Birds of a Feather (Oswald Cobblepot)

Greatest Weakness

   Oswald hobbles through the warehouse district, followed by four men in black jackets, including Frankie and Gabe. He turns around to the men, “It’s this way.”

Pulling back an obscured door, he limps down a gravel pathway, “Not much further.”

They approach a large warehouse and Oswald points to it, “It’s there.”

An explosive device is placed on the front of the door. Oswald twists his lips, time to act.

One of the men turn to Frankie, “Hey boss, so we’re going to be making a lot of money off of this?”

“I’m going to be making a lot of money off of this, Eel. I’m the boss, it’s my cash, and Don Maroni’s ‘golden goose’ here is going to take us there,” Frankie spits, twisting Oswald’s nickname to sound like an insult.

Oswald gives a knowing smile to Frankie, let him insult him now, he’ll be on his knees very soon. The makeshift timer ticks down on the bomb before it snaps, blowing the front doors into the building. Frankie and his men fire into the building as they slowly make their way in. Oswald stays back, letting the henchmen wipe out all of the men in the room. He looks on as Nikolai and his men are decimated, Frankie and his men are picking off Oswald’s enemies like flies, and none of them are the wiser. One of Frankie’s men is taken out, but three still remain: Frankie, Gabe, and Eel.

“Told you, easy as pie. There’s must be a million dollars worth here,” Oswald gloats.

“Yeah, you told us alright,” Frankie looks down at the body of their dead gang member, bloodied and hunched over against some tarp. He hands his gun to Eel, “You’re very clever.”

“I sense a sarcastic and hostile edge to your tone,” Oswald points out with his signature awkward phrasing.

Frankie smiles, “...hostile?” he punches Oswald in the gut, and he keels over, stumbling back in pain, “You got that right.”

“You ain’t no golden goose, you’re a yellow rat snitch and you’ve got Maroni all twisted,” Frankie lets his true opinions shine as he stands over a hunched over Oswald.

Keeping an ecstatic smile, Oswald looks up at his superior, “I’m so g-glad we’re finally clearing the air at last.”

Frankie grabs him by both shoulders and pulls him forward, “That’s it, act smart, okay? Cause all I gotta do right now, is put a bullet in your brain, right here,” he presses his left index finger against Oswald’s temple, “bang.”

“See then I go back and I tell boss that one of Niko’s men shot you, ‘gee, that’s too bad’, end of story,” Frankie finishes, pushing Oswald off of him.

A maniacal chuckle escaping him, Oswald nods his head, “Yes, that’s clever enough, I never doubted your intelligence...that’s not your problem.”

“Oh, I got a problem?” he asks, turning to Eel to mock, “Oh, look, I got a problem.”

Eel doesn’t respond, and facing Oswald again, Frankie’s joking expression disappears, “No...you got a problem. What’s my problem, schmuck?”

“What drives you? Hmm? What’s your passion?” Oswald poses, taking in a breath, “When you know what a man loves, you know what can kill him.”

Frankie turns around to Gabe, increasingly needing to seek approval from his henchmen, “Do you believe this guy?”

Gabe also remains silent, until Oswald catches his attention again, “For you it’s money, you love money.”

Frankie chuckles, almost in approval.