The laboratory was, in Lance's considered opinion, definitely science-y. There were vials, and display screens showing complex molecular formulae, as well as one showing an exterior view of the castle. In one corner, there was a huge vat of some viscous substance bubbling. Glass tubes with brightly colored fluids running through them hung throughout the lab.

He pulled out the two brown paper packages. Then his eye was caught by an odd shaped object under a tarp in the corner.

"I'm gonna regret this," he muttered to himself, pulling the tarp off. It was a waist high pyramid, made of some sort of black metal, covered with strange glowing blue symbols.

"Look familiar?" Came a voice from behind him. Lance whirled to see Baron Blood and Doctor Any standing in the doorway. It was the latter who had spoken,

He glanced at the brown paper packages, and made to throw the incendiary at Baron Blood. He found that his limbs would not obey his instructions. Baron Blood locked gazes with him, and the vampires eyes seemed to expand until they filled all of Lance's vision. There was a distinct sensation of falling into those eyes.

"Lance!" Then a hand was gently shaking him. He sat bolt upright- he was in his own bed, back in the Brotherhood house. Kitty was standing over him.

"Hey," he said, slumping back against the headboard. "I had the weirdest dream."

"Lance, listen carefully," Kitty said, deadly serious. Abruptly he realized that she was wearing her uniform. "I don't have much time- Jean said that this projection is unstable. Whatever you think you've been seeing? It's not real. SHIELD, or Mastermind, or like, someone we don't even know about got into your head somehow. They're trying to pull some sort of information out of you."

Lance shook his head. "That doesn't make sense," he said doubtfully.

Kitty grabbed his hand. "Do you trust me?" She asked. Lance nodded without hesitation. "The woman you're with isn't real. I mean, none of it is. But she's important- she's the thing holding the whole illusion together. If you destroy her, the whole thing will fall apart, and we can wake you up."

"Destroy her?"

"She's not real," Kitty said again. "It's not like killing a person."

The familiar contours of his room began to blur together, and Kitty's hand slipped from his. There was a rush of color and sound, impossibly mingled, and he again felt the sensation of falling. As he fell, he thought he made out a single phrase. "Where's Mystique?"

He came to in the laboratory in Castle Actherliek. Daisy was leaning over him, incongruously chewing gum, and fumbling with the straps that held him to a gurney. "Damnit, Alvers, you had one job. Getting yourself captured? Not in the game plan.."

Lance sat up, glancing about the laboratory, which was empty. He shook his head violently, trying to gather his thoughts. Then, slowly, he focused on Daisy.

His fist caught her squarely on the jaw. She staggered back, her face showing confusion and rage for a split second before it became a carefully composed mask. "You want to ask me one more time where Mystique is?" Lance snarled.

"What the hell are you talking about?" She asked, dropping into a defensive crouch.

"I don't like people playing with my head," Lance said, rolling off the gurney away from her, and, as his feet touched the floor, using his power to fling the heavy metal cart at Daisy.

Daisy whirled out of the way of the improvised projectile, her face showing sudden understanding. "Listen to me," she said. "You've been whammied. One of the vampires got into your head- not me."

Lance shook his head violently. "No," he said. "It's you. It's been you the whole time. I don't know who's pulling the strings, but I'm cutting them. Now."

He stepped towards her, reaching out with the intention of channeling his power directly into her, as he had earlier in the pitch dark fight. She slipped out of his way, and then grabbed his wrist, bending his arm back behind his back.

"I hope for your sake this works," she hissed urgently into his ear. "But I don't have time to be gentle."

Then a bomb went off behind his eyes. Up until now, the worst pain he had felt had been the migraines that accompanied the early manifestations of his powers- this was a thousand times worse. His knees buckled under him and he hit the ground heavily once more. All his anger at Daisy, his certainty that she was a tool being used to manipulate him, his frantic need to reassert control of his mind, drained away, and there was only the pain left.

Eventually, as from a great distance, he was aware of a swarm of vampires rushing into the room, Daisy crying out, a stake in one hand, an odd distortion about the other, as she did battle.

After what seemed like an eternity, as the pain faded, he was also aware that, skilled and desperate as she was, she was outnumbered and ultimately outmatched. Eventually, by sheer weight of numbers, they bore her down, and pinned her against a wall.

He came slowly back to himself to hear Baron Blood speaking. "Disappointing, in a sense. I had hoped that the two of you would kill each other, and so at least provide us with a little diversion to make up for the inconvenience you have caused. Still, I suppose it's not a

complete loss- the good Doctor could always use a few more test subjects."

Lance retched, which had the unfortunate effect of bringing the attention of the vampires back to him. Baron Blood made a small gesture, and Lance was yanked to his feet and pinned against the wall next to Daisy by a pair of vampires.

"The next time you see Fury, right before you rip his throat out and bring his skull to decorate my castle," said the Baron, his face less than inch away from Daisy's, "Thank him for sending you to your deaths."

Daisy spat in his face, and he recoiled, hissing in pain as smoke rose from his face. Daisy shook herself free of the distracted vampires, and raised her hands. The vampire holding Lance's left arm spat blood and collapsed, while the vampire to his right shrieked in pain and slumped against the door.

"Now Lance! Look at the screen! It's-" Daisy shouted, before a vampire's fist driven into her face cut her off.

Lance glanced at the screen, showing the sunlit exterior of the castle. He didn't understand Daisy's point- perhaps she wanted him to destroy the computer syst- wait a second. The sunlit exterior? How long had he been unconscious, anyways?

His lips pulled back in a sneer as another vampire rushed him. "Say hello Mr. Blue Sky!" The roof of the castle cracked and began crumbling.

"Fool!" Shouted Baron Blood, "You'll kill yourself along with us!"

Lance opened his eyes to say something clever in response, but a falling chunk of stone clipped his head. He fell to the ground, once more unconscious.