Chapter 3-City in the Clouds

Once Max let go of the Italian's jaw, he began to speak.

"Donnie Fish, he wants Frankie to know he has 10 hours to live. You know Donnie, don't ya? He's in the City in the Clouds over there. That's all I know, Max, all I know."

Max turned his head and frowned, he hated killing like this, in cold blood. But he made a promise. The shot echoed throughout the station. There was no way he had survived. Max took the body and dumped it far down the rails of the subway. By the time this is found, Max thought, I'll be 6 ft under.

Max walked out of the subway and over the poor shit's body. Not a single look of regret, only of the ever present smoothness that engulfed Max Payne. He began his long walk.

"The City in the Clouds, only those with wings fare well, too bad I'm a fallen angel." Max loved to speak poetically to himself. But instead of going straight to the Empire, he walked back to Frankie Franello's place.

"Frankie, it's going down tonight. I'm already on the news as the suspect, so I'm gonna need 4 other men and a shit-load of guns. A nice car might help."

"Maxie, your wish is my fucking command. Now, you gotta be all stealthy-like, cuz these mother fuckers will kill ya without thinking fucking twice. Maxie, look at me, don't fuck this up, cuz now it's both our asses. You fucking hear it, fucking both of those fucking buns of steel. Don't fucking fail me, please. I fucking beg of you, don't fucking fail."

Frankie was getting soppy, Max didn't like it. "Shut the fuck up Frankie, it'll be over by morning. The question is, can you get me safe passage to a fucking island in the sun. I can't return, this is it. The fucking end of Max Payne in the US, this is my final act."

Frankie looked like he'd been grabbed in the balls when Max said that. He was physically shaking. Frankie had never been without Max to rely on. He knew Max was serious, too.

Max took a pill to ease the pain of his gun-shot. He was patching it up in the bathroom when Annie came in.

"So, Max Payne does bleed, who'd have known it?"

"It's not bad, the pills keep the pain away. I managed to pull the bullet out."

"How?" she seemed to actually care about Max. No one cared about Max ever since he was framed for his wife's murder. And Max knew she cared, and it scared him, because he cared for her too. For the first time in nearly 9 years, he had something to live for. It was a bad sign. He couldn't take chances. Unless it was a false alarm. That's when she said.

"Just, try not to get hurt, huh Max? Can't have you getting hurt anymore."

That was it, he was fucked, he couldn't risk his ass if someone cared about him that much. But he had to. He made a promise.

They started to load the equipment into the car when Frankie came out of the building.

"Listen, I know about you and Annie. I don't wanna stand in your way. She's all grown up now, and there's no man I'd rather see her with. Just don't fuck it up."

They made their way towards the building as quickly as possible. They stopped and laid down their plans.

"Alright, Reggie," Max was in charge for obvious reasons, "I want you to stay behind the car and make sure Johnnie and Paulie make it up the first set of stairs. Use the snipe. Jackson, you and me are going in the main entrance. Knock out any security guards, kill any of Donnie's boys. This is it, lets get to it."

They went to their necessary positions as Max gave the all clear to go. Johnnie and Paulie started to clime the walls, avoiding whatever windows they could. They had a long trek to go, over 250ft, but Donnie's office was even farther up.

"Donnie's is the last executive floor, that's where we'll be in less than 40 minutes. He leaves through the service elevators. That's where we hit him.

The plan was going smoothly until a security guard alerted Donnie's henchmen to Max and Jackson's position. They had to break his neck and quickly ran into the closest hiding spot. The henchmen found them and knocked them out quickly. Meanwhile, Johnnie and Paulie had reached the first staircase only to find Max's Uzi lying on one of the steps.

"This don't look good Paulie, I think we're fucking fucked. I mean proper fucked, straight up the ass, no protection, no lubrication."

"You sound like an experienced man in this position, call up Reggie see if he can tell us anything."

Just as Johnnie called up Reggie, they heard a large explosion. Johnnie hung up. As he did, it rang.

"It's Reggie, how the fuck can he be calling us?"

Johnnie picked up the phone. A familiar voice came from the other end.

"It's fucking over, dickwipes, Max and Jackson are captured, Reggie's been strung up by his balls, and you guys are fucked. In fact, let's call it proper fucked. No lube neither." The man ended with an evil laugh, the type that makes you shit yourself.

"What the fuck Johnnie, who was it?" Just as Paulie finished talking, Johnnie got one in the head from far out. "Johnnie, Johnnie!! What the fuck, man? What the fuck happened, JOHN-" Paulie got one in the jugular. He struggled for air, and eventually gave up.