V didn't even think about anything, he quickly grabbed his daggers and spinned them in his hands while choosing his first targets. The four soldiers in the room reacted too late, the first two being stabbed in the neck. While the remaining enemies were distracted by the deaths of their comrades, V approached the man in the black overcoat with its neck guard constantly turned up and a grey officers cap emblazoned with the Forsaken symbol. His trousers were a darker shade of green and he wore boots. V called him Derek Almond, the administrator of a special operations branch known as the Finger.
"Before I slice your neck and destroy everything you have created," V said, "there is one thing I need to ask you…"
"Stay out of my way," Derek exclaimed, "fire, now!"
With a rapid swing of his arms, V threw the daggers in the last soldiers before they could pull the triggers of their weapons.
"I don't recall giving you permission to speak, now answer my question. That is all you have left to do," V demanded, "why did you abandon your home to cause such a bad tragedy in this country!"
"It wasn't me," Derek replied
"After you prayed for forgiveness and mercy in England for the countless wrongs you have done, what do you do?" V began rebuking, "You come here and start ruling these remnants of Norsefire, creating conflicts and fights."
"I already told you, it wasn't me," Derek insisted, "It was all of his plan. Creedy's plan."
“Then why did you choose to cooperate with someone like Creedy?” V asked “Don’t you see what this country looks like--”
“Cooperating...?” Derek jabbed, “What are you talking about? I don’t care for Creedy, or Vlatava. All of this is to make Peter Creedy acknowledge me. Then exact revenge on him.”
“Revenge...” V mumbled, “This is madness. And you are going to die for it.”
Derek glowered at V and shot him in the right shoulder. He fell down but didn’t take action.
“Quiet, you monster!” Derek cried, “Once his plan is complete and he reaches the highest point of his power, I am going to get acknowledged. After that, I will successfully kill him, once and for all!”
“You’re so pittiable.” V sneered as he got up, “You’re the one who tried to assassinate Creedy.”
“Indeed, I arranged someone to shoot him during a convoy,” he confessed, “but it seems like I underestimated all of these abandoned fools calling themselves the Forsaken! I was going to rule over them, I was going to prevail!”
V started to chuckle. “Sending others to do their filthy work, so much for an honorable man.”
“Don’t lecture me, you bastard! Peter Creedy will die by my hand,” he declared, “So, V… rest easy and die!”
Derek shot V in the other shoulder. That only affected him a little bit. Noticing that he was still alive, Derek shot V in the chest multiple times, until the revolver was out of ammo.
“Years have passed, and you still do not understand it...” V gushed, “Ideas are bulletproof. No matter how much blood you spill, how many lands you conquer, how many screams and voices you ignore… the words and ideas of people will change the world!”
V got up and punched Derek in the face and then knee kicked him in the stomach, knocking him on the floor with a final strike in the nape. Derek did not gave up, he punched V’s stomach and stood up hitting rapidly the mask, deteriorating it.
“Of course...” Derek mumbled, “It always has to be about you, doesn’t it? Your constant need for recognition, for attention… Like a screaming child. To think that someone so juvenile could be so powerful… It sickens me to my heart!”
V drew a dagger and stabbed Derek's arm. He then proceeded to disarm him. Right then three Forsaken soldiers entered the room. Two of them went forward and cornered V, while the other one stayed back and protected Derek. V wasn't in the perfect condition to fight anymore, so he retreated and jumped through the window. When he landed on the ground, he realised that escaping wasn't going to be easy. An alarm kept ringing as the fire V caused spread around. Countless soldiers came out from the black smoke that covered the buildings, and picked up their weapons. V couldn't take them all, the only option was to run away and take cover.
Derek was watching. Behind him, one of the soldiers approached him and touched him on the shoulder.
"Captain, we have a problem," he said
"V is escaping…" Derek said as he tried to maintain his anger
"No, actually," the soldier sighed attempting to leave the room, "its the Queen, she's gone."
"That little…" Derek cursed, "send a squadron after her."
"Understood." the soldier said running out
V was facing the army of soldiers. Rather than running away, or even hesitate for a moment, he blazed directly into the heart of the Forsaken fighter formation. The place was swarming with 30 Forsaken soldiers. For the next 30 minutes, V viciously attacked the soldiers. He took cover to avoid the bullets and then jumped out as quickly as he could. The belt strapped to the waist was nearly out of daggers. He jumped over the first line of soldiers and landed on his first victim. There was no time to stand down and rest, despite how wounded and tired V was he still managed to kill and injure the enemies around him. But that didn't stop the bullets from coming. He was completely surrounded by soldiers armed with ranged weapons. One dagger couldn't slay everyone. One terrorist approached V and tried to stab him with the bayonet attached to his AK-47. V reacted quickly and grabbed the barrel, hit the soldier back with the stock and then ran forwards trying to avoid everyone. The black smoke stretched and covered a huge part of the area, it swallowed V and the soldiers. V sprinted through the blackness while the terrorists were shooting blindly. He kept dashing forwards with all the strength he had left as the bullets kept coming from behind him. His cape was full of holes and small burns. When V managed to escape from the burning area, he stood down for a bit, heavily breathing, but the cries of the countless enemies that were coming towards him gave him an impulse. V instantly got up, and tried getting very far from the buildings that were caught by the black smoke and the radio tower. While running he saw some stone walls and in the distance a church. When he was close enough to the wall, V jumped on it and then pulled himself over. It was a small graveyard with a lot of crowded gravestones and the church was very close to it. V ran across the field full of tombstones as fast as he could, and since the church was very close to the graveyard, V just climbed on the wall and then jumped directly on the roof. He then proceeded to climb on the bell tower. He shattered the grey windows of the tower and entered inside.
"I… am going to kill every last one of them…" V mumbled as he slowly lost consciousness due to his exhaustion and wounds
The cold air blew smoothly through the broken window while the grey clouds slowly faded away letting the sun bless the lands with a few weak sun rays. The thin snow didn't melt down but instead it turned into mud. It started getting darker and darker very quickly. The soldiers kept searching for V but they didn’t find him. He rested inside the bell tower until a few gunshots woke him up, they came from outside. A few cries followed from what it appeared to be a little girl. V walked out and landed back on the roof of the church, he was instantly greeted with four terrorists cornering someone.
“Congratulations…!” said the little girl sarcastically, “It took an entire squadron of men to hunt down and corner a thirteen years-old woman! I hope it’s everything you dreamed of… So have at it, then! Come and get the first fight you’ve had in years, you cowards!”
She pointed a combat knife towards them, but the soldiers were not intimidated, one of them grabbed the girl’s neck, along with her wrist, and hit her against the wooden walls of the church.
“I could snap your neck, you know,” the soldier said trying to terrify the girl, “a little more pressure and POP! The sad little flame of your life extinguished. You are nothing. Just a speck of dust. You - and all of your family and people. Living in this abomination you call a country, oblivious to the true ways of the world. The wiser among you recognize the future and our power. They kneel before us and beg mercy!”
“You’re going… down...” said the girl as she struggled to breathe
“But not you it seems, no...” the soldier mumbled, “You hold on desperately to your ways. Too ignorant to know your leaders!”
At that moment V jumped from the rooftop and landed down behind everyone. When he turned around he saw the queen herself. Perdita the Queen of Vlatava, and niece of Count Vertigo was captured by the Forsaken soldiers. He spinned around and slit the necks of the soldiers with his daggers, then he threw them to kill his last enemies. The girl was watching everything in horror.
“Ah, Your Majesty!” V said happily, “It is an honor to finally meet you.”
“What on earth...”
“Where are my manners, allow me to introduce myself-- Voila!--” began V, “I am the symbol of hope that permeates all of this world. A simulacrum sent from the ashes to take down those who chose to ignore our voices. The one who dances to the revolution and anarchy. I am freedom, the vendetta and idea of the many people that once ought to fight for liberty which is now lost. All I have left is what I am, and what I give.”
Perdita blinked at him, not understanding a single word. She tried to back away almost falling to the ground.
“Who are you?”
“I am a man in a mask.” he explained
“Right… and what was your name?”
V sucked in a deep breath to begin his entire introduction again.
“No! Just your name, not the entire introduction!” she said
“V.”
“Ah… Nice to meet you, V.”
“Nice to meet you too, Your Majesty, but I am afraid this is not the right place to talk, shall we go somewhere else?” V suggested
“Yes...” she replied
Perdita started following the man in the Guy Fawkes mask. She didn’t know why she was trusting a crazy man like him. For all she knew, he could also be a Forsaken agent sent to capture her. V tried to break the wooden doors to enter inside the church. With a strong leg kick he opened both doors.
“After you, Your Majesty.”
“I don’t think I will enter--” Perdita stopped herself
“I promise I will explain everything once we are in a safe place,” V said becoming slightly agitated, “if they find us then it’s over, I am not in a good condition to fight against them.”
“Alright then, my apologies… V.” she said entering inside the abandoned church
V followed her and then closed the wooden doors. He then proceeded to secure it with one of his daggers that he collected from the last fight.
"Were you sent by my uncle?" she started talking suddenly
"I have no connections to the Count," V explained, "you see, all of this is a cat and mouse chase. I came from England to find and destroy the remnants of Norsefire."
"Norsefire… I have heard of it." Perdita confessed
"Yes, the neo-fascist political party that once ruled in the United Kingdom." V continued, "I killed Adam Susan, the leader, but apparently Peter Creedy and Derek Almond managed to run away and establish another force using one of Norsefire's operation branches: The Finger or the secret police."
"I see," Perdita mumbled, "and what are you planning to do?"
"To purge this country on the fifth of November," V declared, "Their base of operation in Hirfield is already destroyed, all I need to do is to get rid of their leaders."
"You want to kill these people?" Perdita asked surprised, "And what was that about destroying their base of operation?"
"I destroyed the parliament building from the capital." said V
"You what?!" Perdita cried, "How did you even destroy such a massive building?"
"I used thermite bombs in order to melt down the pillars which were supporting the structure of the floors." V explained
"How could you do such a thing?" Perdita yelled, "You can't go around destroying historical buildings like that! I bet you're the one who stole the plutonium."
"How do you know that." He started questioning Perdita
"While I was locked down by them, I eavesdropped on their conversations."
"Ah so they did acknowledge that."
"Of course they did!" Perdita kept yelling at V, "But never mind that, are you going to destroy this country? Are you going to blow it all up?"
"Of course not," V confessed, "I am not going to end innocent lives."
"Then what are you planning to do with it?"
"You will witness it on the 5th of November."
"Witness what? And what's with all of this 5th of November thing? All of this is madness."
V kneeled before Perdita. She stared confused at him.
"I can assure you, Your Majesty, I mean you no harm," V said, "I don't want to live in the kind of world where these masters will rule us like slaves, and we don't look out for each other. Not just the people that are close, but those who need a helping hand and an impulse to fight. I'm afraid that this time I can't change the way anybody else thinks, or what they choose to do, but I will do my part. I will spread hope and help everyone."
Perdita sighed, "Alright then, V, I trust you and I will help you."
"Before I slice your neck and destroy everything you have created," V said, "there is one thing I need to ask you…"
"Stay out of my way," Derek exclaimed, "fire, now!"
With a rapid swing of his arms, V threw the daggers in the last soldiers before they could pull the triggers of their weapons.
"I don't recall giving you permission to speak, now answer my question. That is all you have left to do," V demanded, "why did you abandon your home to cause such a bad tragedy in this country!"
"It wasn't me," Derek replied
"After you prayed for forgiveness and mercy in England for the countless wrongs you have done, what do you do?" V began rebuking, "You come here and start ruling these remnants of Norsefire, creating conflicts and fights."
"I already told you, it wasn't me," Derek insisted, "It was all of his plan. Creedy's plan."
“Then why did you choose to cooperate with someone like Creedy?” V asked “Don’t you see what this country looks like--”
“Cooperating...?” Derek jabbed, “What are you talking about? I don’t care for Creedy, or Vlatava. All of this is to make Peter Creedy acknowledge me. Then exact revenge on him.”
“Revenge...” V mumbled, “This is madness. And you are going to die for it.”
Derek glowered at V and shot him in the right shoulder. He fell down but didn’t take action.
“Quiet, you monster!” Derek cried, “Once his plan is complete and he reaches the highest point of his power, I am going to get acknowledged. After that, I will successfully kill him, once and for all!”
“You’re so pittiable.” V sneered as he got up, “You’re the one who tried to assassinate Creedy.”
“Indeed, I arranged someone to shoot him during a convoy,” he confessed, “but it seems like I underestimated all of these abandoned fools calling themselves the Forsaken! I was going to rule over them, I was going to prevail!”
V started to chuckle. “Sending others to do their filthy work, so much for an honorable man.”
“Don’t lecture me, you bastard! Peter Creedy will die by my hand,” he declared, “So, V… rest easy and die!”
Derek shot V in the other shoulder. That only affected him a little bit. Noticing that he was still alive, Derek shot V in the chest multiple times, until the revolver was out of ammo.
“Years have passed, and you still do not understand it...” V gushed, “Ideas are bulletproof. No matter how much blood you spill, how many lands you conquer, how many screams and voices you ignore… the words and ideas of people will change the world!”
V got up and punched Derek in the face and then knee kicked him in the stomach, knocking him on the floor with a final strike in the nape. Derek did not gave up, he punched V’s stomach and stood up hitting rapidly the mask, deteriorating it.
“Of course...” Derek mumbled, “It always has to be about you, doesn’t it? Your constant need for recognition, for attention… Like a screaming child. To think that someone so juvenile could be so powerful… It sickens me to my heart!”
V drew a dagger and stabbed Derek's arm. He then proceeded to disarm him. Right then three Forsaken soldiers entered the room. Two of them went forward and cornered V, while the other one stayed back and protected Derek. V wasn't in the perfect condition to fight anymore, so he retreated and jumped through the window. When he landed on the ground, he realised that escaping wasn't going to be easy. An alarm kept ringing as the fire V caused spread around. Countless soldiers came out from the black smoke that covered the buildings, and picked up their weapons. V couldn't take them all, the only option was to run away and take cover.
Derek was watching. Behind him, one of the soldiers approached him and touched him on the shoulder.
"Captain, we have a problem," he said
"V is escaping…" Derek said as he tried to maintain his anger
"No, actually," the soldier sighed attempting to leave the room, "its the Queen, she's gone."
"That little…" Derek cursed, "send a squadron after her."
"Understood." the soldier said running out
V was facing the army of soldiers. Rather than running away, or even hesitate for a moment, he blazed directly into the heart of the Forsaken fighter formation. The place was swarming with 30 Forsaken soldiers. For the next 30 minutes, V viciously attacked the soldiers. He took cover to avoid the bullets and then jumped out as quickly as he could. The belt strapped to the waist was nearly out of daggers. He jumped over the first line of soldiers and landed on his first victim. There was no time to stand down and rest, despite how wounded and tired V was he still managed to kill and injure the enemies around him. But that didn't stop the bullets from coming. He was completely surrounded by soldiers armed with ranged weapons. One dagger couldn't slay everyone. One terrorist approached V and tried to stab him with the bayonet attached to his AK-47. V reacted quickly and grabbed the barrel, hit the soldier back with the stock and then ran forwards trying to avoid everyone. The black smoke stretched and covered a huge part of the area, it swallowed V and the soldiers. V sprinted through the blackness while the terrorists were shooting blindly. He kept dashing forwards with all the strength he had left as the bullets kept coming from behind him. His cape was full of holes and small burns. When V managed to escape from the burning area, he stood down for a bit, heavily breathing, but the cries of the countless enemies that were coming towards him gave him an impulse. V instantly got up, and tried getting very far from the buildings that were caught by the black smoke and the radio tower. While running he saw some stone walls and in the distance a church. When he was close enough to the wall, V jumped on it and then pulled himself over. It was a small graveyard with a lot of crowded gravestones and the church was very close to it. V ran across the field full of tombstones as fast as he could, and since the church was very close to the graveyard, V just climbed on the wall and then jumped directly on the roof. He then proceeded to climb on the bell tower. He shattered the grey windows of the tower and entered inside.
"I… am going to kill every last one of them…" V mumbled as he slowly lost consciousness due to his exhaustion and wounds
The cold air blew smoothly through the broken window while the grey clouds slowly faded away letting the sun bless the lands with a few weak sun rays. The thin snow didn't melt down but instead it turned into mud. It started getting darker and darker very quickly. The soldiers kept searching for V but they didn’t find him. He rested inside the bell tower until a few gunshots woke him up, they came from outside. A few cries followed from what it appeared to be a little girl. V walked out and landed back on the roof of the church, he was instantly greeted with four terrorists cornering someone.
“Congratulations…!” said the little girl sarcastically, “It took an entire squadron of men to hunt down and corner a thirteen years-old woman! I hope it’s everything you dreamed of… So have at it, then! Come and get the first fight you’ve had in years, you cowards!”
She pointed a combat knife towards them, but the soldiers were not intimidated, one of them grabbed the girl’s neck, along with her wrist, and hit her against the wooden walls of the church.
“I could snap your neck, you know,” the soldier said trying to terrify the girl, “a little more pressure and POP! The sad little flame of your life extinguished. You are nothing. Just a speck of dust. You - and all of your family and people. Living in this abomination you call a country, oblivious to the true ways of the world. The wiser among you recognize the future and our power. They kneel before us and beg mercy!”
“You’re going… down...” said the girl as she struggled to breathe
“But not you it seems, no...” the soldier mumbled, “You hold on desperately to your ways. Too ignorant to know your leaders!”
At that moment V jumped from the rooftop and landed down behind everyone. When he turned around he saw the queen herself. Perdita the Queen of Vlatava, and niece of Count Vertigo was captured by the Forsaken soldiers. He spinned around and slit the necks of the soldiers with his daggers, then he threw them to kill his last enemies. The girl was watching everything in horror.
“Ah, Your Majesty!” V said happily, “It is an honor to finally meet you.”
“What on earth...”
“Where are my manners, allow me to introduce myself-- Voila!--” began V, “I am the symbol of hope that permeates all of this world. A simulacrum sent from the ashes to take down those who chose to ignore our voices. The one who dances to the revolution and anarchy. I am freedom, the vendetta and idea of the many people that once ought to fight for liberty which is now lost. All I have left is what I am, and what I give.”
Perdita blinked at him, not understanding a single word. She tried to back away almost falling to the ground.
“Who are you?”
“I am a man in a mask.” he explained
“Right… and what was your name?”
V sucked in a deep breath to begin his entire introduction again.
“No! Just your name, not the entire introduction!” she said
“V.”
“Ah… Nice to meet you, V.”
“Nice to meet you too, Your Majesty, but I am afraid this is not the right place to talk, shall we go somewhere else?” V suggested
“Yes...” she replied
Perdita started following the man in the Guy Fawkes mask. She didn’t know why she was trusting a crazy man like him. For all she knew, he could also be a Forsaken agent sent to capture her. V tried to break the wooden doors to enter inside the church. With a strong leg kick he opened both doors.
“After you, Your Majesty.”
“I don’t think I will enter--” Perdita stopped herself
“I promise I will explain everything once we are in a safe place,” V said becoming slightly agitated, “if they find us then it’s over, I am not in a good condition to fight against them.”
“Alright then, my apologies… V.” she said entering inside the abandoned church
V followed her and then closed the wooden doors. He then proceeded to secure it with one of his daggers that he collected from the last fight.
"Were you sent by my uncle?" she started talking suddenly
"I have no connections to the Count," V explained, "you see, all of this is a cat and mouse chase. I came from England to find and destroy the remnants of Norsefire."
"Norsefire… I have heard of it." Perdita confessed
"Yes, the neo-fascist political party that once ruled in the United Kingdom." V continued, "I killed Adam Susan, the leader, but apparently Peter Creedy and Derek Almond managed to run away and establish another force using one of Norsefire's operation branches: The Finger or the secret police."
"I see," Perdita mumbled, "and what are you planning to do?"
"To purge this country on the fifth of November," V declared, "Their base of operation in Hirfield is already destroyed, all I need to do is to get rid of their leaders."
"You want to kill these people?" Perdita asked surprised, "And what was that about destroying their base of operation?"
"I destroyed the parliament building from the capital." said V
"You what?!" Perdita cried, "How did you even destroy such a massive building?"
"I used thermite bombs in order to melt down the pillars which were supporting the structure of the floors." V explained
"How could you do such a thing?" Perdita yelled, "You can't go around destroying historical buildings like that! I bet you're the one who stole the plutonium."
"How do you know that." He started questioning Perdita
"While I was locked down by them, I eavesdropped on their conversations."
"Ah so they did acknowledge that."
"Of course they did!" Perdita kept yelling at V, "But never mind that, are you going to destroy this country? Are you going to blow it all up?"
"Of course not," V confessed, "I am not going to end innocent lives."
"Then what are you planning to do with it?"
"You will witness it on the 5th of November."
"Witness what? And what's with all of this 5th of November thing? All of this is madness."
V kneeled before Perdita. She stared confused at him.
"I can assure you, Your Majesty, I mean you no harm," V said, "I don't want to live in the kind of world where these masters will rule us like slaves, and we don't look out for each other. Not just the people that are close, but those who need a helping hand and an impulse to fight. I'm afraid that this time I can't change the way anybody else thinks, or what they choose to do, but I will do my part. I will spread hope and help everyone."
Perdita sighed, "Alright then, V, I trust you and I will help you."