Deep Legend, DeYtH Banger [ebook reader computer .TXT] 📗

saying that perhaps I don't
know you as well as I thought I
did.

FINCH
Are you asking for my resignation?

LEADER
No, I am asking for some goddamn
results!

DASCOMBE
It's not Finch's fault, Adam.

CONRAD
We've all been looking. The man
simply disappeared.

ETHERIDGE
Vanished.

DASCOMBE
He's gone, Adam. It's over.

The Leader trembles like a volcano set to blow.

LEADER
It's over, is it? He's gone.
Vanished, you say?

The Leader grabs a large box from the floor and hurls reams
of computer printout across the table.

LEADER
Transcripts recorded over the last
thirty days in which the terrorist
was talked about or mentioned in a
positive context. This is only
thirty days!

He punches a "play" button and a wall of monitors blink on.
It is a recording of a television variety show.

A character that is made to look like Adam Susan is giving a
speech. A woman is dressed like V except that the only thing
she is wearing under her cloak is a garter belt, stockings
and high heels.

V sneaks up behind Susan and yanks his pants down. Susan is
outraged but when he gives chase he trips over his pants.
The audience hoots and howls.

The Leader kills the tape.

LEADER
Is this what you consider,
"disappeared?"

DASCOMBE
For god's sake, Adam, it's a stupid
variety show.

LEADER
Mr. Creedy, I want the producers,
writers, and actors of that "stupid
variety show" arrested and charged
with sedition.

CREEDY
Yes, sir.

DASCOMBE
You can't be serious --

LEADER
Push me, Roger, push me and you'll
find out how serious I am.

He stares each of them to silence.

LEADER
This, this V is still out there. I
can feel him like a sickness
worming its way into the hearts and
minds of the public. Something
must be done, and done quickly, to
exorcise this demon for the very
soul of this country is at stake.

He pauses.

LEADER
That is why I am compelled to give
each and every one of you notice
that if by the fifth of November
you are still giving me nothing
more than excuses, I will have to
revoke your party status and
terminate your positions.

Everyone is stunned.

LEADER
Mr. Creedy, I will speak with you
in private. The rest of you are
dismissed. England prevails.

INT. LEADER'S PRIVATE QUARTERS

The Leader stands at the window.

LEADER
Mr. Creedy, as the new head of the
Finger, you are the most important
member of my cabinet.

CREEDY
I, uh, appreciate your faith in me.

LEADER
Your predecessor, Mr. Almond, was a
good man, a man who understood what
strength in unity meant, a man who,
above all, loved his country. I
need to know if you are such a man.

His eyes bore into him.

LEADER
Do you love your country, Mr.
Creedy?

EXT. ALLEYWAY

A police car is parked in a dark alley. It is raining and
the windows of the car are completely steamed.

CREEDY
Oh god, yes!

He is sweating, his knuckles white as he squeezes the
steering wheel, panting.

We hear a noise like a very wet kiss and then a woman's
voice.

HELEN
"The most important member of my
cabinet." Yes it is, isn't it,
dear?

Helen lifts her head out of his lap. Her lipstick is smeared
about her mouth.

CREEDY
Oh, don't stop.

HELEN
I stop when you stop. What did he
say next?

CREEDY
I can't --

She whispers in his ear while playing with his lap.

HELEN
Come on, Peter, what are you afraid
of? Almond used to tell me
everything and you're twice the man
he was.

CREEDY
He asked me... if I loved my
country.

HELEN
Oh yes, I can tell you do love your
country, almost as much as you love
this...

She lowers her head into this lap.

CREEDY
Oh god...

HELEN
Go on.

CREEDY
Then he asked me to do something...
oh, oh...

HELEN
What?

CREEDY
Helen, I can't. I can't tell you.

Helen lifts her head.

HELEN
He told you to frame someone as the
terrorist.

CREEDY
My god?! How did you know that?

HELEN
I know Adam Susan. Now who was it?

CREEDY
No way. I can't tell you that.

HELEN
Yes you can, honey. You can and
you will. You have to trust me,
love. We're going to help each
other.

CREEDY
Helen, please.

HELEN
Look at that face. You see?
You're just bursting to tell me.

Her head drops back down. Creedy moans.

HELEN
Now who was it?

CREEDY
It was... Fi... Fi... FINCH!

The name seems to orgasm from his mouth.

INT. FINCH'S APARTMENT

Finch sits alone in his modest apartment, reading a book.
The book is Koesterler's, "The Roots of Coincidence."

An old CD player is playing music, a Bach piano concerto.

INT. SHADOW GALLERY

V is playing the exact same concerto on his piano, his gloved
fingers gracefully flitting across the keys.

Evey enters the gallery. Her hair has grown out but is still
short. She projects a kind of strength that comes from a
deep inner peace.

V coaxes the final delicate notes and lets them softly fade.

EVEY
That was beautiful.

She walks up to him and takes the smiling face in her hands.

EVEY
I've wanted to do this for a long
time.

She bends and gently kisses the frozen lips.

EVEY
Thank you, V. Thank you for
everything you've done for me.

V
You did it all yourself, Evey. I
just provided the backdrop but the
drama was all your own.

EVEY
It was a good backdrop. I believed
it. I really did. It's still a
bit hard for me to accept that it
wasn't real. That it was just you.
Especially the letter.

She takes the letter from her pocket.

EVEY
It is a beautiful letter, V. Every
time I read it I could feel
Valerie, almost like she was
holding me. I believed in her most
of all. I believed that she loved
me and I loved her back.

She looks down.

EVEY
I feel a bit foolish telling you
this. I know that you must have
written it and thought you should
have it back.

V
But I didn't write that letter,
Evey.

EVEY
What?

V
Come with me.

INT. VALERIE'S ROOM

It is a shrine. The walls are covered with movie posters and
reviews and pictures of an actresses named Valerie Page. We
recognize her as the woman chosen for the medical block just
before V.

Everywhere there are flower boxes filled with blooming roses;
violet carsons.

EVEY
Valerie?

V
Yes. Valerie Page. She was the
woman in room four.

EVEY
She's beautiful.

V
She wrote the letter just before
she died. I delivered it to you as
it was delivered to me. The words
you wept over were the same words
that transformed me.

Evey smiles and bends to smell the roses.

EVEY
Roses. You grew them for her.

V
Yes.

EVEY
They're beautiful.

V
Evey, do you know what day it is?

EVEY
Two days before the first day we
met.

V
You remembered.

EVEY
You're planning something, aren't
you, V?

V
You know me too well now.

EVEY
What are you going to do?

V
I'm going to fulfill an old
promise.

Evey cocks an eyebrow.

V
I'll show you.

INT. UNDERGROUND STAIRWELL

Carrying a lantern, V leads Evey down a dark stone staircase.

EVEY
I've never been here before.

V
Yes. It is the deepest part of my
home. Once you know it, I should
think you'll know everything.

He pushes a button and a secret passage opens in a heavy
stone wall.

There is a small narrow series of passageways that he guides
her through, leading to another door. Evey steps out into an
underground subway station.

INT. VICTORIA STATION

Parked beside the concrete platform is a beautiful antique
train car.

EVEY
Oh, V, it's lovely. Where on earth
did you find it?

V
In a way, I suppose it really found
me.

Evey steps into the train car and finds it filled with little
packages wrapped in wax paper.

EVEY
What's in these packages?

V
Gelignite.

She screams and almost drops one.

V
Careful.

EVEY
What are you going to do with all
of it?

V
I told you. I'm going to finish
what was started four hundred years
ago.

EVEY
Where does this train go?

V
This is the old Victoria line but
it is blocked, blocked somewhere
between Whitehall and St. James.

EVEY
Whitehall... V, that's the New
Government Building.

V nods.

EVEY
But the underground has been shut
down for years. How are you going
to make it run without any power?

V
I just thought I might ask them to
turn it on for me.

INT. LEADER'S OFFICE

The Leader sits bathed in the flickering images of the Fate
computer.

LEADER
Yes, Mr. Creedy?

CREEDY
Everything's set, sir. No worries.

LEADER
When?

CREEDY
Tonight.

On one of the screens, a television program has just begun.

ANNOUNCER
Tonight on Tales from the Bible, a
story of treachery and betrayal
from the Book of Daniel.

We cut from that screen to another screen --

INT. JORDAN TOWER - CONTROL BOOTH

The television studio where Roger Dascombe surveys a large
bank of monitors filled with the images of typically vapid
television entertainment.

DASCOMBE
All of London's waiting. Ready,
two. And here we go --

A player locks on as a recorded program begins. We move in
as the logo slashes across the screen: Storm Saxon.

ANNOUNCER
Tonight, England's greatest hero
repels the forces of darkness in a
brand new episode.

We pull back from the show's opening teaser and find
ourselves looking at a small television.

INT. JORDAN TOWER

In the delivery bay at the back of Jordan tower, five
security guards are riveted to the heroic actions of Storm
Saxon.

HEIDI
Oh, Storm. Save me! Save me!

STORM
You mongrel trash, if you harm her!

MONGREL TRASH
Look out, de white debil has a
laser lugar!

Behind them, a shadowy figure in a cloak and tall hat enters
the loading bay.

GUARD
Hey, what the -- ?

They all turn and find a smiling V.

They go for their weapons. V goes for them. It is brutal
and quick, knives slicing in bloody arcs, bodies kicked and
thrown with superhuman power.

The TV crashes to the ground and we move in at it as Storm
Saxon stands triumphant beside his buxom lass.

HEIDI
Oh Storm, hold me. Hold me tight.

We pull back on another television screen inside --

INT. FINCH'S OFFICE

Dominic is chewing on a hamburger, engrossed in Storm Saxon.
Across the room, Finch is reading the "Roots of Coincidence."

FINCH
I don't know how you stand that
tripe.

Dominic answers with a mouthful of cheeseburger.

DOMINIC
Es gooh.

Finch shakes his head, reaching for his pipe. He realizes he
is out of tobacco. He slides open the bottom desk drawer and
his eyes almost pop out of his head.

He stares into the drawer like someone staring at his own
tombstone.

DOMINIC
Finch? Finch, what's wrong?

Slowly, he lifts something from the drawer. On his desk, he
lays out several knives, a cloak, a hat, and a smiling mask.

DOMINIC
What the hell?

Finch lifts the mask and almost has to laugh.

FINCH
Don't you see, Dominic?

He puts the mask to his face.

FINCH
I'm V.

INT. JORDAN TOWER

V emerges from an elevator and immediately attacks several
more guards. A surveillance camera watches as V steps over
their slumped, broken bodies.

INT. CONTROL CENTER

The security guard sees V on the monitor coming directly down
the hall.

GUARD
Bloody hell!

He grabs the machine gun, aiming it just as V kicks open the
door.

GUARD
Freeze!

V stops. At least five guards have trained their weapons on
him. He is surrounded.

Slowly, he lifts his arms as though surrendering. His cloak
opens, revealing enough TNT to level the entire building. In
his hand is the plunger detonator.

GUARD
Fuck all.

V nods.

INT. FINCH'S OFFICE

The door bursts open as Creedy and a group of heavily armed
Fingermen muscle in.

DOMINIC
Creedy? What the hell's going on?

CREEDY
I'm here to arrest Mr. Finch for
acts of treason and terrorism.

DOMINIC
You can't be serious.

CREEDY
If I were you, boy, I'd shut my
hole unless you want to start
explaining why you didn't say
nothing about Mr. Finch's secret
identity.

INT. JORDAN TOWER

V follows Roger Dascombe into the main control booth. The
door shuts behind them and they are alone.

All around them are the laugh tracks and gunshots of the
evening's entertainment.

V puts his hand into his cloak and pulls out a videotape. He
hands it to Dascombe.

INT. FINCH'S OFFICE

Finch glares at Creedy.

FINCH
Why don't you just shoot me,
Creedy? Wouldn't that make
everything a lot simpler?

CREEDY
Yeah, I suppose it would.

Creedy smiles, his finger tightening on the trigger when --

DOMINIC
Holy Christ! Creedy, you stupid
ape! If Finch is V then tell me
who is that?

He points at the television where V sits calmly at a desk in
front of the "VTV" logo.

V
Good evening, London.

CREEDY
Bloody fuckin' hell.

V
I thought it was time we had a
little talk.

FINCH
He has to be at Jordan tower. Come
on!

Finch and Dominic rush out of the room. Creedy