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

Ch 34 Sobering Reality

Jess burst into her apartment and began to violently throw clothes into a suitcase. Balls of material crushed into her fists as she took out her anger on the unsuspecting wardrobe. 

This time she wasn't running away.

Hangers pinged across the room and soon enough, the case was fit to burst. Sleeves and skirts spilt over the sides. There was no way she'd be able to zip it closed. The realisation caught her in her tracks and the wave of emotions finally hit her.

Her knees came crashing down to the floor as she slumped over the messy case. She couldn't help but let out an enraged sob.

Jess came to New York to fix one problem and had somehow managed to get involved with several others.

She had barely made a dent in her original Homelander investigation and -worst of all - she'd used the same tactics she abhorred her coworkers for back in Thailand.

Jess used Chrissy to rule out Nathan A Lawson as the stalker. Now the young intern was in the firing line. 

Regret prodded at her already fragile mental state as she weighed up the possibilities of damaging Chrissy's budding career. Leaving The Agency wasn't enough to right the wrongs, Jess needed to make sure that her friend knew the truth and couldn't be used as a pawn in the Nathan vs Phil career war. She owed it to Chrissy, even if it meant exposing herself.

But before she could hunt down the intern, she needed to clean up the apartment and stay on the move. She still wasn't 100% sure what Reggie and The Agency were up to, so she didn't want to risk them tailing her. The unknown lurked in the back of her mind, how would The Agency react when news of her quitting moved up the chain?

Jess remained hunched over the suitcase. Her body was tired. The build up of frustration weighed heavy on her, like gravity pushing her to the floor, stopping her from getting back on her feet.

Sinking into the overspilling case, she desperately tried to convince herself that she could fix this.

Pack up the apartment, and move to another hotel or AirBNB. Find Chrissy and...

Well, she wasn't sure what she would say, but she at least wanted to make sure her friend had all the facts so that she could make a real, genuine, informed choice regarding her career. Honesty would be the best policy.

Chrissy wasn't a child, like the victims who Jess usually protected. In some ways that made it more difficult.

The line between helping and infantilising Chrissy was blurry and Jess never wanted to treat the plucky intern as if she was lesser - Lord knows she'd experienced enough of that from Phil Madison already.

Guilt turned Jess' stomach. White knuckles clung to the stacked case.

She had pushed Chrissy into the arms of Nathan A Lawson. He might not have been the stalker Jess was looking for, but he certainly wasn't a good guy. Chrissy had no idea what he was really like.

The truth was that both directors were equally as toxic in their own ways.

Yet Jess had led a lamb to the slaughter.

As she continued to sob into the over-packed case, she balled her fists and crashed them down on top of it. Vibrations permeated her pocket every 20 minutes as Reggie attempted to call her. Despite her growing annoyance, she refused to turn the phone onto silent mode, for fear of missing a call from Chrissy.

But Chrissy was no longer returning her texts or calls. 

Jess had no idea that the young woman had quit Phil's project in favour of working for Nathan A Lawson. And, that she had done so in such a spectacular manner.