Max Payne

CHAPTER 4: The Blood Veins Of New York

LUPINO'S MOTEL, BASEMENT
"The old service elevator rumbled down to the bowels of Jack Lupino's Hotel" The elevator creaks as the gears turn, the smell of wet clothes lingered in the air. The elevator stops and the doors open up to a room full of washing machines, Max must be in the basement area of the hotel. Just ahead two Thugs can be seen sitting at the table talking and playing Poker.

THUG #1: It was freakin crazy. The cops were doin a full scale siege next door. More traffic than rush hour. I mean bleeding bastards running back and forth, Ronnie and Jimbo the throw... In the middle of all this, here we were. I didn't give a damn. Just goin with the flow.
THUG #2: So what happened?
THUG #1: Nothin happened, we got the explosives, dumped the cargo, we were home free.
THUG #2: Jesus!

Max looks around the Thugs to see if theirs anything there to take them out. Around them are bottles of alcohol, all he had to do was find something to light it. Suddenly one of the thugs pulls out a match, this was his chance. Max shoots all the bottles and the alcohol spreads around the table. The match drops and the alcohol is lit, the thugs catch on fire and collapse to the ground. Max was impressed at his shooting skills, but what do you expect, he's a skilled shooter. Near the table is a TV, another news update is on, Max checks it out.

NEWS REPORTER: A winter storm warning is in effect in the whole Tri state area as both freezing rain and heavy snow continue. Many roadways are already closed, and people are advised to stay indoors. The severe blizzard has ravaged New York for three days with no end in sight.

"We had been snowed from the start of the Valkyr case and the forecast said there was plenty more where that had come from. The snowbound City was on my side, less chance of innocent bystanders getting caught in the crossfire" Max leaves the basement and enters a room looking to be a boiler room. A dead man tied to a chair lay on he boiler room floor. A newspaper with a cartoon sits near the body, Max decides to read it for fun.

CAPTAIN BASEBALL BATBOY: Captain Baseball has an unbeatable track record in superhero death matches but a six pack of root beer gets me everytime.

"A murder weapon was a baseball bat, now lying in a pool of drying blood" Max picks up the bat and realises something important has happened here and he needs to find out who, maybe Lupino. He heads up the stairs and opens the door to the main building of the hotel. The carpet wrapped in an expensive material, many pictures hang on the wall, riches of the criminals all set here. In a room next to the boiler, voices can be heard, possibly more thugs.

THUG #3: Take the vampire movies, why are they always set in L.A or Mexico? They can't even get a tan. If I was a bloodsucker I'd move to the North Pole. Winters one long night.
THUG #4: Yeah, what would ya eat? Suck the blood from Penguins?
THUG #3: Nah... Eskimos man, Eskimos.
THUG #4: Anyways, Gentleman lets do business.
THUG #3: Share with the guns. Trust me, you don't want to piss Muerte off.
THUG #5: Green for Green
THUG #4: Tears of green eyed Angels
THUG #6: Amen

Max wasn't gonna let this deal pass through. He opens the door and surprises them all.

MAX: Hey Boys, Can I make a deal
THUG #3: Who the hell are you!!!

They all pull out there guns and begin to firing at Max but he jumps behind a couch. Their were too many of them, Max miscalculated how many voices he heard. He's was going to have to wait for the Thugs to run out of bullets. One by one the Thugs continue to shoot at Max but the sound of a reload gets Max's attention. Max gets up fast and shoots them all one by one eventually killing them. "A lifetime ago, this would have gone down as a narcotics arrest" Max decides to explore and find out what they were dealing. He opens up two briefcases that are on the table. In the cases is a set of green tubes containing the drug Valkyr, too bad Max didn't have anything to collect a sample. "The transparent cylinders glowed green, full of Valkyr" In the another case, hundreds of cash lay in the case. "Dirt money" On the end of the table, a key sits there, Max picks it up and wonders what it unlocks. Theirs nothing more here so Max decides to leave and continue his escape. He wanders the hallways a bit more and comes to a door labeled "BAR" Max steadies his gun and pushes the door open. A few Thugs, a man and a woman stand in the bar. Well what are the chances, Rico Muerte and Candy Dawn in the same room.

MUERTE: Two mad dog killers, ready to murder each other. They stop into the next room, an I'm thinkin, now they gonna do it.
CANDY: Mmpphhh....
MUERTE: But no! They sit down in front of the TV an solve there differences with a Kung Fu fightin videogame. I tell you Candy. I was so depressed, I strangled them both with the videogame cables.
CANDY: Oh Rico, you're so bad.
MUERTE: I am, ain't I?
CANDY: Mmmmmm
MAX: Rico Muerte, big time hustler.
MUERTE: What the hell!!
CANDY: It's that cop!!

"Muerte went for his gun" In was a gun war in the bar, everybody shooting everybody. Max decides to kill the Thugs off first, they hit the tables and fall. Max aims at Muerte and shoots but he grabs Candy and the bullets hit her, killing her. Suddenly his gun gets jammed and Max takes his chances and blasts Muerte. The bullets hit Muerte chest and he hits the bars sink. Not much deals could happen now, as the big time hustler had been killed. Max had to get out of here quick or the police would catch him. He leaves the bar and end up in a room with some old machine. "The antique switchboard was still in use" Max decides to listen into the switchboard. "There was an old telephone switchboard in the back room of the reception area. The kind that made phone tapping child's play. It wasn't hard to picture a fat pimp sweating with headphones on, listening to his hookers talk dirty and fake orgasms over the web of party lines, the blood veins of New York. Right now, there was a different set of moans and groans going on"

THUG #7: Boss.. Cognitti... It's Max Payne... He came an started cappin us.. He killed... Uhhhhh.
COGNITTI: Are ya freakin kidding me? He's just one lousy cop! Ya better be freakin kiddin me? Whack em! What's the freakin problem? Hello? Answer me hello?

"The word was out, A deadly Virus released into the City's corrupt circulatory system. Something wicked this way comes. Max Payne at large" He disconnects the wires and exits the reception. Max reaches the hotels exit and heads back out into the cold winter storm.