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

Ch 18 Embracing the Darkness

TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains references to drugs, sexual abuse and violence.

The polaroid left behind by Black Noir glared at Jess from the wall she had pinned it to. A man no older than 30, white, slim face, coiffed brunette hair. The name Russell Lennox was scribbled in sharpie on the back. Curiosity tempted her with every passing glance, but she had to focus on Phil's case. Once, when her willpower was low, she searched for the man on LinkedIn to see if he was a Vought employee. She saw that the man was actually a banker at JPMorgan and instantly closed the laptop to stop herself from falling down a rabbit hole. 

Jess was eating, sleeping and working from her desk, barely leaving the apartment.  Whenever she did leave to grab food from the 'mom and pop' shop on the corner, she felt exposed.

Burn out was creeping in. Paper coffee cups were strewn around the room. A by-product of the broken coffee mug smashed by the fake Black Noir stalker. The mug fragments had been cleared away but the stain on the wall remained.

In all of her years working with law enforcement across Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, she never had any trouble keeping her personal whereabouts on the low. New York felt like such a big, busy city. On paper, it was the perfect place to hide.

Jess wasn't rattled easily, but the fact that the stalker had located her before she had located them made her feel like an amateur. She had concluded that the person stalking Phil Madison wasn't a Supe. They were a normal person simply pretending to be one. But that fact didn't give her any comfort. If anything it made her more annoyed that a regular criminal could have been following her this whole time. She was always so careful, so aware. Who could have been watching her and where did they first encounter her? At Phil Madison's house? On the film set? At the prop studio? She had desperately been trying to retrace her steps to make the pieces of the puzzle make sense.

But the biggest threat was Black Noir.

Trying to focus on the case was fruitless. Her mind kept faltering back to him. He too had gained access to her apartment. More times than she was aware of. This meant that she could be under Vought's watchful eye. It seemed like too big of a coincidence to Jess that Black Noir just happened to be in the neighborhood and stopped by to save her from Phil's stalker.

3 Unread messages.

"Hello. Are you due to arrive on set today?"
"Hi Jess, Sorry to bother you but is there anything you need me to do in your absence?"
"Hi Jess, if you need me at all I'm just on set with Phil."

Each message had no reply. Jess had only answered her phone once over the previous few days when Reggie called from The Agency. The results from the lab were finally back in. She had almost forgotten that she had swabbed the blood that Chrissy found in Phil's trailer.

The blood was real, but it wasn't human. It was pig's blood, from just about any local butcher shop downtown. It didn't help narrow down her suspects. She wasn't even shocked to hear the news. Now that she was certain the stalker was pretending to be a supe, the likelihood of the blood being of human origin was much lower.

Her phone vibrated the wooden desk, shaking the empty paper cups. The fourth message came in from Chrissy.

"Hi again, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing on set without you but Phil is not in a good way and I think he's under the influence."

Another piece of information that was no surprise to Jess. However, this time she could not ignore it.

It wasn't officially her job to babysit Phil Madison. In fact, he made it very clear that her presence was something he disliked. Even The Agency had suggested she take a back seat on shadowing. However, if the stalker found Phil in a compromised state they could take advantage of him in some way. She needed to get to him first, just in case.

Filming would have finished at midday. Phil would no longer be on set. So, she made a list of his usual haunts and began the commute into the Manhattan nightlife.

It was the first time Jess had been further than one block since the home intrusion. The sudden audio and visual stimulation of the outdoors helped to wake her from her burnout slumber, but she was still on-guard. If it wasn't for her feeling responsible for Phil, she wouldn't be leaving the house right now. Every face she passed was a potential suspect for her.

The thought of being followed by the fake Black Noir plagued her mind, but there was part of her that secretly wanted a confrontation. After all, she could handle herself. However, the rules were different in America. She didn't have the backing of local law enforcement. No badge, no authority. Pretty much everything was captured on a vast network of CCTV. Not to mention, firearms were much more common among general members of the public. Ideally she'd find Phil without any drama, or - at least, minimal drama from Phil himself.

It was 10pm before she even made it to her first location on the list. Jumping out of a cab she began to pound the pavement, hopping from bar to bar to find Phil. The city lights reflected off the wet concrete and a cacophony of honking traffic played out as drunken revellers poured in and out of diners and bars. Steam rose up from the vents in the pavement, clouding her vision as she tried to focus on faces in the crowds.

She followed the scent of cheap wine, cheap thrills and cigarettes. All on foot, leading her long into the night. Her choice of a practical outfit meant that most bars wouldn't let her in, but at least she was warmer than the scantily dressed party-goers stumbling around.

As the night took hold, neon strips lit her way.