DOOC: Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes

[loyseofverlaine.livejournal.com]

Despite the quite disappointing lack of pokey stick, I have actually managed to come up with something to squeak in under the deadline for the challenge this month.

My prompt: You are a dyed-in-the-wool, fascist, reactionary, squalid little, 'know your place', 'don't rise above yourself', 'don't get out of your hole' - complacent little turd. Steptoe and Son

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes

He called me 'George'.

"My city, George."

"You can cut through the red tape, George."

"You are here to watch me, aren't you, George?"

Aye.

I watched. And listened.

That plump, unctuous voice, dripping servility and entitlement in equal measures. That mixture of resentment and moral superiority, dealt out with just enough flattery to shade the offence. Presumption and hypocrisy worthy of Uriah Heep himself.

A man whose grasp exceeded his reach, was Green. He wanted so bitterly to climb that greasy pole, to put his stamp on something much bigger than just one city. Yet a small man, for all his ambition, as eager to waste time and energy on managing people's dirty laundry as on real dangers.

I've seen his kind before, the kind who think that liberty is a fair exchange for order and that we have two classes of law: one for us and one for them. I carry a bullet in my leg as a reminder of how dangerous they can be, given their head. And like so many of his kind, he bullied when on top and grovelled when caught out. All too willing to wink at murder when he thought it was safe to do so, but when he got caught, well then, it was all, "I never gave any such orders." "I never knew about any of that." "All we wanted was peace and order."

Och, there's some who'll say the same of me, I've no doubt. I've a high hand, and a fine disregard for abstract rights when they conflict with matters of life and death. But in my defence, I'll say that at least I know the difference between large matters and small, between danger to the existence to the country and offence to my sensibilities.

Maybe Green said that, too, the day he put on the uniform.

Tomorrow, I'll dine with the Minister. He'll want to know what I think should be done with Gerald Green. If the decision were mine, I'd give him a quick walk through the prison yard and a bullet in the back of the head. I'll wager more than one poor devil in his damned "clean city" went that way, and none the wiser.

Perhaps it's just as well that temptation won't come my way.

Before I meet Sir William, I'll debrief Bodie and Doyle. We'll have a drop of malt, and I'll hear what they have to tell me—and what they won't say. Doyle will rage about the ones gone bad, and Bodie will wind him up about the inadvisability of trusting coppers. Bodie will bleat a bit about how close he came to being whipped—"Right there with a cat-o-nine-tails, and Doyle laughing his head off!"—and both of them will carefully not mention his bruised face.

I won't tell them about Green's pretensions of heading CI5; they'd laugh themselves into hysterics, and I need them fit for duty tomorrow. Command CI5? Any one of my A Squad would have shot him within a week. Doyle, probably in two days.

Bodie might have taken six hours.

There's few men I'll trust with my life, and fewer still I'll trust with my honour. I can count on one hand those I'll trust with the honour of CI5. Bodie and Doyle will obey my orders, but never without thinking, and more than once one of them's shouted me down across my own desk. If Green had had some like them, instead of Chives, he might have had a clean city and kept his hands clean as well. But water finds its own level, and men like Green and Chives find each other.

I don't believe in leaving things to chance, and I've never regretted making that teaming.

Who watches the watchers? Why, their best men, of course.

Author: Verlaine
Title: Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes
Genre: Gen
Archive Proslib/Circuit: Yes, please.
Notes: Thanks to callisto65 for a quick beta and encouraging words.

Comments

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Ooh, excellent channeling of Cowley! I really like this. That episode has the vision of Cowley I like best, and this is exactly how I imagine him. Thank you!

Heh. I love it that Doyle would take two days to shoot Green--and Bodie maybe six hours. And yeah to not mentioning the bruised face.

Who watches the watchers? Why, their best men, of course.
And that sets us up perfectly for future episodes.

Well done!

[loyseofverlaine.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I find Cowley endlessly interesting, and really like the side of his character we see in this ep. And though B&D never actually meet Green, it doesn't take much to imagine their reaction to him.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I shook the pokey stick vigorously at all DIALJ members. However, if you'd like a more personal prodding, just let me know... *g*

Really interesting view of that episode from Cowley's POV, with great little Bodie & Doyle details along the way, like how long it would take Bodie and Doyle to shoot Green, and Cowley's certain knowledge that Bodie and Doyle wouldn't obey him if they thought he was wrong.

Thank you! :D

[loyseofverlaine.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the comment. I tend to be lazy, so a pokey stick is always useful *g*

[schnuffi.livejournal.com]

Oi, I'm not a great fan of gen but this little piece is brilliant. You put into words the exact same feelings I have towards Greene. Despised the man from the beginning. Very clever to give us the thoughts of George on this. He definitely is a better man than Greene ever could have been. And he's right - he's got the man to keep him from stepping over the line sometimes. And this one made me laugh out loud:

I won't tell them about Green's pretensions of heading CI5; they'd laugh themselves into hysterics, and I need them fit for duty tomorrow. Command CI5? Any one of my A Squad would have shot him within a week. Doyle, probably in two days.

Bodie might have taken six hours.

Yup, I think he's right on that one too. *G* Thanks for posting!

[loyseofverlaine.livejournal.com]

You mean I might tempt you to the dark side? LOL!

Thanks, and I'm pleased you enjoyed.

[windrain10.livejournal.com]

This is very good. I always was fascinated w/ Green. I am not so sure that he was the evil one in that relationship - I think Chives was evil and Green, just a very weak man. I love how you let us get inside Cowley's head.

[loyseofverlaine.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Green seems very blind to nuances for a man who's reached his position - there's a little ambiguity as to how much he really knows about the way his orders get carried out. Which I think is why Cowley despises him all the more, because he *should* know.

Thanks for commenting

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Lovely. A real feel for Cowley and his thought process comes through in this. And I love those two lines about how fast Doyle and Bodie would have taken Green out..*g*

[loyseofverlaine.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And you know, those two lines about B&D offing Green were a last minute tuck-in. I wasn't sure about them at all.

[zamaxfield.livejournal.com]

Oh bravo! Very, very wise and lovely.

[loyseofverlaine.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed.

[greengerbil.livejournal.com]

Lovely. That's my Cowley to a 'T'!
Though I think he's probably overestimating Bodie's tolerance for Green just a tad. Six hours? More like six minutes!
Beuatifully done, though. Thank you!

[loyseofverlaine.livejournal.com]

Thank you. You're right, Bodie really doesn't suffer fools gladly. But he would have to at least find a quiet spot *G*

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

Lovely bit of observation, and nice train-of-thought continuity - you really pulled that off. I really liked your conclusion, too - an excellent summary of why Cowley (in fiction, at least!) can be trusted with considerable power beyond the rule-book of law: Who watches the watchers? Why, their best men, of course. Thank you!

[loyseofverlaine.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Glad to hear you enjoyed.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, Cowley fic! But it was about our lads, so I forgive you... *g* Very nicely done - and it is nice to see the lads from Cowley's pov sometimes, and Cowley himself too. I do like this version of him as well - aware of his own power, but aware too that there are other people that he can rely on to keep him in check. He even gives Green the benefit of the doubt - benign indeed! *g* Thank you!

[loyseofverlaine.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't see him as having the slightest doubt about Green. Cowley strikes me as a man with a lot of insight into his own weaknesses, and so less inclined to be tolerant of them in others.

Thanks for the comments.