ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL #2

First Night begins! What happened on the very night Los Angeles went straight to hell, the incident that ended the Angel television series with such a shocking cliffhanger? Why did the team go their separate ways? And how did Connor rise up to become one of Hell's greatest champions? Volume two of Angel: After the Fall tells what happened to each of the main characters' the night that LA was sent to Hell. It starts with Betta George tied to a bed being guarded by one of Gunn's vampires. He briefly recalls what happened to him that night, then proceeds to tell what happened to the other characters. He starts with Spike, showing how he reluctantly continues to serve as a protector to humans and shows how and why he and Illyria form the bond that they were shown to have in volume one. The story then goes to Connor, showing him leave Wolfram & Hart after helping Angel in his fight against Marcus in the series finale of the TV show. He runs from the firm thinking he should go back to help Angel more, only to be captured by a group of demons when LA is sent to Hell. The story then shows how Lorne went from being depressed after killing Lindsey in the series finale to becoming the lord of Silver Lake. After a brief interlude featuring Betta George and the vampire guarding him, the story moves to Wesley, who had died in the series finale of Angel. It shows him in a peaceful place where he seems to meet Fred, who had also died in the series Angel, and who was Wesley's one true love. He admits to enjoying the experience but that he knows it is a lie. It is revealed that it is a trick from Wolfram & Hart, and that Wesley is in Hell still under contract to the evil law firm. He is told that he is to be Angel's liaison to the firm. He refuses to do it at first, but he is then told that doing so would be the only way he would be able to see Fred again. Wesley then reluctantly agrees to working for the firm again. Wesley's story ends with Wolfram & Hart saying that he is the key to this, and the reason that they will win. The story then goes back to Connor. He is still being held by the same demons that caught him at the end of his own story. Then Kate comes to his rescue, shooting the demons that are holding him with a shotgun. Kate takes Connor back to her place to get out of the demon-infested streets. Her room is filled with weapons, from various kinds of guns to swords and pikes. Connor says that he is handling this as well as he can, and is being guided by the voices of the three father figures he has had in his life, thinking about what each of them would do in any situation he finds himself in. After seeing her in action and seeing her room, Connor says that she is taking all this pretty well. Kate reveals that it is because of something that someone said a while back. She paraphrases this person saying that in the greater scheme of things, nothing we do matters, as there is no grand plan. If nothing we do matter, then what we do is all that matters because that is all there is. This is something Angel said to her in the TV show after saving her from an attempt at suicide. Angel had this epiphany after going through a dark period himself. Kate then leaves Connor, telling him to stay safe. Connor thinks the guy that told Kate that, not knowing that it was his father Angel, is self-important, but is thankful for the new voice to listen to. After another brief interlude that shows Betta George attempting an escape from the vampire, an attempt which fails, we see Gwen's story. She is shown kissing a boy on the beach, clearly enjoying her freedom to touch people which she had found in her last appearance in the TV show after securing a device that shuts off her electric powers, a device she retrieved in a heist that Gunn helped her with. The boy complains that they have been doing nothing but kissing and touching for the last three hours, clearly wanting to do more with her. Gwen just wants to savor her ability to finally be able to touch people though, after not being able to for such a long time without killing them from the electric current that ran through her body. Then they go to Hell, and for some reason, the device no longer works, which she learns when the boy she was with touches her again and is promptly killed by the electric current that the device had been suppressing. She laments that it would have been nice to not be alone for a while. We then see some civilians reaction to the events. This segment is centered around a guy who has a sandwich board saying that the end is near. A girl says that he needs to stop because he is scaring people away. He continues doing so, saying it is his right. The girl then says that he is too negative and that the end is not near, but as she says it, LA is sent to Hell. The guy is excited that he was right, while the girl is first just shocked at the turn of events, then repulsed by the guy's excited reaction to the whole thing. The girl runs away, scared of the demons that had just appeared, while the guy just changes his message to "the end of the end is near." The story then shifts to what happened to Gunn that night. It starts off with him sitting in a chair, wrapped in bandages with a person that he does not remember meeting. He then thinks back to what happened to him. Gunn remembers getting badly hurt. Angel comforts him, telling him that it will be alright. Then Angel says that he will be right back, as he goes to rescue the dragon, who was under the control of an ogre. Angel did not come back for Gunn, as it was revealed in volume one that he was badly hurt himself after becoming human the moment LA was sent to Hell. However, Gunn did not know that. Since Angel did not come back for him, that left Gunn vulnerable, and he was attacked by vampires, one of which is the person in the room with him. Gunn then remembers that the person he is with killed him and turned him into a vampire. Gunn then attacks the vampire that sired him. Then that vampire's lackeys come into the room, and they reveal to Gunn that LA is now in Hell by pulling a curtain that had been closed. Gunn kills the vampire that sired him, saying "I'll take it from here, Angel." He then looks at the other vampires in the room saying that he was fully aware of being in Hell before the curtain was pulled and he wants out. — Description from Comic Vine community (comicvine.gamespot.com).