My Lost Soul

Chapter 35 - Councilman Dillemma

"We're here." Harūn grumbled as he took off Izaak's black mask

Lights flashed in his eyes, revealing a round table in the middle of a large room. The furniture was velvet and gold lined.

Izaak whistled, "Dang, you guys got it good, huh."

"Sure," another councilman said, "Sit down for now."
Izaak took a seat around the other councilmen.

"Hah, gonna make me join you or something? Not gonna work on me!" Izaak bellowed in laughter.

"Izaak, c'mon. It's... almost not what you think." Harūn responded and urged the other councilmen to speak.

"Aba," The short, athletic one rose his hand. His eyes looked hyperfocused on Izaak, which unsettled him.

"I am Micah," The chubbier one raised his hand almost robotically, "It is nice to meet you."

"My name is Zimri, it's always great to meet a brother." Zimri reached across the table to shake Izaak's hand.

"Quite the—uh," Izaak faked a laugh, "unique arrangement of personalities you got going on, Harūn. Not really how they're shown on television." He reluctantly shook Zimri's hand.

"Nothing in Abadd is the same on television." Micah said. "We invited you into our Councilmen's Office to discuss Jaffe, Democratic King of Abadd."

"Are you allowed to do that?" Izaak chuckled as he looked to Harūn.

"Of course not, but we got a good opportunity here." Harūn lit a cigarette and took a puff.

"That's you, bud!" Aba said in impressively less than half a second.

"Oh, okay. I see. So what you're planning to do is have me be a part of your superhero squad to take down Jaffe so I can secure my spot at the top?"

Harūn looked blankly at him, "Something like that. Either way we'll need your help in order to get him out of office."

"The general consensus outside of Abadd is that he'd live for another 20 years, which should be accurate in the case he gets terminally ill. If not, we're looking at another 50-60." Zimri said.

"A really miserable 50." Aba continued.

"Woah, alright, this is a lot. I mean a lot at once. Mind if we just slow d-"

"From the time we have spent with Jaffe, we have come to the fact that he is a destructive person indeed. If his career were to be jeopardized—either by someone else or his health issues—he would likely go on a final rampage." Micah interrupted.

"He has access to nuclear devices on par with the Magdala Federation and its states. He's likely to use them eventually. We have a contingency-"

"Listen, are you in or not?" Harūn mumbled.

Izaak slammed his hands on the table, "Holy shit! Shut up for one damn second!"

The door slammed open and Sheba rushed into the room with a transparent blade in her hand. She grabbed and tugged on Harūn's slick hair and pressed the blade to his throat.

"Izaak! Are you okay?! Did they hurt you?!" She breathed heavily, strands of hair stuck between her lips.

"Sheba?! Why are you he—," Izaak erupted from his chair and waved his hands in front of him, "No—no I'm not hurt! Don't hurt them, at least not yet!"

Sheba's eyelids thinned as she held Harūn's head by the hair.

Harūn looked up at her and lifted his hands, "Woah...is that you Sheba? Been a while."