Chapter 6

Not a Pretty Bedtime Story

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Behind the Bulkhead, Jack found an empty room even smaller than the one before, nothing more and nothing less. It had four walls, two made of glass to and two of the heavy metal doors taking up the remaining sides. The glass sides offered no view other than a rock wall on either side, but Jack was happy with just having somewhere to rest. The most redeeming quality was the doors themselves, they were designed to completely seal off one building if it was destroyed or flooded. This design was what separated him from the hoard of insane Splicers that were no doubt trying to kill him.

He was finally safe.

No Splicers.

No Big Daddies.

No Little Sisters.

…And especially no planes.

This was Jack's first moment of peace after what felt like hours of fear and panic. Nothing was trying to kill him, and nothing was going to break in. So he did what every red-blooded male would do…

…he collapsed.

For the first time in what felt like ages, Jack felt he could finally breathe… really breathe. His sweater was now a mesh of splicer blood, sea water, and his own sweat. His arm still pulsed with electricity, but what he once thought of as power, now felt numb and annoying. His muscles ached all over. But he was alive. He had never truly appreciated the beauty of having his heart continue to beat until tonight.

The room was filled with white noise for a moment as the short wave radio came to life in Jack's pocket. "You alright Jack, all your bits and pieces make it outta there?

Jack pulled himself into a sitting position against the wall and fished the radio from his pocket. He held the device to his lips and responded, "I'm… yeah I made it out fine. I'm going to be sore later though."

"Alright, boyo" Atlas chuckled. "Take a breather. We both know you've earned it."

There was something about Atlas's voice that immediately calmed Jack's nerves. He didn't quite know why, but it was there, nonetheless, and Jack welcomed it—especially after his first encounter with Andrew Ryan. Jack started to shiver at the memory. He would never be able to relax at this point.

"Hey… Atlas?" Jack clicked the radio to speak.

"Yeah Jack, everything alright?"

"Of course," Jack silently theorized to himself that if he could just keep Atlas talking, he could relax long enough to get some real rest. "I was just hoping now I could get some real answers about this place. Why was it built and why here. Better yet, what happened? There's no way it could have always been this way, so what screwed everything up so bad?

Over the radio, Jack heard Atlas's sigh. "Ah, boyo I'm gonna warn ya; Rapture's not a pretty bedtime story..."

"I know. Believe me, I know. I just need to hear it." Jack did not have to think hard to find the most horrifying moments in his life.

"Yea, I'd guessed you say that. All right, fine. From the beginning? Uh, right. Andrew Ryan, with whom you've just had the pleasure? He was a pretty… off businessman, no which way around that."

Jack was confused by his words, "What do you mean?"

"After the war, Ryan tried to start a life just like you or me, but things never went how he wanted them to. He grew tired of all of the, censorship, tyranny, and lack of free market the surface had, at least those are his words." Jack could tell Atlas was having a hard time telling the story from an onlooker's perspective. "With no place to satisfy his ideas for a utopia, Ryan decided he would make his own." Jack could here Atlas' bitter chuckle. "Most billionaires buy an island, but not Ryan. He completely segregated himself from the surface and he built a metropolis at the bottom of the sea. I assume you've heard the full scheme in that bathysphere on your way down here, right?"

Another slight shiver. "Yeah."

"Well, there ya go. Rapture was supposed to be a paradise. The best and the brightest came down to be free of government and bureaucracy and anything else that could keep a man down… but…"

Jack could almost feel his hesitance. "But?"

"But, as always, men got greedy, and one stood a head taller than the rest. You'll hear a name about...Frank Fontaine. His was a nasty sort; started the plasmid business chugging right good under the help of some hired scientists under a new business called Fontaine Futuristic he started in the early fifties. 'For anyone can take a breath, but we have the opportunity to shoot fire from our hands, make ourselves faster, stronger, faster, smarter, prettier, lift things with our minds—anything you could ask for, it was yours...if you could pay. The power of the gods at your fingertips. No one ever told us what it really cost until it was too late. That Ambrosia came with human torture for testing, addiction with just a little too much indulgence, and even the murders of those Little Sisters' childhoods. No, we never understood the cost at all..."

Jack was growing more confused by the moment. "So he discovered Adam… or the plasmids?"

"Not so much discovered as mass produced." Atlas replied. "The scientists are responsible for that, but that ain't all he did. To fund the dough to keep them brainiacs happy, Fontaine started a smuggling ring. He started hauling and selling things from the topside you couldn't get down here and… well, lets just say Ryan didn't like that one bit. Contact with the surface meant more opportunities to become discovered by some world superpower, and you personally saw how he reacts to that idea. Fontaine was good, though. Kept no evidence around long enough to tell a tale—even his own workers."

"Sounds like a real bastard," Jack remarked.

"It's all about greed, boyo. If you don't watch it, it'll consume you. Anyway, months went by, and the two men fought for control. See, Ryan was in charge of Rapture, but Fontaine had the heart of the people."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, and Atlas' response was not what he was hoping for.

"It's like this Jack; not everyone who came to Rapture got to be prosperous businessmen and women; someone always has to scrub the toilets. Fontaine started a poorhouse for those less than financially sound to keep them on his side of things."

"To get a leg up on Ryan?" Jack concluded.

"Right you are. So again, Ryan is not happy about Fontaine's actions; 'Charity creates parasites', and so on and so on. Things start to get ugly between the two until finally, Ryan does the unthinkable. He comes onto the announcements one morning and says 'all smugglers are parasites—mercenaries ready to risk the secrecy of Rapture for a cheap dollar. Therefore, anyone found taking part in this heinous act shall be dealt with. His favorite way of dealing with parasites? Hanging."

"Dear Lord." Jack was repulsed by the images put into his head.

He could not see it, but Atlas was nodding his head in agreement. "Exactly my point. You don't ever want to go to Apollo square."

Jack felt it was wrong, but he pushed the subject. "What's in Apollo?"

There was a long silence before Atlas responded. "They didn't take them down after they were hanged."

"Oh…" Jack did not feel like asking anymore questions.

"As you can imagine in a city that's promised to hold no laws, people are none too pleased to hear there's a death penalty. Plasmids start sellin' by the dozens; guns are in near every house, fingers on the trigger, just asking for a reason to fire. And Fontaine just keeps on rolling in the cash."

"They both sound like bastards." Jack added.

"No kidding, but eventually someone's gotta lose. Fontaine died in a shoot out like John Wayne along with most of his thugs. Unfortunately, it wasn't the end of anything because Andrew Ryan wasn't the same after that. He built the city, and he ran it into the ground. Nobody knows what happened to the old tosser. Whichever way you slice it, he became exactly what he had created this city to get away from. A tyrant. He took over Fontaine Futuristics and left everyone at Fontaine's Home for the Poor hung out to dry." Atlas stopped for a long moment.

After a few moments Jack called out to him. "Atlas?"

"You may hear things about me," he sounded suddenly exhausted. Weary. "And you're free to think what you will. There was a time I believed in politics. But it's just an excuse men use to kill one another."

"What are you talking about?"

"Ryan was out of control. The people were desperate. They needed a leader, and I... I became that leader. I led a revolt against Ryan. I helped destroy Rapture."

"What about the Kashmir, was that you?" Jack was afraid of the answer.

Atlas' reply only sounded that much more depressed. "Ay, that was me, but you gotta understand boyo, I was only thinking of me family. I had brought them down to make a better life for them, and when I saw what Ryan was doing, I thought I could liberate the people—fix this mess. So we struck where we thought Ryan would be, and it came back and bit us. Can you imagine a bigger fool than that? I am no liberator, and these people spliced themselves halfway to hell in my name. Before I knew it, Rapture was dead and Ryan had gained complete control over the whole damned place. I did the only thing I could think, and got my family into hiding, now here I am, begging a man I barely even know to help me on a mission that could get us both killed."

Jack was silent for a long time, tracing the tattoo on his wrist absently, contemplating all he had learned with solemn reflection.

"Jack, would you kindly tell me what you're thinking?"

Jack took a deep breath and replied into the radio, "I'm thinking you've got to be one of the most honest men I've met. Thank you for telling me the truth."

The relief in Atlas's voice was obvious, "I'm glad that of all the people to just show up here, it was you. You feel ready to move on?"

Jack rose, shaking out his stiff body. "Always, Atlas. Always."

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Thank you for reading, please review if you think that I am leaving anything out.

This chapter is brought to you by Sarcasticrocker86, I added a bit in certain places to help the plot direction, but literally ninety percent of the words are his own. I really liked how it turned out, tell me how he did.

To The Second Beast, HopelsslyRomanticAndProudOfIt, Sarcasticrocker86, bloodlust002, Feneris, Chris the Cat, lopezanator, Yenattirb, Dilenaxa and Spartan-A128: thank you. Thank you for reviewing, you are helping keep the story alive.

(^(00)^) Author: Guardian Shotgun

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(")_(") Co-Author: sarcasticrocker86

=) Beta Adrienne Donaldson