Bryant woke up and shook his head, attempting to erase the headache he had. After he had cleared his mind, he pried his head from the pillow and got out of bed. After a quick shower he got dressed and walked to the kitchen to make scrambled eggs. When the eggs were cooked, peppered, and half-eaten, Howard stumbled into the room, only avoiding falling by holding onto anything within his reach that was steady, and some things that weren't. Bryant looked up at him, finishing the food in his mouth before saying "Howard, how come you're suddenly able to pay rent and partying? You still don't have a job or you would be attempting to make yourself more presentable right now. So how do you do it?"
That made his previously dull eyes go wide, he stuttered a bit, but eventually he returned to shocked silence. "That's what I thought. Something you don't want to tell me must be big. We haven't kept many secrets from each other since that incident in high school. I have to go to work. Just make sure that you don't get into anything that I would have to see you while I am working," said Bryant. With that, he got up from the table, and went through the dingy living room before taking a left to get to the door. He ran down the stairs, practically jumped into his navy blue Chevy, and headed off to work, missing Abby more than he cared to admit.
"It's about time you showed up, I was worried you would call in sick or something," Abby said after Bryant booted up his systems.
"I missed you too Abby," he said, rolling his eyes. "Do we have anything new about that criminal? Did he mutter anything in his sleep?"
"He didn't sleep. He sat on the edge of his bed and stared at the bars."
"Does Chief still want everybody looking for a crime he may not have committed?"
"Yes. And his scrappy secretary AI won’t give me any more information about anything else we could do. Let’s just spend the day patrolling so that we can find some actual crime."
"Sounds fun. Can you get to the car yourself, or should I carry you?" Bryant said, sarcastically.
Abby gave out a fake laugh and said "I am going to beat you there, you slowpoke human." Before Bryant could give a witty retort, Abby was already gone and in the car.
Bryant let himself smile as he walked through the police office to the door, telling Karen to hurry and get to the police cruiser so they could get going. She joined him and they hurried to the police cruiser, parked just outside. "What took you so long?" Abby taunted.
"I had to get Karen. So where do you think the most petty crime will take place?" asked Bryant.
"Probably in the ghetto by the time we get there. Please put your seat belt on, Karen."
"Why did you choose the one with the personality again?" Karen whispered into Bryant's ear.
"He did it because I provide a better partner for him than you do. And yes, I can hear everything said in this car. Didn't you learn that all police cruisers are specifically made for use of AI, or were you too busy doodling hearts in your notebook at the academy?"
Karen gasped and tried to hit the holographic image on the dashboard.
"Abby, that was uncalled for. You have to be nice to people, remember how you made my last partner quit?" said Bryant.
"Not only that," Abby replied, "but the weeks of software updates afterwards. I hate those stupid tech geeks." Then the car lurched into action, Abby was driving angrily through the streets of Neo York. Bryant pressed the button and overrode Abby's control, slowing down the car, and heading toward the ghetto.
A whole five hours had passed and Karen pushed the second purse thief into the back of the police cruiser with the other. Abby transferred herself from Bryant's head back into the car. "That's two; we better get back to base so that we can drop them off. What other crimes have we stopped?" asked Bryant.
