It didn't take Jak and Pinkie very long to discover the location of the elevator they needed to use, which happened to be on the way to the stadium where Keira was working, but they made sure to not engage any of the Krimzon Guards on their way. When they reached their destination they parked their zoomer near the elevator's entrance and walked up the ramp to the opening, though once they had stepped onto the platform in the middle of the tower the door closed behind them. A few seconds later the elevator started moving towards the top, allowing Jak and Pinkie some time alone with their thoughts before they discovered what obstacles would be between them and the palace.
This was one thing that Pinkie had no knowledge on, as she had always used the direct paths when she had left the palace with either Ashelin or Erol, so she was as blind as Jak was at this point. When the door opened they discovered that their path was going to be a straight one, though at the same time they spotted a large number of obstacles, which included spinning blades that had electricity on the blades, shock floor tiles to send people flying off the edge, turrets that would need to be shot down, and rotating spike platforms. Pinkie knew that the Baron wanted to make sure that the palace was safe, for both himself and Ashelin, but even so she found that the presence of this many obstacles made her wonder if the Baron might be a little paranoid... but then again she and Jak were about to use this path to reach the palace without alerting him of their presence.
"Well, good luck guys," Daxter said, as he took one look at the obstacles that were in their way and knew that someone was going to end up hurting themselves, despite the fact that both Jak and Pinkie were prepared to pull our their Morph Guns in case they were spotted.
Jak nodded and climbed down the steps that were in front of him, though he followed that up by jumping between the spinning blades, timing his jumps so he could avoid harm and safely land on the platform in front of him, which also allowed him to beckon for Pinkie to follow him. Once they were both passed the spinning blades Jak looked for a way around the shocking floor tiles that were in front of them, though a few seconds later Pinkie tapped on his shoulder and pointed at a small path they could use to get around the tiles. Granted that the path she had spotted would require them to drop down to a lower level and swing their way across some poles, but it was better then giving up and trying to cross the tiles by foot.
With the new path discovered, and Jak agreed with it, they carefully made their way over the poles that were in front of them, going one at a time, before they climbed up the small platforms in front of them and stopped on an area that rested between the set of tiles they had passed and a secondary set of tiles that was blocking their path. They paused for a few seconds, allowing Pinkie to locate the way forward, before they jumped over the platforms and arrived at the backside of the second set of tiles, to which Jak loosed a Blaster charge at the turret that was starting to lock onto them and destroyed it.
This time they paused for a few seconds, to catch their breath despite the fact that Daxter kept urging them forward, before they approached the rotating platforms, the ones with spikes anyway, and carefully waited for the side without spikes to show itself. Once the side without spikes showed up they moved forward and repeated the pattern until they had crossed over to the other side, where they prepared themselves for the next set of obstacles that were in front of them... and that meant taking out the turret that was in front of them.
The next section of the path they were following appeared to have no actually platform for them to walk on, besides the spinning blades they had to avoid, though that was before Pinkie spotted the walkway that they would need to use to get around this obstacle. Jak carefully made his way through the spinning blades before beckoning Pinkie over, though once they were both passed it they carefully made their way over the collapsing platforms and climbed up the platforms that were in front of them. The moment they were passed that obstacle they found that they needed to jump on another spike platform, made their way around another tile section, and then jump their way across a set of small platforms while avoiding turret fire... where they discovered that the two turrets that were spinning and firing at them couldn't be destroyed, much to Pinkie's confusion.
Once they were passed the obstacles, and they were sure of that fact, they caught their breath before they climbed up the platforms that were on the right of where they were standing, though once they were on solid ground once more they spotted what appeared to be a large window and climbed upwards... to which they were able to look down and found the Baron talking to someone, which appeared to be a hologram of the Metal Head Leader... or more accurately his head.
"I've told you, I will have more Eco by week's end." the Baron said, though at the same time he placed a hand on his chest and gave the hologram a slight bow, as if he was trying to appear submissive towards the head of the larger creature, "We'll transport it directly to your nest, as promised!"
"A deal is of no value if you can't deliver, my dear Baron." the Metal Head Leader replied, though both Jak and Pinkie could tell that the Baron was biting back a growl as he raised his head, "I grow impatient with your puny gestures. Give me the agreed upon Eco soon, or the deal is off, and your precious city will pay the price!"
That statement was followed by the hologram disappearing, which told Jak and Pinkie that they had arrived too late to truly get any information from the Baron, though before they could move they noticed that Erol was about to say something... which meant that they might actually learn something.
"He's toying with us!" Erol snapped, to which he turned towards the Baron, who was looking out the window now, and raised a fist into the air, "Let me lead an assault on the Nest before it's too late! I can take him!"
"Patience, commander." the Baron replied, not even bothering to look at Erol directly at the moment, which Pinkie knew was going to annoy Erol a lot, "No one has ever penetrated the Metal Head nest. You know that! I've seen what comes of such foolish plans. No! Strength is their weakness... We play helpless. We train them to eat from our hands, and then... Move forward with the plan! Tell Ashelin to up her patrols. I want that Tomb found!"
"But your daughter has not been... agreeable." Erol commented, though Pinkie found herself agreeing with the commander, because she knew that there were some missions that Ashelin didn't agree with and told her.
"Agggg... I'll see to that problem." the Baron replied, which told Pinkie that he and Ashelin were going to have a conversation about the missions before he sent her out on anymore, "One way or another."
"And what of your other daughter?" Erol asked, to which he noticed as a frown appeared on the Baron's face, which both Jak and Pinkie noticed from where they were laying, "I have heard stories about how she's been attacking guards, either beating them into submission or outright killing them before fleeing from the scene of the crime, and that she might have aided one of our prisoners in his escape from the Fortress."
"Leave her be for now," the Baron replied, to which he glared back at Erol, who flinched for a few seconds, "and find that child! If you'd spend half as much time looking for that little brat as you spend flirting with Keira, we would have found him a long time ago."
"As you wish." Erol replied, though that was followed by him walking out of the throne room, to which Jak and Pinkie pulled away from the window and returned to the walkway below them.
"Ashelin is one of the Baron's daughters?" Jak commented, though at the same time it appeared that Daxter was thinking the same time, while both Pinkie and Raven made sure that neither of them pieced together what Erol had said, "And who could this second daughter of his be?"
"I don't know, and I could care less," Daxter said, to which he pointed at the only path they could take, which would allow them to leave the area without the Baron discovering their presence, "Let's get out of here and tell Torn what we discovered... because I'm sure that he'll find all of this interesting."
Jak, Pinkie, and Raven agreed with Daxter, as odd as it might have been for all three of them, to which they moved down the pathway that was open for them and carefully walked forward, though both Jak and Pinkie kept their hands on their guns in case something happened. That was swiftly followed by the Baron appearing over the nearby edge in what appeared to be a mech suit of some kind, one that was either designed by Keira or he had a team of scientists working to give him the best protection they had available.
"Did you honestly believe that I wouldn't notice that I was being spied upon?" the Baron shouted, though his voice was magnified by some sort of speaker in his machine.
"Actually, I was hoping that you might have noticed," Jak replied, to which he pulled out his Blaster and aimed it at the Baron, "I was hoping to end the conflict between you and I right now... and you have given me what I desired."
"Oh, but we won't be fighting anytime soon." the Baron said, though at the same time Pinkie felt a little uneasy by the glance that he was giving her, "Tell me, what do you think when you take into consideration what Erol said about my second daughter? She broke into the Fortress, rescued you from where you were being held, and has been fighting by your side since the very beginning, and yet you never noticed anything odd."
"By the Precursors," Daxter said, to which he turned around and looked at Pinkie, though that was followed by Jak turning and facing her as well, "it all makes sense now. How she was suddenly able to find me when the guards were unable to, how she was able to get access to the warp gate inside the Power Station, how she had the training to use the Scatter Gun, and Ashelin's reaction when we met up with her."
"Pinkie, tell me that this isn't true," Jak said, though at the same time he lowered his Blaster towards the ground, "Please tell me that you aren't the Baron's daughter."
"Here, see for yourself," the Baron replied, to which he pulled out a folder, from some container that was hidden from their sight, and opened the lid for a few seconds, to which he tossed the folder towards them, "That should tell you everything you want to know about my daughter."
Pinkie caught the folder and looked at it, to which she discovered the adoption papers that followed her joining his family, though what was odd was how the Baron knew her real name, as the name on the papers was 'Pinkamena Diane Praxis' and not 'Pinkie Pie'. The mystery only increased as she read the rest of the papers, as instead of stating the age she had been when she exited the Rift Gate all the papers mentioned that she was four years old, which reminded her of the first couple of memories she could remember. As she flipped through the papers, which solidified her position in the Praxis family, she discovered that she and Jak were never brother and sister... rather they appeared to be friends that had escaped, which meant that the children they had seen earlier were the younger versions of themselves.
She found herself sick to her stomach, because apparently her actual father wasn't Jak's father, and that her own father was trying to fool the Metal Head Leader so he could lower his guard... and then she remembered all the horrors the Baron had done in the time she was outside the Palace.
"You lied to me." Pinkie said, to which she glared at the Baron, while at the same time Raven removed the papers from her hand and gave them to Jak, "Why? Why did you lie to me?!"
"Because you were the key to getting at the king," the Baron replied, to which Jak, Daxter, and Raven gasped, while at the same time Pinkie's mood deflated, "He wanted his son to have a friend and socialize with others, to which the opportunity landed in my lap when you suddenly appeared one day. I brought you into the palace to see how the king's son reacted to you, though even as my king and I had an argument, over how I was dealing with something else, I noticed that the two of you were getting along quite well. I adopted you into my family and treated you like one of my own, though then you disappeared with the king's son when the fighting broke out... and then you reappeared as you are now.
I resolved to see if I could use you to ferret out the Underground and force them to the surface, though it appears that you have made them more active and caused the deaths of a few of their members... not that Torn would bother to tell either of you that I've already captured and killed them."
"You used me." Pinkie said, feeling her anger towards the Baron, who had been planning on using her the entire time since her arrival, awaken the Dark Eco inside her body, "You used me like a tool..."
"And it was only a matter of time until you outlived your usefulness," the Baron replied, to which both Daxter and Raven growled at the man, while at the same time Jak pointed his gun back at him, "I'll kill all of you now and blame your deaths on the Underground, which will ensure that Ashelin helps take them down and ensure peace for the city... allowing us to focus all our energies on stopping the Metal Heads."
"YOU USED ME!" Pinkie shouted, to which her fluffy hair fell straight down, making her look much more menacing, while at the same time she yanked her Eco Blade from its sheath and allowed the darkness in her heart to surround it, which was followed by the Dark Eco twisting it into the shape of a scythe.
The Baron was surprised by the sudden change that had occurred in Pinkie, as he had been sure not to waste any Dark Eco on her, but before he could do anything Pinkie jumped at him and rapidly reached where he was floating. He noticed her swinging her new weapon towards him and jerked the controls, moving the center of his mech out of the way as the scythe cut through the suit like it was made of butter. As the arm of the mech fell to the floor, and the Baron moved out of the way, Pinkie changed where she was looking and moved in front of the Baron once more, though she followed that by cutting off the second arm and caused massive damage to the mech as a whole. Before she could deliver the final blow, however, the Baron used his escape function and escaped from the battle, leaving Pinkie to rip the rest of the mech apart as she glared at him.
Jak, on the other hand, watched as Pinkie landed on the floor in front of him and dropped the deadly looking scythe, which turned into a cluster of Dark Eco and reformed around her right wrist, though it was in the form of a black bracelet that had a few small crystals around it... though that was before he noticed that Pinkie, despite how menacing she looked, had some tears rolling down her face.
"Here, let me help you," Jak said, offering his hand towards Pinkie, who barely registered what he was saying and accepted his hand without saying anything, "We'll head back to Torn and straighten all this out..."
Jak, for all his strength and anger, couldn't find the strength to actually help Pinkie in her time of confusion, because he had nothing to say that might help her. It was in times like this that he wished that he could ask Samos his opinion on things, but without knowing where the old sage was located it made it difficult to help Pinkie out. He let out a sigh as he carried Pinkie towards the exit, while Daxter and Raven carried the folder between them, because it might have useful information and might help Pinkie in the future.
Though as they walked away from where the Baron had ambushed them, and revealed the truth to them, Jak resolved to deal with the Baron at some point in the future... because despite the fact that Pinkie might not be his sister, even if he chose to believe the papers she had been handed, she was still family to him, and the Baron was going to learn what happened when someone messed with his family.