His stomach still felt a little sore, but otherwise, physically, he felt fine. There was something else on his mind, however. It was the fact that his morning routine had been so different from the norm that was bothering him. He was used to getting up, taking his shower, getting dressed, and then getting to work. But this morning, his father had unexpectedly shown up to chew him out for doing what he was supposed to be doing, gave him a present that he had no interest in, and had been scolded by the mistress of the house for rescuing a teenager who needed to be rescued--bizarre considering that, normally, Maru’Chi took no interest in him whatsoever. 

But it wasn’t just that that was making him feel off-balanced. It was also the fact that he was noticing things he didn’t normally notice. Like the woman in the white dress--Petunia--who had captured his attention to such an extent that he had taken time of of his schedule to defend her against the man who had been harassing her. 

In fact, Petunia had been bothering him greatly. She seemed out of place in his consciousness--like a puzzle piece that did not fit with the other pieces. Her eyes popped into his brain, bright and blue, as he enjoyed the breeze for a moment. He could see her so clearly, even though she wasn’t in his sight. Her long, soft, pale fingers beckoned him into her web where she wrapped him in her arms and held him still for a moment. He felt like a fly, struggling against her spidery grasp.

His walkie-talkie buzzed, and he listened in to his first crime of the day, grateful for the distraction. His eyes widened. Enemy Erulanites were trying to sneak in past the border guards, and they needed assistance. He began bounding through the city, becoming a blur as he dashed past cars, humans, and Erulanites alike. 

He narrowed his eyes, hoping that narrowing his vision would keep him focused on the task at hand. He found the feeling of being preoccupied with things that had nothing to do with his duty to be extremely uncomfortable. Similar to annoyances that had kept interrupting his routine earlier, he felt like his thoughts leading him in a dozen different directions was like sitting on a comfortable couch that had a needle on it. He bit his lip even as he dwelled on the visit of his father and Maru’Chi’s scolding. But then, he began dwelling on his brother’s suggestion of going to a bar to hang out with them. 

His imagination led him to envisioning something so intrusive and surreal that it caused him to stop in his tracks for a heartbeat. 

He could see himself in a bar, dancing to thudding music and drinking beer that loosened his inhibitions to such an extent that he felt like he could do things that had nothing to do with his occupation. In fact, the toxic drink made him feel so free that he marched straight toward Petunia and asked her for a dance. 

His vision spun in real life for a moment, as if this imaginary scenario were real, and he was caught up in how she had made him feel things that were at once excruciating, but more intoxicatingly desirable than even the most satisfying day on the job.

He blinked, trying to shake off the vision as he shot towards the borders of Kritchan with the intent to assist in defending the borders. He primed himself, searching through his memory like a machine would search through data files in order to think of the best way to shake off the attack. Most of the other cities did not have a Praetorian Guard the way Kritchan did, which gave him a slight edge. Law enforcement in other cities was mostly made up of Erulanites themselves; other cities had not thought of manipulating the human genome to defend their cities, nor had they necessarily figured out the science to do so. Therefore, the element of surprise was usually on Joseph’s side when battling Erulanites; they always thought he was just a normal human, and were sorely shocked when finding out otherwise. 

The problem with battling Erulanites was that they were smarter and stronger than the average human, and most of them had powerful, telekinetic powers. When he was a boy being taught how to defend against Erulanites, he was informed of the powers he might be up against when coming into combat with them. 

Telekinesis. 

Teleportation. 

Mind control. 

He thought to himself. He thought he might have been forgetting some, but they wouldn’t come to mind. Regardless, he began rehearsing dozens of different scenarios in his mind of how to defend against them until he finally arrived at the border of his city. He could see that dozens of his brothers were already on the wall, gunning down enemy Erulanites. The wall itself was fifty-feet tall and made of hard, black iron. A feat of thousands of humans and Erulanites working together to construct it. There were ladders and elevators alike leading up to the top of the wall, and when he was close enough, Joseph launched himself off his feet and onto the nearest ladder and began climbing. When he arrived at the top, he saw why he was needed. Usually, when enemy cities tried to breach their walls, it was a pretty sorry attempt. There were usually one-hundred to one-hundred-fifty soldiers attempting to seize the city, and they were easily scattered and put down. Today, however, there were three-hundred Erulanites trying to seize their city. Joseph was momentarily perturbed by the sheer amount of them, but he was even more perturbed by the dozens of Erulanites teleporting up onto the wall and gunning down his brothers as well as ally Erulanites.