THE DOCTOR'S TRIPLE TROUBLE
Chapter Twenty Two "Ugh!" the Doctor said as they walked along the barren rocky surface. "This map is atrocious. How does he expect me to navigate with it? A blind infant with a melted crayon could draw a better map than this." "Maybe it's a wild goose chase and he's leading you away from Rose," Donna said. "Rose might still be in the TARDIS and he's making you come all the way out here so he can leave." "Yes, that's a possibility. But…like I said before, he wants me dead. He knows if he leaves I'll just follow him to the next place since my TARDIS is locked on to his so it would be better for him to stand and face me here. As for Rose still being in his TARDIS, wouldn't put it past him." He stopped and examined the map, shaking his head when he couldn't decide if he was following it correctly. There were several large boulders around them and only few crudely drawn blobs beside the line on the match that he assumed represented the rocks. He sighed and tried his mind link with Rose but she didn't respond and he walked on, hoping he was going the right way. He noticed the line on the map turned to the left after a large boulder and he noticed his double had drawn a squiggly line that intersected the line once he turned. He came to a very large boulder and looked to his left. To his left there was a river of lava about twenty feet from them and he looked at the map deducing that the intersecting line must be the lava. He beckoned to his friends and turned left. They walked up to the lava and stopped. The gap in the rock was about two feet wide and orange colored lava slowly flowed through it. "We have to go across it?" Donna asked. "Seems so," the Doctor replied. "I'll go first and help you and Mara cross it." He folded up the map and put it in his inside jacket pocket before he took a few tentative steps up to the gap. He blinked when the heat from the lava began to dry out his eyes. He gauged the distance and then took a huge step over the lava, quickly pulling his other leg over the moment his foot hit the other side. He turned and beckoned to his friends. "Ugh," Donna said as she walked up to it. The Doctor held out his hands. Donna took them and he helped her across. Then he beckoned to Mara. Mara walked up to the lava and looked down at it. She shied away from it in fear. "Don't worry, I'll help you across. Trust me," the Doctor said, holding his hands out to her. Mara took his hands and the Doctor came up to the very edge and gave her encouragement. Mara took a huge step and gasped when she nearly slipped but the Doctor pulled her across and held her in his arms as she gasped in shock. "See, you could do it," the Doctor said, patting her back. "Easy peasy lemon squeasy." "Yeah, but I don't wanna do that again," Mara said as they turned and walked away. The Doctor took the map out of pocket and examined it again. Then he suddenly got a sense that something wasn't right and he stopped everyone. On either side of them, jagged rocks rose up about fifty feet in the air with a few shorter rocks spaced out in between and they were hemmed in to a narrow corridor that stretched on for about thirty feet. "What's wrong?" Donna said, her eyes scanning her surroundings. "I think we're not alone. Be alert," the Doctor said before they resumed walking. They walked three feet before they heard laughter on the rocks above them. They looked up and saw Sabessa crouched between two of the jagged rocks that were only about ten feet in height. She had on a black bodysuit and was wearing a black oxygen mask over her snout. "See, told ya," the Doctor said smugly to Donna. "Keen senses, me." Donna rolled her eyes and all of them backed up when Sabessa leapt up into the air and landed lightly on her feet ten feet in front of them. "On the hunt for something?" she said. "So am I? I'm on the hunt for hairless apes." She narrowed her eyes when she looked at Mara. "And one blue betrayer," she growled at her. "The other Doctor is evil," Mara said. "Not as evil as this one is," Sabessa said, pointing to the Doctor. "No, they got it wrong; he's nothing like the legends. He's not the Widow Maker. The other Doctor's more like the Widow Maker and I want nothing to do with him." "Too bad, guess you'll die along with them then," Sabessa said with a shrug. "Where's Rose?" Donna said. "Dead, hopefully," Sabessa said with a shrug. "Hopefully, the brainless ape woke up and fell into the lava." "If she did, you're going into the lava after her," Donna snarled at her. "You first, bitch," Sabessa said. "Ooo, even I'm not brave enough to say that to her face," the Doctor said. "Gotta give you points for that. That doesn't mean I'm not going to send you packing, however." He tensed his muscles when Sabessa hissed at him and unsheathed her claws. Then she sprang at him and the Doctor caught her arms and fell back with her to the ground. Mara ran up and kicked Sabessa hard in the side while the Doctor struggled to get her off of him. Sabessa hissed when she kicked her again and Donna started in from the other side. Then Donna slammed her fist down on the back of Sabessa's head which enraged her enough that she got up and started after Donna. "Oh no, you don't," the Doctor said, running after her. Mara looked around, trying to find a way to stop Sabessa from hurting her friends. She noticed Sabessa was herding Donna towards the lava while at the same time trying to fight off the Doctor who was ducking and weaving and hitting her body at random spots while he taunted her to fight him back. She got an idea and ran up to the Doctor. The Doctor looked at her, giving her a look of warning but the moment Sabessa turned her attention back to Donna, Mara shapeshifted into the Doctor and ran around her. Sabessa growled when she saw Mara sticking her tongue out and making silly faces at her. While she was doing that, the Doctor noticed a chunk of rock nearby. Relying on his perception filter, he quietly went over and picked it up. Noticing that Mara had almost driven Donna and Mara to the lava, the Doctor hurried back over, raised the rock over his head and brought it down hard on the back of Sabessa's head. She grunted and slumped to the ground, unconscious. The Doctor checked her and gave a satisfied nod. "Hopefully, she'll be knocked out for awhile," he said. "The perception filters didn't work on her though," Mara said as she and Donna came up to him. "No, they worked. That's how I was able to sneak over and get the rock. The reason she could see us was we were talking to each other and she was able to home in on us. So from now on, we need to be silent and talk only when absolutely necessary. Shall we proceed?" The Doctor kept the rock with him and the three of them walked on. Mara looked back at Sabessa who was still lying by the gap and she sighed, wishing her friend would wake up and see sense about the Alternate Doctor. They came through the corridor and the Doctor checked his map, noticing they didn't have far to go. He snorted and showed his friends the map. "Wonder if this was drawn to scale," he quipped before they resumed walking. He noticed they were supposed to turn right at another large rock. He looked up ahead and noticed a large rock. They headed towards it and when they reached it, he looked around it and smiled. About fifty feet from them, Rose was lying unconscious on a small rocky island that was surrounded on all sides by a natural lava moat. In the middle of the moat was a large jagged rock that hid the back of the island from view. As they walked towards it, Donna and Mara kept an eye out for anything that might attack them but they reached the moat with no interference. However, the Doctor couldn't see any way across the lava and he cursed under his breath. "How'd he get her over there?" Donna said. "Might have transmatted her over there," the Doctor said. "He could have had his TARDIS scan the terrain and find this spot then transmat her here and construct a crude map after asking the TARDIS to show him a bird's eye view of the topography. He might not have left his TARDIS at all which would explain how he managed to get her here so fast. Blast, this may mean we have to go back to his TARDIS and confront him to get at the transmat. Although…can't hurt to walk around the lava and see if there's a way over there. Stay here and keep your eyes open." He handed the rock to Donna and walked to the right, going around the edge of the moat while Donna and Mara scanned the area. He reached the back and stopped when he saw several small flat rocks that were arranged in the middle of the lava like stepping stones. He gave them a once over and determined that they were spaced enough that he could make it from his side to the island by crossing him. "Hang on, my love, I'm coming," he murmured to himself before he took a tentative step onto the first rock. The rock was large enough to accommodate his trainers and he tested it making sure it would hold. Satisfied it would bear his weight, he stepped onto it. He gauged the distance to the next one with was about a half foot away and carefully stepped onto it. The third one was a little far and he nearly lost his balance getting to it. He breathed a sigh of relief when both feet were on the rock and looked to the next one. The next one was only a few inches away and he stepped onto it easily. Then it was only a half foot to the surface of the island and he gave himself a mental pat on the back when he stepped onto the rocky island. Then putting his hands behind his back, he strolled around the rock and waved cheerfully at the two women who were watching him from across the lava. "Series of rocks behind here like skipping stones," he said, hooking his thumb back behind him. He knelt down to Rose who was still unconscious. She was on her right side with her hair draped over most of her face. She was wearing a black bodysuit that covered her from head to toe. The Doctor noticed that there seemed to tubes snaking throughout the body suit, running down her arms, legs, back and front. He gently pushed her hair back out of her face and gritted his teeth when he saw a huge black and purple fist size bruise on her left cheek. He frowned when he noticed that there was a huge metal collar around her neck that seemed to be attached to the body suit. He noticed the most of the tubing ran up to it and he took out his sonic screwdriver and scanned it. He didn't get any readings for it and stared at it in confusion. "What the hell is this, Rose? Some sort of bomb. Will you blow up if I move you?" he muttered as he laid his hand on her hair. Doesn't give off any radiation so it's not nuclear and no electricity. What's he done to you?" He took his mask off, pushed her hair back even more and checked behind her ear and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no surgery had been performed, at least not on the left side of her head. He gently kissed the side of her ear. "Rose?" he spoke into her ear. "Rose, it's me, wake up. It's the Doctor." She didn't respond and the Doctor let out a frustrated sigh. "Luckily, I brought smelling salts," he said, reaching into his trouser pocket. "Doctor!" The Doctor jerked his head around when he heard Donna cry out and he saw a large silver orb hovering in the air above him. The Doctor held his screwdriver up towards it and turned it on but the orb dipped down beside him while his friends watched worriedly from the other side of the moat. Then the Doctor saw a small door slide down in the front of the metal orb and to his astonishment a camera lens slid out. He narrowed his eyes when the orb hovered in mid-air while he stared at his reflection in the glass lens. "Let me guess," the Doctor said, "this is a camera and on the other side of the camera, an arrogant , sadistic git is watching me." "Very good, Doctor." The Doctor raised his eyebrow when he heard his voice coming out of a hidden speaker somewhere on the orb. He looked at Donna and Mara. "It's a camera," he said to them. The orb turned their way. "Hello kiddies, smile for the camera!" the Alternate Doctor said through the speaker. Donna gave him a dirty look and flipped off the camera. "Ooo, bad form, ginger," the Alternate Doctor said. "I'll have to spank you hard for that whenever I catch you." The Doctor rolled his eyes. He bent back over Rose with the smelling salts and gasped when the orb flew over and the lens ended up pressed against his cheek. "Whatcha doin'?" the Alternate Doctor said in a kid's voice. "Let me seeee!" "Piss off!" the Doctor said. He sighed when the orb flew back and watched him from a safe distance. The Doctor gave the camera a look of death. "This better not be a bomb on her body," he said to the camera. "Bomb? Come now, that's not my style, Doctor." "Then what is it?" "Guess. That's part of the fun, right?" The Doctor rolled his eyes and ignored the orb while the Alternate Doctor giggled through the speaker. The Doctor opened the smelling suits, eyeing the camera when it inched forward a bit and down so his double could see what he was doing. "Doctor, do you need us to come over there and smash the camera for ya?" Donna yelled. "No, that won't be necessary. Just ignore him," the Doctor said. Donna glared at the camera when it flew back over to her and stopped inches from her face. "I'm sorry, were you threatening to break valuable, expensive equipment over here?" the Alternate Doctor asked her. "Clear off before I carry out my threat," Donna said. Her eyes bulged when the camera started to circle around her body. "Ooo, you have a nice body, ginger," the Alternate Doctor said. The camera was circling around her when it stopped and its lens pointed at Mara's face. "Traitors will suffer tremendously. Just thought you should know that so you can be warned about the amount of pain you'll suffer when you're in my hands again." Mara was about to respond when the orb went back to flying around Donna. Donna's mouth dropped open when the orb stopped beside her breasts and hovered there. "Ooo, very, very nice," the Alternate Doctor purred. "Piss off!" Donna said. She tried to hit the camera but it flew out of her reach and looked down at her. "They say gingers have tempers, I see that's true and…" "Rose, are you alright?" The alternate Doctor let out a gasp. "ROSE IS AWAKE? LET ME SEEEE!" Before anyone could stop the orb, it zoomed across the moat and slammed into the Doctor's back. The Doctor cried out in pain and anger as the orb zoomed around to the front of his body and looked down at Rose who was trying to fight the grogginess as she came to. Rose's eyes widened in shock when she saw the orb. "Hello, sweetie, it's me, the better and more sexier Doctor. Have a nice slumber, did we?" The orb flew up out of reach when the Doctor tried to hit it. "I keep telling everyone this is expensive equipment, please stop trying to trash it!" the Alternate Doctor said as it hovered above the Doctor's head. The Doctor ignored her as he helped Rose sit up. Rose looked around and did a double take. "Where the hell are we?" she said. "Pumice, a volcano planet, you're on a little island in the middle of some lava and…" He glared at the orb when it slowly moved in closer. "Keep going, I'm just listening," the Alternate Doctor said. "What is this?" the Doctor said, pointing to the collar. "I told you to guess," the Alternate Doctor said. The Doctor pulled back her hair so the camera could see the bruise. "And this?" the Doctor said. "That? That was because she was being naughty and resisting so I had to calm her down, that's all." "You're gonna pay for that and everything else you did to her," the Doctor growled at the camera. "What?" The Alternate Doctor made static noises. "I'm sorry, I didn't get that last thing you said, the volcanic activity must be interfering with my transmission. Sounded like you said you like to suck the dew off goat's bollocks while Rose waxed your back? I could be mistaken though." "Anyway," the Doctor said, turning his attention back to Rose. "Can you stand up?" "I think so," Rose said. "Can Rose stand up?" the Alternate Doctor said dramatically. "Let's watch and see!" "I'm gonna kill him," Rose said as the Doctor put his arm around her and gave her support. "Me first," the Doctor growled as he grabbed his mask and helped her to stand with his free arm. When she was standing, he checked behind her right ear. "Ooo, what's this?" the orb said, coming in closer. "Are you checking for dandruff or lice?" "I'm checking for incisions for a chip," the Doctor growled at the camera. "Oh that? Nah, didn't do that this time. I have something better. Care to guess what it is?" Ignore him, Rose, come with me," the Doctor said as he walked her around the boulder. The orb followed behind them and the Doctor looked back and sighed angrily. When they reached the stones, the Doctor stopped her. "I came across this way. It's tricky but we'll make it across together. Okay?" "Hey, those are back here?" the orb said, coming up beside them. "I transmatted her on this hunk of rock and lo and behold, here are stepping stones right to it. I was waiting for you to crawl back to me and beg me to give her to you. Damn, should plan more carefully next time." The Doctor glared silently at the orb while he held Rose close to him. "Well, gonna go across?" the Alternate Doctor finally asked. "No, because I have a feeling the moment we step out onto the rocks, you'll ram us in the back and make us fall in the lava." "And ruin the surprise I have in store for you? Not a chance. But if you're that nervous about me being here, I'll go look at Ginger's milk jugs some more. See ya on the other side." The orb zoomed away and Rose rolled her eyes. "Kill him, please," Rose said. "I know you have a no kill if you can help it policy but…kill him?" "Piss off!" they heard Donna scream. "Believe me, I'm considering it," the Doctor said softly. "Are you alright?" "My cheek hurts but other than that. What is this though? These wires or tubes in my bodysuit, they weren't there before." "Before, he's been making you wear this?" "Yeah, you know how kinky he is," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "Oh, I don't know, it is kinda alluring if you take the tubes out." "Well, I don't mind you being randy, it's him that's the problem," she said while he snickered. The Doctor gave her a kiss on the cheek and rested his nose against it for a moment while Rose closed her eyes and said a silent thanks that she was with her Doctor again. "Ready to cross?" the Doctor said. Rose opened her eyes and groaned as she examined the rocks in front of her. "No, but I don't wanna stay here either. Ready when you are." "I won't let you fall. Not when I've made it this far," the Doctor said. "I know you won't, I trust you completely," Rose said, gazing into his eyes. "Aaah, that's so sweet!" The Doctor sighed when he realized the orb was behind them again. "Oops, sorry, not supposed to be here, I forgot. I'll go look at Milky's udders again while you cross the rocks in a dramatic fashion. Ready or not, Bossie, I'm coming back to look at your tee-tas!" The orb flew away and the Doctor shook his head. "Let's get across before Donna flies into a rage and he ends up knocking her into the lava," he said to her before he instructed her on how he wanted her to move with him.
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