5683 12th Street. Now.
-HS
The text was from a restricted number. Sherlock Holmes jumped off the couch, grabbed his coat and raced out of the door. He hopped into a cab and gave the driver the address. This was exciting! A million questions ran through Sherlock's mind.
He handed the cab driver some cash and stepped onto the street. He saw a small house. Small, beaten up, lawn mowed, untrimmed bushes. It looked like it belonged to a couple in their mid twenties, but there were no cars in the driveway, and obviously whoever had gotten his number and sent him that text wasn't just some couple. He confidently walked up the drive and knocked on the door. Immediately, a man answered. "Hello, Mr. Holmes."
Sherlock stared at the man. This man looked so familiar. He had blond hair and a devious look about him. Sherlock had definitely seen this man before. It bothered Sherlock that he didn't know how he knew this man. He never forgot a face. Sherlock closed his eyes. He thought back. Suddenly, Sherlock Holmes remembered something that never happened. Sherlock remembered something that only a few people in the history of the world could ever begin to remember. A world filled with one man. An entire year that never was. A prime minister who never ruled. Sherlock smiled. "Hello, Harold."
….
The Doctor danced around the TARDIS console, flicking switches and pushing buttons. Amy laughed. "Where are you taking me this time?" The Doctor only smiled as he pushed down a lever. He was smiling, of course, because he had no idea where the TARDIS was going to take them. That's what made it fun for him- what kept it interesting. Whooooosh whooooosh whoooosh. The Doctor and Amy grinned at each other, then jumped down to the TARDIS door to see where she had landed.
"Doctor, this is just Earth. I thought we were going to a planet," Amy pouted, stepping out of the TARDIS and into a perfectly normal ally.
"Well technically, Earth is a planet," the Doctor grinned that stupid adorable grin of his as he stepped out the TARDIS door.
"You know what I meant!" Amy playfully shoved his arm.
The Doctor licked his index finger then held it into the air. "Definitely Earth, 20th century? No 21st century. Maybe 22nd? No definitely 21st. Just plain old 21st century London. So why did the TARDIS bring us here?" Amy and the Doctor looked around.
"Doctor, can we go to a pla- ugh." The Doctor had already run off. Amy slammed the TARDIS doors shut and ran after him.
….
"So you remember," Harold was mildly impressed. He knew that if anybody could remember the year that never was, and the planet being covered in six billion copies of him, Sherlock Holmes could, but he thought it would take a little more prodding. "Now you're probably wondering why I need your help. I'm confident even the great Sherlock Holmes," Harold rolled his eyes, "wouldn't be able to figure out why I called you here." Sherlock looked at him, clearly unfazed. "You haven't figured it out, have you?" for a moment, Harold looked the tiniest bit nervous, but suddenly his face broke into an obnoxiously arrogant grin, "of course you haven't."
"I haven't. But I do know that you're about to tell me everything, including how you turned every human being on Earth into yourself." Sherlock's smile widened at the momentarily surprised face of Harold. But Harold wouldn't look surprised for long.
"Of course, I will tell you, but let me take care of something first." Sherlock looked confused and Harold looked incredibly smug. Suddenly, Harold's face contorted into a pained expression. Sherlock instinctively stepped closer to him to make sure he was ok. "GET BACK!" Harold screamed. Sherlock stepped back out of the door and stood on the step. Harold's hands were… glowing? Why were they doing that? Now his face was doing it too. Sherlock watched in amazement. He knew, of course, that this was some sort of trick. But it looked so real! "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHH!" Harold cried, before his entire body was enveloped by a golden glow.
….
"Have you noticed anything… strange going on recently?" the Doctor asked a woman working at a shop. She had long brown hair and bangs. She seemed like a really giggly cheerleader type girl. She kept batting her eyelashes at him. It was very uncomfortable.
"Not really," she winked. "I'm Makala by the way," she smiled and touched his arm, "and you are?"
He pulled his arm away. The Doctor was getting very uncomfortable. Where are you Amy? He straightened his bow tie. "The Doctor," he held out his hand, but instead of shaking it, she gave him a high five and giggled.
"The Doctor?" Makala looked confused, "Doctor who?"
Just then, Amy spotted the two of them and walked over. "There you are!" Amy exclaimed, out of breath, "I've been looking everywhere for you!"
"And who's this? You're girlfriend?" Makala suddenly looked much less kind.
"I was…eh… just leaving," said the Doctor, "goodbye Makala," and with that, he grabbed Amy's hand and quickly walked out of the shop.
"So," started the Doctor, "I've talked to plenty of different people and none of them seem to think anything out of the ordinary is going on. So the TARDIS must have taken us here by mistake."
"So… can we go to a planet then?" asked Amy.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Only one problem though," the Doctor paused suspense fully.
"Yes?" prodded Amy.
"The TARDIS doesn't make mistakes." They looked at each other. "So," said the Doctor, "we keep looking."
…
"That's much better," said a man with floppy red hair. The man walked across the room to a mirror that was on the wall. "I look like a teenage boy!" he exclaimed. He gave the mirror a look of horror, then turned towards Sherlock. A look of delight spread across the man's face. Sherlock looked momentarily confused, then, suddenly smiled.
"And who might you be?" asked Sherlock
"I am the Master. But you know me as Harold Saxon," the man smiled. The Master was used to being smarter than everyone, but to know something that Sherlock Holmes couldn't figure out was an amazing accomplishment.