Rapture Storyline

1946-1952: Foundation of Rapture


Andrew Ryan first began 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 63° 2' N, 29° 55' W, in the North Atlantic ocean. A building platform, nicknamed "the Sinker", was lowered from the Olympian to bring the supplies and crewmen to the seafloor where it was permanently moored at the bottom.

The city was primarily designed by the architectural firm Wales & Wales, and the art-deco metropolis was meant to be the ideal utopia, where art, industry, and science would thrive undisturbed by interventions from governments and other social agencies. 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. People from around the world emigrated to the hidden city during the time period of 1946 to 1952, sparking conspiracy theories on the surface about mass disappearances, termed "The Vanishing." Rapture's population numbered several thousand at its peak during the early 1950's and was composed of those people Ryan viewed as the "best examples" of mankind.

Unfortunately, the city did not plan accommodations for the large number of workers who had labored to construct it. While the artistic and scientific elite from around the world emigrated to fill the metropolis, these workers were left in leaking, crowded, "temporary" housing in Pauper's Drop. This stark contrast between the poor and the intellectual upper crust was mostly ignored by Ryan and his Central Council. However, Ryan did listen to advice that the citizens were becoming anxious from the isolation of the city and the lack of sun. Thus he hired Sofia Lamb, a renowned psychiatrist on the surface, and invited her down to Rapture to help individuals cope with life under the ocean. Lamb's utilitarian beliefs largely clashed with the free market ideal of Rapture, and she devoted much of her efforts to the poorer citizens. In this way she became a significant political rival of Ryan.

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

Tenenbaum was scoffed at by all of the other scientists in Rapture, until she approached Frank Fontaine, a businessman with a distinguished name in Neptune's Bounty. He agreed to fund Tenenbaum's research and development as long as he was able to profit from the findings in the end. He funded her research using the fortune he had acquired from his smuggling ring, bringing contraband items from the surface down to Rapture. Tenenbaum's research quickly began taking off. She discovered that a substance the sea slugs secreted behaved like stem cells, and that by using it she could manipulate DNA entirely. She was able to "bend the double-helix", cure diseases, and give organisms amazing powers. The substance was thought to be a "rebirth" for humanity, and it was dubbed "ADAM".

Shortly after the discovery of ADAM the scientists made another breakthrough: If the slug was implanted into a host, it would produce twenty to thirty times the original amount of ADAM. Presumably they tried to insert the slug into the stomachs of various other test subjects, but only one type of subject seemed to work well with the slug: young girls. After this discovery, they started to implant the slugs into little girls, but they needed a ready supply of hosts if they were going to mass produce ADAM as Fontaine wanted. 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.

1952-1959: Rapture's Golden Ages and Beginning of the End
When Ryan initially noticed 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, and it only increased the number of her supporters. At last Ryan began to fear her influence, and he commissioned Augustus Sinclair's company "Sinclair Solutions" to monitor her and her followers, hoping to find an excuse to take her into custody. Stanley Poole of the Rapture Tribune acted as an undercover spy for Sinclair, becoming one of the "Rapture Family," Lamb's followers. Eventually Lamb was taken by Ryan's men and locked away at Persephone, a prison complex owned by Sinclair.

Once Fontaine Futuristics was able to produce ADAM in a massive scale, the marketing of Gene Tonics and Plasmids (developed by Dr. Yi Suchong) went mainstream, selling to any individual that could afford them. These Tonics and Plasmids allowed individuals to do superhuman things, such as create fire at their fingertips (Incinerate!), release a swarm of bees from their arms (Insect Swarm), or increase muscle tissue and movement speed (SportBoost). Originally, Andrew Ryan enjoyed the success of Frank Fontaine, citing him as a prime example of the type of individual that should be inhabiting Rapture.

A few years passed, and Andrew Ryan began suspecting Fontaine of various crimes, ranging from smuggling to murder. A full-scale genetic arms race broke out between Ryan and Fontaine, as Fontaine's monopoly on ADAM threatened the current social structure. Andrew Ryan then attempted to arrest Fontaine; but Fontaine decided that he himself wanted to go down "guns blazing" and faked his death during the shootout in late 1958. After this, Andrew Ryan assumed control of Fontaine Futuristics, and began to produce Plasmids and Tonics within his own company, Ryan Industries. Tightening his grip upon the city, Ryan began instituting harsher punishments against problem citizens, arresting many of Dr. Lamb's followers.

Rapture was filled with civil unrest in the following months as Fontaine stepped into his Atlas persona, rallying the people who had flocked to his poor houses in subtle guerrilla warfare against Ryan's security forces. To combat this threat Ryan adjusted the Little Sister program to send the little girls out into the streets to gather ADAM from corpses. Ryan also commissioned Dr. Suchong to develop protectors for the girls, taking many of Lamb's imprisoned followers from Persephone and modifying them into prototype Big Daddies. To supply even more ADAM for the growing need Ryan's men began kidnapping little girls to turn into Little Sisters. After Suchong's accidental death by a prototype Big Daddy, the Protector Project was placed under the control of Dr. Gilbert Alexander, another brilliant scientist from Fontaine Futuristics. He finally completed Suchong's work by bonding Eleanor Lamb, daughter of Sofia Lamb, who was abducted and turned into a Little Sister, to Subject Delta. They became the first ADAM gathering couple working in Rapture.

The minor skirmishes reached a climax on the New Year's Eve of 1958, when the disenfranchised citizens who supported Atlas 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.

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 a few loyal Splicers finally captured Eleanor from her protector. Delta was incapacitated by the 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.

Throughout the Civil War, citizens and Splicers who were skilled enough to take down a Big Daddy learned how to retrieve more ADAM from the Little Sisters, harvesting, which resulted in the girl's death. Brigid Tenenbaum, after being confronted by a Little Sister in Farmer's Market, developed a Plasmid of her own that would kill the slug inside the Little Sisters, restoring their humanity. Tenenbaum then began to collect the girls she rescued, hiding in an underground safe room in the sewers of Olympus Heights, keeping her and the girls safe from harm.

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 used the opportunity of the conflict to test many of Ryan Industries' Plasmids and Gene Tonics on citizens in the streets through Sinclair Solutions, a company owned by Augustus Sinclair. Early 1959 also saw great advances in the technology of Big Daddies under Dr. Gilbert Alexander's influence.

From the beginning, Ryan used the press to incite the citizens against Atlas, designating him as a "parasite" and an enemy of Rapture. Then, as the final tests with the Alpha Series were completed for the Protector Program, Ryan Industries began to release the first functional Big Daddies (Bouncer and Rosie models) into the streets to keep the citizens away from the Little Sisters during their work. However, many accidents involving the protectors were reported by the press. The aggressive nature of the Big Daddies was already known by Ryan's men and the scientific community, and Dr. Suchong himself had been one of the first victims even before their public appearance. Unfortunately, even the protectors weren't enough to keep Atlas' men from abducting the young gatherers for their ADAM. These incidents earned Atlas the label "child killer" in the newspapers. Ryan continued to use the press to publish propaganda reports of his victories against the rebellion.

As the conflict escalated, the bad side effects of ADAM became recognized among the population as Dr. J.S. Steinman, a well-known surgeon in Rapture who became addled by ADAM's degenerative effects, committed acts of atrocity 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 gatherers in order 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 contain his opponents, while Persephone Penal Colony was still under Sofia Lamb's control and cut off from the rest of the city. Arcadia was forced to close because of incidents involving an ADAM addicted nature cult called the Saturnine, and 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 also closed to the public and converted into the Proving Grounds to train the new Big Daddies. Even the peaceful 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, and Siren Alley, whose residents suffered from rising unemployment rates, was turned into the city's red-light district.

The violence escalated as the condition of 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 for personal advantage was finally hung under suspicion of being a spy of Atlas. With Splicers becoming more and more organized, Ryan Industries' only 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 disconnected from the rest of the city by Reed Wahl.

In the end of that era, Andrew Ryan, "seeking solutions in seclusion" within Rapture Central Control in Hephaestus (earning him the label "Hephaestus Hermit" by the press), attempted to maintain control by enacting harsher laws, limiting the movement of the population, shutting down the Bathysphere network, and enacting the death penalty for anyone who broke these laws. Eventually, even the newspapers were forced to cease publication as Ryan instituted Security Order 217. However, the public disorder continued to escalate. In an act of desperation, Ryan violated the greatest virtue he held dear, free will, by introducing a type of &quot;pheromone&quot; into the air which would allow him slight mental control over all of the ADAM addicted citizens. Once Ryan had complete control of the city, Atlas went into hiding like all the few remaining sane citizens, and the insane Splicers roamed the streets of Rapture.

1960: An Unexpected Event in Rapture (BioShock)
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Jack, a passenger on a commercial air craft 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, it is later revealed the whole content of the letter 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 "awakes" 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.

Welcome to Rapture and the Introduction to the City
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. Upon arrival, a man awaits Jack's exit from the bathysphere, but is killed by a grotesque figure(Rose) that is apparently insane. 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 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 tells Jack of an alternative route through the Medical Pavilion.

Medical Pavilion and the Security Lockdown
Jack escapes Ryan's henchmen to Rapture's medical complex, the Medical Pavilion, and continues to learn about Rapture and encounter 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 informs 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 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 Gatherers Garden. Then 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 unarmed without 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 poison 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's 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 saying 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 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 device that was being assembled by Kyburz to destroy Ryan's defense. 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 has 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's 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 and be knocked unconscious.

Olympus Heights and Apollo Square
Jack awakes in Tenenbaum's Safe House in 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 allow 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 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 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

Confrontation with Fontaine
right|250px As the elevator carries Jack toward his destination, Frank Fontaine announces 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, repeatedly forcing Fontaine to 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 five Little Sisters emerging from their vents to swarm him. The Little Sisters pounce upon him, repeatedly stabbing Fontaine with ADAM extraction needles, killing him.

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 takes the five Little Sisters to the surface and raises them, allowing them a normal life to learn, marry, and have children, and becoming the family Jack never had.

Evil Ending
If during the game the player killed multiple Little Sisters, Tenenbaum states that Jack is overcome with 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. She has two voices for the same video, if you harvested all, then it is hostile. 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, depressed tone.

1960-1967: The Rebirth of Rapture
Whether Jack harvested or saved the Little Sisters, at some point in time his influence became less direct in Rapture and Tenenbaum soon left with the remaining Little Sisters. The removal of Little Sisters would, however, have a chaotic effect on the remaining citizens of Rapture. Without the Little Sisters to recycle the ADAM from the corpses littering the city, ADAM became even harder to find, and the Splicers more violent, insane 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. 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 researches also lead 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 mind of Splicers.

In order to create the first "Utopian", Lamb and Alexander conducted new experiments based on Jack's mental conditioning (created by Dr. Suchong many years before). The subject of the operation would be imbued with the entire collective genius of Rapture via ADAM infusion (collected during the last seven years) and would 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. Denied 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 in order to kill him.

1967-1968: Sea of Dreams (There's Something in the Sea)
As ADAM was running short in Rapture (the remaining Little Sisters were too old to carry out their functions), Lamb used the new Big Sisters to kidnap girls from the surface to create new Little Sisters, in order to bring back ADAM to Rapture but also to conduct new experiments on her own daughter and create her 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 forced into an artificial sleep 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 one of the disused Vita-Chambers 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 the Little Sister he was bonded to before his death, Eleanor Lamb, Delta confronts Sofia Lamb, to whom Eleanor is also of great interest. In his journey he encounters Dr. Tenenbaum, who has returned to Rapture to rescue the new generation of Little Sisters, as well as Augustus Sinclair, the shady head of Sinclair Solutions, who guides him throughout his quest to find Eleanor.

Adonis Luxury Resort
Delta awakes 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 Vita-Chamber. Subject 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. He soon walks down a hallway that show his murderer, Sofia Lamb, on several of the walls as well as her name written in graffiti all over the city. Delta then encounters a Gatherer's Garden and has a moment of uncertainty when a young woman connects in his mind and yells "Father!" This woman is Eleanor, and she has left a gift for him, the Electro Bolt Plasmid. Along with many child-like objects like a wagon, doll, and messages and drawings meant for Delta from Eleanor. By splicing with Electro Bolt, Delta knocks himself unconscious. As he awakens, he sees a Little Sister telling him the only way he will get better is to find Eleanor, immediately being taken by the mysterious enemy.

Delta restores power to the resort by shocking the generator when he is again contacted by the same woman who woke him up, her name is Tenenbaum, and she wishes to meet him at the Atlantic Express. While Delta tries to find her, he soon realizes what is happening. The people in Rapture have changed and little girls from the surface have been made into new Little Sisters, while his murderer, Sofia 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 while the Little Sister warns him that Big Sister is coming. The Little Sister is then captured by the mysterious enemy he now knows as the Big Sister. She challenges Delta to a battle, and so, Delta battles her, but she escapes just before dying and floods the resort. Owing to the fact he is a type of Big Daddy, Delta survives the ordeal and proceeds toward the Atlantic Express Train Station. While walking through the water, 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 the resort, he continues to find Tenenbaum who guides him to the ticket booth where she resides. On his way there, Tenenbaum tells him what has happened in the past ten years. Rapture fell due to ADAM, and this caused people to turn into lethal drug-addicts known as Splicers. And that Andrew Ryan, the former ruler of Rapture, was murdered, and his rival, Sofia Lamb, is in control of everything. She's in control of Rapture, the Splicers, the Big Daddies, the Big Sisters, the Little Sisters, and the Security. After he goes through part of the station, Delta is trapped and contacted by Sofia Lamb. Like Andrew Ryan in the previous game, Sofia appears on multiple televisions and speaks to Delta directly. She informs him that it is unknown how he survived, but says he won't survive again. So, Sofia sends Splicers to kill him. However, Delta escapes before dying by falling through the weak floor and proceeds through the station before he finds another wagon present and is contacted again by Eleanor Lamb, saying that Sofia will never do anything like that again and that she begs Delta to find her. Eleanor gives Delta Telekinesis.

While going through the station, Lamb figures that he survived and contacts him that Eleanor has a destiny and that he can't take her away from her duty. When he is near, Delta is contacted again by Tenenbaum stating that he is dying because of the separation of the protection bond. And that his Little Sister, Eleanor Lamb, can be reached at Fontaine Futuristics, and he 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 where she has already saved some of the new Little Sisters. Tenenbaum says that Sofia 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, 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 in the booth, Tenenbaum has Delta protect her and the girls while they escape to a new safe location. Tenenbaum leaves Delta and apologizes, but has Delta partner with a rather suspicious ally known as Augustus Sinclair. Sinclair automatically befriends Delta and has Delta go on the train and meet him at Ryan Amusements.

Ryan Amusements
While on the train, Delta had to make a sudden stop because the station is iced over. Sinclair states that in order to melt that ice, he will need a Plasmid known as Incinerate!, a Plasmid that enables the user to throw fire from his hand. Delta needs to get in the park with a ticket, and while Delta finds this said ticket, Sinclair informs Delta that he is an old Big Daddy model known as Alpha Series, and Sinclair reveals his own agenda to sell Rapture's wonderments to the surface. Delta enters the park when Sinclair informs him that in order to get that Plasmid, he'll need ADAM, and only Little Sisters carry the substance. Delta is directed to the El Dorado Lounge where Sinclair thinks one might be there. After Delta fights a Big Daddy, Delta is forced to adopt the Little Sister. Sinclair says in order to get ADAM, the Sister will have to harvest ADAM-filled corpses around the area.

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

After the Little Sister finished off all the corpses in the park, Sinclair says that there is two ways Delta can get the remainder of the ADAM, Delta can either Rescue the girl which will turn her back into human 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 Incinerate! and heads to the Hall of the Future where the Gatherer's Garden resides. After Delta purchases it, Delta is attacked again by the Big Sister. After Delta kills her, he proceeds to the station and melts the ice. By which then, Delta meets Sinclair and says he thinks of Delta as a friend and then boards the train before they are ambushed by Lamb's Splicers. After this, Delta gets on the train with Sinclair and then proceeds.

Pauper's Drop
Delta is stopped 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 Ex-Jazz singer in a club known as The Limbo Room, and that Grace was in charge of Eleanor when Lamb went to prison. When Grace lost Eleanor, she felt that she 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 her into a monster. Grace approached Eleanor to speak to her, with no knowledge of Deltas Defense programming, causing Delta to hit Grace, breaking her jaw and 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 Drill Dash. In order to get Drill Dash, Delta needs to research Brute Splicers of 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 entire hotel to the top. After going through the entire hotel, Sinclair is well aware of Grace's incorrect grudge against Delta, and Sinclair suggests it would be the best for everyone to kill Grace. Delta reaches Grace at 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 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 chance to have a child. She allows you to come in into her room, take the key, and kill her, 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 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 by his torpedo. After Delta awakes on the ground underwater, he figures he is between the Park and a place called Siren Alley. Sinclair radios in that he is trapped in the Park, as it is flooded and there isn't much air in the train, he advises Delta to go into Siren Alley and drain the park out from Pumping Station 5. Delta is contacted by Lamb who states that Simon Wales will be happy enough to kill Delta if he himself dies for it. Upon entering, Delta meets Simon who has turned into a Spider Splicer and is dubbed Father Simon Wales as he is the preacher of Lamb's made religion known as The Rapture Family. Wales preaches in the Pumping Station which is locked by a code, and only 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 Pearl and battles Daniel, killing him. Upon searching him, Delta finds the diary which contains the code. Upon entering the code back at the door, Lamb shuts down the power, locking the door, and tells Simon that 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, revealing the Little Sister's Orphanage. Inside, reveals that Eleanor once lived there for some apparent reason and is taken by a doctor who then transforms her into a Little Sister and bonds her with Delta. Delta then enters the Pumping Station and battles everyone in the chapel, including Simon.

After a rough battle, Delta kills Simon and collects the override key. After going into the station and draining Dionysus Park, Lamb discovers this and the death of her preacher. She becomes furious and sends Delta a strong message. Lamb begins to flood Siren Alley, saying that this dark episode is who the people are. After the power is cut out, Delta continues when Lamb completely floods Siren Alley, killing everyone inside except Delta as he makes his way to the park.

Dionysus Park
After entering the park, Sinclair informs Delta that the Park was housed for Lamb's 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. After meeting him, Stanley states that Little Sisters have come in to the park now and have started to gather ADAM from the bodies. Stanley is paranoid because recycled ADAM has memories of its users, and the Sisters and Lamb can read them. Stanley orders Delta to find and deal with the Little Sisters, and he will let Delta proceed on his way. Sinclair is suspicious of this man, but advises Delta to just do it so they can proceed. While Delta tries to find the Little Sisters, Stanley informs him that Subject Delta is just a serial number. Delta was originally a sailor who found Rapture on a diving bell, he was named Johnny Topside and was exiled by Ryan thinking he was a CIA spook.

As Delta finds and deals with the Little Sisters, Eleanor contacts him of the memories she found in the ADAM. Apparently, Lamb was exiled by Ryan because of her ideals. She left Stanley in charge of her money and power of Dionysus Park. However, Stanley used the money to splice up and throw mad parties. One day, young Eleanor confronted Stanley and told him that she will tell her mother of what he is doing to her mother's money, power, and followers. Poole became paranoid and sold her to the Little Sister's Orphanage. Eleanor states that he 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, so he was the one who flooded the Park. He was trying to get rid of the Sisters to cover it up. Before leaving the park, Delta and Poole were contacted by Lamb, saying that she knew all along that Poole had flooded the Park, and has forgiven him, but she says that he was a spy for Ryan in the Family, and Poole sold Delta out to Ryan, he was the reason why Delta was turned into a Big Daddy. Everyone including Eleanor advises Delta to kill Poole for what he has done. Sofia opens the ticket booth so Delta may have his revenge. Killing Poole won't change the storyline, nor will sparing him. Whatever Delta may have done to Stanley, he proceeds with Sinclair to Fontaine Futuristics.

Fontaine Futuristics
Delta stops here for this is where Eleanor is. Sinclair says that Lamb is using all of the ADAM in Rapture to feed Eleanor with all the memories of the city so Eleanor may be a goddess and save everyone. 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 wakening. Alexander states that he worked on the Big Daddy development 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 into Fontaine Futuristics, Delta encounters a superior Security Bot with a screen displaying a disfigured face. The bot also speaks, who has contacts with Delta and taunts him the entire level. Sinclair recognizes the bot's voice and figures that it it is controlled by the spliced Alexander known as 'Alex the Great'. While in the lobby, 'Alex the Great' brings out a Big Daddy that is similar looking to Delta, an Alpha Series model that is extremely lethal and a weapon/Plasmid wielder just like Delta. After Delta kills the model, he is let in where the former Gil gives Delta the password to enter the security room that will unlock the doors the Laboratory where 'Alex the Great' resides, however, the bot controlled by Alex short-circuits the speaker that will allow Delta to enter. Sinclair states the only way to enter is to destroy the Control Panels on the Security Shut-down switches scattered around the facility. Doing so will shut down Alex's bot and will allow Delta to enter the security room. After Delta fights his way thorough the Splicers and Alpha Series, he manages to cut 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 cuts all of the control panels, the Alex Bot shuts down which allows Delta to break in the security room and throw the switch, opening the Laboratories.

Delta proceeds in the lab 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 entrance to Persephone where Eleanor is kept. He says the only way to clear the boulders, Delta needs a genetic key from Alexander to clear it. Delta then comes into the laboratories which are pitch-black. Former Gil informs Delta that the light now stings his eyes, and Delta needs to return power. After Delta switches the circuit-breakers, he flips the switch which turns on the lights, revealing the highly-Spliced Alexander, who then hides away. Gil says that the only way to lure himself out is to fill the tank with four plants infused with ADAM. After retrieving the plants and luring Alex out, Delta takes a gene sample and makes the genetic key needed to find Eleanor. Gil has a last Audio Diary stating that the button on the table will electrify the tank he is in, more than enough to kill him. Like Poole, nothing will happen to the storyline if Delta kills or spares him. After taking the key, Delta goes outside and puts the key in a fuel tank, revealing the door to Persephone. Delta then goes inside and takes the elevator down to find Eleanor.

Persephone
After Delta rides the elevator down, Eleanor sends a distress call saying that she's in a cage. Delta approaches this cage where Eleanor resides. Sofia has one last attempt to kill Delta by sending two Big Sisters to kill him. After Delta kills the two, he throws the quarantine switch to let him in to get Eleanor, Delta loses Sinclair on the radio and sees that Lamb is already inside. Lamb says that Eleanor brought Delta back because she wanted a father. She 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 of her daughter, but says the only way to separate Delta and Eleanor's bond and kill Delta is put the Separation-Bond into effect. The Separation Bond was put into all Alpha Series Big Daddies including Delta. The Separation Bond is when a Big Daddy is put in a coma leading to death after their assigned Little Sister's heart stops beating. So, Sofia grabs Eleanor's pillow and asks for her forgiveness as she smothers Eleanor with the pillow, making Delta very weak. Before Delta is close enough to get to Eleanor, Eleanor's heart stops beating. Leaving Delta to go into a coma while he stares at Eleanor's cold, dead face. Eleanor survived, but is left very weak, leaving Delta in a coma.

Delta awakes when he is contacted by Eleanor, who says that the bond is now broken and Delta is to die within hours. Delta is in a restrained stretcher and is trapped. Eleanor, however, has plans to escape with Delta. So, she sends a Little Sister with a Plasmid to Delta so he may take control of the Sister and break Eleanor out. Delta can then see through the Sister's eyes and sees Rapture as a heavenly place instead of the nightmarish reality. Eleanor says that she needs to become a Big Sister so Eleanor may fight with Delta and escape safely. After the Sister gathers all the suit requirements for Eleanor, she brings them to her. This is where the player's choice affects the storyline: if Delta saved all of the Little Sisters, then Eleanor will rescue the Sister, following in his footsteps. Eleanor then becomes a forgiving and loving person. If the player harvested the girls instead, then she will become selfish and cruel, ripping the ADAM out of the child. Either way, Delta returns to his body where Eleanor comes and breaks him free, giving him the Summon Eleanor Plasmid so she may fight by his side. Before entering 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 and killing anyone 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. Like before, Eleanor will need the override key to stop the lock-down. While trying to find the key, Delta discovers an Omega Alpha Series model with the key. Lamb reveals that this Subject Omega is Sinclair. Sinclair struggles to radio Delta, he says that he still has some will to speak, but it is troubling because Lamb is controlling him. He pleads to Delta to kill him and take the key and lifeboat. After Delta battles and kills Sinclair, Eleanor apologizes and has Delta take the key. Eleanor advises Delta to be ready because overriding the system means releasing all of the lethal prisoners. After doing so, Lamb is determined to sink the facility and is willing to kill Eleanor for she betrayed her mother, the People, and the duty of her birth. Lamb then turns her attention to the lifeboat and attempts to destroy it. When going back, Lamb destroys the ballast tanks which are needed to empty out the lifeboat, this has caused the boat to flood and it will be too heavy to launch. Eleanor thinks the only way to get rid of the flooded water is to boil it away with a high amount of ADAM. This is another part when the player's choice comes in. Lamb has only several Little Sisters left in her therapy wing, and what the player has done to the Sisters determines what Eleanor will to the girls to get the ADAM. If the player Rescued them, then Eleanor will transport all of them to the boat. All of their ADAM combined can boil all the water away. But, if the player Harvested, then Eleanor will be greedy and Harvest all the girls to get the ADAM and boil off the water by herself.

While the water is boiling, the prisoners continue to attack Delta. After the water is boiled away, Eleanor says that the elevator shaft is flooded and she thinks that flooding the facility will equalize the pressure. After Delta destroys the water tanks, and the facility becomes flooded. As the final bombs in the level detonate Eleanor races with Subject Delta to reach the elevator to the escape pod. A set of charges goes off directly in their path, forcing Eleanor to teleport to the rising escape craft. Delta is severely wounded by the explosion and stranded on the outside of the pod, but manages to cling to the ascending vessel. Eleanor makes it safely inside and finds her mother there. Sofia is drowning due to the flooding inside the escape craft, and Delta's choices of whether to save or kill the adults and Little Sisters he met earlier in the game affect whether Eleanor takes pity on her mother and gives her oxygen to keep her alive, or whether she pulls her down to suffocate her. The events after they reach the surface depend purely upon the player's choice to save or harvest Little Sisters.

Death
Eleanor drowns her mother as she tries to reach a pocket of air in the flooded escape pod. If Delta has saved 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.
 * 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."
 * 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."

Life
As Sofia Lamb struggles to reach a pocket of air, Eleanor will swim in and hand her mother a small air tank to breath from, allowing her to live. If Delta has saved 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.
 * 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."
 * 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."

Best Ending
thumb|right|200px If Delta saved 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.

Choice Endings
If Delta saves 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.

Sad Choice
thumb|200px|left 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.

Selfish Choice
thumb|200px 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.

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.

Minerva's Den
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 artifical intelligence which, among other things, controlls 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 Rapture's district of high-technologies, she reactivated another Alpha Series Big Daddy, Subject Sigma. The path to the Thinker is difficult as Minerva's Den is defended not only by Wahl's Splicers, but also by deadly new Security Bot models and the never-before-seen Lancer Big Daddy. Led by Porter via radio, Sigma overcomes Wahl's defenses, finally reaching 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, Tenenbaum tells him to go print The Thinker's hard code out on the second floor of the room. 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. Once the code is printed out, Tenenbaum directs Porter to his office with the promise that they will meet soon. Inside the office is a color TV, likely invented by Charles, and 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. There is a small memorial to Pearl deeper in his office. Once Porter leaves the office, he passes through a series of caves and arrives at a bathysphere. Inside is Tenenbaum with a suitcase full of flasks of ADAM and a wrench. After the player pulls the lever, the final cutscene plays. It is revealed that the two reached the surface and Tenenbaum managed to return Milton back to human form. Porter narrates while the player sees parts of his empty Big Daddy suit. As a final goodbye to Pearl, he stands by her grave, leaves flowers and a note read to the player.

Geschichte Scénario