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// Renegade: Power Station Problems 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Heirs of Mar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight found that the Scatter Gun, now that they were equipped with the rate of fire upgrade that Krew had rewarded them with for Jak completing his money gathering mission, did fire at a quicker pace this time around and that such a thing aided them when they ran through the course that was designed to test whoever was using this gun against the Metal Heads, even though it did make Twilight wonder if there were any other mods that could be added to all of their weapons, be they new types of weaponry, like a Blue Eco mod for example, or an upgrade like the one Krew gave them earlier. The reason she felt there might be such a mod for the Morph Gun was due to the fact that Green Eco was being used as healing devices for them, the Underground, and the Krimzon Guard, while it was clear no one had access to Light Eco at this point, in fact it was still considered a myth despite whatever Gol and Maia wrote in their journals, which she wanted once this was all over so they didn't remain in the Baron's hands, so that left Blue Eco as the last one that the designer of the weapon hadn't touched yet. Of course she also couldn't devote much time to her own thoughts since Cozy, Starlight, Jak, and even Daxter were interested in learning more about the Ottsel brothers, or more like Metal Heads since they knew the secret that they carried, though all she knew was that Alvin, Simon, and Theodore had fled the Hive three years ago and Alvin was the one that found her, while the other two had separated from him to shake of their pursuers, as the Leader wanted them dead for betraying him like that, but after seeing the Baron in action the brothers had decided not to bother approaching him with the information they had, which was void at this point since too much time had gone by and their knowledge was old. Alvin informed them that the moment they weren't under threat from the Leader or the Baron, like they currently were at the moment, he and his brothers would be more than willing to share what they knew with Jak and his siblings, especially since there might be more things for them to learn at some point, as the group fought the Metal Heads, and they were interested in seeing what the future might have for all of them, which was enough for Twilight at the moment.

While they were doing that, however, their Communicator came out and silenced them for a few seconds, which was when Jak and his sisters discovered the caller was Torn and that he wanted them to head over to the Power Station to speak with Vin about something, because he had gotten a call from the man and it sounded like he was in trouble, or had found out where the Metal Heads were heading next, to which they accepted the mission, restocked their weapons one last time, and then headed out so they could reach the Power Station... though upon their arrival they found Vin working on one of the terminals and only glanced their way when he heard the door open, before returning to what he had been doing for who knew how long.

"Hey, I wanted to thank you guys for saving my butt out there at the Strip Mine, especially with all the nasty Metal Heads that invaded the area." Vin commented, though based on what Twilight could see he was focused on making sure the Eco levels of the city were just fine and that nothing was out of order, levels that seemed nominal and steady, even though any of them could dip below that level due to the fact that the Baron was trading Eco with the Metal Heads, even though it was unlikely that Vin knew about such a thing.

"And, even though Twilight blocked your attacks with a barrier, we'd like to thank you for being such a bad shot with that gun you had." Alvin replied, where he knew that, even if Twilight or Starlight hadn't stepped in to block the shots with their magic, they would have been able to avoid the attacks with no problems and would have allowed them to get to the man with ease, while at the same time his brothers nodded their heads for a moment to show that they agreed with what he had just said, while Jak and the others remained silent for now.

"Ah, yeah, sorry about that... I'm a bit jumpy these days, what with the Metal Heads and everything." Vin stated, which the group understood the moment he said that, as if they hadn't been trained to fight their enemies and navigate the various locations of the city, thanks to their training in Sandover Village, they would likely be similar to Vin or the rest of the people who lived inside the Eco Dome, even though Vin decided to turn towards them at that moment and used one hand to do the work he had been doing up until this point, showing his skills to them.

"Jumpy? We hadn't noticed!" Daxter said, referring to the fact that Vin had just fired at them without hearing what any of them had to say, though at the same time he noticed that Alvin and his brothers had climbed off of Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy's shoulders and were now looking at the area on the other side of where Vin was standing, to which he came up with a good idea on how to freak Vin out while not revealing anything to the man in question, to which he let out a fake scream as he pointed at the brothers, "Ah, there's a Metal Head behind you!"

It was in that moment that Vin panicked as he glanced behind him, even though he also shook for a few seconds as that happened, especially since he rested with his back against the terminal that he had been working on before their arrival, but it only took him a few moments to realize that Daxter had been pulling his leg, even if it was followed by him falling to the ground after that happened, while the siblings did their best not to make any sudden movements since Vin might be angry with them for not stopping Daxter, even if the Ottsel brothers didn't seem all that annoyed by what he had done by pointing in their direction. 

"Just kidding... nice reaction time though." Daxter commented, as he wasn't expecting Vin to react that fast to his action, even if he had acted fast when the siblings came to rescue him from the Metal Heads, though he could see an annoyed look appear on Vin's face as he said that, meaning he likely didn't approve of what was going on and that this was just a waste of time, even though the group was waiting for him to get to the reason that he had called on Torn to send some aid to his location, since he seemed just fine.

"That's not funny!" Vin stated, confirming their thoughts on the manner, that he didn't approve of Daxter's actions or the fact that Jak and his sisters hid a bit of laughter at his expense, though in the following moment he got up and returned to the terminal he had been working on before their arrival and focused on why he had asked Torn to call someone to the Power Station, since he knew that these guys were skilled after what happened at the Strip Mine, which caused Jak and his sisters to pay attention to what he had to say next, "Those Metal Heads have been attacking our mining operations for a while now and we're starting to run out of Eco! I don't know if you know this or not, but Eco power keeps the city Shield Walls up, and if the shield drops... well, we can all kiss our butts goodbye!"

"We've got a few surprises for those Metal Heads." Jak commented, referring to both his and Cozy's Dark Forms, as well as the magical powers that Twilight and Starlight had access to, which seemed stronger than what he had seen during their first adventure three hundred years ago, and that wasn't counting the new addition to their arsenal, the true forms of the Ottsel brothers to be exact, which they would keep secret until it was time to reveal it to their enemies and allies, which would no doubt shock everyone else in the process.

"You guys have got to keep the Shield Walls up until the Shadow figures out what to do." Vin replied, informing them that he did believe in the Shadow and his methods, even if he worked for the Baron, meaning he was a full member of their faction and explained a few things to the siblings as they stood there, before he focused on something that happened to be on the screen he was looking at, as if he was trying to draw them over to where he was standing, or something to that effect anyway, "My readings show that there is a drop in Eco flow at the Drill Platform... probably some Metal Head eggs sucking away power. So, to help you guys out, I switched the end point of this Warp Gate, as it will allow you to go to the Drill Platform and investigate the problem, so you can destroy any and all Metal Head eggs you might find."

Jak nodded his understanding before he and his sisters, with their Ottsels in tow, walked over to the Warp Gate and moved through it once more, this time heading over to the Drill Platform and not the Strip Mine, though when they appeared on the other side of the device the four of them found that there were in a massive mechanical area that was built on top of a massive drill, even though no one had any idea why this place even existed in the first place, despite the fact that it looked like the Baron might be drilling for some deep Eco deposits to fuel the city and his deal. As they headed down the nearby ramp, which seemed to be heading for a couple of platforms that had an armored turret on top of it, that was when they discovered a new type of Metal Head, one that was as tall as the Stinger type they had seen in the Strip Mine, though these small Metal Heads seemed to be spinners and had blades that allowed them to deal damage to whoever happened to be around them, but a single Scatter Gun blast, as the siblings discovered, was more than enough to take these ones out, so they were another easy target to take care of. Theodore informed them that these were Spinners, or 'Roto Blades' as he and his brothers had heard some of the Krimzon Guards call this type of Metal Head, and there happened to be about ten more Spinners guarding the platforms that the turret was resting on, so all the siblings had to do was blast them with their weapons and knocked them all out, allowing Twilight to gather their Skull Gems as Jak quickly made his way up to where the turret rested, though he didn't get into it as he waited for Twilight and the others to catch up. Once everyone was back together Jak climbed into the turret and started to turn it so he could pinpoint the exact areas that the Metal Head eggs were resting in, leaving Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight to defend the area and make sure no enemies got in the way, where Cozy had to admit that it was weird for the Ottsel brothers to even assist them with this, since they were allowing them to kill unborn Metal Heads, but none of them were worried about that and figured that since none of them were allied with the Hive anymore it wasn't something for the three of them to worry about.

Sure enough they found that a number of flying Metal Heads, grunt sized ones to be exact who had what appeared to be jet packs of some kind on their backs, allowing them to move through the air and fire upon their foes, where Simon quickly told them that these were Strafers, given what this type were capable of, though that didn't stop them from firing on the incoming force of enemies, which had to be hatchery guards or something similar to that role, as Jak fired blasts through the air and targeted the egg clusters, where one was on part of the platform near the Warp Gate, two were on separate parts of a building that was in front of them, another was on a machine to their left, and the last was on a wall to the left as well, all of which were easy for him to hit.

After a few minutes Twilight and her sisters lowered their guns as they noticed that there were no more enemies for them to worry about, as they had blasted them with bullets and small magical blasts, while at the same time Jak blew up every Metal Head egg that happened to be in this area, one section of them breaking a hole in part of the building that was right in front of them, meaning it gave them a chance to reach the next part of the Drill Platform and continue their assault on the enemies that were in this place. With Jak being done with the turret, and he was sure that there were no more eggs in this area, he climbed out and they returned to the square shaped lift that rested in the middle of the platform, which had allowed them to get up here in the first place, before standing still as it lowered for a few seconds and returned them to the first platform they had reached, even though it continued to the very bottom of the set and allowed them to move out once more, where Jak and his sisters headed for the hole he had created so they could see what the next area looked like and if there were any additional enemies for them to worry about. During that short walk they found a diagonal conveyor belt that allowed the four of them to reach Jak's hole in the wall, where they found a Human-sized bipedal Metal Head that carried an energy shield on it's left arm, one that could be summoned and dismissed whenever it wanted, and it also had it's own blaster attached to the other arm, meaning it could fight and defend itself, though as Alvin identified it as one of the Centurion Metal Heads, who were stronger than the Grunts, but that didn't stop Dark Cozy from rushing forward not a few seconds later and punched at her foe, causing it to raise the shield for a moment. What was interesting was that the energy shield shuddered for a moment or two, showing that it was pretty strong and would negate their gun blasts if one of them fired at it, but before the Centurion could raise it's gun Dark Cozy spun around and kicked at the shield with the side of her left leg, sending her opponent right into the wall behind it and smashed it through the material, which Twilight knew was made out of metal, confirming the fact that her strength had not waned at all and that she was just as deadly as she had been when they first found her.

Of course on the other side of the new hole Jak, Twilight, and Starlight found a number of Spinners, likely between twenty to thirty of this type of Metal Head based on what they were seeing, to which they separated from each other and opened fire on them, blasting the enemies that were in the area, which appeared to be a fuel area for the entire Drill Platform due to the number of Eco barrels that were resting around them, while Dark Cozy went to town on her foe, beating the more powerful Centurion into the ground and smashing the shield apart whenever it was used, before she tore the shield arm off and then ripped out it's Skull Gem, killing it in seconds.

Such a thing only confirmed how dangerous Dark Cozy was, that she was capable of wiping out her foes with ease, due to what she had just done, and Twilight was glad that her sister's Dark Form had the ability now to see who was friendly and who was a foe, given what happened to her back in the Fortress, but right now she wasn't rampaging and seemed to focus on a single opponent at any given moment, to which she stopped beside her siblings as Starlight pointed out the path that would allow them to continue forward. Of course the path in question happened to involve climbing up some Eco barrels and walking over a few of the burners that were over on the left side of this place, which would bring them to a platform with a switch of some kind, to which they started climbing and only stopped when a burst of fire erupted from the various burners that they had to traverse to reach the end, though at the end of the second one they found the switch and struck it the moment one of them reached where it was resting. Such a thing allowed a lift to rise across a gap that was near the area they were standing in, to which they jumped over to the raised section and found a ramp heading downwards, to a group of four Spinners that Dark Cozy wiped out with a blast of her Scatter Gun, meaning her Dark Form could wield the gun and Dark Jak might be able to do the same thing, though that brought them to another switch and it raised another lift for them to use, with Twilight blasting another group of four Spinners with her own weapon, opening the way for them to walk over a slim walkway that was in front of them. One thing they should have expected was that there were a number of Strafers flying towards their location, where Jak and Starlight opened fire on them as Twilight and Dark Cozy focused on taking out a group of Spinners that were guarding the platforms that contained another square shaped lift, which was just below one of the turrets they would be using to wipe out the various clusters of Metal Head eggs, though once the couple of flying enemies were taken care of, at least for now based on what they've seen, Jak and Starlight caught up with them and Jak took control of the turret.

This time around the clusters of eggs rested on a building that was in front of them, a ledge on the building behind them, and right on top of a roof, the one that the first two clusters were attached to, so while Jak opened fire on them, just like what he had done on the first turret, Twilight, Starlight, and Dark Cozy dealt with the Strafers that were coming at them, blasting them right out of the air as they tried to defend the eggs, though another section of the next building shattered as one cluster was taken out, revealing an area that another Centurion was defending.

With this section of the Drill Platform cleared out, and Jak was sure of that after Twilight and Starlight glanced out and took a quick count of what was around them, before he climbed out of the turret and they used the lift to lower themselves to the lowest point, even though Dark Cozy burst through the air and rushed right into the side of the Centurion that was in front of them, knocking it to the side as her siblings followed after her, even though Jak and his sisters had to blast a new group of Spinners that were around the lowest point of the lift. From there they caught up with Dark Cozy and found that she had dominated the Centurion with ease, something that really made Alvin and his brothers a little nervous since those were supposed to be some of the strongest Metal Heads in the Hive, save for them, even if they weren't affiliated with the Hive anymore, and the Leader, meaning the combination of Dark Eco and magic wasn't to be underestimated and made them wonder what would happen if such an evolution happened to either Starlight or Twilight, before deciding that they could think about it later as they pressed onward. On the other side of the small building the siblings discovered a number of platforms that seemed like the type that would fall if someone walked on them for more than a few seconds, meaning only one would be able to cross at a time if they did things normally, hence the reason that Twilight and Starlight formed a few magical platforms for them and Dark Cozy as Jak tackled the path in front of him, even if it included using some pipes in the right wall to swing his way to the walkway that happened to be on the other end of this area, even though that was when they found a number of Spinners blocking the area in question. As such Twilight and her sisters opened fire on the enemies that were blocking the way, which was easy thanks to their skills with their weapons, opening the way for Jak to catch up with them as they realized that they had found the third, and apparently final, turret that would allow someone to wipe out the clusters of Metal Head eggs that were in this section of the Drill Platform, to which they rode the lift up to where the turret rested and Jak climbed in as his sisters braced themselves for the Strafers to arrive.

Sure enough their enemies came the moment they felt Jak firing upon the egg clusters, which rested on the building that was across from them, a second rested to the left of the first one, another was attached to a wall to their right, and the last one was up on a tall crane, even though the last one looked like it might break the crane at any moment, though as he did that his sisters opened fire on the Strafers, blasting them out of the air and Twilight made sure to snatch their Skull Gems for later, since there was no telling how many more the Oracle might want in exchange for giving more aid to Jak and Cozy when they eventually returned to where it rested. As Twilight expected the last cluster of eggs, the crane one to be exact, ended up shattering the upper part of the machine and the head fell down into the area they were in, smashing up part of the building and the landing that was nearby, created a bridge that they could use to reach a brand new Warp Gate, which was rather nice since it meant they wouldn't have to backtrack to the one that had brought them here, and she made sure Vin was aware of what had happened, even though the man groaned and mentioned that he would pass the blame to the Metal Heads when he eventually reported this to the Baron. That meant none of them would be involved in his report, as he wasn't the type to mention the Underground's involvement in what happened, not unless a Krimzon Guard was nearby and reported what really happened, which was unlikely since Twilight had seen none of them since their arrival, but once that was done Jak climbed out of the turret and they accessed the lift so it could head down to the lowest platform it was connected to, and there were only two Spinners at the bottom level of the structure, so all they needed was a single blast from Jak's gun to clear out their enemies. Once all of that was done Jak and his sisters walked over to the new bridge and walked across it, where Vin informed them that he had modified the code of the Warp Gate in the building to bring them back to the Power Station, even though he'd keep the code hidden in case they needed it for something else, and once all of them reached it they took turns jumping through the Warp Gate, returning to the area that Vin was now working in for the foreseeable future, though it was in that moment that Jak decided to see if Vin could help them out, and it was easy to see that his sisters knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Hey Vin, I know we just got done with taking care of the Metal Head eggs, but there's something we need to ask you," Jak said, something that caused Vin to stop what he was doing and turn towards them for a few seconds, where it looked like he was interested in what they might have to say after dealing with all of those eggs, where Twilight assumed he might be thinking that they would rather do something else and not be sent out to destroy more instances like that, hence why Jak braced himself for a few seconds, "look, we need a favor."

"Sorry, I can't help you with your Eco bill." Vin replied, which wasn't what Twilight was expecting him to say, given that they had just got done taking down a bunch of Metal Heads and wiped out a number of egg clusters that were located all over the Drill Platform, and he even waved his hand in a dismissive manner, like this wasn't something he could even help them with, despite the fact that Twilight was sure he could do something about an 'Eco bill' if someone came asking, like Torn or someone else from the Underground.

"It's not about that... we need you to switch on the access elevator in one of the Palace's support towers." Twilight stated, where she decided it was best if they got to the main reason they wanted to talk with him for a few minutes and not just leave the Power Station, even though it was possible that such a thing would happen soon, depending on Vin's answer to the favor they were asking him to do for them, though at the same time it looked like Vin might have been surprised by the real favor that she and her siblings wanted him to do for them.

"Sheesh, that's part of the old B-Zone power grid! It hasn't worked for years!" Vin said, though it looked like he might have been close to exclaiming that information out of frustration, why they had no idea since this was all news to them, but at the same time it gave Twilight an idea on what could be done to convince the man to assist them in switching on the old lift that was in the tower Keira told them about, and she could see that her siblings understood what was going through her head at the moment.

"Well, if it's too hard for you, I understand... power stuff can be tricky." Cozy replied, where she turned around for a couple of seconds and faced the door of the Power Station, mostly because it was a tactic to influence Vin's decision, but even so there was a bit of truth to that statement, she didn't know a lot about what Vin, Twilight, and Keira, at the very least, knew about and left it to her sisters to explain things to her, and by saying her statement like that she was banking on Vin doing something to show them that none of this was hard for someone like him.

"Tricky?" Vin exclaimed, this time looking a little offended by the statement, to which he started to walk all over the rest of the Power Station as he resumed talking, pressing buttons and flipping switches, all while using a lift to ride over to parts of this room and check on information that was relevant to what he was doing at the moment, but even as that happened the siblings smiled for a few seconds, as Cozy's statement had caused Vin to do what they were hoping for, now they had to wait for a few moments and see if he was successful or not, "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 said, giving the man some praise for his efforts, even though he was sure he and Cozy would be asking Twilight and Starlight what Vin had said while he was working on the various terminals and readings in this place, as that was most of what they knew about power related items, and the rest of his group, both his sisters and their Ottsels, nodded their heads in agreement with what he had said, meaning all of them were impressed by what Vin had done over the last minute, especially since it helped them get closer to the Palace.

"Eh, actually, Mar was the genius. People say he made most of this stuff a long time ago... the Shield Wall system, the Eco Grid..." Vin replied, his tone filled with the same reverence when someone spoke about Mar, the founder of Haven City, as that was all they knew about the man and Twilight was determined to figure out more about him so they didn't get caught off guard when something interesting about him was mentioned, before Vin shook his head and focused on what else he had to tell them, before they left the Power Station, "Anyway, to get that elevator moving, you gotta find and turn on all the old B-Zone power boxes located in the city, and there are five of them! Oh, and before you say something like 'that doesn't sound so tough', just know that they are being guarded by motion sensing turbo cannons! But, if you can destroy the five cannons, and switch on the boxes that they are guarding, I can do the rest... though if you get up to the Palace, don't tell the Baron anything about me... in fact, if you talk to him, don't mention me at all!"

As Jak, Starlight, and Cozy headed outside the Power Station, to collect their zoomers and head out, Twilight made sure to get the exact locations of the B-Zone turrets, where she found that their exact positions were the same as the few turrets that were in the Slums and parts of the Industrial Section, originally designed to protect the city from attackers and were now used to put down any Underground assaults in the area they were located in, where she found that the first one was just around the corner from where they were located. As such she joined her siblings and they headed down the ramp so they could reach the area that the turret was located in, though interestingly enough when one of their zoomers reached what seemed to be the outside of the area their first target was located in the turret burst out of the container it rested in, before turning in their direction and fired at them, causing Twilight and Starlight to weave their magic through the air and form temporary barriers to block the blasts, as a turret could easily damage their zoomers and knock them right out of the air if they were unlucky. Of course that didn't stop Twilight from turning her vehicle to the side and drifted for a moment, as it was something that Keira had taught her how to do while Jak was practicing with her JET-Board, granting Jak a small opening to loose a blast from the Blaster and blow the entire turret to pieces, showing them that they must not have been maintained at all and that they were incredibly weak, allowing a single attack to break through the metal that protected the weapons, though once that was done Jak returned to sitting straight as they headed over to where the next turret was located, with Starlight stopping for a moment so Cozy could press the button that the turret had been guarding. The next one was a minute or two away and just so happened to be in a turn that was important for everyone to make when they were heading through this section of the city, though as Twilight headed for the third turret, located near the border that between the Industrial Section and the Slums, Starlight neared the second one and Cozy jumped off the zoomer, where she loosed a burst of magic, a small one since it was taking her some time to get back to what she was previously capable of, and blew the turret up before it could fire at her, before she activated the button, jumped off of it, and then landed on the zoomer as Starlight resumed following after their siblings, allowing her and Starlight to vanish before anyone realized what they had done.

When Twilight reached the third turret she loosed an icicle that smashed through the metal and blew the weapon apart in a matter of seconds, even if she paused for a few seconds to allow Jak to jump out of their zoomer and activate the button it had been guarding before their arrival, and once he returned to her Starlight and Cozy passed them so they could head over to the four turret's location, in the area the Underground hideout was in, leaving the last one, which was located near the Water Slums, for her and Jak to take out. Sure enough Starlight neared her target a few moments later and raised one of her barriers for a few seconds, allowing it to tank the incoming attack from the turret, before she blasted it with a bolt of lightning and blew the entire device to pieces, allowing Cozy a chance to quickly activate the button that was revealed with the turret's destruction, leaving just the last one for them to take out, which should allow Vin to do whatever it was that he needed to do to power up the lift Keira had told the four of them about. Twilight wasted no time in getting over to where the last turret rested, allowing Jak to jump out of the vehicle and land behind the weapon so he could break it apart, not to mention activate the button that was below it, before he jumped up to the zoomer his sister was driving and reclaimed his seat, to which Twilight and Starlight engaged an invisibility spell of sorts and disappeared before the Krimzon Guards could lock onto the area that they were in, allowing them to return to the Industrial Section and rest in a corner before revealing themselves once more. It was in the following moments that Vin informed them that, due to what they had just done, the B-zone power grid was back online and that he wished them well whenever they visited the Palace, even though he was sure that such a thing was more like a death wish than anything else and that the four of them might be heading right to their deaths, to which they dismissed the Communicator and started to head back in the direction of the Stadium Section, as the tower they had just empowered was in that area, according to Keira, and they would need to be swift before anyone realized what was going on.

None of them had any idea what they were going to find during their visit to the Palace, though Jak was banking on some sort of information that could be handed over to Torn and the Shadow, to turn the tide against the Baron in some manner,  while Twilight and the others remained silent, as they had a feeling that something terrible was going to be found as soon as they found out where the Baron was resting inside the Palace, and they were hoping that they were wrong for thinking that way, even though they braced themselves for what they were going to do and hoped this didn't ruin anything that Torn and the Underground had planned.