This is Fan Fiction based on the Max Payne Computer game series. It is based on a fictional (yet looks to follow the original) time line of events set years before the first Max Payne game, in particular the years before Max enrols into the NYPD academy.

It's the mid-80's and Max Payne is a young man who left high school with only a handful of qualifications. Living in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan he has little direction in his life until tragedy strikes in the form of a horrific attack on an old flame. Max becomes intent on making things right in his own way….

Prologue

It felt good. The smoking barrel of the gun made me feel justified that I had made this bastard pay for what he had done, in particular for the physical and mental torment that he inflicted on Jen. She had nothing to offer him yet he decided for some reason that she would always remember him. I wasn't having that, and I had no intention of letting him or anyone he associated with do it again. Ever.

Chapter 1 – Fate called, and left a message

3 days earlier…

It was a lazy warm summers evening on the streets of NYC as I walked back towards the apartment that my grandfather had left me after he passed last year. I missed the old timer, and in particular his stories. Both he and my mother were dreamers and I loved them both dearly – but ultimately I couldn't save either of them. I had just finished my shift in the office and had decided to walk the last couple of subway stops home. God only knows why but fate seems to have a funny way of showing its hand when you least expect it, and today was absolute testament to that.

As soon as I got through the front door I noticed the flashing red light on the answer phone. I loosened my tie and lit up a cigarette. Smoking was my only vice, and damn it felt good after a long day of filing and having to listen to endless amounts of management bullshit about how good a career I could have If I was prepared to put in the effort. I always smiled but thought to myself, "thanks for the great advice, but I what I really want is to is stick your advice where the sun don't shine!". As for booze, I'd never been a big fan after the mess I had seen it put my family in.

I pressed play on the answer phone which beeped as the cassette kicked into life. I sat down and flicked the first length of ash into an already full ashtray as I convinced myself that the messages would be nothing but crap about something religious or a new product that I simply had to have, but I was instantly surprised when I heard the voice of the last person I could ever have thought of. It was Jen and she sounded happy. Jen always was. I was still trying to get my head around hearing her familiar voice as it had been a few years, so I missed the pleasantries but the last part of the message was to tell me that she was in town for a couple of days and wanted to meet up. I felt myself smiling before taking another drag of the ever decreasing cigarette. Meet Jen at her hotel? There was never a doubt in my mind about that.

My thoughts cast me back to when we first met in the hallway at high school on the first day of a new semester. It was like a scene out of a movie. Here's this red-haired freckled-faced stereotypical American high school girl struggling with her locker, and in enters the also stereotypical cool-yet-sultry boy to save the day! As I freed her locker with relative ease, I instantly realised that she was different. I felt drawn into her conversation and I wanted to know more about her. I had that feeling think nothing else matters other than breathing and talking to this girl. I guess that's love, but the truth is we never really made it any further than being the best of friends. Sure there were moments where we took it further but we were too close to introduce an angle where one of us could end up being heartbroken by the other. The years passed, and after high school Jen was heading for college to pursue her dream of being a journalist, where as I had absolutely no fucking clue what I was going to do each day let alone as a job, but I kinda liked that though. This would always be the difference between us and as she moved on - I stayed put.

I stubbed out what was left of my smoke and went to run the bath. Jen was staying in a hotel on the other side of town and she asked that we meet tonight. To say that I was excited would have been a blatant understatement.