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Chapter 1 – glad you're hooked

Chapter 2 – nope he didn't

Chapter 3 – is it?

Chapter 4 – Yes, he did miss her.

Chapter 5 – Harmony may or may not be a version of River.

Chapter 6 – yep the ginger girl is Amy Pond. The Doctor does a have little crush on Imogen.

Chapter 7 – uh huh, tiny bit of flirting between the Doctor and Imogen.

Chapter 8 – yep another reference to Amy.

Chapter 9 – And that's a hard thing to do. You'll have to wait and see how long it takes them to realise they have feeling for each other.

"Where's Imogen?" Rose asked when she didn't see her friend with the Doctor when he caught up with her.

"She's gone with Mickey", the Doctor replied "where is he going anyway?" he asked.

"To see if his grandmother is still alive", Rose answered "She raised him, you know. She was such a great woman. God, she used to slap him! And then she died. She tripped and fell down the stairs. It's about five years ago now. I was still in school".

"I never knew", the Doctor said.

"Well, you never asked", Rose retorted.

"You never said!" the Doctor shot back.

"That's Mickey. I suppose I…we just… take him for granted", Rose admitted "do you think his gran is alive?"

"Your dad and Gen's aunt is alive. It's possible that his gran is alive too. But like I said, parallel world, gingerbread house. We need to get out of here as fast as we can".

A short alarm sounds and everyone suddenly freezes. The Doctor and Rose look around at them confused. "What're they all doing?" Rose asked.

"They've stopped…" Everyone is wearing earpieces which flash and beep quietly. The Doctor pauses beside one man and squints at his earpiece. "It's the earpieces…like Bluetooth attachments, but everyone's connected together", he said.

Rose's phone beeps and she pulls it out. "It's on my phone. It's automatic, look. It's downloading. Is this what they're all getting?" she asked. The Doctor peered over her shoulder and puts his specs on. Rose scrolls through the 'daily downloads' on her phone.

"News…international news…sports… weather…" she read aloud.

"They get it direct. Downloaded right into their heads", the Doctor told her.

"TV schedules, lottery numbers…" Rose continued.

"Everyone shares the same information" the Doctor took Rose's phone from her "A daily download published by Cybus Industries".

The download scrolls to 'joke'. Everyone around them laughs before going on their merry way. The Doctor and Rose stare, completely nonplussed as the crowd carry on as though nothing had happened. "You lot, you're obsessed. You'd do anything for the latest upgrade", the Doctor said watching the people.

"Oi…not my lot. Different world, remember…"

"It's not so far off your world. This place is only parallel" the Doctor pressed a few buttons on Rose's phone. "Oh, look at that. Cybus Industries, owners of just about every company in Britain, including Vitex", he said reading the screen "Mister Pete Tyler's very well connected". Rose doesn't reply but hangs off his arm smiling innocently and does the puppy dog eyes until the Doctor sighed "Oh, okay. I give up" he tossed her phone back to her "Let's go and see him".

Imogen gives Mickey an encouraging smile as they stood outside his grandmother's house. Mickey raised his hand and knocked on the door. "Who's that there?" a female voice called before the door was opened to show Rita Anne, Mickey's blind grandmother. "Who is it? I know you're there. Shame on you, tricking an old lady. I've got nothing worth stealing" she brandished her stick "And don't think I'm going to disappear! You're not going to take me"

"Hi", Mickey said when Imogen gave him a nudge.

"Is that you?" Rita Anne asked in a hushed voice.

"It's me. I came home", Mickey replied. Rita Anne reached out and touched his face.

"Ricky?"

"It's Mickey", Mickey said correcting her. Figures parallel Mickey's name would be Ricky Imogen thought thinking about the times the Doctor had called him Ricky.

"I know my own grandson's name. It's Ricky. Now, come here" Imogen smiled as she watched grandmother and grandson hug. She knew how hard Rita Anne's passing had been on Mickey. The woman had after all in their world, raised Mickey by herself. Her gaze went to the torn carpet on the stairs. It was the very same tear that had been the reason Rita Anne had died. She'd tripped on it and fell down the stairs. Imogen made a note to fix it while they were here. She jumped when Rita Anne whacked Mickey hard on the shoulder.

"Ow!"

"You stupid boy. Where have you been?" Rita Anne demanded still hitting him.

"Ow! Stop hitting me!" Mickey exclaimed. Imogen didn't laugh as she was aware his gran in their world used to do the exact same thing.

"It's been days and days! I keep hearing all these stories. People disappearing off the streets. There's nothing official on the download", Rita Anne said gesturing to her ear pods.

"People are disappearing?" Imogen asked. Rita Anne's head moved in her direction.

"Who's that then?" she asked.

"This is Imogen, a friend of mine", Mickey replied.

"Pleased to meet you ma'am", Imogen said politely.

"Pleased to meet you too" Rita Anne said "I like her, she's polite", she told Mickey.

"Thank you ma'am"

"How would you both like a sit down and a nice cup of tea. You got time?" Rita Anne asked.

"For you I've got all the time in the world", Mickey replied happy to spent some time with his parallel world grandmother.

Rita Anne laughed "Oh, you say that, but it's all talk. It's those other friends of yours. I don't trust them"

"What friends are they?" Mickey asked.

"Don't pretend you don't know. You've been seeing them. Mrs Chan told me. Driving about all helter skelter in that van"

"What van's that, then?" Mickey asked before Imogen could say anything.

"You know full well! Don't play games with me. Get inside!" Before either Mickey or Imogen could step into the house, they were both pulled backwards.

"I've been looking for you everywhere!" a man shouted shoving them into the back of a van. Mickey and Imogen sat beside each other while the man who'd pushed them in the van sat opposite. "Ricky, you were the one who told us you don't contact your family because it puts them in danger!" he said reprimanding Mickey.

"Of course he knew that. Ricky was just testing to see if you remembered that rule", Imogen said answering for him.

"And who are you then?" the blonde haired man said looking her up and down.

"New recruit", Imogen replied feeling a little uncomfortable in the way he was looking at her. The man seemed to buy her answer because he turned his attention back to Mickey.

"I saw them. I taped them! They went round Blackfriars gathering up the homeless like the child catcher. They must've took four dozen".

"The vans were hired out to a company called International Electromatics" the driver told them "But I did a protocol search. Turns out that's a dummy company established by guess who?"

"Who?" Imogen and Mickey asked together.

"Cybus Industries!" the two blonde exclaimed. Mickey and Imogen nodded knowing that they still needed to go along with it.

"Well, now we've got evidence"

"Bad news is, they've arrested Thin Jimmy. So that just leaves you", the blonde haired woman said to Mickey.

"Leaves me what?" Mickey asked.

"The Number One. Top of the list. London's Most Wanted", the blonde haired man replied sounding rather pleased about that.

"Okay, cool" Mickey paused "Say that again?"

So much for being careful Imogen thought leaning back in her seat.

Eventually the van pulled up outside a house and the four of them hop out. "There's a light on. There's someone inside the base. Mrs Moore, we've got visitors", the blonde haired man whom Mickey and Imogen now knew as Jake. They all snuck towards the house like spies, Jake and Mrs Moore with their guns at the ready.

"One…two…three… go!" Jake and Mrs Moore burst into the house pointing their guns. They were surprised to see another Ricky standing there.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ricky demanded. Mrs Moore and Jake looked from Mickey to Ricky completely bewildered.

"What're you doing there?" Jake asked. Ricky walked slowly forwards staring at Mickey.

"What am I doing here?" he stares at Mickey brow furrowed "What am I doing there?" Jake and Mrs Moore immediately turn their guns on Mickey and Imogen who immediately raised their hands. The time travellers were forced further into the room at gun point. Mrs Moore went to the computer while Ricky and Jake watched Imogen and Mickey.

"Now I were you Jake I'd put that gun down", Imogen told the man who was pointing a gun at her chest "it would be in your best interest".

"Be quiet", the man snapped moving the gun closer to the girl. Imogen grabbed his wrist and spins herself into him so that his gun arm was over her shoulder. From that postion, Imogen removed the gun from Jake's hand and turned to face him.

"Should've put the gun down", she said pointing the gun at the blonde haired man. Mickey smirked at how Imogen had managed to easily disarm Jake, turning the tables on their captors. "Ok we have two options here. One: we put down the guns and have a nice civilised conversation. Two: we stay in this stand-off pointing guns at one another"

Ricky hesitated before lowering his gun. Once he'd put it down, Imogen set down the gun she'd taken from Jake. "Good choice. Now why don't we start with who you guys are"

~...~

"We could have been anyone", Rose muttered under her breath annoyed that the Doctor had chosen for them to be servers.

"Got us in, didn't it?" the Doctor asked.

"You're in charge of the psychic paper. We could've been guests. Celebrities. Sir Doctor, Dame Rose. We end up serving. Did enough of this back home", Rose grumbled. They both smiled politely as people take champagne and cocktail sticks from their trays.

"If you want to know what's going on, work in the kitchens", the Doctor told her. The pair moved to the side of the room so they could watch the proceedings. "According to Lucy, that man over there…" the Time Lord trailed off when he noticed a young brown haired woman with blue, almost violet eyes, standing away from everyone else. There is something about her, something different. He could sense something that he hadn't in a long time, a fellow Time Lord. Was it possible that they survived in this parallel world? He had to find out. Before he could go over to talk to her, Rose spoke.

"Who's Lucy?"

The Doctor tore his gaze away from the Time Lady to look at Rose "She's carrying the salmon pinwheels", he replied nodding to a brunette waitress.

"Oh, that's Lucy, is it?" Rose asked eyeing Lucy.

"Yeah. Lucy says, that is the President of Great Britain", the Doctor nodded to a dark skinned man.

"What, there's a President, not a Prime Minister?" Rose questioned, raising her eyebrows.

"Seems so", the Doctor said his gaze drifting back to the Time Lady but she wasn't there anymore. He glanced around trying to spot her.

"Or maybe Lucy's just a bit thick", Rose remarked annoyed that he seemed distracted. Thankfully another distraction came in the form of her parallel earth father calling for their attention. Rose followed the sound of his voice to the bottom of a large staircase where Pete was standing halfway up.

"Um, I'd just like to say thank you to you all, for coming on this, this very special occasion. My wife's…thirty ninth" the crowd chuckled "Trust me on this", he said putting his thumbs up like the advert getting a bigger laugh from the crowd. "And so, without any further ado, here she is, the birthday girl…my lovely wife… Jackie Tyler"

Parallel Earth Jackie descended the stairs, smiling at the crowd who applaud, cheer and take photos of Mr and Mrs Tyler. "Now, I'm not giving a speech. That's what my parties are famous for. No work, no politics, just a few good mates and plenty of black market whisky" the crowd laughs again "Pardon me, Mister President!" Jackie says spotting the President who smiles "So, yeah, get on with it. Enjoy, enjoy"

Pete takes Jackie's hand and they descend the rest of the stairs to mingle with the crowd. "You can't stay. Even if there was some way of telling them", the Doctor said quietly to Rose.

"Course I can't. I've still got Mum at home. Imogen's right, I can't just leave her", the blonde said.

"All these different worlds, not one of them gets it right", the Doctor remarked thinking about how the Sarah Jane of this parallel world didn't have Imogen.

"Rose!" Jackie called "There's my little girl!" she said happily as a little dog pottered over to her. The Doctor burst out laughing at the expression on Rose's face. He quickly sobered up when Rose gave him a look.

"Sorry", the Doctor said sheepishly.

At some point during the evening, the Doctor detached himself from the crowds to have a little wander. He had tried to find the Time Lady but he couldn't spot her anywhere in the crowds, he couldn't sense her either.

The Doctor almost walked past a closed door but paused when he sensed the Time Lady inside. He opened the door and sure enough she was standing by the desk working away at the laptop. She looked up at him only when he'd closed the door behind him. "Doctor?" she said in surprise.

"You know me?" the Doctor asked, his tone matching her surprise.

"Of course I know do you", the Time lady said coming around the desk to give him a hug "I just didn't expect to see you here".

"How come?" The Doctor questioned.

"Well he never told me he was here in a previous regeneration. Figures my husband would forget to tell me that piece of information", the Time Lady said going back around the laptop.

"You're married?"

"You should know that I am", she stated "Considering you married me".

"You're my wife?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah. That shouldn't come as shock to you. It's not exactly a spoiler", the Time Lady said continued to work on the laptop. The Doctor just stared at the woman rather surprised to find out that parallel him was married. As he stood there, he realised that he didn't know his 'wife's' name.

"What is your true name again?" the Doctor asked casually "I forgot".

The Time Lady paused in her work and looked at him confused. "Naiyah", she replied. The Doctor stiffened at the mention of his friend's name. He'd never expected that he would exist in this dimension let alone Naiyah. Though it did make him happy to know that at least his alternate version wasn't that last Time Lord. "Are there any more questions you want to ask?" Naiyah asked.

"Nope I think that's all", the Doctor replied.

"Good", Naiyah said turning her attention back to the laptop. The Doctor walked around the desk and watched her typing away, using code after code to break through the encryption. "And we're in", she said when she got through.

"Let's see what Cybus is hiding", the Doctor said putting on his specs and looking at the screen.

"God I've missed those specs", Naiyah commented.

"Future me doesn't wear specs?"

Naiyah smiled and simply said "spoilers". She clicked on an icon and a presentation popped up. "The most precious thing on this Earth is the human brain…" an image of the human brain showed up on the screen "This is the ultimate upgrade. Our greatest step into cyberspace" The Doctor grew more horrified as he and Naiyah watched the brain being placed into a metallic body.

"Cybers", he breathed and without a moment's hesitation, he grabbed Naiyah's hand and dragged her out of the room.

"Doctor what are Cybers?" Naiyah asked "I've never heard of them before".

"You wouldn't have", the Doctor answered "They've never existed in your world until now".

"My world?" the Time Lady asked picking up on his slip.

The Doctor stopped running "I'm from a parallel world Naiyah" she opened her mouth to say something when the Doctor quickly said "once this is over, I'll explain I promise. Right now I need you to trust me".

"I trust you", Naiyah said.

The Doctor quickly introduced Naiyah to Rose when they met up with her before heading to the window. "It's happening again", he said in a hushed tone watching the figures outside the window come closer to the house.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"I've seen them before", the Doctor said.

"What are they?" Rose asked.

"Cybermen", the Doctor replied. For once he was glad Imogen wasn't with them. Suddenly several Cybermen smash through the windows in order to gain entry to the house. The guests screamed and began to cower as the metal men stepped through the windows, pushing everyone into the middle of the room. The President's communication device beeps.

"Mister Lumic"

"Mister President. I suppose a remark about crashing the party would be appropriate at this point", Lumic said laughing evilly.

"I forbade this", the President said angrily.

"These are my children, sir. Would you deny my family?" Lumic asked.

"What are they, robots?" Rose asked the Doctor under her breath.

"Worse than that", he replied.

"Who were these people?" the President asked Lumic.

"Doesn't matter", Lumic said dismissively.

"They're people?" Naiyah asked.

"They were, until they had all their humanity taken away. That's a living brain jammed inside a cybernetic body, with a heart of steel. All emotions removed", the Doctor explained.

"Why no emotions?" Rose asked.

"Because it hurts", the Doctor answered.

"I demand to know, Lumic. These people, who were they?" the President demanded, his voice rising.

"They were homeless and wretched and useless until I saved them, and elevated them, and gave them life eternal. And now I leave you in their capable hands. Goodnight, sir. Goodnight, Mister President" and with that Lumic hung up. A Cyberman squares itself in front of the crowd.

"We have been upgraded"

"Into what?" the Doctor asked.

"The next level of mankind. We are Human point two. Every citizen will receive a free upgrade. You will become like us"

"I'm sorry", the President said approaching the Cyberman "I'm so sorry for what's been done to you" he turns and walks around "but listen to me. This experiment ends tonight".

"Upgrading is compulsory" the Cyberman stated.

"And if I refuse?" the President asked.

"Don't", the Doctor warned.

"What if I refuse?" the President asked ignoring the Doctor.

"I'm telling you, don't", Naiyah spoke up.

"What happens if I refuse?" the President repeated.

"Then you are not compatible"

"What happens then?" the President challenged.

"You will be deleted", the Cyberman replied. He grasped the President, whose eyes widened in shock, by the neck and electrocuted him. In the chaos that followed, the Doctor grabbed both Rose and Naiyah's hands and the led them to a broken window. He then jumped out before helping both Time Lady and companion out of the window.

"There's nothing we can do!" the Doctor said stopping Rose from going back inside.

"My mum's in there!"

"She is not your mother! Come on!" the Doctor shouted at her before grabbing her hand. The Doctor, Rose and Naiyah hurry up a slope only to be greeted by another row of Cybermen. The trio quickly changed direction and run to the side of the house just as Pete was jumping out of a window.

"Quick! Quick!" Rose called to his as they ran past. Pete quickly followed after them.

"Pete, is there a way out?" the Doctor asked looking around when they reached the front of the house.

"The side gates!" Pete said and they head in the direction he pointed to "Who are you? How do you know so much?" he asked.

"You wouldn't believe it in a million years…" the Doctor broke off when they saw more Cybermen forcing them to change direction again.

"Who's that?" Rose asked as two armed figures raced towards them.

"Get behind me!" Ricky shouted as he and Jake dropped down on one knee. The Doctor, Naiyah, Rose and Pete ran behind them and then they opened fire upon the Cybermen. Although the bullets don't seem to do any damage to the metal men, they stopped marching.

Rose fussed over Ricky's coat when he stood up "Oh my God, look at you". The blonde hugged Ricky much to his bewilderment "I thought I'd never see you again!"

Ricky pulls away from her "Yeah. No offence, sweetheart, but who the hell are you?" he asked before Rose can answer, Imogen and Mickey sprinted down the lawn calling out to them.

"Rose! Doctor!" the pair stopped when they reached them "he's the parallel Mickey", Imogen explained.

"Oh, as if things weren't bad enough, there's two Mickey's", the Doctor grumbled.

"It's Ricky", Ricky corrected him.

"But there's more of them" Mickey stated as more Cybermen approached them.

"We're surrounded", Rose breathed. Ricky raised his gun on the Cybermen.

"Put the guns down. Bullets won't stop them", The Doctor told Ricky. Jake ignores him and fires a rally at the Cybermen. Imogen pushes his gun aside.

"You idiot. He just told you bullets won't work", she said.

"We surrender! Hands up…" The Doctor said saying the latter to the group who complied "There's no need to damage us. We're good stock. We volunteer for the upgrade program. Take us to be processed"

"You are rogue elements"

"But we surrender", the Doctor said.

"That's not going to work", Imogen murmured under her breath.

"You are incompatible"

"But this is a surrender!" the Doctor insisted.

"You will be deleted"

"But we're surrendering! Listen to me, we surrender!" the Doctor shouted frantic.

"You are inferior. Man will be reborn as Cyberman, but you will perish under maximum deletion" the Cyberman raised its arm and reaches for the Doctor. The other Cybermen did the same, all chanting.

"Delete. Delete. Delete!"

To be continued…