A/N: Hello again! Nighthawk here with the third chapter! And a big thank you to those who did review! (And yes, firefly123, V will eventually come into the story. It just won't happen for a few more chapters, since I have to develop the plot a little more. XD) So with that, on to the disclaimer!

Disclaimer: I don't own V for Vendetta. That belongs to its respective owner(s). And now, let the third chapter begin!

*Fireworks go off*

Yay! Fireworks!! XD

Chapter 3: For Freedom!

Everyone was silent, eager for Rodney to start. He cleared his throat and began.

"You all know why we're here. You all know why we're out here, breaking curfew and outside the city limits."

"Because you asked us to," Henry said. Everyone laughed. Rodney's lips hinted at a smile.

"Besides that. Why did I ask you chaps to risk your hides tonight?"

I answered that question. "Because you want us to remember James and knowing you…I'd say you already have a plan to retaliate, correct?"

No one spoke. All eyes were on Rodney, awaiting an answer.

"Yes. I want to retaliate."

The room went into an uproar. There were cries of "Madness!" and "Are you daft!?" Eventually, everyone calmed down and it was silent again.

"I can promise every single one of you that I have not gone mad." He turned to Henry. "Henry. How many of our friends have been taken in past two weeks?"

"Let's see…seven if you count James."

"My point exactly! The first day of school it was Lily and Anne. The day after it was George. Then last week was Sarah, Claire, and Elijah. James was today."

I flinched when he had said Elijah. Anthony saw this.

"They keep taking our friends! I say it's time we do somethin' 'bout tit!"

I stood up from the chair I had been sitting in. "Rodney, if we try and stop them, it'll be like trying to stop God! We can't do anything about it!!"

"Oh yes, we bloody well can!" Rodney exclaimed.

"Then what do you suggest!?"

"Alright, you know how the Fingermen always patrol the streets at night, looking for some unlucky chap to beat on?"

"Yeah…" I could already tell where he was going with this.

"Well, I say we take the fight to them! We go around town beating up any Fingerman we find!" Once again, everyone was silent.

"And this is gonna help our captured friends how?" I asked skeptically.

"Well, Special Forces is way too dangerous to take on now. My plan is this: we start by harassing Fingermen, then soon enough, we get the police in on it. Then we start harassing them…do you see the pattern here?"

"And what are going to hope to accomplish by doing this?"

"If we can show that the Fingermen and the police can't control us, then other people will start to see it too. We won't be the only ones fighting!"

Finally, I understood Rodney's plan. "So you want to start a rebellion?"

"Exactly. If we can prove that Sutler's absolute rule can be broken, then we can have all the people on this side of the Thames fighting alongside us!"

"Hold it. If we go through with this, do you know exactly who will be coming after us first?" I asked.

"Well, we'll find out won't we?"

"We'll be going against the Head of the Juvenile Affairs Department!"

"Who cares!? We can outsmart-"

"It's not Dixon anymore. It's Investigator Bryson," I stated.

Once again, the room was thrown into an uproar. It took Anthony and me nearly five whole minutes to calm everyone down. When it was quiet again, Rodney spoke.

"Bryson!? Since when did that bloody git get promoted!?"

"He was promoted sometime in the summer. I don't know how he managed to work his way up that far, for we all know how he works…" Everyone snickered.

Investigator Connor Bryson was one of the most brutal police officers in the district. Many times, he received demotions and suspensions for his cruelty and exceedingly violent nature. As to how he managed to work his way through the ranks, I had no idea…nor did I want to find out. It probably involved bribery and blackmail…not that he's never done that before. His entire background was based on that sort of thing, since he was an ex-con. Swindling thousands of pounds from big companies and using blackmail whenever someone got too close to the truth. However, he made a few fatal slip-ups and had to become a cop for the sake of keeping out of one of Creedy's camps. Bryson made a lot of enemies in his con days and a lot of people wanted to see him dead. If not dead, then thrown into a black bag camp, which was fine by me. Rodney continued with his plan.

"So here's what we do. We plan out our attacks one night, then carry them out the next. That way, we have time to rest and such. Also, if we attack every night, we won't be able to function for school."

"Not to mention, we'll attract attention a lot faster if we're beating up Fingermen every night," I cut in.

"That too. If we go too fast with this, we'll be seeing the inside of a black bag in no time at all…and I don't think anyone wants that."

Everyone shook their heads.

"Alright. To minimize the chance of getting arrested, you'll be assigned partners. It's your job to watch each other's backs and make sure you don't get into a fight you can't win. Anthony, Theresa, and I will be a group of three."

"Why the three of you together? You guys can probably take out half the Fingermen in the district by yourselves!" said Henry.

"My point exactly. Even if the three of us could do that…if they got us pinned in a corner somewhere, they'd overwhelm us with numbers." Rodney explained. Henry stared at the floor and mumbled his apology.

"But if we had backup in said fight…then the odds would be turned, wouldn't they?" Henry nodded.

"You see? Makes perfect blimmin' sense to me. So! Tonight, we assign partners and plan our first attacks. Make sense?"

Everyone nodded.

"Alright then. Anthony! Theresa!" Rodney called. Both of us immediately stood up.

"For this, both of you will be made my lieutenants. Is that alright with the both of yeh?"

We nodded.

"Bloody brilliant! Let's get started then, eh chaps?"

And it began. We managed to get through assigning and plans without too much of a problem. It was 12:30 when we were finished. Everyone was going over plans and talking about what to do if outnumbered. Rodney motioned for Anthony and me to join him at a folding card table in the corner of the room. We both sat down and Rodney spoke.

"Right then. Nothin' special for us. We just go 'round beating up any Fingerman we see."

"Isn't that what everyone's plan is, Rodney?" Anthony asked. Rodney realized this and then blushed crimson.

"I guess so…it's not really that complicated. Just as long as we keep to the alleyways and stay in our district, we'll be fine."

"So it's settled then?" I asked.

"Guess so."

"Right then. Then I guess there's no reason why we should still be here?"

"Well, in your case, yes. You could leave if you wanted to. Everyone else still has to learn how to fight though," Rodney explained.

"Well, you could do that, right?"

"Course! Not that hard, really. Although Henry might be a problem…he's a scrawny one at that."

"You'll just have to beef him up a little. Nothing you can't handle, eh?" I joked. We all laughed.

"So," Anthony said. "Where and when are we meetin'?"

"We're meetin' outside Theresa's place at curfew. She's the only one out the three of us that has an alley to hide in," Rodney said.

"Right then," I said. "Well, I'll be seeing you tomorrow then?"

Rodney nodded and waved goodbye. "Cheerio."

"Later."

"Wait," said Anthony. "Theresa, might I have words with yeh before yeh leave?"

"Sure."

I nodded to Rodney. Anthony and I walked outside and stood on the front porch.

"Listen. I'm still sorry about Elijah. I saw you flinch when Rodney mentioned him," Anthony said.

"Anthony…don't worry about me. It's not as painful as it once was when they first took him away. Honestly, I was more worried about how you felt more than anything," I said.

"Yeah…I cared 'bout him too. He was my cousin, although we were like brothers. I thought I'd never get over the fact that he was gone."

"I thought so too for a while. But then I realized that it was no use crying about it. He's gone and there's nothing I can do about it."

"I realized that too…instead, I thought 'bout his personality. How he would do anything for his friends…how he would always give up part of his lunch to one of us who didn't 'ave one…how he would he let us cheat off his exams…how he would let us copy his 'omework…just how generous he was altogether."

"So did I, Anthony…so did I." Neither of us said anything for a minute. Then I started down the porch steps.

"Be careful, would yeh? Don't want yeh to get fingered," Anthony said.

I smiled at the joke. "I will. Just make sure Rodney doesn't fall over from exhaustion."

Anthony nodded and walked back into the house, leaving me alone outside. It was 12:40. Hopefully, there aren't too many Fingermen out…the last thing I want is a brawl right now I thought. My senses started to kick in and I made my way back through the fields and to the sewer tunnels in record time. When I was back in London, I made sure to walk through the alleyways. I came to my apartment building without any hitches. I flew up the flight stairs and came to my door. With a sigh of relief, I unlocked the door and stepped inside. It was rather dark but once again, my vision had already adjusted and I could see perfectly without any light. I made my way through the living room, up the three steps into the kitchen, and into the small hallway. To my left, was Mom's room. Straight ahead, was the bathroom. (Or "loo" as it was called here in England) To my right, was my room. I went inside, not bothering to close the door since Mom wouldn't be here till next week. I flipped on my lamp on my bookshelf, blinking several times to get used the light. I changed into pajamas and brushed my teeth. Before I climbed into my bed, I kneeled down on the floor.

Let's see, which one was it…? Oh! Here it is!

I removed a floorboard and under it, was a collection of items that I had stored in there. Most of it was CDs and things for my guitar like strings and picks. But behind it all, were two photo albums, black and brown. The brown one was old and ready to fall apart, but I didn't care. It was full of family pictures before the civil war and the plague. But it wasn't that one I wanted. I pulled the black photo album and sat on my bed. I eagerly started flipping through the pages.

The black photo album was all pictures of my time in England. There were pictures of Rodney and Anthony wrestling, a food fight in action, and many other funny moments our group had shared. But I skipped all those, heading straight for the halfway mark. When I got there, the picture I saw almost made me cry.

There was a teenage boy and girl, standing in the middle of the dirt courtyard at school. The boy had one arm around the girl's shoulder and the girl had her arm around his waist. Both of them were smiling broadly. The boy stood at about six feet, wearing a white shirt, jeans, and white All-Stars. He had muscles, but not quite like Anthony's. He didn't wear glasses. The two most striking features about him were his hair and his eyes. His eyes were emerald green and unlike most, had a cross between red and brown hair. In this picture, his hair looked bright red. But in the photo below, his hair looked brown. Thus, the combination of color.

Ah, Elijah…how I miss you…

I began to flip through the second half of the photo album. Almost all of it was of me and Elijah. There were pictures of us dancing to Anthony's guitar tunes, laughing at jokes made by the group, copying each other's homework, drenching each other with water, and all sorts of memories I had with him. There was one picture where he had taken a dare and paraded around Rodney's house in a pink butterfly suit. Anthony and I were in hysterics on the floor, almost passing out from laughing so hard. There were so many pictures that I lost all track of time. When I was done, it was almost two in the morning.

Dammit. I'm only getting four hours of sleep tonight…but looking through that photo album was worth it, in my opinion.

Rodney had made me that photo album at the end of last year. He had taken the pictures throughout the entire time Elijah and I were together. Every day, Rodney would bring his camera and say "Right then! What are you and Elijah going to pull today?" Elijah and I would smirk at each other, trying not to laugh, but would fail anyway. Elijah had been an American by blood and had a rather rebellious nature. He would always mock the teachers when they weren't looking, steal lesson plans, and just generally cause trouble. He was a third year like I was but the Special Forces came and took him away, since his parents were political activists. I was so relieved that I didn't have to see him taken away because I would've tried to stop them. Also, I would have been scarred forever if I had seen them throw a black bag over his head.

I let out a huge yawn. Time to go to sleep.

I stood up and placed the photo album back into my secret hiding place. I placed the wooden floorboard back in its place and I climbed under the covers of my bed. Exhausted from the day's events, I fell into a deep sleep, remembering the time when Elijah planted a firecracker in Patrick Dunn's lunch. Patrick was beaten and then suspended for a week. Elijah wasn't punished since Patrick couldn't prove that it was him who planted the firecracker.

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Phew. Next chapter will come soon…I just need to make some adjustments to it. :)

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