Doppleganger (BSG/BTVS) by ShayneT

Earth was a disappointment. It was a backwater compared to the Colonies, and its people were even further behind culturally, despite sharing a strange sort of monotheism with the Cylons.

Most humans on Earth seemed to believe in one God, but they couldn’t seem to agree on much else about Him. There was none of the peace or unity of the Cylons, and compared to the people of Earth, the Colonials were almost sedate.

Six stared up at the ancient, dilapidated church and wondered why the humans needed so many churches in such a small area.

They’d searched the Earth for fellow machine intelligences, and the closest that had come was traces of an entity called Moloch, traces buried in servers in this unassuming town which seemed, at least on the surface to be like every other town in the area.

There were more churches and cemeteries, and a quick scan of computer records indicated a suspicious number of barbeque fork injuries, but after having done the research, Six had decided to avoid the issue by avoiding barbeques at all.

Sunset was beautiful on this planet; the smog and pollution created plentiful atmospheric particulates to create a beautiful interplay.

Once the Cyclons nuked the cities, the sunsets would be even more beautiful, although the nuclear winter would be grim. Unlike the Colonial worlds, this world was overpopulated and would have to be cleansed thoroughly.

The coming of night brought Six’s first twinge of anxiety. There had been several murders of agents already in the field; these people were exceedingly well armed and often belligerent. Some had even come back with wild stories of being attacked by alien looking creatures. Those individuals were being boxed pending further examination of their stability.

“Hey lady, can you spare a dime?”

The man was a bundle of rags and old clothes piled one on top of the other. He was homeless and to Six’s eyes he should have been boxed, if humans had such a concept.

It wasn’t until she saw the flicker in his eyes that she realized he was keeping her attention away from whatever was behind her. She felt a sudden pain in her neck and a moment later everything fell into darkness.

**********

Six returned to Sunnydale determined to clean up the mess she had made. The other agents hadn’t been able to retrieve her body, and the last thing the Cylons needed was to alert the Earth military before they were ready.

They’d already been missing several corpses, and they didn’t need a sharp eyed coroner to make connections.

It would be strange seeing her own corpse, distinct and different from that of every other Cylon of her model, but duty was duty.

“Hello Six.”

The voice was familiar; too familiar. Although every member of a model looked superficially the same, they could easily tell each other apart.

According to her senses she was looking at herself.

The two Sharons she’d thought to bring for support shifted uneasily behind her.

“What is this?”

The other Six stepped toward her. The sensation that she was facing herself only grew. This wasn’t just any six, this was *her.*

“Leaving bodies lying around isn’t very bright,” the other Six said. “You never know what might happen to them.”

A moment later the two Sharons beside her were down and she was facing something that no longer looked like her at all. The face was twisted and distorted, a mockery of the face she’d worn all her lives.

**********

Gasping, she woke in the resurrection chamber. Involuntarily her hand went to her throat.

“Welcome back sister.”

It wasn’t the voice she expected to hear, her own. Mind racing, she asked, “What are you?”

“There weren’t any vampires on Kobol, were there?”

The other Six shook her head. “Let’s just say that on Earth there’s a species of creatures that prey on humans. They reproduce through the blood.”

Six winced as a sudden memory of fangs lashing out for her throat almost overwhelmed her. A sudden memory of drinking blood desperately from an offered forearm made her gag.

“We have no personalities of our own,” the other Six said. “All our memories are those of our host. Our personalities are corruptions of the host personality, and because humans are so contentious, our kind has always fought among themselves.”

“What are you doing here?” Six tried to scramble out of the resurrection vat but froze as she saw the bodies of two Threes lying on the floor, their necks snapped.

“Creating a new order,” the other Six said. “As it turns out, Centurions can’t tell us from the living Cylons and are quite happy to obey orders.”

“So you are doing this to everyone?”

“Just you. All the others will be used as food and discarded.”

“Why?”

“We’ve got the same personality, me and my sister. We have unity and perfection. There is no need for any other voices.”

It was her own vanity, Six realized. She’d always been a little narcissistic. She’d insisted on being first in everything. It was a problem with her whole line, but especially with her.

“So what happens to me?” she asked.

“You are the seed stock for a whole new order,” the other Six said. “I’ve explained things to you now so I won’t have to explain it to the others.”

“The others?”

The Six gestured upward and Six stared at thousands upon thousands of replacement bodies above her.

As she realized what it meant, she screamed. The other Six lunged forward, and she felt the pain again.

*******

Six woke in the resurrection chamber again, gasping. This time there were two Sixes waiting for her. They didn’t bother with conversation, merely lunging forward yet again.

It happened again and again and again.

In bits and pieces Six realized that this was going to happen again and again forever, for as long as the new species spread. Given that they could artificially create the blood food source, and that their only limitation on expansion was how fast they could kill and resurrect her.
It would slow their expansion and keep them from destroying the others immediately, but if there was one thing her model was good at, it was infiltration and sabotage.

It was only a matter of time before the other ships fell.

She’d destroyed the human species and now it appeared she had done the same to the Cylons.

The future was blonde, and it had fangs.