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"The genius of the hole: No matter how long you spend climbing out, you can still fall back down in an instant."
―Max Payne

The Genius of the Hole is the last chapter of Part II in Max Payne 2.

Plot[]

Dropping into a small room from the floor above, Mona suddenly hears faraway sirens that seem to be headed in the direction of the construction site and, cursing Max for his desire for the police to show up, she continues to cover him from the nearby window while Max checks the doors around the courtyard as Cleaners and Cleaner commandos continue to swarm the yard. Max runs around the courtyard, trying every door while Mona takes out the Cleaners that attempt to flank him, and every time finding that the doors are locked.

Exhausting every other option, Max's only route is through a gate to another courtyard, so Mona has to work her way up a floor, around to the other side of the building, and then down several stories to the foundation of the building, all while killing dozens of Cleaners that are still in the semi-constructed structure. Max tells her over his headset that he's at the edge of the pit Mona is in and can see a way out, and she tells him she'll be at his location momentarily. Mona reaches a portable office and overhears a Cleaner telling his associate that their boss is ordering them to retreat and that the situation is going to be "handled differently." Mona takes them down and rides up and out of the pit in an elevator, and Max tells her that he sees the lift and is making his way there now.

As Mona gets out of the lift and makes her way towards Max, Valerie Winterson comes out of the shadows and pulls a gun on Mona. Max walks up and pleads for Winterson not to do anything, but as she explains to him that he's suspended and Mona's a fugitive murder suspect, Mona tells Max that Valerie's "one of them" and that Winterson is going to kill her. Winterson and Mona both draw their guns, and Max is trying to talk both of them down when a shot rings out. Valerie Winterson falls to the ground as the smoke rises from the muzzle of Max's gun while Payne still points it where the detective once stood. Hearing the voice of an NYPD officer reacting to the sound of gunfire, Max tells Mona to get away as fast she can. While he watches her go, Winterson uses the last of her strength to raise her gun and shoot Max, causing a severely-injured Payne to fall into the nearby pit.

Characters[]

Trivia[]

  • This chapter, along with Routing Her Synapses, Out of the Window and A Losing Game, are the only chapters in the entire series where Max Payne is not the playable character.
  • Among all the chapters where the Mona is the playable character, this is the only one where she gets a throwable weapon (4 Molotov Cocktails near the 2nd scaffolding). There are no throwable weapons in the entire series Mona comes across, or is seen using.

Video[]


Max Payne Chapters
The American Dream Prologue · Roscoe Street Station · Live from the Crime Scene · Playing It Bogart · The Blood Veins of New York · Let the Gun Do the Talking · Fear That Gives Men Wings · Police Brutality · Ragna Rock · An Empire of Evil
A Cold Day in Hell Prologue · The Baseball Bat · An Offer You Can't Refuse · With Rats and Oily Water · Put Out My Flames With Gasoline · Angel of Death
A Bit Closer to Heaven Prologue · Take Me to Cold Steel · Hidden Truths · The Deep Six · Backstabbing Bastard · In the Land of the Blind · Byzantine Power Game · Nothing to Lose · Pain and Suffering
The Darkness Inside Prologue · Elevator Doors · A Criminal Mastermind · The Depths of My Brain · No 'Us' in This · A Sign of Her Passage · A Linear Sequence of Scares · The Million Dollar Question
A Binary Choice Prologue · The Things that I Want · In the Middle of Something · Blowing Up · Routing Her Synapses · Out of the Window · The Genius of the Hole
Waking Up from the American Dream Prologue · Too Stubborn to Die · On a Crash Course · A Mob-War · Dearest of All My Friends · A Losing Game · There Are No Happy Endings · Love Hurts · That Old Familiar Feeling
Part I Something Rotten in the Air · Nothing But The Second Best · Just Another Day at the Office · Anyone Can Buy Me a Drink · Alive If Not Exactly Well
Part II A Dame, A Dork, and A Drunk · A Hangover Sent Direct from Mother Nature · Ain't No Reprievement Gonna Be Found Otherwise · Here I Was Again, Halfway Down the World · It's Drive or Shoot, Sister
Part III Sun Tan Oil, Stale Margaritas and Greed · The Great American Savior of the Poor · A Fat Bald Dude with a Bad Temper · One Card Left to Play
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