Favor: side conversations
Author's Notes: Hello! So, I'm obviously pretty dated, because I just found out about the Harley Quinn animated series, and have been like obsessed with it for the last few weeks. Seriously, how did I not know about this earlier? There is a very not-zero chance that the next fic I write is going to be a DC verse, which is going to be weird as I have never really cared about DC at all. But the Harlivy is too real.
Anyway, a bit of a different chapter, as this is one of the two chapters which isn't about Lara and Harry. I'm probably going to be posting the next chapter pretty quick, like maybe tomorrow, just so we can get back to the real pairing here.
Time: White Night
Madre de dios, Carlos did not want to be here.
Carlos liked Harry Dresden. He had admired him while he was an apprentice, and Dresden's career had only gone up while Carlos had been watching.
Any man that lets him ride their dinosaur was a good guy in his book.
If Carlos had to describe what he felt for Dresden, it was respect. A man who stood for something, and stood strong in doing it. There were plenty on the White council who spoke of principals, of moral imperative, of integrity.
Most of those weren't Warden's, and when it came down to a fight he wouldn't trust his back to them.
Dresden, Carlos would trust to his back.
Or he would have, just a few days ago.
Now, with what he had been told, Carlos was genuinely worried.
But he raised his hand and knocked on the door in front of him.
He waited, and the door lurched open.
A bit. Then a bit more. It took a second, and it finally opened enough for Carlos to actually enter Dresden's house.
"You still haven't gotten that fixed?" he asked, and despite himself he relaxed.
It was just so Dresden.
The sheer power in Dresden's wards also relaxed him, slightly. Anyone who tried to get in to that cramped basement flat of his was going to have to pay for it. Probably in blood. Lots of blood. It spoke of good precaution and cognizance.
Carlos kept his eyes open as he greeted the true rulers of the domain he had entered. He shook Mouse's paw politely (and yes, it was politely. Carlos had heard things about Temple dogs, and did not want to piss off something so dangerous, albeit furry), and gave careful homage to Mister via recreational drug usage.
He didn't actually know if Mister had some strange and terrible mystic backstory behind him. But he wasn't going to risk it.
"So," Dresden began, collapsing into his sofa as Carlos took a love seat. "You good on what we're about to do?"
"March into the center of the White Court, call a bunch of them liars, and kill them," Carlos dutifully recited. "It has the grace of simplicity."
Dresden snorted. "Nothing with the White Court is simple. The whole lot of them are twistier than a plate of spaghetti. In a blender."
Carlos nodded, dutifully. Considering what he had just found out, he could believe that. The problem was, just how twisted was the wizard he was talking to.
"You have much experience with them?" Dresden went on, and Carlos shook his head.
"They mostly stay out of the west coast," he reported. "What are we looking at here?"
Carlos watched Dresden as he went over the details. He seemed alert, focused and rational. Even when Carlos questioned him about the Court, he had ready and easy answers.
He really did look like he was still in charge of himself. But from what Carlos knew about the White Court, what the Council had discovered, was that really the case?
"You all right, Carlos?"
Carlos realized that he had gotten too caught up in studying Dresden, and missed a direct question.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" he asked, trying to cover for his slip, and Dresden scowled.
"We're about to walk into a den of mind benders, kill a bunch of them, and walk out," Dresden pointed out. "If there's something distracting you, now would be a good time to air it so we can focus on the imminent ass kicking."
Carlos wanted to laugh at that. Here he was, being lectured about keeping his head in the game, by the one person who's head was most likely out of the game.
Carlos thought he had a good control of himself, but something in his expression at that moment must have caught Dresden's eyes.
The worst possible thing happened.
Dresden went still.
The hairs on the back of Carlo's neck rose as the other wizard made a credible impression of a statue. Dresden had done a lot of good. He was a role model, one that Carlos looked up to. He was a wizard that wasn't afraid to grit his teeth, buckle down, and do some goddamn good for the world.
But Dresden was a scary hijo de puto when he wanted to be.
He was the strongest wizard of his generation, probably the one before and the one after for that matter. More than that, he had been in the shit. Some of his case files were becoming legend in the Warden trainee courses at this point.
Carlos had been out on more than a few romps with Dresden at this point. The fight against the Kremmlerites had given him a good understanding of how Dresden worked. That time in Montezuma had reinforced that impression, but it made Carlos aware of how dangerous Dresden could be in a corner.
And that time at Camp Kaboom had shown him just how ruthless Dresden could be.
Each time, at the worst of it, he had seen Dresden do this. That stillness unnerved Carlos. It wasn't a human reaction. It was something Carlos usually saw from something on the other side of the block.
And now it looked like he might be facing the worst case scenario: Dresden as an enemy.
"Carlos Ramirez, did you just walk alone into the lair of a potentially compromised thrall, right before going into battle with the very things that might have enthralled him?" Dresden demanded, his tone incredulous, and, surprisingly to Carlos's realization, absolutely furious.
"Er, yes?" he found himself answering, and Dresden swore plentifully and profusely as he slammed his hand onto the coffee table they were cleaning their weapons on.
"Are you an idiot?" Dresden demanded. Carlos tensed, but Dresden continued. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? Why would you take such a stupid damn risk like that? Were you ordered?" he demanded. "Who gave you that order? Why the hell would you be stupid enough to follow it?"
That… that wasn't the response Carlos had been expecting.
He might have been expecting terrible battle to break out, not to get chewed out like a junior Warden cadet.
"Harry, what are you talking about?" he tried to make sense of the situation and draw Dresden into dialogue, but the other wizard just grunted.
"You're on edge because my connection with Lara Raith, hand of the White King, made it to the White Council's attention," Dresden summed up quickly and accurately. "And you're here to judge whether or not I'm compromised. Which is a dumb as shit thing to do in a warded location where any backup can't get into."
Again, Carlos was genuinely at a loss.
One hundred percent accurate.
When proof of Harry Dresden and Laura Raith meeting clandestinely had been brought to the Wardens, a dangerous surge had gone through the ranks of the organization that had been made aware. The White Court was infamous for their ability to warp the minds of those they targeted, and if they had managed to get their claws in Dresden, one of the most powerful and experienced Wardens of their generation, than that could be potentially lethal.
When Carlos had gotten the call from Dresden about needing his help with a matter involving the White Court, it had seemed even more damning. The Wardens were just spread too thin for them to establish a practical or effective operation to potentially capture Dresden and remove the influence, Carlos had volunteered to go in himself.
Carlos believed he owed Dresden at least that much. If the older wizard had been brain locked, then he deserved the best chance the Council could give to get him out, even if Carlos by himself was that chance.
However, things had gone very awry from Carlos's expectations.
He had prepared some 'I know you're still in there, Harry!' speeches. Maybe even a few 'I know you can fight it!' as well. He might have even practiced them in front of the mirror in order to make sure he had them right.
But getting chewed out for taking stupid risks by the person he was trying to save?
Yeah, right out of left field for him.
*Scene Break*
"We don't have much time, but I assume you have some way to tell if I'm speaking the truth?" Dresden asked. He looked expectant, and Carlos felt almost sheepish as he pulled out a simple tuning fork.
Dresden looked at it a second, then back at Carlos, than back at the tuning fork.
"Carlos Ramirez you are the most sexually attractive creature I have ever come across," Dresden stated plainly, "and I want to blow off the rest of the operation, take you in to the back room, and have passionate, sweaty, manly sex with you."
Carlos blanched, hard. Fortunately, the tuning fork began to ring shrilly.
Oh, gracias a dios, he was lying to test the instrument.
"Jesus Christ, Dresden," Carlos muttered, relaxing slightly. Dresden gave him a wry smile.
"If I have to be uncomfortable, better believe I'm sharing the joy," he said back.
Carlos shook his head. Okay, point.
He took a deep breath, and began the interrogation.
"When did you first meet with Lara Raith?"
"About thirteen years ago," Dresden answered back easily. Carlos' eyes bugged at the time frame. "I saved her life from a mob hit in a Burger King outside of a porn she was shooting."
When the chime failed to ring, Carlos had a moment where he genuinely wondered if maybe it was broken, despite the earlier test.
"Er, what?" he finally asked, and Dresden sagged.
"I swear, you cannot make this shit up," he confirmed.
What followed…
Carlos wasn't actually sure what to call what followed. It seemed like an immense comedy of errors.
A princess of the White Court owing a favor to a young dance class assistant studying to be a private investigator? A wizard of the White Council and a member of the White Court just flat out not recognizing each other?
Who on earth would ever believe this?
"So if she owes you a favor, can't we just call that in right now?" Carlos had to ask, and Dresden shook his head.
"When I found out what she was, I used the favor to figure out whether she had been playing me or not," Dresden explained, and Carlos had to accept that was a damn good use of a favor.
"And?" he asked.
Dresden sat quietly for a moment, than tapped the side of his head.
"I soulgazed her."
Ah. Yeah, that would be a good use of a favor.
"So what, she's not that bad, is actually a good person, and we should trust her?" he asked, not sure what response he was hoping for. When Dresden had saw her, did he somehow learn that she was secretly a good person, that she was on their side?
"She's a monster."
Carlos had no response to that.
"But she's a monster that's good to her word. She'll try to limit casualties, but not because she worries about the people that might get hurt, but because she doesn't want to draw attention and complicate her operations. She'll agree to peace, but not because she wants to protect innocent people, but because peace means her own people aren't getting killed as well. She will help the people around her, but not because it's right to help people, but because she knows that doing so will help her in the end.
"She's a monster, but she's the monster I know."
Carlos nodded slowly. Alright. That he could work with.
Dresden wasn't being brain locked, or suddenly convinced that the White Court was a good person or had good interests in heart. Rather, he had a monster that he knew, and could reasonably predict. Compared to some of the monsters Carlos had come across, that was a good deal.
"And what does that monster have to say about the innocent women who've been killed?" Carlos asked, still pushing.
In return, Dresden gave him a slow look.
"The White Court defines people into three categories," he began deliberately. "The first are the people they can manipulate who never realize they're being manipulated. Those are just tools. The second, are the people that when manipulated can realize they're being manipulated and disrupt their goals. Those are enemies. And the third are those that realize they're being manipulated, and turn it around to gain the upper hand on whoever is manipulating them. Those are called allies.
"What are you right now?"
What the hell kind of question was that? Carlos was no one's tool. However, Dresden had gone still again, studying him closely. His gaze looked… expectant.
Damnit. Carlos had come here to test the other wizard, so why did it suddenly feel like he was the one on trial?
"What are you going on about, man?" he asked directly.
"Seems awful lucky," he said slowly, reaching to clean the weapon on the table, still watching Carlos carefully. "The Skavis, they'd been killing for a while, after all. Keeping it on the downlow. But just a few days before the meeting where he gets to brag about his plan in front of the whole Court, he gets found out."
Carlos opened his mouth to say something about that being the result of good detective work. Then he paused.
'The people they can manipulate who never realize they're being manipulated.'
"Madre de dios," Carlos swore suddenly. It clicked. "You're saying that someone in the Court outed them? That there's a traitor in the White Court?"
"Can anyone prove that?" Dresden pointed out. "And the Skavis is operating in direct opposition of the Raith directive. They're trying for a coup."
"So someone in the court, someone committed to keeping the White King in power, somehow leaks info about the plan. Suddenly, the White Council is getting involved…" Carlos was connecting the dots, and wasn't sure he liked what the picture that was coming together was .
"We show up, and suddenly the whole killing innocent women is too overt, to likely to start a fight. The Skavis lose face, the Raith stay in power, everyone sings kumbaya, etcetera, etcetera."
"Except for all those dead women," Carlos pointed out bitterly. Dresden nodded. "And 'someone'," he sarcastically made air quotes, "just happened to leak all this just in time to stop a coup attempt and crush their enemies? Say, someone like the hand of the White King?"
"Prove it," Dresden shrugged. "That's how the White Court works. It's all cloak and shadows and cat's paws behind closed doors. They can fight, they're even savage when they do. But if you lure one into a position where it has to fight, then it already lost in the eyes of the Court. They're prey. And the Court has a lot of predators waiting for prey."
Carlos nodded slowly. He'd had… concerns about the operation. Namely, walking into a room full of supernaturally tough killing machines, calling them assholes, killing some of them, and then being able to walk out without aforementioned killing machines getting revenge. Some of those concerns had been alleviated. In the eyes of the accord, they weren't the ones doing the killing, it was the White King, using them to bring his own Court back in line. They were just the tools, and everyone who was going to be pissed off about it were going to be pissed at the White King, not them.
Still. It pissed him off a little.
"Can't say I much care for being a tool," he said.
Dresden went still again. Carlos' eyes widened.
There was more.
"What aren't you telling me?" he demanded. Dresden shook his head, minutely. Carlos scowled, before he realized what Dresden was telling him.
He wanted Carlos to prove he wasn't just a tool.
His mind raced. What was it? What was he missing?
Finally, only half sure, he made a guess.
"The wizard that the Malvora was meeting."
Only a twitch, Dresden's head nodded.
Carlos ran with it.
"There's a good chance, that he's with…" Carlos hesitated. He hadn't spoken of his concern to anyone. Wasn't sure who he could trust with it. Without Dresden's potential compromise he had been thinking about bringing it up with him. Now though, with Dresden's sanity still reasonably in check, Carlos brought it up. "That he's with the black hats."
"I've been calling them the Black Council," Dresden offered.
Damn, that was way better than his. Carlos resolved to pretend he had always been calling them that if it ever came up with anyone else.
"If the Black Council is behind it, then there might be more." He was just thinking out loud, hoping something clicked. "They like to stir things up, make things chaotic."
"An agent of the Black Council, and a meeting of all the heads of the White Court, which has been advocating for working with the White Council," Dresden pointed out.
It clicked again. Carlos was a little annoyed. He was positive he would have gotten it if just had a second more to work with.
Then just what Dresden was applying really hit him.
"Hijo de puto," he swore. "There's going to be an attack." It all just fit to well together. Really, all he had to do was think what the worst possible outcome is, and being stuck in a room of one predator looking for weakness versus being stuck in a room with predators looking for weakness and a whole bunch of other predators actively trying to kill everyone was about the worst he could get.
"We need backup," Carlos firmly declared. Dresden smiled slightly. "Unless," Carlos narrowed his eyes. "You already arranged backup." A small nod. "And you weren't going to tell me." Another nod. Carlos wanted to ask 'why'. But he got it. "Because you weren't sure if I was one of them or not."
It really wanted to piss Carlos off. And it did. But he got it.
Hadn't he been worried about Dresden being compromised as well?
"I only really gave it like a ten percent chance," Dresden offered. "I mean, you did ride my dinosaur and all."
Carlos actually felt a little better about that.
"Being manipulated into doing the King's dirty work, doing it, and walking away: that would make us tools," Dresden went on. "Doing the King's dirty work, anticipating an attack, preparing for it, saving whole lot of the Court's asses, and putting them in our debt: that makes us allies. It means that it's just too dangerous to assume that we can be used whenever they want to. In which case, it's better to align themselves with us, so we don't have reason to use them and throw them away ourselves."
Jesus Christ. Dresden was right. Twistier than a plate of spaghetti.
Still, he was sort of getting the whole deal behind the White Court. He just didn't see why he should care.
"Are you sure we should?" he finally asked, and Dresden blinked. "I mean, help the vampires. The way I see this, we go in, do what we want, and then when the hit comes, we just see ourselves out. The White Court goes down, and we have one less pack of monsters to worry about."
Dresden grimaced, and shook his head.
"It's easy to forget, but it's not Us versus Them, as in all vampires," he explained. "The vampire courts are just as likely to kill each other as they are to kill us. Especially the White Court: they're just too damn pretty. Black Court loves to get their teeth in them whenever they can, some kind of despoiling beauty fetish or something. Red Court does the same, but the Red Court has also been trampling all over the Accords, so they're just bad business. In the end, it's Us, versus Them, who are versus Them and versus Us."
"So the White King peace initiative?" Carlos asked.
"Same White Court politics as before. They don't actually care about making peace, they care about keeping the White Council powerful enough to be a pressure on the Red Court. In the end, their perfect scenario is we bring each other to the very edge, and then the White Court can either sweep in and finish us both, or it can make sure whoever wins is weak enough that they're not a threat."
Mierda. He was right.
"We go in, pull them out, and they keep up their support. But now they owe us. Might be something we can cash in on later."
"Politics," Carlos muttered. Dresden nodded.
"Screw 'em," they said in unison.
Still, Carlos felt a little unnerved by just how apt Dresden appeared to be when it came to White Court politics. He didn't just know how to survive them; he knew how to use them too. Dresden had always been enjoyably straight forward when it came to conflict resolution: just shoot them in the face.
This… Dresden was changing.
Carlos just wasn't sure what he was changing into.
*Scene Break*
Carlos woke with a start, glancing around quickly. He sometimes got panic attacks like this after things got bad, and was used to it. Several quick breaths and he had stock of his situation: still in the hospital room, dark so probably late at night.
He noticed Dresden wasn't sitting nearby, and tensed, but then he picked up a conversation coming from right outside his room. He heard Dresden's voice, and another he recognized as well. He relaxed slightly.
Senior Council member McCoy had apparently arrived. He wasn't concerned about being attacked while he was wounded anymore. He would actually pity anything that tried.
The conversation outside sounded heated though. He wasn't really surprised, all things considered.
It had been McCoy that had contacted Carlos, privately, and let him know about the meetings between Dresden and the Raith. The older wizard hadn't ordered him to look into it, like Dresden had thought. Just a private request.
After everything that just went down, Carlos wouldn't say he was sure that Dresden hadn't been compromised. It was still a grey area, but if he had to make a judgment call, he would say Dresden was definitely on the lighter side of it.
He hadn't had a chance to make his report yet, so it sounded like McCoy was still operating under the assumption that Dresden might be compromised.
Carlos took a deep breath through the pain medication (wonderful, wonderful pain medication), and focused, Listening in on the conversation.
"…being a damn fool!" McCoy swore. "Why the hell wouldn't I think you're compromised? Can you hear yourself? You're defending a damn vampire."
"I'm not defending anything, sir," Dresden's voice was low and tight. Carlos had seen Dresden and McCoy interact before, and it always caught him just a bit by surprise when Dresden, normally so flippant and casual, spoke with respect. He knew that he had apprenticed under McCoy, so the relationship had some hints of formality. But still. "But the situation isn't what you think."
It was Dresden. It was just weird.
"Oh?" McCoy snorted in derision. "You going to tell me that they're actually good people? That they're just misunderstood? That you can save them and make them a better person?"
"Oh, I know they're monsters," Dresden declared. "I know it, and I've Seen it. The moment their Hunger awakens, it's over. They can't get rid of it, and they can't stop it. Most of them don't even try: they like it. But…"
"But nothing!" McCoy snapped. "You're making excuses, and I KNOW you know better than this! Do you know how the Council will react when they hear about this?"
"Cristos meets with the Red Court, who we are at war with, in secret, after they break the Accords, brags about having opened negotiations, and gets some Wardens attacked in a back stab that anyone with a brain should see coming, and still gets praised for 'opening diplomatic channels'," Harry snapped back. "I meet with a neutral Court, who is actively seeking to garner peace, defend their King in accordance with the Accords, and I'm painted as a compromised danger? Double standard much?"
"That's different," McCoy shot back, but Carlos could hear some of the wind out of his sails.
"Yeah, I got results," Dresden quipped. There was a tense moment, and Carlos could hear a few deep breaths being taken. When Dresden spoke again, his voice was more even. "Listen, sir. I'm not discounting the danger that the White Court represents. I've taken my own steps, and I know their weaknesses…"
"Oh, so you're going to say that you've somehow managed to keep them from being able to feed on you?" McCoy snorted.
"There is, actually," Dresden said evenly. "It makes it so that they burn themselves if they try. They try to keep it secret, but it's not one they worry too much about. Too rare."
"Oh, tell me about this so called secret method to defeat the White Court!" McCoy sounded dubious, at best, in Carlos humble opinion. He had to agree with the older wizard. If there was something so convenient, wouldn't someone on the White Council already know about.
"If someone's been with someone they truly love, than the Court can't feed on them until they're with someone they don't."
There was a moment of silence, before McCoy spoke. "Hoss. That girl. The one you went to war for."
Carlos had heard about the party that had put the Council and the Red Court at war. He had done it to protect some innocent victim. He had always thought it showed balls, but maybe hadn't been the smartest time for that move.
Suddenly, he had a lot more perspective on why Dresden had decided do what he did. He still thought it wasn't the best time or place, still thought it had balls, but now it made a lot more sense.
"I've done all I reasonably can to protect myself from the White Court, and let's be frank: we NEED some kind of support," Dresden went on, his voice low and earnest. "It's been two years since the Congo offensive, and we aren't even close to having recovered. We can still be choosey about who we ally with, but we can't be THAT choosey. And I'm not dealing with the Court: I'm dealing with my contacts in the court."
"Who are both the children of that snake, the White King," McCoy snapped back.
Carlos hadn't had the chance to make his report yet, but judging from what he had seen, things might not be as grim as they appeared to anyone who hadn't been in that throwdown.
The White King had been… off. He had his suspicions of why, needed some insight from McCoy or maybe Caption Luccio, but if he was right…
The White King might not be an issue anymore.
"Thomas and Lara," Dresden confirmed. "I can say with certainty that Thomas is probably the least personally dangerous creature to me on the planet."
"A bold claim," McCoy snorted, disbelief and scorn obvious in his tone. "And I suppose the hand of the King is just as harmless?"
"Lara Raith represents the most dangerous creature to me on the planet," Dresden said simply. Softly. Carlos realized that he meant it. "Someday, she will come for me. She's promised me she will. She's told me how."
Carlos shuddered at the certainty of the announcement. Dresden was afraid, he realized. That, more than anything else, helped to convince him that Dresden was still himself.
Carlos had met Lara Raith now. And while she was absolutely a lying liar who lied, who had announced a libelous and totally incorrect statement about him when they met, he knew if she made a declaration like that, she meant it (ignoring the one particular incident of lies, she was good to her word). He had soulgazed her, and saw what she was. She was dangerous, cunning, vicious, and absolutely true to her word. It made her a dangerous, but dependable ally. She would keep her word, you just had to be careful that you interpreted her word correctly.
"Hoss," McCoy said, and this time he didn't sound like he was chewing Dresden out. This time it sounded like he was worried about him. And angry, but at the monster hunting one of their own. "What do you need?"
"So long as I have you, sir, and wizards like Carlos, and the White Council, I can stop her," he said. There was enough surety in his voice that Carlos relaxed.
Maybe he was even a little pleased. That Dresden had confidence in him, personally.
"You have it," McCoy promised firmly.
"Thank you, sir."
The conversation ended then, and Carlos felt drowsy as the medication (beautiful, wonderful pain medication) started to pull him back down into unconsciousness.
Still, his last thoughts were about Dresden and the Raith.
When they had been walking to the Deeps, he had a chance to see the two of them interact. There was… an ease there. A familiarity with each other that had shown even when the two of them had clearly been acting professional.
He had almost doubted he had seen it, until everything went pear shape.
It was the two of them FIGHTING together that had cemented his belief that the two knew each other well.
They had been seamless together, moving like a well-oiled machine. Raith had trusted her back to Dresden immediately not even giving him a glance as he had moved to protect her charges into the ghoul horde. They had switched without even having to exchange words when he would move into the holes she would open, widening them with magic as they had led the rest of the Court to the escape to Nevernever.
And when Dresden had managed to shake off whatever the hell that psychic attack was at the end, when he had been trying to make it back to the gate with the rest of them, the expression on her face as she moved to protect his back had been ferocious, as though daring anyone to try to get to him.
He wasn't sure if that was just the face of a predator looking after its prey.
Lore Note: So, not much to bring up here. The highlights was meant to show the White Council making a move at the revelation of how close Harry was to the White Court. It was also meant to show how Harry is sneakier now. It's mostly just being more adjusted to how to plot ahead. It was also to give Ebenezer a little screen time. Ebenezer's hatred of the White Court is pretty legendary, and the thought of Harry being involved with them would defnitily provoke a response.
Harry's rant about Cristos is non-canon. Cristos is sort of a tool who's characterized as trying to be seen as an impressive diplomat, so I just added in a little failed diplomacy in there.
