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

Ch 12 Prop-aganda

The morning sun rudely awakened Jess at 5am. The window blinds seemed slightly more open than usual, but Jess assumed it was simply a brighter morning. She was surprisingly refreshed after a mere 5 hours of sleep. It was midnight when she made it home from dinner, which was still early for her as she didn't feel it would be fruitful to tail Nathan A Lawson all the way back to his apartment.

Dinner at Nobu was a success in some ways. Jess had managed to recover a friendship with Chrissy, one that proved very useful. The combination of Chrissy's tenacity & The Agency's diligent tailing of Nathan proved to be a match made in heaven.

Whilst The Agency still struggled to access his professional email account, his personal email was still fair game and it wasn't long until they managed to gain access to his social media direct messages too.

Among the mass of sleazy DMs he had sent to a myriad of actresses and female influencers, a couple of them alluded to places Jess could find him.

'Sure babe, but it's going to take me a while to get back over the bridge so don't wait up for me xx''

Over the bridge. So he was leaving Manhattan for the day but Jess still didn't know where. Thankfully Chrissy had kept her promise from the night before and was ready to help Jess investigate further.

Of course, Jess couldn't divulge the true nature of her investigation and she certainly couldn't expose the fact she'd hacked Nathan's emails; but if she drip-fed Chrissy some information there would be a good chance she could fill in the blanks.

Another email landed in his inbox. They came in so thick and fast it was easy to miss one. It was a lunchtime reservation for The Good Fork in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Bingo.

Chrissy had mentioned the other night that her intern security pass gave her access to the prop studio in Red Hook and that was likely where he would be. They didn't have an exact time for his visit to the studio but they were sure they would bump into him.

Jess arranged a car to pick Chrissy up along the way to the prop studio and began to head out of her apartment. In her hurry, she grazed her ankle on her underwear draw that was left slightly ajar. She cursed herself out for leaving it open but little did she know that Black Noir had left it like that from one of his secret visits to her apartment.

It took just over an hour and a half for the girls to arrive at Vought's prop warehouse. After fighting through the traffic down the 278, they cruised through a dramatically less lively Red Hook area. The prop warehouse itself was just off the Erie Basin, on a short dock that was home to other industrial exploits; construction suppliers, furniture warehouses and a millwork shop. It was the type of place that people only visited for work.

"I'm usually only ever out here when Mr.Madison needs an excuse to pause filming. The last time I was here, he was still pretty trashed from the night before and insisted that filming couldn't start without extra foliage for the background." Chrissy explained as they walked down the empty dock, passing by huge industrial brick studios.

Chrissy was slightly more relaxed in her retelling of events today. She felt a little safer around Jess after their dinner together. However, there was still a level of professionalism and she never called Phil by his first name.

Unlike the film set, the warehouse was far more relaxed. No security on the door, just a front desk for people to clock in and out and a booking system for anyone taking props out. It was casual and distinctly different from most Vought buildings.

"Are you both together?" The lady at the front desk asked.

"Sure. I'm here for Mr.Madison..." Chrissy began to explain while handing over her pass.

"Oh God, he wants it today?" The lady paused with a worried look on her face. Chrissy and Jess had no idea what she was talking about.

"We're not here for anything on order. We're just here to pick up dinnerwear for a restaurant scene." Chrissy came up with an excuse on the spot. Suddenly the booking staff breathed a sigh of relief. Clearly, the wrath of Phil Madison extended far beyond the set. The woman seemed genuinely horrified at the thought of disappointing him with a delayed prop.

The woman put her hand to her chest, to mimic her sudden calmness. "Well don't let me stop you ladies, just let me know what you take on the way out."

The Vought prop house was huge. It was essentially a library of movie magic paraphernalia.
Each row of shelves was stacked with hundreds of detailed props that had been on camera at one point or another. The entire warehouse was lined with shelving, with a break at the furthest end which housed a workshop for the employees to make new props and custom pieces.

"I know we're not here for this, but I have to show you my favourite section," Chrissy said, waving Jess down an aisle.

Jess didn't want to walk too far out of view from the main doors, in case they missed Nathan, but she was taken in by Chrissy's excitement and couldn't help herself but to follow.

Chrissy lead her to a section dedicated to posters and paper props. It was the sort of movie detail that you would miss if you blinked, but so much craftsmanship went into them. Jess picked up one of the newspapers made to look like The New York Post. The headline read 'The Seven Save The City'. Jess looked up at Chrissy and had to roll her eyes.

"Chrissy, when does movie fantasy become propaganda?" Jess candidly asked, low enough so that no one could overhear.

"Movie magic is propaganda," Chrissy answered, without missing a beat.

"Good answer," Jess murmured whilst flipping through more newspapers.

Chrissy was starting to show a more relaxed side of herself, but she was curious to know the real reason for Jess lingering around Phil Madison. At first, she had bought the tale of Jess being a 'Spiritual Advisor', then she saw her as more of a friend to Phil, but he wasn't a friendly person so it didn't make much sense. It was also clear to Chrissy that Jess was invested in Phil's wellbeing, more so than a friend, but definitely in a professional sense. She had wondered if Jess was an undercover Vought agent, one investigating the gifts left for Phil, but their run-in with the Vought Press Executive gave her the feeling that Jess wasn't connected to the company at all.

She was an anomaly, but Chrissy didn't feel like Jess was a threatening presence. If anything, she had looked out for Chrissy in the week they had been working together.

But Chrissy knew there was something more going on, beyond the 'Spiritual Advisor' title. However, Phil had told her to chaperone Jess and she was getting paid to hang out with her, so she was willing to go along with whatever was going on.

The two of them spent two hours poring over all of the props, waiting for a sign of Nathan A Lawson. It was easy for them to get carried away and it was good for Jess to learn more about the 'lore' behind each character. Reputation was everything to The Seven.

Among the aisles, each member had their own specific section. As they turned to walk down another row of props, they reached the Black Noir section. Jess suddenly felt a little uneasy. Whenever she thought she'd moved past the creepy footage of Phil's stalker, she was served a reminder.

Aside from the footage, there was no indication that the person was really a supe. However, it sure did look like Black Noir even if Jess didn't want to admit it.

They continued to roam as her mind wandered. Black Noir's prop section took a far darker turn than the other members of The Seven. The rest of the members had banners celebrating them, flags, outfit accessories, wigs for the actors, action figures. Whereas Black Noir's shelves contained a myriad of knives and fake reconnaissance tech.

It was only for set purposes, but it was still unsettling for Jess to know this could be the type of person she was dealing with.

"Does this guy get many films made about him?" She asked.

"Kinda, but there's not much room for drama when the guy doesn't talk." Chrissy shrugged.

Jess had researched Black Noir a little in the wake of the home invasion at Phil Madison's house. He was probably one of the least celebrated members of The Seven and she couldn't find much of a backstory on him. He just seemed to appear in the lineup one day and he'd been there for a while. Unlike his counterparts, Black Noir never showed his real face. That was weird because even Translucent showed his face from time to time and the supes generally loved being in front of an audience, soaking up the praise for their powers.

What did this guy have to hide?

The question didn't warrant an answer. There were plenty of supes with skeletons in their closet. The thought alone creeped Jess out. In her line of work, she'd come across the worst of the worst traffickers but they were all human at the end of the day. Supes were something else. Even with her level of experience, she felt as if she was walking on totally new ground.

"So not even Phil could give this guy a character?" Jess joked, hoping Chrissy might continue and give her a reason to rule him out of the investigation.

"Well, they include him in general films about The Seven now and then. I'm certain he's supposed to appear in this project but I haven't seen any scenes with the actor being filmed yet." Chrissy explained.

Neutral ground. Not having his own film surely wasn't reason enough to stalk Phil.

Before Jess had a chance to pry any deeper, she heard a booming, obnoxious voice coming from the main entrance of the prop warehouse. The sound reverberated throughout the huge, cluttered space.

It was Nathan A Lawson, making a b-line for the workshop at the far end of the warehouse. Chrissy nodded at Jess, knowing they both had a role to play in snooping. Jess smiled back, it was nice to have someone to bounce off even if Chrissy didn't really understand what they were working on.

The two of them scuttered to the end of the aisles, two rows back from the workshop area just before Nathan arrived. Quiet chaos was ensuing. The prop makers did not seem enthused to see him. Each member of the small team desperately tried to look busy on other things so that they didn't have to be the person to deal with him.

"Wow, guys it's like a hive of activity in here!" Nathan squawked as he reached the workshop area with insincere enthusiasm. 

Not one member of the prop team took the bait. They were avoiding him and Nathan was beginning to realise. He took a big breath in and clapped his hands together before trying again.

"Alright! Are we ready for a demo?" He asked.

Chrissy and Jess hovered behind the shelves, watching from afar as his impatience grew. Nathan had been awaiting a very particular prop for his next production. Despite not having a cast officially lined up, he had badgered a number of the prop team into creating something he could use as 'early promotion'.

He thought the hype from fans would lead bigger actors to take his project more seriously.

An unlucky prop maker who had just come back from their lunch break just so happened to walk over and make eye contact with Nathan. Before they had a chance to look busy or turn away, Nathan locked on to them.

"There's my guy! How's my thrower coming along?" He asked cheerily, waiting for something to be presented to him.

Jess turned to Chrissy and mouthed "Thrower?". They still didn't know exactly what his next project was, even the hacked DMs and emails didn't have much detail on what exactly Nathan was casting for. He must have kept all talk of Vought projects exclusively on his professional email account for security.

"Yes, yes. The flame thrower." The nervous prop maker replied whilst opening a draw of sketches. "This is where we're currently at with the mechanism..." Jess and Chrissy looked at each other with eyes wide open. What the hell did he need a flame thrower for?

"Hold up, you don't need to build the tension alright? Just show me what you've got." Nathan said with his arms folded towering over the prop makers sketches.

The nervous prop maker paused for a moment. "This is where we're at," he repeated. His eyes looked down on the sketches of the prop with no physical sample to show.

Nathan did not like the response. He scoffed, wanting someone to turn around and say it was a joke.

The truth was, the prop department didn't have the time to meet expectations. They were already stretched. His demands to create a flame thrower just to hint about his next production on social media wasn't exactly high on their priority list, but Nathan lived in a bubble. He had seen the way everyone marched to the beat of Phil Madison's drum and felt entitled to the same level of respect.

A senior member of the prop team finally broke their silence to relieve their co-worker. "Nathan, that's where we're at." She stated firmly. "We've had to work on an emergency suit replacement for Phil Madison and we'll need to do alterations for the new actor too."

Jess quickly understood what was going on here. The second prop maker was using the rivalry to her advantage. They were giving themselves a scapegoat.

"A replacement fucking suit? Don't tell me he tried to wear it himself? Are you fucking kidding me?" Nathan hissed.

Any vitriol that Nathan would have taken out on the prop makers for the delay was now completely directed at Phil Madison.

He looked back at the sketches, gritting his teeth. "So I'm not going to have this in time to bag any attention at award season?"

The prop maker took a deep breath before answering. "Unlikely."

"Fuck!" He huffed. "What sort of fucking idiot lets someone walk off set dressed as a fucking supe? Who is it? We have like 50 Homelander suits, he can use one of them!"

As Jess and Chrissy peered through the shelves. Chrissy made the mistake of moving some items to get a better view. It wouldn't have been an issue if the props had been organised correctly, but clearly someone had riffled through them before their arrival. Suddenly, the items on the shelf began to topple. She tried to catch as many as she could before they hit the floor, but one jar of shiny fake bullets hit the ground and poured out onto the concrete, echoing around the warehouse.

Distracted from the conversation, Jess immediately turned away to help Chrissy.

Luckily the bustling workshop area slightly drowned out the noise. As the two of them scrabbled around the ground to scoop up all the props before someone came to see what was going on, the tension in the workshop continued.

"It's a Black Noir suit. You know we rarely do Noir solo films so there are no spare suits." The prop maker explained raising her hands in a surrendering way. Whilst each of the team members tried to avoid the awkward conversation with Nathan, they were surprisingly willing to push back and state the facts. Clearly, Phil took priority and their loyalty.

Nathan continued to bicker and negotiate with the prop maker whilst Jess and Chrissy picked up the last of the fake bullets.

"Sorry." Chrissy sheepishly whispered.

"It's fine, we only missed part of his annoying tantrum," Jess said in a hushed tone, underestimating the information she'd just missed.

As the women arose from the floor and carefully rearranged the shelf that Chrissy had disrupted, they tuned back into what was happening in the workshop. Nathan was looking flustered by this point and clearly wasn't getting his own way.

Out of his pocket, he pulled a silver flip phone. "Second phone," Jess murmured to herself.

He turned away from the prop team to make a call. A sign of defeat. "Get Ashley on the phone now. He's steamrolling all over my project again!... Who? Who do you fucking think?"

Jess scribbled down 'Ashley' on a post-it note.

Chrissy noticed. She was beginning to realise that Jess wasn't just acting like a concerned friend. It was something more than that. But she couldn't put her finger on what.