July 12th, 1971

Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik

Sylvester Murphy looked up at the clock, its noise filling up the small and near vacant diner. Slowly bringing the cigarette he had lighted up to his lips he stared at the two hands pointing at 8 and 6. He slowly rolled the cigarette in between his fingers as he turned his gaze from the clock to the pictures on the table. A lighthouse, that's all they had, the only evidence to the existence of an underwater city, a non-fictional Atlantis.

"More Coffee sir"

Sylvester politely waved his hand at the waitress, dismissing her.

"No, thank you, maybe later."

He didn't remove his glance from the lighthouse, not wanting to get distracted, hopelessly looking for more substance to the picture, hoping that even a minuscule amount of evidence would rear its head but alas nothing.

"Whatcha looking at."

The Waitress' heavy accent caught Sylvester's attention as he quickly turned his glance from the picture to her, peering over his shoulder, he quickly turned over the documents, this city was only rumor and it needs to remain that way.

"Oh, nothing of importance."

She smiled at him but still wouldn't move, He had to get rid of her before she asked too many questions.

"I saw the soap special on the menu, do you think I can get some of that."

She still stood there looking at him seemingly wanting something more.

"I can pay."

"Oh! Yes, right away sir" She exclaimed and quickly ran off as if no one asked her the question before.

Sylvester's eyes followed her to make sure she surely had left, for a while at least. A city at the bottom of the ocean, could that really be possible, and all under the nose of every powerful government in the world. No, that's absurd but the supposed city has gotten enough traction to get the eye of the CIA, KGB, and MI6 and now they had a possible entrance. This "rumor" was looking very real.

Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik.

"8:35, he's now twenty minutes late." Sylvester silently whispered to himself as he glanced up at the clock. He continued to roll the cigarette in between his fingers, he slowly brought it up to his lips while watching the hand move, he moved his eyes to the now pretty much useless butt. He squished it into the ashtray, he then rubbed his temples while struggling to keep his eyes open. He was already having a long and frustrating day and a last-minute meeting in a lousy diner wasn't helping his mood, he was supposed to be in bed sound asleep by now but no he was here and the person he's supposed to be meeting is late.

Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik.

Sylvester's eyes didn't leave the clock as the door swung open. Heavy and slow footsteps filled the diner. Sylvester heard a loud cough as someone slid into the booth across from him, still, his eyes were on the clock.

"You're late"

"I got lost on the way here" The deep and booming voice across from called for Sylvester's attention, he turned to see the all too familiar face of his grizzled colleague.

"Yes, the middle of nowhere" Sylvester took a cigarette from the carton in his pocket and offered it to his co-worker

"Which makes this the perfect place, good work"

The old man took the cigarette and put it in his mouth, Sylvester took out his lighter leaning forward to light it, the cigarette's tip started to burn, the man removed it from his mouth blowing a puff of smoke

"They do allow smoking in here, correct"

Sylvester nonchalantly shrugged

"They never fought me on it, sir"

"Eh, it is what it is" The old man continued to smoke he glanced at the downturned documents.

"Studying them closely I see," The old man said with a somewhat irritation in his voice.

Sylvester raised an eyebrow, he followed the old man's glance to the papers. He grabbed them and turned them face up and let out a sigh

"Nosy Waitress"

"I see"

They both sat there as the clock's tick filled the silence between them, the old man looked around to make sure no one was listening and then leaned

"Look I won't waste any more of your time, it becomes more and more likely every day that something is down there, we don't know if it's a city at the bottom of the ocean or something else but there is something. We need someone to go to this lighthouse and get entry to whatever is down there" He whispered as quietly and discreetly as he could

"I thought we already had someone go check it out" Sylvester whispered with confusion

"We did but it's been months, and there has been no word. We can only assume he is K.I.A."

"Oh, so you want me to go get killed myself?"

"No Sylvester, we need you to find out what the hell is down there, yes, it is clear now it will be dangerous, but that's why we need you. You can defend yourself, you've done countless missions like this before you fought in the war Sylvester, you can fight if anything goes down. Whether you like it or not you are the right man for this job." The old man gave him a pleading look, not to tears but certainly close.

Sylvester shifted his eyes downward pondering, he had nothing to lose but even if many did not believe it, he cherished his life. He grabbed the cigarette carton from his pocket and took one, pulling out the lighter and carefully lighting it.

"Your soup sir." The waitress ran seemingly out of nowhere and quickly placed the hot bowl of soup on the table.

"Oh, thank you"

The waitress same as before stood there smiling as if she was waiting for something. Sylvester stared back with an eyebrow raised, her eyes fixated on the soup it was now clear of what she wanted. Sylvester grabbed the spoon and took a bite. It tasted bitter and almost rotten like it was made days ago and was quickly heated up, he mustered up a smile

"Good"

The Waitress' eyes lightened with happiness like no one had ever said anything that nice to her in her life

"Enjoy it, sir"

She then walked away talking to herself seeming to speak words of encouragement. Sylvester put the cigarette in his mouth in hope he could get the taste out of his mouth. The old man with hands folded stared with impatience and almost with a sense of desperation.

"So, Sylvester?"

Sylvester took it out of his mouth and then spoke but not without hesitation first

"I'll do it. If it gets us valuable information, I'll do it."

"Good man." The old man smiled with relief

"When will I be arriving" Sylvester continued to roll the cigarette in between his fingers

"As soon as you can"

"Give me a day to get everything in order in case something happens, then I'll be ready."

"Of course, we'll get things ready at once." The old man then extended his hand, Sylvester retaliated with a handshake.

"I won't let you down sir"

"We know Murphy, we know" The old man then slid out of the booth and walked towards the exit, tipping his hat towards The Waitress before leaving out the door

Sylvester sighed deeply, it felt as if his shoulders got significantly heavier, that always happened whenever he was tasked with something this important, and dangerous but he was used to it by now. He put out the half-burned cigarette and looked out the window watching the cars go by. He glanced at the clear night sky, the moon was especially bright out that night. He always liked nights like this, but something told him he wasn't going to see another night like this for a long time

Tik, Tik, Tik

July 14th, 1973

This was when Sylvester was most at peace, the helicopter blades whizzing above his head before a mission, but he had never been alone, and it had been a long time since the war. Ocean for miles, nothing but sea blue and the occasional fish jumping out of the water it had been this way for the past hour, Sylvester began to think this was a mistake or a setup. He noticed the lighthouse right away, after miles of nothing a convenient lighthouse in the middle of the ocean was nothing less of abnormal, the possibility of this underwater city existing was getting more real by the minute. The pilot slowly lowered the helicopter towards the stairs of the entrance, Sylvester quickly hopped out checking his holster for his gun, still there, he wasn't going into this unarmed.

"Mr. Murphy one more thing!" The pilot hollered over the noise of the blades and took out a radio

"Take this! Call in as soon as you can confirm anything!" The pilot handed him a radio as Sylvester nodded, the helicopter then took off to the sky blowing back Sylvester's clothes in the process.

Sylvester turned and took a closer look at this lighthouse. It was bleak and dark even in the daylight, a sense of dread filled him like he tried to take a step, but he found out he couldn't do it. He had to take a minute, to take a breath, to get rid of this unexpected fear. He tried once again, success this time, he began to walk up the stairs, despite how few steps needed to be taken it felt like forever as he passed each unlit light the dread seemed to fill. Sylvester than got to the entrance doors, two golden and grand doors decorated with a man, holding a circular object, he couldn't tell if it was the world or just an unexplainable circle. He knocked on the door, no answer, that's when he noticed the left door was half open. He opened it slightly hand on his holster peeking in, he didn't have a good feeling on what was behind that door. Darkness was behind the door, Sylvester walked with caution through the door his hand not leaving his gun. The doors swung closed as the light flickered on. He was then hit with a golden statue of a man's face, it looked worn out and vandalized, but its grandiosity was still evident. The banner stood out before anything else

"No Gods or Kings. Only man." Sylvester whispered the golden painted words to himself

Sylvester turned around to the doors and pushed on them, they wouldn't budge. His head towards a case of stairs going down, he had to keep going despite how much he started to regret his decision. The lights continued to flicker on as he continued into the unknown, the room echoing with every step he took. It didn't take long until he was standing in front of something, he could only guess was a circular submarine but if this thing took him somewhere, he had to step into it, he had no other choice.

The sounds of his footsteps echoed through the room with each reluctant step, entering the unknown. Sylvester never got fearful before anything he ever did, nor did he even have a second thought but something about this brought out feelings he hadn't felt in a long time it was something about an impossible fantasy being true that made him... concerned but that didn't stop him from using the lever, he had a job to do. The object descended underwater almost immediately as Sylvester slowly sat down, bubbles floating in front of him as the submarine went deeper and deeper.

10 fathoms

18 fathoms

His view was then covered by a screen, music started but the quality of sound was very poor. A picture of the lighthouse displayed itself on screen, then what must have been an advertisement replaced it.

"Fire at your fingertips?" Sylvester stared dumbstruck, this was suggesting they could summon fire from their hands. This city was getting more and more unreal, but it was obvious now that it is very real. Then a man in a suit appeared on the screen with a pipe in his mouth. Sylvester recognized him as soon as he appeared, he was the golden statue.

"I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to 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-"

Abruptly his speech was interrupted by static and the screen slowly raising up. Then he saw it, the underwater city, the non-fictional Atlantis. Skyscrapers, buildings, restaurants, shops, all of it. But it all seemed abandoned, none of the buildings had full power and most buildings didn't have power at all. Halves of buildings were gone, and some were even on the ocean floor. The idea of this was amazing but it was far from beautiful.

"Welcome to Rapture, the failed ideology of a man thirteen years dead" A Deep, monotone voice filled the entire submarine

"This city once looked pristine and beautiful, people would enter Rapture and be filled with awe and overwhelmed with beauty. But the ugliness of the inside just caught up with the outside. Rapture now is a lawless society crawling with junkies and monsters. Some people blame Ryan. Some people blame his successor. Some people blame me. But the truth is, Rapture was always doomed. I am very curious about you stranger. Even though it is not common it is not unheard of for some wide-eyed idiot to sail to far on his private yacht, or a diver, or hell even a plane crash survivor. But you are not here by accident, I can tell but I can't put my finger on why you are here. CIA, returning to your old home maybe. My bet is on the former. Whatever you are looking for you aren't going to find. Stay out of my way and you won't have a problem with me. I wish you luck stranger." The voice cut out, Sylvester stared not knowing what to think about of this.

Sylvester grabbed his radio and turned it on, he had to report this immediately, he had to confirm Rapture's existence. Nothing, nothing but static, his radio couldn't pick up any signal. He should have known. That's when he noticed the submarine was going right into the side of one of the building's

"Oh, Fuck, No, no, no!"

CRASH

Sylvester lay there unconscious and bruised as water leaked from the tiny crack in the back of the submarine.

"Hello, Helllooo, come on, Be alive man. Wake up!" Sylvester's radio mixed with static was picking up a voice as Sylvester slowly opened his eyes. He could barely see with his blurred vision, he must have had a concussion. His vision cleared up a bit, he could see he was in the middle of a bar, an abandoned bar.

"Oi, mate, you awake. Answer your radio if you are okay" A man with a heavy but high-pitched cockney accent spoke through the radio. Sylvester picked the radio.

"Hello?"

"Oh, thank Christ man, you're alright. Now I must ask, what in the hell are you doing here"

"Excuse me."

"Ey, look I know that's probably a bit strong but like fuckin hell. Rapture is the last place you want to be in trust me. This is place is a shit show right now and that's sayin something for this place. Just get outta that damn bathysphere before hell anything sees ya!"

Sylvester stepped out and out of the bathysphere and out of the bar, looking around with his hand on his gun.

"Where the hell is everyone"

"Ha be thankful they aren't around mate. Literally, everyone here will try to kill you, it's what happens when your quote leader un-quote just up and decides to let your already fucked up city to be a lawless stomping ground. You name any fucked up person we got it and shit tons of sick and twisted science experiments Mastersson has decided to release during his time as our so-called President, yeah right. Look you might be royally fucked but you don't have to go through it alone, just keep that radio close and I'll try to help you any way I can."

Sylvester looked around, blood-stained floors and screams heard down the halls. He turned his head to see the clear glass with the view of the ocean.

He heard a loud bang to the right of him. He jumped a bit as he saw a giant with drills for both hands standing on the other side of the glass underwater, fully dressed in bulletproof armor with an advanced divers' helmet. The helmet seemed to have lights in it as all the holes in the helmet shined a piercing red light. It tossed its head back and seemed to scream in agony and pain, but it wasn't human. It sounded like a whale, it sounded like it was crying.

"Welcome to Rapture mate, you're going to be here for a while."

Bioshock: Anarchy