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

Ch 25 Bait

The floor was peppered with broken glass. Light filled the space, giving Jess and Phil a better insight into the dangerous situation they found themselves in. Both parties stood near the door, ready to barricade the entrance, just in case.

Phil dramatically slid his back against the wall and began to curl into himself on the floor.

"It's not Black Noir."

"It is. It is" Phil pleaded. "I saw him with my own eyes."

"It's not Black Noir," Jess repeated, this time with unshakable authority.

Phil looked up at her, unaccustomed to being spoken to with such ferocity. "And how would you know?" He spat at her.

Because Black Noir was in her apartment? Because she had to leave him to save Phil? Because she knew the type of people Black Noir liked to torment and she'd experienced it first-hand?

"Because..." she paused trying to ensure her disdain didn't overpower her professionalism. "Because your stalker has access to the Vought costume department. We've known for a few weeks now. We believe they stole your missing Black Noir outfit for this very reason."

Phil shook his head, refusing to listen. "I saw..."

"You saw someone wearing black."

The interjection cut him off swiftly. A silence fell between the pair of them. In the absence of their voices, Jess pushed her head close to the doorframe in a bid to hear any further noise from the stalker.

Phil looked around his once pristine bedroom. His opulent four-poster bed was unmade. The intruder had purposefully torn the bedding and thrown more glass shards over the sheets. Light caused the fragments to shimmer which drew attention to the fluid that was also streaked across the satin duvet.

But confusingly, there were no obvious signs to indicate how the stalker had entered.

Jess suddenly became aware of her burning white knuckles that curled around her clutch bag. Stretching out her fingers to bring back their blood flow, she unclasped the bag to retrieve her phone.

The sound caught Phil's attention and he once again reached up to snatch his phone that was also in the bag. Jess flinched at his movements and held the bag out of his reach.

"Please. I need to call someone, anyone. We can't stay here." Phil whined.

His position on the floor couldn't have looked any more desperate. As he knelt in the scattered glass, his flushed red face beamed up at Jess. Holding out his sweaty palms, he begged for his phone. Phil was now a husk of the pompous, egotistical man Jess had originally met.

She conceded, passing him the flip phone. Part of her wanted him to simply stop complaining, but most of her felt genuine pity for him.

She swiped through her own phone, considering whether or not to call The Agency or Reggie. He had warned her that all resources had moved on to another important case and she'd hate to make herself look incapable.

Pride overruled logic. She exited her call log.

'If only the real Black Noir was here when I needed him' she thought, letting out a slight scoff just quiet enough for Phil to not hear.

Needed him. The words seemed to come to her and she instantly felt guilty for it. Surely she would never find herself relying on a Vought operative? She bit her lip slightly, anxious about her conflicting thoughts.

Meanwhile, Phil frantically tried to call several people in his phone book. None of them answered.

"For someone who likes privacy, I thought you would have a lock on your bedroom door at least," Jess remarked as she wedged her foot firmly at the edge of the door. Despite there being no further sound coming from beyond the room, the two were both on edge.