“Hand me the bolt cutters.” Alison tossed the bent tire iron to the side and held her hand out without looking back at the sweating Charles.

Charles winced as the heavy tire iron clattered loudly across the concrete floor of the dark repair bay, but he didn’t let that stop him from immediately handing the crazed lunatic in front of him her requested tool. Alison took the bolt cutters and immediately began cutting and crushing engine components within the destroyed city bus in front of them.

Charles let out a long sigh. It had only been a few hours since Devin’s untimely demise. After grilling him about isekai and the various processes that fictional people get summoned to other worlds Alison had insisted that they go right to the source of the problem and interrogate the only suspect at the crime scene, the bus that crushed Devin. Charles knew that nothing he could say would dissuade Alison from her quest so here he stood, aiding and abetting the twisted deconstruction of an already battered city bus.

“I’m going to get a drink.” Charles announced as he walked towards the drinking fountain near the door to the mechanical bay.

Alison didn’t respond, instead she snipped an oil line and loudly shouted at the bus, “Who do you work for?! Where did you send him?!”

Charles took a long sip of water and wiped away a bit of spillage from his disheveled sweatpants.

If only the crazy lady would have let me change… Charles lamented internally.

His remorseful thoughts were interrupted by the door opening and a janitor sticking his head around the corner.

“Hey, it’s the middle of the night. What are you people doing here?” The janitor asked.

Before Charles could respond there was a resounding crash and the painful sound of an engine coughing to life. Both men glanced towards the floodlight that illuminated Alison laughing like a deranged lunatic as she took a wrench to the bus’ engine.

“Late night repairs.” Charles answered flatly. “She’s the best in the business but management doesn’t like her working at normal hours. Her methods are…”

A loud bang erupted from the far side of the bus and a tire shot into the far wall and overturned a workbench.

“Unorthodox.”

The janitor gazed at Charles long and hard, but Charles remained passive and unmoving.

“Right… well, just make sure you lock up after yourselves then…” The janitor gave one last confused look towards Alison before exiting back through the door and shutting it behind him.

Charles finally let himself sigh in relief.

“Who was that?” Alison’s voice right behind him sent Charles leaping up onto the water fountain.

Alison narrowed her eyes at the door briefly before shrugging. “Whatever, doesn’t matter. We have what we came for.”

Charles’ eyes bugged outwards. “We… we do?”

Alison nodded. “The bus was tough. It didn’t want to spill the beans, but everyone has a breaking point.”

Charles looked back at the bus. Somehow the engine was still running, though judging from the bangs and coughs from the internal components, Charles wasn’t sure how long that would be the case.

“Let’s go.” Alison strode out of the repair shop without a second glance.

“You didn’t seriously get an answer from a bus right?” Charles called out to her. “Like that’s not possible… isn’t it? Alison?”

JTNestman

Bonus chapter. Enjoy! Thanks for reading.