- "Firing a gun is a binary choice. You either pull the trigger or you don't."
- ―Max Payne
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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.
Enemies Encountered
Other Character Appearances
- Max Payne
- Valerie Winterson (cutscene) (Killed)
- NYPD (voice)
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.
