The doctor sighed in relief. "It was rage, hate, and unspeakable evil rolled into one. It was once my subconscious but it had been taken over when my psyche was corroded. I was able to recover my mind but not my subconscious. I was like a child with power to abuse and subordinates I could do away with at any moment."

Eleanor abruptly knocked Gill over and stood up. "Why, why you bastard did you have to show me that- that hell. I could have gone a lifetime without witnessing such…"

"It was for your own good," Gill replied as several people helped him to his feet. "If I can find what ails you and mend it I wanted to be sure that you do not become the monster that I became. I showed you my hell so you would know what evil truly feels like."

"T-true evil?" Eleanor screamed furiously.

"I did not come here on a whim," she replied punching the doctor in the chest.

"I did not come here looking for a lecture." She jabbed him again.

"I came looking for answers."

Just as Eleanor was about to jab him again, Dr. Gil caught her hand before it struck. But before she could recoil her hand she noticed several abnormalities quickly growing from her hand. Some lengthened and became thorny hands that thrashed about while others deepened and became mouths that wailed, moaned, and gnawed in vain on the doctor's hand.

"This is exactly what you need to control, Eleanor. It will eat you alive if you let it. Just calm yourself and remember who you are otherwise you will be lost like I was. You came for answers? To be cured? To do so would make you the most powerful being on the planet," he thundered. "To release you without an understanding of your power would be akin to opening Pandora's Box"

"I do not mean to scold you for what you have not done but to guide you so you do not fail where I have failed." Dr. Gil mentally sighed. "The answers you seek are behind you."

As Eleanor turned around all became white satin except for the middle of the room where a lifelike image of Eleanor floated above the ground.

"It is a sort of layered three-dimensional representation of your physical body."

"Layered," Eleanor inquired.

With two quick swipes of his hand both the images skin and muscle tissue were removed from the main body leaving only the nervous system, organs, and bones.

"Mathew was incorrect when he called you a fake, my dear. You would be more of a clone to be precise."

Eleanor had to tear her eyes away from the image of her own body stripped of most of its features. "I am a clone?"

"Yes, you see the vital chambers are coded to respond when certain people, with the right DNA sequence, die through traumatic means be it a accidental, self-inflicted, or murder. It would seem the original Eleanor, or so we shall designate her, died unnaturally and for a brief moment causing your conception. I had actually been monitoring what is left of Rapture when I came upon you in Pauper's Drop. I had one of my contacts there follow your path back to its origin and found that particular Vita-Chamber."

"So you know why I ended up in Pauper's Drop?"

"My theory is this: the reason this Vita-Chamber conceived you all the way from Persephone is the same reason it was still coded to work at all. Let me explain. After the death of Andrew Ryan by his son Jack and then the death of Fontaine by the same person, Sofia Lamb disabled the genetic key controls. But the Vita-chambers had to be shut down individually because they were not slaved to Rapture's mainframe. The one you came out of had not been shut down for a very simple reason: it was deemed inoperative and so was not touched. Normally you would have reappeared out of a chamber located in Persephone but this Vita-Chamber conceived you because its protocols were damaged and… it was the only one that could."

"Furthermore it would seem your slug is dead; brain dead actually. The Vita-Chamber did not fully reconstruct the symbiote. And neither did you come out unscathed. Certain portions of your brain shut down from the initial reconstruction only to be reactivated by the slug's regenerative abilities. But that is where the problem gets worse. The sea slug is no longer pumping out EVE but something even worse. This fluid is tearing your body apart as much as it is healing it. Every time you used the corrupted EVE the dead slug excreted more. It is why your memories are coming back. The fluid is killing your brain cells then reactivating them causing your memories to slowly return and…" Dr. Gil paused mid sentence. Eleanor clearly was not listening. She was sitting on the ground hugging her knees. Blue smog surrounded Eleanor emulating her gloom.

"I'm a fake," she whispered. "I am not supposed to exist in this world. But why, what is my purpose."

The doctor sighed aloud. "Eleanor I can tell you for a fact that no two objects can occupy the same space and while your name might be Eleanor Lamb, you are not the girl who almost died in Persephone."

Eleanor got to her feet and started beating on his chest. "Am I? The only difference I can see is that she is in good health and I am slowly dying!"

Gil Alexander tilted Eleanor's head and looked into her eyes. "Exactly… You have had experiences, found friends, persevered over hardships, and made choices that the other Eleanor will never be able to make. You are no longer a clone but a person of your own creation. I believe I can cure you but only if you want to live."

Eleanor nodded silently. Suddenly her vision became cloudy as everything started to blur. Mere seconds later she found herself back in the giant laboratory. Eleanor blinked twice then glanced at Mathew. "You didn't do anything weird to me did you?"

Mathew turned his back to her and folded his arms. "Hmph, you've been standing there for only a couple seconds. I would not touch you with a ten-foot poll anyway. That and Gil would shatter my body if I had," he replied whispering that last bit.

"Eleanor," the speaker boomed. "Mathew can extract the slug but before that we have to restore your cells. Every time the slug healed you it also corrupted your genes. In order to revert the cellular degradation I will require samples of DNA from your immediate family. Your mother's gene sample I already have but not your father's. You will find him in Hephaestus. You must hasten there before it is too late. But before you leave I must prepare a temporary cure. Please report back here at 0900 before you depart."

"I… yes, tomorrow." Before Eleanor entered the elevator to depart she stopped a moment and stared at Mathew. To Mathew her stare seemed deep and unreadable. He was about to remark when the gate squealed shut behind her as the elevator descended. He breathed heavily and realized that he had been holding his breath.

Suddenly a deep rumbling sound emulated from the speakers. It was the sound Mathew had come to recognize as Dr. Gil laugh.

"I hope you know what you are doing Alex," Mathew said clearly annoyed at the situation. "She is childish and irrational."

"Alex? Alex hmm. You have called me that in years. Not sure it still fits… me. And I find it amusing that you should care so much for the girl. I too share your concerns so I think I shall send a guide to accompany Eleanor and her friends. But whom?"

Mathew scratched an itch on his neck right below his collar line. "Well is should be someone knowledgeable about Hephaestus."

"Of course."

"Someone capable of bypassing the security."

"Naturally."

"So who then."

That laughing sound echoed throughout the massive room again. "I think I know just the person."

Author's Notes: Hi people that read my crap. It been several lifetimes since i've posted/ updated/ gotten drunk jk. So how have you all been. Happy 2012 by the way and where the hell is my hoverboard damnit. We've reached a year as cool looking as 2012 and a vehicle w/ 40 mpg is still impressive... what the hell. So your probably all wondering why I haven't DONE ANYTHING for a while. Well... my laptop died. Someone stabbed it multiple times in shower. Sucks big time but meh. Bummed me big time but I still get the itch to write sometimes. Well that and somebody asked when i'd write more. So thanks for the comments, favs, hits, etc.