I just wanted to apologize that I haven't updated this in a while; life gets in the way like that. Anyway, here you go and thanks for sticking around! Enjoy!


Mrs Hudson was led to a fancy town car with darkened windows, almost identical to the ones she often saw pulling up outside of Baker Street. The two soldiers ushered her inside, forcing her to sit in the middle between them. Jenna got into the front seat.

"Is this a kidnapping?" Mrs Hudson asked, calmer than Jenna had expected.

"Uh, no, Mrs Hudson. Sort of a…borrowing really. I promise, you won't be hurt. Cross my-" Jenna began to say before Mrs Hudson cut her off.

"Is this about money? Because I'll need to phone some people but I can pay for myself, thank you."

"No, this isn't about money. Just…relax for a bit, Mrs Hudson."

The soldier on the left pulled out a white cloth that filled the car with a sickly sweet smell. Chloroform. Mrs Hudson was out soon, her head slumping to the soldier's epaulet.

Jenna settled back into the leather seat, knowing that she was doing what was necessary to bring down the Oncoming Storm, but not being able to shake the feeling that maybe they were going about it the wrong way.


When Mrs Hudson woke up, her wrists and ankles were tied down to a strange sort of stretcher on wheels. She could feel a metal band around her head and wires snaking off to somewhere. Wherever she was, it was mostly dark; there were a few lights dotted around. She could see an 'exit' sign so they had brought her to some kind of public building, but the lights were off in a way that suggested that it was not open to the general population. Despite her current predicament, Mrs Hudson smiled a little to herself. Sherlock's deductions might be a source of consternation for many people - herself included - but she was grateful that she had picked up enough to help her in this situation. Not that she could do much with the information she now had, but it was a comfort anyway, like perhaps Sherlock himself wasn't far away.

"So, Mrs Hudson," a cold, female voice spoke out of the dark, "it's time we got know your detective a little better, don't you think? And Jenna does need so much practice with the machine, if we're going to bring down a virus plaguing the universe."

Then everything went black.

—||—

"Alright, she's under," Jenna said as the lights flickered on. She was sitting in an office chair in a comfortable boardroom. Not exactly the kind of place one would expect to find an alien cloning chamber…or aliens themselves, for that matter.

Mrs Hudson lay on the coffin-shaped stretcher, the band around her head filled with wires leading to a large, square tank. The small crack between the bottom and the lid of the tank glowed with an eerie turquoise light. The Master stood by the door, watching Jenna flip switches and turn dials, just like she had been taught. Finally, she flicked a switch and a gurgling sound could be heard, like a kid blowing bubbles in their chocolate milk or like a tea kettle before it starts to whistle.

"You didn't have to do that," Jenna commented, half turning toward the Master behind her.

"Do what?"

"The super evil voice. I mean, she's just a sweet old lady. I know we need her for this plan and stuff, but I feel bad."

"Oh, come on Jenna, lighten up. I was just having a bit of fun. And besides, when we return her to Baker Street, she won't even remember."

"Okay," Jenna said a little sadly.

Moriarty arrived just as steam began to hiss from under the lid. "You started without me?" he pouted.

"Ah, Mister Moriarty. Decided to join us, at last, I see. Well, you can't really blame us for going ahead; we couldn't exactly wait while you wasted time doing- what were you doing all this time?" the Master said, folding her arms and looking slightly annoyed.

"That, I believe, is not any of your business. It was to do with my own particular line of work. I had an appointment with someone who wanted my advice on a rather personal subject. I, being the good soul that I am, obliged," Moriarty said, exchanging a look with the Master that went unnoticed by Jenna who was concentrating on the dials and numbers in front of her.

"Well then. It shouldn't be a surprise that we carried on without you, since you were obviously busy with much more important matters. Besides, you don't really need to know how to work the machine since Jenna has picked it up rather quickly."

"You could at least tell me what you've done to my machine," Moriarty replied sulkily.

"Are you sure you'll understand?"

"You'd hate for me know, wouldn't you? You don't want to tell me because you're afraid I'll understand perfectly."

"Of course when you put it like that, you don't sound like a whining child at all. Alright, I'll tell you. Not only have I fixed the problem of the clone smelling like a clone, I've made the whole machine more efficient. However, because of that, we've had to give up some things. Namely, the ability for the clones to do much on their own. Before, you could give them basic commands and the psyche of the original person would interpret that and send instructions to the clone-body. Because of the changes I've made, this is not going to happen the same way. We could arrange it so that whatever instructions we have get sent directly to the clone and by-pass the original completely, but then they will literally do what we tell them and nothing more. They can do a bit on their own, enough to fool a casual observer or a closer acquaintance if they were under severe emotional strain but they certainly won't hold up to close inspection. There is a good chance our mannerisms and vocal patterns, for example, could be copied. I hope you can understand why that simply won't do. We need everyone else to believe that the clones are the originals. So, I've fixed it up so that one of us sends the instructions and commands to the original person who interprets them and then sends that interpretation on to the clone-body. A little more complicated, perhaps, but far more realistic. Plus, should have the added bonus of letting us in on a bit of the information inside the original's head. Information that we might be able to use. Now, I trust that wasn't too far over your head, Mister Moriarty."

"And you thought that would be too complicated for me to understand? Oh, Master, I think you've vastly underestimated my intelligence, which just might be your undoing."

"Really? I think you've vastly overestimated your intelligence if that's the best comeback you've got."

Moriarty had pulled out his phone while the Master had been speaking and now he glanced up from it briefly, "I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. There was a text from someone vastly more important that couldn't wait."

"I seriously wouldn't recommend playing this game with me, Mister Moriarty."

Instead of answering, Moriarty had drifted over to look at the sleeping figure of Mrs Hudson. "Ugh, she's so old. I can't stand old people - boring. And they smell funny."

"You won't have to smell her if you leave," the Master commented, trying to sound innocent and failing.

"And let you have all the fun? Nah." Moriarty wandered back to where Jenna was sitting. He pulled up a chair and watched her work.

After a minute or so, she stopped and looked at him. "Sorry, just could you maybe move back a little? It's kind of hard to work with you right over my shoulder."

"Sorry," Moriarty said, rather distantly, but didn't move.

"She said to move," the Master said in such a cold voice that even Jenna shivered and goosebumps popped along her arms.

Moriarty stood up so fast that the chair flew out from beneath him, crashing to the floor. He and the Master were about the same height and they stared into each other eyes; almost black boring into honey brown. Jenna tried to watch the showdown over her shoulder but needed to keep a close watch on the dials to make sure that the clone didn't get too much or too little of anything.

There was complete silence as the staring game between the two grew into a play for dominance. Jenna got caught up in watching the two, so similar but so different. A minute went by. Two minutes.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Everyone jumped and Jenna turned back to the controls just in time to bring the nitrogen levels down to where they should be. She grimaced as she realized how close they had been to having to start over. A time delay like that was not ideal since she was only supposed to be taking Mrs Hudson next door, not across town. If they were gone for too long, certain people might start asking questions that the Master would rather remain unanswered.

"Well, if you're going to be like that, then I will leave," Moriarty said, raising an eyebrow and trying to regain his air of nonchalance. "I've got better things to do than sit around here all day while that machine makes another old lady."

Before Moriarty could actually leave, the Master stepped closer and grabbed him by the lapel of his fancy suit. "Listen here, human. We're not just doing this for ourselves, we're trying to help you too. So you can cut the attitude right now because I won't take it. I have waited for far too long to finally be rid of this, this menace and I'm not going to let a little ape like you stop me. Got it?"

"Okay, easy, princess. I'll play nice," Moriarty said, smoothing down his jacket when the Master finally let go. "For now," he muttered as he exited the room.

Jenna took a deep breath as the tension slowly melted away. "Wow, he is touchy," she commented when the door had clicked shut.

"Hmmm. He is, but I think it's because he's used to being the alpha male. Now he's not," the Master mused as she picked up the chair that had fallen and sat beside Jenna. "It's a tough adjustment for anyone. And he's nervous, I think. But, at the very least, he cares and that's important. Even if he is a bit of an idiot for intentionally irritating me. He'll learn soon enough. Anyway, how's our clone coming along?"

"Pretty well; almost finished, actually. We should probably get the mental relay set up so it has time to integrate with the clone's brain before it's fully formed. Uh, were you going to do that or…"

"Under the current circumstances, I think I'd better."

"Alright then, if you're sure. Mister Moriarty might come back and it's going to take you about a minute to get out of the relay, if you need to."

The Master put her hands on Jenna's shoulders. "I'm sure."

"Okay. Grab that chair and bring it over here."

The Master did so, and Jenna worked on attaching more wires both to the band around Mrs Hudson's head and to the main cable going into the clone. The new headset, however, was a bit nicer - and more advanced - than the cold metal around the older lady's head; it had both headphones and a mike.

"So basically, this is what connects your head and Mrs Hudson's. When information comes back from whatever the clone is doing, it'll travel the same path but in reverse. It'll probably cause a bit of a delay, I don't know. And we won't be certain until we test it out which might be what gives us away, but there's no other option."

"Jenna, it'll be fine. Trust me."

"Okay, here we go," she said and flicked another switch on the control panel.

Immediately, the Master began to scream in pain. Jenna jumped and, abandoning the controls, ran toward her friend.

"Oh no! What's wrong? What's happening? I can't turn it off, I'm sorry! If I do, it might not reconnect and we'll have to start from the beginning!"

The Master stopped screaming and laughed instead. "You should have seen your face! Oh, that was priceless. I'm fine, Jenna. Just having a bit of fun. I mean, it hurts a bit, but I've gone through much, much worse."

Jenna resisted the urge to punch the Master in the shoulder, choosing instead to turn sharply on her heel and march back to the control panel, trying to look as superior as possible while the Master continued to laugh behind her.


About an hour later, all was ready. The clone of Mrs Hudson - now dressed in her clothes - was waiting by the door and the Master was settled comfortably in her role as god. Moriarty was nowhere to be seen so he must have found something to occupy his attention. Jenna took one last look at the Master (who's eyes were now closed and she looked almost asleep) and hurried out the door.

She climbed into the waiting town car with the clone of Mrs Hudson, thankful that the Master had fixed the odour problem. Mrs Hudson didn't speak much on the way back to Baker Street; Jenna was hoping that it was just shock for both the clone in the car and the 'real' Mrs Hudson back at base and wasn't going to be a permanent issue.


They pulled up in front of 221 and Jenna helped the woman out of the back seat and into the building. As soon as they were inside, Mrs Hudson began wringing her hands.

"Oh, look at what a mess I've left the place in," she said, hurrying into her flat and closing the door quickly.

"Mrs Hudson? Is that you?" A deep voice called from the second floor. Jenna's eyes grew wide and she looked back and forth between the steps and the clone. Apparently the moment of truth was here sooner than expected and Jenna was right in the middle of it. If Sherlock found something wrong, there was no knowing what he would do.

"Where have you been all this time?" he said, clattering once again down the steps.

Mrs Hudson reappeared at the door of her flat. There was a slight pause before she said, "I've just been next door having a lovely tea with this young lady- I'm sorry, dear, what was your name again?"

"Jenna," the young woman hurried to respond. She tried to keep her face passive as she saw Sherlock eyeing her.

"Oh yes, isn't that nice, Sherlock?"

"Uh, she means that I've come to see about the flat downstairs, I think," Jenna said, resolutely not looking at Sherlock.

"I'm sorry dear, was there something you wanted?" Mrs Hudson asked Sherlock after another slightly obvious pause.

Sherlock suddenly looked very distant, no doubt his mind was still mostly on the case he had just returned from. "No, it's just that you normally bring me tea around this time and it wasn't there when I got back from the crime scene so I-"

"That's very kind of you, but really I'm alright. Just a bit tired is all."

"-Oh, of course!" Sherlock exclaimed, speaking over the woman who was not his housekeeper, "How could I have missed that?" Without waiting for an answer, he clattered back up the staircase taking the steps two at a time.

Jenna breathed a sigh of relief as Mrs Hudson shook her head, smiling, and hurried into her flat to clean up the mess she had left. The young woman returned to the car where she watched London pass by through the window as she hurried her back to base, hoping she would find the Master where she had left her and Moriarty occupying his time elsewhere until he was needed.