//------------------------------//
// Renegade: Consequences and Information 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Heirs of Mar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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After checking out the rest of the part of the Palace that they had access to, and discovered that there were no paths that would allow someone to enter from above, or at least none that any of them could see, Starlight found a Door Lock on the other side of the area that they were in and that it might lead them down to the entrance of the structure, as in the main one that was near the Port and the terrible statue of the Baron, though that was when they found something that would a problem for Midnight, her wings might be a problem with the doors and elevators that happened to be around the rest of the city, even if they were tucked close to her back. Midnight then used her magic to prove them wrong, as they vanished in a matter of seconds and left her in a more normal form, where she explained that it was an illusion spell and that she could bring them out whenever she wanted to, to which they passed through the Door Lock that rested in front of them and accessed the elevator that was inside it without delay, something that descended down to the depths of it's passage before coming to a stop in the edge of a large area that seemed to be the front of the Palace. There were a few terminals around the area they were in, complete with a number of flags and emblems that bared the mark of the Baron, which all of them were sorely tempted to burn just to piss off the Baron, but instead of doing that, and smoking the place, Jak and the others headed for the Door Lock that would allow them to head outside and found their information was correct, this allowed them to leave the palace and step out onto a few steps that were directly across from the Baron's stone statue, where it was easy to find that there was some traffic nearby. Another interesting thing was that the door closed as soon as all of them were outside and were clear of the door, though it was in the following moments that Midnight weaved a few bits of her magic through the air and teleported both of their zoomers over to where they were standing, in front of them to be exact, and used a bit more to hide them for a time so they could leave this area without the Krimzon Guards being able to discover where they were.

Starlight spent the flight back to the Underground's hideout, since that was where they were headed right now, thinking about what had happened when she and the others spied on their foe from above, as the information would be valuable for Torn and his superior, to help plan the war against the Baron, but everything that happened to Twilight was something else entirely, as Midnight was more like a regal being, a princess or something, and her power was far beyond what any of them had been expecting, though before she could actually figure anything out they reached the hideout and climbed out of their vehicles... and when they headed down the steps they found Torn and Kor discussing something, with the kids off to the side, who paused and glanced at the group for a moment.

"The Krimzon Guard are on high alert... what the hell did the lot of you do?!" Torn exclaimed, referring to the fact that the couple of zoomers and patrols they had seen had been looking for them, given that they had invaded part of the Palace a short while ago, even though it was clear that he honestly had no idea what they had done and just how pissed off they had made the Baron by overhearing his conversation with the Metal Head Leader, which was why they had come back in the first place, instead of laying low for a time.

"Well, we helped Vin with his Metal Head problems and restored power to one of the Palace's towers so we could head up there and get some information from listening in on his conversations," Midnight responded, showing everyone that she wasn't even worried about what Torn might have to say to her statement, since with her new magical power she would be able to take the fight to the Baron on her own if she needed to, in case they were thrown out of the Underground, before she thought about what happened a few moments ago, "though it appears that we tripped a few alarms along the way, as we had to engage the Baron for a couple of seconds before he flew off with his tail between his legs."

"What?! I didn't authorize a strike on the Baron!" Torn stated, where it was easy to see that he might be pissed off that the group went behind his back like this and assaulted the Palace without his say so, while at the same time Kor raised one of his eyebrows for a moment, no doubt because he was curious as to why they had done such a thing and what they might have learned from their efforts, while the children continued to play with each other while they let the grown ups talk and discuss everything that had happened.

"We know you didn't... we just weren't expecting to sound an alarm or two and have him come to us," Daxter said, where this time around he was totally serious about things and wasn't in a joking mood, mostly because the Baron wanted all of them to be returned to the Fortress to see what in the world happened when Twilight and Starlight had Dark Eco pumped into their bodies, even though they now had a good idea of what would happen to one of the sisters, before he focused on the important piece of their conversation, "though while we were spying on him we overheard the end of his meeting, no doubt a secret one since there were no guards in the throne room, with the Leader of the Metal Heads!"

"You saw the Metal Head Leader?" Kor inquired, though his tone revealed that if the Metal Head Leader was inside Haven City then something bad was about to happen to everyone that they were fighting to protect, which was understandable due to the fact that the one who lead the Metal Heads was massive and his power had to be far greater than any of the other foes they had faced so far, but as he said that Torn seemed to be thinking about something, no doubt the fact that the group did have some information to share with him.

"No, he was on some sort of communicator, but we heard him talking with the Baron." Starlight replied, because that was the basics of what they had seen when they were spying on their foes, even if they wished there had been more to their private conversation, all so they could hand over more incriminating evidence to Torn and the Underground, which would have been useful in gaining more support from the citizens of the city, before she focused on Torn again, "The scene we witnessed inside the Fortress and the information we recovered from Krew are accurate: the Baron is definitely bribing the Metal Heads with Eco."

"I'm afraid that it will never be enough." Kor said, informing the group that he must have seen the Metal Head armies at one point in the past, before coming to Haven City and joining the Underground, meaning that there was no amount of Eco that the Baron could offer that would cause the Metal Head Leader to stop his assault on the city, meaning he might be thinking of breaking the deal in his own manner so he could resume tearing into the Eco Dome, "Well, that explains a few things, as it appears that our good Baron's wonderful charm must have angered someone, because there's word from the wasteland that the Metal Head armies are on the move again!"

"Another problem on top of the never ending pile!" Torn remarked, something that the group understood all to well, as it appeared that when one problem was solved one or two more appeared not a few moments later, or sometime later in some cases, though that was when he sighed for a few seconds as he focused on Jak's group, despite the fact that it was easy for him to notice something different about Twilight, something he would worry about later, "Since you've stirred up the Wumpbee's nest, the lot of you get to move four of our people to new safe houses, as in you will be shuttling each of our agents to a location that they specify, and you need to move all of them without any casualties... don't screw this up, as we can't afford to lose anyone in this critical time."

Jak and his siblings nodded not a few seconds after the order was given, though the first thing they did when they headed outside was find two more two seater zoomers, as since there were four of them and four targets for them to shuttle this allowed them to move all of them at the same time and confuse the Krimzon Guards that might be looking for anyone that happened to be working with Torn and the Underground, and since Midnight and Starlight could use magic they didn't have to worry about their foes finding them. Jak took the first of the four targets, who happened to be right outside where the hideout was located, and he found that the agent in question had a bandana wrapped around his mouth to show that he was part of the Underground, so while his sisters headed out to find the other three agents he paused by his target a few seconds later and waited for him to climb into the zoomer, to which he headed out into the Slums and discovered that his passenger wanted to be dropped off near the border between this section and the Industrial Section. As he did that Starlight headed for the second agent, who happened to be in the market area that was right in front of the Fortress, on the other side of some houses to be exact, and when she picked him up she used a bit of her magic to hide themselves as a decoy was sent out, tricking the guards who had been following her into chasing the wrong target, before delivering the agent to his destination with ease, a building that rested near the Door Lock that lead to Dead Town. Cozy discovered that the third of the four agents was in front of the Water Slums, appearing to be a traveler of some kind so the guards had no idea which building he had emerged from, before finding that he wanted to be placed near one of the Fortress' walls, not the one she and her siblings had emerged from when they first exited the building in question, even though she growled a little as she stared at the building when they approached it, but for the most part she was able to deliver her passenger without delay and this would ensure he was in the last place the Baron would think to look for him.

Midnight, on the other hand, found that the fourth and final agent was near the very opening that allowed her, Jak, Cozy, and Starlight, not to mention the Ottsels, to exit the Fortress the first time, and the area he wanted to be taken to was off in the Water Slums, so what she did was make sure to use an illusion spell and confuse their pursuers, since she was sure that some Krimzon Guards had been following her and sure enough they chased after her illusion, allowing her to deliver the agent to his destination before heading back to the hideout, where she and her siblings walked down to where Torn was resting, even if Kor and the kids were gone.

"The operation was a success... you managed to move everyone while making sure the guards didn't see where they went, thanks to your skills and magic," Torn commented, to which he sighed for a moment, where it looked like he was going to forgive them for going behind his back and assaulting the Palace on their own, without approval from him or the Shadow, and quickly turned to look at them once more, even though Midnight could tell that he had decided against forgiving them, meaning he wanted to get this over with before something else happened, "Now, you mentioned that you overheard part of the Baron's conversation with the Metal Head Leader, but didn't go into it while Kor and the kids were here... can you tell me what you learned from our enemies?"

"The Metal Head Leader is growing impatient with the Baron, as he's demanded the rest of the agreed upon Eco that was promised to him in their deal," Cozy remarked, as while she had been angry at seeing their foes talking to each other, even if she had held that anger back so they didn't reveal themselves to their enemies, she had taken great care to listen to the conversation and make sure to gleam as much information as they could, all to be delivered to Torn, and later the Shadow whenever they got together and spoke to each other, "and we heard the Baron tell him that the Eco would be delivered to the Nest at the end of the week, though once the Metal Head Leader disconnected his communicator we learned that the Baron is planning on double-crossing him in some manner... he's also looking for the heir to the throne, the Tomb of Mar, and that Ashelin is the Baron's daughter... I can hazard a guess why you kept that last piece of information a secret, so I'm not going to hold it against you."

"That's... a lot to take in," Torn admitted, because while it sounded like the Baron was going to end up betraying the Metal Head Leader at some point in the very near future, based on what he had just been told, there was more information than what he was expecting and this made him wonder what the Shadow would say when they spoke to each other, though it was in that moment that he focused on something that none of the siblings had mentioned, as he had spent a minute or two thinking about this, "Also, what in the world happened to Twilight?"

"The name is Midnight Sparkle now, not Twilight Sparkle," Midnight answered, once more showing that she wanted those who knew her to call her by the name she had given herself, instead of referring to her by Twilight's name, even though she would forgive Torn for not knowing that piece of information since this was the first time she had told him this, unlike what happened when she told the Baron her name and Jak used Twilight's name, which had hurt her a little, before she focused on what to tell the man in front of them, "and the Baron was planning on shocking all of us into submission, back when he found us after we listened in on his conversation, so he could torment us and experiment on us, but that was the moment I was granted the form you are seeing right now, in addition to a pair of wings that I can't use in a place like this, and I knocked the Baron around before he fled."

"...right..." Torn slowly said, as he really had no idea what in the world was happening, though based on everything he had seen and learned from Twilight over the years, not to mention Starlight's abilities and Cozy's changes, the latter being a tad bit frightening in their own right since a berserker could have been loosed into the city if the Baron wasn't careful, he had the feeling that Twilight's magic had been combined with Dark Eco in a terrifying manner, resulting in what he was seeing at the moment, before he sighed, "Look, I'll speak to the Shadow about this and see if he has any ideas on what we should do after your stunt... however, if the Baron is sending some of the guards out to look for the Tomb of Mar, we might need to speak with Onin, a seer Ashelin pointed to me to once in the past... it might be a stretch, but she might be able to help us figure out where the Tomb rests."

"Then we'll head out and see if she's willing to help us." Jak replied, because he was interested in the Tomb of Mar, due to the fact that the Baron was interested in it and whatever might be resting inside it, even though he suspected that he and his siblings might have to tackle some sort of challenges before they were able to prove themselves to this Onin, given all of the challenges and obstacles they had overcome in the past, and it was followed by Torn nodding his head, to which he and the others headed for the stairs and headed outside once more.

Once the siblings left the Underground hideout, and they were sure that none of the Krimzon Guards knew the area that they were coming from, Jak made sure they had their two original zoomers and headed off for the Bazaar, a section of the city that was more like a general market and held pretty much everything and anything that someone might need to get through their daily lives, though to get to the area they were interested in they had to park their zoomers near one of the entrances of the Bazaar and walked down one of the paths to enter the sunken area... though their destination rested at a dead end, where they found a tent that seemed out of place, and suspected that this had to be where they would find the one called Onin.

"Cool! Check out all the dead and creepy stuff that's in this place!" Daxter stated, referring to everything that was in front of him and the siblings, as there were wooden masks, a number of cages with either liquid or stuff inside them, and a few drawers that likely contained a number of stuff, not to mention a few sacks as well, before they noticed an old lady, who had to be far older than Samos was, resting on a mat in the middle of the tent, though it appeared she was sleeping, which was when Daxter turned for a moment and proceeded to poke the red, yellow, and blue feathered parrot that happened to be hanging upside down to their left, whose eyes snapped open and bit his finger for a moment, causing him to pull his hand backwards in the process.

"Touch the goods again, rat boy, and you'll be counting with your toes!" the parrot stated, even though he did take a few seconds to squawk when he got around to mentioning the fact that Daxter might have to count with his toes, but that was when he flapped his wings for a moment, which he used as hands in some manner since he had pointed his feathers at Daxter, and flew over to the odd bowl shaped item that was on top of the old lady's head, before he landed and struck a pose for a few seconds before bothering to continue speaking, "I am Pecker! Yes, yes, I know... my mother, she was... very vindictive. I am Onin's interpreter."

Jak and his sisters had to admit that it was rather interesting for the parrot to be named 'Pecker', even though it did earn a chuckle from all of them and brought about Pecker's little excuse for why he had been given the name in the first place, as the blame could definitely be placed on a vindictive mother, before they paused for a moment as the old lady opened her eyes, revealing that she might be blind since there was no coloration to them, and spread her hands for a moment before clapping her hands together and started to rub them, where bits of Blue Eco seemed to dance through the air as everyone waited to see what was going to happen next as Onin started to move her hands.

"Onin welcomes you, blah blah blah blah blah, the usual boring salutations that everyone receives," Pecker said, showing them what he meant by being Onin's 'interpreter', meaning he either felt the movements from his bowl or there might be a mirror nearby that allowed him to see her motions so he could do his work, before he seemed to raise an eyebrow for a few seconds as he focused on the group once more, even if he didn't seem to care about it and just wanted to get this over with so he could get back to his rest, "she also says that it is good to see all of you again."

"But we've never met before," Jak replied, though in that moment he considered his statement and Onin's words, as there was a chance that his words were wrong and that it was possible they had encountered the old seer at some point in the past, and he could see that Starlight and Cozy were thinking about this as well, while Midnight seemed to be focused on all of the items that were around them, listening to the conversation and soaking in all the information she could gain over the next couple of minutes, "at least I don't think so."

"Before, after; it is all the same." Pecker stated, either not caring about what Jak had to say or felt that it was nothing in the grand scheme of things, but this was another thing that confirmed the fact that the siblings had come from the future and had likely used the Precursor Rift Gate to travel into the past for some reason, no doubt to grow into the heroes that the young kids were seeing every now and then, before he noticed that Onin was moving once more, "Onin also says that she welcomes Midnight Sparkle, along with extending the same gesture to the 'Metal Ones'... I have no idea what she means, and this is the second time this has happened since I started working for her."

"It's an honor to meet you as well, Onin," Midnight said, where this time she smiled for a moment, as while she knew that none of them had encountered the seer before this point in time, which would have allowed her to know who they were at this point in time, she was more than willing to take her knowing that she was different from Twilight, even if she shared a body with her other side, and they knew who Onin was referring to with her latter statement, before she focused on why they had come here in the first place, "Torn sent us seeking answers about the Tomb of Mar and why the Baron might be interested in discovering it's location, and was hoping that you would be able to aid us in that matter."

"Oh! Oh! Let me try!" Daxter stated, where he focused on Onin for a few moments as she moved her arms, even though it came to a stop and the old seer seemed to frown for a time, something that was mimicked by Pecker, meaning that this sort of thing had to be common for new visitors and that they simply let someone exhaust themselves before either one of them bothered to speak up, where Pecker flew over to a box that rested nearby and landed so he could be near Jak and his sisters, to patiently wait for Daxter to stop speaking, "Uh, she wants a... she wants a Yakow bone! A Yakow bladder? No, no! I got it! For many moons... she has... waited for... a juice pop? A jewel shop? Oh! Oh! I know, she's  got a hairball?! A hair lip? A hairy chest?"

"Close... but no!" Pecker replied, which meant that Daxter might have gotten close to describing part of Onin's body with his last statement, even if he was purely guessing at this point in time, before he waved one of his wing-arms and stopped any of them from saying anything else, which also happened to be when the old seer resumed moving her arms and the bits of Blue Eco danced around the area she was resting in, "Onin says that she foresaw you coming here, to seek answers about the Tomb of Mar, and that she has something to share with the lot of you..."

"Is something wrong?" Jak asked, because he and his sisters had been patiently waiting for Onin to tell them what sort of information they needed to move forward, especially since the Baron was looking for the Tomb and whatever was hidden inside it, though the rate that Onin was moving her arms and all of the bits of Eco made him wonder if she had found a bit of danger that worried her or something, even if all of his thoughts were mere guesses at this point in time and they were waiting to hear what she had to say.

"She's going on and on about mystical energy channels, evil curses, stupid 'wooh' crap. Forget all that!" Pecker stated, as he put some emphasis on the word 'wooh', like it was something specific to what they were doing or just specific to him and his beliefs, before he shook his head and focused on the group for a few seconds, which told them that he felt that it might not be necessary for them to hear every warning that Onin had to share with them, even though they were waiting to hear what he might have to share with them, "I'm gonna sum this up quickly, because now you're cutting into my siesta time. Onin wants you to recover three artifacts from the Precursor Mountain Temple.... not two, not four, but three! There is a Warp Gate, located at the northwest side of the city, that will take you to the area these artifacts are resting in, so grab them and then bring back the three items you find... only then will Onin tell you what she knows."

Midnight would have frowned at that information, since they had come to learn about the Tomb of Mar and had gained nothing by speaking to Onin, but at the same time she understood that by knowing of their coming she was able to figure out a few things to share with the four of them, meaning these three artifacts had to be important to finding the Tomb's resting place, which just so happened to be what the Baron was looking for, and Onin was entrusting this mission to them, which meant she must have a great deal of faith in their abilities. Fortunately she knew where the Warp Gate in question was located, as it just so happened to be the very one that Torn had brought Twilight to so she could enter Haven City for the first time and head to where the hideout was located, meaning they would be heading to the temple she had seen all those years ago, near Haven Forest, and it made her wonder where these artifacts were located, something they would figure out in due time as they bid Onin farewell and headed back to where their zoomers were resting. Once everyone was back in their zoomers it was only a matter of moments to reach the other side of the Bazaar section of the city, where they carefully headed through this portion of the city, to avoid drawing the attention of any Krimzon Guards that happened to be patrolling the area, and it allowed Jak, Starlight, and Cozy to see that there was a farm area just outside the Bazaar, an area that explained where some of the food came from since they had seen nothing in the other sections of Haven City, before Midnight pointed out the ramp that lead to the Door Lock she was interested in. As such they came to a stop near the ramp and carefully walked up it, with two of them keeping an eye on the guards that were behind them to be sure no one was coming to arrest them or something, but since there were no enemies coming at them Jak and his sisters were able to open the Door Lock and entered the small chamber that was on the other side, where they patiently waited for the first one to close behind them while the second one unlocked itself, revealing the slim path of earth on the other side that only had the Warp Gate that Onin had told them about.

It didn't take them long to use the Warp Gate and head to the upper path that was far above where the first Warp Gate rested, allowing Jak, Starlight, and Cozy to take a few moments to stare out at the massive temple area that Midnight had seen about three years ago, as the sheer size meant that they would have to spend some time looking for the artifacts that would allow them to find the Tomb of Mar, though before anyone could really progress Midnight quickly raised her right hand and loosed a wave of red energy, a Scatter Blast, at the Precursor cone shaped platform and caused it to flip so they had a walkway to progress to the next part of the area, which happened to have an elevator that revealed something to everyone in the group.

"It looks like there are three paths for us to take," Alvin commented, which was rather interesting, as they could see that there was a path to the left of the main path, a section in front of the path that had to be another path, and there was one more to the right of what appeared to be the end of the main path, minus a locked door that had the emblem of Mar on it, a clue if ever there was one, before he glanced at Midnight and the others, "should we split up and cover more ground, instead of tackling them one at a time?"

Jak nodded his head to that, as it had been the same idea he was thinking of the moment he laid eyes on the area that was in front of them, and he had some ideas on who might be tackling the paths that were in front of them, though he hoped his sisters agreed with his suggestions for tackling these paths, so they could recover the artifacts Onin wanted them to recover and maybe learn more about why the Baron wanted to find the Tomb of Mar so badly, though he had the feeling that things were going to get more interesting from this point forward and was interested in seeing what they might do in the near future.