The Doctor's vision slowly began to clear. As it did so, he noticed several things.
The first was that he was tied down to a large metal grill over a flame. The second was that he was in a huge stone cavern. And finally. he could he the sounds of thousands of voices chanting in unison.
A few seconds later, he realised that the chanting belonged to hundreds of deformed cultists who were gathered all around the metal grill he was tied to. At the front was a tall man in black clothing who the Doctor guessed, must be the son of Topo.
"Hello!" he called out "You there!"
However, the son ignored him and continued chanting with the rest of the cultists.
It was then that the Doctor realised he wasn't alone. Tied around the grill with him were the rest of the group
"Everybody!" the Doctor hissed "Are you ok?"
Mcclane groaned and opened his eyes "Where the fuck are we?"
A second later, the rest of the group slowly came around.
"Welcome to the ceremony" The Doctor grinned in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Mulder tried to get free, but found the ropes were extremely tight
"Don't bother" the Doctor told him "They've tied us up really fine. You're not going to get yourself free with your bare hands"
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Scully asked "Excuse me for saying so, but I really don't want to become a sacrifice!"
"I'm afraid there's not much we can do" Blondie told her "Guess I should have seen this coming really, what with all the rumours that surround the Topo cult"
"Hang on a second" Emma looked around "Where's Jerry?"
Although none of the group knew it, Jerry had managed to hide behind one of the bookcases in the confusion that had sprung up when the gas bombs had been thrown into the room. Additionally, he'd only breathed in a small amount of the gas. Although he'd felt dizzy, Jerry had managed to find away to stay conscious and had watched from a hiding spot as the cult had carried away the unconscious group.
Now as he remained hidden, Jerry was absolutely terrified. For a second he'd considered running for it while the going was good. He'd quickly abandoned that idea for several reasons. First of all, even if he had managed to escape the caves without being captured by the cultists, he'd still have to find a way out of the canyon. And even if he did that, he had no way of flying the TARDIS back to his own time. Besides he'd never be able to live with himself if he left the group to die.
Jerry sniffed. The only option he really had was to somehow save the group from being turned into a sacrifice like the cult leader had said. But what could he do. There was only one of him and numerous members of the cult, all bloodthirsty and armed to the teeth.
He shrugged. If Jerry wanted to get out of here and back to his own time, he was just going to have to risk it.
Jerry peaked out of the room he'd been hiding in. No sign of the cultists which was a good start.
He then crept out of the room and as quietly as he could, Jerry snuck through the tunnels of the caves keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of deformed deranged bloodthirsty Topo cultists.
After sneaking around for a decent amount of time, Jerry heard what sounded like chanting. Immediately he was in two minds about this.
On one hand, this was almost certainly where the group were being held. However this also meant that the cultists were all gathered together and would almost certainly tear him to shreds the moment they saw him.
Against his better judgement, Jerry followed the source of the chanting. Eventually he came to a gap in the wall and decided to peer through.
On the other side of the wall was a colossal chamber with hundreds of cultists gathered around a large metal structure with a flame inside it. Tied to the structure were the rest of the group. To Jerry's relief they all appeared to be alive. Directly in front of them, the Son of Topo was leading the chants. Then Jerry noticed something.
The Son of Topo was holding a stone above his head which appeared to be glowing. Jerry realised it was in fact the rune they'd come all this way for.
He turned away and contemplated his situation. Somehow he had to get down there, get the rune and save the group. Which of course was going to be much easier said than done.
As Jerry tried to formulate a plan, he noticed something at the end of the corridor. There appeared to be too doors at the end, one of which lead into the chamber where the cultists were gathered. Walking up to them, Jerry stared into the other door and saw it was full of clothing. Soon a plan began to form in his mind.
As the cultists continued chanting, the Doctor tried to get the attention of the Son of Topo
"Excuse me!" he called out only for the son to ignore him. The Doctor tried again
"Hey! I'm talking to you!"
This too didn't work. So Mcclane decided to try something a little more drastic
"Hey fuckface!" he yelled "Shut the fuck up! We're talking to you!"
This got the Son of Topo's attention. Angrily he spun round to face the group
"Remain silent! You are today's sacrifice and as such you have no right to speak!"
"Aren't we entitled to a little dialogue though?" The Doctor grinned "I mean what is this cult anyway?"
For a second, the Son of Topo hesitated. Then he smiled an evil smile
"Very well. I suppose I can spare a few details."
He then cleared his throat
"We are the followers of El Topo the greatest gunslinger the world has ever known. I am his son entrusted with imparting his knowledge and will onto those who would dare follow us"
"Hence the whole son of Topo thing" the Doctor added
Ignoring him, the Son continued "Through me, his son, I've been chosen to bring his holy ways to the world. Through me, the world shall know the truth!"
"Does that include killing innocent people and razing innocent towns to the ground?" Scully asked
The Son scowled "If they refuse to accept the great truths of the world, then so be it! The world has no need for those who cling to the inferior beliefs of old!"
The Doctor rolled his eyes "Yes I've heard that tune time and time again. The sort who refuses to acknowledge that people are different from him!"
"Do not mock me!" The Son spat "My truths are the ideal! Those who ignore them must be put to the sword! The strong shall always triumph over the week! That's the philosophy of the great El Topo!"
For the second time in a row, the Doctor rolled his eyes
"Oh come off it! If you knew the truth about El Topo, you'll know he was not an all powerful messiah! In fact he was nothing more than a violent criminal who regularly murdered those who stood in his way!"
"Be silent!" the Son screamed "Do not ever blasphemy the great El Topo!"
"Of course not!" Mcclane smirked "We wouldn't want to offend the shithead now would we?"
"Enough!" the Son roared "You shall not speak again! You shall instead be sacrificed!"
"Oh joy" Mulder muttered.
"It is a great honour!" the Son told him "Only the finest are chosen to be a sacrifice in our ceremony!"
While this was going on, neither the son or any of the cultists noticed another member sneaking among them. While they were entranced by their chanting, Jerry had borrowed a robe from the room and had snuck into the room. Making sure not to draw attention to himself, he crept up to the altar that the group were tied to
"Hey Doc!" he hissed.
The Doctor looked over and saw Jerry standing a couple of inches away from the section of the altar he'd been tied to. Without saying anything, the Doctor nodded. Jerry carefully moved up to the altar and began slowly untying the Doctor's ropes.
The Son of Topo continued leading the chants until the entire hall was filled with a crescendo of sound. Then he began to address the crowd
"My followers! Today the great El Topo has truly blessed us with a perfect sacrifice. We shall burn their flesh until it is perfectly cooked and then we shall devour the gifts blessed upon us!"
At that, he reached into his pocket and produced the rune stone again. At that, a round of applause sounded out across the crowd.
While this was going on, the Son didn't notice the Doctor had managed to slip free of his ropes. While Jerry moved over to Mcclane who was right next to him, the Doctor watched the Son carefully. Then right as he lifted up the rune again, the Doctor lunged forward and grabbed his shoulder and left hand with an old Venusian Akido move he'd learned a while ago. Although he hadn't done so for a while, the Doctor was relieved to see he still knew the basics.
For several seconds, the Doctor and the Son of Topo struggled with the Doctor desperately trying to seize the rune from the latter's grasp. Then the Son temporarily lost his grip on the rune and it flew into the crowd.
"Don't just stand there!" the Son bellowed "Get it!"
At this point however, Jerry and Mcclane had managed to free most of the group who quickly charged forwards to stop the Cultists from grabbing the rune.
Jerry however was the quickest and just managed to scoop it up from the floor which immediately sent the cultists in his direction. Panicking he turned to Emma
"Catch it!" he yelled and tossed it at her.
Emma just barely managed to grab the rune as it sailed through the air towards her. She only just had enough time to realise what had happened before several of the cultists charged at her. In a panic, she turned to Mulder and called out "Mulder!" before throwing the rune in his direction.
While Emma knocked out a pair of cultists, Mulder found himself catching the rune as it flew towards him. This immediately turned the cultists on him. At first he attempted to fight them off in a desperate attempt to stop them from getting the rune. Unfortunately they quickly outnumbered him and Mulder found himself being pulled to the floor.
"Doctor!" he managed to call out before tossing the rune away.
Everything that happened next seemed to happen in a blur. Mulder's actions had the unfortunate side effect of distracting the Doctor for just a second, but long enough for the Son of Topo to get the upper hand. He proceeded to throw the Doctor over his shoulder who slammed into the floor with a dull thud. Before any of the group could react, he leaped down and in one full swoop grabbed the rune and held it above his head.
"Now!" he snarled "You shall see the true power of the cult of Topo!"
At that point, the rune lit up with a fantastic glow. It got so bright that the group found themselves shielding their eyes. All the while, the only sound they could hear was the sound of the Son of Topo's laughter reverberating throughout the cavern. Then a gunshot sounded out.
The group looked up to see that the light from the rune had faded away. The Son of Topo was staring with a blank look on his face. Then he staggered forwards and collapsed onto the floor revealing a bullet wound in the back of his neck and Blondie standing behind him with a smoking revolver.
As the group took in what had happened, a change almost appeared to wash itself over the cultists. They began blinking and looking around.
"What's happened?" asked one of them "Where are we?"
Realising what had happened, the Doctor stepped forward
"It's ok" he said with a warm smile "You were under the control of an evil man. But you're free now! So go out into the world and celebrate your new found freedom!"
After the cultists had departed, the rest of the group were left alone in the cavern wondering what had happened
"So what was that all about?" Emma asked the Doctor
"It's really quite simple" the Doctor explained "I don't think any of those cultists really believed in the teachings of the Son of Topo. He probably used the power of the rune to bring them under his spell."
The Doctor tut tutted before walking over to the body of the Son of Topo. He picked up the rune and contemplated for a second before putting it in his pocket.
"The truth is, the Son of Topo was a sad lonely man who wanted to be accepted by others. So much so that he became convinced his father was more than just a ruthless bandit and was some sort of religious figure"
"Wait a second" Jerry was slightly unnerved "You're saying that that one rune allowed the guy to control all those other guys like they were a bunch of meat puppets?"
The Doctor furrowed his brow "I am. I suppose it's not really that shocking after everything else we've seen them do."
He then shook his head
"But no matter! We've got all the runes now so we'd better get back to the TARDIS and let Mater know"
When the group emerged from the caverns, dawn was starting to break. This worked to their advantage as they were able to navigate the canyons much better with a strong source of natural light. Thus they made their way out of the canyons by midday. After that, the only thing left to do was trek across the landscape back to Anarene.
Two days of walking later and they found themselves back at Anarene. After that, it was a simple walk back to the TARDIS.
When they got there, Blondie was confused
"So what's this thing anyway?"
"Our ticket home" The Doctor replied with a grin.
As the group stepped inside, Emma turned to Blondie
"By the way, I never got to thank you for saving our lives back there"
Blondie smiled "Don't worry. It's all part of the job"
"Come on!" The Doctor called out "We've got to find Mater and find out what our next action is!"
With that, the group stepped inside the TARDIS and closed the doors. Then to Blondie's amazement, the TARDIS faded away into thin air.
Blondie shrugged. Just when he thought his travels couldn't get more interesting, the world still had ways of surprising him.