CHAPTER 18
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Donna materialized her TARDIS right at the outskirts of Perivale as her 'Bad Wolves', as she had started calling them, started their investigations. Donna stepped out first and immediately ran into a woman somewhere in her mid to late 40's who had been standing there waiting for her.
"Well, it's about time that the Time Lords sent someone," the woman said impatiently with a tapping foot.
"Who are you?" Donna asked her in surprise.
The woman looked at her funny for a minute; and then smiled as she said, "Oh, that's right. You haven't met me yet have you? No wonder you seemed to know so much about me the first time that we met."
"This is the first time that we've met," Donna said in growing irritation.
"You're not thinking like a Time Lord yet, Donna. This is the first time that you've met me not the first time that I've met you," the woman said with a grin.
"Stop the Spaceman speak, lady. Just tell me who you are," Donna said impatiently.
"My name's Dorothy McShane. I used to go by the name of Ace though. That's what I called myself when I was younger. You'll meet me again sometime later on when I'm still a teenager and traveling with Rose Tyler and the Doctor," Dorothy said.
"I heard Rose mention you once. So you're telling me that the younger you is traveling with them while the older you is here right now at the same time?" Donna asked in disbelief.
"That's right. I know what you're worried about. That the two of us will meet and make the universe go boom. As fun as causing an explosion like that might seem to me, I've made sure that that's not going to happen. I've picked the one place in the universe that the younger me is never going to come back to. I used to hate this place with a passion back then. Now that I've gotten older, I see that it's not that bad here. Well, not as bad as I used to think that it was anyway. Who would have thought that I would have gotten mellower as I got older?" Dorothy said with a giggle.
"It happens. It hasn't happened to me yet, but I've heard about it," Donna said with a big smile.
"I don't think that you'll ever mellow, Donna. Maybe in your next regeneration but certainly not in this one," Dorothy said.
"I regenerate when you know me in the past?" Donna asked in fear.
"No. You're still the same when I eventually leave Rose to come back here," Dorothy said.
"So you know all about what happens to me and everyone else in the future," Donna said with a sly look on her face.
"If you're thinking about asking me any questions about it, don't bother. You know that I can't tell you anything about your own future," Dorothy said.
"I know, but it's just so tempting to ask you though. You must hate that. That you know all of this stuff and can't tell anyone about it," Donna said with that evil grin still on her face.
"You're not going to get anything out of me, Donna. Don't even try," Dorothy said laughing.
"Not even a little bit?" Donna prodded.
Dorothy shook her head.
"What good are you then? You know all of that stuff about the future and can't even give me a little hint or two," Donna said with a small smile.
Dorothy laughed because she knew that Donna was just playing around with her and wasn't serious. It seemed that Donna liked her already right from the start.
"That's enough about the future, Donna. You need to concentrate on the present. As in you need to do something about the Cheetah People who've started coming back here again for some reason," Dorothy said.
"What do you know about that?" Donna asked. She was suddenly all business now.
"I know that several young people have been disappearing from the area just like before. I can feel the presence of the Cheetah People in the area sometimes too," Dorothy said.
"You can feel them with those Vortex powers that you have?" Donna asked.
"No, I can feel them because I almost became one of them. I still have a connection to them. I can also use some of their powers sometimes if I want even though I was cured of the virus that makes you into a Cheetah Person," Dorothy said.
"Oh, yeah! I remember that now from the Doctor's memories. It's very weird to have someone else's memories in your head. It's like everything that happened to him happened to me. I even know his real name," Donna said with a smile.
"You do not!" Dorothy said in shock.
"Yes I do. I can't tell you though," Donna said with a smirk.
"This is payback for me not telling you about the future, isn't it?" Dorothy said with a groan.
"Maybe," Donna admitted with an evil grin.
Their conversation was interrupted by a scream from nearby. Ileana, Michelle, and Victoria came running out of Donna's TARDIS; and the three of them joined Donna and Dorothy as they followed the sound of the scream down the road.
They came upon a female Cheetah Person on horseback chasing a young woman down the road. Just before she was about to grab the fleeing woman, Ileana grabbed her by the arm and pulled her off of the horse in one quick movement. The Cheetah Person landed on her feet and stood there in the street snarling at Ileana.
"Move away from my prey, or you will be next," The Cheetah Woman challenged her.
"Don't even try to touch her; or you'll be next instead, kitty cat," Victoria threatened.
Victoria's eyes glowed for a moment, and Donna shivered. She was afraid that the wolf inside of Victoria was going to come out now in response to the cat lady's presence.
"Calm down, Vicky!" Donna said.
"I won't let her threaten Lana," Victoria said with an angry look on her face.
Ileana smiled at her loyalty to her if not so much her new nickname. She personally hated the nickname of Lana that Donna had started calling her. She had tried her best to discourage its use but for some reason it had taken on a life of its own. Now both Victoria and Michelle called her that now too. She would have to get Donna back for that somehow she thought to herself with a smile.
The Cheetah Woman looked behind them and eyed something hungrily. She raced past them with super speed and grabbed ahold of Amanda, who had been standing a few feet away watching. The little girl futilely fought back with the Cheetah Woman as she tried unsuccessfully to break out of her steel grip.
"I'll take you for a snack," the Cheetah Woman said.
A black cat appeared from out of nowhere, and Dorothy knew what was going to happen next. She ran forward to stop Amanda from being taken. She grabbed ahold of the Cheetah Woman's arm as she tried to pull Amanda away from her. As the two of them struggled together over the little girl, the black cat teleported all three of them off of the planet.
"What just happened? Where is Amanda?" Katherine said in a panic.
"She's been taken to the planet of the Cheetah People along with Dorothy. They'll either eat her or change her into one of them," Donna said with full honesty.
"How did they get there?" Katherine asked as she eyed the black cat suspiciously.
"They did it through the cat. It's actually from the same planet. It's called a Kitling. It's how the Cheetah People find their prey. They send the Kitlings out to other worlds to find prey for them, and then they use them to teleport themselves to the prey. After they capture their prey, they just have the Kitlings teleport them both back to their home world. The Cheetah People can also teleport back to their own home planet at will," Donna explained.
"We'll just have to make the cat take us there then," Katherine said as she advanced on it in an attempt to grab it.
The Kitling sensed what was up though and immediately teleported away before even the lightning fast vampire could reach it. Katherine screamed and cursed as her last link to Amanda disappeared in front of her.
"Don't worry, Kathy. We'll find her and Dorothy. I know where the planet of the Cheetah People is. I have to warn you though. Once we go there, we'll all start being exposed to the virus that turns others into Cheetah People. The longer we're there, the more that it will affect us," Donna said.
"I don't care. I have to find her," Katherine said.
"I thought you'd say that. Stop worrying! Dorothy will keep her safe until we can get there. She's been there before. Alright then, let's go. It's time to go to our first planet together. It'll be the first planet ever for some of you. Tighten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride!" Donna said with a grin. She was very pleased with herself.
"The quote ends with 'It's going to be a bumpy night!'," Ileana said with a smirk.
"Smart alecky vampire!" Donna said with a frown.
"Score one for Fang Gal!" Ileana said with a grin as they all ran to the TARDIS and started off for the Planet of the Cheetah People.
Next: Donna and the Bad Wolves go to the Planet of the Cheetah People and find out just what has changed there to cause these new attacks on Perivale.