Sherlock: Skyfall

by: Shadow Chaser

Author's Notes:

Companion piece to "Legwork" this explores another possibility and minor/not-so-minor crossover with the recent James Bond movie, "Skyfall." Sherlock and all characters do not belong to me, they belong to BBC, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Steven Moffat, and Mark Gatiss. James Bond and all characters do not belong to me, they belong to the Broccoli family, MGM, and Ian Fleming. I am only writing this for fan purposes and not for profit.

Story:

On the surface, the Holmes brothers were never really close, but if one dug deep enough, one would discover that it was not the case. It was also rare for the Holmes brothers to be in the news, preferring to stay in the shadows, whether it be for the British Government or the Metropolitan Police force. So when Sherlock, the middle of the brothers suddenly found himself plastered all over the pages of newspapers and magazines, hailed as a new Internet sensation and hero for helping solve so many cases as a Private Investigator – consulting detective was the more accurate word, but the press were prone to errors – he made a discreet inquiry to Mycroft regarding this new found fame.

Mycroft, of course, did not even deign a reply, and he had not expected one, but rather, decided to monitor the situation as a Holmes usually did. Which meant hacking into the eldest brother's cameras and feeds, planting tracers on various flagged information the Met mentioned in regards to Sherlock, anything and everything that seemed relevant to Sherlock.

And that was also when he discovered a rather uncomfortable connection to one consulting criminal named James Moriarty.

"Sir," one of his minions, as he liked to secretly called his co-workers, made him look up from his computer to see him holding a phone away from his ear, hand on the mouthpiece, "M requests your presence."

"On my way," he replied, a small grimace curling his lips as he had a feeling what this was about. One did not do a light search of the man formerly known as 001, the most wanted rogue agent that MI6 had been trying to apprehend and kill for years. The fact that he had discovered this connection had probably immediately raised a large number of red flags within the networked systems – even though he wrote most of those systems when he had first joined MI6.

There had been only three known traitors to MI6, two of them from the double-o program, the other...well, Silva was now dead and had not been considered double-o status since the nineteen-eighties when he had been removed from active service by M's predecessor. Alex Trevelyan, formerly 006, had been killed by Bond's predecessor to the 007 rank before retiring. That left only 001, the only one who was still alive and now the world's only consulting criminal.

He headed up to M's office, knocking politely on the bullet-proof glass that Moneypenny let him through after buzzing him in. "Thanks," he gave her a quick, small smile, one to which she returned, before passing by Bond himself who was sitting in one of the chairs, idly fiddling with something on his phone – the very same one he recognized he had given to him earlier in the day. He did not even deigned to catch Bond's curious gaze as the door opened and M himself gestured for him to head in. He could already feel both inquisitive stares by Moneypenny and Bond behind him, but schooled himself to have the perfect neutral expression on his face as the door closed behind him.

And that expression was immediately shattered as he looked around the spacious office and found one other person already in the room. His back was facing him, but nonetheless, Mycroft Holmes always cut an impressive figure, even with his yo-yo diet. In so many ways, Mycroft was like each M that had served their position, exuding power and presence, even though it was subtle. The only difference between M and Mycroft was that everyone, everyone knew who was in charge if both were in the same room, and it certainly was not the man with a letter for a codename.

"How's the diet?" he was having none of whatever Mycroft was trying to insinuate by having his back to him.

"Fine," there was an edge to Mycroft's reply as he lifted a finger and ran it along the spine of one of M's old, but beautifully preserved books.

"Sir-" he made to turn to face M.

"Sit Q," M's firm hand on his back propelled him forward not really of his own accord, but neither one pretended for what it was. Q took one of the two plush chairs that was facing M's desk and sat down in it, striving to keep the annoyance off of his face. There were perhaps a million reasons he could think of why Mycroft was here, but Q knew that it was perhaps one reason why he would ever interfere with MI6 business.

"Your timing is fortuitous-"

"Sir-"

"-But Mr. Holmes here has suggested that MI6 only observe, not act upon this discovery of one of our lost assets," M rounded his desk and sat down as Mycroft moved from the bookshelf to standing in between them at somewhat of an angle, his umbrella held in front of him like a miniature cane. Q eyed it the umbrella with some curiosity; a part of him wondering if Mycroft ever had to use the weapon he had cleverly concealed within. It had been his first experiment really, when he was only eight and Mycroft about to head to university.

He had wondered why his brother had kept the same umbrella, in really fine pristine almost-new condition for such a long time, but supposed it was the hidden sentiment that marked each of them so.

"Observe?" he asked as he turned back to face M.

"We-"

"You mean I," Q interjected drolly as Mycroft only raised an eyebrow at him to which he met with a cool gaze. He wanted him out of MI6, out of his life again, and made sure that his eldest brother knew it every single second he was in this room.

"We," Mycroft continued as if he had not been interrupted, "would like to see who he interacts with and where his network-"

"He has Sherlock in his sights, Mycroft," this time Q could not keep the venom out of his tone as he glared up at him. "Sherlock."

"Yes, I know that," Mycroft stared icily back down at him.

"He will destroy him-"

"I'm not going to let it go that far-"

"We can end this nice and simply," he continued, "give one of our double-o's the mission-"

"Bond has proven himself quite capable," M interjected into the proceedings, "in fact, it is why I had summoned him here so he can deal with our former 001-"

"No," Mycroft tapped his umbrella lightly against the ground.

"No?" M looked skeptical.

Q knew that M knew his whole background; each M had to know, because it was ultimately Mycroft Holmes who pulled the strings of the government, working from the shadows like a spider tending to his web. It was also one of the reasons why each M learned that Q was a rather valuable asset, and not just for his hacking skills. It was because of the familial connection and the ability to potentially influence the one ultimately making the decisions. One might say it was a dangerous connection for someone to learn, but that knowledge had only been allowed to be revealed if Mycroft or Q wanted it to be. And this M had already proven so many times to be worthy of the knowledge, as did his predecessor.

"We need to know how far Moriarty's criminal empire expands to; who he is working with, what governments and elements within those governments we can bend and use to our advantage and even eliminate in the near future," Mycroft's tone had a hint of disdain in it, as if he could not believe that neither of them had come to the conclusion that he had, that Moriarty was needed for this. The unspoken, "it's what MI6 is here for, to kill and eliminate targets – you'll get plenty of them with Moriarty alive," hung in the air.

But Q bristled at the implied insult and at what Mycroft was saying, "If you think-"

"Come now, petty threats...Q?" Mycroft had hedged on spilling his real name in the room, even though M already knew what it was; the fact that his brother still respected him enough to address him by his codename was telling in of itself. Mycroft was worried, but not worried enough. Q was even more worried that Mycroft's ego would get the better of himself. "Grow up."

"I will not-"

"You will stay out of it," Mycroft finally had enough and leveled him with a steely look, the same one that Q instinctively always shrank away from. It was most definitely a darker, more protective side of Mycroft, one that had been willing to beat up bullies to a pulp using physical violence, even though the eldest of the Holmes siblings almost never used physical violence. Sherlock was more prone to that sort of thing, being the more physical of the three, and even Q disdained to get his 'hands dirty' so to speak, but rather liked the elegance of creating technology that would do the sort of thing.

"You will stay out of it and let me do my work. James Moriarty is no concern of yours and you will not, under any circumstances, be allowed to let loose a double-o, even one back from the dead, upon the former 001."

Q had a moment of childish impulse to ask, "So what?" to the threat, but that moment passed quickly. It was not that he did not want to ask it, it was that he knew it was useless. He was answerable to both Mycroft and to M, and as much as the threat was empty and Q knew he could find himself out on the streets to live his life like Sherlock decided to do so. He had long known that his position within the Q-branch of MI6 was far more invaluable to both himself and to the British government. The government wanted his mind palace and goodies hidden inside; he wanted a layer of protection against Mycroft's meddling of his affairs. And M was that layer.

But even sometimes M's protection did not extend that far, case in point what was happening now. The Holmes brothers never tried to interfere in each others lives, well, Q to a point to both Mycroft and Sherlock. But Mycroft, the eldest of them all, tried to be the overbearing disdainful brother that both knew was trying to hide a sentimentality that made them all weak. Each brother knew the other could be used against the other if enemies were to discover their connection and power.

"You may act when I say you may act," Mycroft continued and Q huffed sullenly, "we need time to dismantle his network."

"He will kill Sherlock, eventually."

"He won't."

Q pressed his lips together and stared up at Mycroft's steely eyes, "Can you promise that?"

He saw his brother open his mouth to confirm it before closing it without an answer. Q supposed that he was to feel a bloom of satisfaction, but all it did was raise the apprehension and unease in him. James Moriarty was 001, and double-o's were inherently dangerous. Honed weapons made for killing and highly intelligent operatives designed to think outside the box. The man sitting outside M's office who was named 007 was proof of that. Seemingly killed by the former 008, Moneypenny, only to come back alive and ultimately set a trap to destroy Silva.

"You will stay away," Mycroft finished with a finality and Q finally nodded once, deferring to his eldest brother's command.

"I will stay away," he could only hope that Mycroft was right.

Eighteen months later, Q learned that Sherlock died by suicide along with James Moriarty.

Eighteen months later, Q broke his promise to Mycroft.

Eighteen months later, Q did not stay away and instead, dived headlong into the rabbit hole to help his older brother Sherlock.

~END~

Author's Notes:

This is dedicated to my beta reader Legume Shadow who is absolutely head-over-heels gaga for Q from "Skyfall." I was also inspired by the potential crossover possibilities of "Sherlock" and "Skyfall" with the new Q. References to one of my other favorite Bond movies, "Goldeneye" is with the mention of 006 – I subscribe to the theory that 007 is a rotating title, but the name James Bond is not necessarily part of that. And the idea that Moriarty could be 001 tickles me even further; I've also pushed "Skyfall's" events first before "The Reichenbach Fall" just so continuity wise, it works within the story (even though production and air-date wise, "Skyfall" technically happened after Reichenbach).