Each page in the prologue, which takes place on November 5, 1998, ends with a page-width panel showing V waving a conductor’s baton over London. On one page, Dominic searches for Finch, who has been acting strangely. On another, the Leader stands before the Fate supercomputer and begs it for a sign that it truly loves him. Jordan Tower explodes, and Conrad and Helen Heyer panic about what the Mouth will tell the country. Creedy tells the Leader about the bombings; he says that they cannot broadcast a message about it because the airwaves are in use by someone pretending to be the Voice of Fate. The Voice tells London that in honor of the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, for three days their actions and conversations will not be surveilled, “and ‘do what thou wilt’ shall be the whole of the law” (187).

On November 6, chaos overtakes London. A young girl tags the “V” symbol on a wall; stores are looted. The Leader orders the police presence to be doubled and looters shot. V tells Evey that the current noise of the people’s