//------------------------------//
// Renegade: First Tasks 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Heirs of Mar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

The first thing that Twilight and the others had to do was find some zoomers, a pair to be exact since there were no four person seaters among the ones she had seen so far, save for the possibility of the larger vehicles that the guards used to fly around the city, though she quickly crushed that idea when Cozy opened her mouth, as taking one of those would alert the Krimzon Guards to their exact location and draw a number of them to where they were located, so she found a blue one to take as Starlight found a brown one, both being the two seaters she was looking for, and Jak joined her as Cozy sat next to their sister, before they moved into the air and joined the traffic near this side of the Fortress as a Krimzon Guard zoomer entered the area and informed everyone that this area was restricted, not that the four of them cared.

"You and Starlight are surprisingly good at this," Jak commented, as from what he could tell it sure looked like the couple of zoomers his sisters had chosen were similar to what Keira made so long ago, though they were modified to some degree to fit the city and the residents that called it home, where he wondered what the citizens would think if they knew the truth behind what was going on inside the Fortress, as that was what Twilight and Starlight had called the structure he and Cozy had been locked away in for a long time, Cozy being trapped in there for three years and he was stuck in his cell for two years, both of them only being taken out for injections.

"Well, we've had three years of practice, so we got the hang of it," Twilight replied, though she was thankful that there was some traffic in front of them, as it allowed her to think about everything she had seen inside the building her siblings had been trapped inside, especially when she considered Cozy's Dark Form and the sheer power it possessed, power that let her smash through a magical barrier, even a weak one at that, and how it shoved her sister to the side so the beast could take over, something that was going to be bad in the future since it was on a hair trigger and came out whenever she got into a fight with someone, not to mention the fact that Cozy seemed terrified of her new power and what it made her do to her own family, causing her to rub the scars on her right side for a few seconds.

"This power that's been forced upon us... it's hard to control, and I can feel rage burning inside me," Jak said, as he noticed Twilight rubbing her wound for a moment and knew what she had to be thinking about, even though he could tell that she was doing her best not to apply to much pressure to her back and touch the cuts that were on her back, while Alvin, who he and Cozy needed to be introduced to at some point, along with his brothers, did his best not to mess with the marks on her shoulder, from being bitten, before he sighed for a moment, "I can only imagine what Cozy's going through, since she was in that place for a year more than I was, but her power does seem to be more along the lines of what the Baron was looking for... I'm glad my own Dark Form was able to stop her from rampaging, but there's no telling how long I can keep that up before something bad happens."

"Simon, Theodore, and I will do our best to help you keep her in check, until we find some way to fix this," Alvin remarked, but even as he said that he knew that if it did some to him and his brothers stopping Cozy from going on a rampage, like what had happened inside the Fortress, they needed to be outside the city and away from everything that prevented them from wielding their true power, as he suspected that their true forms would be able to deal with her power, at least that was his hopes on the matter and he wasn't in a hurry to test out his theory, before he focused on what they were doing at the moment, "but first, we have to reach the Underground and see if they'll take you guys into their ranks, since they need more members for their rebellion, so we can focus on taking down the Baron and, at the same time, hopefully find a way to heal her to the point where she can gain control over this power."

Twilight nodded her head to that and took the time to explain some of the things she and Starlight had discovered during their years in Haven City, which she was sure her sister was doing with Cozy, which included the Underground movement that was in open rebellion against Baron Praxis, the Metal Heads that were in the middle of attacking the city and seemed to be taking their time in breaking through the Eco Dome, or Shield Wall as some people called it, though she did recall the fact that Errol had mentioned that their enemies were pressing the attack and made her wonder what was happening on the outside of the city, and made sure to introduce Alvin to Jak while explaining how she had met the Ottsel brothers three years ago, even if she left out a number of things. She trusted her brother, but for right now the secret that Alvin and both of his brothers carried was theirs to reveal and right now it seemed like they were keeping quiet, while she also kept the fact that she was a member of the Underground a secret, even though it wouldn't stay that way for long since Torn might say something once he was introduced to Jak and Cozy, and she noticed that Jak was thinking about things so he could put it all together in his head, no doubt like she and Starlight did before they activated the Rift Gate and came to this place, to which she focused on the traffic for the next few moments. It was hard to wrap one's head around everything that Jak was learning at the moment, since he had two years of information to learn in a short period of time and catch up to what she and Starlight had learned during their stay in the city, though Daxter remained silent as they flew through the city, which was a first and was likely him just getting used to being in Jak's presence again, but she was sure that, in time, Jak and Cozy would understand everything there was to know about the city and what was going on right now, with them explaining the things they didn't understand at all. While Twilight did that she noticed that there were no additional guards heading back to the exit she and her siblings emerged from when they left the Fortress, meaning she and Starlight could lower some of their defenses for a time as they focused on moving towards where the Underground was located, though one thing that bothered her was the fact that she had been right, that all of those memories she had passed off as dreams had been the truth of things, that both she and her siblings had been born in Haven City, apparently got lost since they were with Kor, a caretaker assigned by the Shadow, which had to mean they would find another Rift Gate in this time period and send their younger selves back to Sandover Village, though she shelved that thought for now and determined that she would come back to it at a later date, when she had the time to properly think about it.

Not a few moments later she carefully signaled for Starlight to follow her as she descended to the area that the hideout was located in and made sure both zoomers were parked a little distance away from the dead end, though as she walked around the corner she found Tess and Torn standing outside the hideout, where Tess had decided to play the 'bad girl' this time around and Torn was his usual self, where the fact that they were outside their base informed her that Kor had to have sent word ahead of them, to ready the pair for new recruits and Twilight's return, though Jak stepped forward so he could get started in figuring out how they were going to bring down the Baron.

"We're looking for someone called 'Torn', as we helped a guy named Kor earlier and he directed us to this area, saying that we'd be good recruits for the Underground," Jak stated, because at this point he knew that one of his sisters would have taken a moment to throw up a magical barrier around the entrance of this area, one of the transparent ones, to ensure that no sensitive information was leaked to the rest of the city or the Krimzon Guard, before he focused on the pair that Twilight had brought them to see, where he suspected that there was more to this than what was being said, and figured he'd get the truth in due time, "Um, I'm assuming you're the one we're looking for?"

"Maybe this guy's a mute?" Daxter commented, speaking before anyone else had the chance to speak, meaning he just cut off Torn before he could say anything and Twilight had to groan for a moment when she heard that statement, which went over the heads of everyone for the most part as they stared at Tess and Torn, who seemed to be studying Jak and Cozy for a few seconds, since they had heard several tales and stories about them from Twilight while she was looking for both of them, even though she was sure that Cozy's appearance wasn't what either of them were expecting since she still had her prisoner attire on and likely wouldn't be taking it off until they passed whatever was coming next.

"I'm not a mute... new faces just make me nervous," Torn stated, though while that was the truth, as Twilight had seen the same thing roughly when she first met him in the forest outside the city, and she had to earn his trust enough to wipe out the expression for some time, this statement told her that he didn't think much of Daxter and likely assumed he was more of a pet or something, instead of what he had seen in Alvin and his brothers, before he focused on the other part of Jak's earlier statement, about the Underground and new recruits, "and yes, we received word from Kor that you were on your way to our hideout and that he believed you four would be good additions to the Underground... but, before we allow you to join us, there are two things I need to make clear: first, no one meets the Shadow without his permission, so don't even think about him... the second is that you'll need to clear a test for us before you officially join the Underground, and I have just the thing for you to prove yourselves, as one of the Baron's banners rests on top of a ruined tower in Dead Town, so I want you to claim it from where the Krimzon Guards left it... do that, then we'll talk."

Jak raised his eyebrow for a moment before nodding his head to show Torn that he understood the trial that he was set in place for them, something that caused both Torn and Tess to back off and stare at the group as Twilight opened her shield so they could return to the zoomers, though once everyone was ready to go, and Jak took control of his zoomer to learn how to drive one of them, Twilight pointed them in the direction of the Door Lock that served as a barrier between the rest of Haven City and Dead Town, a section of the city that resided outside the Eco Dome and had fallen in the past, or at least that was what Twilight had learned from her reading. Thanks to her directions it didn't take them all that long to retrace a section of the path they took to reach the outside of the Underground's hideout and come to a stop outside the Door Lock, where they parked both of their zoomers and walked over to where the structure rested, where Jak found that he had to jump down into a hole and approached the door as his sisters followed him as the lock came undone and allowed them to walk inside it, allowing the others to see what the inside of this structure was before it quickly locked once everyone was inside it. Not a few moments later the door opened and they discovered what Dead Town looked like, as there happened to be a number of ruined buildings, which kind of matched what was inside the Slums, only a little better in some cases, in front of them and there was a bunch of darkened water that seemed like it might be toxic, though in addition to all of that Twilight found a few enemies for them to deal with, the green-yellow skinned Glubs and the red skinned Znorkle, who she had seen back at the Pumping Station, so they didn't have to worry about these foes giving them a hard time as they made their way through this area. As one of the Glubs moved towards them Twilight paused for a few second as Jak approached it and lightly kicked it, knocking it out in seconds, though the reason she did that was because she wanted to see what sort of reaction Cozy had to these enemies, only to find that her sister was just fine and that there were no strand of Dark Eco coming from her, either meaning that she had used up her power for now or her Dark Form knew these enemies weren't a threat and didn't feel the need to take over Cozy's body, meaning they were able to move forward without having to worry about her going berserk again, even though she was holding back just to make sure it didn't activate anyway, showing that she had to be terrified of her power, something they would have to deal with at some point in the future.

With that done the group moved forward once more and jumped over a small gap between the section of earth that they had been walking on and the one that was in front of them, where Twilight and Starlight loosed a weak blast to knock out both of the Glubs that were in their way, allowing Jak to make his way over to some circular rubble platforms that floated right on top of the water, which let him and his sisters cross over to where a Znorkle was walking around and Cozy took a moment to surprise them as she stepped forward and kicked the creature into the water, even though that wouldn't hurt it since it was likely immune to the toxic water. Twilight quickly noted that there were no changes to her sister's body this time around and that she seemed totally in control, despite what they had been thinking about before reaching this point, which was when Jak jumped onto a thin stone bridge that was to their right, one that must have been an arch before this section of the city had been reduced to rubble, and found two more Znorkles resting between them and some fallen wall pieces that seemed to form a path up to the next level, a path that lead right to the large ruined tower Torn had told them about earlier. Knocking both of the enemies out was simple for the group, Jak and Cozy just kicked them into the water as Twilight and Starlight observed what was going on, before they climbed up the makeshift steps that were in front of them and started to walk along the roof part it brought them to, even though it didn't take the siblings long to reach a ruined building and made their way through the second story they had been brought to, where Jak let Twilight and Starlight use their magic to knock out two Glubs that were blocking part of the way forward, before finding some Krimzon Guard crates nearby and smashed them for the supplies that were inside them, where both held more health boxes and he pocketed them for later, just in case any of them were harmed or Twilight's scars acted up. Once the boxes were broken the siblings turned around a corner and found a path leading forward, one that happened to be along another roof that was just the bare studs and happened to have six more Glubs for them to keep an eye on, one in front of them and five more standing near the end of the path, so Starlight weaved her magic through the air and knocked their enemies out, allowing them to safely make their way across the path and end up where the five enemies had been standing, only to climb some ruined steps that brought them to a stone bridge that was connected to the side of the ruined tower that was their destination, to which Jak moved forward and crossed over to the other side.

Due to the fact that the bridge collapsed his sisters used their magic to create platforms for them to use to follow him, as it appeared each part collapsed after someone walked on them, so this meant he could focus on clearing the path while either Twilight or Starlight maintained the platforms that allowed them to follow him, though thanks to their brother's skill he was able to reach the end of the path in no time and they gathered near the red flag that had been placed here, though the moment Jak yanked it right out of the ruined floor the ground started to crumble as they were dropped into a lower area, one that had some flexible cloth for them to jump on and a rail of some kind for them to grind on, where Twilight used her magic to form some discs below their hooves... and when they reached the end, which was in front of Torn, who was standing off to the side to watch their actions, the ruined tower collapsed in the distance.

"Yeah, I'd say you guys are in." Torn commented, where he did seem surprised by the fact that they were able to bring the enter tower down like that, and even Twilight was surprised since this place wasn't all that old and shouldn't be anywhere close to what they had just seen, though that expression changed to a smirk as he realized what he could do with the four of them and what the Underground could do with them being members, which was when he beckoned for the siblings to follow him for a time and he collected the banner, something that he left near the entrance for this area so he could come back for it at a later time, to not arouse suspicion with the guards.

As it turned out Torn had brought a single seater zoomer to the area outside the Door Lock the siblings had used to get to Dead Town, one that allowed him to leave before they were ready to depart as each of them climbed into their vehicles as well, though Twilight had the feeling that he was heading back to the hideout so either he or Tess could ensure the front door to the hideout possessed some information on the four of them, though thanks to there being less traffic now they were able to reach their destination in no time, where Jak was the first one to move towards the stone door, which had the emblem of the Underground on it, and discovered that it opened as they approached it, which made them interested in what else Torn might have in store for them.

"The Baron has turned off all water to the Slums again... he's willing to sacrifice the people he's supposed to be protecting, just to destroy the Underground." Torn remarked, speaking the moment they entered the hideout, where they found that he was pacing near the central table and stopped anyone from moving towards the water pipe that was inside this place, one that he and Tess were still trying to work on after all this time, though he did notice that Twilight had to resist the urge to groan and bring her hand to her face, as this was just a repeat of what happened when she first joined the group and started her long search for her siblings, before he focused on the group once more, "Honestly, I'm not all that surprised by this, because I've seen his evil time and time again in the past, when I was serving as the Captain the Krimzon Guard... that evil is what drove me to quit and join the Underground."

"Wait, you were a Krimzon Guard? That explains so much, and yet so little at the same time," Starlight inquired, because it was something that none of them were expecting to hear when they talked to Torn for whatever else he had in mind for all of them to do, though at the same time she could tell that Twilight was surprised by the information as well, given that she had spent more time with Torn and Tess, so this meant her new friends had kept some things from her, even though the same was true for them keeping a few secrets from the commanding officer of the Underground, since they weren't all that sure who to trust with the information they had gained, and she also noticed that Jak was holding onto Cozy, more to keep herself in check after hearing this news.

"Yes, and one of my old contacts tells me that the valve to turn the water back on is located outside the city, in an area that is called the Pumping Station," Torn said, where Twilight knew that he was only giving this information to her siblings and not to her, otherwise he would have pointed to her in some manner and would have said something to inform the others that she had been part of the Underground for a long time, even though it could be easy for Jak and Cozy to put that bit of information together on their own, before he gestured to her anyway, "Twilight happened to go through the same mission when she first joined the Underground, so you should be able to use her expertise to find the valve in no time... while you do that, I'll be speaking with the rest of my informants and fellow rebels, to plan our next move against the Baron, Errol, and all of their corrupt Krimzon Guards."

"Wait, you've been a member of the Underground the entire time?" Cozy asked, though she did her best to keep the beast that was inside her from lashing out at Torn, as she was still at the early stages of getting used to her Dark Form and all of the power it possessed, especially when hearing that the figure that was in front of her had been a member of the group of guards that had arrested her and trapped her inside that building for three whole years, but she felt that the news that Twilight was part of the Underground, the force that opposed the Baron, had an effect on her inner darkness and might be calming it a little, allowing her to hold it back on her own this time.

"Yeah, I've been with them for three years, helping them get themselves rooted in the Slums and aiding them with my own powers from time to time, but we've never done anything big," Twilight explained, where she lead the others outside the hideout before Daxter did something that might make Torn think less of him for some reason, which was pretty easy to do in the grand scheme of things, and focused on the zoomers that were patiently waiting for them to get back on them, but she wanted to finish her explanation before they did anything else, even though she could see that Cozy had calmed down and there was no signs of her Dark Form coming out for the foreseeable future, "so they know that you, Starlight, and I can use magic, as I've shown them a few of my spells over the years, but for the most part I've been a hidden operative for the rebels, causing distractions with my magic and disappearing before the guards find me, all so the others can obtain more supplies for the rebellion... though, to be honest, now that we're all together again, which was a reason I joined them since they said they'd do everything in their power to help find you guys, I have the feeling that we'll be doing more than running through ruined areas and turning valves."

Jak thought about that for a moment, while Twilight powered up her zoomer and lead the way to the Door Lock that would take them out to the location of the valve that needed to be turned, as it sounded like she was implying that the war Baron Praxis was involved in had been more in a stalemate and not in a tug of war like Errol seemed to say back in the Fortress, as if something or someone was waiting for the four of them to be out in the field or something, making him wonder if he and his siblings were supposed to participate in this war, even though he would willingly take down the Baron and replace him so they could focus on the Metal Heads... though when they walked through the Door Lock, and entered the Pumping Station, everyone paused for a moment as they spotted three red skinned creatures who had metal bits on them and what looked like a yellow gem in their skulls.

"Metal Heads... Swipers, to be exact." Alvin commented, where he and his brothers looked at them, because if it had been just the three of them, and not the siblings, they would have transformed into their true forms and engaged these foes in battle, all to ensure the Leader of the Metal Heads didn't know where they were hiding, but with the power that Jak and his siblings possessed he knew that none of them had to do anything for a time, so right now he, Simon, and Theodore stood on the shoulders of their new friends before thinking of something, "We know about them since we encountered a few of them before meeting Twilight, but we mostly ran from them and made sure they were lost, so we have no idea how strong they might be..."

One of the Swipers noticed them and rushed over at the area they were standing in, where Jak spun around and kicked it in the side of the head, knocking it to the ground for a few seconds, though when it tried to get back up he punched it with his right fist and knocked it out, or maybe it was killed since it went down and the Skull Gem seemed to slid out a couple of seconds later, but before he could figure everything out Cozy, her Dark Form wrapped around her once more, swung her left arm and sliced her foe apart before crushing the second into the ground, hard enough for it to faint instantly, but while she did that both of their gems fell and Twilight collected them, even though she was keeping an eye on Cozy, whose Dark Form seemed to think there were more Metal Heads in the area. To a degree her sister was right, given that Alvin and his brothers had a secret they hadn't told anyone else yet, though based on what she could tell she seemed to be focusing in on the areas that any other enemies were resting in, to which she jumped onto the moving piston and let it bring her up to the area a water tank rested in, an area that held a pair of Glubs who started to move towards the area she was in, where she weaved her magic through the air and knocked them out as Jak and Starlight used the pistons to catch up with her as Cozy just jumped up and glared at the fallen Glubs for a few seconds. The growl that sounded from her stomach not even a few moments later informed Twilight of what was going on and had her siblings follow her for a moment, though while she followed the path she had used the last time she had been here, allowing Jak to kick or punch any Glubs and Znorkles that were in their way, while Starlight knocked them out with a few blasts of her magic, she considered what her sister was doing, as she was likely tearing into the couple of Glubs she had knocked out, either due to the Baron making sure those who watched over her didn't give her anything to eat recently or the fact that transforming between her two forms drained a lot of energy and left her weak, even though she felt the former was more accurate. Not feeding the prisoners seemed like something the Baron or Errol would do, to starve those that had been sentenced to imprisonment inside the Fortress and force them to either behave or do whatever it was that they wanted them to do, though given the fact that Cozy didn't have any signs of starvation, like her ribs showing or anything, that meant she had likely missed a meal or two recently and she was only now taking care of it, even if her Dark Form was doing it for her, which was actually nice and strange at the same time when she thought about it.

After dealing with the enemies that were in front of them the siblings reached the first of the moving contraptions Twilight had seen and crossed during her previous visits to this place, as Torn had sent her here more than a few times and usually it was to deal with the valve, to which they waited for a few seconds and moved once the rotating walkway stopped for a few seconds, allowing the three of them to cross the distance with ease and noticed that there was a Swiper standing on the platform that happened to be at the end of their path, who Twilight stunned with a bolt of her magic so Jak could hit it with a well placed punch. With their foe defeated, and his Skull Gem added to the collection, something they weren't sure if they needed or not, Jak started to head over the next metal path and found that all he had to do this time was jump over an electrified device that moved from one end of this tube to the other end, though he did find three Glubs and a Swiper guarding this area, as they were standing around a pair of pistons that seemed to be the path forward, something that Twilight confirmed when she caught up with him, once more reminding him that she had been part of the Underground and had likely been sent here a few times in the past. Of course that was when Cozy caught up with them and spotted the Swiper that was in front of Jak, where she rushed over the gap and smashed her target into the wall, crushing the Swiper before it could do anything to her siblings, leaving Starlight to sweep aside the Glubs with a bit of her magic before they used the pistons to reach another part of the Pumping Station, even if they were mostly following Twilight's lead for now, and this time Cozy caught up with them a few seconds later as she finished off her target, once more adding a Skull Gem to their growing pile. From there Twilight spotted two more Znorkle and a Swiper protecting the next metal walkway that they had to cross over so they could reach the valve, though this time Jak kicked the Metal Head in the side of the head as Cozy finished it off with a quick swipe of her clawed hands, while Starlight and Twilight lashed out at both of the Znorkles with a quick kick that knocked them off the ledge they were standing on and dropped them into the water below, so they wouldn't have to worry about either foe anymore, which was when the siblings rushed over the metallic walkway in front of them and avoided the pair of moving electric devices that happened to be attached to it.

After that they headed towards the area that Twilight had found Simon and Theodore in, during her first visit to this place, though in order for her and her siblings to reach that area they had to take out a few more Glubs, knock out the pair of Swipers that were in their way, send the lone Znorkle flying into the water, and crossed the rotating walkway that rested between two platforms, before finally reaching the metallic ramp that would bring them right to the valve, even though to reach it Cozy had to cut down a pair of Swipers and collect their Skull Gems as the others came to a stop in front of the device Torn had sent them to fix. What was interesting was that Daxter did nothing foolish as Jak simply hit the edge of the valve and it moved all on it's own, quickly restoring the Pumping Station to it's former glory, something that surprised all of them since Twilight and her sisters were used to him doing foolish things and Twilight had told the Ottsel brothers about a few of those things, but it meant that he might be learning to not be the 'comic relief' of their group and was being serious about things, though that was followed by Cozy reverting back to her normal form, meaning her darkness was retreating for a time and would likely be back when they either found more Metal Heads or were surrounded by Krimzon Guards, as those seemed to be the keys to activating it right now. With their task done, and Twilight assured her siblings that there were no other valves that needed to be switched to restore sending water to the Slums, Jak and his sisters retraced their steps back to the Door Lock so they could head back into Haven City, even though it did take them a few minutes to reach their destination before the four of them and their Ottsel friends entered the city once more, where Starlight pulled out her map of the city and recalled something as she looked at this section, a large hut that she claimed might hold a device that might help them, or more specifically Jak and Cozy, out. As such Twilight followed after her sister as they used both of their zoomers to reach the building in question, which was rather close to where the Door Lock was located and it took the siblings a few seconds to park their vehicles near the walkway, where they climbed out and walked over to where the door rested, even though Twilight made sure there were no Krimzon Guards in the area before they entered it, though that was when they found a Precursor Oracle resting at the back of the building, surrounded by candles, and it's eyes lit up as they walked into the single room structure.

Greetings, Great Warriors, the Oracle spoke up, something that Jak and his sisters were used to thanks to the amount of times they had heard the various Precursor devices talk to them about things, usually asking for Orbs to exchange them for Power Cells, and whatever wisdom they might have to share with the four of them, to which they remained silent as Daxter mentally huffed as he thought about not being noticed by an Oracle again and the Ottsel brothers tilted their heads for a moment as they stared at the device, I sense that there is a great rage burning within two of you, which will, in time, destroy you with it's madness... only the last power of the Precursors can save you two now. Destroy our enemies, those creatures that you call the 'Metal Heads', and bring me twenty-five of their Skull Gems, as I will teach you both how to use and control these new powers.

Jak looked at his sisters for a moment, as they knew that it might be worth gathering enough Skull Gems so they could let Cozy tame her inner power and not be swept aside by it every time they encountered their enemies, though since Twilight claimed that they didn't have enough of the items in question Jak headed outside and they followed him so they could use the zoomers and return to the Underground's hideout, as it was time to see what else Torn had for them to do while they figured out how they were going to strike at the Baron's plans and bring order back to the city, before dealing with the Metal Heads and whatever their Leader was planning.