Rapture Storyline



The Rapture Storyline details the different events concerning Rapture from the city's creation to its demise and later fate.

1946-1952: The Rapture Colony
Andrew Ryan began the construction of Rapture in 1946. Using his own private steam-liner, the Olympian, he transported building supplies to the coordinates where the city would be built, roughly located at 63° 2' N, 29° 55' W (between Greenland and Iceland) in the North Atlantic ocean. A building platform, nicknamed "the Sinker", was lowered from the Olympian to bring the supplies and crew to the site. Rapture was designed to be entirely self-supporting, with all of its electricity, food production, water purification and defense systems powered by undersea volcanic vents. In Rapture, Science, Industry and Art would thrive undisturbed by intervention from governments, religious institutions or other social agencies. People from around the world emigrated to the hidden city during the years between 1946 and 1952, sparking conspiracy theories on the surface about mass disappearances that came to be known as "The Vanishing". Rapture's population was composed of the people Ryan viewed as the "best examples" of humankind.

The city plans did not include sustainability for the jobs of the construction workers, and they would have to adapt once the building projects ceased. Many workers were left out of work in leaking, crowded, and what was meant to be "temporary" housing in places like Pauper's Drop. Ryan and his Central Council took little notice of the destitute and mostly ignored the issue, assuming they would manage to find work. As per Ryan's philosophy, unfortunates were left to find their own way to prosperity. Ryan did, however, listen to advice that the citizens were becoming anxious from the isolation of the city and the lack of sunlight. Sofia Lamb, a psychiatrist from the surface, was invited down to Rapture by Andrew Ryan to help citizens cope with life in the undersea city. Lamb's utilitarian beliefs largely clashed with the free market ideals of Rapture. She devoted much of her efforts to indoctrinating poorer citizens, and in this way became a political rival to Ryan. Her conspiring to overthrowing Rapture's government and philosophy eventually earned her exile.

During that same time period, between 1949 and 1951, Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum happened to be passing through the docks in Neptune's Bounty when she noticed an individual, whose hands she knew had been paralyzed in the war, was playing catch. After inquiring as to the reason behind the restoration of his damaged hand, she was told he had been bitten by a sea slug. Tenenbaum asked the man for the sea slug, suspecting that she had discovered something amazing, and began to search for a sponsor who would fund her research.

Scoffed at by all other scientists in Rapture, Tenenbaum approached Frank Fontaine, a ruthless businessman in Neptune's Bounty. He agreed to fund Tenenbaum's research and development, as long as he was given full rights to profit from the findings. He funded her research using the fortune he had acquired from his smuggling ring, which brought contraband items down to Rapture from the surface. Tenenbaum's research quickly began to produce results. She discovered the substance the sea slugs secreted behaved like stem cells, and by using it she could manipulate DNA. She was able to "bend the double-helix", cure diseases, and give organisms changed and amazing powers. The substance was called a "rebirth" for humanity, and it was dubbed "ADAM".

Sometime after the discovery of ADAM, the scientists made another breakthrough: research to increase generation of ADAM had led them to implant slugs into the stomachs of various test subjects. With an appropriate host, the slugs could generate twenty to thirty times their normal production of ADAM. It was discovered young girls were the only host type which successfully worked. If they were going to mass-produce ADAM consumer products as Fontaine wanted, there would be required a great many of such hosts. Taking inspiration from Sofia Lamb's earlier charity work, Fontaine set up the "Little Sister's Orphanage", advertising it as a place where financially pressed families could send their little girls for care and schooling. The transformed girls eventually came to be known by the orphanage name "Little Sisters".

1952-1958: Rapture's Golden Age and Beginning of the Civil War
When Ryan initially noticed Sophia Lamb's political influence, he agreed to a series of publicized debates with her, hoping to ruin her popularity by exposing the weaknesses in her philosophy. This was a miscalculation on his part, as it only gave her a public forum to increase her base of supporters. When he finally began to fear her effect upon Rapture, Ryan commissioned Augustus Sinclair's company "Sinclair Solutions" to monitor Lamb and her followers, hoping to find a legal excuse to take her into custody. Stanley Poole of the Rapture Tribune acted as an undercover spy for Sinclair, becoming a member of the "Rapture Family" -- Lamb's followers. Ryan, supplied with proof, eventually had Lamb arrested and imprisoned indefinitely at Persephone, a prison complex run by Sinclair.

Once Fontaine Futuristics was able to produce ADAM on a massive scale, the marketing of Gene Tonics and Plasmids (developed by Dr. Yi Suchong) went mainstream, being sold to any individual that could afford them. These Tonics and Plasmids bestowed individuals with superhuman abilities, such as creating fire at their fingertips (Incinerate!), releasing a swarm of bees from their arms (Insect Swarm), or increasing muscle tissue and movement speed (SportBoost). Andrew Ryan initially admired the success of Frank Fontaine, citing him as a prime example of the type of individual that Rapture was built to propagate.

As years passed, however, Ryan began to suspect Fontaine of various crimes, ranging from smuggling to murder. Fontaine's criminal influence and monopoly of ADAM threatened the current social structure and order within the city. Andrew Ryan attempted to arrest Fontaine for smuggling, but Fontaine decided that he wanted to go down "guns blazing" and arranged to fake his death during the resulting shootout in late 1958. After this, Ryan assumed control of Fontaine Futuristics and began to produce Plasmids and Tonics within his own company, Ryan Industries.

Rapture was filled with civil unrest in those following months, as Fontaine stepped into the persona of his alter ego, Atlas, rallying people who had flocked to Fontaine's poor houses, starting a subtle guerrilla war against Rapture's security personnel. The serious violence began on the New Year's Eve of 1958, when Atlas supporters attacked various key locations in the city, including the upper-class Kashmir Restaurant. This event was the first large-scale battle of Rapture's Civil War. Tightening control within the city, Ryan began instituting harsher punishments against "problem citizens" who worked against Rapture's ideals and survival, arresting many of Atlas' and Dr. Lamb's followers.

Mass addiction to ADAM had become a problem, when citizens started splicing to defend themselves. To combat this, Ryan adjusted the Little Sister program to send the little girls out into the streets to gather ADAM from corpses. Ryan had commissioned Dr. Suchong to develop protectors for the girls, using many prison inmates, including Lamb's imprisoned followers in Persephone, and modifying them into prototype Big Daddies. To supply even more ADAM for the growing conflict, there began kidnappings of young girls, to turn them into Little Sisters. After Suchong's accidental death at the hands of a prototype Big Daddy, the Protector Project was placed under the control of Dr. Gilbert Alexander, another brilliant scientist from Fontaine Futuristics. He continued Suchong's work by bonding Eleanor Lamb, daughter of Sofia Lamb, who had been abducted, and turned into a Little Sister, to Subject Delta.

Just prior to the New Years riots, Sofia Lamb had escaped from Persephone and was searching for her daughter. On New Year's Eve, she and some loyal Splicers finally took Eleanor from her protector. Delta was incapacitated by a Hypnotize Plasmid, with which Sofia Lamb forced him to kill himself in front of a shocked Eleanor. Lamb then retreated back to Persephone with her daughter, avoiding the conflict of the war.

During the Civil War, Splicers learned to take down a Big Daddy, to retrieve the ADAM from the Little Sisters, harvesting the slugs embedded within them, resulting in the girls' deaths. Brigid Tenenbaum, having recognized her crime when confronting a Little Sister in Farmer's Market, developed a Plasmid which would kill the slug inside the Little Sisters, restoring their humanity. Tenenbaum then began to collect girls she rescued, hiding in an underground safe room in the sewers of Olympus Heights, keeping herself and the girls safe from harm.

December 31st, 1958: Burial at Sea
To be completed

1959-1960: The Fall of Rapture (BioShock 2 Multiplayer)
Throughout 1959, a full-scale decline of Rapture took place, with many large battles occurring between the armies of Andrew Ryan and Atlas. Ryan had many of Ryan Industries' new Plasmids and Gene Tonics tested by citizens in the streets through Sinclair Solutions. Early 1959 also saw great advances in the technology of Big Daddies under Dr. Gilbert Alexander's influence.

Ryan used the press to incite the citizens against Atlas and his terrorists, declaring him a "parasite" and an enemy of Rapture. After the final tests with the Alpha Series of Big Daddies were completed for the Protector Program, Ryan Industries began to release the first functional Big Daddy "protectors" (Bouncer and Rosie models) into the streets to keep the citizens away from the Little Sisters during their work. Many accidents involving the protectors happened, and were reported by the press. Their aggressive nature was already known by Ryan's people and the scientific community, as Dr. Suchong himself had been one of the first victims even before their first public appearance. Unfortunately, the protectors weren't enough to keep Atlas' people from attacking Little Sisters for their ADAM. These incidents earned Atlas the label "child killer" in the newspapers. Ryan continued to use the press to encourage the citizens with reports of his progress against the rebellion.

As the conflict escalated, the harmful side effects of ADAM became more recognized among the population. Dr. J.S. Steinman, a well-known surgeon in Rapture, became addled by ADAM's degenerative effects, and committed acts of butchery during his operations. Atlas used these incidents to fuel the hysteria of the population about ADAM shortages, leading to riots. During the same period, Brigid Tenenbaum, who had vanished after renouncing the Little Sister Program, began to abduct the Little Sister Gatherers to save them. Her acts were reported to Ryan, who immediately began a campaign to discredit her, using the newspapers to reveal the truth of her past in the German concentration camps.

More and more districts of Rapture began to be affected by the war. Apollo Square was used by Ryan's authorities as a concentration camp to isolate Atlas supporters, while Persephone Penal Colony had fallen under Sofia Lamb's control and was cut off from the rest of the city. Arcadia was forced to close because of incidents involving an ADAM-addicted pagan cult called the Saturnine. Rapture's famous artist, Sander Cohen, was finally forced to close Fort Frolic, although he promised the citizens a "Final Frolic." Rapture's Memorial Museum, located in Point Prometheus, was closed to the public and converted into the Proving Grounds to train the new Big Daddies. Even Dionysus Park was flooded during the war by former Rapture Tribune reporter Stanley Poole in an attempt to hide his treachery from Lamb's followers. Siren Alley, whose residents previously suffering from disruptions in the economy, had become the city's red-light district, now lost that livelihood.

The violence escalated and the conditions in the city continued to deteriorate, and even the press began to turn against Ryan. An editor of Rapture Standard, who had spoken out against Ryan's policy of controlling the press to his advantage, was finally imprisoned under suspicion of conspiring with Atlas. With Splicers becoming more and more effective and attacks more organized, Ryan Industries' response was to make "Elite" versions of the new Big Daddies, more adapted to fight than to protect, and to ask McClendon Robotics for new deadly models of Security Bots. Rapture Central Computing was also commissioned to design a new model of Protector called the Lancer, intended to use the new Ion Laser weaponry. These bots and protectors were ultimately never involved in the war, as Minerva's Den, the center for advanced-technologies in Rapture, was isolated from the rest of the city by Reed Wahl.

Andrew Ryan had attempted to maintain control by instituting wartime measures: enacting harsher laws, limiting the movement of the population, imprisoning Atlas supporters, shutting down the Bathysphere network, and enforcing the death penalty for anyone who broke the smuggling law. Eventually, even the newspapers were forced to cease publication as Ryan issued Security Order 217. The Splicer attacks, destruction, and public disorder continued to escalate. In the end, Andrew Ryan was "seeking solutions in seclusion" within Rapture Central Control in Hephaestus (earning him the label "Hephaestus Hermit" by the press). In an act of desperation, he introduced into his Plasmids a pheromone control, which gave him sufficient control over all of the ADAM addicted citizens. Though initially reluctant to effectively stripping away the human quality he most praised, free will, Ryan believed the alternative was the end of Rapture. Once Ryan had neutralized Atlas' splicers and stabilized the city, Atlas went into hiding. Normality still had not returned for the remaining sane citizens, as the Splicers still roamed the streets of Rapture, and the war's destruction was widespread.

The Crash
Jack, a passenger on a commercial aircraft flying over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, reads a letter attached to a gift from home that begins "Dear Jack, Would you kindly not open until..." (with the rest of the letter obstructed; the whole content of the letter is later revealed during Andrew Ryan's speech at his office. It says: "To Jack, with love from Mom & Dad. Would you kindly not open until 63° 2° N, 29° 55° W"). The plane mysteriously crashes, and Jack "awakens" from a kind of blackout to find himself underwater. He is surrounded by sinking debris from the crash, as well as lost belongings from the passengers. As Jack surfaces, he swims for the only structure in sight: a lighthouse shining brightly among the dark night sky and ocean. It serves as the above-surface entry point into Rapture, a grand underwater metropolis.

The Welcome Center
After Jack enters the lighthouse, he descends into the ocean city using a bathysphere, as the history of Rapture is told through a prerecorded film narrative by Andrew Ryan, the city's founder. During his descent, Jack overhears a radio conversation in which Atlas orders one of his followers, Johnny, to meet the arriving bathysphere. After the bathysphere docks in the city's Welcome Center, Johnny is killed by a grotesque, deranged figure (Rose). A man calling himself Atlas comes in over a shortwave radio inside the bathysphere, asking Jack, "Would you kindly pick up that shortwave radio?" Atlas also informs Jack that he wants to keep him alive. After Jack leaves the bathysphere and moves to safety, Atlas reveals that he has been cut off from his family by Splicers, mutated citizens of Rapture that have gone insane and answer to Andrew Ryan. Atlas believes that Jack is his only hope in reuniting himself with his wife and child, and tells Jack to find his way into Neptune's Bounty, where his family is secretly waiting in a submarine.

Jack explores the way into Rapture with the guidance of Atlas, until he discovers a Gatherer's Garden vending machine containing hypodermic needles. When Jack injects himself with one, Atlas tells Jack that his genetic code is being rewritten, and in a spasm of pain, Jack falls from a ledge and is knocked unconscious. After awakening, Jack continues on through the city, learning about the various traps, enemies, and resources, until he is discovered by Andrew Ryan, who communicates with the player over a television. Ryan believes that Jack is either an agent of the KGB or CIA, and he boasts to Jack of being invulnerable to the government influences of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America. The entrance to Neptune's Bounty is sealed off by a security alert, and Atlas urges Jack to take an alternative route through the Medical Pavilion.

The Medical Pavilion
Jack escapes Ryan's henchmen to the Medical Pavilion, continues to learn more about Rapture, and encounters its inhabitants. Throughout the game, Jack picks up audio diaries that reveal small pieces of the plot by themselves, but clear up significant mysteries when considered in full context. Throughout his journey through Rapture, Jack encounters various sorts of Splicers. Jack also experiences brief moments of psychic hallucinations, in which he can see ghostly figures walking about, talking, and interacting with each other. According to public address announcements throughout the city, these hallucinations are a side effect of gene splicing oneself.

Through various recordings and hallucinations, Jack learns of Dr. Yi Suchong (a doctor whose involvement with Plasmids, as well as his true role in the story, is revealed later) and Dr. J.S. Steinman (a plastic surgeon who unlocked ADAM's cosmetic potential). Atlas tells Jack that Steinman has lost his sense of reality due to over-splicing, and is in pursuit of enforcing cosmetic perfection at any cost. In order for Jack to proceed, Steinman must be killed, as he has the key to override the security lock down, which will enable Jack access to the bathysphere to Neptune's Bounty.

When Steinman is killed and the key is taken, Jack encounters a short battle on the way to override the security lock down. A few Splicers are fighting a Big Daddy. The Big Daddy is finally killed by a large explosion, and a single Splicer is cornering the now unguarded Little Sister. Before Jack can intervene, Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum bursts upon the scene, and dispatches the Splicer with her pistol.

Seeing that Jack is not a crazed Splicer, she informs him that she was heavily involved with the design of the Little Sisters, and that the Little Sisters possess ADAM. But regretful of what she has done, Tenenbaum tells Jack that he should have mercy on them, as they are still young girls. Atlas chimes in over the radio, telling Jack that he needs ADAM in order to survive in Rapture, as it will make him stronger. Atlas says that the Sisters are no longer human girls, but monsters; the clear choice is to kill the Little Sister to obtain all the ADAM she has. Tenenbaum once again advises, saying that if Jack must have ADAM, there is an alternative choice to killing the Little Sister: using a Plasmid that will safely remove the sea slug. This will spare the girl's life, but only yield half the amount of ADAM she has. As further incentive, Tenenbaum offers future gifts that will compensate Jack for the ADAM he loses in saving the girls. Caught between the opposing counsel of Atlas and Tenenbaum, Jack is faced with a choice. Once he has decided, he is allowed to buy Plasmids and Tonics from the Gatherer's Garden. Afterwards, Atlas tasks him with killing a Big Daddy all by himself.

Neptune's Bounty and the Smuggler's Hideout
From the bathysphere, Jack arrives at Neptune's Bounty, Rapture's main dock and fishery. Atlas tells Jack to make his way down to Fontaine Fisheries, where he meets Peach Wilkins. Even with the word of Atlas, Wilkins refuses Jack passage to the Fisheries; he believes Jack may be an agent of Frank Fontaine sent to kill him for his disloyalty. Regardless of the news around Rapture, he does not believe Fontaine was killed, and thinks he is still alive. Wilkins eventually agrees to allow Jack passage based on one condition: Jack must bring him photos of Spider Splicers taken with a special biological Research Camera.

As Jack explores Neptune's Bounty and takes the required photos, he learns through audio recordings about the discovery of ADAM, how Frank Fontaine founded a smuggling ring which funded Tenenbaum and ADAM research later on, how Fontaine's dominance over the ADAM market has changed Rapture's social structure, how Andrew Ryan and Sullivan tried to bust the smuggling ring, and how Peach Wilkins began his involvement in smuggling for Fontaine, though he was torn between taking sides in order to save himself. Jack returns with the required photos, and Wilkins allows him access to the Fisheries as long as he gives up his weapons. Once Jack enters, being unarmed with conventional weapons, Wilkins and his Splicer smugglers ambush Jack, as he still believes him to be an agent of Fontaine. Through clever use of his Plasmids, Jack defeats Wilkins and his smugglers, and recovers the weapons that were taken from him.

After killing Wilkins, Atlas informs Jack that he is very close to the Smuggler's Hideout, where his family remains locked in a submarine, cut off by Ryan's Splicers. Exploring Fontaine Fisheries, Jack discovers the hidden pathway to the hideout. Ryan informs him over the shortwave radio not to help Atlas, or he will learn what it means to truly be his enemy. Jack arrives at the control room overlooking the dock with the submarine, and activates a switch that allows Atlas to arrive at the dock as well. As Atlas approaches the submarine, Ryan's Splicers begin swarming the dock area. Ryan's voice comes over the radio and taunts Jack, telling him that Atlas and his family will be killed, while he helplessly remains locked in the control room. Atlas, using his pistol, fights off the Splicers long enough to escape, but Ryan triggers explosives that destroy the submarine. Infuriated at Ryan's sadistic decision to destroy his family, Atlas tells Jack to get out and get to Arcadia.

Arcadia, the Farmer's Market and Fort Frolic
Jack makes his way through a secret smuggling passage to Arcadia, Rapture's arboretum, and the supplier of the city's oxygen. Jack sees several posters of Atlas; Atlas reveals that, "You (Jack) might hear things about me, see my name about. Think what you will. There was a time when I cared about politics, but it's just an excuse men use to kill one another. I'm done with all that. I just want to see the sunlight again." Atlas tells Jack to head toward the bathysphere to exit the area, and as he heads toward his destination, Andrew Ryan releases a chemical into the air of Arcadia. All vegetation in the area is extinguished, and an automatic security lock down is initiated; all of Arcadia's doors are closed and sealed to conserve the remaining oxygen.

Jack makes his way to Arcadia's research laboratories, where he is introduced to Professor Julie Langford over the intercom. She is the scientist who helped Ryan create the vegetation in Arcadia. Atlas and Langford are both equally dismayed at this stunning turn of events; without Arcadia's plants and trees, Rapture will only have a limited supply of oxygen. Langford tells Jack that there is only one option available to reverse the damage done. Suddenly, Ryan's voice sounds over the shortwave radio, reminding Langford of her work contract, as he releases a poisonous gas into her office that kills her. From her last two audio recordings, Jack learns the required information for the creation of the Lazarus Vector, which is a chemical designed to revive dead plant life. Jack locates the remaining necessary components to invent the Lazarus Vector through Arcadia and the Farmer's Market, and releases it into the air of Arcadia. With the source of oxygen restored and the sealed doors now open, Jack has access to the bathysphere.

Jack then enters Fort Frolic, Rapture's central entertainment complex. Jack travels through the main walkway to the bathysphere, where he is suddenly denied access. Atlas' voice on the shortwave radio fades out, and is replaced by the voice of "Rapture's most beloved artist", Sander Cohen. Cohen remarks that he has blocked all radio transmissions from Atlas and Ryan, and that Jack's worthiness will be tested before he can have access to the bathysphere. Jack defeats the group of Splicers sent by Cohen as a test, and is invited into Fort Frolic's Atrium area. Cohen then charges Jack with the task of helping him create his Quadtych/masterpiece, which involves Jack killing and taking photos of four of Cohen's former disciples for rebelling against him. Jack returns with the required photos, and completes Cohen's Quadtych. Cohen then appears in person to appreciate his masterpiece firsthand, and congratulates Jack by telling him that the way to Ryan is clear. Atlas comes in over the radio and implores Jack to leave using the bathysphere, so he can finally deal with Ryan.

Hephaestus and Rapture Central Control
At Hephaestus, Rapture's power production facility, Atlas informs Jack that Ryan has the genetic key of Rapture. If Jack can get his hands on that, they finally can leave the city. Jack battles through to the entrance to Ryan's office, only to find that it is sealed shut by an electromagnetic defense mechanism. He finds his way into the workshops, where he learns, through audio recordings, of a plot to dismantle Ryan's defense and assassinate him. Jack also learns of the electromagnetic pulse bomb that was being assembled by Kyburz to destroy Ryan's defenses. Unfortunately, the assembly of the EMP bomb was stopped mid-process, as Kyburz was killed by Ryan's Splicers before it could be completed. Jack obtains the remaining components, builds the EMP bomb, and detonates it, allowing his advance to Ryan's office. Before he enters, Ryan taunts both Jack and Atlas, saying that even without physical defenses, he will not be defeated.

Upon entering Rapture Central Control, Ryan's voice sounds over the shortwave radio.

"Even in a book of lies, sometimes you find truth. There is indeed a season for all things, and now that I see you flesh-to-flesh and blood-to-blood, I know I cannot raise my hand against you. But know this: you are my greatest disappointment. Does your master hear me!? Atlas! You can kill me, but you will never have my city! My strength is not in steel and fire, that is what the parasites will never understand. A season for all things! A time to live and a time to die, a time to build, AND A TIME TO DESTROY!"

- Andrew Ryan

At the end of his dialogue, Ryan activates Rapture's self-destruct mechanism, sending Atlas into a panic. With the urging of Atlas, Jack quickly moves to the room just outside of Ryan's office. There, he finds a number of newspaper clippings and other papers attached to the wall, with the words "Would You Kindly" written in large over them. Jack also finds audio recordings and pictures of familiar people. Upon examination, it is revealed that Jack is the illegitimate son of Andrew Ryan and Jasmine Jolene. Jolene sold him as an embryo to Fontaine Futuristics, where, he was genetically engineered and enhanced by Brigid Tenenbaum and Yi Suchong, and conditioned to respond to the activation phrase, "would you kindly".

Jack at last moves into the foyer of Ryan's office, only to find him casually putting golf balls behind a reinforced glass window.

"The assassin has overcome my final defense, and now he's come to murder me. In the end, what separates a man from a slave? Money? Power? No. A man chooses, a slave obeys. You think you have memories - a farm, a family, an airplane, a crash, and then this place. Was there really a family? Did that airplane crash, or was it hijacked, forced down? Forced down by something less than a man, something bred to sleepwalk through life, until they are activated by a simple phrase, spoken by their kindly master. Was a man sent to kill, or a slave? A man chooses, a slave obeys. Come in."

- Andrew Ryan

Ryan moves toward the door of his office and Jack follows. As the doors open, Jack meets Andrew Ryan face to face, and he enters.

"Stop, would you kindly? (Jack reacts instantly, and obeys the command involuntarily) "Would you kindly". Powerful phrase. Familiar phrase? (Jack experiences a cascade of memories of Atlas ordering him around with the phrase, "Would you kindly") Sit, would you kindly? (Jack obeys) Stand, would you kindly? (Jack obeys) Run! Stop! Turn. (Jack obeys) A man chooses, a slave obeys. (Ryan hands Jack his golf club) Kill! (Jack obeys, striking him with the club) A man chooses! (Jack strikes again) A slave obeys! (Jack strikes again) OBEY! (Jack kills Ryan with a final, fatal blow.)"

- Andrew Ryan

Atlas' voice comes back over the shortwave radio. He orders Jack once again with the phrase "Would you kindly" to take Ryan's genetic key to Rapture from his body and put it into the central control terminal. Jack obeys, and the self-destruct is averted. Atlas compliments Jack's work, and then breaks into a maniacal laughter, revealing he is actually Frank Fontaine. He derides Jack as a genetically-conditioned slave, and tells him even though he performed well, he never mixes business with friendship. Fontaine sends Security Bots to kill Jack, but he evades them with the assistance of "rescued" Little Sisters. They lead Jack through a crawlspace, but it gives way under him, causing him to fall through, thus rendering him unconscious.

Olympus Heights and Apollo Square
Jack awakens in Tenenbaum's Safe House under Olympus Heights, Rapture's luxury living and retail establishment. It is where the rescued Little Sisters stay in safety, and Brigid Tenenbaum resides. Tenenbaum informs Jack that she has removed some of the mental conditioning that allowed Fontaine to control him. Though she also says that Frank Fontaine can pull some very unpleasant strings, and that Jack should explore Suchong's apartment in the Mercury Suites complex, since Suchong designed his mind.

On the way through the Olympus Heights sewer network, Frank Fontaine's voice sounds over the shortwave radio, responding to Jack's alliance with Tenenbaum. Fontaine tries to order him to get himself killed with the phrase "Would you kindly", but seeing that Jack no longer responds to it, Fontaine uses another phrase to which Jack is conditioned to respond to. After he utters Code Yellow, Jack experiences a moment of intense pain, and Fontaine explains that his heart is now on a slow and painful course of eventually stopping. Jack quickly finds his way to Suchong's apartment, where he discovers, through an audio recording, that there is an antidote to his genetic conditioning, but there is no trace of the antidote itself. Jack, with Tenenbaum's help, finds the first part of Lot 192 when he raids Fontaine's apartment, and the second part of Lot 192 in Suchong's clinic in Artemis Suites at Apollo Square. Jack is now free from Fontaine's control, and Fontaine breaks into a rage upon learning of this fact. Fontaine tells Jack that "laying all his chips on Mother Goose" isn't wise, since he's been double-crossed before. But at the counsel of Tenenbaum, Jack heads to Point Prometheus to confront Fontaine.

Point Prometheus and the Proving Grounds
Upon Jack's surfacing in the bathysphere for Point Prometheus, the location where Big Daddies and Little Sisters are made, Fontaine is sighted in the room outside the bathysphere chamber. Fontaine taunts him and challenges him to a duel if he follows, all the while showing off his remarkable strength and power from splicing. Tenenbaum, over the shortwave radio, urges Jack to follow him, and Fontaine retreats while sealing the door and destroying the switch. Tenenbaum tells Jack that the only way he can get access to and through the Proving Grounds is to have a Little Sister go through the small passage at the bottom of all the doors, and open them from the other side. Tenenbaum then explains that the only way for the Little Sisters to trust and follow Jack is if they think he is a Big Daddy. With Tenenbaum's guidance, Jack finds and equips himself with a Big Daddy suit, has his voice surgically altered, and has himself doused in pheromones to fool the Little Sisters into thinking that he is a Big Daddy.

Jack makes his way to the Proving Grounds, and now has to escort a Little Sister while she goes through the training course for ADAM gathering. After fending off multiple Splicer attacks, Jack arrives at the elevator to the room where Fontaine resides. Tenenbaum cautions Jack to prepare himself for a large battle, and that he needs to take the ADAM extraction needle from the Little Sister, as that is the only way to defeat Fontaine.

Fontaine's Lair
As the elevator carries Jack toward his destination, Frank Fontaine recounts their short history. When Jack emerges from the elevator, he finds Fontaine strapped to a metal device with several large tubes of ADAM pulsing straight into his body, no longer recognizably human. He is roughly twice the height of a normal human being and possesses fiery, icy, and electric skin, as well as many deadly Plasmid attacks. Jack battles Fontaine, attacking and damaging him constantly, forcing Fontaine to repeatedly teleport back to his ADAM-injection device for stronger splicing. As Fontaine splices, Jack repeatedly drains his ADAM by attacking him with the ADAM extraction needle. Fontaine beats Jack to the ground while ranting about what has happened. Fortunately, Fontaine is weakened from the loss of so much ADAM, allowing Little Sisters emerging from their vents to swarm him. The Little Sisters pounce upon him, repeatedly stabbing Fontaine with ADAM extraction needles, eventually killing him.

Endings
Depending on your actions towards Little Sisters in the game, there are three possible endings to BioShock, defining Jack's behavior towards the remaining Little Sisters and the fate of the city. However, no specific ending shows direct influence in later games, which means they could all have happened.

Evil Ending
If during the game the player killed multiple Little Sisters, Tenenbaum states that Jack has succumbed to his lust for ADAM and snatches the nearest Little Sister when Fontaine is dead. The first-person view ends and Tenenbaum begins a monologue in which she discusses how disgusted she is with Jack for his cruelty, implying that he killed the Little Sisters. At the same time, a silent cut scene takes place in which a naval submarine surveying the downed plane's crash site is surrounded with bathysphere pods from below. The sailors on the submarine's deck gawk as the dozens of bathyspheres pop open and Splicers jump out. The Splicers slaughter the submarine crew, and the camera shows what appears to be a nuclear warhead on board before the game ends.

Sad Ending
If the player chose to save several and harvest several Little Sisters, the ending will be the same to the Evil Ending, but Tenenbaum's narration is in a sad, disappointed tone.

Good Ending
If during the game the player rescued all of the Little Sisters, Jack passes out when Fontaine is dead. A cut scene takes place in which Jack is offered total control of Rapture, but declines. Instead, he takes the five Little Sisters to the surface and raises them, allowing them a normal life to learn, marry, and have children. When Jack eventually dies of old age, the now fully-grown girls are at his bedside, becoming the family Jack never had.

1960-1967: The Rebirth of Rapture
Whether Jack harvested the Little Sisters and stole the nuclear warhead, or saved them and went back to the surface to live with them, his influence became less direct in Rapture, and Tenenbaum soon left with most of the remaining Little Sisters. The removal of the gatherers would, however, have a chaotic effect on the surviving citizens of Rapture. Without them to collect and recycle ADAM from corpses littering the city, this genetic material became even harder to find, and the Splicers became more violent, unbalanced, and monstrous due to severe ADAM withdrawal. The strong soon started preying on the weak, and only the most brutal and spliced-up individuals survived.

It's in this period of great turmoil when an old political adversary of Andrew Ryan's, Dr. Sofia Lamb, took control of the city. She started recruiting more and more Splicers through her "Rapture Family," a cult she created along with her lieutenant Simon Wales, with bold promises of security, deliverance, and eternal life. She also revived the Protector/Gatherer Program with former Fontaine Futuristics' head scientist Dr. Gilbert Alexander. To respond to fiercer Splicers, he created a new type of Big Daddy, the Rumbler. His research also led him to create the Big Sisters, adolescent Little Sisters too old to carry out their function, but still under the effects of their mental conditioning. Lamb used that opportunity to create an army of Big Sisters to enforce her rule and to establish fear in the minds of Splicers not already devoted to her.

In order to create the first "Utopian", Lamb and Alexander conducted new experiments based on Jack's mental conditioning. Alexander selected himself as the subject of the experimental operation, and would be imbued with the entire collective genius of Rapture via ADAM infusion (collected during the last seven years). He would then lose his own personal identity to serve exclusively one common good, the Family. The plan failed, and Alexander was heavily mutated by the enormous amounts of ADAM he was imbued with and, most likely, because of too much genetic material from the people injected into him. Deserted by Lamb, he was left in Fontaine Futuristics' laboratories, but could still control the entire facility through electronics. Before ADAM drove him completely mad, he left final instructions for anyone sane enough to kill the insane mutation that he would become.

1967-1968: Sea of Dreams (There's Something in the Sea)
As ADAM was running short in Rapture, Lamb used the new Big Sisters to kidnap girls from the surface to create new Little Sisters, in order to bring ADAM back to Rapture, but also to conduct new experiments on her own daughter, Eleanor Lamb, and create the first real Utopian. This resulted in the phenomenon of red lights appearing all over the Atlantic coasts and little girls being abducted by what some investigators thought was a single beast coming from the sea's depths.

Mark Meltzer, a father living with his family on the American east coast, was the first to notice the similarities in these abductions. He began following the cases, but then his own daughter, Cindy, was kidnapped as well. Meltzer began a long investigation to find his daughter and the rest of the missing girls. Helped by various contacts, he uncovered common points between the abductions and "the Vanishing", and thus began to search for Rapture. He eventually found evidence of its existence in clues left by Orrin Oscar Lutwidge, and in coded messages from his daughter left by Big Sisters.

Late in the autumn of 1968, he embarked on a journey across the Atlantic Ocean on a boat, the SS. Nelly Bly, to find the hidden city. However, as he approached his final destination, the boat was attacked by Splicers under Lamb's command. The crew was slaughtered and the boat was left adrift. Mark escaped and entered the Lighthouse, finally reaching Rapture with one of the Splicers' bathyspheres.

Meanwhile in Rapture, Eleanor was kept in a sedated existence by her mother, so that her genetic experiments could finally succeed. Dreaming of the surface and of her lost Big Daddy, Eleanor still maintained some mental links with the new Little Sisters and the Big Sisters. Using some of the Little Sisters as intermediaries, Eleanor contacted Dr. Tenenbaum, who had returned to Rapture after spending the last eight years on the surface. Tenenbaum wanted to end her own creation, the Little Sister Program, which had been revived by Sofia Lamb, and also to create a cure for the effects of ADAM with the help of the Thinker, the most developed computer in the fallen city. With Tenenbaum's help and the Little Sisters, Eleanor reconfigured the disused Vita-Chamber in Adonis Luxury Resort in order to resurrect her bonded Big Daddy, the prototype Subject Delta.

1968: Rapture's Nightmare (BioShock 2)
In the middle of this chaos, Subject Delta, the first functioning Big Daddy, is resurrected at a Vita-Chamber under mysterious circumstances, and struggles to adapt to the current state of affairs. Searching for Eleanor Lamb, the Little Sister he was bonded with before his death, Delta confronts Sofia Lamb, to whom Eleanor is also of great interest. In his journey, he encounters Brigid Tenenbaum, who has returned to Rapture to rescue the new generation of Little Sisters. He also meets Augustus Sinclair, the shady head of Sinclair Solutions, who guides him throughout his quest to find Eleanor.

The Adonis Luxury Resort
Subject Delta awakens from a coma ten years after his death at the same location. He receives a radio call from a woman, but the signal is very weak. After rising from the puddle he was in, he sees his reflection. Behind him, he can see a large machine called a Vita-Chamber. Delta discovers that Rapture had decayed, and that his Little Sister is missing. While exploring the surrounding area, he sees several Little Sisters, as well as an unknown enemy who is stalking him. Delta then sees a woman murdered by a man with a gun. The man attempts to kill Delta, but Delta manages to kill the man. Delta discovers that many of the residents of Rapture have changed and are now killing each other. As Delta proceeds, he comes across pictures of Sofia Lamb, the woman responsible for his death, on the walls, with graffiti such as "Lamb is Watching". Delta then encounters a Gatherer's Garden and has a moment of confusion when a young woman connects in his mind and calls "Father!" This woman is Eleanor, his bonded Little Sister now ten years older. Eleanor has left a gift for him, the Electro Bolt Plasmid, along with many childlike objects, like a toy wagon, a doll, chalk messages and drawings meant only for Delta, and left as a sign that she wishes to help him. When Delta splices up with the Electro Bolt Plasmid, he falls and becomes unconscious. As he awakens, he sees a Little Sister telling him the only way he will get better is to find Eleanor. The Little Sister is immediately taken by the mysterious enemy.

Delta restores power to the resort by shocking the generator. He is then contacted again by the same woman when he first awoke, Brigid Tenenbaum, and she wishes to meet him at the Atlantic Express Train Station. While Delta tries to find her, he soon realizes what is happening. The people in Rapture have changed and little girls kidnapped from the surface have been made into new Little Sisters, while the woman responsible for his death, Sophia Lamb, is the new leader of the city and has established a cult following. When Delta finds another Little Sister in the lobby of the resort, he hears the yells of a monster; the Little Sister warns him that Big Sister is coming. The Big Sister challenges Delta to a battle, and so, Delta battles her, but she escapes and floods the resort. Owing to the fact he is a Big Daddy with a diving suit, Delta survives the ordeal and leaves the resort going outside underwater toward the Atlantic Express Train Station. While walking outside underwater, Delta sees the entire city of Rapture as the Big Sister swims by and escapes. Delta then goes into the airlock system that leads him into the station.

The Atlantic Express Depot
After Delta escapes from the resort, Tenenbaum guides him to the ticket booth where they will meet. On his way there, Tenenbaum tells him what has happened in the past ten years. The fall of Rapture was due to ADAM, which caused people to turn into lethal drug-addicts known as Splicers. The former ruler of Rapture, Andrew Ryan, has been murdered. Ryan's former rival, Sofia Lamb, is now in control of everything. Lamb is now in control of Rapture, the Splicers, the Big Daddies, the Big Sisters, the Little Sisters, and the security systems as well. After Delta goes through part of the station, he is trapped and contacted by Sofia Lamb. Like Andrew Ryan in the previous game, Sofia Lamb appears on multiple televisions and speaks to Delta directly. She informs him that it is unknown how he survived, but says he will not survive again. Sophia Lamb sends Splicers to kill him, however, Delta escapes before dying by falling through the weak floor and proceeds through the station. He then finds another toy wagon present and is contacted again by Eleanor Lamb, saying that Sofia Lamb will never do anything like that again. Eleanor begs Delta to find her, and has arranged for Delta to receive the Telekinesis Plasmid here.

While going through the station, Sophia Lamb figures out that he has survived and contacts him, saying that Eleanor has a destiny and that he can not take her away from her duty. When he is near to the ticket booth, Delta is contacted again by Tenenbaum stating that he is dying because of the the Pair Bond Mechanism and that his bonded Little Sister, Eleanor Lamb, can be reached at Fontaine Futuristics, he also needs to find her quickly, or else he will die. After fighting through the Security and Splicers, Delta finally meets Tenenbaum in the ticket booth of the railway station where she has already saved some of the new Little Sisters. Tenenbaum says that Sophia Lamb is responsible for the New Little Sisters and that she is willing to die to stop this nightmare. Before Tenenbaum can even state her plan to Delta, Sophia Lamb discovers Delta's location and sends a public announcement of where he is and that he must be destroyed. Knowing that the Splicers could break into the booth, Tenenbaum asks Delta to protect her and the girls while they escape to a new safe location. Tenenbaum apologizes and leaves Delta, but introduces, by way of radio transmission, a rather suspicious ally known as Augustus Sinclair. Sinclair automatically befriends Delta and has Delta go onto the train and meet him at Ryan Amusements.

Ryan Amusements
While driving the train, Delta has to make a sudden stop because the railway station exit is iced over. Sinclair states that in order to melt the ice, Delta will need a Plasmid known as Incinerate!, a Plasmid that enables the user to throw fire from their hand. The Incinerate Plasmid can be found in the amusement park but Delta needs to get into the park with a ticket. While Delta is searching for this said ticket, Sinclair explains that Delta is an old Big Daddy model known as an Alpha Series. Sinclair also reveals his own agenda, which is to sell Rapture's wonderments to the surface world. Delta enters the park when Sinclair informs him that in order to get the Plasmid, he will need ADAM, and only Little Sisters can get this substance. Delta is directed to the El Dorado Lounge where Sinclair thinks a Little Sister might be found. After Delta fights a Big Daddy, Delta is forced to adopt the Little Sister. Sinclair says in order to get ADAM, the Little Sister will have to harvest ADAM-filled corpses around the area.

The amusement park has displays that show the city's achievements and reasoning for building Rapture, by the former leader Andrew Ryan. The museum tells the story of Rapture's history-in-the-making. After this, the main part of the park is Journey to the Surface, a ride where children travel in Bathysphere-like tram cars and go through a city-like setting that shows how the people's work, art, lives, money, and freedoms are taken away on the surface world by God and Government, symbolized by large hands, to scare children to never go back to the surface. While Delta proceeds through the park and protects the Little Sister while she is gathering ADAM, Lamb constantly interrogates Delta via radio, saying that he is dishonoring The Rapture Family and that he will die for it.

After the Little Sister has finished gathering ADAM from the corpses in the park, Sinclair says that there are two ways Delta can get the remainder of the ADAM, Delta can either Rescue the Little Sister which will turn her back into a girl again, but will give him minimal ADAM, or Delta can get full ADAM by harvesting the ADAM slug inside of her, but it will kill her. Either way, Delta gets enough ADAM to buy the Incinerate! Plasmid and heads to the Hall of the Future where a Gatherer's Garden is situated. After Delta purchases the Incinerate Plasmid, Delta is attacked again by a Big Sister but he manages to kill her. Delta then proceeds to the train station and melts the ice. It is here that Delta meets Sinclair who says he thinks of Delta as a friend. Sinclair then boards the train before they are ambushed by Lamb's Splicers. Delta fights his way to the train, and with Sinclair on board, they escape to Pauper's Drop.

Pauper's Drop
Delta exits the train at the train station in a poor-housing district known as Pauper's Drop, when the whole city is on city wide lock-down by Lamb. Knowing that they can't proceed, Sinclair states the only way they can continue on to Fontaine Futuristics is to acquire the override key from the Drop's governor, Grace Holloway, who resides in Sinclair's own hotel known as The Sinclair Deluxe. As Delta proceeds, Grace Holloway speaks over the Drop's intercom to alert the Splicers about Delta and threatens him herself. Later, Delta learns that Grace was a former patient of Lamb as well as a former jazz singer in a club known as The Limbo Room, and that Grace took custody of Eleanor when Lamb went to prison. When Eleanor was taken from Grace, she felt that she had failed Lamb. However, one day Grace saw Subject Delta walking with Eleanor, who had been changed into a Little Sister. Grace presumed that Subject Delta was the one who took Eleanor and turned the girl into a monster. Upon suddenly finding Eleanor and without thinking, Grace tries to take Eleanor from Delta. Delta of course instantly protects his Little Sister. Grace fails to regain Eleanor and is lucky to escape with her life. During the struggle Grace sustained a broken jaw, ending her career at the Limbo Room. Grace has wanted revenge upon Subject Delta ever since.

On Delta's way to the hotel, a Brute Splicer piles debris in Delta's way, and the only way he can brush away the pile is to get the Drill Dash weapon upgrade. In order to get Drill Dash, Delta needs to research Brute Splicers to find how they got so burly. After Delta finds the Research Camera in the King Pawn Shop, he researches a Brute and develops the ability to Drill Dash. Then, Delta returns to the hotel and Drill Dashes away the debris. Delta then fights his way through the hotel to the top. As Delta searches through the entire hotel looking for Grace, Sinclair is well aware of Grace's incorrect grudge against Delta, and Sinclair suggests it would be best for everyone to kill Grace. Delta reaches Grace on the top floor. Once Delta enters her room, he finds a hidden hallway that leads to her secret office. She sees him through the window of the door and tells him that she is ready to die, as long as Delta dies as well. Her grudge is so strong because she felt that Delta ruined her life and the chance to have a child. She allows Delta to come into her room and take the override key, but it is the player's choice to kill her or spare her. Killing her won't affect much, but sparing her changes her view on Big Daddies and she sends Delta Security Bots to escort him to the station. After putting the key in the slot, Delta is free to go to his next destination.

Siren Alley
On the train's route to Dionysus Park, Simon Wales blows Delta out of the train with a torpedo. After Delta awakens from concussion underwater on the seabed, he figures that he is between Dionysus Park and a place called Siren Alley. Sinclair radios that he is trapped in Dionysus Park, as it is flooded and there isn't much air in the train, he advises Delta to go into Siren Alley and drain out Dionysus Park from Pumping Station 5. Delta is contacted by Lamb who states that Simon Wales will be happy enough to kill Delta even if he himself dies in the process. Upon entering Siren Alley, Delta meets Simon Wales who has turned into a Spider Splicer and is dubbed Father Simon Wales, as he is the preacher of Lamb's religion known as The Rapture Family. Wales preaches in the Pumping Station which is locked by a code, and Simon's brother, Daniel Wales, knows the code. Daniel resides in a cat-house known as The Pink Pearl.

On Delta's way there, if Delta spared Grace, she contacts Delta saying that she sent him some ammo and supplies, afterward, she is never heard from again. Delta enters the Pink Pearl and fights Daniel, killing him. Upon searching him, Delta finds the diary which contains the code. Upon returning to the entrance to the deeper areas of Siren Alley, Delta enters the code at the door. Lamb shuts down the power, locking the door, and tells Simon Wales that his brother Daniel has been killed by Delta. Simon seeks revenge and sends waves of Splicers to attack, but Delta survives and continues on. Delta then goes deeper into Siren Alley, and discovers the Little Sister's Orphanage. Inside, it is revealed that Eleanor once lived there before being taken by a doctor who transformed her into a Little Sister and bonded her with Subject Delta.

Delta then enters the Pumping Station and battles everyone in the chapel, including Simon. After a tough battle, Delta kills Simon and collects the override key. Delta then goes into the pumping station and drains Dionysus Park. When Lamb discovers that her preacher, Simon, is dead, she becomes furious and sends Delta a strong message by starting to flood Siren Alley and saying that this dark episode is who the people are. After the power is cut, Delta continues on after Lamb completely floods Siren Alley, killing everyone inside except Delta in his diving suit. Delta then makes his way to Dionysus Park.

Dionysus Park
After entering Dionysus Park, Sinclair informs Delta that the park was the property of Sofia Lamb and was used to entertain her followers, but one day it was flooded, killing everyone. Delta is then contacted by a man named Stanley Poole, a former Tribune reporter who wishes to meet him at the ticket booth. Delta makes his way to the meeting place, to find that Stanley has locked himself in the booth. Stanley states that Little Sisters have come into the park and have started to gather ADAM from the bodies. Stanley is paranoid because recycled ADAM has memories of its users, and the Little Sisters and Lamb can read them. Stanley orders Delta to find and deal with the Little Sisters, he will then let Delta proceed on his way. Sinclair is suspicious of this man, but advises Delta to do what Stanley asks, so they can proceed. While Delta tries to find the Little Sisters, Stanley informs Delta that 'Subject Delta' is just a serial code for a Big Daddy. Delta was originally a sailor who found Rapture using a diving bell, he was nicknamed Johnny Topside. Ryan, believing Johnny to be a CIA spook, has him exiled to a secret location.

As Delta finds and deals with the Little Sisters, Eleanor contacts him and shares her own memories of past events. Apparently, Lamb was exiled by Ryan because of her conflicting ideals. She left Stanley in charge of her money, power and followers in Dionysus Park but Stanley used the money to splice up and throw mad parties. One day, young Eleanor confronted Stanley and told him that she would tell her mother about how he was misusing her mother's money, power, and followers. Poole became paranoid and sold Eleanor to the Little Sister's Orphanage. Eleanor states that Poole is the reason she was turned into a Little Sister. Poole got the news that Lamb would be returning, and he was paranoid because someone was bound to tell Lamb what he had done and that he was the one who flooded the park killing everyone. Stanley wanted Delta to kill the Little Sisters as they had knowledge of his past deeds. Before leaving the park, Delta and Poole are contacted by Lamb, who says that she knew all along that Poole had flooded the park and that he was a spy for Ryan, planted in the The Rapture Family. Lamb also informs them that Poole sold Johnny out to Ryan, meaning Poole is the reason Johnny was turned into a Big Daddy with the code name Delta. Everyone including Eleanor advises Delta to kill Poole for what he has done. Lamb overrides the locked door to the ticket booth, so that Delta may have his revenge. Whatever the player decides about the fate that Stanley deserves, Delta and Sinclair proceed to Fontaine Futuristics.

Fontaine Futuristics
Delta is now close to where Eleanor is being held captive. Sinclair says that Lamb is injecting large amounts of ADAM containing the memories of the citizens of Rapture, into Eleanor, so that Eleanor will become The People's Daughter, the first true Utopian. Before entering Fontaine Futuristics, a man named Gilbert Alexander contacts Delta with a diary log that has been recorded two years prior to Delta's recent awakening. Alexander states that he worked on the Big Daddy development program in the past and now resides in the Laboratories where he is spliced beyond humanity. He is currently under the W.Y.K. effect by Lamb, and the former Alexander wishes to be killed by whomever is listening, which happens to be Delta.

After entering Fontaine Futuristics, Delta encounters a superior Security Bot with a screen displaying a disfigured face that taunts him throughout the level. Sinclair recognizes the bot's voice and figures that it is controlled by the spliced Gilbert Alexander now known as 'Alex the Great'. Throughout the level, the formerly sane Alexander tries to help Delta by way of old messages, as the now insane 'Alex the Great' tries to destroy Delta at every opportunity. While in the lobby, 'Alex the Great' sends a Big Daddy to kill Delta. The Big Daddy that attacks Delta is an Alpha Series model that is extremely lethal and a weapon/Plasmid wielder just like himself, but Delta manages to kill the Big Daddy.

The former Alexander reveals the password that will allow Delta to enter the security room, and unlock the doors to the Laboratories where 'Alex the Great' resides, however, the bot controlled by 'Alex the Great' short-circuits the voice activated lock that will allow Delta to enter. Sinclair informs Delta that the only way he can now enter, is to destroy the Control Panels on the Security Shut-down switches scattered around the facility. After Delta fights his way thorough many Splicers, Big Daddies and bots, he manages to destroy the Control Panels in the facility. While doing this, Delta discovers that before he was made into a Big Daddy, he was a show-room Plasmid Product Tester for investors and many other citizens who wished to see how the Plasmids work. After Delta destroys all of the Control Panels, the 'Alex the Great' bot shuts down, allowing Delta to use the voice activated lock to the security room. Delta enters and throws the main switch, opening the way to the Laboratories.

Delta proceeds to the Laboratories by going outside underwater. Delta comes across a Fuel Station and a wall covered in boulders. Sinclair informs Delta that this is a facade to hide the secret entrance to Persephone where Eleanor is kept. Sinclair explains that to enter Persephone, Delta needs to get a genetic key from 'Alex the Great'. Delta enters the Laboratories which are pitch-black. The formerly sane Alexander informs Delta that the light now stings the eyes of 'Alex the Great', and that Delta needs to turn on the power to deal with him. After Delta finds and switches the circuit-breakers, he flips the main switch which turns on the lights, revealing the highly-Spliced, and mutated, 'Alex the Great' in a large tank of liquid, who then hides away. Alexander says that the only way to lure 'Alex the Great' out, is to obtain four special plants infused with ADAM. After retrieving the plants and luring 'Alex the Great' out, Delta takes a gene sample from him and makes the genetic key needed to enter Persephone and find Eleanor. Alexander has a last message explaining that the button on the control panel, will electrify the tank containing 'Alex the Great', with more than enough electricity to kill him. After taking the key, Delta goes outside and puts the key in the Fuel Station, revealing the secret entrance to Persephone, that was hidden by the wall of boulders. Delta then goes inside and takes the elevator down, to find Eleanor.

Outer Persephone
After Delta rides the elevator down, Eleanor sends a distress call saying that she is in a cage. As Delta makes his way to the cage where Eleanor is being held captive, Sofia Lamb has one last attempt to stop Delta by sending two Big Sisters to kill him. After Delta kills the Big Sisters, he throws the quarantine switch to the door of the cage, so that he can enter and be reunited with Eleanor. The door does not open and Delta loses contact with Sinclair on the radio. Delta sees that Sofia is inside the cage with her daughter Eleanor, who is in a deep sleep. Sofia says that Eleanor brought Delta back because she wanted a father. Eleanor had the Little Sisters take his genetic code and inject it into a hacked Vita-Chamber. Sofia also says that Eleanor has been watching every move Delta made on his quest to find her and that she has been influenced by his decisions on how to survive. Sofia is distraught by the transformation in her daughter and says the only way to end the bond between Delta and Eleanor is to put The Pair Bond Mechanism failsafe into effect. This failsafe was installed into all Alpha Series Big Daddies, including Delta, forcing a Big Daddy into a coma leading to eventual death if his assigned Little Sister is separated from him. Sofia takes Eleanor's pillow and asks for her forgiveness as she smothers Eleanor with the pillow. Delta collapses as Eleanor's heart stops beating, the last thing that Delta can do, before going into the coma, is to stare into Eleanor's dead face.

Eleanor survives and comes back to life, but she is left very weak. Delta awakens when he is contacted by Eleanor, who says that their bond is now broken and Delta is to die within hours. Delta is restrained on a gurney and sealed in a secure room by Sofia's followers. Eleanor, however, has plans to escape with Delta, so she sends a Little Sister to give Delta an injection, that will enable him to take control of this Little Sister's mind. Delta can now see through the Little Sister's eyes and sees Rapture as a heavenly place instead of the nightmarish reality that it is. Eleanor says that she needs a Big Sister suit, so that she and Delta may escape from Rapture safely. Delta then controls the Little Sister to gather all of the various parts of the suit and take them to Eleanor. This is where the player's choice affects the storyline: if Delta saved all of the Little Sisters, then Eleanor will rescue the Little Sister, following in his footsteps. Eleanor then becomes a forgiving and loving person. If the player harvested the Little Sisters instead, then Eleanor will become selfish and cruel, ripping the ADAM slug out of the child. Either way, Eleanor, now wearing the Big Sister suit, fights her way to Delta and breaks him free, she then gives him the Summon Eleanor Plasmid, that will allow her to fight by his side, as they proceed to Inner Persephone, to find Sinclair.

Inner Persephone
Lamb is devastated that Eleanor has turned away from her, and is willing to bomb the facility, bringing it down to the bottom of the trench below, killing everyone inside. When Delta and Eleanor enter, they find Sinclair's lifeboat, but Sinclair is missing. Lamb puts the facility on lockdown, keeping Delta and Eleanor from escaping. Delta will need the security override key to stop the lockdown. While trying to find the key, Delta discovers an Alpha Series Big Daddy with the key. Lamb reveals that this Big Daddy is Sinclair, now named Subject Omega. Sinclair says that he still has some self-will remaining, but it is difficult to speak because Lamb is controlling him. Sinclair pleads with Delta to kill him, saying that he would rather die than live under Lamb's control. His last wish is for Delta to take the lifeboat and escape. After Delta fights and kills Sinclair, Eleanor sympathizes with Delta over the death of Sinclair and has Delta take the key from his body. Eleanor advises Delta to be ready because overriding the security system means releasing all of the dangerous prisoners.

Lamb is determined to sink the facility and is willing to kill Eleanor because she betrayed her own mother, The Rapture Family, and the duty of her birth. Lamb then turns her attention to the lifeboat and attempts to destroy it by bombing the ballast tanks, this causes the lifeboat to flood and be too heavy to launch. Eleanor thinks the only way to get rid of the water is to boil it away, but this will require a large amount of ADAM. The ADAM will have to be obtained from the few Little Sisters that are kept in the Pediatric Wards. The player's past choices will affect the storyline at this point, as what the player has done to the Little Sisters determines what Eleanor will do to the girls, to get the ADAM. If the player rescued the Little Sisters, then Eleanor will also rescue the girls and transport them to the lifeboat. All of their ADAM combined can boil the water away. If the player harvested the Little Sisters, then Eleanor will be greedy and harvest all of the girls, to get the ADAM and boil off the water by herself.

While the water is boiling, the prisoners continue to attack Delta and Eleanor. When the water has boiled away, Eleanor says that the elevator shaft is flooded and she thinks that flooding the facility will equalize the pressure. Delta destroys the water conduits, and the facility becomes flooded. As the final series of bombs in the facility detonate, Eleanor races with Delta to reach the elevator to the lifeboat. A set of charges goes off directly in their path, forcing Eleanor to teleport to the rising lifeboat. Delta is stunned by the explosion and stranded on the outside of the lifeboat, but manages to cling to the ascending vessel as his heart weakens more and more. Eleanor makes it safely inside and finds her mother there, Sofia is drowning due to the flooding inside the lifeboat. The players choices that were made earlier in the game will now determine the outcome of the storyline and the final ending. The players decision to save or kill three previously encountered non-playable characters (Grace Holloway, Stanley Poole and Gilbert Alexander), and how the player dealt with the Little Sisters, will affect whether Eleanor takes pity on her mother and give her oxygen to keep her alive, or whether she pulls her down to suffocate her. It will also influence Eleanor's behavior when confronted to the final moments of a dying Delta on the lifeboat's outside platform, after it emerged near the Lighthouse.

Death
Eleanor drowns her mother as she tries to reach a pocket of air in the flooded escape pod. If Delta has rescued all of the Little Sisters and killed every NPC then Eleanor will drown her mother. Sofia also drowns if Delta has harvested at least one Little Sister and killed at least one NPC. Depending on how the Little Sisters have been treated Eleanor says different things during this sequence.
 * Harvested at least one Little Sister: "And then father, the Rapture dream was over. You taught me that innocence is chrysalis, a phase designed to end. Only when we are free from it, do we know ourselves. You showed me that my survival, my joy, are all that matter. I Indulge, nothing else exists."
 * Saved every Little Sister: You taught me that Justice is a contract. Once broken, it can never be mended. You sacrificed so much to protect the innocent, but to the guilty, you offered no mercy. I loved my mother, and I never wanted to hurt her. But with what she did to us, she gave up the right to exist. My hands were shaking when I did it, but you were there to steady them."

Life
As Sofia Lamb struggles to reach a pocket of air, Eleanor will swim in and hand her mother a small air tank to breathe from, allowing her to live. If Delta has rescued all of the Little Sisters and been merciful towards at least one of the NPCs, then Sofia Lamb will be saved from drowning by her daughter. If Delta has harvested at least one Little Sister but spared all the NPCs Eleanor will also let her mother live. Depending on how the Little Sisters have been treated Eleanor says different things during this sequence.
 * Harvested at least one Little Sister: "And then father, the Rapture dream was over. You taught me that right and wrong were tidal forces, ever shifting. To survive in Rapture, Father, you took what you needed from the innocent. But... when the guilty posed no further threat, you simply walked away. I wanted Mother dead, but broken as she was, how could she hurt me? Now, she will grow old and die, knowing that I rejected her."
 * Saved every Little Sister: "And then father, the Rapture dream was over. You taught me that 'evil' is just a word. Under the skin, it's simple pain. For you, mercy was victory. You sacrificed, you endured, and when given the chance, you forgave. Always. Mother believed this world was irredeemable, but she was wrong, Father. We are Utopia, you and I, and in forgiving, we left the door open for her."

Worst Ending
Eleanor brutally harvests Delta's ADAM against his will, preserving his experience and survival instincts for herself. She then watches as the bodies of dead Splicers rise to the surface. The corpse-filled ocean, which is crashing violently as a powerful thunderstorm rages overhead, foreshadows the bloody future the world will face, as it will now confront the full might of Rapture's godlike genetic technologies wielded by the ruthless genius and unimaginable cruelty of Eleanor.

Choice Endings
If Delta rescues at least one Little Sister and harvests at least one Little Sister he gets a choice ending, in which he can choose to either live or die.

Selfish Choice
Delta allows Eleanor to preserve his mind and essence within herself rather than let him die. Eleanor then calmly watches as the bodies of dead Splicers rise to the surface. The corpse-filled ocean, which is crashing violently as a powerful thunderstorm rages overhead, foreshadows the bloody future the world might face, as it may now have to confront the full might of Rapture's godlike genetic technologies wielded by the genius and cruelty of Eleanor.

Sad Choice
Delta refuses to let Eleanor preserve him, possibly feeling that she shouldn't be tainted with the essence of a murderer. Having used up the lives and energies of the Little Sisters to secure their escape, Eleanor laments being all alone in the world, and she drags her dying guardian to the edge of the submersible. As she cries in misery and pain, she thanks Delta for giving her freedom. Delta looks at his reflection in the calm seas, while a gloomy sky blocks out the sun. Feeling his life fading away, he uses the last of his strength to look at Eleanor one last time before collapsing, his view shifting to the dim lighthouse in the distance, noticeable as it desperately struggles to shine in the darkness.

Best Ending
If Delta rescued every Little Sister, then on the surface he will breathe his last breaths in Eleanor's arms and she will lovingly extract his ADAM, allowing him to become a part of her. Eleanor and the rescued Little Sisters gather together under bright warm weather as she contemplates her future potential in the world.

Minerva's Den
The following events are occurring some time during the course of BioShock 2

After leaving Subject Delta in the hands of Sinclair at the Atlantic Express Depot, Brigid Tenenbaum turns her attention to the true reason of her return to Rapture. She makes contact with Charles Milton Porter, the original founder of Rapture Central Computing and creator of The Thinker, "Rapture Operational Data Interpreter Network" (RODIN for short), a supercomputer powered by an ADAM based artificial intelligence which, among other things, controls Rapture's automated devices and security systems. She learned that this supercomputer may help her to create a cure for ADAM sickness, but it is kept in Minerva's Den by Reed Wahl, Porter's former colleague turned mad by ADAM's side effects. To infiltrate this district of high-technologies, she reactivated another Big Daddy of the Alpha Series, Subject Sigma. The path to the Thinker is difficult as the Den is defended not only by Wahl's Splicers, but also by deadly modified Security Bot models, and the few Little Sisters gathering ADAM around this place are guarded by Lancer Big Daddies, a series of Protectors who remained in Minerva's Den after its lockdown during the Civil War. Led by Porter via radio, Sigma reaches first the Operations sector where he prepares a jamming device in order to pass through the defense grid set by Sofia Lamb, the last mean preventing bathyspheres to leave Rapture. Then after overcoming Wahl's defenses, he finally reach the Thinker's Core where Wahl awaits, trying to solve the equation that he believes will help him solve the mystery around Porter's return and Sigma's reactivation.

After Subject Sigma defeats Reed Wahl and the Alpha Series he set after him, Tenenbaum tells him to go print the Thinker's hard code out. As the computer scans Sigma, it is revealed that he is actually Charles Milton Porter, and that the Thinker was assuming his personality so as to better guide him. Then, Tenenbaum directs Porter to his office with the promise that they will meet soon. There among the several possessions of Porter, a color TV likely invented by him can be found, as well as an audio diary recording the first use of the personality duplication program on the Thinker, who successfully managed to simulate Pearl Porter, his deceased wife for whom he never stopped mourning. Once Porter leaves the office, he passes through a series of caves and arrives at his private bathysphere dock. Inside the bathysphere is Tenenbaum waiting with a suitcase full of flasks of ADAM, a pistol and a Wrench. It is revealed that the two reached the surface and she managed to return Porter back to human form thanks to her researches with the help of the recovered processing capabilities of the Thinker, leaving behind his now empty diving suit. As a final goodbye to his wife Pearl, he stands by her grave, leaves a bouquet of flowers and and an apology letter, finally resigned to let her go.