*What's it with me an' cheerleaders, anyways?* mentally complained Faith, now almost finished driving back to her beachfront LA hotel. Just a mile or two further on, and she'd take her off-ramp from the freeway heading north. The Slayer paid only what minor attention was required to successfully negotiate the Southern California traffic, since her suddenly irksome reminiscences of this warrior woman's collection of doubles was more important at the moment.
Back then, after the whole possible reappearance of Glory which thankfully didn't occur, Faith grouchily endured during their debriefing at the New Council's headquarters conference room with Giles the other Scoobies' gleeful teasing about having a several years younger lookalike. Who not only possessed an even dumber name than B, but to add further insult to injury, that high-school kid called Missy by her friends on their Malibu cheer squad was an enthusiastic member of this bunch of girls in very short skirts, tight tops, and pom-poms.
Throughout their meeting, things eventually quieted down among the New Council's inner circle aware of the secret about the latest magical manifestation of somebody possessing an exact resemblance to one of their company. This was helped by Faith's increasingly serious death threats directed against the next smartass who suggested she doll up just like that damn Missy during the dark Slayer's next cemetery patrol on the Cleveland Hellmouth. As might be expected, Buffy hadn't been fazed at all by Faith's angry growls. Instead, the short woman smirkingly pointed out that in her own high-school days, she'd occasionally gone out in the Boca del Infierno night costumed in either the Hemery or Sunnydale High cheerleader outfits kept as souvenirs of her previous memberships in these football team support groups.
Among the shared guffaws then made by Xander, Willow, and Dawn over various long-ago fond memories, it was Giles who resignedly confirmed to a flabbergasted Faith the truth of his former charge's claims. Apparently at the time, it'd all been part of the entire 'blonde Valley Girl bubble-headed ditz' scam which had suckered in a great many Sunnydale demons thinking this little slip of a human female couldn't possibly be the legendary Slayer. They'd learned otherwise when these tricked creatures got decapitated or staked on the spot by Buffy in the middle of a very spirited cheerleader routine.
It'd been a little too successful in the past, though. In the end, word eventually got around in the town's demonic circles, causing vampires and other monsters to promptly run away like hell at the very sight of some pony-tailed girl wearing this specific scanty attire in a California city's graveyard well after midnight.
In a deadpan voice which abruptly broke down into stifled giggles, Xander suggested it was still a good idea for Faith to try the cheerleader con once more in her patrols, now that their new supernatural enemies didn't know about this. Just before Faith would've irately leaned over the conference table where they were all sitting and reach out to grab hold of boytoy's patch, to then bodily yank him by this across the tabletop and introduce him to another Slayer wedgie, Giles authoritatively headed off the potential brawl.
This mature Englishman's tone was supremely quelling while he explained with precise, matchless, British stiff-upper-lip dignity that under no circumstances was he ever going to allow this again. Not when it might lead to something truly unspeakable. Such as the younger superhuman females belonging to the New Council seeing a higher-ranking Slayer clad in these same revealing garments, and then taking this for permission to wear during training and regular patrols whatever struck their impish fancy.
Rupert Giles never wanted to witness in any form of media which accidentally or on purpose captured the images of a small band of young ladies after sunset expertly using archaic hand weapons to slaughter mythical creatures of the night. All while these girls were minimally dressed as cheerleaders, comic-book superheroines, female rock stars, lifeguards, terpsichorean ecdysiasts, or horror of horrors, hetaerae!
At the conference table, heads turned to where Dawn was sitting. This young woman recently graduated from Oxford dryly translated for the others, "Strippers and ho's."
So naturally, that bastard Murphy stuck it again to Faith, when a few weeks later, one more doppelganger for her was discovered. When she and Willow together began to conduct their discreet investigation regarding the girl known as Danielle Irons in East Highland High at this student's Texas hometown, Faith bitterly moaned to the amused witch, "Why the hell did she have to be another goddamn cheerleader? I'd even settle for some rich, stuck-up virgin bitch savin' herself for marriage, like some a' the snooty seniors were at my own Boston high school the coupla months I was there!"
"I know what you mean," chuckled Willow, who in Faith's resentful opinion, was having far too much fun over this. Just like the rest of the Scoobies also would, once they heard about the Slayer's latest mirror image, Faith inwardly snarled to herself. The warrior woman's increasing irritation wasn't helped at all by Willow then helpfully pointing out, "But even if she's what you just said, Danielle still might've been a cheerleader anyway, like Cordy was."
"Great," Faith snapped, rolling her eyes in utter exasperation at the same time. "Means our gal's gonna be the usual fuckin' cliché, datin' nothin' less than the football quarterback while either bein' a complete goody-two-shoes or a first-class ball-breaker. How 'bout for once who we're here to take a look at turns out to be somethin' a li'l bit different from that?"
Oddly enough, this indeed occurred. Faith soon came to grudgingly admit over the next few hours this Danielle chick wasn't going to be as unbearable as the older woman had thought. In fact, even as the New Council members watched the current events at East Highland High while keeping themselves magically concealed by Willow's notice-me-not spells, Faith began to feel some sort of guarded approval about her unaware twin. That specific word for kinship didn't just have to do with the other girl having the exact same face as a certain Slayer.
No, it was because Danielle had a carefree personality remarkably resembling Faith's own. The younger woman enjoyed life to its utmost, liked taking chances, and best of all, she was sucking face not with the typical head jock at her school, but instead with the newest transfer student. If Gil Harris had any kind of sense, that goofy-looking teenager scheming to make himself the big dude on campus would know he completely lucked out in landing the hottest babe around.
By the time Willow was satisfied she'd learned everything possible about the newest mystical byproduct of the consequences from the spell done by the Monks of Dagon, Faith had only a single reservation remaining over her youthful double. Danielle was okay an' all, but dammit, there hadda be somebody on high havin' a helluva lotta fun messin' with the Scoobies, what with that gal still bein' one more annoyin' cheerleader!