The first thing Adam does, after watching the Trio abduct his little sister, is pull out his phone.
He doesn’t want to have to do this. He really, really doesn’t.
“No powers in the house” was a rule, and he followed it, but the rule was meant to stop things like this.
How did I know Jordan would be kidnapped by supposed heroes?
He calls his mother.
After seconds of ringing the call goes to voicemail.
Oh THANK GOD.
“Mom, it’s Adam. Some Concordance guys took Jordan. It’s complicated. I’m going to get her back. I promise.”
He makes the next call, and dreads the sound of his father’s voice saying “Hello?”
“Dad, hi, it’s Adam. Is now good?”
Nassir Amari works at a job where his life is regularly at risk. Adam hopes he’ll understand.
“Now’s fine, Adam.”
“Listen, dad, uh… the Concordance Trio, they uh, they took Jordan away.”
Adam hears his dad’s voice harden instantly. “Took away where, son?”
“Into space. Listen, dad–”
“Adam–”
“Dad, I’m going to get her back. I’m leaving right now. I won’t let you down.”
Nassir’s tone shifts into paternal protectiveness. “Adam, are you sure you can handle it by yourself? There’s still HHL members, maybe one of them should take care of this. The Concordance is some kind of authority in space, isn’t that right?”
Adam glances up at Harry with worried eyes. Harry, in turn, seems to sense the problem, and beckons for the phone. Adam hands it over.
“Mr. Amari. Harry Gale here. We’re going with Adam to help out.”
He realizes he said ‘we’, and glances backward at A10, TK, and Armiger. A10 gives him a disgusted “why-are-you-even-asking-of-course-we’ll-come” look.
He smiles briefly at them, unable to express his appreciation properly, and turns his focus back to the phone. “Sir, Adam’s very capable. But we’ll be there to watch out for him. I’m going to put him back on.”
“Okay.”
It’s Adam’s turn to give Harry a fast, powerful glance of gratitude. “Hi Dad, it’s me again. I left voicemail with Mom. Just in case, can you let her know?”
“I will. Come back safe, Adam.”
Adam hangs up and lets out a long sigh. That went better than expected.
A thought hits him. “Hey, I can take myself, but I dunno if I can take you guys into space with me.”
Harry holds up a hand. “I got that covered.”
The five heroes are inside the Park Tech hangar. Owned and operated by noted space veteran Ki-woo Park, and funded partially with Quill money, the hangar was an unassuming but vital part of the HHL’s journey into space.
The team were welcomed by Lisa Park, Ki-woo’s daughter, who now explains the ship they see before them.
“The Vanguard was actually the first ship we put together and sent beyond the Solar system. We used it to prototype the ship the HHL used, the Sunjumper. We’ve been keeping it behind in case other HHL members need to follow, but it sounds like you folks have a pretty important need of your own.”
Harry, who has had this tour before, and Adam, who doesn’t even have his driver’s license, stay back a bit. Armiger, Telekinetian, and A10 all seem much more interested in the details of Lisa’s presentation.
“Hey, Harry, you don’t need to come along.” Adam worries he’s going to sound ungrateful, and it isn’t that. He’s too grateful for what Harry’s group has done already. How can he ask for any more?
Harry’s hand lightly falls on Adam’s shoulder. “It’s okay, man. Family is family.”
He glances over his shoulder at A10, realizing what he’s saying. She’s caught wind of the conversation and took a break from the presentation to watch.
“Why are you three coming along, anyway?” Harry asks.
“We like you, dork, and hanging out with you is fun.” A10 grins, mimes a dope-slap at Harry’s head, and goes back to Lisa’s explanation about the food synthesizers.
The Vanguard lifts out of the hangar on silent electromagnetic thrusters. Harry, as the only one who’s actually been trained on the ship’s systems by the HHL, is piloting. TK, by dint of picking up the demonstration the fastest, is co-pilot and systems operator. A10 and Armiger are relegated to the passenger seats.
Adam is technically the navigator, operating the third crew station. He doesn’t really get this tech. But he’s got an emotional thread connecting himself to Jordan, and to the Trio. Nobody else knows where to go.
The ship clears atmosphere around the same time that Ki-woo Park comes on the radio. “Smooth sailing to you.”
As sysop, TK takes the call. “Thanks to you, your daughter, and your company, sir. We’ll bring her back in one piece.”
“Coming up on the Kepler Accelerator,” Harry announces. “Any time, Adam.”
Adam closes his eyes and focuses his emotional awareness on how he feels. He misses his sister, and wants to find her. He’s angry at the Trio, and wants to confront them. He finds the energy, and lassos it in two directions. Backwards, toward the PATH Engine - standing for Park-Aiken-Thorne-Hawking, four pioneers of black hole travel tech. Forward, toward the Accelerator.
The Vanguard drinks greedily from the Accelerator’s stored potential through a pencil-thin channel of energy projected by the satellite. A white light engulfs the little vessel, and it and its occupants disappear from the Solar system entirely.