AN: I decided to start this story before more details of the rumored Bioshock 4 hit. I own nothing, and last time I checked, 2K still owned Bioshock.
It was true. All of it true.
This startling revelation left Kevin reeling. All of the stories from his mother and aunts growing up, meant to entertain and scare the kids were true.
Rapture was real.
His family was from there; well, his mom (Lisa), aunts (Mary, Susan, Maria, and Donna), and Grandpa Jack were. They had all been denizens of the deep. More accurately, his mom and aunts had been littles sisters, which could explain a few things growing up now that he thought about it. He and his cousins had never gotten sick, majorly injured, or broken any bones. Minor bumps and bruises all faded quickly. Even now, at 28, he could still say that he had never broken any of his own bones.
Grandpa Jack's funeral had been a small, private affair with only immediate family. The first inkling he had gotten that something was strange was when the family had gotten together after the funeral. Kevin had been volunteered to help clean out Grandpa Jack's sprawling ranch-style home since he was the only family left in the immediate area with few obligations. The house had a basement, and it was every hoarder's wet dream. Stuff piled to the ceiling with no rhyme or reason to the organization. It was far from messy, though. It was neatly arranged, with clear aisles cutting through the stacks.
It was near the back where he found them; buried and almost hidden in the corner were several stout seamen's chests.
He was raised knowing curiosity killed the cat, but understanding satisfaction brought him back, besides the chests looked cool. What else was needed as an excuse? He was stunned to find the first chest full of what seemed to be audiotapes and a recorder/player. Kevin had never seen this style before. It was retro. He put it aside to examine the other trunks.
The next trunk was significantly more substantial. Upon opening the chest, Kevin was shocked to discover a small armory. Several extensively modified weapons greeted his sight. The smallest weapon may have started life as a revolver, but it now had a significantly modified cylinder and weird piping up the side. Next to be pulled out was a shotgun with strange gears embedded in the receiver, and what looked like a tacked-on gas assist system. The Thompson was still recognizable as a Thompson, mostly. It, too, had strange bits glowing on the receiver and a kludged together muzzle brake. Closer to the bottom were the heavier items. The next weapon pulled out appeared to be an honest to god homemade flamethrower. It didn't look like anyone had made modifications to it, but with no idea what it had started life out as Kevin wasn't too sure. A heavy crossbow was next out. Noting immediately looked out of place when inspecting the item, but Kevin wasn't as familiar with crossbows as he was with guns. Last out was a soup can launcher. It had to be a weapon of some sort since it was in the chest, but the reason was escaping Kevin at the moment.
Looking at the heavily modified arsenal, Kevin had no idea what to think. He had no memory of Grandpa Jack ever owning or shooting a gun. He had assuredly shown no interest in gunsmithing.
The other trunks were full of other memorabilia from Grandpa Jack's life and some old diving equipment, nothing as strange as the first trunks. Going back to the chest with the audiotapes, Kevin started listening to the first few he retrieved from the trunk. Listening to the recorded experiences of people, like the founder of Rapture Andrew Ryan, geneticist Brigid Tenenbaum, the simple man Atlas, who turned out the be the infamous Frank Fontain, the Doctor Yi Suching, and many others, all brought life to the city. Insane and deeply disturbing life, but life all the same.
Right then and there, Kevin knew how he was going to spend his time.
The majority of the house and the clutter found within was what you would expect of an old, white, and single man. Plenty of gardening implements, flyers for places needing volunteers, thank you notes, and please come back notes from previously mentioned places, and DIY projects lying around. The interesting and juicy secrets were to be found later.
Kevin had been going through the house for almost three months now. Other family members would occasionally drop by to help box stuff up or help drop items off for donations. He had also used this time to catch up on the family news. Several of his cousins were engaged or already married. Most were wondering what he had been doing after his discharge from the Marines. Kevin explained that he had been traveling and learning through experience. When the question of who was paying for all of the expenses arose, Kevin admitted to using his funds. A combination of frugal spending and some fortuitous investment in the stock market helped. Kevin kept to himself how large his portfolio actually was, not quite Scrooge McDuck or Jeff Bezos, but well enough. He had supplemented his portfolio with a few patents on several fun widgets and several cryptocurrencies.
Most of the normal items had been appropriately disposed of. Now for the juicy bits.
Near the Rapture chests, Kevin found immigration papers into the United States for Jack, his mom, and four aunts. Place of last residence was Europe, and the reason for immigration was fleeing the Red Menace. Kevin was surprised that excuse had made it to the immigration bureaucracy, and more importantly, worked. There was also a stack of yellowing newspaper articles about various seaside disappearances of little girls in 1968; the last report was a story of how the girls had been recovered in Iceland safely, but with no memories of the kidnappings.
Searching microfiche of newspapers from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s was not very helpful in the search for more information. The most interesting information discovered there was about the various doctors, engineers, and scientists disappearing. The most outstanding story covered by all of the papers was about an eccentric millionaire suddenly vanishing in 1951 with his fortune. More disappearances had been noticed during the years of 1946 to 1952, called "The Vanishing." The most recent news blurb was from "Fact From Myth." "Rapture: A Modern Day Atlantis" where a steamer trunk had washed ashore on the New England coast with some artifacts stored inside.
Deciding to go straight to a primary source, Kevin paid a visit to his mother. Since arriving unannounced would be tacky, he asked if she was free for lunch to discuss some family business. Kevin's father had been killed in a construction accident, which had ended with Lisa winning a wrongful death lawsuit. The contractor had been cutting corners to come in under budget, and it had shown. Before arriving for lunch, Kevin had been thinking of ways to broach the subject of Rapture. There's no easy way to ask, "Hey mom, what can you tell me about living in Rapture?"
After making small talk during their meal, he decided to go with, "Hey mom. I've been going through Grandpa Jack's things, and I've got some questions about our family history. For example, why do we call him grandpa when none of us are related to him?"
Having waited for his mother to take a drink, Kevin witnessed the sight of his mother trying to drink and exclaim in shock at the same time.
After recovering and giving Kevin the "mom" glare, Lisa gestured for him to continue. After explaining what he had found in Grandpa Jack's cellar and what other information he was able to research, Kevin waited for her reply.
To hear that Jack had kept anything from Rapture was a great shock. They had all tried to put it behind them. She remembered how tense Jack had been with all of the disappearances in 1968. Lisa recalled Jack had been immensely relieved when it was reported all of the kidnapped girls had been found safe. It was fortunate they didn't remember anything of their time in Rapture, she herself barely remembered anything it was so long ago. The foremost memory was Jack reaching out with a glowing hand and helping her.
At some point in the past, Donna, Lisa, Maria, Mary, and Susan had all gotten together to compare their experiences of Rapture. Memories of being a little sister were all fuzzy, but they all remembered the glowing helping hand.
After escaping from Rapture, they had all stayed together. She remembers how flustered Jack had gotten with all the attention he had received from the single ladies in town for raising five girls by himself. Jack had never settled down with anyone, however, possibly due to the fact he could never tell anyone about his past. Relationships are built on trust, and it was anyone's guess how someone would react to being told their lover was experimented on, rapidly grown to adulthood, been brainwashed and given false memories, and then sent to kill someone. Not a great way to start any relationship he had reasoned.
While serving in the marines, Kevin had made several lifelong comrades, one of whom lived nearby in the country. Kevin saw this as the perfect opportunity to catch up over some beers and test out the firearms. As Kevin pulled up the driveway, he saw John waiting for him on the porch. John continued watching as Kevin parked his car and got out.
"Hey John, how's it going?" Kevin walked up, and warmly greeted his old comrade.
"Not too bad. Wife is out of town with the girls on some Girl Scout trip, and Danny is on a Boy Scout camping trip." John responded from his seat on the porch. "Now what's this I hear about needing my gunsmithing experience that you couldn't just bring it to the shop?"
Kevin started to explain as they walked back towards his car. "A few months ago, my grandpa passed away, and I was given the responsibility to prep the house for sale. I would occasionally have other family members drop by to help, but it has mostly been just me. When I first started, I just did a quick walkthrough to see how bad it was. Fortunately, it wasn't bad at all. I did find some strange things, though." They had reached the car, and Kevin opened the trunk, revealing the old seaman's chest.
As they lifted it out of the trunk, John had to ask, "What'd you fill this with, lead?" Kevin responded with a jovial, "Nope. This is all that I wanted you to look at. No ammunition included for the guns, plenty of magazines though. I haven't found any in the house at all so far. I think its a mix of 45 and 12ga, though. Let's get to your workshop before I show you."
"So I think the pistol and the Thompson are both 45s," Kevin grunted as they hefted the chest onto the workbench. "I also think the shotgun is a 12ga. The crossbow was easy. I didn't even need to guess; there were some bolts still in the trunk. It's not strung, and I'm not sure what to use."
Kevin kept explaining as he unloaded the chest. "Also have what appears to be a flamethrower and some sort of launcher. I was hoping you could take a look at the more conventional ones and tell me what you think."
With the collection arrayed before him, John was shocked at what he saw. "I swear these all look like kluge fixes with how tacked on its looks, but they're all too well integrated into the design to be a simple addon." He picked up the pistol. "Who would even think to replace a revolver cylinder with a...what ever this is? A belt magazine?"
"I know, right!" Exclaimed Kevin. "That's why I brought them to you. I also want to see if they're safe to test."
Giving the guns a thoughtful look, John replied, "Give me a few minutes to examine them and check their condition. If it all looks good, we can set them up on a test block to fire them remotely."
As John bent over his workbench, Kevin wandered around the workroom, looking at various projects. After a few minutes, John called him back over.
"You were mostly right," John explains holding up the pistol. "This started life as a Webley Mk VI, which is chambered for .455 caliber rather than the .45 caliber the Thompson is chambered for. Don't mix the two! The Webley can fire the .45 rounds but the standard pressure of the .45 cartridges exceed Webley proof loads. Your shotgun here likely started life as a Spencer 1882, see how it ejects out the top? I can't help you with the flamethrower, not much call for a ready supply of napalm these days. You would need to cook up your own batch to test it. I've got no idea about the launcher, it's the only truly kluged weapon of the group. And finally, you'll want to take the crossbow to someone who works with bows, I'd recommend using Google to find someone."
"Now that that's out of the way," John said gleefully rubbing his hands together. "Let's see what ammo I have lying around, and let's shoot some guns!"
Standing in front of Grandpa Jack's grave marker, Kevin looked down and read the epitaph. "Jack Ryan. With one family lost to him, he created another. Beloved Father and Grandfather. You will be missed."
Kneeling down to trace the letters Kevin murmured, "I've figured out where you came from. We may not be related by blood, but you were still the best grandpa I knew. I've been listening to the audio diaries you brought back. I'm not sure if anything is still there, but I'm going to find out."