Hello there readers. First and foremost, I do not own anything within the BioShock storyline other than the original characters and ideas within this story. Now, with that bit of business taken care of, I should point out that this story takes place post both good endings. With that being said enjoy and please review with your thoughts.

Prologue

Maxwell Grey

Rapture. A city built on the idea of a man working only for himself. After the fall of Andrew Ryan and his objectivist point of view, Sofia Lamb came to power, bringing her collectivist ideology with her. After her reign ended at the hands of Subject Delta and her own daughter, Eleanor, four years ago, the city was left without ruler. A crumbling marvel hidden at the bottom of the sea.

Until Maxwell Grey appeared.

One of the many unaccounted for survivors of the Rapture Civil War, Grey opted sit in quite silence and wait for the rulers of Rapture to be killed off rather than go after them himself. If there was one thing living through a war and a city driven to hell had taught the Australian, it was patience.

So he waited, and sure enough, a hero always rose and brought Rapture's ruler down. But rather than take the city for themselves, the hero always fled for the surface. It didn't matter why they did so to Grey, because now, with his followers supporting him, he was the ruler of Rapture, and he didn't see any white horse riding over the horizon to knock him off his thrown. It had been a long few years, but now, in 1972, he finally had hold over his prize. He even had his most trusted follower, a Russian scientist by the name of Andrei Petrov; rewire both the Big Daddies and remaining Big Sisters, which meant he also controlled the ADAM. He also had Petrov improve the Big Sister suits, as well as giving them an expanded arsenal of Plasmids.

Still, the number of Big Sisters had been considerably cut down, and there weren't any little ones left at all, thanks to Subject Delta. After reviewing personal files from both Ryan and Lamb, the latter which had been recovered from the sunken ruins of Persephone, he found the solution he had been looking for, along with an idea to further expand their numbers.

He pressed a button that linked his voice to every Big Sister's helmet. "I have a job for you, Sheila's. Pack your bags, you're taking a little vacation to the surface."

Chapter one

Kidnappers

17 year old Alex Lynch moved down the sidewalk at a slight jog. He was a little bit tall for his age, but had what could be described as an average body build. He was wearing a white tee-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. His hair was a long and unruly mess of dirt blond atop his head. He also wore a denim jacket that matched the color of his jeans.

The streetlights were the only source of illumination as he jogged towards the direction of his house in the dark night. He didn't know the exact time, but he knew he was well past his curfew. He shook his head slightly, trying to clear his clouded mind. He had been hanging out with a few friends at his buddy Eric's house, when one of them had the bright idea to try smoking pot. Needless to say, Alex wound up with a terrible headache and an insatiable sense of hunger.

He finally turned a corner into the cul-de-sac he lived on. As he started walking towards his house he felt the odd presence of someone watching him. He turned around and surveyed the street behind him. Nothing but the cold dark night and the ever present tinge of salt in the air, sometimes living right by the ocean could be annoying.

"Never again." Alex muttered to himself, passing the feeling off as a side effect of trying drugs, and making a mental note to kick his friend's ass tomorrow.

He absentmindedly adjusted the brim of his glasses in his nose, then continued walking towards his house. When he finally walked onto the front lawn, the feeling of being watched returned, this time more intensely. Alex turned around once more, but was still greeted by an empty street. He shrugged his shoulders and was about to take another step towards his house when he heard a soft puff sound.

His mind hadn't fully registered what was happening until he was lifted high into the air by some strange being. In the darkness he couldn't make out any defining features on his assailant aside from an obvious piercing yellow glow on its face, which looked similar to a porthole, and a thin build. The palm of the person's hand felt like leather, but he felt a metal covering over the top of the hand. If this was indeed a human, they were wearing some sort of strange suit.

Alex finally regained his senses and lashed out with his foot at the figure, only to be met with a dull thud as his boot met the metal suit. The figure looked down at Alex's foot, then back up to his face. Suddenly, Alex felt his air flow being restricted. He realized that this mysterious figure was suffocating him, but why? He didn't recall offending any scary people with odd suits. He desperately continued to kick his attacker, but darkness was starting to fill the edges of his vision. One of his kicks went higher than the rest and hit his assailant square in the chest. The light on the figure's porthole changed from yellow to a blood red, and the figure gave Alex a powerful kick, knocking him a few feet backwards.

Alex struggled to get up and run, but was stopped when he heard what sounded like metal sliding against metal. It sounded like a sword being drawn out of a sheath. He looked at his assailant and noticed that the left hand of the silhouette now had what looked to be a very large needle extending from just above it.

"Oh shit." Was the only thought running through Alex's mind as he struggled to get on his feet. The figure was much quicker than him, though, and used its needle to pin him to the ground by one of his sleeves. Alex was still on his back, and attempted a few feeble punches. His assailant wasted no time in delivering a powerful blow to the side of his face, then clamping their hand firmly onto his neck again, constricting his air flow once more.

The blackness consumed his vision completely, and Alex had no choice but to submit to unconsciousness.

…

When Alex finally started to come to, he first heard the sound of the ocean. Willing his eyes to open, Alex found that he was lying on a cold metal floor staring up at a lighthouse that stretched far into the sky. Ignoring his headache, Alex leapt to his feet and found himself on a lighthouse platform in the middle of the ocean. Alex was so caught up in frantically observing his surroundings that he didn't notice the group of being in diving suits watching him not far away.

Finally, he saw the six glowing yellow portholes watching him. Nervously, Alex started to back away, only to find himself at the top of a staircase leading down into the ocean. The only he coherent thoughts he could form were 'I am so about to die' and 'where the FUCK am I?' One of the figures stepped forward and pushed Alex in the direction of the lighthouse. Alex didn't know whether this was the same figure that had kidnapped him, but he assumed so. As he was walking dejectedly towards the lighthouse he noticed the other figures waking and shoving other teenagers he failed to notice in the same direction as him. Some of the figures also had little boys and girls locked in cages on their backs.

Alex was pushed up another short staircase and into the pitch black interior of the lighthouse. Uneasiness filled the pit of his stomach until lights overhead flickered to life. Mounted on the wall was a banner reading No Gods or Kings, only Man, with a large bust of a man's face glaring down at him above it. His captor pushed him down another dark stairway, with the lights coming on the same way as before.

Alex risked a glance back at the group of kidnappers and finally got a clear look at their suits. In addition, each one's armor had an individual color detail to it. The armor of the figure pushing him had blue detail on the shoulders and knees, while another figure had green detail, another a pale white, and another grey. The other figure's armor didn't have any specific detail to them, and Alex noticed that they also weren't ones holding a teenager captive. So what was the connection between the figures with armor detail and the teenagers? He didn't have time to give it to much thought though, as his captor gave him an extra hard shove, an indication to keep looking ahead.

After they descended another flight of stairs Alex was led around a third circular staircase until he saw a bathysphere up ahead. If this was a lighthouse, why did it have a bathysphere? And where exactly did it go? Alex didn't have time to give these questions thought either as he was pushed into the bathysphere.

After all the kidnappers and their captives had entered the bathysphere, one of them, the one with grey armor detail, walked up to the front where a lever and some sort of console were. They slid their needle from its sheath and stabbed it into an opening on the console. The console flashed green and the door to the bathysphere slid closed. The bathysphere lurched and started to descend down into the sea. Alex's captor placed a hand on his shoulder, their grip firm, as he saw a sign that indicated how many fathoms they had traveled.

10 fathoms so far, now 18, how deep were they going? And why the hell were they kidnapping teenagers and toddlers and putting them in a bathysphere?

One of the toddlers in a cage started to cry, which encouraged the rest of the toddlers in that cage to follow suit. Alex shut his eyes, expecting the kidnapper holding that cage to yell at the toddlers. But instead, the kidnapper calmly unhooked the cage from their back and stuck one of their hands into it, wiggling their fingers at the toddlers. The simple distraction must have calmed the toddlers because the crying stopped as soon as it started. Alex wished it would be that simple for him, but the magnitude of the situation was starting to both scare and depress him. Then, as if summoned to counteract his depression, a screen lit up at the front of the sphere and cheery music began to play.

The screen showed a black and white photo of a man in his late 40's sitting at a desk, his hair was a dark color and his face had a cocky, yet determined, grin etched onto it. He was wearing a dress suit minus the jacket, and he had his feet up on his desk and his hands behind his head. Below the photo were the words: Greetings, from Maxwell Grey.

"G'day, mates", an Australian voice echoed throughout the bathysphere, "Name's Max Grey, and I want to tell you a story. There once was a man named Andrew Ryan." The image of Grey switched to another man sitting at a desk, only he had shorter hair, was wearing a complete suit, and was sitting at his desk normally. "Old Andrew Ryan had a dream. A place, a city, where government and religion would not hinder progress and mankind could shine for all it was. He realized this dream, but others thought they could take it from him." The photo changed to a headshot of a bald man, and then a blonde woman. "These misguided folks took advantage of Mr. Ryan's dream, but they're gone now, and I'm here to restore his dream to what it was."

'What the hell is this guy talking about?' Alex asked himself. 'And what does all this have to do with putting a bunch of kidnapped kids in a bathysphere and sending'em under the ocean?'

"Now, you're all here because you have been chosen to share in that dream. And it is with great joy that I present to you the dream, the city. I present to you", the screen slid open. "Rapture."

The bathysphere's external lights temporarily blinded the kidnapped children, but when their vision returned they all stared in awe. Alex's fear was overpowered by his wonder as the sight of an underwater city met his eyes. Despite the fact that half the city was dark, the lit areas of the city shone with a futuristic glow.

"However", Grey's voice rang through the sphere again, "Rapture is no city for the weak. If you're going to make it here, you've gotta prove yourselves."

As if signaled by the words, Alex's captor tightened their grip on his neck. Alex didn't have time to react as he once again dropped into unconsciousness.

*Cue dramatic music*

Well, I feel like I got a good start. This chapter is intended to be thought of as more of an introduction, mirroring the beginning of the first game.

Also, there hasn't been much character development for Alex because he's half conscious during most of the chapter and, as such, isn't in a place to really form coherent thoughts. Rest assured that by next chapter lots more character development, as well as introducing more characters, will take place.