Unmasked

Chapter 16

New World

Evey breathe caught as she stared over the city that just days ago was a dangerous place she would not have minded never setting her eyes on again and now, because of the actions of one man, was a place of hope once more. She spent one more moment staring at the beautiful scene in front of her before shaking off her wonder and moving on.

She had work to do.

She had to go see finch

—

Evey was quite proud of her ability to slip into the chief inspector's office unnoticed. She pretended she was a spy in one of V's old movies as she climbed the fire escape and found a window with the hinges on the outside.

Once in Finch's office, she sat in the chair behind his desk and giggled to herself. She had always been an assistant, without a desk or office of her own and she had to admit she quite enjoyed playing this game.

It was only a few minutes before Evey heard footsteps approaching and sent a silent prayer to whoever was listening that it was Finch and not some other building personel. Blessedly, she got lucky and Finch emerged from the hall, setting down a briefcase as he flicked on the light and closed the door. Once his bag was on the ground he turned to his desk and froze.

"You? But... you're dead," he stuttered in an emotion Evey couldn't quite decipher.

Fear? Confusion? ...Hope? It didn't matter, Evey took her gloved index finger and raised it to the lips of the Guy Fawkes mask she had dawned earlier that morning as it smiled its ever-present grin on the inspector.

Wisely, Finch nodded but did not come any closer. This was it. Evey reached slowly behind her head as not to startle the inspector, and untied the black ribbon that held the mask in place, resting it on the desk in front of her but keeping the black wig in place. V would probably have a fit if she got it all tangled.

"Hello, Inspector," she couldn't help but smile at the look of shock on the inspector's face as he stuttered.

"Ms. H-Hammond??"

"I'm sorry to barge in on you like this, inspector, but I needed to have a word."

"I-I mean for a second I thought... so is he really..?"

"Dead?" Evey asked, pretending like the words didn't send bile stinging her throat, "Yes. He is."

Evey had decided long before coming here, in those days sat by V's bedside, that even if he made it through, the world would need him to be dead. She had gone over and over everything V had said to her on the train platform. And he was right. He created this world, and now his work as a masked vigilante terrorist was over. There was no room in this world for the man he had been. The people had needed an activist, a revolutionary, and, finally, a martyr. V had done all those things spectacularly, but now there was rebuilding to do. The whole governmental system needed to be rebuilt, along with the trust of the people. Secrets needed to come to light and Slater's supporters still needed to be weeded out. Families needed help and prisoners needed to be retried and released. They needed a new police force and judiciary system. The world no longer needed revolutionaries. It needed leaders. Evey had absolutely no interest in becoming one of those leaders, but she had made a promise to V that night, and whether or not he had survived, she was going to keep it.

V had given her everything. He had put his trust in her. A plan he had put into place over two decades prior was coming to its crescendo and he had handed her the conductors baton. Letting that train go had been the first step, but Evey fully intended to see this new world through until it could run efficiently on its own. That is why she came here today. That is how she ended up sitting across a desk from Chief Inspector Finch and drawing up plans for this new world.

They spoke about the retrying of prisoners, the temporary release of nonviolent offenders so that any facility could be used to house those found guilty in assistance to Slater. The immediate termination of black bagging, any torture or conversion programs were immediately shut down. They discussed welfare programs for families transitioning from their past government jobs and housing programs for those who had been displaced and lives ruined under Slater's regime. They discussed civil rights and election processes. Finally, almost twenty-four hours after they began, they wrote the speech for the press conference Finch would give the next day.

As they prepared to leave, Finch putting on his trench coat and Evey straightening V's wig and picking up the Guy Fawkes mask from where she had discarded it, Finch hesitantly asked, "Who was he, really?"

Evey smiled as she stared down at the mask in her hands, "He was Edmond Dantes, and he was my father, and my mother, my brother, my friend. He was you, and me..he was all of us."

And without another word, Evey, dropped out the window and disappeared once again.