The Interference IV, Book 1: Dark Renegade

The Interference IV, Book 1: Dark Renegade is the first part of the fourth entry in the Interference series. It tells the story of Alexander's fourth Interference into Haven City, and how everything falls apart.

FFDN Summary
"After a short break to stop and reflect, Alexander heads off alone to the dangerous world of Jak II. But in his quest to stop the Heartless apprentices, he'll be dragged further into the dark than even he might handle. The world's taint leaves a mark..."

Story
After recounting his last adventure to Sora, Riku and Kairi, Alex finally returns home to the real world for an actual day, waking up on his fifteenth birthday. Upon returning to the real world, however, he discovers that - due to the Universal Failsafe Law - all evidence and knowledge of Erica has vanished from the real world - except for his and Joumae's. Shocked, Alex plans to return to the game worlds that night, after experiencing his birthday with his remaining family.

Once his father and mother have both left, Alex plugs in the game Jak II, intending to interfere after the prologue (in which Jak and friends - Daxter, Keira and Samos - are accidentally sent forward in time two hundred years, after which Jak is interned in prison for another two). However, the interference triggers during the opening cutscene, sweeping Alex into Haven City two years early, where he is immediately apprehended by Erol and the Krimzon Guard, and placed in prison as well. Using his powers, he attempts to escape and breaks out the other low-security prisoners; despite his efforts, the rest of the prisoners are killed by the Guard, leaving him the only survivor of the entire block, and Alex is incapacitated.

After being given Shock Cuffs that temporarily disable his hands, Alex is transferred to high-security, next to the Dark Warrior Program experimentation equipment. While in high-security, Alex makes friends with a group of prisoners led by Azelas, and defends himself from a lunch-hall fight by using magic; this draws the attention of Commander Torn, who alerts the top brass to his abilities. As a result of both the prison break and his self-defence skills, the Krimzon Guard begin bringing Alex as a bodyguard on missions.

Three months later, on one particularly dangerous mission alongside Azelas, Alex is introduced to Ashelin Praxis, who is astonished to learn that Alex was originally arrested with no crimes to his name. A few days later, Alex is escorted to the Palace to meet Baron Praxis in person. The Baron grants Alex freedom in exchange for enforced service to the crown and his backstory; Alex accepts. Alex becomes a corporal, with full run of the city, doing tasks for the Baron in exchange for visits to the prison to see his friends. Sadly, the group is gradually broken up - with one member, Jinx, even using Alex to escape the Guard's clutches - until only Azelas is left.

After one year, on Alex's sixteenth birthday, he and Azelas are both called to Old Sandover, to fend off an upcoming attack by the Metal Head forces. The sector has been cut off and the civilians not notified in order to employ them as obstacles - this causes Torn to leave his position. Alex stays during the assault, but when the Guard evacuate the area Azelas is left behind as his execution. Alex refuses to leave Azelas behind, and uses his magic to hold the Metal Heads off, but to no avail - Azelas is struck down. After revealing to Alex his identity as a Wastelander (a exiled subject) Azelas passes away in Alex's arms; driven to despair, Alex's Anti-Form is activated. The sight of this attracts the interest of the Baron and Erol.

After the Drive dissipates, Alex overhears the sound of a crying child. Saving the child from Metal Heads, he is then greeted by a younger version of Samos, who mistakes Alex for a hostile. Alex strips off his Guard uniform in response and allows Samos to trust him to accompany him and the child to the Sacred Site, where Samos deactivates the Life Seed, thus muting the energy attracting the Metal Heads and ending the assault, but not before the area's almost total destruction.

Upon attempting to return to the city, Alex is once again arrested and saddled with Shock Cuffs, and Erol begins to subject him to the experimentation of the Dark Warrior Program, sending Dark Eco through his body. Within a month, the experiments have changed Alex's composition enough where Joumae is wiped from Alex's heart. Just before the session that breaks him, Alex comes face to face with Even, who has allied with the Baron to oversee the experiments.

For the next year, Alex is subject to the experiments, with no sign of change to either him or Jak, the other surviving test subject, apart from the lengthening of Alex's ears to match the populace of Haven. Finally, on Alex's seventeenth birthday, Alex stays conscious after the treatment, just in time for Yen Sid to appear in Haven and free him. Alex has his magic garments restored, enabling him to not only break himself free but aid in Jak's escape on the same day as well, thus finally starting Jak II for real.

Major Plot Points

 * Haven City comes into existence.
 * Alex is imprisoned, then trained as a Krimson Guard, then finally imprisoned again.
 * Alex is pumped full of Dark Eco by Even, which separates Joumae from him again.
 * Alex is freed from prison by Yen Sid and gains a new costume and Lockshield.
 * Alex obtains the Morph Gun.
 * Joumae unlocks Alex's reserves of darkness and almost kills him from his being consumed by it.
 * A Gummi ship containing Goofy, Lea, Aqua and Lucca crashes into Haven City.

Changes from Game Canon

 * As Jak originally took all of the game's missions himself, each of the missions is only performed one at a time, although the exact order is up to the player.
 * Because of the addition of the Heartless, the Metal Head population has taken a severe hit, and the conflict between the city and the Metal Heads has been put on hold in order to tackle this third threat.
 * Count Veger never appears in Jak II. Despite having a position in the Haven government at this time, he was created for Jak 3.

Trivia

 * Due to unknown circumstances, the story had been stuck on a five-year hiatus since May 5, 2012, until Newbiespud finally concluded it on June 14, 2017.
 * This is the first entry in the series to be split into two parts.