Going under the red sea (Charles, civilians)

Jack pulled the bus to a stop outside the subway, and not a moment to soon. He figured that it was rated for about twenty five maybe thirty people, but from the looks of it he had at least fifty crammed into it... Had he been on duty he would have had to give himself a ticket for dangerous driving... Ok when all this blows over he'll take care of that ticket... Right now however he needed to get these people over to the prison and fast.

"It shouldn't be to long of a walk, just stay behind me and in-front of my partner here and we'll get there in no time." Jack would call to the group as he lead them into the subway. He was under no impression that the trains would still be moving... In fact he could tell from the moment they entered that it wasn't gunna happen... the amount of people gathered here and the lack of any updates on arrival times or even the locations of the trains made it clear that there was no chance of this being a leisurely stroll.

With a sigh Jack would make his way to the ticket booth and briefly flash his badge to the operator if there was one "Mind if I come in for a second?" He would ask if there was an operator there. If not he would just hop on in anyway and start poking around for the PA system. Once found he would test it twice before making an announcement to the people who gathered in the station. "Attention, attention, My name is officer Rannells of the San Malarus PD, I am here to take you someplace safe. Unfortunately San Malarus is currently under lock down and I have been told that the prison is currently being used as an emergency shelter. Now the trams are not running currently and as such I would ask you all to fallow me as we walk through the tunnels to the prison. Please do so in an orderly fashion and stay behind me and in front  of my fellow officer at all times. Thank you."

With that Jack would check talking over a PA off his bucket list and calmly move to the front of the terminal and start helping people down... With any luck they wouldn't run into anything in the tunnels... but if they did AkibaRed would have to take care of it... Megazord would just freak these people out, at least AkibaRed looks like a person in a costume.

Buttoning the coat up, Charles jumped outside of the bus and sighed in relief and relaxation. Jack's plan worked... and more surprisingly, it worked well! They had people now and they needed to get them all the way to safety. He helped the remaining people get out of the bus safely before following them a few paces behind, like Jack said. If any threat came about, they needed to protect the civilians.

But booy, weren't the tunnels just eerie like this? The newly built subway tunnels that led to the prison... The answer as to why exactly they were built still evaded Charles, but they sure came in handy in this situation. The trails, devoid of trains all together now provided a relatively safe road for them all. The job of the two of them was to make them completely safe...

"Keep moving in front of me. I'll have your back, so don't worry."

"Hm?" When the figure came into view Jack's hand instinctively went to his belt where he kept his morpher. If whoever this was wanted to mess with these people they would have to first get through ten feet of pissed off giant robot first. However, when the woman reviled herself he would soften his stance and let out a sigh, this job is gonna give him a heart attack....

"That's good news... Glad to know I'm not walking into a trap," Jack would smile to the odd girl,"... Though... Hold on a second," Jack would call  turning to the woman as she left "Forgive me for my boldness but...If it would be alright with you I have a few questions... I've been on Standasen sense this whole thing started and I was just wondering if we could swap info. Maybe help each other make heads or tails of what's going on here,"

"..." Charles had already taken his position behind the group at the time, so he didn't notice the girl right away. It wasn't until the people around him began squirming and the tension rose that he knew something was up.

He watched, mouth slightly agape, as Jack immediately stepped up to interact with the girl. For now, he'd stay among the crowd and help ease them should any ruckus arise, but slowly make his wa over to the girl and Jack, not saying anything at the moment. There was no question she was suspicious... Should that doubt prove true, he'd have to be ready to react.

"Well, that's mighty neighborly of you Miss.Claire." Jack would hold a hand up to the crowd of civilians he had gathered, hopefully quelling any murmurings and growing impatience. A crowd this large was likely to grow unruly if held up to long so they needed to be addressed. "Hold up for a bit everyone, I need to speak with this woman, please do not begin down the tunnels until we're all ready, take this time to get ready for the walk," That taken care of he would turn his attention back to the woman in front of him... hm... for some reason she seemed some how familiar...


Jack would offer his hand to shake to the odd woman before continuing, not wanting to appear rude. Whether or not she shook his hand he would continue by asking "I will get right down to it Miss. I have dealt with the supernatural before, however those things outside... well they're unlike any Shadow I've ever seen... And whats even more disconcerting is their presence in this word... Its not normal, and while I have my suspicions on what they might be, a confirmation would make things much easier. Also if you knew where they came from or why they're here, that would be a great help. Though, this is a two way street, so if you'd like to know anything form me, feel free to ask. Not guaranteeing I'll be of much help but there's no harm in asking," Jack would end by tipping his hat and smiling at the young woman. Hopefully she could answer his questions. If not well... No harm in making a new friend out of all this mess.

"Why not start with telling us why you're going the other way if the prison's safe." Charles hopped out of the crowd and in front of the girl. He wasn't gonna trust her right away, even if Jack decided to do so.

As he observed her, his mind buzzed with suspicions. She wasn't quite alright... And even if she wasn't wearing the clothes, who knew she wasn't one of the convicts. Or worse. "If you tell us that, we'll be able to trust you. Otherwise, you just come off as suspicious." His expression turned darker as he frowned untrustingly at her. If Jack wanted to be friendly with her again and trust her without any confirmation, he'd stop him by extending a hand in his way and looking over at him. "And Jack, please refrain from asking any more question before she answers mine. You do realize we have civilians we need to protect both with us and on Standasen. Unless she's on our side, we just can't let her roam freely."

"Demons... I knew it... It's only-" Jack started only to be interrupted by Charles's sudden outburst. Uh... Damn it Charles. Jack let out a  slight sigh but kept the friendly smile. He put a reassuring hand on the robot's shoulder and shook his head."Charles, don't worry, I don't know why but I know we can trust her. Right now we can't be picky with good fortune anyway." With a knowing nod Jack took a step forward and winked at Charles "I'm a great judge of character remember?"

Jack removed his hat and took a slow calming breath before continuing"I'm sorry... We're understandably suspicious right now, what with the demons and what not, but you don't seem hostile so I see no reason to distrust you. Outsider or not you're more then welcome here Miss.Claire. In case no one has done this yet, let me formally welcome you to our fair city and world. It's uh... Not quite in the best shape right now but I promise it's normally much nicer heh." Jack looked away sheepishly and coughed... If first impressions were everything, their world was probably not doing the best job.

"As a show of good faith..." Jack clipped his morpher from his belt and set it on the ground a few feet away before returning to Clair and Charles "That device is what I use to activate my powers. To show I'm willing to put some faith in your good intentions, I'm willing to leave it over there for the duration of this little chat," Jack would smile warmly to Claire and nod "So... You were saying about these demons..."

"Well, maybe I-" Charles was just about to imposingly raise a finger at her as she practically blew him off and tell her that she can go right there and then, but he was stopped when Jack put his hand on his shoulder. And even more stopped when he shook his head!

"N-no you're not! You're just going by your gut feeling and that's not what you should do in this sort of situation- hey, are you even... listening..." His voice slowly lost all strenght... He tried to retaliate against the reassuring yet worryingly 'naive' (yee shall not name thy partner stupid!!!) wink, but it was a frail attempt. He held no dominion over this conversation anymore... So he crossed his hands and pouted, just listening to what Jack kept on blabbering about way too theatrically...

"B-but!" He wanted to stop him from leaving his morpher, but... it would do no good... "Are you gonna make me pull out whatever wires in my brain serve as my trigger as a show of good will now or..." He said, still pouting. It was clear he still didn't trust the girl, but she was answering their questions... but she was also 'supernatural', probably something about Personas as well, so she was dangerous... though her point stood, she could've done something already had she wanted to... Ahhhh! This was too much!

Jack felt his face flush slightly at her criticism of his overly friendly attitude... well... She wasn't wrong... "Kind to a Fault" was probably an apt description of the supposedly hard boiled cop, but that wasn't always a bad thing."Heh... You got me there. Though that kinda goes with the whole "Hero of Justice" motif I've been going for."

"Yeah. Me and Charles have been friends for quite some time now," Jack would let out a hearty and frankly childish laugh as he wrapped his arm around Charles's shoulder and pulled the android in for a close one armed hug"He keeps me out of trouble and I make sure his life isn't to dull heh. We work well together, least that's what I think." Jack large and toothy grin would be almost ear to ear as he pat Charles on the back, only for it to fade slowly as Claire continued her story.... huh... Hitting a bit close to home...

"Trust me... I know what it feels like to lose a friend you care about, I've lost a few myself... One even was one of those Angels you mentioned. Though... I know they wouldn't want me to be sad so, I try to keep a smile on my face no matter what ya know?" He would let his smile return and offer his hand once more to Claire in hopes of a return of the gesture this time"If you want, we could help you look for your friends once we get these people to safety, that is, if Charles is ok with it."

"Jaaaaack!" The android tried to fight back against Jack's friendly hug... maybe it was more like an unarticulated squeeze than a hug... But the notion was the same. He couldn't fight it, though, Jack's power of friendship was too much to handle and resist, so he smiled and just layed along with it. It came naturally. Jack was great, despite all of his shortcomings. "Right, right, but my life isn't dull." Was it not dull only because of Jack? No way!!! He had lots going for him, r-right? "Haha." Charles tried to laugh it off, and so he grinned along with Jack...and kept grinning without realizing that the topic had went into dangerous territory.

When he realized it, his grin left his lips and he turned serious. Right, Nilo. He still partially blamed himself for it... even though he tried not to think about it. It was unbelievable how Jack managed to forgive him... He would stay grateful for that, probably forever. Suddenly, he felt Jack's smile dance back and the atmosphere turn brighter again. "Right, of course." He answered with a smile. "But first we get these civilians to safety." The other sentence was more serious. A man's duty is no laughing matter.