DEAL WITH WALSH

DEAL WITH WALSH
DANTE ROMANO - POV

Walsh's temporary office at the hospital smells like burnt coffee and stress sweat.

Not her stress. Ours. We've been sitting here for twenty minutes while she reviews documents on her tablet. Making us wait. Power play. Classic negotiation tactic.

Isabella sits across from Walsh's borrowed desk. Still pale from the empathic overload. Bandage wrapped around her left hand from glass cuts during the collapse. She hasn't said much since they loaded Elena into the ambulance.

I'm watching Walsh. Reading microexpressions. Calculating what she wants versus what she'll actually offer.

Nico's beside Isabella. Leg bouncing. Restless energy with nowhere to go. Marco's wheelchair is positioned where he can see the door and Walsh simultaneously. Tactical. Luca stands near the window. Too still. He's been like that since he killed those soldiers. The Architect surfacing. Breaking through.

We're presenting united front but we're fractured. Exhausted. Barely holding together.

Walsh finally looks up. "Let's be direct." She sets the tablet down. "You stopped a terrorist attack. Saved hundreds of lives. That buys you credibility I can use."

"Use how?" I ask. Always establish terms before agreeing to anything.

"Enhanced rights legislation." Walsh leans back in her chair. It creaks. "Congress has been debating enhanced policy for five years. Half want registration and containment. Other half want elimination. Nobody's seriously discussing coexistence because nobody believes it's possible."

"And we're supposed to prove it is." Marco. Not a question.

"Isabella proves it." Walsh corrects. Looks directly at her. "Enhanced individual who chose cooperation over violence. Who saved baseline and enhanced lives equally. Who has influence over people on both sides."

Isabella shifts. The chair scrapes against floor. "What exactly are you asking me to do?"

"Testimony before Congress. Media interviews. Collaboration with researchers developing ethical enhanced policies." Walsh counts items like she's ordering lunch. Casual. Practiced. "You become the public face of enhanced cooperation."

"Poster child." Isabella's voice is flat.

"Evidence." Walsh corrects smoothly. "That enhanced individuals aren't threats requiring elimination. That with proper support, you're assets."

The word assets makes my teeth hurt. People aren't assets. But government thinks in those terms. Resources to exploit or threats to eliminate.

"In exchange for what?" I ask. "Because nothing's free."

Walsh doesn't hesitate. "Protection for your pregnancy. Full medical care. Security against extremists who will absolutely target enhanced reproduction."

Isabella's hand moves to her stomach. Unconscious. Protective.

"And?" I press. There's always more.

"Pardons." Walsh looks at each of us. Slow. Deliberate. "The Romano family has extensive criminal history. I can make that disappear."

Marco's fingers tighten on his wheelchair arms. Luca's jaw clenches. Nico stops bouncing his leg.

"You're offering us clean slate." I translate. Keep my voice neutral. "In exchange for Isabella's cooperation."

"Partnership." Walsh uses the word carefully. "Not ownership."

"Sounds like ownership with better marketing." I lean forward. "What happens if we refuse?"

Walsh is quiet. Then brutally honest. I respect that even though I hate what she's saying.

"Elena faces execution. Her enhanced prisoners go back to facilities where conditions won't improve. You remain fugitives. And enhanced-baseline violence escalates until war becomes inevitable." She pauses. Lets that sink in. "Those are your alternatives."

Isabella's breathing changes. Faster. I can see her doing the math. Weighing lives against freedom. She's going to say yes. I know it before she opens her mouth.

"What about Elena?" Isabella asks quietly. "You said execution. Can that change?"

"Possibly." Walsh. Careful now. Testing how much Isabella cares. "If you cooperate fully, I can argue for psychiatric rehabilitation. Elena's traumatized. Documentable PTSD from government custody. With your testimony, I might build a case for treatment instead of execution."

"Treatment in another facility." Luca speaks for the first time. Voice rough. "Different cell. Same cage."

"Better cell." Walsh doesn't deny it. "Medical supervision. Actual therapy. Possibility of eventual release if she stabilizes."

I'm doing calculations. Variables. Probabilities. Walsh's offer sounds reasonable on surface. But I see the trap underneath. Once Isabella's embedded in government systems, she'll never be truly free. They'll always need one more testimony. One more interview. One more crisis requiring her face.

Refusing means war. More facilities. More torture. More enhanced children screaming in white rooms.

We're choosing between bad option and worse option. Story of our lives.

"How long?" Isabella asks. "How long would this partnership last?"

"Minimum two years." Walsh has clearly thought this through. "Congressional testimony. Policy development. Implementation oversight. After that, we renegotiate based on results."

"Two years as government asset." Marco. Tactical assessment. "No guarantee of freedom after."

"Two years changing policy from inside the system." Walsh counters. "With protection and resources you won't get anywhere else."

Isabella looks at me. I see the question in her eyes. What do you think?

I think it's a trap. But I also think it might be our only move.

"Can I have a moment?" Isabella asks Walsh. "To discuss with my family?"

"Five minutes." Walsh stands. Professional. "I'll wait outside."

She leaves. Door clicks shut.

Silence except for air conditioning and Nico's resumed leg bouncing.

"It's a trap." I say immediately. "Pretty cage. Better lighting. Still trapped."

"Maybe." Isabella's voice is calm. Too calm. "Or maybe I use those two years to build something real."

"You're talking about changing government policy." Marco sounds skeptical. "That takes decades."

"I have resources." Isabella looks at each of us. "I have amplified abilities that keep growing. I have these twins who'll be the first enhanced children born into whatever world we create. I have every enhanced individual Elena recruited. They'll listen to me because I saved their leader."

I see it then. The shape of what she's planning. Longer game than Walsh expects.

"You're not planning to be their poster child." Understanding hits. "You're planning to build a political base. Use government platform to organize enhanced communities."

Isabella's smile is small. Dangerous in ways that remind me uncomfortably of Vincent. "Walsh wants me to prove cooperation is possible. I'll prove it. But real cooperation. Real rights. Not tokenism."

"If Walsh realizes what you're doing." Luca. Concerned.

"Then I adapt." Isabella. Confident. "I've been manipulated by Vincent my entire life. Held captive by you. Hunted by government. Threatened by Elena. I learned from everyone." She looks at me. "Especially you."

The compliment feels wrong. Like I taught her how to walk into fire and call it strategy.

"What do you need from us?" Marco asks.

"Public cooperation with Walsh's deal. Private support building connections she doesn't see." Isabella. Simple. Clear. "Create network under government's nose."

"Espionage." Nico grins. Finally something exciting. "I'm good at that."

"It's dangerous." I remind them. Because someone has to. "If this fails, we all go to prison. Enhanced rights get set back decades."

"If we do nothing, war is guaranteed." Isabella counters. "At least this way we're trying."

The door opens. Walsh returns. Reads the room instantly.

"Decision?"

"I accept." Isabella. Steady. "All of it. Testimony. Interviews. Research collaboration. I'll be your proof."

Walsh's satisfaction is brief. Controlled. "Good. We'll start immediately. First congressional testimony is in three weeks."

"One condition." Isabella. Firm. "Regular contact with Elena. Supervised visits. She's my sister and she's not well."

Walsh considers. Nods. "Monthly visits. Monitored. Any instability, visits stop."

"Acceptable."

They shake hands. Deal sealed. I watch and feel cold certainty that we just traded one prison for another.

Walsh's phone buzzes. She glances down. Her expression changes. Tightens in ways that make my stomach drop.

"We have a situation." She looks at Isabella. "Sophia Torrino has been captured."

My blood goes cold. Sophia. Enhanced. Dangerous. Unpredictable.

"Who captured her?" Marco asks.

"Extremist baseline human organization. The Purification Movement." Walsh's voice is grim. "Anti-enhanced terrorists. They believe all enhanced individuals are genetic abominations requiring elimination."

"What do they want?" Isabella. Quiet.

Walsh shows us her phone. Video message. Sophia zip-tied to a chair. Face bruised. Blood on her shirt. Eyes wide with fear.

Male voice off-camera. Cold. Certain. Righteous.

"We have enhanced specimen Sophia Torrino. In seventy-two hours, we execute her publicly. Live broadcast. Unless all enhanced individuals surrender for permanent elimination. Purification begins now."

Video ends. Silence.

Isabella stares at the blank screen. Her face is white. Hands shaking.

"Seventy-two hours." Nico. Quiet.

"If they execute Sophia on live broadcast, enhanced-baseline tensions explode." Walsh puts her phone away. "Everything you just agreed to work toward becomes impossible."

Isabella's jaw tightens. I see her processing. Calculating. Making decisions.

"Then we have seventy-two hours to save her." Isabella's voice is steady despite the fear in her eyes. "And stop The Purification Movement from starting the war Elena couldn't."