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

Ch 20 Fight or Flight

An empty suitcase fell against the wooden apartment floor. The sound echoed around the walls and made Jess flinch.

Three cases lined up on the floor, each opened and eager to be filled. It would usually be an exciting sight for someone preparing for a vacation, but that's not what this was.

Jess had already vacuum packed most of her wardrobe, ready for transport. Her nerves kept her from questioning why she had far less underwear than she had originally thought. There were bigger things on her mind.

She was ready to flee. The only clothes yet to be packed were those she wore. Her oversized black hoodie drowned her as she shrunk inwards mentally, seemingly physically too. Fresh from the shower, she'd washed at least. Not for her own sense of self-care, more to rid her of the act she'd committed only a few nights ago.

But no matter how much she scrubbed, she never felt fully clean.

The events played on her mind constantly. Things had gone too far. She came here to worm her way into Vought and find out the truth about what happened to Samorn in Thailand. Instead, she was unsuccessfully managing a cocaine-addicted man-baby and moonlighting with the enemy.

Nothing made sense to her and she wanted to leave it all behind.

Jess had spent the last few days weighing up her options. She had even made a written pro and con list, displayed next to her Homelander case research board. Red sharpie scribbled over a flurry of post-it notes. The pros were obvious; Being back home would be nice, not dealing with Phil Madison would be great, getting far away from Vought would be safer.

The con list was a little more complex. After all, she couldn't just up and leave Chrissy in the mud. The plucky intern had been used as a pawn in the case and whilst she would no doubt find an internship elsewhere, Jess couldn't help but feel responsible for her current situation. There was also the unsavoury feeling of giving up. If she left America now, when she was so close to Vought, she'd have to give up on finding the truth about Homelander's actions. A bruised ego and lingering regrets would be a harsh burden to bear.

Running her hands through slightly damp hair, her nails dug into her scalp willing her brain to make a decision.

The longer she spent deliberating, the more confused she became. After the first 24hrs, it was clear that Vought were not simply going to call the cops on her for murdering Russell Lennox. So her fear of being framed began to subside. It had also been a few days without an appearance from Black Noir. Jess was sure that he would come to finish the job and kill her if the task wasn't to frame her. Yet he never did. The situation made no sense to Jess and while leaving was tempting, she couldn't quite commit to it.

She stared into the black pit of the empty suitcases. Her tired body was frozen in time as her eyes transfixed on them. It was purgatory. There was no way she could move forward, but she also couldn't get away.

A sudden rumble from her phone broke the silence in the room. The vibrations were louder than before, with the absence of coffee cups on the desk that would usually absorb the noise a little. Along with packing up her belongings, she finally had time to deep clean the apartment. 

Jess watched as the phone shuddered, demanding her attention.

"Hello." She gingerly answered.

"Tell me something good, Jess. I've got Phil Madison in the headlines and I know he's going to bat it back to us." It was Reggie, from The Agency.

"Headlines..." Jess muttered under her breath as she switched the call to speakerphone and swiped through her apps to see what she'd missed.

"I'm not usually short. You know that's not how I like to operate." Reggie began.

"But you're about to be, I get it." She interrupted. It wasn't usual for her to be rude to her superiors but part of her had already given up on the case, so why bother to be courteous?

She heard a nasally exhale from the other side of the phone. Reggie was not impressed.

"Let me start again. I'm sorry. I know this is a difficult case, shit just hit the fan over here this morning and the last thing I need is Phil Madison claiming we're to blame for his current predicament."

At the end of his sentence, Jess found a celeb shaming blog sharing photos of Phil being escorted out of a bar the night she went looking for him. It was hardly front-page news but it didn't look good. Vought fans would soon pick up on it.

HAD HIS PHILL: Vought Director Goes On Verbal Assault At Hot SoHo Bar

She scrolled through the page, discovering photos of a sweaty and grey Phil being manhandled by the bar doormen.

"Have there been any more red flags onset regarding his behaviour?" Reggie asked.

Jess wasn't sure how to answer. After all, she hadn't been on set with Phil for a while and she'd ignored Chrissy's last dozen texts to the point that contact had diminished completely between the two of them. She was in the dark.

"Reggie I've got to be honest," She paused, wondering how much to truly divulge,  tentatively pulling on the drawstrings of her hoodie. "I'm hitting a brick wall with the case. From my research, I believe the stalker is pretending to be a supe. We've analysed the costumes and whilst the footage is grainy, there are some obvious missing traits. At the moment, my only lead is Nathan A Lawson, who has direct access to the Vought costume department."

"Along with a few hundred other people..." Reggie butted in.

"Right. But there's history between them. There's motive."

"So you believe it to be him."

"No," Jess said solemnly.

The two of them paused, letting the details of the case ruminate through the airwaves.

"I need this case tied up, Jess. Even if there's a scapegoat to calm Mr.Madison down for now, just to buy us some time." Reggie explained. "We've had some unexpected developments on a secondary case. I could do with your help on it when you're done with Phil."

Jess looked down into the empty suitcases at her feet. Could she commit to another assignment?

Reggie sensed her hesitation. The Agency had left her to her own devices, but Phil was a handful. He began to worry that her interest was starting to fain.

"We have a missing client. We believe Vought may be involved." Reggie tried to dangle a carrot to incentivise her to finish up Phil's case. "I won't bore you with the full details but we had a high-value client who needed some... misunderstandings cleared up. We believe someone was blackmailing him and after reviewing CCTV, we can see someone was following him on the night of his disappearance."

Jess' fingers clenched around the drawstrings of her hoodie once more, closing the hood into her face. Her eyes widened with nerves. Surely they couldn't be referring to Russell Lennox?

"What type of misunderstandings?" Jess asked.

Reggie took a sigh. "Nothing to be too concerned about, but it could have a domino effect on a few of our other clients." He quickly got back on to her original case. "Look, I don't want to pressure you but I just need to make sure Phil's actions don't fall back to The Agency. Now isn't the time for us to be in the spotlight."

Jess remained silent, still putting the pieces together.

"Jess? Is there something I need to know? You usually have a bit more to say." Reggie asked.

"I've got it, don't worry." She ended the call whilst kicking one of the suitcases closed.

The only way out for her was through.

With the phone still in her hand, she began to type out a message to Chrissy.

"Chrissy! My apologies, I've been on a spiritual retreat. So good for the soul, but no phones allowed. Listen, I'm aware of Phil's mischievous behaviour at the moment and I was wondering if I could put you in touch with an alternative contact at Vought?"