Once they were done inside the Tomb of Mar, and Praxis was left behind to think about what might happen the moment he returned to the surface, Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight found that the large door that protected the Tomb was open, not that anyone was remotely surprised thanks to the arrival of the Baron, and that neither the Shadow or Kor were on the other side, and their younger selves were missing as well, meaning that they had to be inside the Fortress, to be held for a time until the Baron was ready to speak with them. As such the siblings returned to the ancient lift that had brought them down to this area and waited for it to lower down to where they were standing, since it had been near the surface, and as soon as it was down here they stepped onto it and allowed it to take them to the surface, as it was time to return to the hideout for a time and see what in the world needed to happen before an assault could be launched on the Fortress, an area none of them wanted to return to, given that Jak and Cozy had been tormented in that place for a long time. The moment they returned to the surface, and the door opened for them to head outside, the four of them carefully headed outside and found that there were no guards waiting for them, just in case the Baron had ordered some to wait outside before he headed into the depths with his mech, where Twilight had to assume that the machine had been assembled inside the Tomb and was used once it was put together, to which the siblings headed over to where they left their zoomers and climbed into them once more, as they raised into the upper flight area and headed back to the Slums. It gave them some time to think about the fact that Praxis was, in a weird way, now on their side and that he might aid them in taking down the Leader of the Hora-quan, due to the fact that Twilight liked the name that the Precursor had used when it was talking to her and her siblings, but in the end she stuck to referring to their enemies as Metal Heads as well, just to make it easier for the others to understand what she was talking about.
Interestingly enough there wasn't a lot of guards wandering around the parts of the city that they flew through, which all of them were fine with since it meant they didn't have to stop and fight whoever wanted to bother them, before reaching the Slums and climbed out of their zoomers, allowing them to return to where Torn was likely waiting for anyone, be it one of his agents, the Shadow, or someone else in the Underground, to return, though they found him resting on a rectangular container that was on the right side of the chamber, with his head hanging like he was depressed about something, likely thinking about their captured allies.
"Hey Torn, we're back from the Tomb of Mar," Jak stated, not that he really needed to say such a thing since he knew the man could see them with his own eyes and that he had likely glanced up when he heard the door open, though as he said that he considered something that he was sure his siblings had been thinking about since they left the Tomb, due to his focus being on driving one of the zoomers to this part of the city, "though I am curious as to how the Baron knew that we were close to making a move on both the Tomb and the Precursor Stone, since he interrupted us before we had a chance to claim the legendary stone."
"Because its my fault..." Torn commented, something that caused Jak and his sisters to raise their eyebrows for a moment, as Torn was loyal to the Underground and knew he would do anything and everything to make sure they survived, at least to the point where both the Leader of the Metal Heads and the Baron were brought down, though as he said that he took a moment to raise his head and glanced at them, "the Baron saw the beam of light that came from the Light Tower and, realizing that we had found the Tomb of Mar, decided to threaten me with the life of his own daughter... he was willing to kill Ashelin, his own daughter, for acting against him and aiding the Underground on several occasions, meaning he knew and was keeping it a secret to use as a bargaining chip against us. I know taking the Baron down is important, but I wasn't about to risk Ashelin's life for the Underground."
"Oh, I get it... you're in love with her, aren't you?!" Daxter exclaimed, as he realized that the only reason Torn would give up the location of the Tomb of Mar, and betray the Underground at such a vital moment, was because he had to be head over heels for Ashelin, who either knew that and didn't say anything or had no idea that he had feelings for her, before he took a moment to think about what had happened inside the Tomb and knew that they couldn't tell Torn that the Baron was on their side now, which would take some time getting used to, "There's only one problem with what you did: the Precursor Stone is in the Baron's hands now!"
"I suspected as much, meaning he just broke it off and left without fighting you four," Torn replied, which informed them that he bought the lie that Daxter had told him, even though it wasn't the best lie in the world and even Daxter was caught off guard by what was going on, meaning Torn had to be messed up by what the Baron had told him earlier, which was the moment that he pulled himself to his feet and turned to face them for real, meaning them coming back might have been enough to convince him to act once more, "with the four of you, we can lead an assault on the Fortress and get both our friends and allies back, which will mean talking with Vin for a few minutes... we can worry about recovering the Precursor Stone once everyone is safe and sound. Normally an assault on the Fortress would be insane, a suicide mission for most of the Underground's most experienced members, but for you four... such a thing should be easy for you to accomplish, due to all of the powers and skills you possess."
The siblings said nothing as Torn headed through the opening and headed up to the surface, so he could make his way to the Power Station and see what Vin needed help with to open the Fortress' doors, though once he was gone they stayed in this area for a few moments, to give him some time to head through the city and grant them a bit of rest time, where Jak did find Twilight checking out the pile of guns that likely belonged to Torn, but it wasn't long before they got up and quickly left the hideout, as they figured that ten minutes was more than enough for Torn to get to Vin and tell him what was going on. It didn't take them long to reach their destination, where Twilight made sure the zoomers were positioned far away from the door in question, but as soon as it happened Vin contacted them and revealed that the door was unlocked, along with an interesting face, some of the guards had been removed on the Baron's orders, leaving those who served Errol behind, as while they were employed by Praxis they took their orders from his right hand man, as odd as it sounded, and from what Torn knew Errol's guards were worse than the rest of the Krimzon Guard, so if they fell no one would miss them. Once that was done Jak and Cozy braced themselves for what was going to happen next, since they would be returning to the building they had been stuck in for some time and tormented against their will, though before either of them could do anything Twilight walked up to the doorway without delay and seemed to take the lead this time around, which was when they and Starlight noticed that a bit of Dark Eco mist was rolling off of her body as Midnight seemed to take control, something that their sister seemed to let happen this time around, meaning she might be more in tune with her other side than they originally believed, or at least it sure seemed that way. It was still shocking to watch as their sister's attire became the dress that Midnight wore, all in a matter of seconds, along with the wings and odd horn growing out as well, and it only took ten seconds before they had switched positions on Jak and his sisters, as in Twilight was the one resting and Midnight was the one who was out in the real world, though as soon as the transformation was complete she stepped into the Fortress and started to make her way through whatever path was open to them at the moment, causing Jak, Starlight, and Cozy to follow after her, as they were curious as to what she might do while they worked towards saving their captured allies.
What they found not a few seconds later was that the passage they had moved through, when the tank followed them the first time Torn sent them to assault part of the Fortress, had collapsed after they moved through the opening, before they walked around the terminal that was in front of them and moved towards an area that had an electrical fence standing in their way, something that fell not a few seconds later, to which Midnight held a hand out to stop the others from getting too close as she listened to the voices that were ahead of them, Krimzon Guards who were talking about Errol's next race and some discussing the fact that they thought the Shadow had been caught already, confirming that their Samos was in this place as well, before she stepped out into the open and drew their attention to her.
"Hey guys, how's your health plan?" Midnight asked, almost like she was planning on toying with Errol's troops before she made her way deeper into the Fortress to find the captured members of the Underground, something that surprised Jak and his sisters as they watched what was going on at the moment, though as she did that they noticed some of the guards had a dandelion yellow color to their armor, an odd addition to be sure, but it was in the following moments that several of the guards raised their weapons and opened fire on Midnight, "Apparently it's great!"
Jak watched as something interesting happened, as the bullets that came at Midnight seemed to bend around her body for a few seconds, like they were hitting an invisible barrier or something and she was changing their trajectory, because she used those bullets to attack the enemies that were all around her, striking the Krimzon Guards with their own attacks and knocked all of them to the ground, but he did notice that hidden in the returned volley was a couple bits of Dark Eco that had been shaped to look like bullets that had been around them. It was like Midnight was using her modified Morph Gun, that bracelet of hers, to attack her foes by shaping her Eco into bullets, where it looked like she was in the mood to kill Errol's forces and he honestly couldn't blame her for doing thing a thing as he and the others followed behind her at a safe distance, as Errol had been involved in tormenting him and Cozy during their time in this place, but even then it didn't take her long to bring the guards down and open the way for them to move forward. Another thing Jak noticed, and was sure that Starlight had noticed it as well, was that any bullets that actually got close to Midnight's body, because a couple had gotten to her before the trajectory barrier had been set up, were broken down into bits of Eco and didn't hurt her at all, likely making it look like she was immortal to the guards that happened to be in front of her, which sort of made sense since it appeared that Midnight had the power to possibly influence reality to some degree. Once the area was cleared of enemies, and she was sure of that fact after glancing around for a few seconds, Midnight discovered four platforms near the curved walkway that she and her siblings were walking on and noticed that they had a red button on them, which she activated with a wave of her arm, indicating that her magic had done the deed, along with another one that rested inside the chamber that was at the end of the walkway, though once it was activated as well an electric fence fell and allowed her to advance further into this part of the Fortress. Just beyond the electric fence rested four small platforms, raised to form a path of sorts that would bring someone to the next part of this building, and on top of each one rested a circular turret, which happened to be scanning the area for enemies to blast, though as Midnight stepped forward she opened her wings for a moment and vanished, only for a single dark line to appear on each turret before they exploded as Midnight stepped out of the shadows on the other side of the area they were in.
As such Jak, Starlight, and Cozy jumped over the platforms that were in front of them, now that each of them were cleared of what had been resting on them a few moments ago, though they made sure to smash the various guard containers that were all around them and collect all of the ammunition cartridges that were inside them, because now that they had seen Jak use his old Eco powers again, something everyone had felt he had lost at some point during his torment, gathering all of these meant they could use the Eco to empower any of them, since if Jak had access to his old powers they were dure that the same could be said for Cozy. After that area they found a passage that had a curved lower area, which looked like it might have been designed for someone to use a JET-Board to navigate, or at least that seemed to be the intention of the one who created this area, to which Midnight just weaved a bit of magic through the air and formed a transparent path for the others to walk on, since she could spread her wings and just fly down this tunnel for a few seconds, as that was where another opening happened to be located, and she found two more turrets guarding the next chamber. Instead of wasting time she just moved forward, staying in the air to avoid the thin grind rail that Jak would likely use the JET-Board on to get over here, with Cozy jumping over and Starlight using magic to catch up, and used her power to catch both blasts that had been fired at her, redirecting them to blow up the turrets themselves as she stepped into the next part of the Fortress, an area that looked like it was the lower area of a chamber they had used to escape this place, after freeing Jak and Cozy from their cells, and sure enough when she stepped out into this area she heard some guns being primed as she glanced up at the ceiling, finding some guards glaring down at her. That brought a smile to her face as she used the set of powers she used earlier to redirect the incoming bullets and sent them back at the guards that were above this area, along with a few of her own bullet-like blasts as well, though it wasn't long before all of her targets had been struck down by what she had done, before she continued moving forward as Jak and her sisters caught up with her, even though she smashed two more turrets that happened to be in the way as she walked over a metallic walkway and stepped over a slight gap to reach a new door, one she and her siblings hadn't encountered yet, which brought her to a chamber that seemed to wrap around to a second door, even though it had a few spider-like robots guarding the area.
Interestingly enough the four robots were red colored, like the Krimzon Guard, meaning that the Baron or someone else was trying to create a new force to aid the guards in their mission, though the small robots seemed to beep the moment they laid eyes on Midnight and rushed to harm her, causing her to flick her finger for a moment and send them into a wall as she moved towards the other door, which brought all of them to the very chamber that Jak and Cozy had been trapped in since they arrived in Haven City, something that caused her to stand back as Jak and the others spread out to check the cells that were up here, as it looked like Vin was watching their progress and had unlocked the cells the moment they had walked into this part of the Fortress.
"Hey there, sweetheart! The Metal Head mashers have saved the day!" Daxter stated, indicating that he had found the area that Tess was being held in, which was rather odd since she was nowhere near the Tomb when the majority of their force had been captured, meaning that she must have been captured by the Krimzon Guards at some point before they found the Tomb, something that also pointed to Krew possibly working against them to some degree to keep himself safe, all so he could continue his operations without being sent to jail, be executed, or be exiled from the city.
"Samos, are you alright?" Jak asked, as while Daxter was more interested in making sure Tess was fine, which he was fine with since it kept their friend preoccupied for a time, even though he could see that Alvin and his brothers found the cell that the younger versions of himself and his sisters were resting inside, along with Kor for that matter, he turned most of his attention to the cell that he could see the Shadow inside, as the leader of the Underground waved as soon as the door opened so he could see outside.
"What took the lot of you so long? I added six rings to my trunk waiting for you to get me out of here!" a familiar voice said, one that sounded annoyed about everything that had happened to him, and sure enough Samos, as in the Green Sage the siblings were used to seeing and who had been missing since they used the Rift Gate to travel three hundred years to get to this point in time, got up from where he had been sitting and walked over to the doorway so he could leave the cell that he had been stuck in for six years, meaning he landed sooner than the siblings had, before he paused for a moment as he took in the forms of the four siblings, "Great yakow horns! What happened to all of you?"
"The short story is Dark Eco... but we'll tell you everyone once we're out of here," Starlight replied, though in that moment the nearby Warp Gate activated and was connected to whatever area Vin was sending them to, which had to be the Power Station, since it was the only place they knew of that had a Warp Gate and, more importantly, was actually inside the city's walls, to which they formed a line and everyone started to jump through the gate, even if Samos and the Shadow took a few seconds before taking their turn.
Midnight watched over everyone as they headed through the Warp Gate, just in case the Baron or Errol sent some guards to bother them while they were leaving, though for the most part it looked like they could get away with this without some enemy reinforcements coming in to bother them, though once everyone else was on the other side of the War Gate, and she was the last one inside the Fortress, Midnight waved a hand and loosed a blast of magical energy at the machine that had injected Jak and Cozy with Dark Eco since they were contained in this place, blowing the entire machine apart before she jumped through the portal. When she appeared on the other side, in the Power Station, she sighed for a second as she switched places with Twilight once more, surprising those who hadn't seen the transformation yet, though once that was done Samos and the Shadow headed back to their hideout, Tess headed back to the Hig Hog Saloon to make sure no one had noticed that she had gone missing, and Kor tended to the young heirs as Vin returned to his work, though it was when Jak came up with an idea of what to do next. His plan was simple, now that they were no longer bound to find the Tomb of Mar and the Precursor Stone, it was time for them to split up and tackle multiple objectives as they worked to bring down all those who were threatening Haven City, which was Krew and the Leader of the Metal Heads right now, so he had Cozy and Starlight head back to the Port so they could figure out what sort of mission Krew or Sig might have for them, leaving him and Twilight to focus on either the Underground or Keira, and since it appeared that nothing was going at the Stadium right now that meant it was time to head back to the Slums with Samos and the Shadow. As they split up, however, both of the groups noticed that there were a few yellow guards patrolling the streets, which had to mean that the Baron and Errol had trained some elite troops before assigning them to various parts of Haven City, but given that Praxis was on their side these guards were either part of Errol's team or Praxis was sending them to keep watch on the Metal Heads that were on the other side of the wall, that way they could plan for whatever attack might be coming their way in the near future, and when they reached the Slums it became clear that there were next to no guards in the area, safe for a few that seemed to be heading for either the area near the Stadium or the Water Slums.
Something told Jak and Twilight that something was up, as Errol had to be doing something that caused every guard that was in this part of the city to leave for now, so they quickly landed outside the hideout and made their way inside, where it took them only a second to notice that Samos and the Shadow were arguing with each other, likely that both of them had an idea on what needed to be done next, because it looked like Samos was of the opinion that they needed to focus on the Precursor Stone and the young heirs, as in knocking Praxis off the throne and putting the kids in charge of the city, while at the same time the Shadow wanted to bring down whatever plans the Baron had for them, causing the pair to stand there for a time as they waited for the Time Twins, as Twilight called them, to stop their bickering.
"Either the Baron is up to his old tricks, or someone else is in command of part of his forces," Samos stated, where both he and the Shadow turned to face the pair for a moment, showing that they were ready to talk with them and share whatever information they might have found since returning to this place, even though Torn was nowhere to be seen right now and that meant that he had to be busy tending to another part of the Underground, likely keeping an eye on what the Baron was doing and what his forces were up to, even though he had no idea that Praxis was on their side now, thanks to what Twilight and Midnight had done to him.
"We've gotten word that someone has released a few Krimzon Blast Bots into the city, which are armored bombs that are designed to seek out targets and blow them up," the Shadow added, which told Jak and Twilight that they might have been created with the sole purpose of wiping out nests of Metal Heads so the rest of the Krimzon Guard could move in after an explosion and take care of anything that survived the assault, meaning that Errol likely wanted them dead and was using some of the Baron's more powerful toys, ones that were supposed to be used against the Metal Heads, to obliterate the Underground, "and, based on our current scans, there are three of them moving towards this location."
"Let me guess, they also have defenses to protect themselves?" Jak inquired, because he was sure that the Baron wouldn't create someone like that and not give it anything to defend itself against the Metal Heads that might attack it, though as he said that he gripped the blade he had taken from Mar's Tomb, where he noticed that Twilight levitated a sheath over to him, likely the one he ignored and she took before they departed from where the Precursor Stone had been resting, which allowed him to sheath the weapon on his back, since that was the best place for it right now.
"Indeed, so you and Twilight will need to be careful when fighting them," the Shadow said, though he was pleased that Jak knew about the danger that the Blast Bots posed to the Underground and their current hideout, even if this might be the first time he or his sister would have encountered such a thing while they were out in the field, so it was more like he just figured the Baron would put defenses on a walking bomb to ensure it reached whatever its destination might be, but as he said that the siblings started to turn towards the door, causing him and Samos to open their mouths at the same time, to say one more thing before they left the hideout, "Good hunting!"
Jak, Daxter, Twilight, and Alvin paused for a second as they glanced back and found both Samos and the Shadow giving all of them a nervous smile, likely because neither version of Samos had been expecting the other to speak up at the same time, before the group nodded their heads for a moment and headed outside, as it was time to track down some Blast Bots and take them down, even though that would take some time since they had no idea how strong these metallic foes might be since this was their first time facing them. The moment the siblings were outside the hideout Alvin groaned as he tried something new, as instead of shifting into his hybrid form he focused on growing a small pair of wings from his back, like he was going to trap his transformation in a specific point, and it didn't take him long to have a small pair of leathery wings attached to his back, where he jumped off of Twilight's shoulder and took to the air, so he could get above most of the city and see where the Blast Bots were lurking, to give them an idea of which direction their targets were coming from and what sort of plan could be used to bring them down. It took him a few moments to study the city and figure out where their targets were resting, though when Alvin returned he confirmed that there were three Blast Bots that were currently in the middle of making their way through the other half of the Slums and the Industrial Section, two in the latter, as in all three of them were zeroing in on the hideout and, at the same time, were using small beams of energy to shock anything that was around them, be it citizens or zoomers, so Errol must have gone off the deep end and wanted to wipe out Samos, the Shadow, and the rest of the Underground to show the Baron that he could be trusted with more responsibility, or at least that was Twilight's opinion on the matter. Once Alvin was back in his Ottsel form Twilight suggested that they split up to make sure none of them made it to where the hideout and their allies were waiting, something that Jak agreed with and he even offered to focus on the ones coming from the Industrial Section, where he found that it wasn't something that his sister agreed with and said that she would tackle those two, though Daxter was coming with her for a time, as there was something she wanted to test before they moved on with their war with the Leader of the Metal Heads, which caused the pair to raise an eyebrow for a moment before Daxter joined Alvin, as he was interested in what Twilight wanted with him this time around and just wanted to get it over with.
Once they split up Twilight used a smaller zoomer to make her way into the Industrial Section, where they quickly spotted the first of the two Blast Bots that were heading towards the hideout, something that allowed them to discover that it was a mechanical beast that was nearly twice as tall as a human was and happened to have four gray metallic legs, covered in red plating for the most part, and it had a small turret on its head that had to be what Alvin had spoke about when he returned to Twilight and Jak a few moments ago. In that moment Twilight stopped the zoomer and drew her power out for a few seconds, making Daxter think that she was going to smite the first Blast Bot, though that was when his body glowed not a couple of moments later and he felt something awaken inside him, which might be whatever Gol and Maia had told Twilight and the others about before they used the Rift Gate to arrive in this place, though once everything was said and done she lowered her hand and beckoned for him to make the first move, since they were still out of the Blast Bot's range and would be for a few more moments. Daxter raised an eyebrow once more as he did that, as he trusted that Twilight had his back and wouldn't allow too much harm to come to him while he assaulted the Blast Bot that was approaching the area she had stopped in, which was just insane when he thought about it since he had no weapons to take down the large machine on his own, though as he thought about that fact he found a short blade made out of Dark Eco that sprouted out of his left hand not a few seconds later, to which he turned his head for a moment and decided not to tap the blade, as he had the feeling that touching it was a bad idea and suspected that Twilight would explain herself once all three of the Blast Bots were destroyed. Once he calmed down, since the sudden arrival of the blade had surprised him, Daxter took a couple of seconds to brace himself before he rushed across this area of the Industrial Section and zeroed in on where the first mechanical enemy was walking, where his small size allowed him to avoid popping up on the Blast Bot's scans and jump up onto one of the legs as it moved near his position, something that was followed by him digging the Eco blade into the metal of the limb he happened to be moving along for the next couple of seconds, all while heading up towards where he suspected this machine's brain or power source was located.
As soon as he reached his target Daxter drove the blade that was attached to his hand right into the head of the Blast Bot without delay, something that caused the machine to stagger for a moment when that happened, though Twilight watched as Daxter continued to attack the Blast Bot to the best of his ability, since neither of them had any idea how long this sort of thing would last, where it wasn't long before the mechanical creation fell to the ground and Daxter jumped off of it not a few seconds after that happened, where he made sure to reach Twilight before his target exploded... but as that occured he spotted the other one coming their way and Twilight simply waved a hand towards it, summoning a burst of icicles out of the ground that impaled the Blast Bot and caused it to explode.
"Twilight... what did you do to me?" Daxter asked, showing that he was more interested in what had happened to his hand and less by the fact that all of the Blast Bots exploded when they were destroyed, or damaged to the point where they no other options left, though as he said that he noticed that the blade seemed to shudder for a few seconds before reverting to nothing, as if the Eco had returned to his body or something, even though he was sure that she would explain what had just happened in a way that went over the heads of anyone that listened to her.
"Awakened you inner Eco powers... at least the beginner stages," Twilight replied, where she knew that Daxter would have some questions and, as such, she would provide him with the answers he wanted in due time, though at least this allowed her to confirm what Gol and Maia had told them back after their first adventure, even if the Dark Eco Sages weren't here to see that Daxter did, in fact, have Eco powers and might have some skills that none of them knew about, which they would have to delve into at some point in the future.
Twilight also knew that, in time, he might have the same mastery that she, Jak, Starlight, and Cozy had over their skills, or at least several degrees lower than what they were capable of, something that caused her to turn her attention to Jak as he rode into the area they were standing in and Daxter ran over to him, to speak about the Eco blade that she had just unlocked for him and he had used to take down the first Blast Bot that had been moving through this area, while they also learned that Jak's target had been sliced apart. By that Twilight knew that he must have opened a few Vulcan capsules to absorb the Blue Eco to boost his speed so he could cut his target down in record time, given that he wanted to make sure what happened in the Tomb wasn't a fluke and had actually happened, before she smiled as they headed for the hideout, to report their success and tell the Shadow the truth, since the Oracle of the Tomb ruined their secret, all while knowing that Starlight and Cozy definitely didn't need their help taking care of whatever Krew wanted them to do.