The First Step [Ivy]

[Oswald Cobblepot]

Sat in the back of a nondescript, if still adequately expensive and comfortable car Oswald was waiting. He hadn't driven himself of course, he'd brought along one of his bigger thugs for that sort of thing and they were keeping the engine running in case a fast get away was needed as they both stared at the backdoor of a bar across the road. It was long before opening hours, there should be nothing going on in the building at this hour but Oswald knew otherwise and holding on to a pocket watch in one hand he kept a close eye on the door.

It had been months in the planning and testing and he wished he could see what was going on inside but he had full confidence in the the competence of his co-conspirator. And not just because she had a way of making him want to agree with everything she said whenever she was nearby. He was sure this was going to work and it was just the first step towards something bigger he'd been trying to plan for years.

He glanced at his watch and then tucked it in to a pocket as the bar door opened and twelve angry men all clamoured out, arguing and shouting in a rage as they fought their way in to their own cars. The O'Malleys. Lead by Richard O'Malley for the last twenty years it was one of those old gangs that had clung to the city like a leech. Their reach was not as big or far reaching as the Falcone or Maroni families but they were still at the table. It was really too bad Richard's only son David was such a creature of habit. Every month he and the younger members of the mob gathered at the bar David had been gifted to brag about their exploits and enjoy the free booze. Except for today when they inexplicably decided the Rossetti's had it coming to them.

The Rossetti's, a significantly newer but equally powerful and growing crime family that had expanded in from outside of the city a few years ago, based themselves out of a nightclub on the east side and taken a foothold in the clubs and drugs trade. The two gangs hadn't traditionally been at each others throats any more than any of the mob families typically were by default but Oswald had thought they'd make a good match.

Oswald chuckled darkly as the men quickly started speeding away and he hooked the door handle opposite to his open with his umbrella so he could push the car door open ready for Ivy without getting out himself "I trust that went well?" he asks as soon as she's back in the car.

[Pamela Isley]

Pamela didn't see why Oswald had insisted on coming. Yes, she supposed it was an important moment, the culmination of a lot of planning, but that didn't mean that his presence was necessary. Or wise, for that matter, because though the risk was very slight that anyone would notice his presence the risk was not zero.

And, as she had told him, nothing would go wrong. Because yes, the younger O'Malleys would find it highly suspicious that a woman none of them had ever seen before interrupted their private gathering while the bar was officially closed, but they would hardly shoot her without asking questions first and if given the opportunity to speak she was a very convincing person. Besides, all too many mistook beauty for harmlessness - either that, or they were too busy gawking at her to consider that she might present some sort of danger.

Especially since she wasn't there to do anyone any harm, at least not in any direct, measurable way. She merely wanted to talk to David, who probably considered himself lucky to be the one she was there to see.
All she had to do was tell David that the Rossetti's had said and done unforgivable things recently and, though not all of it was true, her pheromones ensured that her words would be believed and that her 'advice' about what to do about it would be convincing.

While her influence normally faded the moment someone was outside of pheromone range, that was not necessarily the case when a person's passions were triggered strongly enough, the decision of what to do already made. He would do something rash and irreversible before he paused to ensure that his facts were correct, especially since she 'happened' to know where they could corner and outnumber an important member of the Rossetti family at that very moment. She'd hardly finished speaking the words before David was urging everyone out of the door.

Whether or not they succeeded the peace between the two families would end, or else it would be hanging on by one, easily cut thread. And once the war started, keeping it going wouldn't be difficult - she simply needed to sow fresh seeds of distrust any time peace threatened, which was easy enough for her to do with Oswald able to monitor the situation closely and point her to where she was needed. Or at least that was how it would work in theory, though she didn't doubt that it would work in practice.

It took her a couple of minutes after the O'Malleys departed to leave the bar herself, as she went to the bathroom to wash the perfume from her hands and neck. With all the meddling she knew she would be doing now, she'd realized that it would be best if she took extra precautions against being recognized. Her habit of wearing large sunglasses when she didn't want to be recognized certainly helped, but the new perfume helped even more. It went against her usual nature to want to be forgotten, but she'd developed a perfume that acted as a supplement to her pheromones and left anyone's memory of her rather hazy. They'd remember that they'd talked to a very beautiful redhead, perhaps remembering a few details like the curves of her body, but all the other details that would separate her from any other beautiful redhead, such as the exact shape of the features of her face, would be forgotten.

When she arrived back at Oswald's car and sat inside, there was a small but smug smile on her face. "Of course, darling. Like I said, easy enough - it's doing the same thing repeatedly without getting caught that's difficult," she replied.

Not that she looked very worried about that either, because she wasn't. It was simply something to be wary of, as a mob war was the sort of thing that several different factions in the city wouldn't like and would try to end, and if she and Oswald managed to keep it going in spite of their efforts someone might try to figure out why. As long as they were careful the risk would be low, and Pamela privately suspected that it wouldn't be difficult to throw Oswald under the bus if things got really bad - he was a wanted criminal and she was an innocent young socialite, after all.

[Oswald Cobblepot]

Oswald had wanted to be there. Ivy was perhaps lucky he hadn't asked her to take a camera in with her so he could watch along. He'd been trying for years to set it up so the mobs would turn on each other to his own benefit. He'd tried once before when he first began to make a name for himself in the Gotham underworld and he'd succeeded in carving himself out a place at the table but the costs of expanding too far too quickly had forced him to pause his expansion and strengthen his position before he could find himself spread too thin.

The Penguin's gang had only been growing in numbers since Ozzy's break from the façade of a respectful man of innocent. He was free to push his influence around and without a public face to maintain Oswald could follow through on the worst of threats to get what he needed done. He'd been making a ruthless businessman reputation for himself and for ever man he punished for not doing his work two more would fall in to line.

He couldn't just sit home and let such an important day pass by without him. Nor could he leave it to chance. There were a few important things that had to happen for Oswald's plans to really blossom. It had to be the O'Malleys idea to strike first and it was very important that David died. The loss of the future heir to the O'Malleys would seal the family's fate one way or the other but it would also provide Richard the necessary motivation to ensure no amount of conversation was going to rebuild those bridges while making the man highly unstable.

Oswald had it planned out. Ivy with her persuasive perfume would get them angry and send them to where Oswald knew a number of the Rossetti's were gathering that day. Fighting would break out, men would die and if David wasn't among the dead Oswald had some men waiting nearby to correct that. After that all hell should break loose and if it didn't Ivy could always play the devil on the shoulders of a few more men to encourage it.

Oswald chuckled darkly as Ivy sat down and confirmed it was all done. He knew it of course the moment they'd stormed out of the bar but he liked to hear it "Your wonders never cease to amaze me my dear" he liked Ivy a great deal, she was useful "Drive on" he finally says to the driver and the car moved off.

They were not of course going to the scene of the hopefully soon to be massacre. Ozzy wouldn't risk getting seen close to that but he did take that moment to pick up a radio from the seat and turn it up to listen in on the men he had waiting in case David got lucky. So far everything was still quiet but he expected it would take the boys a few minutes to get to the Rossetti's "Now begins the wait to see if this shall call for celebratory drinks or if we must return to the drawing table"

[Pamela Isley]

The idea of doing anything directly to the mob was a new one to Pamela, but Oswald had been perfectly correct when he pointed out that some of the mob families were indirectly if not directly responsible for many of Gotham's problems. Specifically, the pollution problems - she really didn't care very much about most of what they did, but a lot of the bribes being paid to make public officials look the other way as they disregarded even the most basic environmental laws were being paid by someone with some connection with organized crime.

In this case, it was the Rossettis - the O'Malleys were doing their share of illegal things, but none of it was of any particular interest to her so they weren't her target. Still, she had no reason to not use them as a tool of destruction against the Rossettis and let her business partner profit off of the whole situation so she was happy to do her part in this. It was worth the experiment and she was quite confident that her part in it would be successful.

Which was why as she smiled and inclined her head in response to Oswald's compliment. As far as she was concerned what she did was merely a parlor trick but she supposed it was impressive to those who couldn't do it. "You're the one who told me what to say, darling," she replied, as that was the truth. Not the specific words to use, but she didn't know enough about the complex politics of the mob families to be able to figure out who needed to be convinced of what and when. If it was entirely up to her she'd have handled the situation far more directly, but she could see the benefit of Oswald's methods.

This whole scheme had been his idea, really, though she knew she was an indispensable part of it. A role she was content with because as far as she was concerned he was doing all of the really hard work but it would have all been for nothing if it weren't for her powers of persuasion. And, of course, she was planning on throwing him fully under the bus if it all went horribly wrong for her, but if it did it wouldn't be her fault anyway so he'd deserve it.

When he remarked upon the wait, Pamela simply commented, "It will work - he was really quite incensed. And an absolute idiot - I think that if I hadn't told him where to go he would have hunted down a Rossetti himself." Yes, there would be a firefight - the only question was the casualty list and whether or not it would have the effect that Oswald predicted. Though when it came to that, Pamela was also confident that if the first poke of the wasp's nest didn't work then a second would as long as Oswald could figure out where it needed to be poked.