Title: He'll Be Back
Pairings: None, unless you really really look with goggles. While squinting.
Rating: K/PG
Spoilers: Some spoilers for the End of Time.
Disclaimer: Doctor Who and its original characters and trademarks belong to the BBC. Benedict Cumberbatch belongs to himself. Unfortunately.

A/N: I was talking with my friend Stephanie (trueroyalblue...go read her fic now) about Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss' series, Sherlock. After much mutual squeeing over Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Sherlock Holmes himself, we decided that he would make a brilliant Master. I got a plunny and she forced me to write this little one-shot about the meeting of Cumberbatch!Master and Eleven and post it. You don't need to be a fan of his to read it, this is just for guilty fun. Enjoy!

The Doctor stops his babbling and turns around just in time to see the door to the small side room of the basement slam shut, with Amy and Rory stuck inside. He pulls on the handle, but it won't even jiggle. His footsteps echo damply against the concrete walls as he struggles with the door. He thinks he hears something else echo, and turns around quickly. The single light bulb swings from a wire, casting shadows on the damp walls. A silent moment passes as his eyes search the shadows, but he turns back to the door.

"Amy?" he calls through the door. "Rory?"

"Yes, Doctor?" he hears Amy's sharp voice through the metal.

"Can you open the door from the inside? It's stuck out here," he says with the most careless voice he can muster, but his eyes are wide and a sinking feeling overtakes him. The handle doesn't move, but he can feel the vibrations of Amy struggling with it through the door. He pulls his sonic screwdriver out quickly, but he quickly realizes that the door is deadlocked and returns it to his pocket.

"Rory? Amy? Are you okay?" The Doctor puts his hands against the door as if he can feel the reverberations of every movement they make through the barrier.

"Amy?" he hears Rory say quietly to Amy, then louder, to the Doctor: "Yeah, we're fine." Rory's voice is a little quieter now, as if he's standing a few feet away from the door. "There's a bit of light coming through a little window that must be at ground level, we can see better." The Doctor almost sighs, but Amy speaks up.

"Doctor...I don't mean to worry you," he stands up straighter, "but there's a sort of box in the corner. It has blinking lights or something." Amy is trying to sound curious, but he can hear a note of fear in her voice. She's starting to feel claustrophobic. He hears Rory shuffle closer.

"There are numbers…counting down…90...89...88..." Rory stops talking and the Doctor stops breathing. "Oh my god. Is it a bomb?"

"Is there any other way to get out?"

"There's a window, but it's too high up," Amy calls. "Doctor, it's still counting down. Why is there a bomb, if that's what it is, in a deserted basement?"

The Doctor leans his forehead against the door, clenching his eyes shut. He hears footsteps from across the darkened room.

"Hello darling," a deep voice echoes across the basement, "What have you been up to?"

The Doctor turns quickly, staring his enemy in the eye as he finally steps from the shadows. He's tall, with curly ginger hair and a pale face.

"Oh, you know," he replies casually, his mouth set firmly, "Saving planets, running across the universe, making new friends. The usual. You?"

"Defying death, escaping from the Time Lords, regenerating. The usual." He pauses to run his thumb across his chin. The Doctor vaguely registers Amy pounding on the door asking him who he's talking to and how they're going to get out of there, but his hearts pound louder in his ears as he runs through the situation.

"What's it this time?" he asks simply. The man across from him chuckles and takes a few steps closer.

"I don't like your friends."

"They don't like you."

He reaches into the pocket of his suit – very classy, of course – pulls out a key, and holds it between two fingers. The grimy light gleams from it. There's no question about it, it's the key to the door.

"Too easy, isn't it, Doctor?" His pale eyes gleam coldly. "I expected you to react a bit differently. You were so sweet in your last regeneration. 'We're the only ones left, please, oh, we could travel the universe, you and me!' What happened to that?" He twirls the key in his fingers.

"Let them go," the Doctor says simply, letting go of a little bit of defiance so he's close to pleading. "They've done nothing to you."

"Might as well get rid of them while it's easy," he replies coldly.

"Like you said, too easy. You won't do it," says the Doctor, deciding to stand his ground.

"Don't change strategies now, I liked that begging bit," he tilts his head at the Doctor, narrowing his eyes.

"Please, let them go."

"Aw, come on now, you can do better than that."

"Come on, please, what do you want me to do?"

"Maybe a bit of groveling?"

"Please, Master, let them go."

Silence falls as he considers.

Then Amy and Rory's banging and yelling on the door rings eerily through the basement.

The Master narrows his eyes, steps forward, and slowly places the key in the Doctor's hand.

"Too easy."

The Doctor rushes to let out his companions. When he turns back, the Master is gone.

"That man we heard...where did he go?" Amy asks as the Doctor examines the 'bomb' that didn't go off. The Doctor shrugs off their questions for a moment, and answers quietly.

"Oh, don't worry. He'll be back."

Any reviews would be appreciated!