The Grey Zone (Black Noir / The Boys Fan Fic)

Ch1 New York, New Case

The hustle and bustle of New York was universally romanticised. Jess simply found it bothersome. Tourists poured in from every direction, men in suits acted as if they owned the sidewalk and every 5 blocks an 'influencer' would decide to cause a scene whilst trying to get the right angle for their next social media update.

No, the busy city of New York wasn't half as charming as Bangkok.

Her heeled boots clacked at the pavement as she turned down a steamy sidewalk, walking straight through a K-mart into the back stockroom. An elderly lady waved her through and she smiled back at her. It might not have been the supersleuth lair most people would have pictured her working at, but a cluster of offices hidden at the back of a warehouse in K-town were surprisingly the perfect place to house a freelance intelligence agency. After all, who would be looking for a bunch of low rate hackers and agents hiding behind $20 sacks of jasmine rice?

She shimmied around boxes, slid through a back doorway and headed downstairs to the agency hub. It wasn't much, just a team of 10 people glued to their computer screens, but you'd be surprised at what a few plants and LED strips could do to change the scenery. If anyone ever did find their base, they'd look like any other New York advertising agency.

"I found your man." She announced, waving a printed off selfie of the man who had messaged her the night before as she stomped down the stairs into the view of her peers.

"And you thought you'd grace us with your presence rather than sending an email." A voice called out from an isolated office.

She was still new to life at The Agency and they were still cautious of her high profile past alerting someone to their activities.

"I needed some fresh air, I've been indoors for 3 weeks pretending to be 12-year-old bait." She protested. "Besides, it's always better to have copies of physical evidence. You never know who could access your emails" She winked, testing her new employer.

The Agency wasn't a government body. Rarely did any of their cases get called into court so there wasn't really any need for physical evidence. They specialised in private investigation but often went one step beyond that with their own specialist way of "solving" crimes rather than documenting them. Liars, cheats and those trying to keep a squeaky clean image could be extorted and blackmailed; their biggest earner. But the agency had also built up such a large and trusted client base that they often became the go-to team for just about anything their clients needed.

A family member being abused by their partner? The Agency would sort it out. A political opponent gaining too much attention? The Agency could turn the tide. Wanting a little slice of revenge after finding out your business partner was fucking your wife? Well, The Agency would handle that too.

It was somewhere that Jess' expertise could come in use, but her reputation as the White Widow meant that a few high-level purps could potentially recognise her face and that was something The Agency didn't want. However, the average person on the streets of New York wouldn't recognise her and that's why, whenever she had the opportunity she would fight through the tourists and the men in suits and the influencers to wander through K-town.

"I'll pay you once we've finished the job. Someone transfer this through to Ohio." The Agency lead Reggie swiped the paper from her hand and handed it to another team member.

"His location is on the back, I found his work too. Can you believe they let people like that work in a University?" There was nothing Jess loved more than gossiping about cases. It was about the most action she got from them these days.

She took her job seriously but she'd become somewhat immune to the gory details of them. Over her years in Thailand, she'd witnessed some of the most disturbing and inhumane crimes, sometimes forgetting that most people had no clue what went on behind closed doors. Sometimes she'd go into a little too much detail with her new co-workers who were mainly there to document and trace purps, not to fully investigate them.

"We're going to have to get you working on cases outside of your preference if you keep working through stacks this fast," Reggie said in a condescending tone.

"Well, we could go through the Vought case if you have time." She pressed.

For five years Jess had been hung up on a loose end created by Vought. A deranged supe had lasered right through a village where a witness involved in a case she was working on lived in protective custody. Her higher-ups would call it a matter of collateral damage, but Jess knew you would have to be very unlucky to cross paths with a supe on the back roads of Southern Thailand. Nothing about it was down to coincidence.

Reggie sipped his coffee, ignoring her plea and began walking back to his desk. "Come on Reggie, you're just going to hit me with the silent treatment like that?"

"I know you've been a good asset to us and I want to help, but you have to learn to help yourself too. I put a tight leash on you because we appreciate you. If you're going to start exploring the city more you need a better alibi and you need to be a little less visible." He looked her up and down as he said this.

There wasn't actually anything wrong with her outfit. Black boots, black jeans, a black turtleneck and a camel trench coat; she looked like a civilian. A well dressed one at that. But that was part of the problem. Well-dressed caught attention. She needed to be more invisible. "This is New York, people are too busy looking at their phones or their reflection to pay attention to me." She protested.

Reggie raised his eyebrows, "I'm just saying a pair of sneakers wouldn't go amiss."

"I'll think about it." She smiled.

"Right, and I'll sit here thinking about your hard-on for Vought. Look Jess, I've got something for you. Does the name Phil Madison ring any bells to you?"

"I just think that... Wait, did you say Madison? As in Phil Madison the Vought media guy?"

"I did" Reggie clarified. "He's being stalked... apparently... and I know it's not the case you've been looking for but it is Vought related." There was an awkward pause. "It pays well." 

Trying to play it cool and professional, she quelled her excitement. "But can't he just have someone from Vought take care of it?"

"Well, he thinks it might be someone from Vought."

"I see..." She trailed off thinking about how deep this could run. For years she'd pinned various Vought executives up on her wall as potential links to 'the incident' in Thailand. Phil Madison had never made it onto her board, but she was sure he was as rotten as the rest of them.

"I'll take it, give me the file."