Minutes or hours might have passed before Lana and the Doctor regained consciousness. Father Mungo was gone and Annie was still kneeling at the altar in prayer.
"Annie!" Lana rushed over to her sister.
Annie looked up at her with a strange look on her face. "I need to pray for forgiveness to be delivered from this demon."
"Annie, look at me," said the Doctor. "There is no demon, remember?"
"You should pray for me too, Doctor," she said.
"OK, let's think about this," said the Doctor as he began to pace around the sanctuary.
"She should be so angry about all this," said Lana helplessly. "It's like it's not even her."
"Well, why don't we try to make her angry?" said the Doctor. "Oi! Motormouth!" Annie looked at him serenely. "That's right; I'm talking to you, you with your goofy trousers!"
Lana gave the Doctor a questioning look. "That's what you're going for to make her angry? You insult her pajamas?"
"Well she's your sister," said the Doctor. "I'm sure you probably know how to get her feathers ruffled."
Lana hesitated. She usually spent a good chunk of time trying to keep her sister from getting angry, acting as the voice of reason and control, in an attempt to filter Annie's rage to something palatable to the public. But she realized it might break through to her to tap into that anger. So as much as she hated to do it, she took a deep breath and attempted to rub salt in what she knew would still be an incredibly raw wound. "You know I'm sure Max is probably glad you didn't go through with it. Being chained down to you nagging him all the time. And that caterer is much prettier than you. Just shows he's better off."
Annie looked over to Lana with a blank expression on her face. "Max? Who is this Max? I must devote to the Lord."
"Max…you were going to marry him…just last week you were going to marry him," said Lana her voice becoming more and more concerned.
Annie didn't respond, her expression somehow becoming even blanker. "That's strange," said the Doctor. "It's as if it's sapping away emotional memories."
"Annie," said Lana slowly, suddenly terrified at the thought she had. "Do you remember Adam?"
"Who is Adam?" asked Annie, her voice becoming more serenely distant each time she spoke.
Lana grabbed her sister's shoulders and shook them slightly. "Adam!" she said. "You should be furious thinking about Adam!"
The Doctor pulled Lana away. "Who is Adam?" he asked her under his breath.
"Someone she should remember," said Lana in disbelief as she looked at her sister.
Annie then stood up and began walking out of the church. "Annie!" Lana called after her, but she ignored her and kept walking. Lana and the Doctor rushed to follow her, all the while Lana begging her sister for her attention. Soon, a crowd had gathered in the village once more, a repeat of the scene with William when they arrived. This time, it was Agnes to hold Lana back as Annie walked wordlessly out into the moor.
Lana looked after her sister helplessly, not sure what to do next. "Lana," said the Doctor, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. "We'll get her back, I promise."
Lana pushed his hand away and turned on him, fixing him with an intense glare. "Really? You promise?" Her tone held edges of sarcasm and disbelief and a hint of anger, but she didn't raise her voice.
"Of course I promise," said the Doctor, attempting to reassure her. "Trust me."
"I don't trust doctors, I've told you that," said Lana evenly. "Are you sure you promise?"
"Yes," he said simply.
Lana took a deep breath, weighing her words carefully. "Listen…if we try everything we can to get her back and we don't, but you haven't promised, I'll be very upset. In fact, I don't know what I would do. But one thing I know I wouldn't do is blame you. But if we don't get her back, and you have promised, then oh, yes I will. And I'll tell you why, too. Because I don't need to be lied to…not now, not ever…even if you think it's going to make me feel better." She paused and took another breath before adding, "So I'll give you the one time only opportunity to take that back if you like. Do you still promise?"
The Doctor had a serious look on his face, taking in everything she had just said. But he didn't hesitate with his response, "I promise."
Lana gave a resigned sigh. She still didn't believe him. "I hope you're right," she said simply.
The Doctor starting walking back toward the church and Lana followed. "Do you have a plan?" she asked.
"Of course I have a plan," said the Doctor confidently. "The plan is to get Annie back."
"That's not a plan, that's an objective," Lana snapped. "I was hoping for something with some steps involved."
"Alright then," said the Doctor. "We're going to go back to the church and find out how Father Mungo is controlling them and why."
"OK," said Lana calming slightly. "That sounds slightly more like a plan. Then what?"
"Then I'll do a thing," said the Doctor.
"OK that was sounding like a plan," said Lana, exasperation returning to her voice. "What sort of a thing?"
"I don't know," said the Doctor irritably. "It's a thing in progress. Respect the thing."
Lana rolled her eyes in frustration. "A thing in progress? You know next time I hitch a ride with a time traveling alien, I'm going to find one who knows what he's doing. How about that?"
"Well good luck finding one," said the Doctor matching her sarcasm. "We're in short supply and high demand. Now do you know where Annie was for her fake exorcism?"
"Yes, this way," said Lana as they reached the church. She led him to the antechamber to find the door closed and locked. The Doctor quickly used the sonic screwdriver to open the door, and then began scanning around inside.
It only took a moment for him to hone in on the altar. "What's this then? Looks like a regular old churchy altar, but my readings say otherwise." In one swift motion, he pulled the cloth off to reveal a machine underneath. "Not an altar, a mind control machine."
Lana looked uncomfortably at the machine in front of her. She had seen it before, in her nightmare the previous night, the nightmare from her childhood. "That machine controls minds?" asked Lana apprehensively.
"Among other things, yes," said the Doctor. "Lucky for us, and for Annie, and for anyone else who's gone wandering off into the moor, it should be simple enough for me to reverse the feed."
"You won't be able to reverse anything, I'm afraid," came a voice from the doorway. Father Mungo stood there, blocking the way. "The controls are isomorphic, they respond only to me."
The Doctor approached the other man and stood so their faces were inches apart. "Who are you? What are you up to?"
"Your threats mean nothing to me, time lord," said the priest, menacingly. "Oh, yes, I know what you are, and you can't stop me."
"Stop you from what, exactly?" asked the Doctor, not backing down.
"I was exiled here by my people," said Father Mungo. "But I can control an army and exact my revenge."
"So you're building an army with these people?" said the Doctor. "That's not going to help you much at this stage in human history. Might have a good go at taking over the Earth, but they don't have the technology to go anywhere else. You'd be stuck here, no revenge. So what's the point?"
"Oh, this machine does more than just control them," said Father Mungo smugly. "I can use it to create a portal, and I will have my revenge. And when I'm done with that, then I'll have an army. Only one final test is needed, and it is about to begin. You're too late I'm afraid." The priest smashed a vial onto the floor, causing the room to fill with noxious smoke, and he quickly left, locking the Doctor and Lana in.
The two of them sputtered and coughed as the Doctor rushed to the door and attempted to open it with the sonic screwdriver. "He's added a deadlock seal," he yelled. "I can't open it."
"So what now?" yelled Lana, her words muffled by coughs as she tried to cover her mouth and nose to block out the poisonous fumes.
"We need to find another way out!" he shouted.
Panicked, they looked around and Lana noticed a window high up on the wall behind the machine. Lana climbed on top of the machine and tried to push open the wooden shutters. "Give me your screwdriver, it won't open!"
"No good, doesn't work on wood," said the Doctor who was taking off his jacket to cover his face, and climbing up to help push open the shutters.
With the two of them working together, they were able to open the shutters as the thick gas rose higher and higher in the room. The Doctor boosted Lana up and out first and then pulled himself up behind her. The two of them tumbled the few short feet down to the grass and took deep heaving breaths of the fresh air as the thick smoke billowed out of the window and dissipated into the air above them.
"Remind me not to take breathing for granted anymore," said Lana when she had recovered enough to speak.
"Well, yes, it is one of those activities that one tends not to think too much about until you can't do it," agreed the Doctor.
"Is it just me," said Lana, "or was that a bit counter-productive on his part? Doesn't seem like it would help him to fumigate the room his mind control device is in."
"It would be counter-productive," said the Doctor. "But those are only the secondary controls. We need to find the primary machine."
"How did you know that's the secondary controls?" asked Lana.
"Because he didn't hesitate to fumigate us in there," said the Doctor as if it were obvious. "Try to keep up. We need to find the primary controls. If he opens a portal like he's planning, he could tear a hole in reality that could swallow the entire planet."
"OK, well I'm not too worried about the hole in reality thing, but I do want the mind control over my sister thing to stop," said Lana dryly.
"How can you not be worried about the hole in reality thing?" said the Doctor flabbergasted. "Holes in reality bad. Big and bad. Could swallow your entire planet, did I mention?"
"Well I might be worried," said Lana, sarcasm creeping into her tone, "if I weren't from the future. The planet isn't swallowed, at least not now. 600 years from now, the planet's still here; I've seen it. I suppose it could be swallowed anytime after that, but right now not so concerned."
"The planet could be swallowed," argued the Doctor. "Time can be rewritten. It's all wibbly wobbly, and if you pull at it wrong, the whole thing comes apart and 600 years from now there'll be no Earth and you won't have been born."
"OK," said Lana thinking quick, "time can be rewritten. In that case, let's go get the TARDIS and go back and stop this from starting."
"No," said the Doctor. "We can't do that. You can't go back on your own personal timeline. We are a part of events now. We have to stop this in the here and now."
"So what you're saying," said Lana becoming increasingly frustrated, "is that time can be rewritten, but only if it's a massive inconvenience to us."
"You make it sound as if time is singling you out to make things difficult for you," said the Doctor. "It's not like that. Nothing like that. But if it'll make you listen, then sure, why not? Time can only be rewritten if it's a massive inconvenience to us."
"Well we still have a little time," said Lana hopefully. "He said something about a final test. That means he probably won't be ripping open reality until that happens. What do you think the final test is?"
"I think it's starting," said the Doctor slowly, looking over Lana's shoulder. Lana turned around to see a dozen or so highland men in kilts standing at the top of the hill with shields and broadswords at the ready. Annie stood at the end of the line in her Angry Bird pajama pants with her own shield and broadsword. She looked the most fierce and deadly that Lana had ever seen her.
"Where did she get a sword?" said Lana looking up at the scene in awe.
"This must be the final test," said the Doctor. "He wants to make sure he can really control them. He's going to make them attack their friends and families." In confirmation of the Doctor's words, the line charged down the hill screaming Gaelic battle cries and swinging their swords, ready for combat.
"Go get people inside," the Doctor instructed Lana. "Get them away to safety, as many people as you can." He quickly started running back around the side of the church.
"Where are you going?" she shouted after him.
"To find the primary controls!" he yelled. "Geronimo!"
Lana obeyed and ran back into the heart of the village, to try to usher people to safety. The men were advancing with their swords swinging, and Lana tried her best not to show her fear and she urged people into their homes and told them to barricade the doors. Lana tried not to think about the people who didn't make it inside in time. She knew behind her, innocent people had been grabbed by the warriors, shoved against buildings and held at sword point. Her heart fell when she saw that Agnes was grabbed by her husband William.
Lana was about to go find shelter herself, thinking she had helped everyone she could when she was roughly grabbed and shoved against a wall herself. She looked up to see that her assailant was Annie. Her sister held her against the side of the building with strength she didn't know she possessed, the massive sword held at her neck. Lana looked directly into her sister's eyes, and couldn't see Annie there.
"Annie," she begged with a slight whimper, "it's me."
The village had gone quiet. Each man held a victim at sword point, but no one had been cut down. Father Mungo calmly walked into the street. "Now!" he cried out, his voice carrying through the air. Lana closed her eyes and winced, expecting to die. But nothing happened. No one made a move. "I said now!" yelled the priest.
Suddenly, everyone dropped their swords. Lana looked nervously back to her sister to see recognition returning to Annie's eyes. "Annie?" Lana asked hesitantly.
Annie looked at Lana, then to the sword and shield in her hand. "Where did I get a sword?" she asked befuddled.
Lana let out a shaky laugh. "No idea."
"I am so keeping this," she said.
Lana's tentative chuckle moved to full on laughter out of sheer relief. "Yeah, you should do that." She pulled Annie into a big hug.
William was the first to advance on Father Mungo. "You did this!" he yelled. "You are no man of God!" The rest of the men soon had the priest restrained.
The Doctor appeared behind Lana and Annie. "Best we get going, I think," he said quietly.
They were leaving town and walking back up the hill to the TARDIS, when they heard a woman's voice behind them. "Wait!" They all turned to see Agnes running up to them. "I needed to thank you, whoever you are. You are sent from heaven, you are."
"Ah, there's no need for that," said the Doctor. "Go and spend time with your family."
"But who are you? Really?" said Agnes.
"Just travelers passing through," said the Doctor.
"I'll never forget you," said Agnes. "Angels delivered us from demons today."
"Best be off," said the Doctor. "Don't you worry about us." The three of them stepped into the TARDIS and Agnes watched as it dematerialized before her eyes.
"Gerroff me, you bow tie wearing buffoon!" Annie growled at the Doctor who was attempting to scan her with his sonic screwdriver.
"And she's back," said Lana with a smirk.
"Oh just sit still," scolded the Doctor. "I just need to make sure there isn't any after effects of the mind control."
"I'm fine, no thanks to you," snapped Annie. "This is your fault, you know, dragging me out without my coffee."
"Did you have to keep the broadsword?" he said, looking at some readings on the monitor.
"What's wrong with the broadsword?" asked Annie, picking it up and admiring it. "I wanted a souvenir from Scotland."
"How did you stop it anyway, Doctor?" asked Lana.
"Well it turns out that Father Mungo was telling a bit of a fib about the isomorphic controls, so once I found the primary machine it was just a simple matter of destabilizing the neural wave transducers," said the Doctor rambling on. "After that everybody back to normal, not going to sword down family and loved ones. And then I did a very clever thing where I folded the temporal signal back onto itself to stop any portals from opening by accident and rendering it useless to any other megalomaniac who stumbles upon it. Very important, since that was not Father Mungo's machine; he scavenged it."
Lana blinked a few times at his long explanation. "You know I probably would've been ok if you just said 'disabled it.'"
"If you were so clever about all that, then why the hell did you want to sneak off so quickly?" said Annie, still grumpy.
"Because it's best if I don't draw too much attention to myself," said the Doctor.
"So you appear out of nowhere in 15th century Scotland in a blue box dressed like that," Lana gestured up and down at the Doctor's outfit, "dragging us along in our pajamas, and then just as mysteriously disappear again right as their problem is solved, and that's your method of not drawing attention to yourself?"
"I didn't say I was successful," said the Doctor grumpily, "but I should at least make an attempt. I don't need the trouble following me."
"Well you still haven't answered the most important question, Doctor," said Annie. "Is there coffee?"
"OK, yes fine," said the Doctor exasperated. "Kitchen that way, off you pop. Lana, let me give you a check over. I want to make sure you didn't breath in too much of that gas."
Lana allowed the Doctor to scan over her while Annie left to get coffee. Once her sister was out of earshot, she asked the question that had really been bothering her. "Doctor, you said that machine could control minds, among other things. What else could that machine do?"
"Well," said the Doctor. "It could manipulate DNA, but I don't think Father Mungo had figured out how to do that. Why do you ask?"
"I was curious," said Lana as simply as she could, trying not to be bothered by her dream.
"Well, you seem to be fine, no after effects of the gas," said the Doctor cheerfully. "Go on and change then. I'll set us to drift through deep space for a bit. And I'm a time lord of my word; no more adventures in the morning."
Lana left to change eager to relax for at least a few hours before hurtling on to whatever was next. As soon as the Doctor was alone in the console area, he let his cheerful mask fall as he looked over Lana and Annie's scan results on his monitor. "Where did you impossible girls come from?" he said to himself in a quiet worried tone.