Deep Legend by DeYtH Banger (reading rainbow books TXT) 📖

father's lap, combing her Barbie's
hair.

EVEY (V.O.)
I was born near the end of the
millennium, the year 1997. My
father used to say that people were
so afraid that the world was going
to end that they were willing it to
happen.

Her father sits beside her mother on the living room couch,
watching the news. From the look on their faces, the news is
bad.

EVEY (V.O.)
I don't remember much of the
century's turn. I don't remember
the market crash or the plague or
any of the Trafalgar riots.

The television flickers with images of heavily armed soldiers
fighting in a shelled city.

EVEY (V.O.)
I've read about them since but I
don't recall how any of them
impacted my life except for the
fear. They would hide it from me,
like a secret between them.

Little Evey sees her father staring at her mother. They
take hold of each other's hand, clasping them tight.

EVEY (V.O.)
But I could feel it.

EXT. CITY STREET

It is a new day. People are gathered along the street as if
they were waiting for a parade.

EVEY (V.O.)
Of the chaos that seemed to swallow
the beginning of the 21st century,
there is one thing I do remember.

Evey holds her father's hand. Unable to see what is coming,
she can hear it.

EVEY (V.O.)
Very clearly, I can remember that
sound.

We hear them, hundreds of marching soldiers.

EVEY (V.O.)
And I remember those boots, black
leather that gleamed bright in the
morning sun. I had never seen such
boots. All moving in perfect
unison.

Little Evey hides in the forest of adults, clinging to her
father's leg, staring as row after row of boots march by with
military precision.

EXT. CITY STREET

In the midst of a political rally for the emerging new party
calling itself Norsefire, we find little Evey now on her
father's shoulders.

Dascombe, a young man, paces the podium, inciting the crowd.

DASCOMBE
The time has come, London, to
return to a bygone age, an age of
tradition, an age of values that
have been disparaged and all but
forgotten. What this country needs
is a leader! A true leader to
remind us of that age. A righteous
leader with the strength of his
moral convictions to do what must
be done. I give you that man! I
give you our leader! Adam Susan!

Adam Susan rises and the crowd cheers. Evey's father looks
at her mother and again they clasp hands.

EVEY (V.O.)
It must have seemed so easy to
them. They offered such a simple
deal; give up control and we will
restore order.

INT. SUBURBAN HOUSE

Little Evey is asleep in her bedroom.

EVEY (V.O.)
At first, the arrests were
political. Dissidents. Radicals.
Liberals.

A loud crash of splintering wood wakes her up.

EVEY (V.O.)
When my parents were younger, they
had been activists. They had
marched with Labor in the great
train strike.

The sound of heavy boots swarms through the house.

LITTLE EVEY
Mommy?

Her bedroom door bursts open and a heavily armed soldier
scoops her up.

She is carried through the dark house which is filled with
soldiers. On the floor of the living room, she sees her
parents being bound with plastic zip-ties.

MOTHER
My daughter! Don't take my
daughter!

FATHER
Evey! Evey!

LITTLE EVEY
Mommy! Daddy!

A heavy black hood is pulled over each of her parent's heads
as Evey is carried out of the house.

EVEY (V.O.)
I never saw them again. Overnight,
my life, my entire world was
erased.

INT. BATHROOM

A nun with a switch in her crossed arms watches as Evey and
several other little girls scrub the floor of a dormitory
bathroom.

EVEY (V.O.)
It was done so quickly and
violently, so completely, that it
began to seem that it had never
even existed.

A tear rolls down Little Evey's cheek.

EXT. HOUSE

A gay man is dragged violently from his Piccadilly home.
Outside, he sees his lover being forced to the cobblestones.

EVEY (V.O.)
The homosexuals were next. What
God had started with AIDS had to be
finished by man. It was God's
work. That's what we were told.

He reaches for him as the clubs rise and fall, vicious and
bloody.

EVEY (V.O.)
But once they were gone, there was
someone else. Someone different.

In another neighborhood, we see the police arresting
Pakistanis.

EVEY (V.O.)
Someone dangerous.

In a different area, young black men are packed into a caged
van so tightly they are unable to move.

EVEY (V.O.)
There were those who understood
what was happening, who knew it was
wrong but who kept silent.

A young detective named Finch looks down as the van pulls
away. When he looks up, another man in a military uniform
whose name is Almond is watching him.

EVEY (V.O.)
And in the vacuum of that silence,
order was imposed.

Finch sticks his pipe in his mouth and turns away.

EXT. STREET

Again, we see the marching boots.

EVEY (V.O.)
Order that was like those boots,
order that required rigorous
discipline. Order that is exactly
the same, where each single step
falls with every step. The order
of the many shaped into one.

We move through the columns of marching soldiers to a wall
where a poster has been plastered up. The poster reads,
"Strength Through Purity, Purity Through Faith."

EVEY (V.O.)
Somehow in my heart, I knew it
wouldn't last.

As the sound of the marching fades, a shadow falls over the
sign.

After a moment, we hear the hiss of spray paint.

EVEY (V.O.)
What they thought they had crushed,
the spirit they believed trampled
and ground beneath the marching of
their boots, rose up, rose as if
from a four hundred year old grave,
rose to remind us all that day.

The shadow sprays a "V" over the poster.

FADE OUT.

FADE IN:

Close on a loudspeaker. There is one on every major street
corner.

FATE (V.O.)
Good evening, London. It's nine
o'clock, the fourth of November in
the year 2019 and this is the voice
of Fate broadcasting on 275 and 285
of the medium wave.

Beneath the loudspeaker is a surveillance system labeled,
"For your protection."

Bubble eyed lenses iris at the end of stalks that move,
insect-like, racheting and clicking as they watch a little
girl pedal her bicycle. The little girl glances nervously
over her shoulder up at the mechanical eyes watching her.

FATE (V.O.)
People of London, be advised --

EXT. EVEY'S APARTMENT

There is a radio on a small makeup table.

FATE (V.O.)
-- that Braxton and Streathon are
quarantine zones as of today.

Evey is now a young woman. She slips into a dress that is
little more than a nightgown. She tries to adjust it,
pulling it down at the hem, pulling it up at the thin
shoulder straps, but it is like trying to hide behind a
lamppost.

FATE (V.O.)
It is suggested that these area be
avoided for reasons of health and
safety.

INT. SHADOW GALLERY

Another radio in a room that seems to be of another world.

FATE (V.O.)
Good news following the
productivity reports from
Herefordshire indicating a possible
end to meat rationing starting mid
February.

A man enters the room as he once entered the world. His body
is lean and strong and though we do not see his face, there
is a strength in his carriage, a power to his presence.

INT. EVEY'S APARTMENT

She packs tissue paper into the toes of a pair of high heels
that are too big for her.

FATE (V.O.)
Police raided seventeen homes in
the Birmingham area, uncovering
what is believed to be a major
terrorist ring.

INT. SHADOW GALLERY

We move over a dressing bureau, past a wig and over a pair of
black leather gloves, moving until we find the mask; it is
like something from the masquerade ball of another era. It
has an exaggerated goatee, harlequin cheeks and a smile,
forever fixed, at once be-guiling and be-deviling.

FATE (V.O.)
Twenty eight people, eight of them
women, are currently in detention
awaiting trial.

INT. EVEY'S APARTMENT

Evey coats her lips with a lascivious red. She stares into
the mirror, her makeup like a mask over her own face.

FATE (V.O.)
And that is the face of London
tonight.

INT. SHADOW GALLERY

The man, now fully dressed in cloak, hat, and mask gazes into
the mirror.

This is V.

FATE (V.O.)
And this is the voice of Fate
signing off and bidding you a
pleasant evening.

EXT. CITY STREET

Close on Evey's high heels, stumbling and awkward as she
walks down a dark cobblestoned street.

EXT. CITY STREET

Close on V's boots walking in the opposite direction so that
it seems they are walking towards each other.

EVEY (V.O.)
I don't know what brought us
together that night. I had never
been to that part of Westminster
but ever since I've known him, I've
stopped believing in coincidence.

EXT. CITY STREET

Evey looks up and sees a man standing mostly in shadow.

EVEY
Excuse me? Uh... excuse me,
Mister?

The man turns around. It is not V.

EVEY
Would you like... uh, would you
like to sleep with me?

He smiles.

EVEY
I mean, for money.

MAN
That is the clumsiest bit of
propositioning I've ever heard.

EVEY
Oh god, I'm sorry.

MAN
Is this your first time, darling?

EVEY
Yes, no, I mean for money. But I
know what you want and I'll do it.

She presses her body to his, using her little girl eyes and
her woman's mouth.

EVEY
Anything you want, mister. Please,
I need the money. I know I'm young
but I promise I know what I'm
doing.

MAN
No. You don't know what you're
doing.

He pulls out his wallet and shows her a badge. The sight of
it knocks the breath out of her.

EVEY
Christ, you're a Fingerman.

FINGERMAN 1
Give the little lady a prize.

FINGERMAN 2
I've got something to give her.

Evey turns and there are more Fingermen behind her.

FINGERMAN 1
Prostitution is a class H offense.
Know what that means? It means
that we get to exercise our own
judicial discretion --

FINGERMAN 2
And you get to swallow it.

The Fingermen laugh.

EVEY
Oh god, please. It's my first
time. Please don't hurt me.

FINGERMAN 1
Gosh, fellas, look at those big
innocent eyes. What do you think?

FINGERMAN 3
Spare the rod, spoil the child.

Fingerman 2 laughs hard as he drops his pants.

EVEY
Oh no!

He shoves her face first against a brick wall, lifting her
dress to expose her bottom.

EVEY
Please, don't!

FINGERMAN 3
You heard the man, sweetie. This
rod's for your own good.

Suddenly, they are no longer alone.

V
"The multiplying villainies of
nature do swarm upon him."

FINGERMAN 3
What the hell --

V
"And fortune, on his damned
quarrel, smiling, showed like a
rebel's whore."

FINGERMAN 1
We're police officers, pal.

FINGERMAN 4
We're with the Finger.

FINGERMAN 3
So bugger off!

V
"Disdaining fortune with his
brandished steel, which smoked with
bloody execution."

In the clenched fist of black leather, we see a flash of
steel.

FINGERMAN 1
He's got a knife!

V attacks and at once we know this is no normal human being.
A single blow sends the largest of the Fingermen flying
backwards.

But more than his strength, it is his speed.

A gun is cocked but before the hammer falls, a knife is
buried in the Fingerman's chest and --

Before the body falls, the knife is gone.

It takes a handful of seconds and three bodies lay on the
ground. V turns to the last Fingerman who is struggling to
pull his pants up.

FINGERMAN 3
Jesus Christ! Don't hurt me!

V steps forward and he screams, bolting while holding his
pants up.

V
Good evening.

EVEY
Who -- Who are you?

V
Me? I imagine all manner of names
shall be heaped upon my humble
visage but, for now, let us simply
say I am the villain.

He throws wide his cloak and bows deeply to her.

V
And you would be?

EVEY
Evey.

V
Of course.

They hear sirens rushing towards them. In a blink, he scoops
her up and dashes into the shadows of a narrow alleyway.

EXT. ROOFTOPS

Police cars and several ambulances swarm over the area with
the dead Fingermen.

V watches them from above.

EVEY
Why did you do that? Why did
you... help me?

V
Why indeed?

He takes out an old antique pocket watch. It is almost
midnight.

V
Almost time.

EVEY
For what?

V
For the music.

EVEY
Music?

V
Yes, music. My music. You see.
Evey, I am a performer.

EVEY
Is that why you're wearing a mask?

V
We all wear masks. Life creates
them and forces us to find the one
that fits. Do you know what day it
is?

EVEY
Uh... November fourth.

V
Not for long.

He looks out where, rising above the rooftops, he can see Big
Ben.

V
"Remember, remember, the fifth of
November, the gunpowder treason and
plot. I know of no reason why the
gunpowder treason should ever be
forgot."

The second hand sweeps into the final minute.

V
Tell me,