Twister: Chasing the Storm

A/N: Well, I admit that I'm a bit disappointed that not a lot of people have been reading this so far, but that should hopefully change after this chapter is posted. I would also like to take a moment to remember the people who were killed in the shooting in Las Vegas, and the people who risked their lives to save as many people as they could.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Twister. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER ONE: MEETING THE TEAM AND DOROTHY

"And if he or she confess not thou shalt deliver him or her up unto the church, not to the members, but to the elders. And it shall be done in a meeting, and that not before the world."

D&C 42:89

Norman, Oklahoma

June 17, 1996…

At the National Severe Storm Laboratory (NSSL), the staff were gearing up for a busy day since there were a number of storm cells converging on the state, and that meant that there was a strong possibility of there going to be a lot more tornadoes then usual.

"At 7:00 a.m. in Oklahoma City, the temperature is 75 degrees. Across the state, skies are partly cloudy, the dryline higher over western Oklahoma. Satellite pictures indicate thunderstorms developing…"`

As more reports came over the radio, two of the staff members, Murphy and Bryce were looking over data on one of the computers.

"Bryce, take a look," Murphy said, showing a picture to her. "Caps are starting to break."

"All the models are forecasting lifted indexes from minus six to minus ten," Bryce remarked, examining the photo.

Murphy nodded. "You know if these cells keep building like this we could have a record outbreak of tornadoes," he remarked, eating a doughnut.

Bryce sighed. "This is gonna be a long day," she muttered, drinking some tea.

In a different part of the state, a red Dodge Ram pickup truck was driving down a dirt road with fields of either wheat or corn on either side, along with the occasional oil drill, and a crop duster flew by, spraying one of the fields. In the truck, Bill Harding was driving the truck and seated next to him was his fiancée, Melissa Reeves.

"Um, honey, are you sure she's gonna be here?" Melissa asked as she pocketed her cellphone, having just talked with a patient.

"If I know Jo, she's already dragged her entire department into the field," Bill assured her as he drove down the road. Earlier he'd called the university that his soon to be ex-wife, Jo Harding, worked at, and learned that she was out in the field, preparing for the upcoming tornado season. "Ah, hell, a day like today, it's to be expected. She forgets everything except her work," he added.

Melissa looked at her future husband thoughtfully. "You're nervous about seeing her, aren't you?" she inquired.

"Nervous?" Bill repeated, surprised. "No. Why, do I look nervous?"

"No. Well, yeah you do, a little," Melissa admitted.

Bill sighed. "I just want to get it over with."

Melissa nodded thoughtfully. "But she said she signed the papers, right?" she asked, referring to the divorce papers that Jo had been given back in December.

"That's what she said," Bill confirmed.

Melissa didn't look convinced. "You don't think so?"

"No, I think so," Bill reassured her, gently squeezing his hand. "Give me a kiss." And they exchanged a kiss before returning his attention to the road.

Meanwhile in a field, there was a collection of vehicles, ranging from a station wagon to a large bus. 32-year-old Jo Harding was on the roof of a blue van, trying to get the Doppler radar dish to work, and inside the van, Tim "Beltzer" Lewis, was working on the wireless connection.

"Okay professor, hang on there, I think I fixed it,"` he called out, knocking on the ceiling of the van. "`I've got it."` Jo tried turning on the Doppler radar dish, and she winced away as sparks flew out. `"Oops."`

"Oh, crap!" Jo shouted, frustrated since this was the fifth time that week that the radar had failed to work. "This thing is useless!"

`"Sorry, Jo,"` Beltzer apologized.

Jo blinked when the radar suddenly started working and turning on its own. "Wait, wait, wait. Beltzer!" she exclaimed, banging on the roof with her fist. "That's good. Give me a reading!"

Opening the side door on the van, Beltzer climbed out of van. "Okay, boss lady, hold your horses," he grumbled and went over to a laptop that connected to the Doppler, and his wife, Haynes, was there. "Which way do you want it, Jo?"

Jo peered into the distance, where there was a large buildup of nasty-looking storm clouds. "Looks like the dryline has stalled," she called out. "Give me a sector scan west, northwest, look at mid-levels for rotation and increase the PRF."

While this was going on, Dusty Davis was inside his bus, which was filled with monitoring equipment, and on one of the screens, a music video started playing as he sang a long a little before blowing a raspberry. He jumped out and he looked up at the speakers as the song played over the sound system.

`"If I mistreat you girl, sho' don't mean no harm…"`

At the second van, which was a sky blue with the Angel Moroni painted on both sides, the Martin sisters, Elle and Maxine Martin, had equipment set up on two folding tables, and they were arguing when one of the computers suddenly got the blue screen of death.

"Dang it! Max I thought you installed the new system before we left home!" Elle complained, throwing a crumbled ball of paper at her sister's head.

"I did!" Maxine objected. "It ain't my fault that they gave us a PC instead of the Mac!"

Another argument was going on at an old ford bullnose F150 between Robert "Rabbit" Nurick and Sanders, who were in charge of making sure that the team could take the best and quickest routes to the tornadoes once they'd touched down.

"All I'm saying is don't fold the maps!" Rabbit scolded his friend as they went to a table they'd set up to study the maps.

"I didn't fold the map!" Sanders protested, drinking a diet coke.

Rabbit shook his head and held up a map that'd been clearly folded. "Yeah, well Kansas is a mess, there's a big crease right through Wichita-" and he tossed several rolled maps onto the table. "Roll the maps."

While all of this was going on, Bill and Melissa drove up and parked not far from the team.

"What do you know, the storm chasers," Bill called out as they got out of the truck.

Rabbit and Sanders ran up to greet them. "Hey, I don't believe it! Who is that handsome devil!"

Bill grinned and shook hands with them. "Gentleman."

Dusty spotted them, and he was excited when he saw Bill. "The Extreme!" he shouted, acting silly and grinning widely. "IT'S THE EXTREME!" And he laughed, thrilled.

Bill chuckled, used to his friend's antics. "Oh man, don't start that shit!"

Dusty gripped his friend's hand tightly, still grinning madly. "Oh manly hand shakin' Zeus. How you doin', man?" he asked.

"Doin' great, doin' great," Bill answered as they did a man hug.

Dusty was still laughing. "Oh bad!"

"Dusty, I'd like you to meet Melissa," Bill said as Melissa walked over to join them. "Melissa, this is Dusty. Dustman's been chasing with us ever since we started." And they shook hands. "Listen man, where's Jo?" he asked.

"She's over by Doppler," Dusty answered, nodding to the blue van, where Jo was still on the roof with said radar. "Broke down again, running out of grant money."

'Running out of grant money, again?' Bill thought as he turned to Melissa. "Honey, why don't you hang out here for a little while, I'll – I'll be right back," he suggested.

Melissa nodded as Dusty took her hand, making her flush a little. "Okay."

"Dusty, why don't you explain to Melissa…why you are the way you are?" Bill suggested and they exchanged ridiculous faces and laughed as Dusty did a silly dance that caused Melissa to giggle.

Dusty shook his head as he lead Melissa over to the bus. "Come on. Man. Jo's gonna wig when she sees he's back."

Bill, who was walking over to where Jo was, called after him, annoyed. "I'm not back."

Jason "Preacher" Rowe, who was giving his station wagon a tuneup, turned and beamed when he saw Bill. "The prodigal son returns!"

Bill exchanged a few words with him, waved hi to Elle and Maxine, who waved back with delighted expression, and as he passed by Joey, who's holding a weather instrument and writing down data on a clipboard, he patted his shoulder.

"Hiya, Joey."

Joey blinked and looked up from his work, surprised. Hey, Bill."

Bill walked up to the van as there was a rumble of thunder in the distance, and he looked up at Jo, who was crouched behind the radar, which was scanning the sky. "Hiya, Jo."

Jo peered from behind the radar and she grinned, having been expecting him. "Hey, Bill. I'm happy you found us."

"How you doin'?" Bill asked, doing his level best not to admire her in her white tank top and the tanned jumpsuit wrapped around her waist.

Jo straightened up as she looked at Bill, and then she nodded at the sky. "It's goin' good. You see the sky today?" she asked.

Bill nodded. "Yeah, she's, uh – she's really talking."

Jo tossed him a cord. "Catch." Bill caught it and gave her an annoyed look as she jumped off the van." It's the biggest series of storms in 12 years," she explained as she lead him over to where the laptop was set up, and the Lewis' greeted Bill. "One lined up right after another. And NSSL says they've never seen anything like it."

Bill sighed, handing the cord to Beltzer, trying not to show his interest in what she was saying. "Is that right? So, Jo, about the divorce papers-" he began.

"Hey, Jo?" Brian Laurence called out from his van, holding up a camera. "Come here a second!"

Jo sighed. "Oops." And she went over to him.

"Oh. Yeah, yeah sure," Bill grumbled, heading after her, needing to get the divorce papers as soon as possible.

Laurence handed her the camera. "Hey, you know, this thing's acting up again, this thing-"

"Focus mount's jammed," Jo interrupted, finding the problem. "There's grass in the auto-focus, did you check this? You have to check it." And she blew the grass out.

"I'll check it- you want me to clean it out?" Laurence stammered, flushing at his mistake as he took the camera back.

"Not unless you want to sketch the tornadoes," Jo teased, walking past Bill and she headed back to the laptop.

Laurence saw Bill and smiled. "Hey, welcome back, Bill."

Bill rolled his eyes as he backtracked. "I'm not back."

Jo was wiring the laptop to the radar when Bill rejoined her. "So, you want the papers?" she asked, glancing at him.

"I did drive all the way out here for them," Bill replied, annoyed that she was being stubborn.

Jo nodded. "They're signed and ready."

"Good, good. Let's see them," Bill requested, wanting to get out of there.

Jo looked at him questioningly. "What, you need 'em right this second?"

Bill nodded. "Well, It'd be nice."

Jo smirked. "What's the urgent urgency, you act like you're getting married-"

"I am," Bill interrupted.

Jo blinked, masking the fact that she was disappointed to hear that he was getting married again so soon. "Wow."

Bill nodded. "Yeah."

Not letting on how upset she was, Jo headed for her truck to get the papers, and he followed her. "Is it Melinda?" she asked, trying to recall the name of the woman he was going to marry.

"Melissa," Bill corrected.

"Melissa," Jo muttered to herself and then glanced back at him. "Wasn't there a Melinda in there somewhere?"

Bill shook his head as they reached the yellow truck that had a tarp covering the back. "No, there's only been Melissa since you.

"Boy, not much for browsing, are you?" Jo asked as she grabbed the papers out of her glove compartment.

"No, I guess I'm not," Bill admitted.

Jo handed him the papers. "There you go."

"Thank you," Bill said and he promptly flipped through them to make sure they were all signed. Jo shut the glove compartment and then put her graduation ring over her wedding ring, a symbolical way for her to feel like she was still married.

Bill reached the last page and paused. 'Seriously?' "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You missed a page," he announced, showing her the paper.

Jo looked at him, pretending to be surprised. "What?"

Bill pointed to the last page, which had his signature on it, along with the signature of the divorce lawyer, but Jo's signature was missing. "Right here."

Jo took the papers back, and she made a show of looking through the papers. "Where'd this come from?" she wondered and she proceeded to read the last page, hunched over the hood of the truck.

"What are you doing?" Bill asked, exasperated.

"Can I read it first?" Jo requested.

"No!" Bill protested, annoyed with her attempts to stall. "It's the same as it was in December."

Jo grinned and lied through her teeth. "I didn't read it in December."

Bill groaned and held out a pen to her. "Christ, would you just sign it so we can get out of here? Please?"

"We?" Jo repeated, blinking. "She's here?"

"Yes, she's here, she's over with Dusty," Bill confirmed, exasperated. "Now would you please sign the document?"

"You left her with Dusty?" Jo teased, enjoying his annoyance. "What's the matter with you?" And she walked away, leaving the papers on the hood of the car.

"What are you doing?" Bill called after her.

"I want to meet her," Jo replied, heading for the bus.

"No you don't," Bill protested, moving after her, and then he went back to get the papers, frustrated. "Christ."

Over at the bus, Dusty and Melissa were sitting on a pair of folding chairs under a colorful beach umbrella, and Melissa was entranced by what Dusty was telling her concerning tornadoes as they sipped two fruit drinks he'd mixed up earlier.

"The suck zone- it's the point- basically at which the twister sucks you up, but it's not that technical therefore obviously, but-" he was saying.

Jo walked up at that moment. "Hi," she said and Melissa jumped a little, returning to the present. "I'm Jo Harding."

Melissa quickly got up. "Oh, hello, nice to meet you." And they shook hands as Bill caught up.

"Bill just told me the happy news," Jo added, hiding her disgust for the dark-haired woman.

Melissa blinked. "Which?"

"Us, marriage," Bill reminded her and did the introductions. "Jo, Melissa."

"It's happy news," Jo remarked.

Melissa nodded. "I guess, uh, it probably seems kind of sudden."

"Seems sudden?" Jo repeated, looking between them questioningly.

Dusty, who'd been wearing goggles over his eyes, lowered them with interest. "Dude, you takin' the vows? That's sweet!" he joked and grunted when Jo kicked his leg.

"Well, we- we just wanted to get it done before Billy started his new job," Melissa explained, slightly embarrassed.

Jo nodded, having heard about the upcoming job back in December when she first got the divorce papers. "That's right, that's right, right, right, right. Weatherman!"

Bill was immediately offended. "What?"

Jo looked at him innocently. "What?"

Bill glowered at her. "Say it."

Jo shrugged, still wearing an innocent expression on her face. "I said weatherman, I think it's great."

Bill didn't believe her for a second. "How come you had that tone?" he demanded.

"There was no tone if you have a problem being a weatherman," Jo assured him.

"I don't have a problem being a weatherman," Bill protested.

The possible argument was interrupted when Melissa's cellular phone started ringing. She fished through her purse to get it, and then she answered it. "Excuse me. Dr. Melissa Reeves here? Uh-huh?"

"Just wanted to say hello," Jo told her, earning a nod, and then she went to check out the red pickup.

While listening to the patient on the end of the phone call, Melissa made a signal to Bill if Jo's signed the papers yet.

Bill shook his head, frustrated. "What? No!" And he hurried after Jo.

Jo circled the truck when he reached her, and she was impressed by what she was seeing. "New truck?" she asked.

Bill nodded. "That's right."

"Boy oh boy. New job, new truck, new wife… it's like a whole new you!" Jo said sarcastically, hiding her disappointment.

Bill sighed. "Jo…"

"This is very awkward," Jo admitted.

"I know, tell me about it," Bill agreed.

"I thought you'd be coming out here alone," Jo added, which was true since she hadn't expected to meet the woman who was going to replace her.

"I wasn't expecting on coming out here at all you said you meet me-" Bill began.

"It's about Dorothy," Jo interrupted.

Bill stared at her for a long moment. "Dorothy?" he repeated. "What about her?"

Jo grinned, knowing that she had him hooked. "She's here."

Bill's eyes widened as the words sunk in. "Show me."

Jo lead Bill back to her truck, where she removed the tarp to reveal a large metal container covered with red warning lights and gages. It had DOROTHY written on one side with the roman numeral for one and also had a picture of Dorothy Gale on it, too.

"I can't believe you did it," Bill said, staring at it in amazement.

"We built four of 'em," Jo added, and her grin was growing bigger.

"She work?" Bill asked, unable to hide his eagerness.

Still grinning, Jo lowered the tailgate, enabling Bill to climb up, and he began examine the instrument. "Thought you'd want to be here for her first time out," she pointed out. "It wouldn't be right if you weren't here." And the whole team ran over, excited to see Bill next to Dorothy.

Joey laughed. "This is gonna be good!"

"I can't wait to see her in action," Elle agreed.

Maxine nodded. "Same here, especially after all the work we put into building them."

Dusty brought Melissa over to the truck, and he referred to Dorothy. "How sweet is that? Bill's concept man. Boom! The extreme. Man, it came from his brain," he said proudly.

Bill flushed a little. "I had a hand in it."

"Wow, it is great," Melissa remarked, although it was clear that she was confused. "What is it?"

"It's an instrument pack for studying tornadoes," Bill informed her. "First one in history."

"It's very exciting," Jo explained, climbing into the truck so that she was standing next to Bill and Dorothy. "Scientists have been studying tornadoes for ever, but still, nobody knows how a tornado works," she continued. "We have no idea what's going on inside because no one's ever been able to take scientific measurements from inside the funnel. That's what she's gonna do."

That kinda made sense to Melissa. "How?"

"We put her up inside a tornado," Jo explained and pushed a button. "She opens up," the lid opened, almost hitting Bill "and releases hundreds of these sensors." She took one out and handed it to her. "That measure all parts of the tornado simultaneously."

Melissa examined the sensor, which made her think of a Christmas ornament, and handed it back.

"You see, Melissa, it's like this," Bill explained, picking up one of the sensors and demonstrated how it would go up into the tornado. "These sensors go up the funnel, and radio back information about the internal structure, wind velocities, flow, asymmetry. We could learn more in 30 seconds than we have in the past 30 years. Get a profile of a tornado for the first time."

Now that made more sense to Melissa… kinda. "And what will that do?" she inquired.

"If we knew how a tornado really worked, we could design an advance warning system," Bill answered.

"Aren't there already tornado warnings?" Melissa asked.

Bill shrugged. "Well the-"

"They're not good enough, they're nowhere near good enough," Jo interrupted with an intensity that surprised the dark-hared woman. "Right now, it's 3 minutes. If we can get this new information, we can increase warning time to 15 minutes."

"Give people a chance to get to safety," Bill added. "At least that's what these guys are trying to do!" And the team yelled and cheered. He jumped down, and Beltzer helped Jo down. "I can't believe you actually did it," he praised.

Jo flushed, pleased. "Well, we" she referred to the team "did it."

"How do you get it in the tornado?" Melissa asked since that hadn't been explained yet.

"Well, you got to get in front of the tornado and put it in the damage path," Bill explained. "And then get out again before it picks you up too." And he agreed with his fiancée's concerned expression.

"It's the suck zone!" Dusty whispered into her ear.

Melissa was startled when he did that. "Ohh."

In the mean time, Haynes had been on the phone with the weather beauru. "Excellent!" she exclaimed, getting their attention as she hung up the phone. "Jo, we got major action! The NSSL says the caps are breaking, the tower's going up to 30 miles up the dryline!"

Jo looked up at the sky, and then at Bill. Suddenly focused, she slammed the tailgate shut. "All right, let's go!" And the team headed for their respective vehicles.

"All right, we're movin'!"

"It's fatty time!"

Soon, they all were scrambling to pack everything back in their vehicles.

"Jo, we got it!"

"Rabbit, you're up. Let's go, let's go. Hurry up, we haven't got all day, let's go!"

"Joey, Haynes, a little help?" Beltzer called out to Joey, who ran over, just as he tossed down the Doppler.

"Yes, sir," said Joey, catching the Doppler, and Haynes helped him store it into the van. "Right behind you."

Dusty was tossing all his beach stuff in his bus, and Joey and Haynes give a "mutual fingersnap".

"Smooth!"

Haynes was soon busy searching for whatever she hasn't packed. "Where is it? There it is!"

"We're all ready here!" Elle called out as she and Maxine finished packing up their gear and climbed into their van. "The Moroni Mobile is ready to go!"

"Common' Dusty, you're always the last one to go!" Rabbit called out to Dusty, who was tossing the last of his beach gear into the back of the bus.

"All right, Beltzer. Preacher, follow!" Haynes ordered.

"Laurence, don't forget the camera!" Jo called out, pointing to the camera that was on a stand.

Laurence ran back to get the camera. "I got it, I got it!"

"They can handle this, they know what they're doing," Bill told Melissa as they walked back to their truck. "I mean, well, this is what they do, they live for this."

Melissa nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Dorothy 2 and 3 ready!" Beltzer called out.

"Dorothy 4 ready!" Haynes confirmed as they shut the doors on their van.

Melissa noted how Bill kept glancing back at the team and at Dorothy I. "Are you sure you don't want to go along?"

"No," Bill said and then blinked. "Oh, with them you mean?" he asked.

Melissa nodded. "Well, yeah."

"No, they'll be fine," Bill said reassuringly as the team started driving past them, with Jo in the lead, honking her horn as she passed them.

"Did she sign the papers?" Melissa asked.

"Oh, crap!" Bill cursed, recalling that he had the papers and Jo still hadn't signed the last page.

"She didn't?" Melissa was surprised and disappointed.

"Common', if we hurry we can still catch them!" Bill exclaimed and they run to their truck, got in, and followed the team.

A/N: Will Bill be able to catch up with Jo? Stay tune for next week's installment. R&R everyone!