Upon returning to Haven City, and leaving the Mountain Temple behind for the time being, Jak and his sisters returned to their zoomers, which was still odd for them to do since none of the guards seemed to care about them, and headed back out into the city, this time cutting through the Bazaar and the Industrial Section to reach the Slums, as they were planning on seeing if Torn needed help and if he didn't just check out Krew or the others they had encountered, and Midnight made sure to hide her wings before climbing into the zoomer, before they reached the hideout and found Torn waiting for them, only with a frown on his face.
"Ah, good, you guys have returned," Torn commented, where it sounded like he might be happy to see them again, even if they hadn't been gone for all that long since they had gone to meet Onin and helped her out, even though his expression told them that something must have happened since they entered the Mountain Temple and sought out the artifacts that they now carried in Midnight's storage area, before he stood straight and focused on them for a time, "Did Onin give you any information that we might be able to use?"
"Not yet, as her interpreter told us that she needs time to figure something out," Jak replied, figuring that he might as well answer the question and inform Torn of the situation, that they had helped Onin and were just waiting for her to contact them again, or wait for Pecker to do that since he was the only one of the pair that could speak, before he focused on what he and his sisters had seen when they entered the hideout and stared at Torn for a few seconds, "What happened since we went to talk with Onin? It looks like you got some bad news to share with us."
"You're right about that, as our scouts have reported that there is movement in Dead Town," Torn stated, referring to the part of Haven City that Jak, Starlight, and Cozy had gone through to first join the Underground, since Twilight had been a secret member until their first test was over, something that interested them since all they knew that a few minor enemies had been lurking around that area, meaning something must have changed recently, "Metal Heads are making their way towards the Sacred Site again, just like what happened the last time we noticed them trying it."
"What happened the last time this occurred?" Cozy asked, because they were interested in what happened to the city and everything that had been done to make sure the citizens were safe, even if they new a brand new wall had been built after whatever Torn was about to tell them, where it appeared that the man was debating how much to tell them right now, as if he was worried that Midnight might go off and do something which would put the entire Underground at risk, despite the vast power she had access to.
"Well, the Metal heads broke through the old city wall." Torn answered, something that caused the group to glance at each other for a few moments as they considered what they were being told right now, as it was easy for some of them to think of an idea or consequence of what had happened, but instead of speaking they allowed Torn to finish his tale and then let them leave the hideout, since this was going to end in a mission no doubt, "We fought them with everything we had, just like we're doing right now, but after some time the Baron pulled back, leaving everyone outside the 'new barrier' to die... in fact, only the Shadow stayed behind and somehow, against all odds, stopped the attack in its tracks."
"And let me guess, you want us to go out there again?" Daxter inquired, as while he would have been worried about this sort of thing, given that Torn might be asking them to head out into a Metal Head infested area, with who knew how many still lingering out there, he was very calm about everything since they had Dark Cozy and Midnight with them, as he knew that the former would go crazy when she saw the Metal Heads and the latter would likely mess around before putting her foes down in some manner.
"You catch on fast. If you prevent the Metal Heads from reaching the Sacred Site, the Shadow will be... most grateful... he might even ask to see the lot of you." Torn replied, which happened to be something they were interested in, as meeting the Shadow in this manner meant he was serious and might personally entrust missions to them, to bring down the Baron and his allies, before he shifted his stance for a moment, to stop them from leaving before he was done talking, which was when he placed some interesting items on the table, "Hey, before you guys face whatever is in Dead Town, here's a couple of Vulcan Barrels for your weapons... believe me, based on our readings, you guys are gonna need it, despite the skills and powers you have access to."
Jak and his sisters glanced at each other for a few seconds, as it was odd to have Torn mention something like this, that he figured they were going to need some help, like there was something out in Dead Town that they had to be worried about, before he grabbed the four circular barrel shaped items that were the Vulcan Barrels, which he suspected were the third type of weapon mod that went to their Morph Guns, and headed outside, allowing him to see that this mod created what appeared to be a minigun, a rapid firing device that would do good damage against their enemies. Of course Midnight just stared at hers for a few seconds, like she was studying the makeup of the Eco mod, before transforming it into a blue gem that she placed next to the others she had created, making her more formidable than she already was, though Jak knew giving them the Vulcan Barrels was supposed to do that, for this mission and all the future ones. Once that was done they returned to their zoomers and departed for the part of Haven City that Dead Town's Door Lock was located in, as most of them had been wondering when they would return to this place, given that they had returned to the Pumping Station, as it was one of their more popular destinations, all while wondering if this would grant them a chance to meet a new type of foe, just like what happened when they went to the Drill Platform or the Mountain Temple. Alvin and his brothers felt that it was likely that they were going to encounter some new enemies, even though they were getting close to having seen all of the types of Metal Heads they knew about, thanks to their time in the Nest, informing Jak and his sisters that the Ottsels had a few more enemies to give them information on before they reached the end of their knowledge, even though that still made them wonder what in the world they would find in Dead Town, given that there had been nothing dangerous the last time they had been here.
It didn't take them all that long to return to the Door Lock in question, to which the siblings climbed out of their zoomers and approached the small hole it was resting in, allowing the door to open before walking into the small room, though as they did that Jak, Starlight, and Cozy pulled out their Morph Guns and set them to the Scatter Mod for now, since they had no knowledge of what sort of enemies might be on the other side of the door and this allowed them to be ready for when the door was opened. The first thing they discovered, just a few moments after the door opened, was that there were four or five Stingers that burst out of the ground that was between them and the dark water that was in this place, where Jak just blasted them with a Scatter Blast and opened the way for him and his sisters to move forward, though that was when they spotted some rubble in front of them that now had a wooden platform in front of it, one that would allow them to access another part of Dead Town and just so happened to have a pair of Swipers wandering around it, one in front and one on top of it. That was when Jak switched his weapon modification and pulled out the Vulcan mod as he focused on the closest foe, with Starlight and the others standing to the side to watch what happened next, before he opened fire and found that this weapon fired at a much faster rate than the other two, as he only pressed the trigger for a few seconds and was sure he had fired five or ten bullets through the air, taking down the first Metal Head in seconds, leaving Midnight to create a bit of Blue Eco near the second Swiper and blasted it as well, opening the way for them to continue exploring the new section of this place. From there they climbed up the wooden ledges and found that there happened to be another Swiper up where the second had been resting, one that Starlight and Cozy blasted without wasting a single second, but as that happened Jak and his sisters spotted a new type of Metal Head, a fair number of them, lurking around the section of Dead Town that they were currently in, where they were Human shaped Metal Heads, in terms of size, who had slender forms and carried what appeared to be weapons that slung things at enemies, like rocks or blasts, hence why Alvin told all of them that they were called Slingers.
From what Jak, Starlight, Cozy, and Midnight could see the Slingers had decent range, as there was one that was standing on a lowered section of the next part of the path they were following and it was able to hit the edge of the stone platform they were currently standing on, even if it was a few steps away from where they were actually located, though Midnight blasted the closest one with a burst of her magically positioned Vulcan and opened the way for the others to climb down the path that a few pieces of loose stones formed.
The moment they reached where the first Slinger had been standing, and made sure to put down a Swiper that had been protecting Midnight's target, Jak jumped over the couple of stones that were near them and was followed by his sisters not a few seconds later, which was followed by all four of them firing upon the Slingers and Swipers that were guarding this part of Dead Town, a slope that lead to a ruined walkway and might bring them to a second or third story of a building that had been ruined at one point in time. Jak's reasoning for following this path was mostly because it was the only path they could take, even though there was another one that looked like they needed some sort of machine to break through it, as he wasn't counting Midnight's magical might or Cozy's cheer strength, and given that four of them were firing at their foes, or at least three of them were firing and Midnight was just floating in the air while she loosed a few bursts of her magically empowered Vulcan at any Metal Head that dared to attack them from behind, even if she seemed bored by what she was seeing at the moment. As he witnessed her do that, while he and the others tore down the defenders and reached the thin walkway that was their first destination, Jak had to wonder if Midnight might be getting bored of hanging out with them or something, as she could overpower everything and anything that was thrown at them, while whatever rage she had been using to maintain this form had to be reaching the end of whatever reserve it had, meaning if they waited for a time they would get Twilight back, who would stuff Midnight in a jar or some sort of magical seal to make sure she didn't come back out at the wrong moment, before he sighed and followed the main path they had secured. Of course he left the collection of the Skull Gems to either Midnight or Starlight, since both of them could grab the scattered gems with their magic, while he and Cozy focused on the area in front of them for a time, where it was easy to find a number of Stingers and a couple of Swipers guarding an opening, before Alvin a more buff Slinger, holding a normal gun that looked similar to Sig's, in the middle of the short tunnel, a Gunner based on what he and his brothers knew.
Cozy smashed the Gunner into the wall and dropped it as the others dealt with the rest of the enemies, mostly so none of them had to worry about it, before heading through the tunnel it had been guarding and found the rest of the path that should let them explore the rest of Dead Town, even though it appeared that the number of enemies was going down and that it was only a matter of time until the Metal Heads had been cleared out, but until then the siblings focused on taking down their enemies while keeping their guards up, just like they started doing since they started their war against both the Baron and the Leader of the Metal Heads. The rest of this part of the ruins had two more Gunners guarding it, who fell in seconds due to three people firing at them at the same time, before each of them climbed up the steps they had found a few seconds later and discovered another large room that had a few Swipers and Stingers, patrolling the area, bit it didn't take the siblings that long to clear them out and explore the couple of pillars, just to see if there was anything they might be able to claim for the war effort, before heading through a large opening and found a path on the outside of the ruined building. That seemed to be the way forward and had a few more Stingers that were blasted by Midnight using a burst of her Scatter Wave, like she had done back in the Mountain Temple, before they walked down a short walkway, making sure to be careful about the ledge, and found two more Slingers who appeared to be guarding the last part of Dead Town, but since neither of them seemed to have noticed them Midnight waved her hand and moved both of her targets over to her siblings, who proceeded to blast the pair with their weapons and collected their Skull Gems without delay. With that done, and she was sure that there were no more enemies for them to worry about in this section of Haven City, they walked up to where the pair of Slingers had been standing a few moments ago, something that was followed by them stopping when the siblings noticed something straight out of their past, like it was locked in time or something, and that was Samos' hut, even though there were a few patches that looked like it might be falling apart due to age.
"Well, that confirms it... we're in the future." Jak stated, as while he had been willing to entertain the notion that he and his sisters had been flung three hundred or so years into the future, which would mean this hut survived likely due to Samos' lingering Eco powers, the reason the Metal Heads had been so interested in it, this confirmed that his sisters hadn't been lying to him and Cozy when they were told how much time was between each of their arrivals and when they left the past, even though Daxter was conflicted as he saw this place, like he wanted them to be on another world and not be here, but there was no changing what they were seeing.
Before anyone could say anything else Midnight staggered for a moment and they watched as the Dark Eco that had given rise to her transformation pulled back, breaking due to the fact that she must have expanded too much of her energy and hadn't perfected anything yet, until Twilight was left behind a few moments later, who swayed for a few seconds and was caught by Jak, though everyone was happy that she was back and that Midnight had returned to whatever place she had come from for the foreseeable future, even though she might show herself again if they needed her. Once they were sure Twilight was fine, as it appeared that both she and Midnight might have different levels of energy, meaning while one was active the other slept in the darkness, so Twilight had been resting while Midnight expanded her power against the various foes they had faced, before Jak started to head for the Door Lock and the others followed after him, where Twilight told all of them that she also saw what Midnight had seen, so she knew everything her other side knew, so no one had to tell her what they had learned so far. Starlight considered that to be cheating in some manner, as Twilight could exhaust herself to the bone and then, if she learned how to do it, switch with Midnight for a time and let her other half either continue with whatever she was doing or go do something else for some time, basically allowing one to rest while the other worked, so in a sense the main body didn't have to stop at all, meaning Twilight might have found a way around needing to sleep or taking a break from helping the Underground, but she was determined to say nothing, mostly since she was sure Twilight either knew about it or didn't understand everything that had been uncovered. Other than that they headed through the Door Lock and returned to their zoomers, so they could make their way back through Haven City and returned to the part of the Slums that the hideout was resting in, as it was time for them to see if the Underground's scans had determined that all of the Metal Heads had been taken care of and that the mission had been completed, before Torn gave them the next mission to secure the city and bring down the Baron.
As such they parked their zoomers right outside the door that hid the Underground's hideout, where Jak made sure none of the Krimzon Guards were coming their way and found out neither he or his sisters had to worry, as there were no foes around this part of the city, before they opened the door and headed down the stairs, which was when they were caught off guard when Torn appeared right on the other side of the secondary door, as they were expecting to see him standing near the table and nowhere else.
"Our scans have indicated that you took care of the Metal Heads," Torn commented, where this time around the siblings could tell that he might have a smile or smirk on his face, as if he was happy that they had taken care of the foes that had been heading towards the Sacred Site, regardless of his thoughts on whether or not that place needed to be take down at some point to stop more Metal Heads from invading Dead Town, before he beckoned for them to follow him, "and, as a reward for your efforts, the Shadow has decided that it's time to finally meet you."
"Out of curiosity, why is that old hut in Dead Town so important to you guys?" Jak asked, though he was pleased that their efforts had finally earned them an audience with the Underground's leader, despite the fact that they had done quite a bit since he and Cozy were freed from the Fortress and had given the Shadow a bunch of information he wouldn't have been able to get through normal means, especially since this meant he didn't have to ask Krew about the deal and be taken advantage of by the obese figure.
"According to what I've been told, there's a powerful energy force inside the old house." Torn replied, where he shrugged for a moment and showed them that, while he had been told that piece of information when he asked a question that was much similar to Jak's question, he was only following orders and might not have a full understanding of why the hut was so important to the Shadow, but the information he shared with them was more than enough for now, "and, because of that, the Metal Heads are drawn to that location like flies... though it appears that they are smart enough to fall back when a plan fails, so we're given some time between their raids on Dead Town."
"Is that so?" Cozy inquired, as all of this was rather interesting for them to learn, especially since she could tell that neither Twilight or Starlight knew that particular piece of information, which made sense due to the fact that the Baron might not want the citizens to find out that he wasn't the one who stopped the first Metal Head incursion into Dead Town, before she thought about something as they started to follow Torn, "It reminded us of a place we used to live in, where a Sage used to live in a similar hut and worked on channeling his Eco powers, though it is good to know the history of that place and how it's so important to you guys."
"So, you're the new recruits who keep getting into trouble." a voice said, one that sounded like a younger version of the very person that Cozy indirectly mentioned, which was followed by the siblings pausing for a moment as they noticed the other figure that was in the hideout, while Torn moved to the side, allowing them to see that the figure was pretty much nearly identical to Samos, only this one looked younger, his hair was dark green colored and was done up in an afro style, he had a formal green waistcoat and a brown shirt, not to mention the fact that there was an egg in his hair, with a log as well, and he had a monocle over his left eye, "Welcome to our humble Underground movement. I am known to our allies and enemies as the Shadow, but you, as a reward for your various achievements in our battle against the Baron, may call me by my real name, which is Samos."
"It's an honor to meet you. I'm Jak, and this is my friend Daxter," Jak replied, to which he gestured to the others for a time, mostly to give the Shadow an idea of who was who for the future, even though most of them were surprised by what they were seeing and the fact that they had done a younger version of Samos, meaning the one who traveled through the Rift Gate with them had to be somewhere inside the city and he was thinking he might be somewhere inside the Fortress, or maybe hiding among the trees of Haven Forest, "along with my sisters Starlight, Cozy, and Twilight, who has an alter ego who goes by the name of 'Midnight', not to mention their Ottsels Simon, Theodore, and Alvin."
"I would ask what an 'Ottsel' is, and what happened to your sister, but frankly I don't have time for questions." the Shadow stated, showing that he was interested in what they had to say and that he couldn't ask anything due to the fact that they were in the middle of a rebellion, which made sense when the siblings thought about it, before he quickly walked over to the other side of the table, so he could stare at the doorway they had walked through, while Torn stood off to the side so he could listen to what sort of orders the Shadow would be giving them, "We've got a corrupt Baron to overthrow, four child heirs to protect, an invasion of Metal Heads to stop, and a city to save... personally, I'd say the schedule's pretty full, with no signs of an opening appearing anytime soon! Right now I need the lot of you to go to out to Haven Forest and root out a few Metal Heads that have appeared on our radars, as that forest is my source of power and I'm afraid that I don't have the time to go out and protect it... so I want you four to chase the Metal Heads down and destroy them. Good luck, and welcome to the fight!"
"Thanks, we'll do our best to help in whatever missions you sent our way," Starlight said, referring to both the mission they had just been given and anything else he might sent their way once this one was done, but even as she said that she took a moment to consider what they had been told, especially since Jak and the others seemed surprised by something and were hoping that either the Shadow or Torn could answer it before they left the hideout, "but I thought there was only a single heir to Haven't vacant throne, not four of them."
"We're keeping the fact that we have all four of the heirs a secret, in case the Baron tries anything... plus he's sending out parties to 'locate' the other three, so we're causing him to waste resources," Torn replied, which caused him to smirk for a few seconds, as he seemed pleased by the fact that they were able to trick their foe to this extent, even though the Baron did seem interested in only the main heir, the boy based on what Twilight and the others knew, given his brief statements to Errol after the conversation with the Metal Head Leader, before he leaned against one of the walls of the chamber that they were standing in, "Don't worry, Kor is making sure the Prince and the Princesses are safe and sound, given that the moment we dethrone the Baron they'll need to take their rightful places once more."
Jak nodded his head and turned around, showing that they were going to take care of the Metal Heads that were lurking in Haven Forest so the Shadow knew that Torn's trust in all of them was well placed, to which they returned to their zoomers and left the area that the hideout was located in, allowing Torn and the Shadow to speak about their plans for the future of their rebellion and what needed to be done before they were ready to dethrone the Baron, hence why he was focused on making his way back to the Door Lock that would bring them to the Mountain Temple... and, when they reached the Bazaar, Keira called them and informed them that she had left the JET-Board in the Door Lock, as it was ready for one of them to use it, since she only had one available right now.
"Given the information we've been given, the Shadow must have found some Scouts on the radar," Simon commented, as he had been curious as to what sort of Metal Heads the Underground had noticed while all of them were running around Dead Town earlier, even though it was strange to have multiple groups of Metal Heads attacking parts of the city, meaning the Leader was growing tired of the Baron's schemes and false promises, not to mention that they were starting to run out of time before he sent his full army at them, before Simon sighed for a moment, "Scouts happen to be the only type of Metal Head that don't fight, meaning the Leader uses them to scout out an area before sending the rest of whatever force he was planning on sending, so we'll just have to run each of them down and take them out."
No one had anything to say to that, since each of the siblings were thinking about the fact that the four children that were under Kor's care weren't just their younger selves, as they had figured that out rather quickly by seeing them for the first time when they left the Fortress, rather they appeared to be the heirs to the city itself, something that made Jak wonder if it might be possible for him and his sisters to seize the throne by revealing themselves and likely taking a test or trial, all to prove themselves to everyone else. Of course the first thing they needed to do was dethrone the Baron, who must have either killed their father, who Twilight was sure none of them had any memories of, or exiled him to some location, which meant they might never meet him or learn of what happened to him, and take down the Leader of the Metal Heads at the roughly the same time, just to make sure he didn't take advantage of the city having no one to take command of the rest of the Krimzon Guards and protect the rest of the citizens, though it appeared that their plates were going to be full for the foreseeable future, all while keeping an eye out for whatever caused their younger selves to go back in time. It was around that time that they reached the ramp leading to the Door Lock in question and parked their zoomers near the bottom of it, to which Jak and his sisters walked up the diagonal ramp and headed for the metallic door, where when it opened up they found the JET-Board leaning against one of the walls, something that Jak picked up and slipped onto his back, which was a little awkward due to his Morph Gun resting back there as well, but thanks to the smaller form of the board it was easier, so once it was in place they moved through the other side of the door and quickly used the Warp Gate to return to the upper area that was just outside the Mountain Temple, where Twilight found a familiar platform resting nearby, one that would take them right to Haven Forest. It took them a few moments to reach the forest itself, due to having to wait for the platform to move through the air, but once they reached the area in question they spread out and kept their eyes open for anything that was out of the ordinary, even though Alvin and his brothers would be able to tell them what their targets looked like the instant one of them spotted the Scouts, if their thoughts were right and that there wasn't another type of enemy in this place.
Not a few seconds later Jak spotted something off in the distance and pointed it out to his sisters, who stared at the rather slender looking Metal Head that seemed to resemble a dragon, only a small one that came up to their knees, and it had no weapons attacked to it, meaning it had to be a pacifist or something, though as they climbed done the rocks the Scout just stood there for a few more moments, no doubt watching them to see if they were a threat or something, which was when it spread its wings and started to move from the area it was in... though that was when another Scout, this one seemingly appearing from the shadows and had sharp claws, like what Alvin and his brothers had, struck it in the side and crushed it into the ground, ending it in seconds.
"Okay, now that was kinda cool," Daxter commented, as while he would normally have a hard time saying a Metal Head did something cool or interesting, minus what Alvin and his brothers did, seemingly appearing out of nowhere like that, a method that had surprised Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy since it seemed to slip through their magic, before he grew serious as the Metal Head turned towards them for a moment, which revealed that this Scout had a blue Skull Gem, instead of the normal yellow they were used to seeing on their enemies, "No way... Alvin, Simon, Theodore, this Scout is in the same boat that you guys are in."
"There are only a few individuals with different colored Skull Gems," the Scout stated, something that surprised them for a few seconds, as none of the siblings were expecting such a thing to happen in the first place, before several more Scouts stepped out of the shadows, four of them dropping the bodies of the yellow gem Scouts and two more standing still while they waited for something to happen, even though Jak and his group were focused on the main Scout, "those being us, the forces of the Neo Metal Heads, and the Crown Princes who went missing three years ago, after fleeing the Nest to reach the walls of Haven City, to bring ruin upon their father's plans."
Alvin, Simon, and Theodore wasted no time in jumping forward and shifted into their true forms, which allowed the group of odd Metal Heads, the Neo Metal Heads based on what the Scout had said, to see their imposing dragon forms, where Jak, his sisters, and Daxter just stared as the Scout and its forces actually bowed their heads towards the three brothers, the Crown Princes to be exact, and they had the feeling that they would be spending some time inside Haven Forest, all to learn what in the world was going on, before being allowed to return to Torn or whoever else needed help in bringing down the Baron.