Manta Ray Lounge

"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..." - Andrew Ryan This article falls within the scope of the BioShock Wiki:Businesses Project. This project is dedicated to improving the articles about Rapture and Columbia's many businesses. Would you kindly help the BioShock Wiki by volunteering on the project page?

So much for the party…

“Fontaine's got us out there ladling soup for the purpose of building an army — not to share the milk of human kindness.”

― Johnny Demarco

The Manta Ray Lounge is a large club located in the Bathyspheres DeLuxe showroom of the Housewares building of Fontaine's in Rapture.

History

When Fontaine's was still in operation, the Manta Ray Lounge was one of the many lavish nightclubs in Rapture. With its high ceilings, large windows, ornate design, and VIP booths for high-end customers, the Manta Ray Lounge was a popular destination for high rollers looking for an evening of fine liquor, classy music, and dancing. The elevator in the rear of the establishment, labeled 'Executive Suite', leads to Frank Fontaine's office.

When the shopping complex was converted into a prison, and Atlas began taking command over the department store, he used the Lounge as storage for food supplies. The space was watched over by his followers, who were ordered to distribute food to the other prisoners to win over their allegiance. On December 25th, a gang of Splicers, desperate for much needed supplies, organized an assault, broke in, and killed the men and women guarding it.

Burial at Sea - Episode 2

Main article: Burial at Sea - Episode 2

A Splicer daydreams while on one of the lounges chandeliers.

If Elizabeth enters the Manta Ray while exploring Bathyspheres DeLuxe, she will notice the place is filled with Splicers and Security Turrets. A special note reveals that three bottles found on the second floor VIP lounge form a lock to a hidden room. If the bottles are turned in the right direction, the passage will open to reveal Frank Fontaine's secret panic room, which contained his many disguises.

After Elizabeth's return from Columbia, she must enter the club to use the elevator to gain access to the top of the structure. There she can place the Lutece Particle to float the building back up to the city above. As she enters, security forces have already taken over the establishment as they execute the remaining Splicers and members of Atlas' army while searching for her under Andrew Ryan's orders. Elizabeth can choose to fight them or quickly run to the elevator.

Reception

That's one way to make an entrance.

The reception area was where the guests of the Manta Ray checked-in, waited for other members of their party, got their reservation, and left their coats and hats. After entering the main door, there is a long hallway that leads to a counter and to its right a stairway leading to another counter in the Main Lounge. When she enters, Elizabeth observes one of the doors to the main space blown inward off its hinges. Continuing, she finds bodies of un-spliced prisoners, including that of Johnny Demarco next to his audio diary: C'est La Vie, which provides an insight on what happened to the survivors.

Main Lounge

The Main Lounge is the large and luxurious "club" area, with a bar and several tables for the guests to socialize around. A large "lamp" structure set in the middle of the lounge forms the Manta Ray's centerpiece. A wall of glass blocks encloses an area with several couches for the guests directly beneath the lamp. It has now been converted in to a storage area for the supplies gathered by Atlas followers with several crates and canned food. The lounge has suffered some damage over time: a chandelier has fallen from the ceiling causing a leak, and broken glass can be found all over the Lounge, making it hard to move around without being noticed.

Dancing Lounge

A smaller, more intimate area, the Dancing Lounge once offered live entertainment for patrons. Now, its doors are locked and the space is far from inviting. There are two vents Elizabeth can access the area through. Inside are several tables, a Circus of Values vending machine, a dancing platform or stage, and Sander Cohen's art installation Regardèrent et Furent Observés. The area itself is slightly flooded, with a likely trapped Splicer wandering around. Booker comments about a poster for Elizabeth's album "You Belong to Me", found on the small stage. The several lockpicks found here insures that the player can escape through the locked doors.

Storage Area

The Manta Ray's storage area and wine cellar, this area was only accessible to the Manta Ray's staff back in the establishment's better days. In this small room, servers retrieved desired vintages of wine and other usable items as they were needed. The space has easy access to both the Main and Upper Lounge to expedite the serving process. A prisoner, overcome with grief, chose to drink himself to death and overdoesed on Absinthe. His body now rests on a chair, covered in his own vomit, surrounded by bottles of booze and a container of the Peeping Tom Plasmid. The water leaking in from the Main Lounge's window has flooded the lower level, where Samantha Kemp's audio diary sits on a tray of plates.

Upper Lounge

A stairway leads upstairs to a more secluded area from the Main Lounge. This upper floor contains a bar and several booths for more private meetings, one with a turret. Three of the finest Zimmerman Chardonnay bottles the lounge had to offer is on display on a counter in a cozy small area with a couch. The elevator to Executive Suite can be found here and a door to the storage area, both locked. Crossbow welding Splicers keeps a lookout from a balcony, looking over the rest of the lounge. If the player has found all four of the Coded Messages, one may turn the three bottles and open up Fontaine's Hidden Panic Room. The player will also find Gas Bolts on the counter table in front of the elevator.

Later, when fleeing to the Executive Suite, a Ryan Security guard manages to open the door to the lift, just before Elizabeth gets there.

Fontaine's Panic Room

This secret room was where Fontaine kept several of his disguises hidden away so no one would learn of his multiple personas. The room has a makeup desk under a large mirror, several wigs and outfits on mannequins, two cabinets, and a radio. Upon entering this room, Elizabeth will come to realize that Atlas is actually Frank Fontaine in disguise. A surgical needle can be found on one of the smaller tables, examining the vial will cause Elizabeth to suffer a vision of a Little Sister stabbing a grotesque looking man in the future events to come.

Executive Suite

Frank Fontaine's private office at the top of the Housewares building. Like his workspace at Fontaine Futuristics, this space had Fontaine's desk set up in front of a large window that once looked over Rapture. Now the view is of the mine-covered seabed. The window takes the form of the eye of the seahorse that the Housewares department is modeled after. A structural model of Fontaine's Department Store is set in the middle of the room. After Fontaine's was converted, Atlas and his closest followers took over the office, and set up printing machines to spread the word about Atlas.

New Discoveries

New Plasmids and Mods

• Peeping Cloak Mod

Audio Diaries

1. Johnny Demarco - C'est La Vie - Next to the corpse in the Main Lounge Reception
2. Samantha Kemp - Atlas Provides - Storage Area, on a trail of plates
3. Frank Fontaine - You Stupid Bastard - Fontaine's Panic Room, on the vanity

Need to Know Theater

• Regardèrent et Furent Observés

Videos

Bioshock Infinite - Burial At Sea Episode 2 Soundtrack - Easy To Love

Fontaine's secret room in the Manta Ray Lounge.

Gallery

The Lounge's neon sign.

The Bar area.

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A poster for "You Belong to Me" found in the Lounge.

Fontaine's secret room.

A model of the department store in Fontaine's office.

Elizabeth's vision of Frank Fontaine's death.

Behind the Scenes

• Inside Fontaine's panic room Elizabeth can find a disguise resembling a stereotypical Chinese man consisting of a Coolie hat and exaggerated Fu Manchu mustache and beard attached to a face mask. Its presence here is likely a reference to Fontaine's quote from BioShock, where he claimed "Hell, once I was even a Chinaman for six months!"
  • This mask was originally planned to be worn by one of the Slate's Soldiers enemies encountered by Booker in the Hall of Heroes.
• After finding all four Coded Messages, Elizabeth will comment on the three bottles in the Upper Lounge, saying: "Those bottles… Just like on the coded note to Fontaine…" This is likely a mistake since Elizabeth is not yet aware of Atlas true identity.
  • The subtitle for this is also written incorrectly, it reads: "Those bottles… Just like on coded the note to Fontaine…"
• The Splicers being executed in Main Lounge Reception after Elizabeth returns from Columbia will react as fleeing Columbia Citizen if not executed and will not participate in combat.
• The two Turrets in the Storage Area and Upper Lounge will disappear after Elizabeth returns from Columbia. However, the ones triggered by the alarm if one hits the red pin while Lockpicking will not.
• The "Dancing Downstairs" sign over one of the doors to the Dancing Lounge is re-used from the Kashmir Restaurant in BioShock.