Joseph began strolling past the pair at a pace that was not worthy of a man who could run two miles in under two minutes, but he wanted to see what would happen between the man and the woman, as if he were watching a play that he couldn't tear his eyes from. Greg seized the woman’s wrists. “But afterwards you have no excuse. Promise me that you’ll come with me to the bar.”

Petunia tried to wrench her thin wrists away from the man, but his giant hands had her small ones trapped. “Let me go!” Petunia yelled. 

Joseph stopped in his tracks. 

His walkie talkie was warning him that the joyriding teenager was crossing into another Sector and would be hard to track from there, but he ignored it. He stomped toward the altercation between Greg and Petunia. 

He merely asked, “Is everything alright here?” 

Greg released Petunia’s wrists and faced the Praetorian Guard. Greg was tall, but even he was a foot shorter than Joseph. He cleared his throat and gulped as he looked up at Joseph. "Apologies, sir. This woman promised me a date the night before, and--”

“I did not promise him a date. Don’t listen to him. I’ve never wanted to go out with him, and he is very resentful of that.” Petunia said, glaring at the man. 

Joseph nodded. He turned to Greg. “This woman is working for her House at the moment. Leave her to her work, or I will arrest you.”

Greg’s face turned red with anger, but Joseph was unperturbed. Greg growled, stepping an inch closer to Joseph, straightening his posture to make himself taller, but Joseph was unphased. Greg shrugged, gulping.

Petunia looked at him appreciatively. “Thank you. What’s your name?”

“I must be going. Have a pleasant day.” Joseph had an odd desire to stay and chat that nearly overrode his duty to find the joyriding teen, but quickly came to his senses when he recognized that he had nothing to say to the woman, anyway.

Then why did I even stop? He wondered to himself as he sped past a beautifully maintained water fountain in the shape of an Eurlanite woman and toward Sector B.

It took some effort, but he managed to push all thoughts from Petunia from his mind. After all, he wanted to focus on the joyriding teen and the upcoming building that he was coming up on.

It was a green building shaped like a flying saucer and made by an artist who doubled as an architect. He didn’t know why the building appealed to him so much; he just knew that looking at it almost always brought a smile to his face. When he saw it coming up on his right, he took a moment to pause and appreciate its reflective, green sheen and the fact that it truly did look like it was in-flight, as it was crafted at a vertical angle. Inside the building was a museum depicting Erulanite history-- how they had descended from the sky hundreds of years ago and given the humans technology to improve themselves and their lives--how they had torn down old buildings and erected more efficient, less expensive buildings. Joseph fought the urge to leave his mission and instead explore the museum instead. It was a strange impulse for him to have, and he found it unpleasant. 

In a moment, he focused on pursuing his quarry again, zipping through the city toward Sector E. When he arrived, he headed to the corner of Mare and Renning, where he saw a teenager zipping by in a silver car, going max speed on a surface street. Joseph was stunned that the teenager hadn’t crashed as-of-yet. He began pursuing at a breakneck pace. The car that was stolen was a Lincoln Continental; it was shiny and well-kempt, and he could understand why the teen wanted it.

He pushed his legs harder, feeling his muscles strain as he did so. The car was a yard ahead of him. Joseph grabbed his gun from its holster and then took aim at the wheels. His eyes focused on the tires. Sometimes, he felt like he was a machine and had built-in cross-hairs because his aim was so apt. He fired at the two back wheels twice, and the car came careening to a halt. The car behind it honked and nearly hit it, and stopped an inch behind it. The teenager threw the driver’s door open and began sprinting away through traffic. Joseph bit his lip, and then leapt forward and chased the teenager, hoping to rescue him before he got hit by an approaching car. Joseph launched himself into the air by the balls of his feet into traffic, seized the teenager's shoulder, and then shoved the boy in the opposite direction toward the sidewalk. The boy was launched toward the sidewalk, falling on his back and crying out in pain just as a car slammed into Joseph's stomach and flipping him onto the windshield. Joseph made no grunts of pain nor did he scream. 

Upon seeing the Prateorian Guard upon her windshield, the driver slammed the brakes, halting traffic. The woman threw her door open and exited her vehicle coming to Joseph’s side. “Oh my god, oh my god--are you okay?” she danced from foot-to-foot nervously. 

Thanks to his muted emotions, he felt very little pain. He nodded. “I’m fine. I will go to the hospital and I will take the boy with me.”

“Do you want me to drive you?” the woman replied. 

Joseph shook his head, climbing down from the windshield while his vision spun. “Very kind of you, but I will call an ambulance for the two of us.”

“O-okay…” the woman was worried. “Should I call the police?”

“Please don’t worry yourself. I will explain that this was all an accident, and that you are not to be blamed for any of it. However, I will need to record your name, your number, and your licence plate.” Joseph said calmly as he doubled over for a moment, feeling mild pain in his abdomen.