Angel: After the Fall #1

Plot

“It all started with a girl.”

That is Angel’s first line after the furious ending of Season 5. But the story does not pick up seamlessly, so some questions will stay open for now. That is why issue one begins with a prologue:

Angel is in a devastated alley. A girl is being attacked by a demon.

He remembers how it began: he became part of Wolfram & Hart, and of all the bad decisions he has ever made, that was the worst. He believed he could change them; instead they changed him. Then they killed the girl, and that opened his eyes; that was when he made his choice. That was a while ago, and ever since he has been trying to make up for it. But he is only one man… with a giant dragon. That belonged to W&H too, but after two minutes of fighting Angel realised that it was just a victim as well…

In the present Angel has defeated what are by now three demons. The girl he saved wants to know what is actually going on. Everything is okay, says Angel, except that they are looting. They are not; they only take what they need to survive. Angel gives her a car key and an address – she and her friends should drive there, right away. She asks whether he knows what happened; one minute everything was okay and then… she whispers that she did not deserve this, because she is a good person. Angel has heard that before – every night, all these past months. Everyone asks what he or she might have done wrong. He never answers – that they are all here because he made a choice, and so did his friends.

Wolfram & Hart sent an army and then they sent L.A. to hell. There were losers on both sides.

Angel flies on the dragon over the destroyed, hellish L.A.

Chapter 1:

Back then the inhabitants did not immediately realise that this was not just an incident – they figured that out five minutes after the demons arrived.

The strongest creatures conquered the city, divided it among themselves and hunted the humans who had no plan for escape.

And him? Well, W&H, with their sense of irony, set him down where it all began – in the W&H building. The dragon crashed right there. And Angel complies – for now. If he resisted, the punishment would be terrible, even if he does not know exactly what they would do. W&H don’t just know places worse than hell; they have holiday homes there.

The W&H building is almost deserted now, apart from the occasional visitor.

A demon named Burge, ruler of downtown L.A., storms in and asks him how work was. Angel is thrown against the wall by Burge’s offspring, Moron. Did he slaughter lots of evil monsters, Burge wants to know. It is not work if you love what you do, Angel replies. Moron asks his father for permission to kill Angel and wants to wear his skin as a cape. Burge asks Angel, whom Moron is effortlessly holding up by the throat, whether he has kept his dark-avenger activities to outside his district. Mostly. Moron roars that Angel killed his men. Ah, then he must have been hiding…, Angel starts to say, but Moron squeezes and orders him to be quiet. Someone asks whether there is a problem. Wesley is standing in the doorway. Angel asks, quietly, since his throat is being squeezed, where he was. Out, and now he is back. Besides, he did not know they were expecting company.

Moron complains to Wes that Angel killed his men. They wanted to kill people, says Angel, right under his nose. Wes explains that they surely did not want to kill the people – only enslave them. Burge plants himself in front of Wes. He told him to keep his vampire on a leash! As the last official representative of W&H in this branch, Wes assures Burge that they will not simply accept Angel’s actions. Good, because…, Burge begins. Wes simply goes on to say that Angel’s fate is not in Burge’s hands. Even after a considerable “indiscretion” they let him “live”. So Burge had better tell his offspring to stop before he kills Angel and makes everything worse for the rest of them. Burge demands that Angel be “grounded” for today – so he can think about what he has done. Wes says dryly that he is even considering banning Angel from TV, believe him!

Moron has not let go of Angel. He cannot believe his father listens to Wes. Angel has destroyed innocent demon armies… Burge orders Moron to be quiet. If Angel kills one more of his people, W&H be damned, he will take Angel’s head as compensation… and the desk. He orders his son to leave with him. Moron is still holding Angel and demands his skin. Wes tells Moron to put it off for another day, because he heard his father: he will not kill Angel today. Moron throws Angel aside and charges at Wes. Yes, he did, but he said nothing about Wes, he says, thrusting his claw at Wes… and right through him. No, apparently he did not, says Wes. Moron leaves.

Wes turns to Angel. Guests are such a joy, he says. Then he sees that Angel has a stake in his hand and asks what he wants with it. Angel does not know himself. He has not needed one in months. He asks Wes whether he remembers the days when vampires were their biggest problem. Only when Angel turned evil, Wes answers.

He asks how his rounds went. A dozen, maybe more. And he sent them all to the same place? He did. Then Wes hopes he has enough room.

Santa Monica:

The girl and her friends have arrived at the address – the Hyperion, or what is left of it. They talk about Angel – that he is attractive and that he flew on a dragon. One of them is not sure they can trust Angel. Didn’t he have a big forehead too, he says to himself. They go into the hotel and find themselves facing a whole crowd of humans and other beings. Hi, says the girl. There you go, says her companion: their chances were better on the street – these demons can even take human form!

Then the three are enveloped in energy and believe they are going to die. Gwen tells them to calm down; she only wants to see whether they are sincere. A figure appears behind the three. Their hearts are beating, she says, sniffing at the girl. She smells pure fear. Then she – Nina! – licks the girl’s cheek and then asks in alarm whether she… but realises that she didn’t, and explains that it is because of the sun-moon thing; both are up at the same time now. Nina asks the girl whether she has any idea what that does to a werewolf. Make her hungry? No. A bit-e nervous?

Nina and Gwen should relax. Angel sent them. Is he sure? Pretty sure, says Connor, because he saw the car they came in: special features, W&H parking pass and claw marks on the roof, like the few hundred they already have standing around. Connor first introduces himself and his family to the newcomers.

The W&H building:

Angel is not exactly thrilled with Wesley’s healing methods. Wes has put something on the wound on his chest, and the thing is even alive. Wes jokes that at least something in this room is alive, but reassures Angel that the thing has no emotions. Very reassuring, Angel thinks. Doesn’t Wes have anything… less disgusting, he finishes the question – he fears not. Their resources are running out, but he is looking around; maybe something will turn up – but certainly outside this building.

Angel plucks the thing off his chest and throws it away. Whatever, they have to give it to them. W&H are prepared for everything, he says, mainly because they are responsible for it. So Wes was out when Burge showed up, he then asks. Wes was watching Angel to see what he does. He finds it interesting that Angel took “Squirm” (the dragon, presumably). Well, Angel kills a few demons, a leader, and new ones come – every demon trapped on this side of the barrier is trying to take a place, and they use humans as shields or weapons. He wishes he could have killed the leaders one by one during the big fight, only fighting was not an option and retreat was not an option either; Wes’s bosses made sure of that. Angel knows himself that this was unfair, but Wes does not even respond. So instead Angel now rescues small groups of people and sends them to his son, right? Is he allowed to do that, he asks Wes, and does it fit into the W&H concept? He does not know. Of course not, Angel replies. He is working on a way out; he just needs enough firepower. Angel and Wes walk past the dragon lying in the building and into a corridor. There Angel looks at a drawing of some kind of orb. They will not leave, says Wes. He wants nothing more than to get out of his contract with W&H and would do literally anything to be able to move on. But it is at least a possibility, so Angel should go ahead and try, and then perhaps, in the smallest of steps, he can get back to what was. Because if Angel does not start trying to take control… the wrong one will…

Westwood, the sports stadium:

On a kind of throne sits a skeletal demon that seems to glow blue in some kind of water. A kind of fish creature is chained to it. All around them sit and lie half-naked women and girls, and a few demons stand about. The creature is called Kr’ph and has a glowing orb inside it, like the one in Angel’s drawing. He calls himself the ruler of Westwood and overseer of everything west of Beverly Hills. He has turned the sports stadium into a gladiator arena and wants a row of humans, whom he calls “his” bastards, to fight. But they just stand there. They are not “fighters” – one was a cop, another a bouncer. Kr’ph orders the fish creature to enter their minds telepathically and make them fight. The creature tries to refuse, but Kr’ph uses his power and forces it – the orb inside him lights up, as do his usually red eyes and those of the fish telepath. The telepath cannot resist and orders the “gladiators” to fight, even though it is sorry – the gladiators obey. Then the fish creature senses the presence of others and tells Kr’ph that someone is coming. Their thoughts are screaming. Kr’ph thinks they are screaming out of fear of him. No, they are screaming because they are angry, the creature makes clear, surprising Kr’ph. Then the creature is hit by something and the demons try frantically to protect Kr’ph. A demon is hit by an axe.

Kr’ph wants the fish creature to wake up and force them to leave. He orders his guards to fight well, because they love him after all. The demons are hit by arrows or killed in other ways. Kr’ph is furious, but whoever this is, he will not negotiate! They are powerful “bastards” and should tell him what they want. Then Kr’ph will help them get it.

The attackers are led by Gunn. He is sure Kr’ph can do that. Only Kr’ph will not like at all how he can help them, says Gunn, and rips the glowing orb out of the demon. That destroys Kr’ph. Gunn holds the orb up high – one fight, one leader dead, they can chalk that up as a win for Team Gunn! One of Gunn’s buddies is not entirely happy with the name – okay, they were a team before he joined, but he trained them and put together the outfits… To which another says, sure, he forced them to wear the stuff… Gunn asks whether they can’t discuss that later. They should pack up the fish and make sure it does not interfere until they are back.

Then Gunn spots the girls and says “wait”. He tells one of the women that everything is okay now; they should just think of the past months as a bad dream – and if she plays it right, that dream could still turn pretty erotic…

The W&H building:

Angel is checking some weapons when he hears something. He goes up to the roof and sees Moron and a few demons below, who have rounded up some humans. Angel killed six of his people, so he is going to kill six humans. Angel knows he is not actually allowed to leave the building – not a single step. He was told that everything he did was wrong. A friend told him that, face to ghostly face (Wes is shown in the white room). It is just… everything is different now, and Angel does not know who told him (Wes) to say that…

Only, that does not mean it is wrong. The desk that Burge admired and wanted as extra compensation flies down onto the street and distracts the demons. The humans can escape. The compensation, Angel says from above. Moron leaps towards Angel; his father told him… He knows, Angel interrupts the demon: he is not allowed to leave the building. Then Angel hurls the stake right into Moron’s eye. The demon falls back onto the street. Well, he cannot undo that now, and that is good, because with a stake in the eye it begins, Angel thinks. The demons shout that Angel has declared war and has no idea what he has done. He does. The demon just said it, Angel replies: declared war. Maybe that is exactly what W&H want, Angel thinks. Fine, let them believe they are in control. W&H took everything from him and everyone he cared about. Everything he was. But that is exactly how he will win: because they think they have him under control.

The sports stadium:

A scream echoes through the corridors, where dead bodies already lie. The former slave girls lie dead. One is being bitten right now. The vampire lets her fall and looks up – it is Gunn…