Live Test Facility

"Come on in and show us those snappy snappies." - Peach Wilkins This article could use some more pictures. Would you kindly help BioShock Wiki by adding some? Pictures needed: Renders: "Holding Cells" marquee; "Surveillance Office" marquee; "Holding Cells ➜" sign; "Protector Candidate" sign; "Gatherer Candidate" sign

For the location in Inner Persephone, see Holding.

“This is where they bound us together, Father… playing God… you were the only good thing Rapture ever gave me…”

― Eleanor Lamb

The Live Test Facility, or the Holding Cells, is a location visited within the hidden ADAM Research Laboratory at Fontaine Futuristics in BioShock 2. In this site, Big Daddies were held, experimented on, and bonded with Little Sisters.

History

Poor Meltzer…

Rapture was a society that believed in pushing past boundaries, limits, and conventional morality. Nevertheless, even the forward-thinking Rapturean citizens might have been appalled to learn about the secret behind the brainwashed, ADAM-producing Little Sisters or the true identities of their diving-suit-wearing protectors. Worser still, some enterprising capitalist might have stolen the knowledge behind this technology to get a leg up in the ADAM industry. With these fears in mind, Frank Fontaine hid his true Plasmid Research and Development base far away from the eyes of the public and behind a thick shield of security.

The Live Test Facility was the center of action in the hidden research laboratory. Here scientists experimented with ways make Little Sisters more productive ADAM gatherers by linking them with Big Daddies who could protect them in the field. Eventually they turned to the idea of conditioning them with surgeries and mentally manipulating them with a barrage of video stimuli. The test subjects who found themselves here endured a hellish existence of desperation, incarceration, and experimentation.

Bioshock 2 Remember Kids secret video

"Remember Kids" indoctrination video.

One of those residents was a girl named Eleanor Lamb, daughter of Sofia Lamb. After her arrival, she became a Little Sister and was bonded to Subject Delta, the former deep-sea explorer and onetime celebrity "Johnny Topside" who had accidentally discovered Rapture. The duo were just one of many who were pair bonded during the Alpha Series Program. Sometime later Dr. Gilbert Alexander put the older sisters to a new regimen of physical and mental conditioning and equipped them with modified protective gear from the Big Daddies. He called these new, feral protectors "Big Sisters."

BioShock 2

Main article: BioShock 2

Subject Delta enters the secret laboratory in the depths of the sea in order to find Alex the Great, the deranged, ADAM-ravaged alter ego of Gilbert Alexander. Alex's Genetic Key is needed to gain access to Persephone so that Delta can reunite with Eleanor and escape Rapture. The now hideously mutated Alex can be lured from the recesses of the tank he's taken up residence in with some ADAM-Infused Plants, so Delta enters the Live Test Facility to gather some.

Main Entrance

Entering the Live Test Facility.

Entering the facility, Delta will find himself in a split-level foyer area that connects to the Surveillance Office and the Test Subject Surgery. This space, just like the rest of the lab, is littered with debris, leaking from broken water pipes, and overrun with deep-sea plant life, barnacles, and Hypnotic Polyps. Sources of loot in this room include a Health Station, Ammo Bandido vending machine, a storage crate, and the ADAM corpse of an Alpha Series that a Little Sister can collect ADAM from. Hazards include a Grenade Launcher Turret, a puddle of gasoline, and some Leadhead Splicers encountered when first entering.

Test Subject Surgery

The passage to the Test Subject Surgery.

Stepping through the bulkhead leads to the next area, a hall leading to a surgery facility. Stomping through the hall is Mark Meltzer now converted into a Rumbler Big Daddy; he patrols the corridor while his daughter Cindy Meltzer as she performs her work as a Little Sister. As the Meltzers make their rounds, they're ambushed by a pair of Splicers.

The mind control section.

To one side of the hall, there's a scrub area where scientist would prepare before surgery; there's some trap rivets in the wash sink. Further along by a large, flaming generator is another Health Station, three more storage crates and a small cache of rivets and 00 Buck. Heading back to the center of the chamber, Delta finds the raised platform of the surgery alcove. This place was where the operation to link the Big Daddies to the Little Sisters was performed. Afterwards, in their suggestive states, the candidates would be forced to watch a series of indoctrinating films broadcast from a series of monitors in the area. Eleanor uses her powers to share a vision of when Delta was experimented on at this very location. One of the ADAM-infused plants can be found growing beside one of the chairs the candidates were strapped to. The ADAM Corpse of a former scientist can be found in this area as well as a Bot Shutdown Panel.

The Surveillance Office was well-armed.

In an adjoining hall immediately past the surgery area is the stairway leading down to the Holding Cells. There's a Circus of Values and a Gene Bank set up nearby. Down at the far end of hall is a Little Sister Vent with an audio diary located beside it. This spot is patrolled by a Security Camera, but just below it is another storage crate and broken window that looks in on the Surveillance Office. Delta can fire a Hack Dart through to unlock the door and gain entry. Inside is a Power to the People machine and some munitions.

Test Subject Holding Cells

Inside the Holding Cells.

Located one floor below the surgery wing, the Holding Cells were where the candidates were housed in between experiments. Delta finds the entrance is locked, but he can drop into cell 2 from a broken viewing grate above to gain access to the area. There were forty-five cells when the facility was still in normal working order, but only six are reachable through the debris. The area was a nightmarish prison back when Rapture was in its heyday, and has now become a bloody, deteriorating space littered with bodies.

After entering the broken cell, Delta finds the holding area isn't quite as dead as first expected. A Houdini Splicer enters to investigate the noise and a turret is encountered next door in cell 3. Various other items can be found in each of the other five units. Cell 1 is frozen over by a burst refrigeration pipe and has an audio diary and a safe. The door to cell 44 is broken, but Delta can navigate in by heading through cell 43. Finally in cell 45 is another ADAM-Infused Plant.

Having obtained what he needs from the Live Test Facility, Delta can finish his business in the hidden lab and move on. At the conclusion of BioShock 2, this facility sank with all of Fontaine Futuristics into the depths of the sea.

New Discoveries

Single Use Events

• ADAM-Infused Plant - In the chairs located Subject Surgery.
• ADAM-Infused Plant - In Cell number 2.
• There is a Power to the People vending machine.

Audio Diaries

1. Sofia Lamb - Meltzer's Choice - Killing the Rumbler named Mark Meltzer.
2. Eleanor Lamb - Goodbye, Dr. Alexander - Below one of the Little Sister vents in the Test Subject Surgery.
3. Andrew Ryan - Betrayal - The northwestern frozen cell.
4. Gilbert Alexander - Big Sister - Next to the Power to the People weapon upgrade station in the locked Surveillance Office.

Gallery

The ADAM corpse of an Alpha Series.

Leadheads on the attack.

A vision of the past.

One of the needed plants.

Zero privacy in cell 3.