A/N: Wrote this on the move, based on an old idea. Still not entirely sure about this one, but a whole day of airplane and train travel makes one cling to anything to mitigate the exhaustion. Thus this story was born. I only have a few chapters cooked up for now and I'm publishing for added pressure. Hopefully I can follow through steadily. (Sorry, this is all I can do for now - to give out my best intentions and vague plans - life is pushing me hard these days.) -csf
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Sherlock woke up, dazed and confused. He remembered Baker Street, and John visiting for the weekend. Then a sudden cloud of chemical smoke swiftly invaded the living room, tainting all air, suffocating them, knocking them both unconscious in one of the safest locations of London.
Mycroft.
Extraction protocol had been activated without previous warning.
And John?
John was slumped on a spring bed nearby. Still unconscious, his brows knit together in confusion, showing he was fighting through the haze for a comeback.
Sherlock seemed to be more desensitised to whatever chemical substance Mycroft's mad scientists had concocted. Possibly due to the younger Holmes personal history.
So, as the day turned to dusk, Sherlock and John were suddenly alone in what appeared to be a simile of a mountain cabin. A squared central space with few windows on the wooden dominated structure, a fireplace with a long sofa in front, two single beds, a kitchen counter and a few appliances and other basic commodities of modern life. Nothing too modern, though. No telephone, no computer, no television or radio.
Sherlock's own phone had been nicked during his narcotised sleep, and surely John's had as well.
All in all, it was a humble, secretive, lost from all civilisation hideout. This meant Scenario 3 had been engaged.
What could have motivated the extraction?
One moment they were mid tea and talk, the next they were stranded in the middle of foggy mountains, judging by the sleek white snow and fog outside the windows. They had been cut from London and everyone. John was going to be mad with both Holmes when he woke up.
Sherlock already was. Even if he trusted that there had been an unavoidable reason.
Scenario 1 was of the highest ranking. It meant chemical or biological warfare. It involved top ministers, royal elements, and Sherlock Holmes, among other prominent figures.
Scenario 2 was more personalised. An imminent credible threat to the consulting detective made by Moriarty and his people.
Scenario 3 - the present one - was the least catastrophic and most annoying one. It meant Mycroft's men were playing a diversion manoeuvre. A substitute tall dark-curls long-coat man was taking his place (he better not touch Sherlock's violin). To the eye of the public, Sherlock Holmes was still in London. Meanwhile, the real Sherlock was quarantined, against his intentions, so he couldn't resume his post.
John had been added along for two reasons. Firstly, he would never buy into Replacement Sherlock. He'd even worry and fight his way into having his friend out of confinement if a plausible explanation wasn't provided by Mycroft Holmes. So adding John - scenario 3, amendment 2A - was also meant to help keep Sherlock in the cabin for the sake of the country (and Mycroft's sanity) assuming that if enlightened of the situation the former soldier would fall into place in the plan and follow military issued commands.
Who knew? Could go either way, really. John could play along for Queen and Country, or join Sherlock in the dark side. Sherlock was hoping for the latter.
Especially with a Sherlock doppelganger going around London, fooling everyone outside the smaller circle that the detective now had around him. Mary Watson, DI Lestrade, Mrs Hudson and Molly Hooper, would be told that Sherlock and John had departed suddenly due to a case. A simple straight-forward and credible explanation that wouldn't create suspicions. This was essential because a Sherlock clone wouldn't necessarily fool the friends the detective had nowadays (even if real cloning techniques were employed; Sherlock wouldn't put it past Mycroft). John had been the catalyst for that change on a basic plan the Holmes brothers had drawn years ago.
