Thanks for the lovely reviews, subscriptions and favourites. I really appreciate it! Bit of a short chapter this time, the next one will be longer :)

3

It was still early when Purdey stepped through the pods and entered the Grid, but she wasn't the first one to arrive. The lights were on in Harry's office, giving the space a red, eerie glow. As she looked to her left, she noticed that Ruth was already at her desk, tapping away behind her computer screen. Both were so succumbed into their respective work that they didn't notice her come in, so Purdey slumped behind her own desk and went in search of the 'on' button of her computer.

One by one the other officers started to arrive, and in no time the Grid was a hive of activity. Just after 9 o'clock Harry called everyone into the meeting room for their daily briefing. Purdey was glad for the early morning crash course in contemporary events the television had given her, since it made the morning meeting that much more bearable. She now knew that the FSB had formerly been the KGB and all the information, apart from the technical aspects, just made so much more sense now.

The meeting soon came to an end and Lucas and Jo went off to follow up a lead that might give them a clue about the increased Russian activity in London over the past few weeks, while Harry and Ros were off to Whitehall for a meeting with the Home Secretary. This just left Malcolm, Ruth and Purdey. The former quickly disappeared into what was called the 'forgery suite', mumbling something about some new tracking devices that had to be tested. Ruth handed Purdey a couple of files on the Russians that had already been identified, and asked her to speed-read and cross-reference them with the very little Intel they'd already gathered. Purdey eagerly accepted the assignment and took the files over to her desk, glad of the fact that she got to work with paper files instead of computerised ones.

On her lunch break Purdey wandered through the corridors of Thames House, glad to be away from the hustle and bustle of the Grid for a short while. She noticed a staircase that led to the roof and, deciding she could do with some fresh air, she climbed it. She leaned on the balustrade of the roof terrace as she gazed across the London skyline. She noticed the familiar landmarks of the city, and the few that were alien to her such as the Gherkin and the London Eye. It gave London, the city she loved dearly, a sense of unfamiliarity that she didn't like one bit. She let her mind wander for a moment, away from Thames House and the strange world she'd found herself in. She wondered where Steed and Gambit were, and if they were even in this world with her. She decided she needed to try and find them as soon as she had a spare moment.

"Ruth, could you help me with something?" Purdey asked the Intelligence analyst a few hours later.

"What is it you want to know?" The brunette asked as she approached her desk.

Purdey paused for a moment, thinking of the best way to pose her question. "I er..want to check up on some people whose names came up in those documents you gave me. So I was wondering if you could show me how the database works."

Ruth was still slightly baffled by the blonde's lack of experience with technology, but let it pass and explained to her patiently how to use the various databases section D had at their disposal. She went through all the procedures rather quickly and Purdey made sure not to let her mind wander for a split second, in case she missed anything vital.

"So with this program I can check backgrounds and personal details of any name I feed into the system?" Purdey asked.

"Yes, well of British citizens and any other person who's legally residing in the UK at the moment." Ruth answered.

Purdey thanked her for her assistance and quickly went to work. If Steed and Gambit were here in 2009 they should be in the system, and it shouldn't be too difficult to track them down.

She was surprised not to find a single trace of either man in any of MI-5's databases. She'd tried their full names, possible pseudonyms they could be using, and even went as far as checking up on their family members. None of them could be found. Purdey felt a slight pang of fear settling in the pit of her stomach. Up until now she'd just been confused about her whereabouts and what this world really was, but the thought in the back of her mind that Steed and Gambit might be here somewhere too had been strangely comforting. Now she had the feeling she was well and truly alone, with no sense of familiarity and nobody in this world she could truly talk to.

She looked around her and noticed that the Grid was nearly empty. As far as she could tell only Jo and Malcolm had remained while the rest was elsewhere, either on business or they'd just taken an early night. Purdey needed to get away from this place for a bit. She needed time to clear her head and think properly.

Figuring nobody would miss her anyway, she quietly slipped away and exited Thames House within no time. She strolled around aimlessly for a while, without really noticing where she was going. She tried to think, tried to make sense of everything that had happened to her. Had she time travelled? No, that option was too ridiculous to even consider. Was she in some sort of strange, parallel universe perhaps? She really hoped she wasn't being used as some mad scientist's guinea pig right at this moment. Purdey couldn't help but giggle slightly at the ludicrous thoughts her mind managed to conjure up.

TBC