"Keira, how long have you been inside Haven City?" Jak asked, because based on what he knew, from all the stories he had heard so far, that Pinkie had been living inside the city for four whole years before she managed to find him and Daxter.
"For about six years now," Keira replied, though at the same time she knew that the question would have been coming, because she looked much older than she had been when they had gone through the Rift Gate all those years ago, though now she looked like she was Jak's age, as well as Pinkie's age, "When I was ejected from the Rite Gate I managed to grab onto several pieces of the Rift Rider and make some sort of sled that allowed me to safely ride down the hill I would have slammed right into. The collision would have hurt me, but thanks to my smart thinking I was able to save my own skin, though that eventually ended with me landing in a large scrap yard.
I spent an hour or two searching the scrapyard for anything usable, though I eventually found enough usable parts that allowed me to make a working zoomer that could bypass the Eco Shield and get me inside the city. Of course I was ignorant of the rules and laws that existed inside the city and had no way of knowing that the codes I had found would put any vehicle on the Guard's most wanted list. I ran into a road block after a few minutes and was captured almost immediately, as I'm not a fight and had no way to defend myself, but after a few hours I was brought before the Baron and was given a deal; either I work on building more zoomers like the one I had made or I go to jail until they decided to release me."
"I can tell which choice you went with," Jak commented, indicating with a hand to the vehicles around them, before turning back to Keira, "so then I guess you spent the last six years trying to appease the Baron, while at the same time trying to figure out where Pinkie, your father, Daxter, and I landed."
"Yes, while improving several Guard vehicles for battle against the Metal Heads," Keira answered, to which she sighed for a moment, "I did get a glimpse of one Metal Head, about five years ago, and I started staying inside the city every since that day, to which I devoted every free moment I had to finding out where you guys landed and where you went."
"Well, Jak was locked inside the Fortress for two years," Daxter spoke up, though at the same time he had no idea what Pinkie had been doing before she and Raven had discovered him, "He was basically being forced to endure two years of experimentation, so the Baron could create a group of Dark Warriors to deal with the Metal Heads... but it appears that Jak is the only one that managed to survive the experiments."
Keira nodded her head in understanding before turning to Pinkie, as she was curious as to what had happened to Pinkie during the years that she had lived through after exiting the Rift.
"I landed in the city a little over four years ago now," Pinkie spoke up, knowing that they were going to want to know everything she could tell them, "once I did so I was found by Erol and was incorporated into the Krimzon Guard, though I was never made into an actual member. I trained for some time until I was sent to shadow someone on one of their missions, where we encountered Raven and saved his life, who eventually joined me as a constant companion until we could figure out where you guys were. It wasn't until Raven discovered where Daxter was hiding that we even knew where Jak was being held, to which we joined him and helped Jak escape... and here we are now."
"And your odd clothing?" Keira asked, pointing to what Pinkie was wearing for a few seconds, "I've only seen one other person wearing something like that, and her name is Ashelin."
"I found them before busting Jak out of the jail," Pinkie replied, knowing that it was best to keep the knowledge of her relationship with Ashelin and the Baron a secret for now, "Maybe she threw a pair away and I happened to find it?"
"Right..." Keira said, clearly not believing what Pinkie was telling her, but she ended up shaking her head and turned back to Jak and Daxter, "Look, the only reason I have been helping the Baron is because I believed him to be the city's best option in the war against the Metal Heads, and it sure beat jail time, but now that we're all together again we should be able to figure out a way to turn the tide against those monsters... and hopefully figure out where my father landed."
"Well, I know that Krew is likely waiting for us to return," Raven spoke up, knowing that the fat man likely had another mission for them and was no doubt getting mad that they were taking so long to return, "so we should return to him and see what he wants with us."
"Okay, that sounds like a plan," Keira replied, to which she let out a sigh as she looked outside the room they were in, as if she was expecting some of the Guard to show up, "I'll keep my ears peeled for anything and everything that might be helpful to you in the future."
Jak handed Keira both his communicator and Pinkie's, allowing her to input the connection key that would allow them to speak with each other when she discovered something before handing them back, to which they bid Keira farewell and climbed back into their vehicle, where they began the trek back to the saloon... and more importantly Krew.
It didn't take Jak and Pinkie very long to reach the saloon and park their zoomer, though when they entered the building they immediately noticed that someone else was standing behind the bar, which meant that Krew had either hired someone or the Underground had sent someone to spy on the fat man. Daxter, however, decided that now was a good time to make a move and try to flirt with the 'new' employee, to which Jak, Pinkie, and Raven shook their heads as they followed him towards the bar.
"Hey sugarplum, you new here?" Daxter asked, though at the same time he ran his finger around the top of a bottle that happened to be sitting on his left, much to the annoyance of Jak, "Well, whatcha got that's, uh, hot and... Wait, I've seen you before. You're with the Underground."
"Shhh! I'm Tess." the lady said, allowing Jak and the others to finally put a name to the face that they had seen back when they had first encountered the Underground, "Torn sent me to spy on Krew. Play along, and I may be able to get my hands on a few of Krew's secrets."
" Oooooh... I love 'undercover' work, baby!" Daxter replied, though he got a look in his eyes that made both Jak and Pinkie moan a little bit, "But ah, two can work better than one. Let me help you out."
What happened next was that Daxter climbed behind the bar and started going through everything that was available or within arms reach, to which Jak and Pinkie heard him actually opening several of them and tasting the contents. They both knew that he was going to get drunk, though Raven merely shook his head as he stared at the orange ottsel, but he said nothing as they waited for Krew to come tell them what their next mission was. Fortunately they didn't have to wait very long, because once Daxter opened the first bottle the owner of the saloon was upon them, which meant that he was ready to tell them what he wanted them to do next.
"Jak!" Krew said, though as he came to a stop near them Pinkie knew that this would be a simple mission, as the fat man had made no mention of her at all, "I need you and the talking rat to go around and make a few 'collections' for me."
"Okay, that sounds simple enough." Jak replied, though at the same time Daxter, upon hearing that he had no time to truly get drunk, capped whatever bottle he had opened and climbed back up until he was behind Jak once more, "Got any specifics we need to know or any special rules we might need to follow?"
"I have six 'clients' around town who are about to make money drops for me." Krew explained, to which he pulled out a map that had the details of the various drop points Jak would need to go through, "I need you to collect each moneybag as fast as you can and 'take care' of any guards who get curious. Get to a moneybag too late and some townie might pick it up. Just collect all fourteen moneybags before they disappear and bring them back here... though I won't bother to explain what will happen if you lose even one of them."
Jak nodded and walked outside the saloon, with Daxter back on his shoulder, to which everyone else heard the sound of a zoomer starting and departing from the area. A few seconds later they heard the sound of the Guards' zoomers passing by and firing at someone, though Pinkie paid it no mind as she and Raven waited for her brother to return. It didn't take much time for Jak and Daxter to return to the saloon, to which Jak received some praise for his quick actions and collecting all of the moneybags in a timely manner... to which he handed him and Pinkie a gun upgrade, which was for the Scatter Gun's rate of fire, before he asked them to get out so he could have his beauty rest.
With that done Jak and Pinkie made their way back to the Power Station, where Vin was holding the fort, because there was something they needed to ask him, especially when it would help Jak reach his target.
"Vin, buddy." Jak said, to which he approached the nervous man while Pinkie stood by the door, just to make sure that none of the guards came in and interrupted them, "We need a favor."
"I can't help you with your eco bill." Vin replied, to which he waved both Jak and Pinkie off, hoping to send them away until he was finished with whatever he was working on at the moment.
"Look, we need you to switch on the access elevator in one of the Palace's support towers." Jak explained, hoping that such a thing would be simple for someone like Vin to accomplish, especially when he took into consideration everything the man had done in the short amount of time.
"Sheesh, that's part of the old B-Zone power grid!" Vin exclaimed, which immediately told Jak and Pinkie that accessing it might not as easy as Jak was originally thinking, "It hasn't worked for years."
"Well, if it's too hard for you, I'm sure Jak will understand." Raven commented, though at the same time Pinkie noticed that the ottsel on her shoulder was grinning at the moment, which told her that he was trying something different than the direct approach, "Power stuff can be tricky."
"Tricky?" Vin stated, though his tone indicated that he didn't know whether he should be annoyed with Raven or pissed off at him, to which he started moving around the room and started talking to them in his own terms, "I could route the B-Zone conduit lines through the bypass grid, shunting past the Eco rings to connect the inductor tubes in series, then back through the outer wall indicator helix and across the resonant flux routes into the number five capacitor array. Assuming the circuits in the GX75B can handle the surge, I could link the phase loop lines into the primary coils, and presto, you've got instant lift juice!"
"Vin, you're a genius!" Jak praised, because while he knew that he didn't understand anything of what the man had told them, which would no doubt concern Keira if he told her about this, he knew that Vin had done exactly what he was going to ask him to do.
"Eh, actually Mar was the genius. People said he made most of this stuff long ago - the shield-wall system, the Eco grid." Vin replied, to which he smiled at the group for a few seconds, as he enjoyed the praise Jak had given him, before growing serious once more, "Anyway, to get that elevator moving, you gotta find and turn on all the old B-Zone power boxes located in the city. There are five of 'em!"
"That doesn't sound so tough." Daxter said, though at the same time he knew that there was always a twist to every mission that he and the others had gone on in the city.
No. Except those power boxes are guarded by motion-sensing turbo cannons!" Vin replied, to which he made the motion of cannons firing with his fingers for a few seconds, "But if you can destroy the cannons, and switch the boxes on, I can do the rest. Just don't tell the Baron I ever saw ya!"
It didn't take Jak and Pinkie long to discover where the five cannons were located, as they had seen them as they rode through the city multiple times in the past. Of course the Krimzon Guard was upon them when they started taking out the cannons and switched on the power boxes, but thanks to their teamwork Jak and Pinkie were able to complete their objectives in a short amount of time. Once the last of the cannons had been taken care of, and they had lost the Guard, Vin contacted them and explained that one of the lifts was operational... and he even told them which one it was so they didn't spent a lot of time searching for the only one that worked.
With their next destination clear Jak and Pinkie made their way towards the elevator that they had turned on, though each of them were wondering what news they might uncover while they were scouting around the Baron's palace... and what secrets they might uncover.