggest cities in Oregon," Buffy said. "Probably had somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred thousand people in it."

"That's a lot of zombies," Xander said.

"Not for long," Buffy said with a smirk as she pulled a hanging cord and an air horn blew, attracting zombies to the center of town as she drove over the mobs of undead even easier than she did the abandoned cars, crushing hundreds under the dump truck's massive wheels.

"This is a lot faster than killing them one by one," Clone Buffy said cheerfully, "and while you're doing that I can see if we both get perks when I get one!"

"You'd leave me to do all the hard work while you have fun?!" Buffy exclaimed, sounding scandalized.

Clone Buffy simply grinned. "Like you aren't having fun, besides we can switch off."

"Do I get a say in this?" Xander asked, mock offended.

"Are you really going to complain?" Buffy asked, surprised.

"Only if it's funny," Xander said, trying not to laugh.

Clone Buffy turned to Xander. "Looks like we have a hitchhiker, I wonder how he plans on paying for the ride."

"Ohhh... roleplay," Buffy said, "I like this whole clone thing!"

An hour later

"I think we're out of zombies," Clone Buffy said with a frown as she drove down Main Street, driving over the countless remains of zombies and previously crushed vehicles.

Buffy climbed off Xander's lap and the two looked out the windows of the cab of the earth mover. "This is only like half of the number of zombies I expected."

"Yeah, there should be way more zombies," Xander agreed.

"Maybe we just cleared the center of town," Buffy guessed, "try some of the outer edges."

Clone Buffy turned the wheel and a couple of minutes later they discovered masses of zombies near the edge of town.

"They're fleeing," Xander said as they watched tens of thousands of zombies stumble their way away from Springfield.

"Can they do that?" Clone Buffy asked in confusion.

"Looks like it," Buffy said with a shrug. "They all have the fungal thing, so... maybe if you kill enough they release a scent like fresh cut grass."

"They do not smell like fresh cut grass," Clone Buffy said with a shudder. "Even with the AC on full, the smell is horrendous."

"And if the smell is bad enough maybe it lets them know to flee," Xander said, getting what Buffy meant.

"Oh," Clone Buffy said, getting what Buffy meant as well. "Yeah, that makes sense. I bet the town where we first arrived also ended up empty of zombies, we just moved too fast to notice."

"I say we take a quick shower and then get to shopping," Xander said.

"I like that plan," both Buffys chorused.

Clone Buffy put the earth mover in park and turned off the key. "I'll wait out here so we can find out if the clone thing extends to a different universe or at least between them."

"Good idea," Buffy said. "Mom would be pretty pissed if I vanished while she was talking to me and I missed school because we were off in another universe without telling her."

"Make me a couple of burgers while you're there," Clone Buffy told Xander.

"Will do," he promised as he opened the cab door and winced at the almost physical wave of putrid stench that hit them. "Jesus!"

"This is worse than when we went all murder blender time," the two Buffys chorused.

Xander wiped at his watering eyes as he stepped out of the cab and onto the deck of the giant piece of construction equipment before pulling the port-a-potty out of inventory and all but diving through the door into his Sweet Home, Buffy quickly following him and slamming closed the door behind them.

Barbie looked up from her cell phone where she was typing away, a broad smile on her face as she spotted them. "Welcome home," she said. "Our guests are all asleep, they had a late night watching the worst cast movies they could find."

"We'll have to do that when we get some downtime," Xander said, "we're just stopping in to wash up and make some lunch."

"I'll message Amelia and we can have our daily meeting," Barbie said brightly.

"Sounds good," Xander said, "let me put a bunch of burgers on slow cook and I'll join you in a couple of minutes."

Buffy gave him a quick kiss and grabbed Barbie's hand to pull her towards the bath. "You can get my back and I'll get yours."

Xander stepped into the kitchen and pulled out all the ingredients he needed with a smile. It felt almost magical to know exactly what he needed to do to make burgers that people would probably stab each other for. Shortly he had two dozen patties slowly broiling in the oven and he headed upstairs to join the girls.

He found that Buffy and Barbie were just finishing up as he joined them, Amelia entering right behind him, so it only took a minute before they were all relaxing in the water once more.

"I received an apology from the company for being thieving bitches," Amelia said. "This rarely happens unless someone higher up on the ladders steps in and Class F doesn't have any managers to go to bat for us so it was probably some internal matter. Regardless, once this contract is complete you're considered paid in full and they've signed a blood bound contract to never gouge us more than ten percent on a contract and to deal with us honestly which is quite a boon."

"They're still gouging us? Of course they're still gouging us, evil company," Buffy said, answering her own question.

"I think the average amount of gouging is eight percent at present, but being bound to honestly deal with us? That is worth far more than a measly two percent," Amelia said.

"They requested new office furniture as a bribe," Xander said. "Not sure what I am bribing them for, but it's not like it's even really going out of our way to pick some up. Apparently they really don't like Ikea."

Amelia and Barbie exchanged glances and grinned.

"That is easy enough to explain," Barbie said. "Someone in the Company's R and D division had the bright idea of using nanites to make cheap office furniture for the Company. He scanned a local Ikea for the data needed and let them loose."

"Please tell me he included a kill command," Xander said with a groan.

"He didn't," Barbie said, "and so the entire world became an Ikea store, one that restocks itself."

"Could have been worse," Buffy offered.

"It is worse," Barbie said, "it wasn't a planet he released them on, it was a Dyson Sphere."

"Nerd stuff, explain," Buffy teased Xander, poking him in the side.

Xander laughed. "A Dyson Sphere is when you create a shell around the sun in the goldilocks zone so it absorbs all the energy of the sun. You also have the entire interior surface area of the sphere to live on like it was a planet. Basically it's like if Earth was a trillion times bigger."

"That's a lot of space," Buffy said, wide eyed.

"And all of it an Ikea," Amelia said. "Of course that means the company has an infinite source of office furniture… which everyone hates."

"I can see why they want something different," Xander said.

"It's decent furniture, just not something made to last," Amelia said. "I believe they design it with college students and couples renting their first apartments in mind."

"Too bad he didn't scan a Sears or something more high quality," Buffy said.

"If they did it's reserved for those higher up in the Company," Amelia said. "I'm sure in the infinite multiverse there has to be Dyson Spheres of all types of stores. Now on to other business, you sent a note wanting a spell or device that could identify powers? I'm guessing you want an easy way to discover your Wild Talent?"

Buffy grinned and closed her eyes, a second copy of her appearing next to her while Xander shifted into a duplicate of her as well.

"The vials gave us all basic bitch telekinesis of varying levels, but it also gave us stretchiness according to Dawn and Willow, however our stretchiness seems to be clones and shapeshifting," Xander-Buffy explained. "It would have been handy to know this earlier, thus the request. Although it would also come in handy for figuring out our Wild Talents when I share that perk."

Barbie had whipped out her phone and was rapidly paging through screens.

"The power identifying perk is usually bound to power modifying perks, which are quite pricey," Amelia said thoughtfully. "Since they split Wardrobe off from the Gamer ability, perhaps we can find Scan for a similarly low price. It may take a while to get Scan to the desired level, but it would be more useful in the field."

"Found it," Barbie said brightly, sending a message to all their phones. "The vials you used were designed to create a cluster trigger with an internal shard network between them so the powers would evolve over time. I'm not sure if drinking just the four means you only received four powers, but by design you should all have one major power and four minor."

"That sounds more useful than just a single power," Xander said, "and another reason we need a way to identify powers."

"It is an experimental setup for Research and Design so we can probably get the designer in to tell us the results for free, since they'll want to know," Barbie offered.

"I'll put in a request," Amelia said, tapping away on her phone. Her phone dinged almost immediately. "And it has been approved; Maggie Eastman has time available Thursday morning to verify the results of her experiment."

"That's convenient," Buffy said.

"She has a precog on standby to handle her scheduling," Barbie said, "it's how they know not to make more infinite Ikea's when experimenting. I've been messaging a Barbie that works in Research and Design and she says it's very handy."

"Sounds like it," Xander said as she resumed his own shape. His phone dinged. "I've got to get the burgers. If we're done for now, we'll see you again tomorrow for lunch."

"See you then," Amelia agreed, putting it in her schedule.

Typing By: Abyssal Angel

Beta By: Abyssal Angel and Mist of Shadows