Max Payne: Redemption
Chapter 4: Fall from Grace
As I looked out from the helicopter it began raining. It was cold, but the raindrops were like the memories of my old past – simply fading away. I was finally letting go of my mistakes and wrongs in my old life, and stepping into a new one. I was now looking into the distant future, hah who knew the gun-slinging hero Max Payne raising his own daughter. It all seemed like a little kid story with a happy ending. Except this time it actually felt real – and for once I was sober. "Yo bro, you ready for this? It's storming outside man." Passos said as he was piloting the chopper looking frustrated. "Pick out any gun you want in here bro, we got the fucking Mexico border armory in here"
I took a swig of my water bottle; it was funny because this time I had no alcohol. This is a time where I needed to be completely sober. I looked at the armory, it had some advanced weaponry I never seen before. Of course Bob remembered to pack about 10 Berettas – they were my trademarks, my own signature you could call it. I took a couple of grenades, the Berettas, another bottle of pain pills, and figured that was all I needed. I was completely wrong.
When you become too good at something you become overconfident. Being overconfident is the one flaw that I had, as it always made me come up with bad ideas. These bad ideas not only fucked me over, but also had a tendency of screwing up plans that were in motion. I never understood why I went with these plans, but it's probably because I wanted the excitement, or the surprise of facing something unknown.
"Stop the helicopter right here in front of the warehouse" I told Passos. "I got my gear ready and told him "I'm going to dive through the window, make my special entrance". I told him in a confident voice. "You crazy bro? They probably got this shit more protected then the United States Treasury. It's a bad idea Max". Passos said in a scared tone. "Who knows, maybe this time the bad idea will actually help me" I told Passos. I then jumped from the helicopter diving into the window.
As my body dived through the window I could feel my body and bones ache. This was a bad idea - I'm an idiot. But it was the same "bad ideas" that once saved lives so I was indifferent. As my body broke through the window I spotted 2 thugs at the back of the room. I pulled out my Berettas as I felt time began to slow. This all felt automatic from years of combat. My blood even stopped flowing, I could feel my muscles tighten. As my breath literally stopped I shot both of the thugs in the head. The blood gushed out of heads fast; like fresh vodka pouring out of a bottle. "Pretty easy so far" I said to myself. Things always end up having a surprise, just like paying a stripper for the full entrée. Time became normal, as my body fell onto the upper platform. I surveyed the room and spotted another soldier on my left and right side, however I felt the platform move and suddenly my body was in free-fall. It must have been rigged I thought to myself. Vlad always was a better strategic planner then me, and must have known I would want a straight on approach to the situation. I hit the bottom of the warehouse relatively fast. I tried to move but my spine felt like it was on fire. I popped out a pain-pill from the bottom as I tried moving again. It hurt like hell, but it was better.
As I got up I saw a shotgun trained on me. I quickly took the shotgun from his hand and disarmed him while shooting him in the face. "You should really learn to use this before you hurt you're self" I told the dead soldier with a smirk on my face. I had enough of the games and there were no more soldiers, which felt odd since this place should have been better guarded. I yelled "Vlad, show you're self you bastard. No more games, no more tricks, no more plans, just ME and YOU". And then I heard the icy deranged voice "Heh, you were always idiotic Max. This was too easy..". Time began to slow once again, for reasons I did not know. I didn't see any weapons trained on me. Before I could realize what was happening I felt a Pistol hit the back of my head. Passos was right it was a self-defense mechanism. Except it had limits and this time it didn't slow down time fast enough. And then there was nothing.
As I woke up I tried to move but my body felt weak. In front of me was the bastard himself, Vlad. "Where the hell is my daughter Vlad!" I commanded as I tried moving my body. "Heh, this was already planned. You're daughter is in my new facility – I knew you would come here Max. I wanted to test out a "prototype" version of my powers". Vlad said with a devious smirk.
Something didn't seem right about this after-all. Had I been set-up by Passos and Bob? Was this an attempt to kill me but more direct? Questions flowed through my mind but then one question overcame them all. My daughter, I must get her. I found my last painkiller on the floor and took it. As I got up and pulled my pistol out I told Vlad "It's over". As the bullet exited the chamber of my Beretta, it moved faster than the human eye could see. However it didn't work out that way, he levitated the bullet in front of his face before it could even come into contact. As he was holding the bullet in the air "Too easy Max, you'll be my new test subject..". He then flicked his hand and the bullet went straight into my leg. I could feel that it was a clean shot – meaning Vlad wasn't finished with me yet. Meaning this was going to be a long night of hell.
Vlad walked up to me and chocked me "You killed me Max, you know I don't like being killed". Vlad stated with a smirk. As he chocked me I could feel like he was twisting the inside of my lungs. Another power from the experiments you did on my daughter. "You… bastard… touch my daughter again and I'll kill you" I said with a exhausted voice. "Ah you're daughter, that little bitch. She did prove helpful as I'm starting to love these powers. I could feel my lungs almost being poisoned by a power I never thought was possible. This was the end, I thought to myself. This was the American Hero Story, hah what a pathetic loser I was.
All of a sudden gas filled the room. Men in white uniforms came down from the celling in a fast motion. They had new versions of Ak-47's and MP7's that I never saw before. They began shooting at Vlad but his abilities simply held all the bullets in the air and shot them back at Vlad. Another man threw a Grenade at Vlad who simply destructed in mid-air. Must be The Company trying to help me, I assumed. Perhaps my judgment of them had been wrong, maybe there was more to the picture then I already knew. Shit like this was like a puzzle, and pieces could often be in different formats making it difficult to know the truth. It seemed that their attempts was futile – of course until he came.
The wall to the right of my instantaneous got destroyed. Most likely a RPG. I fell to the floor and Vlad stumbled backwards. I could finally breath but barley; it felt like my lungs had been partially destroyed. As the man walked forward it was Bob – something I couldn't believe. He seemed like the political scumbag type to sit at his desk and type letters and write out checks. He was different then I thought.
All of a sudden Bob shot the RPG at Vlad, who simply held it in the air. Except this time it was different, something Vlad miss-calculated. He knees were suddenly on the ground. "What the hell is this?" Vlad said with a concerned look. "A new RPG technology, except this type destroys brain-cells when the brain is actively holding it. Which so happens to be the ability you're using." Bob said in a calculating tone. Vlad was on his knees as his nose bled "Damn you Bob, you definitely planned this out. This was… un-expected. I wanted to kill Max but I guess that'll have to happen later". Vlad said with a face of worry. Vlad then teleported away, along with the RPG.
I then fell to the floor. Not sure if I was dead or alive; but I could hear Bobs voice "Get Max, we need to take him back to The Company, he must be fixed!" Bob said in a urgent voice. And then there was nothing.
I awoke with a startle, I looked around and the entire room was white. I could see a IV needle into my arm, and my veins felt heavy and cold, like they were filled with ice. As I looked around the room there he was. "I see you're awake Max" Bob said with concern. I was wrong about Bob clearly, he rescured me with his men from The Company. He actually cared and I can't believe I mistrusted him. If you thought like I did you probably wouldn't trust him at first either – but something in me yearned; like I knew of him from somewhere else. "Listen Bob, I was wrong about you. I didn't trust you before but I see you're a pretty good guy. By the way what happened back there?" I asked with a quizzically expression. Bob threw me a bottle of water "Well for starters you're lungs were damaged from the fight with Vlad. Thankfully The Company has advance technology and it was easily fixed. The RPG was in development for ages as I knew it could stop Vlad" Bob stated.
"So The Company really does help then, I suppose. I was wrong all about you guys" I said as I took a gulp of water with pain-pills. "You know it feels like there's something you're not telling me Bob, what is it," I asked in a curious voice. Bob walked closer to me as if he didn't want anyone else to hear it "The thing is you're father once worked for us." I grimaced, once I heard his name, painful memories began to resurface.
"We were waiting for the perfect time to enlist you in The Company. You're father killed himself because he failed a mission. The first mission he ever failed. He couldn't take the guilt of it. He was our best person here." Bob said.
It made sense, the days my Dad would come home tired. The blood stains on his shit that I thought was from some drug dealing. The days he didn't even want to talk to me. The killing was killing him. It wasn't just failing the mission. It all made perfect sense now. This is what Bob meant by "You will know what that means in due time".
As I reflected on the past events I felt the truth of things hit me harder then a drug addict who lost his drugs. Redemption has to be earned, it wasn't going to be given to me like a a child waiting for a Christmas present. It was going to be earned, and that meant I was going to have to go through tons of shit to earn it. I would get my Daughter back no matter what. The past meant nothing to me now, it was all about the future and that was my new motive. It was time to put a new plan into action.
I got up from the hospital bed. "It's time for a new plan, I'll do whatever you want as long as I get my daughter back" I told Bob. What's the plan then? Bob asked, as Passos walked into the room". "I'm going to take Vlad head-on on. And anyone who gets in the way of me getting my daughter will be killed. No regrets." I said with confidence.
This was going to be a long day.
A/N: Hope you guys liked the action in this chapter. I wish more people would review but I guess Max Payne fan fiction isn't that popular.. Anyways the finale Chapter 5 is next!