Angel: After the Fall #7

Plot

George:

The fish creature is more amused than anything by the vampire’s threat. He cannot bite him anyway; after all, George is not the most sought-after fish in hell for nothing – he is a powerful telepath. The bloodsucker may think he is dangerous, but George can make him believe anything… and he gives him an example right away, in which George is the danger and the vampire the potential victim.

So, when Gunn is back, his buddy should tell him that he had no time to stay longer, because he has to meet a Brit and see to it that he…, the fish creature begins.

The vampire grabs George and hurls him against a wall.

“Er? Help?”, George thinks.

Wesley:

Wesley sits in a club armchair in the white room. Fred sits opposite him. They made it, she tells him. But she was… Well, yes, maybe a teeny-tiny bit, Fred admits.

And what now, Wes wants to know. Fred takes his hand. Now there are only the two of them – forever. Wes pulls her close and smiles at her. They have earned this, she tells him – whatever they want.

In various settings the two are happy together: somewhere in the mountains, a carriage ride… and for old times’ sake they can fight a few demons now and then. But either way, nothing will ever happen to them, and they will always come back here.

Wes and Fred lie in a bed. How does that sound, asks Fred, snuggling up to Wes. Like heaven, Wes replies. It wasn’t for a long time, says Fred, but now it is.

It sounds wonderful, Wes thinks, only it is a lie…

Fred looks away. Then she smiles at him and asks whether that was too much of a good thing.

Yes, all of it, says Wes sadly – it is far too much of a cliché. And besides, Fred would care; she would want to know what became of the others.

Fred gives him an unfathomable look and says that maybe she is just so excited to have her one love back that she forgot them for a moment.

She should do him a favour, Wes demands: stop pretending to be Fred – because that only leads to one result, namely that she is dead.

“Fred” does not look at him as she notes that they have something in common: she too knew he was too clever to fall for it. They thought he would want to believe it so desperately that they would only have told him the truth when it hurt the most. He was supposed to be caught up in his passion when the big reveal came – how sick is that, “Fred” then asks.

Then they should get started, says Wes. With what? Passion? “Fred” finds that nice.

What do they want, Wes wants to know, ignoring the remark. Well, he signed a contract, and they are not finished with him yet.

So he is dead, says Wes darkly. As if that matters, “Fred” thinks, hugging Wes again. Dead, sure, but still his closest friend.

“Fred” stands before Wes naked except for a leaf, up which a snake is crawling (an allusion…).

He will go back and do what they want and play his “happily ever after” role with style.

The snake coils around Wes while “Fred” explains that she cannot believe he did not want to live this lie for a while.

She should shut up! So they really believe he will play along?

Well, if he wants to see Fred again… “Fred” raises her hand. Spectacle lenses form and fly towards Wes. Meanwhile he struggles to keep the snake away from him.

He should look at it this way: he returns to his side. That will be fun, won’t it? He will report to them, tell them everything and do everything they say, or they will send him to the farthest place from here.

They will anyway, Wes replies.

He thinks so. Still, he will do it, because there is that tiny, sentimental glimmer of hope that they will be reunited once all this is over, says “Fred”. She touches his hand and the obligatory beige suit forms on Wes, until he stands before her in his old get-up again, with suit, tie and glasses.

Pretty, she thinks, leaning against him. He is glad she approves, he says sarcastically.

Well, they are wasting time, “Fred” thinks. She points at the wall, where a rift forms.

“Fred” gives Wes a memo for Angel; subject: Los Angeles. It is his fault, and from now on he should be good and stay in the offices so they can keep an eye on him…

What is his faul…, Wes begins, then looks through the rift in the wall at Hell-A. “Oh,” he says.

Yes, heaven is not that clichéd, but hell matches the stereotypes pretty closely, says “Fred”, and kisses Wes on the cheek. He just stares outside.

“Have a nice day at work, honey,” “Fred” wishes him, and says they will see each other as soon as they have more for him. Sure, Wes replies.

Wes goes to the rift, turns round once more and says that Angel will find a way to destroy them – they will find a way. And he personally is already thinking of a way to pay her back and break her neck.

Oh, Wes, honey, right now Angel’s only problem is trying to stand up with a broken spine, “Fred” replies – and as for paying her back: interesting notion.

That must mean he is incorporeal, Wes realises. Clever of him to work that out, she thinks.

Wes goes. “Fred” watches him leave.

They have him. But he is big-hearted and will do the right thing – whatever the possible price, she says.

They can only hope, says a voice. Besides, he has no idea why he is there – he can’t. But he is the key to everything. Wesley is the reason they will win…

Connor:

He is still in the demons’ grip. Their leader asks his underlings who wants a piece of Angel Jr.

Connor would rather keep all his pieces. He has to do something. And besides, until a few seconds ago nobody knew he was Angel Jr. – he barely knew it himself – so how do they know? But he is digressing; so what would his three dads do?…

A rifle is aimed at the demon leader and someone calls out to him, calling him butt-ugly.

The next moment the demon is shot in the head. He drops Connor.

Kate Lockley tells Connor to get up and move. The demons come towards them…

Kate:

Kate and Connor run away from the demon hordes. She asks his name. Connor gasps it. She introduces herself and tells him to breathe in and out.

It’s all cool, he says. He has been through things like this before.

Sure he has, says Kate, as they run towards a car and she keeps shooting at the demons.

Hey, he grew up in a hell dimension, Connor makes clear.

Well, then this must feel like home, Kate reckons.

Connor thinks he wants to keep her.

They jump into the car and drive away from the demons.

Kate tries to calm Connor down by explaining that they will get out of here and everything will be fine.

But he is telling her that he can fight! He really can!

Kate ignores him and just says she will drop him off at the next block that does not look quite so much like a Las Vegas fever dream.

Kate puts a police siren on the car. She has been off duty for a while, but it always comes in handy.

“What duty? Amateur Terminator?”, Connor asks.

She… helped people who fell through the cracks, Kate explains evasively as they race through the city. And now and then she took care of what came seeping through from the other side of the “cracks”.

Connor is surprised that she has not run into one of his fathers yet.

“One of them?” Okay, this is L.A., Kate says with a smirk.

Hm, so she doesn’t know who his dad is. The demons knew – is that maybe because only certain people get his résumé? And by the way: is she flirting with him? Yes, Connor decides, she is.

He thinks they should maybe keep moving when Kate stops somewhere. That is what she intends.

Of course they could also hole up somewhere together for a while. Kate finds that flattering, but she likes them a bit older.

A huge spider demon appears in front of them. “Er, Kate? Ma’am?”, Connor begins, but she is already shooting at the monster. Then she simply walks on and says there is something in the air. Oh yeah?

Kate opens the door to a room that is a mix of hideout, library and armoury. She is already gone, she notes. Who, asks Connor, following her.

The dealer. She took some of the bigger weapons, but Kate will be able to put something together.

Connor should sit down, because he looks as if he is about to keel over. He insists he is fine… except for the voices in his head that are all telling him different things. Connor admits he has no idea what to do.

Kate smiles. That surprises Connor – even leaving aside that he told her about the voices, she is taking all this pretty well.

Hey, she knows voices like that herself only too well, but there is something that makes it easier: a man wiser than both of them helped her through a crisis of conscience and told her, more or less, that in the bigger picture nothing they do matters. There is no great plan and no winners. And if nothing you do matters, then all that matters is that you do something – because there is nothing else left.

So everything has been sent to hell and she will destroy these demon hordes before they hurt anyone, Kate states as a sober fact.

Kate takes the weapon she has put together in the meantime and goes to the door. Connor should stay here and take care of himself. Then Kate leaves.

Connor sits on a desk chair and thinks about what she said. The guy who gave her that advice sounds pretty conceited, Connor thinks. But anyway, he thanks Kate.

And now he has one more voice in his head.

Then Connor reaches for some of the weapons.

George:

The vampire asks George who he thinks he is. George is confused about how the bloodsucker was able to attack him.

He was lucky, was born with power – died for it and killed for it.

George has not the faintest idea what he is capable of, the vampire tells the fish creature. And has no goddamn idea what they are preparing for. George is just an annoying little pest compared to what Gunn has already put them through.

George asks the vampire what he is, then catches a memory in which the vampire and others of his kind are fighting.

They fought girls, George asks? He is supposed to be afraid because he was trained against a group of schoolgirls? And what about this word that keeps coming up in the vampire’s mind? Seriously, George asks, what is a Slayer?

To be continued…