Bioshock

A game by Take Two & 2K Boston/Australia

Written by: Kevin Levine & Emily Ridgway Edited by: Brian Fuller

Take Two & 2K Games (Irrational Games), 2007, all rights reserved.

Table of Contents
Foreword ...................................................................................................................... 3 Welcome to Rapture .................................................................................................. 4 Medical Pavilion ........................................................................................................ 8 Neptunes Bounty .................................................................................................... 13 Smugglers Hideout ................................................................................................. 18 Arcadia ........................................................................................................................ 20 Farmers Market ...................................................................................................... 24 Fort Frolic ................................................................................................................... 27 Poseidon Plaza .......................................................................................................... 29 Hephaestus ................................................................................................................. 33 Central Control ......................................................................................................... 38 Olympus Heights ...................................................................................................... 40 Apollo Square ............................................................................................................ 43 Point Prometheus .................................................................................................... 45 Proving Grounds ...................................................................................................... 49 Epilogue ....................................................................................................................... 52
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Foreword
Bioshock, designed by Kevin Levine and released in 2007, has enjoyed an almost unprecedented level of critical success. Game of the Year awards, nearly four-dozen in all, were lavished upon the title, along with one of the highest aggregate critic scores of all time. Though Bioshock possesses some truly incredible graphics, what set the title apart from most every other was, in fact, the caliber of its dialogue. In Bioshock, narrative is driven through two primary vehicles historical diaries and contextual radio message. As players journey through the games strange environment, they will discover numerous audio diaries, pre-taped messages discarded by the civilizations inhabitants. These messages provide snapshots that, when combined, illuminate a riveting and deeply-philosophical back story. Along with these historical records, players will receive messages via a shortwave radio. These messages, while they do sometimes provide narration, are primarily geared toward giving players their objectives. Listening to audio diaries and getting objective updates, players will begin to more deeply understand their own character and the natures of the characters around them. As the game progresses, its environment will be repainted with the deep hues of betrayal, treachery, and greed the common colors bathing the wall of so many ill-fated utopias. Rapture, the city of the damned, becomes a dystopia unlike any seen apart from the works of Thomas Moore, Aldous Huxley, or Ayn Rand. Truly, this is the modern mans Brave New World. In this, the first edition of the Bioshock script, I have taken the games subtitles and augmented them with additional dialogue from audio diaries, in-game announcements, and in-game events for which subtitles do not appear. Additionally, I have italicized words that the games talented voice actors themselves emphasized, in order to preserve their artistic vision and poetic deliveries. When possible, I have conformed dialogue punctuation to standard grammatical norms, but have been arduously careful to not sacrifice artistic integrity in so doing. Whether you are a writer seeking to glean some inspiration from this timeless classic or merely a fan of the series looking to improve your understanding of the games events, I am certain that you will find what you seek within these pages. Bioshock is a game unlike any other caustic in mood and verdant in character. I wish you all the best as you enjoy Bioshock. Best Wishes, Brian Fuller, Esq.

Bioshock
In 1960, over the mid-Atlantic, a plane crashes. A young man holds a photograph of his family, and a package in his arms that reads, To Jack, with love from Mom & Dad, would you kindly not open until- Jack: They told me, Son, youre special. You were born to do great things. You know what? They were right. Screams are heard on the aircraft, and the altimeter is heard dropping. The plane crashes into the ocean. Jack swims amidst the wreckage of the airplane, and finds a strange concrete structure jutting from the water. Inside is a banner that reads, No Gods or Kings Only Man. Jack enters a strange chamber within, which begins dropping through the water. Suddenly, a welcome message of some kind begins to play. The man providing the welcome message is named Andrew Ryan. He has a pencil-thin moustache and short, brown hair. He wears a black suit and is smoking a pipe. Ryan (video): I am Andrew Ryan and Im here to ask you a question: Is a man not entitled the sweat of his brow? No, says the man in Washington, It belongs to the poor. No, says the man in the Vatican, It belongs to God. No, says the man in Moscow, It belongs to everyone. I rejected those answers. I chose the impossible. I chose Rapture a city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, where the great would not be constrained by the small, and with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well. Jack continues dropping through the water. The welcome message rolls back, revealing a grand underwater city around him. Skyscrapers rise from the ocean bed, shining with neon lights. He hears voices coming from a shortwave radio nearby. Atlas: But the lighthouse is all lit up like hellfire, looks like some kind of plane crashJohnny: Were in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. How could itAtlas: Dont know, you best get over there, and be quick about it. The splicers are coming. Johnny: Youve got to be kidding. How do you know someones even coming? Atlas: Because we got a bathysphere on its way down. That means weve got company. Johnny: Okay, just one more minute. The sphere is coming up now. Atlas: Johnny, securitys banging off all over, get a move on! Jack docks with Rapture just in time to see Johnny being accosted by a deranged-looking woman. 4

Johnny: Please, lady. I didnt mean no trespass. Just dont hurt me. Just let me go. You can keep my gun. You canJohnny is eviscerated by the female figure. She then leans in close to examine Jack, still in the bathysphere. She is a splicer, a psychotic individual with claws gripped tightly in her hands. Female Splicer: Is it someone new? The splicer attempts to cut open the bathysphere, but is unable to reach Jack. She screams in frustration and walks away. The radio nearby allows Atlas to talk directly with Jack. Atlas: Would you kindly pick up that shortwave radio? Jack picks up the radio, and presses the metal device against his ear. Atlas: I dont know how you survived that plane crash, but Ive never been one to question Providence. Im Atlas, and I am to keep you alive. Now keep on moving, were going to have to get you to higher ground. Take a deep breath and step out of the bathysphere. I wont leave you twisting in the wind. Jack sees the female splicer bounding away at a superhuman speed. Atlas: Were going to need to draw her out of hiding, but youre going to have to trust me. Up ahead, the female splicer is attacked by an automated turret. Atlas: Just a bit further how do you like that, sister? The splicer jumps away, crawling into an air duct. Atlas: Now, would you kindly find a crowbar or something? Bloody splicers sealed Johnny in before they goddamn splicers. Announcer: Andrew Ryan asks you a simple question: are you a man or a slave? Jack finds a wrench and a strange bottle of shimmering liquid. A nearby hypodermic needle allows him to inject the substance into his wrist. His arms suddenly begin to quake with electricity. Atlas: Steady now! Your genetic code is being re-written. Just hold on and everything will be fine! Jack falls over a balcony, overcome with pain. He is knocked unconscious, but becomes semiconscious when approached by a pair of splicers. 5

Splicer 1: This little fish looks like he just had his cherry popped wonder if hes still got some Adam on him? Announcer: Approaching a Little Sister is a criminal offense. Do not approach the Little Sisters. Splicer 2: You hear that? Lets bug! Splicer 1: Weak! Youre a weak chopper! Splicer 2: This little fish aint worth toeing it with no Big Daddy! Splicer 1: Yellow! Always have been! Youll be no better off with the metal daddy, little fish. See you floating in the briney. Jack again loses consciousness, but regains his senses when he is approached by a Big Daddy and a Little Sister. The Big Daddy is a hulking, metal creature. It wears a large diving helmet and wields a gigantic metal drill. It is almost always accompanied by a Little Sister, a young girl. The girl wears a nightgown, and holds a large needle. Little Sister: Look, Mr. Bubbles, its an angel. I can see light coming from his belly. Wait a minute, hes still breathing. Its all right I know hell be an angel soon. The pair passes by, and Jack regains full consciousness momentarily. He suddenly realizes that he now has the ability to shoot lightning bolts from his hands. Atlas: You all right, boyo? First time plasmids a real kick from a mule. But theres nothing like a fistful of lightning, now, is there? Up ahead, Jack encounters a male splicer and is tasked with killing him. Atlas: Splicer! Give him the combo zap him then whack him. One-two punch! Remember, the one-two punch! Jack dispatches the splicer and presses forward, unsure of his ultimate destination. Up ahead, however, he finds an audio recording preserved in a tape deck. Over one-hundred of these tapes are strewn across Rapture. Diane (tape): Another New Year's, another night alone. I'm out, and you're stuck in Hephaestus, working. Imagine my surprise. I just guess I'll have another drink. Here's a toast to Diane McClintock, silliest girl in Rapture. Silly enough to fall in love with Andrew Ryan, silly enough to (screams, male yelling) Long live Atlas! Death to Ryan! (Diane) What, what happened? I'm bleeding, oh, God, what's happening? Atlas: Listen, Ive got a family. I need to get them out of here, but the splicers have cut me off from them. If you can reach them in Neptunes Bounty, then maybe, just maybe I know you 6

must feel like the unluckiest man in the world right now, but youre the only hope Ill ever see my wife and child again. Go to Neptunes Bounty. Find my family, please. Soon, Jack sees a female splicer talking to a baby carriage. Female Splicer: When your daddys in the ground, mommys going to sell you by the pound. When your mommys up and gone, youre going to be the lonely one. When you are the lonely one, no one will be there to sing this song. Hush now, MommysThe splicer sees Jack and falls into a fit of rage. Jack kills her, and finds that her carriage actually contains a pistol. Atlas: Plasmids changed everything. They destroyed our bodies, our minds. We couldnt handle it. Best friends butchering one another, babies strangled in cribs the whole city went to hell. In a bathroom, Jack is greeted by a ghost. Ghost: Im too spliced up, too spliced up now nobodys going to want me. Barker (tape): Hey, Brenda! You care to tell me why you've had a hole in the wall the size of Plymouth Rock coming out of your crapper going on three weeks now? Now, I ain't saying I'm Shakespeare, but I'm trying to run a respectable theater. I got working folk coming in from Port Neptune trying to catch a little diversion, and all they can think about is the stink coming out your shitter. Get it fixed. Soon, Jack comes to a large, opulent room. He crawls across a metal beam and overlooks the grisly events below. Atlas: Careful, now. Would you kindly lower that weapon for a minute? Down below, Jack sees a Little Sister and her Big Daddy. The Little Sister is sticking her needle into a corpse, draining a red liquid from the bodys abdomen. Atlas: You think thats a child down there? Dont be fooled. Shes a Little Sister now. Somebody went and turned a sweet baby girl into a monster. Whatever you thought about right and wrong on the surface, well, that doesnt count for much down in Rapture. Those Little Sisters, they carry Adam the genetic material that keeps the wheels of rapture turning. Everybody wants it. Everybody needs it. Thats the Big Daddy. She gathers Adam, he keeps her safe. The Big Daddy kills another unlucky splicer, and the pair moves on. Up ahead, Jack sees a splicer standing in a pool of water. Atlas: If you spot a splicer in the water, hit them with the Electro Bolt. 7

Jack dispatches the splicer with electricity, and then proceeds through a nearby door. Suddenly, an alarm begins to sound. Over the intercom, a robotic announcer makes known the situation. Announcer: Security alert in progress. Atlas: Its Ryan! Goddamn Andrew Ryan! He found us! Damn it! Hes shut off access to Neptune. Theres another way there head to Medical. What are you waiting for? Go! Up ahead, Jack becomes trapped. Andrew Ryan appears on a video monitor. His voice is transmitted by intercoms spread throughout Rapture. Atlas: Ah, Christ! Youre trapped! Im going to try to override the exit from here. Ryan: So tell me, friend, which one of the bitches sent you, the KGB wolf or the CIA jackal? Heres the news: Rapture isnt some sunken ship for you to plunder and Andrew Ryan isnt a giddy socialite who can be slapped around by government muscle, and with that, farewell, or Dasvadinya whichever you prefer. Atlas: I got it! Get out of there! Get out now! Jack rushes through an open doorway and arrives at the Medical Pavilion. Atlas: Now youve met Andrew Ryan, the bloody King of Rapture. Now find your way to Emergency Access. Diane (tape): Dr. Steinman said he'd release me today. Ryan didn't come to see me since the New Year's attack, not once. But Dr. Steinman was very attentive. He told me that once the scar tissue was gone, he was going to fix me right up. Make me prettier than any girl I've ever seen. He's sweet all right, and so interested in my case. Jack finds the switch to Emergency Access but discovers that it requires a key. Atlas: If you want to use the Emergency Access, youll be needing Doctor Steinmans key. Hes the one what runs this place, but I dont expect him to hand it to you out of the milk of human kindness. Steinman aint that kind, and frankly, Im not even sure hes still human. Steinman (tape): Ryan and Adam, Adam and Ryan. All those years of study, and was I ever truly a surgeon before I met them? How we plinked away with our scalpels and toy morality. Yes, we could lop a boil here, and shave down a beak there, but could we really change anything? No, but Adam gives us the means to do it. And Ryan frees us from the phony ethics that held us back. Change your look, change your sex, and change your race. It's yours to change nobody else's. Suddenly, another alarm begins blaring. Atlas: Now youve rattled the monkey cage. Here they come. 8

Jack fends off his attackers and eventually sees another ghost. Ghost: You promised me pretty, Steinman, you promised me pretty. Now look at me. Look at me! Steinman (tape): Adam presents new problems for the professional. As your tools improve, so do your standards. There was a time I was happy enough to take off a wart or two, or turn a real circus freak into something you can show in the daylight. But that was then, when we took what we got, but with Adam the flesh becomes clay. What excuse do we have not to sculpt, and sculpt, and sculpt, until the job is done? Atlas: You keep an eye peeled for Steinman. The daft bastards set up shop in the surgery wing. You want to find him, just follow the blood. Soon, however, Jack encounters hostile automated turrets. They begin firing. Atlas: Remember, all them machines will short out right and proper if you hit them with Electro Bolt. Past the automated turrets, Jack sees some security cameras. Ryan (tape): On the surface, the Parasite expects the doctor to heal them for free, the farmer to feed them out of charity. How little they differ from the pervert who prowls the streets, looking for a victim he can ravish for his grotesque amusement. Atlas: Security cameras, I can hear the infernal things all around you Ryans eyes and ears. Ryan: A Parasite wanders the halls. We rebuild our city, and the Doubters send a fly to spoil our ointment one thousand Adam to the man or woman who pins its wings. Jack defeats the wave of splicers that Ryan sends his way, and soon sees a video monitor delivering a lecture by Doctor Steinman. Steinman (video): With genetic modifications, beauty is no longer a goal, or even a virtue. It is a moral obligation. Do we force the healthy to live with the contagious? Do we mix the criminal with the law-abiding? Then why are the plain allowed to mingle with the fair? Atlas: Youll have to find some way to get through to surgery, and Steinman. Chin up, now. The Lord hates a quitter. Tenenbaum (tape): I was at German prison camp only of sixteen years old when I realize I have love for science. German doctor, he make experiment. Sometime, he make scientific error. I tell him of this error, and this make him angry. But then he asks, How can a child know such a thing? I tell him, Sometimes, I just know. He screams at me, Then why tell me? Well, I said, if you're going to do such things, at least you should do them properly. 9

Suchong (tape): Clinical Trial, Lot 23, Dr. Suchong, Client is Fontaine Futuristics. Work on telekinesis plasmid proceeding well. Lifting objects at distance present no problem. Moving objects through space, no problem. Cannot stop speeding bullet, but can catch and throw fast moving object. Problem is not with Plasmid; problem with reaction time. Suchong just get new idea for plasmid. Steinman (tape): I am beautiful, yes. Look at me, what could I do to make my features finer? With Adam and my scalpel, I have been transformed. But is there not something better? What if now it is not my skill that fails me but my imagination? Ahead, Jack finds a splicer tossing explosives. One of the grenades causes falling objects to block a doorway, obstructing Jacks path forward. Steinman (tape): Today I had lunch with the Goddess. Steinman, she said, I'm here to free you from the tyranny of the commonplace. I'm here to show you a new kind of beauty. I asked her, What do you mean goddess? Symmetry, dear Steinman. It's time we did something about symmetry. Atlas: I can hear that splicer sounding off like its the Fourth of July. Explosives are hard to come by down here, but if you get your hands on one of them telekinesis plasmids, you can catch the damn fireballs and toss it right back in his gob, or anything else that might be standing in your way. All roads in Rapture lead to Ryan, the security, the splicers, the Big Daddies, the Little Sisters. He pumps some kind of chemical scent in the air pheromones, they call it makes them all dance to his tune. Ryan (tape): It has been brought to my attention that some citizens have discovered ways to hack the vending machines. I should not need to remind each and every citizen of Rapture that free enterprise is the foundation upon which our society has been established. Parasites will be punished. Steinman (tape): When Picasso became bored of painting people he started representing them as cubes and other abstract forms. The world called him a genius! I've spent my entire surgical career creating the same tired shapes, over and over again: the upturned nose, the cleft chin, the ample bosom. Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could do with a knife what that old Spaniard did with a brush? Bill (tape): Steinman, I know Medical Pavilion is your manor, but you might want to cogitate on this: ocean water is colder than a witch's tit. You don't heat the pipes, the pipes freeze. Pipes freeze, pipes burst. Then Rapture leaks. Now, I realize you're a posh sort of geezer, and, frankly, I don't give a toss if you piss or go fishing. But once Rapture starts leaking, the old girl's never going to stop. And then I'll be sure to tell Ryan he's got you to thank. Tenenbaum (tape): At the German prison camp they put me to work on genetic experiments on other prisoners. They call me, Das Wunderkind, the wonder child. Germans, all they can talk about is blue eyes and shape of forehead. All I care about is why is this one born strong, 10

and that one weak this one smart, that one stupid? All that killing, you think the Germans could have been interested in something useful? Suchong (tape): Tenenbaum sometimes I pity the little freak. Shes such a tiny imagination, content to sit there with her tanks of Adam, tweaking and optimizing. I need to create. Adam is a canvas of genetic modification, but plasmids are the paint. Steinman (tape): Aphrodite is walking the halls, shimmering like a scalpel. Steinman, she calls, Steinman! I have what you're looking for! Just open your eyes! And when I see her, she cuts me into a thousand beautiful pieces. Announcer: Hey there, fellows. You know that nine out of ten ladies prefer the athletic man? Why stay on the sidelines when the new Sport Boost line of plasmids can turn you into the jock you've always wanted to be? Come and visit us at the Med Plaza for a free two-hour trial. You'll appreciate the difference; she will too. Jack finally finds Doctor Steinman holed up in the surgery wing. He stands over a woman on a surgery table. Steinman: What can I do with this one, Aphrodite? She wont stay still. I want to make them beautiful, but they always turn out wrong! That one, too fat; this one, too tall; this one, too symmetrical! And nowDoctor Steinman notices Jack staring at him. Steinman: Whats this, goddess? An intruder! Hes ugly! Ugly! Doctor Steinman attacks Jack, but Jack manages to defeat him. Atlas: You all right? It was time somebody take care of that sick bastard. Make sure you get the key off Steinman and head back to Emergency Access. Im working my way to the back side of Port Neptune, meself. Well get there soon enough. Steinman (tape): Not only are those little girls veritable Adam factories, but they're nearly indestructible. They regenerate any wounded flesh with stem versions of the dead cells. But their relationship with the implanted slugs is symbiotic. If you harvest the slug, the host will die. So you see, it's not like killing, Tenenbaum said, It's more like removing a terminal patient from life support. On the way back to Emergency Access, Jack finds a collapsed tunnel. Part of the sinking airplane from the crash has broken through the glass wall. Atlas: Sounds like another tunnel collapse. Welcome to Rapture, the worlds fastest growing pile of junk.

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Announcer: The bottom of the ocean is our home, but it can also be a dangerous place. Any leak is a bad leak. Report any unexplained water promptly to the Central Council. Through the collapsed tunnel, Jack finds a Little Sister mourning the death of her Big Daddy. Atlas: Its a Little One. Heres your chance to get some Adam. Suddenly a male splicer appears, menacing the Little Sister. Male Splicer: Its just you, me, and all the tasty Adam I can drink. A woman appears on a balcony overhead and shoots the splicer. She is Doctor Brigit Tenenbaum, a well-dressed woman with a thick, German accent. Tenenbaum: Stay away from her, or it is you who will be shot next. Atlas: Easy now, Doctor. Hes just looking for a wee bit of Adam, just enough to get by. Tenenbaum: Ill not have him hurt my Little Ones. Atlas: Its okay, lad. Thats not a child not anymore it aint. Doctor Tenenbaum saw to that. Tenenbaum: Bitte, do not hurt her! Have you no heart? Atlas: Aye, thats a pretty sermon coming from the ghoul who cooked up them creatures in the first place. Took fine little girls and turned them into that, didnt you? Listen to me, boyo: you wont survive without the Adam those things are carrying. Are you prepared to trade your life, the lives of my wife and child, for Tenenbaums little Frankensteins? Tenenbaum: Here! There is another way. Use this free them from their torment. I will make it worth your while, somehow. Doctor Tenenbaum throws Jack a device of some kind. It allows him to forgo harvesting the Adam from the Little Sisters, which would kill them. Instead, Jack gains the ability to save them, freeing them from their mindless existence. Jack uses the device, sparing the life of this Little Sister and turning her back into an ordinary girl. Tenenbaum: The path of the righteous is not always easy, yes? The reward will become clear in time. Be patient. Atlas: Tenenbaums playing you for a sap. Those things may look like wee little girls, but looks dont make it so. Youll need all the Adam you can get to survive. If you cross paths with another of them Gatherers Garden machines, make sure you pick up a new plasmid or two. Thats if the price aint too dear, of course.

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Jack uses the Adam he received from freeing the Little Sister to buy new plasmids, enhancing his genetic abilities. Soon, however, his new skills are put to the test when he sees a Big Daddy in his path. Atlas: Youre ready, now. Its time to take on one of them Big Daddies. It wont be easy, but its the only way to get to the Little Sisters and the Adam they carry. Jack defeats the Big Daddy and chooses this time to instead harvest the Adam from the Little Sister, killing her in the process. The grisly process fills him with disgust and guilt he swears to never again harm a Little Sister. Atlas: That Adam should do the trick. You did the right thing. Just remember: them things aren't people no more. And it's Doctor Tenenbaum they've got to thank for it. Tenenbaum: How can you do this thing to a child? But there are other Little Ones who have need of your help. Will you be as cruel to them? Jack progresses back toward Emergency Access. Atlas: Are you almost back to Emergency Access? Come through as soon as you get there. You got Ryans eye now you wont hear him coming, but hell be there before you know it. Announcer: Attention, any public congregation of more than four persons is considered an actionable offense. Jack activates the Emergency Access switch with the key he recovered from Doctor Steinman. The access door opens, revealing a path to Port Neptune. Announcer: Security alert deactivated. Thank you for your patience. Atlas: I dont know how you managed it, but you did. Come through to Port Neptune now. Im looking forward to shaking your hand. Jack passes through the bulkhead to Port Neptune. Atlas: Now youve had the pleasure of Andrew Ryans company. Hes the one who built this place, and hes the one who run it into the ground. Nobody knows exactly what happened. Maybe he went mad. Maybe the power got to him. Maybe he just decided he didnt like people. Whichever way you slice it, good men died. My familys in a submarine, hidden in the foundation of Fontaine Fisheries. Ill meet you there. Sullivan (tape): Mr. Ryan asked me personally to make this clear to you. You give us Fontaine and this whole filthy ring of his and you'll be knocking back pints up at the Fighting McDonoughs. But if you prefer to play the mule, we'll treat you like a mule. Give him a taste, Patrick. 13

Jack walks through a doorway and is greeted by a female splicer unlike those hes previously encountered. She is incredibly strong, and leaps across the ceiling like a spider. Female Splicer: What crawls in my garden? But the days go by like wind, and one day the gentlemen stopped calling. Who can blame a lady who craves variety? Ryan (tape): Something must be done about Fontaine. While I was buying buildings and fish futures, he was cornering the market on genotypes and nucleotide sequences. Rapture is transforming before my eyes. The Great Chain is pulling away from me. Perhaps it's time to give it a tug. Sullivan (tape): We're putting all the bathyspheres in lockdown until further notice. Ryan had us install some kind of genetic device into the things so only Ryan and his inner circle will be able to use them without dispensation. But the boys tell me the keys are pretty unreliable. Sisters, cousins anybody in the ballpark, genetically, will be able to come and go as they see fit. Tenenbaum (tape): I saw one of the smugglers having a game of catching on the docks today, and this surprised me, because his hands were crippled during the war. He was unloading the barge the other day when he was bitten from this sea slug. He woke up the next morning and he found he could move his fingers for the first time in years. I asked him if he still had that sea slug. As luck would have it, he did. Jack finds and eliminates another Big Daddy. He chooses to free its Little Sister. Tenenbaum: You have shown kindness to my Little Ones, but are you really a friend to us? Regardless, a Little One brings you a gift to demonstrate our appreciation. Jack comes to a locked door. A slat opens, and a figure greets him wearing a welding mask. The mans name is Peach Wilkins. Peach: Atlas radioed on ahead, says you were looking for an invite to the fisheries. Nuts, I say. But ifn you heads up to the wharf masters office and find old Peach a research camera, maybe I could manage an inviteSuddenly, the female, spider-like splicer reappears. Peach: What was that? My friend, you are fucked. Female Splicer: My youth, my rose! I want it back! I want it back! Peach: You hold tightly. Im sending you something fierce to watch your back. A nearby grate opens, and an automated turret appears, which fends off the splicer.

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Peach: That ones too tough for you. Look on the conveyer belt youll find something to keep you alive. Now go get that camera and then snapshots of those that crawls on the ceiling. Then Ill let you in to the fisheries. Just remember, sonny friend: I smell and ounce of Fontaine on you, and Ill have you in a box. Atlas gives you the vouch, but I aint turning my eye just on his say so. Atlas: Grown man, jumping at ghosts. Fontaines dead, and everybody knows it in the ground for months, and half the place still jumping at his shadow. Christ, even Ryan. You never mind all that. We got work to do. Seems like old Peach knows where to find a research camera. He seems like a decent enough sort no doubt hell wait until after youve done his errands to stick a shiv in your belly. Mariska (tape): Darling Masha, we don't know what has happened to you. Ryan's men have taken you away and said you are needed to save Rapture. Who needs a child to save a city? But I see these little girls crawling out of these vents, and I only wonder if you might one day crawl out of this vent and find this note. We look for you, but if you find this, come to us at the Fighting McDonoughs in room number seven. We miss you, our darling child. Sullivan (tape): Now the eggs are in the scramble. We picked up Timmy right after midnight. Either Ryan will be taking down Fontaine, or Fontaine will be taking down Ryan. We'll be interviewing poor Timmy beneath Fontaine Fisheries, if youre up for the entertainment. Jack finds the research camera in the wharf masters office. Atlas: The research camera looks just like one youd see topside. According to this magazine article I scrounged up, it can also, analyze genetic information, parse biological structures, and lots of other five dollar words. Peach: Good, you got the camera. Now get me some snap snaps of those spider splicers! And dont come back down here til you got my research! Atlas: You have the research camera? Good. Guess its time to get to work for old Peachy. Take the mans pictures, and lets get the hell out of this place. Ryan (tape): This Fontaine fellow is somebody to watch. Once, he was just a menace to be convicted and hung. But he always manages to be where the evidence isn't. He's the most dangerous type of hoodlum the kind with vision. Sullivan (tape): Hanging now, is it? That's what we've come to? Now, look, I don't make the laws here. I just enforce them, but I didn't come to Rapture to string men up for running contraband. If Ryan and his crew have their law, then they can have my badge. Tenenbaum (tape): This little sea slug has come along and glued together all the crazy ideas I've had since the war. It doesn't just heal damaged cells, it resurrects them. I can bend the double helix. Black can be reborn white, tall, short, weak, strong. But the slugs alone are not enough. I'll need money, and one other thing. 15

Bill (tape): If things weren't bad enough, it seems that even our water system has sprung a leak. Yep, that's right. The irrigation system in Arcadia is taking on sea water. I told Mr. Ryan when we were building this place either you build her like a bathtub, or she's going to turn into a sewer. No, McDonough, he said, We're not going to build a bathtub. We're going to build Eden. Peach: Now are you ever bringing old Peach them snappies? Or are you just sightseeing? Jack enters a tavern, and Atlas becomes nostalgic. Atlas: I took my wife on our first date to this place. You must think Im a fool, taking a fine lady to a dump like this, but you dont know my Moira. Give her a string of pearls and a silk gown, and shell dance a waltz. Give her a sea shanty and a bottle of rum, and shell drink a pirate under the table. My wife, Moira she's a right pain in the neck. But she's a beauty and she means the world to me. I can't help but feel God's punishing me for bringing her and Patrick to this place. I thought this would be a better life for us. Can you imagine a bigger fool than that? Tenenbaum (tape): As the respectable labs have all turned me away, I have turned to Fontaine's smugglers in Port Neptune for supplies. Fontaine's men are pigs. They spit, they stink, but they deliver and they don't ask questions. They're all terrified of Fontaine. He reminds me a bit of the Germans so efficient. It wouldn't surprise me if he were soon running things down here. Ryan (tape): The death penalty in Rapture! Councils in an uproar. Riots in the streets, they say, but this is the time for leadership. Action must be taken against the smugglers. Any contact with the surface exposes Rapture to the very Parasites we fled from. A few stretched necks are a small price to pay for our ideals. Sullivan (tape): I'm closing in on the whole ring. I'd pat myself on the back, but let's face it these aren't exactly bloodthirsty desperadoes we're talking about. Rapture's full of poets, artists, and tennis players, not hired guerrillas. But this leader of theirs, this Fontaine, he seems to know his way around a grift. He keeps his nose clean, but not so clean that the right people don't know he's not to be trifled with. Ryan (tape): Diane, my dear, I'm sorry but I'll be late again tonight. Rosenberg is demanding to speak about this Fontaine business. I'm trying to build a proper financial market and this idiot keeps going on about Adam this and genetic modification that. I'll go spend an hour pretending to pay attention to the poor fellow and be home as soon as I can. Bill (tape): Mr. Ryan, I believe in Rapture, but that doesn't mean we always win. Fontaine Futuristics is the biggest thing going in Rapture, so let me be plain. When we arrest that toerag Fontaine for his thieving and smuggling, we must make it clear that we won't touch his business interests. We sit on the council because these poor sods trust us, not because God gave us a chair. 16

Mariska (tape): We saw our Masha today. We barely recognize her. That's her, Sam said. You're crazy, I told him, That thing? That is our Masha? But he was right. She was drawing blood out of a corpse by Fontaine Fisheries, and then when she was done, she walked off hand in hand with one of those awful golems. Bill (tape): I met Ryan the day me and the lads were installing the bathroom plumbing up in his posh Park Avenue digs. Hey! says he, What's with all the brass fittings? General contractor had me down for the tin. Well, I says, I supposed it's the contractor then who'll be bailing out your Lou once a fortnight, is it? If it's price you're worried about, I'll be picking up the brass, so not to worry, squire. And why would you be doing that, says he? Well, Mr. Ryan, profit or not, no man bails water out of privies built by Bill McDonough. The next day I find out, I'm Ryan's new general contractor. Jack manages to snap three pictures of the spiderlike splicers, and returns to Fontaine Fisheries to give them to Peach. Atlas: The thought of my wife and child hiding in that filthy submarine makes my blood boil. Help me get them to safety and I'll be in your debt for life. Before you head into the Fisheries, a word to the wise old Peachy seems about as straight as a dogs hind leg. Keep your eyes open. Bill (tape): Rapture's changing, but Ryan can't see the wolves in the woods. This Fontaine fellow, he's a crook and a proper tea leaf, but he's got the Adam, and that makes him the guv'nor. He's sinking the profits back into bigger and better plasmids, building them Fontaine Poorhouses more like Fontaine recruiting centers. Before we know it, bloke's going to have an army of splicers, and we're going to have ourselves a whole heap of miseries. Up ahead, Jack finds the spider-like splicer from before. Having done his research, he easily dispatches the creature. Peach: They sure go down easy once you research them up right. Come on in and show us those snappy snappies. Nobody walks into my swampy carrying the heat. Put your weapons in the pneumo, and then Ill let you in. Atlas: If thats his price, youre going to have to pay it. But he cant very well take your plasmids away, now can he? Jack places all his weapons into a nearby pneumatic tube and Peach grants him entrance into the Fisheries. Peach: The wharf rat didn't get himself eaten. You got something for me and my crew, or are you just looking to get criticized? You set here a spell. I need to put on some coffee. Maybe puts on silverware and the like. Jack enters the Fisheries and the lights suddenly dim. 17

Peach: Now, I bet when your boss waggled out of hell, he done told the Devil hed be right back, and the Devil said, Sure thing Mr. Fontaine. Ill hold you a spot. Ryan promised Fontaine was dust, and now here you are, doing his dirty I guess that makes Ryan a bum, and you aPeach suddenly appears and attacks Jack, but Jack proves to be more than a match for him, even without his weapons. Peach: Atlas, he was ours! Ours! Jack delivers Peach a killing blow and then grabs his weapons from a nearby pneumatic tube. Atlas: The submarine bay was only used by smugglers and thieves. More than likely, the entrance was hidden better to keep the coppers off the scent. Peach (tape): Fontaine's putting the screws on us, and double. He's squeezing us out eighty points of our cut with the threat of turning us in to Ryan if we don't play ball, son of a bitch. Sammy comes and tells me he's thinking of going to the constable, and the next day, Sammy was found in a sack in the salt pond. We got no choice here. We stay on Fontaine's crew and we're going to catch the gallows. We take a powder and we end up like Sammy. There's got to be another way. As Jack searches for the submarine bay entrance, he finds two ghosts. Ghost 1: You cant quit Fontaine will find you. Ghost 2: Hey, fuck Fontaine. Ghost 1: You dont fuck Fontaine. Fontaine fucks you. Peach (tape): We all come down here, figured we'd all be part of Ryan's Great Chain turns out Ryan's chain is made of gold, and ours are the sort with the big iron ball around your ankle. He's up in Fort Frolic banging fashion models; we're down in this dump yanking guts out of fish. Fontaine's promising something better. He's like one of us, you know, like he's worked a day in his life. He says to meet him at his fish-packing joint at eleven. I'll go, bring a couple of guys. Hey, it's not like things could get a lot worse. Fontaine (tape): Spent the morning jawing with that Kraut scientist. She's damaged goods, all right. Just like all those chumps they scraped out of them prison camps. But she's no crackpot. She's going to make me the kind of scratch that'll have Ryan look like he's running a paper route. She just needs some supplies to get the ball rolling and a friend to watch her back. Jack passes the ghosts and eventually finds the submarine bay. 18

Atlas: You got it should be smooth sailing from here. Ill meet you up ahead. Im right outside the submarine bay, but I cant get in. Ill need you for that. My family cant be more than a hundred yards away. Jack comes to a control booth. Atlas: Hit the switch up there in the control booth, and let me in. I think its time to shake hands and get acquainted. Ryan: Youve had your fun, but enough is enough. If you press that button, youll learn what it means to truly be my enemy. Atlas: Can you hear my family in the sub? Are they making any noise at all? Jack hits the switch and the lights suddenly burn out. Down below he can see Atlas examining a submarine. Atlas: You blow a fuse up there? Cant see a damn thing in that booth give me a tick, and Ill get you out of there. Moira, can you hear me in there, darling? Suddenly, splicers appear behind Atlas. Ryan: So dark in here if only your friend could look up and see you, maybe you could warn him. If only you could do something anything except just stand here and watch him die. Atlas: Splicers, theyre everywhere! I cant hold them, got to fall back! Get my family out and well regroup as soon as we can! Get out of you can! Get out and well regroup! Suddenly, one of the splicers places an object on the submarine. It explodes in a massive fireball. Atlas: The sub! No! Ryan: You ooze in like an assassin and then try to sneak out like a thief. Youre no CIA spook. Who are you? Why have you come here? Theres two ways to deal with a mystery uncover it, or eliminate it. Atlas: Get out! Get out and get to Arcadia. Jesus Christ! Moira, Patrick! Aint that just like Ryan waits until were almost out, and then he pulls the string. Well find the bastard. Well find him and well tear his heart out. Peach (tape): The Irish porkpie offered me a deal. I flip them Fontaine, and I walk out of here that simple. How do I know that fat fuck isn't Fontaine's guy? How do I know they're not all Fontaine's guy? Fontaine's got Adam and everybody wants it. Ryan's got a whole lot of talk and a nice suit. Even down here, any idiot can see which way the wind is blowing. Jack proceeds into Arcadia, a lush area of vegetation and recreation. 19

Ryan: I came to this place to build them impossible. You came to rob what you could never build a Hun gaping at the gates of Rome. Even the air you breathe is sponged from my account. Well, breathe deep, so later you might remember the taste. Atlas: You get to the bathysphere in the Rolling Hills. Thatll take you straight to the devil himself, and then all debts will be paid in full. You 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. Male Splicer: Christ, is somebody there? Jack finds the splicer unaware of his presence and swiftly dispatches him. Atlas: Rolling Hills is over yonder, and the bathysphere station is as well and then straight on to Ryan. Bill (tape): Seems like some poor blighters have started seeing ghosts. Ghosts! Ryan tells me it's a side effect of this plasmid business. One poor sod's memories getting passed on to another through genetic sampling. Leaks, lunatics, rebellion, and now bleeding ghosts ain't life in Rapture grand? Dieter (tape): What a night I got lined up. Everything's ready. Flowers, bottle of wine, even two tickets to the Tea Garden. Nothing gets the Betties in the mood like nighttime in Arcadia. Now I just got to stop by the Thrifty Care to pick up a med hypo, just to be safe. Word is this ain't Angelina's first visit to the Tea Garden. Langford (tape): Today, Arcadia was closed off to all but paying customers. The man hires me to build a forest at the bottom of the ocean and then turns a walk in the woods into a luxury. Ryan asked, Should a farmer not be able to sell his food? Is a potter not entitled to a profit from his pots? I started to argue with the man and then I remembered who signed my checks only thing worse than a hypocrite is an unemployed one. Ryan: On the surface, I once bought a forest. The Parasites claimed that the land belonged to God, and demanded that I establish a public park there. Why? So the rabble could stand slackjawed under the canopy and pretend that it was Paradise earned. When Congress moved to nationalize my forest, I burnt it to the ground. God did not plant the seeds of this Arcadia. I did. Suddenly, green mist fills the air. Plant life almost seems to begin withering. Announcer: Oxygen levels critical. Lockdown initiated. All bulkhead doors are now sealed. Thank you.

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Atlas: This isnt right. Im going to need you to listen to me Im no sort of botanist, but I think Ryan has just killed Arcadia. The mans put something foul into the air. Bottom of the ocean, boyo all the oxygen comes from the trees. No trees, no oxygen. Give me a spell to think. Damn city's built to not let anyone out in the event of this kind of emergency. Either we get those trees back, or you're a permanent resident. Atlas takes a moment to ponder and then comes to a sudden realization. Atlas: Ryans woman in Arcadia is an old Betty named Langford, an okay sort, but not above doing a dirty job for a dollar. If shes still kicking around, Im sure shes going to want to save her trees. After all, she planted the damn things. Tenenbaum (tape): The augmentation procedure is a success. The slugs alone could not provide enough Adam for serious work, but combined with the host, now we have something. The slug is embedded in the lining of the host's stomach and after the host feeds we induce regurgitation, and then we have twenty, thirty times yield of usable Adam. The problem now is the shortage of hosts. Fontaine says, Patience, Tenenbaum. Soon the first home for Little Sisters will be open, and that problem will be solved. Langford (tape): They dress up in leaves and call themselves the Saturnine. Please. They drink human blood, and chant, Harness the flame, Harness the mist, and believe they are touched by the ancient gods. Hah, an aging bunch of frat boys, tilting back goblets of plasmids and calling it ambrosia. Mariska (tape): The minute we came here, Masha started screaming, Mama! Mama! What is that? What is that? I thought she was having some kind of seizure and then I realized trees. Trees! Never saw one before, thought they were monsters. Oh, Sammy, maybe we never should have come to this place. Ryan (tape): There has been tremendous pressure to regulate this plasmid business. There have been side effects: blindness, insanity, death. But what use is our ideology if it is not tested? The market does not respond like an infant, shrieking at the first sign of displeasure. The market is patient, and we must be too. Langford (tape): Yes, I know about the lockdown. It's absurd. Just give me a minute! The early Lazarus tests are very promising. If the Rosa Gallica blooms, then by God I'll know we're in business. Jack comes to a locked door. On the other side, he can hear a womans voice. The voice belongs to Julie Langford, Arcadias resident botanist. Langford: My trees! It wasnt you, was it? No, Ryan! I think Ive got a way to save the trees its a genetic vector that, oh, look who Im talking to. Could you find a sample of Rosa Gallica for me? Look in the Grotto. Ive got to keep working while theres time.

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Announcer: Andrew Ryan reminds us we all make choices, but, in the end, our choices make us. As Jack heads back into Arcadia proper, the intercom begins playing a speech by Ryan, recorded long ago. Announcer: Good evening, my friends. I hope you are enjoying your New Year's Eve celebration; it has been a year of trials for us all. Tonight I wish to remind each of you that Rapture is your city. It was your strength of will that brought you here, and with that strength you shall rebuild. And so, Andrew Ryan offers you a toast. To Rapture, 1959 may it be our finest year. In the Grotto, Jack finds some roses that seem to fit the description of the Rosa Gallica that Langford wanted. He then returns to the locked door. Langford: Youve brought the Rosa Gallica? Well, what are you waiting for an engraved invitation? Send it through the pneumo! Jack sends the roses through a pneumatic tube nearby. Langford: Yes, this is perfect, perfect! Come on up to my office. Im letting you in now. I think Ive got just the thing to put the green back in this forest. Announcer: The Parasite has his eye on Rapture. Keep your eye on the Parasite Jack enters Langfords lab, which appears disheveled, almost as if splicers have been scavenging about. He seems some ominous-looking automated turrets nearby, however. Langford: Isnt there anything in this damn place those pagans wont steal? Paper towels, ink pots, witch hazel, chlorophyll solution, even my back issues of National Geographic theyre feathering their disgusting little shrines with it, I suppose, the sick bastards. Ive got the security system in this joint jacked, so those turrets wont bite. Come on up to my office. When Jack finds Langford, she is on the other side of a locked door. He can see her through a window, however. She is a well-kept woman with flowing, brown hair. She wears a white dress and matching white heels. Ryan: Julie, we made a business deal, you and I, did we not? Money changed hands. Let me read to you from the agreement. Section 3, Subsection 4: Ryan Corp maintains exclusive rights to the creation, use, and exploitation of the Lazarus Vector. Langford: Andrew, no! Ryan: Ownership is civilization, Julie. Without it, were back in the swamp. Suddenly, Julies office begins filling with deadly, green, gaseous toxins. 22

Langford: Mr. Ryan, wait! No, please! Mr. Ryan! Langford finally succumbs to the poisonous fumes. With her last breaths, she uses a finger to write the combination to her personal safe on the window. Langford (tape): Who says you can't teach old hound new tricks? This batty plant woman spends four years coming up with ways to defoliate trees in the Pacific to scare out the Japs and now here I am down at the bottom of the Atlantic trying to figure out how to do the same thing in reverse. Adam, Adam, Adam its bathtub gin times the atom bomb, times Eve with the serpent. Let's go see what it can do. Atlas: Every time we get a yard ahead, Ryan goes and moves the goal line down to the other side of the field. Jack opens Langfords safe and finds an audio recording. He is apparently now tasked with completing the Lazarus Vector. Langford (tape): Whats the point of being a damn genius if the only ones around to appreciate it are a bunch of spliced-up morons? Ive cracked the Vector, or at least Im ninety-nine percent certain I have. I just need a bud of Rosa Gallica to confirm my analysis distilled water, a bit of chlorophyll, and enzymes extracted from Apis Mellifera. Thats right, sweethearts: honey bee spit. Atlas: Arcadias a big place, but mostly rural. If youre looking for something in particular, Id start at the Farmers Market. Langford (tape): I've been killing trees for twenty-five years at Berkeley, back in the 20's, on the Japs at Iwo Jima, but I never brought one back from the grave before. I did, Becky. Momma's going to build her first damn Franken-tree. I'm going call my little creation the Lazarus Vector. Maybe it'll bring this old gal's career back from the dead as well. Ryan (tape): Gregory, don't come whining to me about market forces. And don't expect me to punish citizens for showing a little initiative. If you don't like what Fontaine is doing, well, I suggest you find a way to offer a better product. Tenenbaum (tape): What makes something like me? I look at genes all day long, and never do I see the blueprint of sin. I could blame the Germans but in truth, I did not find tormentors in the Prison Camp but kindred spirits. These children I brutalized have awoken something inside that for most is beautiful and natural, but in me is an abomination my maternal instinct. In the Farmers Market, Jack finds an audio recording from an academic-looking woman named Tasha Denu. It seems to be a recorded message from Tasha to Doctor Langford.

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Tasha (tape): Julie, my dear, I am trying to run a business here. You want to spend time with my honey bees well Im going to have to start charging you for the pleasure. If I come out one more time and find you lolling out there amongst my hives, Im grabbing my shotgun. As to your question, yes, my days in beekeeping school are a blur, but I do seem to remember something about that enzyme you keep blabbing on about. Tenenbaum (tape): Adam acts like a benign cancer, destroying native cells and replacing them with unstable stem versions. While this very instability is what gives it its amazing properties, it is also what causes the cosmetic and mental damage. You need more and more Adam just to keep back the tide. From a medical standpoint, this is catastrophic. From a business standpoint, well, Fontaine sees the possibilities. Langford (tape): Now, I'm a woman of science, but I'm also a woman who's not afraid of turning a buck or two. Ryan said if I could boost profits in Arcadia, part of the up would ride on my hip. So I get to thinking, we're paying for oxygen when we got photosynthesizing trees. Hell, we can even sell the extra to the rest of the city and undercut the other guys. Ryan will like that for sure. Fontaine's people have moved into the oh-two biz tooth and claw. Ryan (tape): I believe in no God no invisible man in the sky. But there is something more powerful than each of us: a combination of our efforts, a Great Chain of industry that unites us. But it is only when we struggle in our own interest that the chain pulls society in the right direction. The chain is too powerful and too mysterious for any government to guide. Any man who tells you different either has his hand in your pocket or a pistol to your neck. When the audio message ends, Jack suddenly hears the thumping footsteps of a nearby Big Daddy. He eliminates the hulking creature and frees its Little Sister. Tenenbaum: Even in the gathering dark, you light a candle. You have saved my Little Ones when you might have shown your cruelty. Im sending something your way to demonstrate our thanks. Jack soon finds some distilled water and chlorophyll solution. On his way to find the honey bee enzyme, Jack sees splicers wearing masquerade masks. Atlas: Why do they wear those masks? Maybe theres a part of them that remembers how they used to be, how they used to look, and theyre ashamed. Pierre (tape): In ten years in this dump, I've come to accept a very low standard of life. But even at the bottom of this fish tank, a man must have standards. The pathetic trou du cul down at Worley Winery has started putting water to his terrible wine water! When I confronted him with this fact, he tells me, Pierre, this is not to worry, the water, she is distilled. It would be worse. I could take it right from the ocean. Tenenbaum (tape): The children must remain functional to be effective producers of Adam. I had hoped we could place them into vegetative state so they would be more pliable. I find being around them very uncomfortable. Even with those things implanted in their bellies, 24

they are still children. They play and sing. Sometimes they look at me, and they don't stop. Sometimes they smile. Announcer: The Little Sister's Orphanage in troubled times, give your little girl the life that she deserves. Boarding and education free of charge! After all, children are the future of Rapture. When Jack finds the honey bee enzymes, Atlas radios him. Atlas: Do you have all the components for the Lazarus Vector yet? If you do, best head to a crafting station. Then, head back to Langfords lab and put the whole witchs brew in the mister. That should clear this fog right up. Would you kindly get this thing crafted already? Air's only getting thinner down here. Diane (tape): I couldn't believe how much things had changed since I left Dr. Steinman's office. It's like I don't even recognize Rapture no more. I hear they've been rounding up people in Apollo Square. I asked Ryan how he could do such things to innocents. He said, Innocents? If they haven't chosen to defend Rapture, they've chosen to side with Atlas and his bandits. So there are no innocents. There are heroes, and there are criminals. Ryan (tape): The children with their very long needles, their tuneless songs, their ghastly errands, their ghoulish, Frankenstein fathers, but we've all placed our hand on the Great Chain of endeavor. My hand is on it, Fontaine's is on it. We all pull it and are pulled by it. Yes, these children are an abomination, but it is not my hand alone on the chain that created them. No, their little fingers were right there next to mine. Tenenbaum (tape): One of the children came and sat in my lap. I push her off. I shout, Get away from me! I can see the Adam oozing out of the corner of her mouth, thick and green, her filthy hair hanging in her face, dirty clothes, and that dead glow in her eye. I feel hatred, like I never felt before, in my chest bitter, burning, fury. I can barely breathe, and suddenly I know it is not this child I hate. Ryan (tape): Doctor Suchong, frankly, I'm shocked by your proposal. If we were to modify the structure of our commercial plasmid line as you propose, to have them make the user vulnerable to mental suggestion through pheromones, would we not be able to effectively control the actions of the citizens of Rapture? Free will is the cornerstone of this city. The thought of sacrificing it is abhorrent. However, we are indeed in a time of war. If Atlas and his bandits have their way, will they not turn us into slaves? And what will become of free will then? Desperate times call for desperate measures. Jack finds a U-Invent station and crafts the Lazarus Vector from the ingredients hes collected. Atlas: From the sounds of that U-Invent, I'm guessing you're the proud papa of a brand new Lazarus Vector. Now, drop the Vector into a gadget called the Central Misting Control. Then we'll be cooking with gas. 25

Ryan: Don't fight the inevitable. You'll run out of oxygen soon, and then you'll just go to sleep. Jack finds the misting controls and inserts the Lazarus Vector into the machine. Atlas: Ah, listen to that damn thing gurgle and crank. How long is it going to take? Ryan: It seems Julie's death didn't provide a clear enough lesson to you. Perhaps this will suffice. Announcer: Atlas is a friend of the Parasite. Don't be a friend of Atlas. Atlas: Ryan's got your number. No doubt he'll be sending company. Best to head back to the lab entrance and seal her up might be the only way to keep the splicers out. I've sent you a wee package through the pneumo. It's not much, but every little bit counts. What are you waiting for, boyo? Ryans lads are on their way get the lab entrance sealed! Jack finds Atlas care package and manages to seal the doors before splicers arrive. Atlas: Did you get that door closed? Good. That should buy some time. Oh, Christ, here they come. For Christ's sake, how long is that damn vector going to take to cook? The splicers break down doorways and begin attacking Jack. Atlas: You're about halfway there. Keep your hand on the throttle. Ryan's skin jobs aren't the type to get complacent. After several minutes, the Lazarus Vector is finally ready for injection into the air supply. Atlas: What was that? Is the vector ready? What are you waiting for? Hit the damn switch! Ryan (tape): On my walk today I had my first encounter with a pair of them he, a lumbering palooka in a foul smelling diving suit, and she, an unwashed moppet in a filthy pink smock. Her pallor was off, green and morbid, and there was a rather unpleasant aspect to her demeanor, as if she were in an altogether different place than the rest of us. I understand the need for such creatures. I just wish they could make them more presentable. Jack makes his way back to the central misting control room and sends the antidote into the air. Announcer: Oxygen levels normalized all bulkhead doors now accessible. Thank you. Atlas: Well done, lad. Take a deep breath and enjoy it and then head over to Rolling Hills and get the bathysphere. Next stop is Ryan's house. It's time for blood. Announcer: Ignore the lies of Atlas and his Parasites. Rapture is on the rise. 26

Ryan: Why are you so resistant to the traditional methods of separating a man from his soul? You're not CIA, are you? You belong to Atlas, the one roach I can't seem to exterminate. Don't worry. I just need time to find the proper poison. Jack goes to Rolling Hills and goes through a metal doorway, emerging in Fort Frolic. Atlas: You're almost there. The sphere to Ryan is on up ahead. Ryan's handed the keys to Fort Frolic over to a guy named Sander Cohen. Cohen's an artist, says some. He's a Section Eight, says I. I've seen all kinds of cutthroats, freaks, and hard cases in my life, but Cohen, he's a real lunatic, a dyed-in-the-wool psychopath. Diane (tape): Stood up, again second time this week. Ever since my face was, well, Steinman worked on me, but it was never the same since the blast. Being alone so much gives a girl time to think. Who could hate me so much they'd ruin me like this? What did I do to them? I keep thinking about all the bandits and terrorists Ryan's got locked up in Apollo Square and I get so mad, sometimes I can hardly breathe. If I could only confront them, tell them what they did to me, how they're ruining everything for me, for Rapture, maybe I'd, well, maybe I'd feel better. As Jack approaches the bathysphere leading to Ryan, it submerges. Red curtains lining the room roll back, and Sander Cohens voice is heard on his radio. He appears to have jammed transmissions from both Atlas and Ryan. Cohen: Ah, that's better Atlas, Ryan, Atlas, Ryan. Time was you could get something decent on the radio. The artist has a duty to seduce the ear and delight the spirit, so say goodbye to those two blowhards, and hello to an evening with Sander Cohen! Now, I haven't seen a sign of real life down here in months. Let's see if you're just another Johnny-come-lately, or maybe something more delicious. Jack finds a locked door, and Cohen begins sending splicers at Jack, testing his abilities. Jack successfully defeats the attackers. Cohen: Nicely done. Where did you study? Announcer: The Parasite hates three things: free markets, free will, and free men. Jack continues battling splicers until the last one falls to the floor. Cohen: Oh, I can smell the malt vinegar in this one. I've waited so long for something tasty to come to this little burg, but all those that pass are yokels and rubes. But where are my manners? Come in, come in! Sander Cohen awaits you at the Fleet Hall! Sander Cohen opens the locked doorway, and Cohen welcomes him.

27

Cohen: Welcome to Fort Frolic! No need to thank me for jamming the transmission of those boors Atlas and Ryan. Let them have their squabble. The artist, yes, the artist, knows there is richer earth to till. For example, I test you, little moth, but for a reason. I test all my disciples. Some shine like galaxies, and some, some burn like a moth at the flame! Come now, into my home. Cohen (tape): Regarding your review of Anna Culpepper's latest musical insult of all of the worthy artists in Rapture, why you continue to devote column inches to this musical gremlin is beyond my imagination. Where she is not derivative, she's boring. Where she's not boring, she's obvious. Where she's not obvious, she's dangerous. Jack rides an elevator, and enters the performance hall. On stage, a young man named Fitzpatrick is being forced to play a piano that has been wrapped in dynamite. Cohen: No! No! No! Fitzpatrick: Mr. Cohen, please. Cohen: Allegro. Allegro! Now Presto Presto! No. No! Fitzpatrick: Im trying, please. Oh, Cohen you sick fuck! Let me out of this! Cohen detonates the piano and Fitzpatrick is consumed in the explosion. Cohen: Come down now, little moth. Life, death the burden of the artist is to capture. See young Fitzpatrick here on the stage? Use your camera take him as he is now, so that I may remember him. What are you waiting for? Fitzpatrick can't hold that pose forever! Jack takes a picture of Fitzpatricks charred corpse. Cohen: And now you've got Fitzpatrick caught in his moment of glory. It seems you've got the eye of the shutterbug, little moth! Now head to the atrium and place his photograph in my masterpiece. And so our collaboration commences. Cohen (tape): The Wild Bunny by Sander Cohen I want to take the ears off, but I can't. I hop, and when I hop, I never get off the ground. It's my curse my eternal curse! I want to take the ears off but I can't! It's my curse! It's my fucking curse! I want to take the ears off! Please! Take them off! Please! Jack leaps across to a locked balcony on his way back into the atrium. Cohen: What an outstanding display of athleticism! Nobodys allowed backstage prior to show time, though fidgety, fidgety. I know why you've come, little moth. You've your own canvas, one you'll paint with the blood of a man I once loved. Yes, I'll send you to Ryan, but first you must be part of my masterpiece. Go to the atrium. Hurry now. My muse is a fickle bitch with a very short attention span. 28

Sullivan (tape): I worked the meatball beat in Little Italy, and even I'm shocked at the cold blood that oozes out of these artistic types. This broad Culpepper and that fruit-job Cohen are in some kind of feud, and Cohen's looking for my security detail to pick sides. The next thing I know I'm called into Ryan's office to talk about the whole mess. Goddamn nut-job artists. Jack arrives back in the atrium. At the foot of a regal staircase is a plaster grouping of statuettes, each holding an empty picture frame. Cohen: Do you see it? When I am dust, this is what they'll point to my quadtych, my masterpiece. Go ahead don't be afraid. Touch it. Jack places the photograph of Fitzpatricks corpse into one of the empty frames. Cohen: Yes, and there's Fitzpatrick, freed of his own kinks and defects. And here's the glorious news: this is just the moment of conception! Out in this place there are three men, all former disciples of mine, all connected by a common thread betrayal. Find them, little moth, and immortalize their mortality in my quadtych. Go. Once they've been sent to their reward, you shall go to yours, and to Ryan. Jack approaches a locked doorway into Poseidon Plaza, but it mysteriously opens. Cohen: The door to Poseidon Plaza is now open for you, my moth. Allow me to draw back the curtain. You'll find Finnegan in cold storage. I discovered him in Marseilles in 1937. He admired my painting, and I admired his carriage. He was the first of my disciples to bite the hand. Kill him any way you fancy, but I'd prefer it if you could involve burning in some fashion. Finnegan (tape): You think you going to finish me in here, you old fruit? The other saps you tossed in this meat locker all panicked like rabbits. I just watched and waited, and when they started to kick, I started to scavenge. Made myself a little splicer cocktail I did. If you can't come in from the cold, then you got to grow ice over your heart, and the iceman cometh, Sander baby the iceman fucking cometh. Jack passes through the doorway into Poseidon Plaza and the voice of Martin Finnegan greets him. Finnegan: I can see your breath! Suddenly, Jack is hit with a winter blast. He freezes into a solid block of ice. Finnegan dances around the icy cage. Finnegan: Guess the old grape finally sent someone! Son of a bitch left me to freeze. Dont worry Ive got a pose all picked out for you. 29

The ice, however, thaws and Jack defeats Finnegan in combat. Cohen: That was bracing. Take a photo of him and place it in the quadtych. I'm feeling full, like an expectant momma. Jack snaps a photograph of Finnegans death. Cohen: Yes, now put the picture in the frame! Let's see what we've got here. Jack returns to the atrium and places Finnegans photograph in the statue. Cohen: It's coming together, yes, but there will always be Doubters. You don't doubt me, do you? I could never stomach Doubters. Bill (tape): Fontaine knew our blokes were coming. We were done over. Those splicers come screaming out the woodwork, burping fire, spitting ice demons out of the Bible they were. Never seen nothing like it. It wasn't a business he was building, it was an army. Cohen (tape): Rapture's going to hell, and why because of them, always behind the scenes, at the Lyceum, at the galleries in SoHo, even down here, in this so-called Utopia the Doubters. But Ryan understands. We're simpatico. Yes, there's blood in the streets. Yes, people sometimes disappear. And those awful little girls, well, I suppose the Doubters think you can paint a picture without soiling your smock. Jack heads back into Poseidon Plaza. Cobb (tape): You want to lock us in, old man? Oh, that's fine with Cobb. I used to love you. I used to think you were a musical genius. You know why? Because you paid my rent, you ancient hack! Come on to the record store, I'll show you what I think of your plink, plink, plink! Milonakis (tape): Some hired Betty tried to sell me on those fancy Oxford Club ciggies. Mm, no thanks I told her, I'm a Nico Time man, always will be. Why? They smoke good and don't cost half a damn. Who cares if the things are made out of sea shells and fish eggs? Jack takes a sojourn in Eves Garden, a ransacked, empty strip club. Suddenly, the ghost of Jasmine Jolene appears. Jasmines Ghost: Well, if it isnt the long lost Andrew Ryan. Come here, tiger. I thought you had forgotten about poor Jasmine, but Im so glad you didnt. What? Im sorry, Mr. Ryan, I didnt know. I didnt know Fontaine had something to do with it. I, who, what are you doing? No, no dont, please! I loved you! Dont, dont, please. No. No! Jasmine (tape): That creepy Dr. Tenenbaum promised me it wasn't going to be a real pregnancy they'd just take the egg out once Mr. Ryan and I had, well, I needed the money 30

so bad. But I know Mr. Ryan's going to find it out, going to know I wasn't being careful, going to know I sold the, well, Mr. Ryan's going to be so mad at me. The ghost of Ms. Jolene appears to have died at the hands of Andrew Ryan. Jack leaves the area and heads toward a nearby record shop. Inside, he is greeted by another of Cohens fallen disciples Silas Cobb. Cobb: My collections almost complete. Then well see who the real artist is down here. Tell the old crow his music cooks better than it sounds! Oh, youre Cohens messenger boy? Ive got something for that crow! Spend a little time with my kittens, sugar! Cobb immediately attacks Jack, detonating explosives nearby and sending in splicers. Cobb: Its all a game, errand boy! Cohen, Ryan two old birds pulling on each others milk sticks! Despite Cobbs best efforts, he is defeated. Cohen: He was a nasty one, and my favorite. But I think I like him better this way. Take his damn photo, chop-chop! Jack snaps the picture. Cohen: You flutter all around the Fort, taking life as you go. You're not a moth, you're an angel. I've never painted an angel. Maybe I should. Sullivan (tape): I just got the word to put the bump on Anna Culpepper. This isn't some gangster or hard-nosed political operative we're talking about a dizzy twist what wrote a song or two that got under Ryan's wig. Culpepper (tape): Cohen's not a musician. He's Ryan's stable boy. Ryan's corrupt policies crap all over the place, and Cohen flutters around clearing it up. But instead of using a shovel, like you would with a proper mule, Cohen tidies with a catchy melody and a clever turn of phrase. But no matter how nicely it sounds, he can't really do anything about the smell. Back in the atrium, Jack places Cobbs portrait into an empty flame. Cohen: That's three of four. What's that look? You don't like it, do you? I don't need to be judged by you, by anyone! Screw you! Screw all you fucking Doubters! Here's what I say to all of you! Suddenly, splicers appear while the intercom plays a waltz. Cohen: Fly away, little moth! But smile. Smile! 31

Jack defeats them and Cohen becomes apologetic. Cohen: I'm sorry for that outburst. You'll have to forgive an old fool his artistic temperament. The birth is so close now. The labor pains can blur the judgment and drive the passions of even the finest spirits. Back in Poseidon Plaza, Jack enters a tavern. There, he finds Cohens final disciple Hector Rodriguez. Rodriguez: How about some fucking service around here? Wait, whos this? Who does he think he is? Rodriguez springs forward, attacking Jack. Jack, however, easily defeats him. Cohen: He was a lout, but he was vigorous. Get the photo before he completely dries up. Bill (tape): The good people of Rapture didn't sign up to see us government types shutting down shops, killing their owners even with a Ponce like Fontaine, but he brought it upon himself. Instead of copping it on the chin, bugger gets into his head that he's going to go down guns blazing. Who does he think he is, John bloody Wayne? We can get on top of this. We can. Here's what we do we find Fontaine's will and make what was his go to where it was intended, and not into the pockets of us that put him into the ground. Rodriguez (tape): You know what? Art, music, poetry it's all grift. Cohen's got Ryan wrapped around his little pinky, and why? Because he tells him what he wants to hear. Rise, Rapture, Rise! Nuts! That stuff was stale before it came out of Cohen's pen. I'm through with the whole piata. Let's see that old fruit try and keep me here. Jack takes the photo. On the way back to the atrium, he fights and defeats another Big Daddy and frees its Little Sister. Tenenbaum: The Little Ones have never had anyone to look to, except for me, and I am not much to speak of. You give them hope, and for this I am grateful. I'll send something to demonstrate that gratitude. Announcer: Can anyone ever make you feel like Sander Cohen can? Rapture's most beloved musical artist returns with "Why Even Ask, his greatest album yet. Songs of love, songs of joy, and songs of passion buy "Why Even Ask" and invite Sander Cohen into your home today. When Jack places the final picture into Cohens masterpiece, Cohen himself appears. Cohen: My masterpiece! Its beautiful! My fans, they greet me! Jack, disgusted by Cohen, attacks and defeats him. He then finds that his radio can now contact Atlas once again. 32

Atlas: What happened to you? I've been trying to raise you for a dog's age. Never mind. Would you kindly leg it over to the sphere and get on down to Hephaestus? It's time to settle up with Ryan. Cohen (tape): I could have been the toast of Broadway, the talk of Hollywood. But, instead, I followed you to this soggy bucket. When you needed my star light, I illuminated you. But now I rot, waiting for an audience that doesn't ever come. I'm writing something for you, Andrew Ryan. It's a requiem. Jack finds a key to a chest on Sander Cohens body. Inside the chest is the key to the bathysphere that leads to Andrew Ryan. Jack enters the bathysphere and emerges at Hephaestus, the core control area of Rapture. Atlas: Watch yourself. Ryan's stirring. We best keep to our knitting. It's time to either run the table or go home empty. Ryan's got the genetic key to Rapture. We get that from him and we get out of this hellhole we don't, then you and I are ghosts. Now, would you kindly head to Ryan's office and kill the son of a bitch? It's time to finish this. Ryan: I see Cohen's lost his touch. If you knew him when, when he used to believe in the work, in the struggle and now, he rots in that never-land, waiting for someone to come and tell him he's still got it. I suppose that's why he let you live. Bill (tape): Ryan nationalized Fontaine Futuristics. He owns it now, lock, stock and barrel. For the good of the city, he says. He'll break it up in due time, he says. I've resigned from the council and lodged my letter of protest, but that's just pissing in the wind. It'll be war, I say, unless somebody stops Ryan and right fast. Jack progresses through Hephaestus, looking for some way into Ryans control room. Ryan: You can taste it, can't you? Andrew Ryan! Kyburz (tape): I spent the afternoon trying to get as close to Ryan's gate as possible without making a spectacle of myself. He's got it shielded six ways till Easter. There's no way into that place. All I got for my trouble was the hairy eyeball from Ryan's splicer mates. That's the reward you get for trying to outsmart the best electrical engineer of our generation A female splicer, apparently friendly to Jacks cause, leaves him a rocket launcher on a table. Female Splicer: Ah, a present. You like, yes? Ryan: A worm looks up and sees the face of God! But look around it's a regular convention of worms in here. They all had mothers, fathers, people who loved them. They got married, fucked their wives. What makes you think you're any different?

33

In a large antechamber, right outside Ryans control area, Jack finds bodies that have been chained to statues. On one of the statues is the body of Anya Andersdotter, a once-attractive woman in her early thirties. In her pocket, Jack finds an audio recording. Another corpse is that of Bill McDonough. Anya (tape): I had to go jungle-style with that filthy ape for three weeks, but he finally spilled the beans on how to get to Andrew Ryan. Generate a sympathetic overload in Harmonic Core No. 3. Thats simple. Now all I got to do is figure out what the hell a sympathetic overload is, and for that matter, a Harmonic Core No. 3 piece of cake for an electrical engineer. Too bad I design ladys shoes. Going to see the grease monkeys left alive in Heat Loss Monitoring, see what I can shake out of their trees. Bill (tape): Ive never killed a man, let alone a mate. But this is what things come to. I don't know if killing Mr. Ryan will stop the war, but I know it won't stop while that man breathes. I love Mr. Ryan, but I love Rapture. If I have to kill one to save the other, so be it. Ryan (tape): What is the difference between a man and a Parasite? A man builds. A Parasite asks, Where is my share? A man creates. A Parasite says, What will the neighbors think? A man invents. A Parasite says, Watch out, or you might tread on the toes of God. Frustrated, Jack begins shooting at Ryans door. Ryan: Oh, do fire away! That's bound to succeed this time. To think of the effort that was put into creating you how little they got for their money! Jack begins searching for a way to overload Harmonic Core No. 3, fulfilling what Anya attempted before she was murdered. Ryan: How like all Parasites who ever tried to walk in stolen shoes. I'd explain the science that renders what you're trying to do impossible, but that would be like playing Mozart for a tree frog. Bill (tape): Strikes me that Fontaine wasn't overly inconvenienced by his own demise. On New Year's Eve, his wretched splicers came streaming out of the poor houses and stormed the proverbial barricades. The dead rot in the streets, and Johnny and Jane Citizen are lined up round the block for plasmids, anything to help fend off the rabble. Anya (tape): Me, an assassin? That's rich. I could have gone along, I suppose spliced up, forgot. I believed in this place. I believed in Ryan. But when it got hard, Ryan didn't believe in Rapture, didn't believe in the Great Chain. He believed in power. And now this place is busto. And my girl is gone, worse than gone, one of those things. So am I an assassin? Well, only one way to find out. Up ahead, Ryan sets a trap for Jack. The lights suddenly cut out in a large generator room. Male Splicer: Kill him then string him up like the others! 34

Ryan: Rapture is coming back to life. Even now, can't you hear the breath returning to her lungs, the shops reopening, the schools humming with the thoughts of young minds? My city will live. My city will thrive. And, when that day comes, we'll use your tombstone for paving tiles. Jack defeats the splicer ambush and finds an audio recording from an engineer named Pablo Navarro. Navarro (tape): Do you guys have any idea theres a war on? If you dont follow proper maintenance on those Big Daddies, theyll burn through those R-34s like them Eves apple Betties go through penicillin. I've got Atlas' goons hitting us non-stop, and two dead mechanics just this week. We need to control costs. If I wanted to deal with amateurs, I would have stayed on dry land. Bill (tape): I begged Mr. Ryan to hand Fontaine Futuristics over to Atlas' boys as a peace offering, but the stupid sod won't listen to reason. Instead he's just splicing his mob up, giving them more and tougher plasmids. There's an arms race on here in Rapture, but it's not about who can build the best guns and the biggest bombs it's about who can become less of a man and more of a monster. As Jack tries to find Pablo Navarros lab, he discovers another audio tape from the ill-fated engineer. Ryan: Imagine the will it took to create a place like this. And what have you built? Nothing you can only loot and break. You're not a man. You're just a termite at Versailles. Navarro (tape): I didn't recognize the twist that came into the shop today stacked like Sally and dressed to the nines. She's playing her cards pretty close to the vest, but you ain't got to be no college kid to see that she's into some bad china. She was asking about magnetic locks, and some such. I played it coy, but she took wise. After she showed me 'round her backyard, I gave her directions to Kyburz's tool shop. Rapture's gone to hell, but sometimes the Great Chain still cuts you a break. As Jack searches for Kyburzs tool shop, he finds another audio tape of Navarro. Navarro (tape): Let me tell you something about Kyburz and all them university types: they're so smart, except when they ain't. I put a couple of drinks in him last week, and before I could say boo he's telling me he's got the code to his office keyed to the date of Australia Day. Nows every few weeks, I slip in real gentle and nick a buck or two from the till. The Aussie never notices, and I ain't about to tell him seems like there's all kind of crazy stuff back there. Maybe, maybe one day I'll get more ambitious. Jack finds Kyburzs tool shop, where he discovers a partially-constructed electromagnetic bomb. Nearby is an audio recording from Kyburz himself. 35

Kyburz (tape): The basic casing is ready. I've got one charge of nitroglycerin in my office that will serve as a catalyst. Now I need four R-34 lead shield wire stubs to pass the circuit. Then a half-can of Ionic Gel - that's the pretty Betty of the mix. Should send the core into compensation mode, push power down the line, and trigger the circuit breaker on Ryan's gate. That's the theory. It'll either work like a charm, or blow up half of Rapture. Nothing venturedGhost 1: The circuit breakers over there, yeah. Ghost 2: Why cant Ryan take care of this crap himself? Ghost 1: Because Mr. Ryans got more important things to do than enforce loyalty in the ranks. Ghost 2: What? Hey, no, dont! (Dies) Ghost 1: Say hello to Fontaine, you backstabbing son of a bitch! Ryan (tape): To build a city at the bottom of the sea! Insanity, but where else could we be free from the clutching hand of the Parasites? Where else could we build an economy that they would not try to control, a society that they would not try to destroy? It was not impossible to build Rapture at the bottom of the sea. It was impossible to build it anywhere else. Near Kyburzs tool shop, Jack finds another audio recording from Kyburz. Kyburz (tape): Ryan's splicers are dragging the young woman off right now. I'm certain she's one of Ryan's spies, sent to feel me out. At least, I think she is. If I'm wrong, an innocent girl will end up on Ryan's bloody trophy wall. If I'm right, well, I best be right. The device is almost finished. I can't get soft now. I can't! Ryan: Before the final rat has eaten the last gram of you, Rapture will have returned. I will lead a parade. "Who was that," they'll say, as they point to the sad shape hanging on my wall. "Who was that?" Jack finds several components missing from the electromagnetic pulse bomb, and only needs some nitroglycerin to complete the device. Ryan: A man builds a city at the bottom of the sea. That's a marvel. Another man happens to be on a plane that crash lands on the same city in the middle of the ocean. Why, that sounds more like a miracle. Ryan (tape): Is there blood in the streets of course. Have some chosen to destroy themselves with careless splicing undeniable. But I will make no proclamations, I will dictate no laws. The Great Chain moves slowly, but with wisdom. It is our impatience that invites in the Parasite of big government. And once you've invited it in, it will never stop feeding on the body of the city. 36

After Jack gets his hands on some nitroglycerin, he defeats another Big Daddy and frees its Little Sister. Tenenbaum: I've seen such terrible things and done worse myself. Thank you for reminding me that the light of the world has not yet been snuffed out. I'm sending a Little One to help you on your way. Back in Kyburzs tool shop, Jack finally assembles the electromagnetic bomb. Atlas: Does it look like a real bomb? It better you got to put it on the core past Geothermal Control, and we'll see if these needle-noses knew what the hell they were talking about. Announcer: We all move the Great Chain and the Great Chain moves us all. Jack takes the bomb toward Geothermal Control. Atlas: Looks like the ocean's got an itch to retake this corner of Rapture. This happened right after the start of the war. Read about it in the papers. Head on in. I'll see what I can dig up to help. Kyburz (tape): What a barmy dream some kind of fruit tree, spinning like a top, and it was pouring juice down Ryan's throat, choking the bastard. But it wasn't a tree, really, when I looked closer. It was the core control, the gizmo that feeds the magnetic locks on Ryan's gate. You can't cut off the power comes right from the volcanic vents. Ryan always gets his juice, but I suppose you could drown the son of a bitch in it. When Jack arrives at Geothermal Control, he finds a large quantity of magma oozing through a series of tubes over a large body of stagnant water. Atlas: I'm no engineer, but if I read these plans right, you can channel that magma flow using the redirect valve. It'll boil off that water right quick, and you'll be able to reach the core. But Ryan's sure to take notice might want to set up a perimeter, just to be certain. Suchong (tape): Initial Deployment, Vita-Chamber; client, Ryan Industries. Stage one is complete. Sinclair and Alexander tried to explain the science to me, but Suchong does not believe them. They keep saying plasmid reconstruction this and quantum entanglement that and then poof, dead people come back to life. Bullshit! Of course, Ryan will only allow it to be tuned to his genetic frequencies for the testing. Jack finds the valve that Atlas referenced and begins to turn it. Soon, splicers appear. Ryan: Will these creatures kill you? Even I don't know. As you drag me closer to the abyss, you pull yourself right along with me. I offer you a quick death, Parasite. It will be preferable to what you will learn if you win. 37

Suchong (tape): Is that your puppy, son? She's very pretty. Break her neck for me. Break that sweet puppy's neck. Break that puppy's neck, would you kindly. Yes! Very good! Jack manages to defeat the splicers and fully turn the redirect valve. The redirect valve has channeled the magma flow, boiling off the body of water blow. Jack can now get into the core itself. Atlas: Are they all dead? Hope so. Best be heading on to the core. Ryan: So far away from your family, from your friends, from everything you ever loved, but, for some reason you like it here. You feel something you can't quite put your finger on. Think about it for a second and maybe the word will come to you: nostalgia. Suchong (tape): Advanced Deployment, Lot 111, Dr. Suchong; client, Fontaine Futuristics. Baby is now a year old, weighs fifty-eight pounds, and possesses gross musculature of a fit, nineteen-year old. The results are disappointing, but within expected tolerances. Jack approaches Harmonic Core No. 3 and prepares to detonate the electromagnetic bomb. Ryan: What did Atlas offer you a piece of my plundered city? Mark my words: your only reward will be a knife in the back. The electromagnetic bomb explodes, short-circuiting the core. Atlas: Christ, what a racket you're making down there! If you've surged the core, then there's only one more task to be done. Head on back to Ryan's gate and throw the circuit breaker. That'll let you right into his place. Jack returns to Ryans locked doorway. He throws a circuit breaker, and the door slowly opens. Ryan: Though my physical defenses fall, you'll not defeat me. My strength is not in steel and fire, but in my intellect and will. You hear me, Atlas? Andrew Ryan offers you nothing but ashes! In the end, all that matters to me is me. And all that matters to you is you. It is the nature of things. Jack enters into Ryans control area. Around him are gigantic generators and control consoles. Ryan: Even in the 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! Come now, my child. There is one final thing to discuss. Alarms begin blaring, and the floor beneath Jacks feet begins to rumble ominously. 38

Atlas: What? Ryan's set the core to self destruct! This is different than what you did. He's got a mind to take down the whole damned city! Get in there and whack the chump before the whole joint blows! Jack passes through an unassuming doorway. Up ahead, in a dimly-lit chamber, he sees Andrew Ryan, in person. Ryan is on the other side of a window, and he is practicing his golf swing on a felt, green, floor mat. Ryan: The assassin has overcome my final defense, and now hes 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 opens a door near the window, allowing Jack to enter his private chamber. Ryan: Stop, would you kindly? Jack is suddenly compelled by some unknown force. He stops in his tracks. Ryan: Would you kindly, a powerful phrase a familiar phrase? Sit, would you kindly. Jack is compelled to sit down. Ryan: Stand, would you kindly. Jack stands to his feet. Ryan: Run! Jack runs away. Ryan: Stop! Turn. Jack stops and turns to face Ryan once more. Ryan hands him the golf club and kneels. Ryan: A man chooses. A slave obeys. Kill! Jack hits Ryan across the face with the golf club, sending Ryan reeling to the ground. Ryan: A slave obeys. Jack hits Ryan once again, and Ryan struggles back into a kneeling position for the last time. 39

Ryan: OBEY. Jack hits Ryan one last time. The end of the club becomes embedded in Ryans skull. He is dead. Atlas: Hurry now, grab Ryan's genetic key! Now would you kindly put it in that goddamn machine? Jack, confused but seeing no other option, inserts Ryans genetic key into a control console, shutting down the self-destruct sequence. Atlas: Nice work, boyo! Atlass voice changes, somehow growing deeper and strangely malevolent. Atlas: It's time to end this little masquerade. There ain't no Atlas, kid. Never was. Fellow in my line a work takes on a variety of aliases. Hell, once I was even a Chinaman for six months. But, you've been a sport, so I guess I owe you a little honesty. The name's Frank Fontaine. I got to say, I had a lot of business partners in my life, but you course, the fact that you were genetically conditioned to bark like a cocker spaniel when I said, Would you kindly, might have had something to do with it, but still. Now, as soon as that machine finishes processing the genetic key you just fished off Ryan, I'm going to run Rapture tits to toes. You been a pal, but you know what they say: never mix business with friendship. Thanks for everything, kid. Don't forget to say, Hi, to Ryan for me. Jack suddenly feels a great pain in his chest and his skull seems to be splitting at the seams. Gasping, he falls to the floor, clutching the dust in complete powerlessness. His eyes close. He believes that he has died. Tenenbaum: Welcome back, child. Welcome to the city where you were born. Jacks eyes open and he suddenly finds himself amidst freed Little Sisters in some kind of orphanage. His head is pounding and his heart is beating far too quickly, but he no longer feels the icy grip of death clutching at his soul. Tenenbaum: You are angry at Fontaine, yes? Now you know the truth. You are his tool, brought back to Rapture to save him. You have saved many of my Little Ones. I owe you a debt. Jack stands to his feet and begins to examine his surroundings in more detail. Young girls around him play with colored blocks and scribble on papers, laughing with innocent joy. This appears to be paradise, a solitary pocket of sanity within Rapture. Tenenbaum: While you sleep, I undo some of Fontaine's mental conditioning. His control is no longer complete, but he can still pull some very unpleasant strings. We made your mind with many locks and keys. Fontaine has most of those keys, but not all. Dr. Suchong designed 40

your mind, taught Fontaine to control you. You might find answers in Suchong's flat in Mercury Suites. Nearby, a Little Sister stands up and takes Jacks hand. She leads him up a flight of stairs and shows him to an exit. Little Sister: Hey, Mister, youre the one to save us? Follow me! Fontaine: And now you've got hooked up with Tenenbaum, huh, kid? She's a regular Mother Goose. All right, fun's fun, kid, but now, go get stepped on by a Big Daddy, would you kindly? Jack feels nothing no compulsion to obey the suggestion. Fontaine: Huh? I says, Would you kindly go get stepped on by a Big Daddy? Jack is overcome with euphoria. He believes that Fontaines hold on his mind has been broken. Fontaine: Ah, seems like Mother Goose has been playing around in your egg salad. If you won't dance to that tune, I got others: Code Yellow. Jacks euphoria is suddenly replaced with intense pain. His heart has begun beating irregularly. Fontaine: I just told your brain to tell your heart to stop beating. Not right off the bat, mind you. The heart's a stubborn muscle, but not that stubborn. Tenenbaum: Once you are free of Fontaine's control, then you can have your revenge, and we can keep my Little Ones out of his filthy hands. Jack turns a nearby valve, opening a hidden passage. He finds himself in Olympus Heights, near Mercury Suites. Fontaine: That's it, kid. You're busto. My new friends will catch up with you soon. Ah, kid, I hope they make it quick. Ryan's flesh and blood, why'd I go to the trouble? Otherwise you'd have been cut in two by the first Security Bot you crossed paths with. But not Ryan he made it so his security would recognize his genetic structure. With half his genes, you ain't immune, but you got just enough to throw them metallic kooks off their game. Suchong (tape): That's quite a little monster Fontaine's dug up. When she does speak, which is almost never, her accent is thick and grating. Her hair is filthy and she seems to wear the same mustard-stained jumper day after day. But I've got to hand it to Frank Tenenbaum is the all-time diamond in the rough. No formal training, no experience, but put her in front of a gene sequence, and she's Mozart at the harpsichord. As Jack heads toward Dr. Suchongs apartment in Mercury Suites, Fontaine continues to rationalize their positions. 41

Fontaine: I don't like this any more than you do, kid. But you got to understand where I'm coming from. I've got twelve years down here big investment. A man can't walk away from a long con like that. That Tenenbaum ain't what you think, though Florence Nightingale, huh? That'll all come crashing down 'fore you can say, Canned tomatoes. I've seen good Bunco, and I've seen great Bunco. But, when you waltz through Rapture and World War II without even a scratch, you got more than leprechauns watching over you. Suchong (tape): All those years we thought we were making progress with our Skinner boxes and our electric shocks. What a waste of time. Until Adam, you could no more domesticate a child than a boa constrictor. Fontaine gives Suchong history for child that he wants to imprint into child's head. Kid not a person a jukebox, ready to play whatever tune Fontaine wants to hear. When Jack nears Suchongs apartment, the announcement intercom begins playing a long, prerecorded lecture that Ryan recorded long ago. Announcer: What is the greatest lie ever created? What is the most vicious obscenity ever perpetrated on mankind slavery, the Holocaust, dictatorship? No! It's the tool with which all that wickedness is built altruism. Whenever anyone wants others to do their work, they call upon their altruism. Never mind your own needs, they say, Think of the needs, of whoever of the state, of the poor, of the army, of the king, of God. The list goes on and on. How many catastrophes were launched with the words, Think of yourself? Its the king and country crowd who light the torch of destruction. It is this great inversion, this ancient lie, which has chained humanity to an endless cycle of guilt and failure. My journey to Rapture was my second exodus. In 1919 I fled a country that had traded in despotism for insanity. The Marxist Revolution simply traded one lie for another. Instead of one man, the Czar, owning the work of all the people, all the people owned the work of all of the people. And so, I came to America, where a man could own his own work, where a man could benefit from the brilliance of his own mind, the strength of his own muscles, the might of his own will. I had thought I had left the Parasites of Moscow behind me. I had thought I had left the Marxist altruists to their collective farms and their five-year plans. But, as the German fools threw themselves on Hitler's sword for the good of the Reich, the Americans drank deeper and deeper of the Bolshevik poison, spoon-fed to them by Roosevelt and his New Dealers. And so, I asked myself, in what country was there a place for men like me, men who refused to say yes to the Parasites and the Doubters, men who believed that work was sacred and property rights inviolate? And then, one day, the happy answer came to me, my friends: there was no country for people like me. And that was the moment I decided to build one. As Jack reaches Suchongs apartment, hes beset by splicers. Fontaine: Kills me to turn my fist to you, but business is business. Don't let it get you down won't make a difference when this whole place is fish food. Hate to see you this way, kid. Hell, I was there when you were born. You ever have a dog you got to put down? It breaks your heart.

42

Sullivan (tape): When it was done with Culpepper, I left her as she was in the bathroom. I seen she had a blanket half-knitted by her bed. It was nice, you know, black and red, real pretty. So I took it, so I could, you know, have somebody finish it. So it could be of use to someone. It just didn't seem right to leave it lying there, lying there all by itself. Inside Suchongs apartment, Jack finds an audio recording. Suchong (tape): Fontaines become some kind of boogeyman in Rapture. That myth gives him power. But peel back the flim-flam and the humbug, and hes just another con man. And like all con men, he worries hell end up on the wrong side of the grift. Thats why he commissioned Lot 192 the antidote to the mental control plasmid. Fontaine said I better not tell anybody about the antidote, not even Tenenbaum. And Suchong is inclined to listen. Tenenbaum: I knew there was something to that always secrets with Suchong, always secrets. He must have this Lot 192 in his labs near Apollo Square. But, I once in secret stole a dose and brought it to my flat on the second floor. I never knew what it was for, but I figured the bastard was doing something in the shadows, on this I keep my eye. As Jack makes his way toward Tenenbaums apartment, he finds an audio recording from a member of the paparazzi. Paparazzi (tape): Looks like things have gone busto between Fontaine and his little German beanpole. Why a guy like Fontaine would waste his time with that spooky Kraut when he could be getting the gravy from any dish he chooses is beyond the understanding of this paparazzi. Even reset the door code, maybe to be double-sure that beanpole doesnt sprout up in his yard again. Fontaine: Adam's the ultimate score, kid. No more grifts, no more scams. A monopoly on Adam makes Standard Oil look like the Piggly Wiggly. All that's left is burying the bodies, and when they're already six miles under the Atlantic, you got one hell of a head start! Jack arrives at Tenenbaums apartment and finds that splicers have ransacked her home. Tenenbaum: Look at my home, torn apart by Fontaine and his pigs. No doubt he had the sample of Lot 192 taken to his penthouse. Entrance is in lobby, but the damn thing is always locked. You will not believe me, but there was a time when this place was all so beautiful. Fontaine: What you take me for, some kind of mental incompetent? We tossed Mother Gooses roost the moment she decided to grow a conscience. You wont find nothing here, kid, except maybe her memories. And trust me on this: you dont want them. As Jack toward Atlas (Fontaines) penthouse, he spots another Big Daddy, and he frees the Little Sister.

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Tenenbaum: They say to save one life is to save the world entire. I made a place for the children here, but it is you who are their savior. Will you stop here, or will you deliver them from this terrible city at long last? Fontaine: You think you're some kind of hero? I ordered you up from Suchong like a Chinese dinner: a little from column A, a little from column B. What do you plan on going back to your fake family, your phony dreams? Putting you out of your misery will be the nicest thing anyone's ever done for you. Jack enters Atlas (Fontaines) penthouse and finds a lavish living space with plenty of beds scattered across the floor. Fontaine: Made Ryan good and mad when I started playing the charity angle. Fontaine's Home for the Poor, and before I knew it, I was calling myself Atlas and leading an army. Ryan and his precious Rapture you don't have to build a city to make people worship you. Just make the chumps believe they're worth a nickel. Fontaine (tape): These sad saps. They come to Rapture thinking they're going to be captains of industry, but they all forget that somebody's got to scrub the toilets. What an angle they gave me I hand these mugs a cot and a bowl of soup, and they give me their lives. Who needs an army when I got Fontaine's Home for the Poor? In Atlas (Fontaines) private office, Jack finds some Lot 192. He drinks it quickly, but immediately notices some odd side-effects. Tenenbaum: Yes! The compound is taking hold. The effects of the mental suggestion are now gone, but there will certainly be side-effects. Yes, Lot 192 has reorganized your entire plasmid structure. I should have known you would need a larger dosage. Youll have to locate another dosage to fully remove the effects. Yes, gut go and finds Suchongs lab in Artemis Suites. In there, no doubt, there will be more of this Lot 192. It is too dangerous to reengineer your plasmids in the state Fontaine has put you in. Youll just have to make do with what you have. Diane (tape): The people here have grown to trust me Ryan's mistress, and still they take me in! They finally brought me to Atlas. Without him, the people of Apollo Square would give up. I asked him if he was going to lead the people in some kind of uprising against Ryan. He sighed and said, I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. These people will liberate themselves. I thought Andrew Ryan was a great man. I was a fool. Fontaine (tape): Never play a man for the short con when you can play them for the long one. Atlas is the longest con of all. Ryan wanted Frank Fontaine dead. I just gave him what he wanted. As Atlas, I got a new face, a clean record, and a fresh start. Now it's time to take back Rapture. Wait, Diane, what the hell are you doing here? Oh, shit. In a corner of the room, Jack finds Diane McClintocks charred remains. On her corpse is another audio tape. 44

Diane (tape): We went on a raid outside the wire today. We snagged thirty-one rounds of buckshot, four grenades, a shotgun, and thirty-four Adam. We lost McGee, Epstein and Valletta. We got one of those goddamn Big Daddies in the bargain, though. It was something awful what they had to do to that little girl to get the Adam, but we didn't start this thing. Ryan did. I can't wait to tell Atlas. He'll be so pleased. As Jack makes his way to Artemis Suites in the hope of finding more Lot 192, he frees yet another Little Sister. Tenenbaum: Adam improved every aspect of man, except his character. Perhaps there is a plasmid that can grow the spirit. Perhaps in your DNA this secret lies. I've sent a Little One with some goodies to help ease your burden. Diane (tape): I was so angry when I came down here, but, my god, I had no idea. Theres armed men all over the place. I saw a woman climb over the fence trying to escape. One of Ryan's guards pointed at her, and she lit on fire, just like that. What's happening here? Fontaine: Im going to miss this place. Rapture was a candy store for guys like me, guys who thought they knew it all, dames who thought theyd seen it all. Give me a smart mark over a dumb one every time. Diane (tape): I bribed one of the gorillas at the gate to let me in. It's awful in here. To my right, I can see a dead woman lying in the street. Everybodys just walking by her, like she isn't there. But I noticed something, spray-painted everywhere Atlas lives. I don't know what it means, but something tells me it's important to these people. When Jack arrives at Suchongs lab, he finally finds the other dosage of Lot 192. He drinks the solution and, for the first time in his life, feels altogether clear-headed. Tenenbaum: Now you are having freedom. Suchong's drugs should have no hold on you. Take the bathysphere to Point Prometheus. It is time for this matter to be settled. Suchong (tape): Clinical Trial Protector System, Plasmid Lot 255, Dr. Suchong; client, Ryan Industries. Very frustrating day I can't seem to get the damn Big Daddies to imprint on the little brats. The protection bond is just not forming. Get away, stupid girl. Maybe if I modify the genetic sequence to allow for get away you filthy little shit! Oh, god, you metal moron, what are you doing? Get back. Get back! Fontaine: You broke the spell? But laying all your chips on Mother Goose, it's not like youve never been double-crossed before, you know what I'm saying? Hoof it to Point Prometheus. We'll discuss this like men. You, me, a submarine topside, and more Adam than you could possibly imagine. Jack finds the bathysphere to Point Prometheus. When he arrives, he immediately sees Fontaine nearby. Fontaine, upon seeing Jack, sprints for an exit. 45

Fontaine: Last chance, kid. You pack it in now, and Ill leave this dump to you and Frau Kraut. You keep on coming, and Raptures a fish tank. Tenenbaum: What is this you wait for? Go and get this idiot! Fontaine: You pushed me too far, kid. When you're cold and stiff, I'm going over to Mother Goose's house, and I'm going to take it apart, piece by piece and brat by brat. Consider it your legacy. Jack continues chasing Fontaine, but the latter manages to get away. Fontaine locks the door behind him, barring Jacks path for the time being. Fontaine: You're playing a bad hand, kid! You're just too spliced to smell it. Roll on back to Mother Goose now, or everything's going to go busto. Tenenbaum: Scheie! You let him get away! I need a moment for thinking. Ah! Ach, of course! This will be no problem. Find a Big Daddy and search his body. I would suggest you to be finding a dead one. Fontaine: Shame things turned out this way, kid. You and me could have run the table in this place. Now there's nothing left for you but a long, cold nothing. Tenenbaum (tape): I know why it has to be children, but why just girls? This I cannot determine why, but I know it is so. Fontaine says, Ah, one less bathroom to build in the orphanage. It is amazing to watch the effect of Adam on their small bodies. Their own cells, replaced by the new stems the instant they are damaged. These children are practically invulnerable. It is a shame you could not do the same thing to an adult. There would be quite a market for a man you could not kill. Jack sees a Big Daddys corpse nearby. Tenenbaum: You see the suit control system? Sehr gut, get it. That is step one of turning you into one of those disgusting Big Daddies. The only way to get through that door Fontaine went through is to have a Little One open it for you. And they'll only trust you if you look like, sound like, and even smell like one of those big, stinking brutes. Fontaine: You think turning yourself into one of those tin men is a two-way street? The Kraut's holding auditions for the Frankenstein parade and you're first in line! Jack heads toward Little Wonders, the laboratory where the Little Sisters were created. Young girls were caged in holding cells and were shocked with electric prods until they lost all traces of their humanity and their free will. Tenenbaum: We bred Little Ones to imprint to certain smells, the pheromones. But this is not like putting on aftershave. You'll need three industrial applications of this stuff, and then 46

the Little Ones will be drawn to you like a bee to honey. You will have to gather three pheromones here, so that you smell disgusting, just like a Big Daddy. Suchong (tape): War, a terrible thing. Japanese kill every man in my city, except for Suchong. Suchong have opium, very good opium. This war, terrible thing, too, but not for Suchong everyone scared now. Everyone need Adam, more than Little Sisters can make. Good news is war makes lots of corpses. Suchong knows way to recycle Adam from corpse, but can't send Little Sister out to street unprotected. Suchong must think on this. Fontaine: Look around you, kid. You think two-bit heroics count for a fig in this pit? You're staring down the puke stain of Ryan's busted dream. You think there's something worth saving down here? Then you deserve to gargle with the rest of these scrubs. You know, you should be thanking me! I brought you here! I showed you who you are! Nobody never told you nothing but lies til I come along. Ryan (tape): I'll admit Fontaine showed some foresight when he built up the plasmid business, but the man really never understood sales, hiding those little girls beneath a bushel. I've just seen the preliminary design work on the new plasmid machines, and they're exactly what I wanted. Mark my words presented properly, those Little Sisters are marketing gold. Soon, Jack finds the pheromones that Doctor Tenenbaum spoke about. Tenenbaum: I can only be glad I am nowhere near you and that awful stink. Why the Little Ones are drawn to the smell of those pheromones is beyond anything I can understand. Fontaine: Mother Goose really got her hooks into you. You can knock Ryan all you want, but the old man was bingo on one point of fact: you won't even walk til somebody says, Go! Tenenbaum: Is good start. Now you need only to find the bodysuit and the voice box from the other labs and you will be a proper brute. Get moving. Suchong (tape): Big Daddy make a terrible stink, very smelly. Maybe something can be done, but Little Sisters seem to like odor. Now we have to find recruits you become Big Daddy, it's a one way street. But Ryan says, Don't worry, recruits will be no problem. That Ryan, he's a good guy. Next, Jack heads over to Failsafe Armored Escorts, where he hopes to find the bodysuit. Tenenbaum: After Ryan takes this place, here is where they build their filthy golems, their Frankensteins. Find the pieces of the suit. Guide the Little Ones. Fontaine: Look around you! There's nothing to save! Rapture's a mausoleum, a god damn cemetery funhouse. And you and the Kraut is just ghosts just a matter of time til you realize it. 47

Suchong (tape): Ryan sent over extra munitions. He must suspect trouble. I've locked them up near the Protector Labs. I don't expect we'll ever be needing them though. Once Big Daddy is ready, nobody cross the Big Daddy. Up ahead, Jack finds an indoctrination room for Big Daddies. Tenenbaum: The boots, I was sure the boots would be here! Scheie! Fontaine: I'd turn tail if I were you, kid. Ain't nothing here for you but tears. In a corner of the room, however, Jack finds another audio recording from Doctor Suchong. Suchong (tape): God damn it! The Big Daddy boots need to be shipped here, not to a damn library! What kind of idiots is Ryan hiring nowadays? This kind of bullshit never happened under Fontaine. Announcer: The Big Daddies have no interest in you. Treat them as they do you; do not interfere with their work, especially if they are with a Little Sister. As Jack is leaving the room, a Big Daddy blocks his path. He defeats the hulking creature and frees the final Little Sister. Tenenbaum: It's a wounded world, is it not? How can I thank you for this kindness? I send another Little One with a token of our appreciation. In a nearby room, Jack finds bodysuit. He now wears the leather garb of the Big Daddy. Tenenbaum: Ach! You'll make terrible racket, das is gut! We will make disgusting Frankenstein out of you yet. There is helmet and pair of boots and we will be how you say in business. Fontaine: Where you going to go your life, your family? They're a fairy tale, kid. No more real than something you read about in the Saturday Evening Post. Poor bastard, a motherless freak whipped up in a half-baked science experiment. Suchong (tape): Fontaine scary son of a bitch, but Ryan cheap son of a bitch. You can no reuse protector suit. Take a man, graft skin and organs straight into suit, otherwise suit not work. Ryan say Big Daddy too expensive. Ryan can go suck egg. Jack searches for the library Suchong spoke about. When he finally finds it, he also finds the Big Daddy boots. Tenenbaum: Boots and bodysuit. You must go back to Failsafe Armored Escorts und find helmet. Now, schnell, there is no time to waste.

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Ryan (tape): Could I have made mistakes? One does not build cities if one is guided by doubt, but can one govern in absolute certainty? I know that my beliefs have elevated me, just as I know that the things I have rejected would have destroyed me. But the city, it is collapsing before my eyes. Have I become so convinced by my own beliefs that I have stopped seeing the truth? Perhaps, but Atlas is out there. He aims to destroy me, and destroy my city. To question is to surrender. I will not question. Back at Failsafe Armored Escorts, Jack passes through a security station. Tenenbaum: Here is where you be finding the voice box to have sound like one of those Big Daddies, repulsive creatures. Suchong (tape): Fontaine is dead bad for Fontaine. Good for Suchong. Play hard to get for a bit, then Mr. Ryan get hungry for me. Tenenbaum gone, Fontaine gone, Suchong only one who know all about Little Sisters. Like I said, this very good for Suchong. At a nearby security control center, Jack acquires the voice box. Tenenbaum: Good! I hear the squawk of the voice box and I can only imagine how you must smell with those awful pheromones. Ah, look at you. You look just the same as those, well, once you find those Frankenstein boots, you will be ready. Finally, Jack completes his ensemble with the Big Daddy boots. Tenenbaum: Yes, now this is a Big Daddy. Are you ready? Now, go to the Little Sister Vent by the Proving Grounds. Fontaine: I've got Rapture now! I've got the Adam now! You think that tin suit's even half enough to put the scare in me? Returning to Fontaines locked door, Jack notices a tiny opening at the base small enough only for a child to crawl through. Tenenbaum: You need to bring them out of hiding, and then theyll let you in the door. Go on, hit the vent with your wrench. Jack finds a nearby vent, and whacks the metal with his trusty wrench. A small girl crawls out of the vent she is a Little Sister, but no longer a mindless drone. Little Sister: Hey, Mr. B, follow me! Tenenbaum: The Little Ones will lead you to Fontaine, but you must protect them. Und bitte, it would mean very much to me if you will be gentle with the girls mein kleines mdchen. Little Sister: Come on, Mr. B, I see an angel. 49

Fontaine: That's it, kid. It's been a long road. You don't even remember most of it. Put you on a sub when you were just a sprout. I really wound you up with that wife and child bit: Oh, my poor Moira! Ah, me wee baby Patrick! Maybe one day, I'll get me a real family. They play well with the suckers. Little Sister: Look, Mr. B. An angel he looks sad. The Little Sister finds a corpse and begins stabbing the body with a hypodermic needle, sucking the Adam from the corpses stomach. Tenenbaum: Ach, look at them. Even though they are physically free of the need to gather, Suchong's mental conditioning still holds them to their terrible task. For sins such as this we can never atone. Watch out! For certain their harvesting will draw the attention of the splicers! Suddenly, splicers appear nearby and begin attacking the Little Sister as she performs her grisly task. Little Sister: Help, Mr. Bubbles! Tenenbaum: You must protect the Little Ones! They are no longer infused with Adam. They are as vulnerable as any child! Jack protects the Little Sister as she salvages Adam from the remains. Fontaine then radios him. He sounds exhilarated - almost jubilant. Fontaine: Don't know what I was thinking! Never spliced up once the whole time I was down here in this aquarium. Figured it was bad to mix business with pleasure, but whew! Forget all the nose candy and floor polish I been wasting time with! This stuff is the mother's milk. Little Sister: Come on, Mr. B. More angels need our kisses! Up ahead, Jack comes to another locked door with a slat at the bottom only large enough for a child to be granted entrance. Tenenbaum: Only the Little Ones can open these doors. You must protect them! The Little Sister opens the door and comes to another corpse ahead. She once again begins stabbing it with her needle. Tenenbaum: Hurry! The harvesting will draw the attention of the splicers! Better for the girls to be with you; better with you than alone alone in the crawling darkness The Little Sister finishes harvesting the corpses Adam and begs Jack to press onward. Little Sister: Hurry up, Mr. B, hold my hand. Another angel needs our kisses. 50

Fontaine pages Jack again. His voice has dropped further and become somehow metallic. He screams with delight. Fontaine: Hah! That might be enough for the working scrubs and the pencil pushers, but I need more, more! I want to splice 'til there ain't nothing left to splice with! Tenenbaum: Fontaine is nearby. You are reaching close now. Little Sister: Time for bed-y-bye, Mr. B. Im sleepy. The Little Sister climbs up into a nearby vent, but turns around to offer Jack her syringe. Tenenbaum: There, you must use the needle of the Little Sister to drain Fontaine of his Adam. It is the only way to defeat him. Fontaine waits above. There will be no going back from here. Make sure you are ready to face him before moving on. Little Sister: Here, take this. Stick it in the bad man! Jack takes the syringe and then enters a nearby elevator, which rises up into a grand antechamber. In the center of the room, Fontaine has been strapped into a metal surgical chair. He has been morphed beyond recognition. He towers above Jack, and his skin glistens metallically. His muscles, ridiculously proportioned, are taught with exertion. Fontaine: I remember when me and the Kraut put you in that sub. You were no more than two. You were my ace in the hole, but you were also the closest thing I ever had to a son. And thats why this hurts. Betrayal, kid life aint strictly business. Tenenbaum: Go! Go now! Hit him with the needle! Even as Fontaine struggles to pump more Adam into his body, Jack plunges the syringe into his chest, sucking away his sustenance. Fontaine snaps the restraints binding him in the chair and begins blasting Jack with every plasmid at his disposal. Soon, however, Jack manages to overpower him. Fontaine lurches with pain and slumps back into his chair, pumping even more Adam into his veins. Tenenbaum: What are you waiting for? Hit him with the needle! Fontaine, seeing that he cannot refuel, summons his strength and attacks Jack again. Again, however, Jack sends him back to the chair. Little Sister: Get him, Mr. B! Jack plunges his needle into Fontaine one last time. Fontaine finds some untapped strength and flings Jack onto the floor. 51

Fontaine: I had you built! I sent you topside! I called you back, showed you what you was, what you was capable of! Even that life you thought you had, that was something I dreamed up and had tattooed inside your head. Now, if you dont call that family, I dont know what is. And nowSuddenly, Little Sisters come pouring from the rooms vents, each armed with a syringe. They leap onto Fontaine and begin stabbing him relentlessly. Little Sister: Come on! Come on! Fontaine buckles under the pain a dozen needles piercing his veins, drawing his energy. He finally collapses in death, breathing the dust of the city he so despised. A Little Sister finds the key to the Rapture on Fontaine and offers it to Jack. Tenenbaum then cuts in, narrating the games epilogue. While she speaks, images flash before the camera Little Sisters opening a bathysphere, squinting in the sunlight, accepting diplomas, receiving engagement rings, reaching to their own children, and finally placing their hands in Jacks own. Tenenbaum: They offered you the city, and you refused it. And what did you do instead? What I have come to expect of you you saved them. You gave them the one thing that was stolen from them a chance a chance to learn, to find love, to live. And, in the end, what was your reward? You never said, but I think I know a family. The game ends and the credits roll.

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