Sins In Twisters

by Blonkess

When Lincoln was destined to never have success like his family, after surviving the Royal Woods' Tornado, his future takes him on the path of becoming a renowned storm chaser. But as years pass since that day, his family tries to hold together after freak disasters put a halt to the sisters' lives when Lisa discovers a past family secret that tells Lincoln's time is running out.

5. See What I've Become

Sins In Twisters

Chapter 5: See What I've Become

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This AN is to convey recent events: because of me realizing that having NSL as a cornerstone to this story and depicting it in a way that I had previously, with 'constructive feedback' I realized it would completely decimate the general functionality of this story's endgame. It wasn't my intent to write something that could be seen and did depict the situation that I'm going to deem 'the stain on the story' as that original chapter achieved. If anything, this started as a kind of side idea to slowly speckle in pieces of the past events to show what has lead to current events, a simple 4k word chapter at most instead of a full-on two-parter. (Which upon this note realized I deleted everything regarding that chapter from both here and Google Docs, so that thing is now completely gone...)

Seeing now, if that turned any of you away from this story, I understand it. I've done so a lot to other stories, and I feel it was that I was getting inspiration from the wrong places that were fueling my mind for this. Trying to tie too many threads with rubber bands when I was trying to combine barbed wire with strings and electrical cables.

In part of writing this AN, I realized that what I'm setting up with the Cursed of the Silenced can be built far more freely than using NSL. Something that is more like modeling clay than the solid stone NSL is built with. NSL is still part of the DNA this story was being built with, and I do have some ideas on how to make it more 'tame' than what I made before, but that is for a future chapter/idea for when I feel I've gotten the best possible outcome for it.

In short and simple context: I've effectively shot myself in the foot, and now hoping to make sure to get things back on proper track.

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"And that's what happened." Lynn huffed as she finished her story, almost short of breath. Taking a sip from her bottle and sitting back down as she gauged her family's reactions.

Of the nine of them, Lisa and Lucy seemed the least affected by the tale. They remained stoic as ever in their spots the whole time Lynn recounted her earlier reaction. But if it was one thing that the two sisters had long since mastered at an early age, it was the art of hiding their genuine emotions.

If you could see her eyes, Lucy did look like someone desperately trying not to speak her mind. The memory of what Lisa had shown her threatened to make its grand return to the front stage and expose her to a horror story she had wished she didn't know about. It was one thing to watch and listen to, especially if it's just the words meant to paint a picture for your mind to interpret uniquely that best fit what the words described.

She had seen and heard before what pure excitement was from her brother. What hesitation and suppressed fear he would speak. But the panic and terror in his voice, then to be silenced by the endless roar of hell itself, was something she wished Lisa could scrub from her mind. Damn, it all if it meant she couldn't know about her brother's fate. She'd rather have just been told he was still out there running around and not one with the afterlife. Her older sister speaking of Clyde's reaction to Lincoln being 'he's okay, but could be better' wasn't helping the fact she could start seeing that if he was alive, just what horror was bestowed upon him that could dwarf all of theirs. She prayed for someone to end this silence, end this moment that was dragging her back down that hole.

She silently thanked God when Lana asked, "That's all he said?"

Lynn nodded. "It's not like I didn't try following him. Heck, I don't think anyone in town knew he was back until today before I accidentally scared him off."

"And you said he freaked out when he noticed it was you?"

"Yeah. He booked it out of there faster than Usain Bolt. Still kinda impressed…."

"I wonder if he knows anything about the show…." Luan muttered to herself. Though Lynn quickly heard and felt her curiosity perk up a peg.

"Show? What show?"

Lori then pulled out her phone, "Leni saw it when we were leaving the mall. She made us all think that Lincoln was right in front of us-"

"And I was right!"

"-but she was pointing to a billboard. He, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne were all posing for the camera." Doing a quick search of 'Storm Chasers 2025,' the results were a mix of images of storms and people throughout the year. In images, one of the results was a wide-angle version of the poster they saw. Though it had a different setup, the three of them were all standing in a tall grassy field with the camera just barely peeking above it.

Unlike the one they saw at the mall, this one had Lincoln looking 'up' towards the sky to his left with a stern look on his face, more like someone who didn't outright display their determination but still looked ready to leap into action with a much bigger camera by his side. Clyde looked just about the same but was turned around to face the same direction. However, something new was what looked like a radar truck in the background behind him. Dish pointed skyward with a giant tower rising behind the cab and yellow lights all around it. Ronnie Anne looked even more aggressive but without a smirk. Her arms were out to her sides, coat and hair fluttered in the breeze like she was ready to fight something. The whole sky around them was more of a dark green and black murky, twisting mess with a giant storm cloud with cracks of lightning coming out of almost everywhere with one giant bolt going overhead to illuminate the trio.

The same version of the title logo and the release date was printed in the bottom half, where the grass blended together into a black shadow. Though it had more logos, names, and information than an actual movie poster would.

"Dude…" Lynn leaned forward, reaching up to zoom the picture in on her brother, "...he looks badass! I always imagined him somehow getting on TV." 'Though it was either in a stupid magic show or those about stupid people failing at something….'

"Lynn…" Lori groaned, dropping her phone down. Feeling the athlete had missed the point.

"What? We haven't seen him in years. We barely get anything off the internet. God knows how much he's changed, and if that's him, then you can't deny that it might be camera work, but he still looks good."

Though she'd slap herself later for acting impulsively, Lori glanced at her phone to see the picture still zoomed in on Lincoln's face. Moving the screen just slightly out to show his complete form by itself. It was a far better image than the one at the mall, the lighting wasn't obscuring any details, and just him standing there really did make him look more mature with a professional edit. Without thinking about it, she saved and cropped the image down to just that section. Stuck in a little mental debate if she should keep it as one of the photos or even make it her new home screen.

'Thoughts for later,' she said to herself.

She sighed as she put her phone away, "Besides the point… Lisa?"

The child let out an uninterested "...hmmm?"

"You've been very quiet for something that's the biggest discovery we've gotten of Lincoln." The oldest slowly turned to look down at the scientist, seemingly staring off into space. "Usually by now, you'd be saying something like 'Oh, I've known this for some time' or something…

'That's because I'm trying to theorize what Clyde's reaction to Lynn could relate to Lincoln. A kind of PTSD, possibly? Clyde was the one that led the search and rescue to find the tank, and hearing what was said on the radio would be sufficient enough to evoke such a response when brought up so recently.'

Lisa glanced over to Lucy. Seeing her hands twitch ever so slightly, 'Whatever he saw could have easily been the results from that intercept. There was a nearly four-hour gap between Shrieker going quiet until they found the vehicle. His use of 'could be better' could imply Lincoln's state was either alive but mentally shaken at best or-' She shook her head. Like her goth sister, she had seen her family bleed enough as it was. But the longer they went about this, the more she really couldn't stand it.

They talked about Clyde's interaction like it was a deep secret that their brother only trusted him to keep. Many times they discovered that with how close the boys were, if it was information that could cause a negative impact on any or all of them that had only just been known, then his state of panic was understandable. (They were lucky that Clyde didn't tell his dad and go to the police or the CPS after Lincoln returned home after his isolation.)

They knew Lincoln storm chased; that he chased tornadoes and, at times, other things for videos and photos. They didn't understand the kind of risks he took to make those royalty checks have constant five-plus digits each month. She knew that amount was but a fraction of what he really was banking each month, and rarely was there ever a moment in the trail did he stop moving like this year.

"...alright then."

Spinning around and placing her laptop in the place where she sat, she folded the screen out, then again to where it was flat as if she had just broken it. Instead of a dead device, the screen flashed a bright blue as a massive holographic display beamed up from the surface. Like a laser expanding out to the sides like a scene from Tron, it reached out to the size of a 60-inch TV as lines of coding and data slowly appeared and then flashed to a desktop.

Confused by her actions, the others quietly watched as the second youngest brought forth her more portable monitor set that had long replaced the monster she used to have. "Geeze, what's this thing powered by, Windows 22?" Luan chuckled.

'Show them what they should know, not what they need…' Echoed in her mind as she moved off her box. Spinning around and placing her laptop in her place, she folded the screen out, then again to where it was flat as if she had just broken it. Instead of a dead device, the screen flashed a bright blue as a massive holographic display beamed from the surface. Like a laser expanding out to the sides like a scene from Tron, it reached out to the size of a 60-inch TV as lines of coding and data slowly appeared and then flashed to a desktop.

"Geeze, what's this thing powered by, Windows 22?" Luan chuckled.

Ignoring her, reaching out for a nearby bucket to act as a seat, Lisa opened the greatest source of information gathering on the internet; Google.

Nothing else, just Google.

But without pause, she quickly started punching in an address into the search. Typing so fast that the others barely had a chance to read exactly what was typed before the words were entered into the search. Five results pages appeared with a row of photos of tornadoes appearing just below the search bar. The first option, 'SkyKnights Storm Chasing,' appeared in purple with a list of other links below it even before they could read that the screen flashed when Lisa accessed the link.

The screen flashed for a moment to black, then what looked like an old radar scope, like the kind you would often see in old weather documentaries, to where it was like a screen from world war two radar with a twisting white mass slowly appearing. A loading bar below appeared and, within seconds, reached completion; the radar display flashed away in a bright light, and icons started appearing.

'SkyKnights Storm Chasing, Est Since 2021' Appeared at the center top in bold orange and blue with a glowing white outline with lightning animations flashing behind it like it was electrified.

Then the real fun stuff appeared.

A 'tornado' formed behind the logo, whipped around the left side and across the screen towards the right as more images and animations popped up. The tornado came back around to where it was behind the logo. It was not precisely a full-on animation but one of those images with just enough subtle motion that looked more alive than just motionless pixels.

And before them was once again their brother, standing on top of what could only be described as a giant dark grey armored truck. The image didn't give much detail as to exactly what it was; they could see some kind of dome on the roof behind Lincoln with a hatch open and a camera sticking out. A mast with antennas further back on poles. What looked like two giant red arms near the bottom of the body extended out, sticking metal poles into the ground. The front half was practically glowing from the combination of its headlights, floodlights, and an EMS bar 'pulsing' blue and orange, all shining against the dark background. Even Lincoln had a little movement, his form swaying just a little with his hair, even more so blowing in the breeze but not enough to make it lose its standard form.

To the side with the driver door open, Ronnie Anne, just like how she was on the poster, stood with her back up against the inside with her arms crossed, left leg raised up, and held on a footstep, with the same confident smirk with her ponytail just barely moving. On the other side, towards the front, leaning up against the vehicle's bullbar, they saw Clyde looking just the same; if anything was different, it actually looked like he had facial hair (a bit of a mustache if the darkness wasn't affecting the image) with shorter hair and an affiliative smile. However, he lacked any kind of animation, minus his left side partially glowing from all the lights.

For Lynn, it looked like she was having a weird case of deja vu because the image of Clyde was almost exactly like what she had just seen him not even an hour ago. Same dark blue shirt and black pants, minus the shorter hair and presence of facial hair. The only difference between the two was that Clyde on the screen seemed… younger.

It wasn't the resolution or how far she was standing from the screen that made her see that, though she couldn't argue much in the regard that she had plenty of time to look over him to see exactly how much he had changed. She didn't exactly look over every detail because she wasn't looking for anything. But she remembered him looking almost tired, like he had just finished back-to-back shifts for days and returned home knowing he'd only have very little time.

It was the stress-tired that she had seen most of her older sisters, especially her mother, and her father practically had that look on for 24/7. One that after seeing her family try to hide it for the better part of two years, seeing him trying to hide it was like trying to hide a mountain behind a pole.

Labels like 'Home' was highlighted in yellow, with 'About Us', 'Meet the Team and Machines,' 'Gallery,' 'Eye of Tornado Alley,' 'Contact Information,' 'Season:2023', and 'Store' in red appeared just above the trio, with little slideshows of video links, photos, and social media messages along the sides and bottom.

Lisa let the others look over the screen for a moment. She had already seen this page numerous times to see what new info was being added over the years. It was started by her brother just before Christmas, she should know; like Leni's online store, she helped develop his site when his photography career was beginning to truly yield the monthly checks for the family to end 2021 on a high note. But after that, he had taken over a new format that she had no real connection to.

Even then, from what she had seen from her siblings, no one else could find this site. Why? She didn't know. Checking their histories, they obviously had his non-chasing social media, but this site wasn't linked to those. They didn't know that he used 'Lightning Loud' more than his real name, and that alone meant they only saw pieces of the bigger picture. Lisa knew what this site contained, things that none of them knew about in a greater detail that she knew would definitely speed up any future gray hair coming in.

"Do you all wonder, how is it, that after three straight years of his time in the midwest, do you think that our brother is capable of constantly sending us those royalty checks with the added increases in value?" she suddenly asked. Spinning on the bucket to face them with seriousness in her eyes.

Oh, she knew full well what her brother did. Lucy knew full well what her brother did. But that was as far as anyone in the family knew exactly how far anyone else looked into Lincoln's career. The truck in question wasn't anything original. Storm chasers are always trying to 'armor up' their cars, rather it's with an exterior roll cage or large panels of plexiglass or fence screens to protect windows from hail. But for what some people strive to achieve, to date, since 2004, there have been 11 other 'Intercept' vehicles built from the likes of years of planning to be the definition of a homemade tank (though one is only a movie prop in terms of function) with Lincoln's creation being the most recent 12th that is known.

She knew that her family knew about him chasing twisters as his main 'source' for photography with some oddballs here and there (like all the volcanoes), but the one thing they failed to see has just what he did to get those photos and video.

Without asking for any input, Lisa went straight for the 'Meet the Team and Machines' tab. A long list showing both members and vehicles appeared in a kind of select wheel; hovering over the image of the person or object made a more high resolution or even 3D model appear in the center. Double-clicking on her brother, the tab switched away from the wheel to a more full-on profile, as you would see from Wikipedia. Birthdate, place of birth, age, family, current known residence (still just marked as Oklahoma), signature, and so on. The picture, though, Lisa always felt was something that just taunted her.

It was a more centered picture of Lincoln sitting in the truck's open door, a soft smile still showing his buck teeth, hair shorter, still sporting his orange polo. The tank itself was a bright silver metal, unpainted and still under construction. From the trees in the background, she found it was roughly September of 2022 when this was taken, but for the life of her, with both sitting in front of the house, she couldn't find any sign of it.

Hell, at this point, as far as she was aware, a twister had already come and erased it from Earth…

His profile was a long one. A short read for her that barely warranted reading after doing so countless times, but for the others, it was info they hadn't gotten a taste of.

"Team leader and Founder of SkyKnights Storm Chasing, Lincoln 'Lightning' Loud (20) is a photographer and videographer on the job but a storm chaser at heart. Becoming inspired by weather at the early age of 11 when he came face to face mere feet away from a tornado in his hometown of Royal Woods, Michigan."

Everyone, no matter the age or who tried to suppress the memory, felt their moods sharply decline at the mention of that day. It was part of history for them, for him; one that couldn't let the future exist without the other, no matter how much they wished it didn't exist.

Especially with the video of that day posted right underneath the info…

"Growing to realize his passion for capturing nature on film, one the day he would get his driver's license, he would experience his first true taste in storm chasing and solidify himself in weather history. Holding several world records since age 11, with some being 'The closest human to ever be within contact of a significant tornado (7 feet, Royal Woods EF3, April 2016)', 'Document the most tornadoes ever within a single year by a single person (244, January 1 to December 31, 2023)', 'Intercepted (within 25 meters or less) the most tornadoes in a single year, (16 in 2024 and 2025, Unconfirmed 17th in 2025)'."

Lisa felt herself tense up a bit. A sharp intake through her nose, and her fingers twitched as to ball up and smash the computer. 'Unconfirmed 17th my ass…'

"Called Lucky Link by many chasers, who often end up chasing after Lincoln and his team, knowing there is a significant chance that any tornado that a storm spawns they will get close to and see it, has been asked exactly why does he chase tornadoes so much when his photography has been seen to encompass other natural events:

("Well, before I started chasing, I just used my phone to record anything that captured my imagination. It kind of started back home during my first tornado, and a short time later, I'm here in Camp Mastodon for three weeks blowing off steam surrounded by nature, and it felt like my eyes were suddenly opened. I started seeing things that someone my age wouldn't bat an eye at the time when I did. In those three weeks, I somehow managed to get 200 photos on my phone and a few videos. Five years after that, I managed to get my second tornado, and from there, it just didn't stop."

"I've captured a lot of other things like blizzards, about 11 hurricanes, god knows how many storms just for the sakes of filming a storm regardless if there's no chance of even lightning; you don't need flash for nature to really reveal its power and beauty as one. Some of my favorite nonweather stuff was back in 2022 and 2023 when filming the eruptions of the volcanoes like Mauna Loa and Kilauea; it was the first time I actually got to see and even fly over the Pacific Ocean, and that alone, I took dozens of photos out of the plane and about five hours of footage."

"My goal isn't exactly original, I will admit. Like, the shot from inside the tornado? That's already been captured numerous times from pods, people in the wrong place, or other chasers at the right place at the right time. What I want… is to have my name go down in history. To be known as the man that traveled the world hunting danger that most people or even generations of people will at best see on television or in movies or maybe never at all. And tornadoes are that force that is so powerful, mysterious, violent, and beautiful; some you can compare, but no two tornadoes are ever the same."

"My ultimate dream shot is a tornado from the moment that storm starts spinning, and you see that wall cloud lower, and the little funnel poking down to the earth getting bigger. Not too big that it looks like you're just in a windy thunderstorm, just enough that you can literally see part of the sky above us that is going miles and miles into the heavens, actually drilling into the earth we walk on. You see all this debris of things just defying gravity, moving at speeds that a simple garden hose could be moving fast enough to slice off the top floor of a house. The ground is shaking; you feel the roar of Mother Nature's rage, and just… all hell is breaking loose around you. The beauty in the moment of chaos, really."

"It's witnessing everything nature can be and do. From far away to ground zero, I'm used to being in the middle of crazy hell that, at any moment, can turn my way and turn me into the definition of a human pretzel. Have things flying that could tear down a house in moments, or feel the fury of cold rain blast you in the face. I've witnessed it in many forms, and twisters are the ultimate form.")

'As of June 5th, 2025, Lincoln has successfully tied his record of intercepts for the past two years and has reported on June 18th to be targeting Central Kansas for a big chase day on the 19th.'

There was more about his earlier life, how he learned about the weather, and some of his earlier chases with Clyde before leaving Michigan. All the way to any significant event until he made Oklahoma his new home with links to a timeline of the past three years. With knowledge of its existence, Lisa knew her sisters would undoubtedly spend the better part of tonight going through every crevice they could find that she hadn't already.

With some protest from the others that they were reading that, she exited off the page and back to the selection menu, "Now Lynn," the prodigy child directed her question to the athlete, "Was this the vehicle that you saw?"

Moving past the teams' profiles, the cursor moving down to the vehicles came upon what looked like an old blue Ford full cab pickup truck with a ladder rack across the roof covered in antennas. Wiremesh hail guards draped over the windows with the rear bed loaded with containers. But the bigger eye-catching element was that of a shield logo on the doors with a tornado on the front and a literal knight in shining armor behind it. Crouched behind it like it was trying to conceal itself with the top of the helmet peeking over the left side and a sword stabbing into the 'ground' by the bottom of the shield.

Having to jog her memory for a bit, looking over the slowly spinning model, Lynn felt the spark of realization surge through her. "Yeah, that is the truck I saw!" Lynn pressed on, more like sent her finger through, the 'screen' at the utility truck. However, this one was more 'clean' than she had seen earlier.

"This is the vehicle was Lincoln's first true chase vehicle," Lisa explained, "He bought it secondhand during his first year chasing in Oklahoma before he permanently moved there. Given its color and its medieval branding theme, he referred to this as 'Knight One'. "

"Then why did he buy that Forerunner?" She wouldn't admit it, but that Toyota that he had brought with him the day after he gave Vanzilla back to their dad did make some of the older sisters a little peeved at how he suddenly had the best car on literally the whole block.

Lisa shrugged, "Possibly to avoid damaging his personal vehicle. He and Clyde had used this while Lincoln's main weapon was under construction." Confirming that the vehicle was seen in Royal Woods gave her some hope that she could easily tap into the security camera on every street around Phil's to know where the vehicle and Clyde went.

Bookmarking that for something to tend to after this meeting, she clicked off the truck and went to the menu, slowly scrolling past other icons. The next being called 'Knight Two' was a black 2014 Chevy Silverado that looked much like the first vehicle, but the context of 'we had more money to work with' was clearly shown with the number of upgrades and additions that covered the body. Between floodlights, a giant winch, the cargo storage, and an elaborate hail guard and mesonet on the roof.

'Sky Spy' was the most recent addition. The page itself was created in March and had several photos and some video clips of it undergoing reconstruction from its former state of a vehicle called 'DOW 6' with just as many changes as Knight Two. Gone was the bright shining blue; in its place was a more deep orange and light gray with an ash-gray radar dish on the back without its cover.

The little detail with the cost was just too much to look at. Surprise at what had already been discovered was one thing, but finding out a flatbed truck with a giant satellite on the back cost over a million dollars in 2008 money, Lisa opted not to correct them in that inflation had pretty much doubled that.

"You said his 'main weapon' was under construction," Luna asked, looking away from the screen to the scientist, "What exactly is it?"

There it is, the money question. The one that was what they said about the poster in the mall, the front page of the website, and Lincoln; there was the existence of the strange armored truck that had been popping up.

Sitting straight up, hands brought down to her lap with her mind entering more of a 'serious' mode, she suddenly asked, "Have you ever wondered how is it that after three straight years of his time in the midwest, do you think that our brother is capable of constantly sending us those royalty checks with the added increases in value?" She spun around on the bucket to face her face with seriousness in her eyes.

Oh, she knew full well what her brother did. Lucy knew full well what her brother did. But that was as far as anyone in the family knew exactly how far anyone else looked into Lincoln's career. The truck in question wasn't anything original. Storm chasers are always trying to 'armor up' their cars, whether it's with an exterior roll cage or large panels of plexiglass or fence screens to protect windows from hail. But for what some people strive to achieve, to date, since 2004, there have been 11 other 'Intercept' vehicles built from the likes of years of planning to be the definition of a homemade tank (though one is only a movie prop in terms of function) with Lincoln's creation being the most recent 12th that is known.

She knew that her family knew about him chasing twisters as his main 'source' for photography with some oddballs here and there (like all the volcanoes), but the one thing they failed to see was just what he did to get those photos and video. Lana was the first to ask, "I… guess it involves that truck?" She pointed towards the last icon below the radar truck.

Lisa didn't speak immediately. Convincing Lana, she probably guessed wrong- "You are correct, Lana." she spun back around to the keyboard. Clicking over the icon, that page again switched over, but this time, it didn't just load up a 'profile.'

The whole webpage went dark for a moment as flashes of lightning cut across the screen, and a top-down view of a road rapidly passing by gave way to a raging storm with a tornado suddenly dropping down in the distance. Then, in a flash of light brighter than the lightning, a giant gray mass appeared, driving away from the camera with its lights flashing red. Another bolt of lightning, and the image flips. Now, headlights approach the camera with orange and blue flash out from a wall of bright white. The vehicle gets closer and then hits its brakes; 'smoke' bellows from the rear tires as it fishtails to show more of its broadside and comes to a halt. A kind of 'haze' appears, and the animation still becomes like a regular image.

Below it, appearing like the other vehicles, in an angled bold font that looked like it was attacked by flying debris, 'Storm Shrieker' presented itself. A vehicle that, if Lisa had to summarize in one word, over-engineered. It had enough mass to be registered as a semi-truck barely, was a monster on fuel consumption, and had several blind spots when in motion, even if the plethora of cameras mounting along the hull countered them. It was an untested design, built straight from what plans Lincoln cooked up in his spare time and only modified as he went.

She wasn't dismissing her brother's creation, oh, no. Something like this is bound to have pros and cons cooked into it, and seeing the success that it brought him; she could say that she was pleased that through trial and error, he had come to perfect it. It was built to be the ultimate interceptor, something that could survive anything thrown it's way. Years of others attempting to build vehicles and their service careers had gifted him the knowledge to know what worked and what didn't, and his imagination did the rest.

The vehicle gave that kind of opposing feeling that one might get from seeing armored military or police vehicles heading in your direction. To make people stand back and see the situation was a lot more dangerous that special measures need to be taken. Without a sense of scale, she knew the others didn't know the true size of the beast.

"He… built that?" Leni asked, almost like she was mystified at looking at a mythical creature.

"Indeed. There was a reason his taste in literature had significantly changed some time ago from his fictional graphic novels to more informative articles regarding engineering and automotive development."

"I thought that was just him getting more in things boys his age likes." Luan leaned closer over the girl to look closer.

"It looks weird." Lola bluntly stated.

Lynn rolled her eyes at the comment, "It's not weird. It looks cool." It looked like the kind of truck you'd see in action movies that the heroes bring out when they need some 'heavy artillery' in a dire situation, and you see it just flying through walls with guns blazing, sending rockets everywhere.

"While your comments both hold meaning to the vehicle, there is more than it just being 'weird' and 'cool,' so listen."

Moving the cursor down the page to the description, a little icon bar appeared with 'Play Audio.' Double-clicking a progress bar popped up at the bottom of the page like one would see from opening a music app and the voice of a narrator speaking just a second later. "Storm Shrieker, sometimes referred to as the Tornado Dreadnought, S.S. Twister, or the Midwest Battleship, is the brainchild of Lincoln Loud as his ultimate weapon to conquer Tornado Alley. Following his move to Oklahoma in March of 2022, construction of the beast would begin with purchasing a custom-ordered brand new 2022 Ford F-450 commercial truck."

A slideshow of photos appeared below the text. The truck itself, from the photos, was parked on a gravel driveway behind the farmhouse, showing off the chrome and leather interior with the body a beautiful cherry red that was tainted with only some dirt and dust along the sides.

Now, she wasn't one for trucks. Sports cars or something that screamed gloriously was her cup of tea. But for Lola, she had to admit that it was a beautiful-looking truck, even if it was on screen. Lynn even nodded in approval, mentally picturing herself either driving that red beast or sitting to the side, feeling the wind in her face if Lincoln drove.

"Uuuaahhhhhhgg…" Everyone's eyes bugged out from the unholy sound that emitted from amongst them.

Looking around, they all took a step back when they saw Lana with a droopy smile and half lid eyes, head tilted to the side, and body slumped forward. Practically everyone, minus Lily, felt their faces heat up when their minds started drifting toward more dirtier thoughts. Lana looked like someone who had just seen the love of her life for the first time. The throaty moan she let out, however…

The family knew puberty was its own kind of demon. It varied from being merciful over time to a lethal blitzkrieg overnight. Their mother was hard on them all as they changed; with the twins smack dab in the middle of theirs, it was a two-for-one deal that made them question many things.

The fact that Lana looked like she had, or was, experiencing the time of her life, understandably made the older siblings feel embarrassed and a bit confused over how her reaction was to a truck of all things.

"Uhh…Lana? You okay there?" Luan asked slowly, unsure if she or anyone present wanted an answer.

"Trrrruuuuuuccc~" She moaned out, making the comedian slowly lean back with more awkwardness coursing through her.

Feeling her mind feels like it hit a speed bump, Lisa slowly turned back towards the screen, "Okay then…" and clicked play on the audio again.

"Stripping it down to the bare chassis, with only the engine remaining-"

"WHAT!?" This time, Lola yelled in shock. "HE DESTROYED THAT BEAUTIFUL TRUCK?!"

"Ahhh YEAH!" Lana cheered, fist pumping in the air. "MY BIG BRO'S A GEARHEAD JUST LIKE HIS LITTLE SIS!"

"-he and five others would begin constructing a welded steel framework out of two-inch tubular steel to supersize the cab. For stability, a perfect balance was needed. To support the massive weight and give it the needed mobility and power, the vehicle would be reconfigured with a third axle to give it six-wheel drive. Powered by a supercharged Cummins diesel engine producing over eight hundred and eighty horsepower."

"Mmmph~" another moan came from the mechanic.

"Will you just go to the other room already!" Lola yelled into her ear, feeling herself getting embarrassed more.

"I'm good~" Her twin replied, unaffected by the blast she had gotten inches away from her side. Her mouth opened in a wide smile with a small trail of drool slowly falling out as she felt something within her twitch when it talked of the engine. For her part, Lola groaned in frustration and stepped to the side, trying to get some distance from her broken sister.

Though personalities are polar opposites, their reactions did trigger some thoughts of others. Another row of images, numbering nearly 200 alone, showed the gradual process of Lincoln, Clyde, and three unknown people bringing the truck into some hangar and just tearing it apart.

Even one image that was probably a joke had the removed body placed outside by the end of the drive with a "For Sale" sign with a bit of note saying "Brand New, under 1,000 miles. No Engine or Frame."

But that was just the first 30 images. More and more continued to show the evolution from Knight One backing into the garage with a bed full of steel bars, the frame on a lift with the crew working on the third axle, the cab frame taking shape, and even Lincoln standing by the driverside, dawning a welding mask and apron as he used an angle grinder in a joint by the windshield sending sparks everywhere. A giant marker board with plans, diagrams, and even little doodles that were sitting in the background were photographed; Clyde standing beside Lincoln with markers in his hand like the boys were discussing something and changing or adding.

There was even a little video playing itself: showing them rolling out the completed frame out of the garage with Lincoln sitting on the driver seat manning the wheel. Moving out enough to see the engine rumble and the headlights flash on. Another arguably excited Lynn's inner daredevil; it showed her brother driving the naked beast. Wearing a makeshift seatbelt, a black helmet with giant earphones, and skiing goggles, tears across a field in a cloud of flying dirt. Flying across the hills, hitting bumps that sent the vehicle rocking, dirt and grass spraying up over him like he was driving through a brief sandstorm.

If there were audio, none of them would have doubted not hearing him laughing with pure excitement if the dust-covered smile he had at the end of the reel after the joy ride was anything to go by.

Hell, he looked more excited driving that truck in a field than they remembered him returning home before…

Before he left.

They… remembered him being home. Usually, with his ever-so-common smile whenever he helped out with something. But never this happy. The only time that was ever seen was when he left and returned from his early chases around the time he got his new car. The last time they saw him this happy was… was…

Years. Years, a decade, really. Just before the days, he started to really embrace his new hobby, and just after…

A surge of old bile bubbled up through them all. Even Lily, who was still a baby at the time, felt her mood drop several pegs at the memory. Lynn instinctively felt her hand move to her left cheek. Wincing despite there being no pain for whatever reason. But she could feel it; it was like a ghost pain. Though the physical pain couldn't match her mental pain from that day…

"Designed to hold a crew of five, with cargo space capable of doubling this capacity, the entire frame would be layered with an inner skin of aluminum and insulation gel to prevent debris from entering the vehicle and prevent the crew from suffering extreme temperatures. Over the frame, the armor would measure up to three inches thick with composite layers of kevlar, rubber, aluminum, and the outermost skin consisting of half-inch thick solid steel. The windows consist of three layers of bulletproof glass and polycarbonate measuring up to two inches thick to fend off flying debris."

A smaller set of photos did the same as before, showing the difference in how much the body was taking shape between a two-inch bar to some places looking like a metal sandwich.

"And most of all, important to Lincoln's mission; A specially designed, multi-function gyro-turret allowing him to film a complete 360 degrees and straight up into the funnel. Allowing the operator to either manually turn, to sit inside, or remote control from the dashboard."

Another 16 photos appeared, starting from a simple metal ring on stacks all the way up to the completed dome without windows. Two videos showed the progressive order of them using a crane to lift the mass of metal over the roof and down onto the frame. Lincoln could be seen inside it, his head sticking out of the hatch as, with a visible grunt, spun the dome to the left and around. The second, showing a more complete vehicle, had Clyde in the passenger seat handling what looked like an old NES controller. Just moving the joystick a little started spinning the turret the opposite way with Lincoln sitting in the seat. At the press of a button, the front hatch snapped shut, with two panels appearing from inside and snapping into place.

"With an estimated weight of a colossal 18,000 pounds once said and done, to prevent tornadic winds from flipping the vehicle over without sacrificing its off-road mobility, hydraulic 'belly shields' fold out from under the chassis to plug upwind gaps. And it's most impressive and impactful feature; is a set of four retractable arms that fold out from the body and extend out outwards to the corners. Widening its footprint to give it what Lincoln calls 'a pyramid wedge', at the end of each arm, four massive spikes capable of penetrating up to thirty inches into the ground in seconds allowed the vehicle to lock itself to the earth."

Only a single video was present, showing the complete truck backing out of the hanger again during what they could tell was either early morning or dusk. Once again, Lincoln sat behind the wheel as the camera focused on the side of the vehicle. Watching as a large metal plate folded out from underneath it with a rubber cloth dragging against the ground.

Then came the 'spikes.'

Connected to a set of red blocky arms with yellow and white caution stripes, the arms slowly began to unfold away from the center as two 'towers' that were tilted back began to straighten up. Once they reached as far as their hinge allowed, they extended even further out. A second arm came out from the first as they reached at least seven feet away from the vehicle.

Then, in three seconds, the entire unit suddenly slammed toward the ground. One side telescoped in on itself as the metal rod went through the gravel like a bullet being fired from a rifle, but all the last six inches, painted in orange, were left exposed to the world.

"Capable of handling 150 miles per hour winds when undeployed, with the spikes locked, the vehicle is designed to survive a wind threshold close to 200 miles per hour. Strong enough to survive the upper limits of a violent EF4 tornado and allow Lincoln to get in and out alive safely. With six months of work and over two hundred thousand dollars of his own money-"

"TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS?!" Lori shouted with the full power of her lungs and surname. Surprised by the sudden outburst, everyone practically jumped a good three feet away from her in fear of accidentally being caught in her fury. "HE HAD ALL THAT MONEY AND HAD THE AUDACITY TO SEND US SCRAPS!?" Rage had taken hold as her face began turning bright red. Her whole body was quaking, with teeth clenched so hard that some questioned if they were about to shatter any moment now.

She knew her brother would do many things when they started this. It was in his nature. She still remembered feeling peeved at how out of everyone in the house, he managed to get his first 'real' car brand new straight off the dealership. But she was proud of his success.

Finding out that he had so much money at that time, a year later, he buys a brand new truck, probably worth more than their house and the land it sits on, tore it apart to build a tank to chase weather. Oh, she felt like a blood vessel was ready to pop.

"Correction, my oldest sibling." Lisa calmly stated as if she was correcting a standard error. "The cost of such a vehicle was most likely closer to 50 to 90 thousand-" She felt herself suddenly ripped away from her seat. She was spun around to where she realized Lori was holding her off the ground by the scruff of her shirt with the full force of the fire in her eyes directed at the scientist.

Had this been a decade ago, Lisa would think this was what her brother often was on the receiving end of. Though even with herself now being 12 and having seen a lot, she still couldn't resist flinching back like Lori was a wild dog just waiting to attack.

Sure, she's used it, but when Lori gets mad, she gets angry. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THAT MONEY COULD HAVE DONE FOR US!?"

Keeping her composure despite the situation, she carefully reached up, fixing her glasses, "But do you realize this was before our current problems had begun? Our brother's monthly currency check was him giving us portions of what he was making to show his generosity towards us. And at times, that amount did grow when our family experienced a 'bump in the road' when we were not prepared for such events. It's not that hard to see why; it was literally his own money. He had every right to spend it however he wanted to, and he focused more of it into furthering his success than blowing it all away." Her gaze hardened on Lori this time.

Her sister's anger did crack at the mention of 'blowing it all away.' Her thoughts drifted back to back in May before Lisa interrupted them, "And understand this; our financial situation at the time was restabilizing by the time of his departure. I am willing to suspect that had that not been the case; he would have remained home longer. To what degree that could have affected his success, I will say, is a negative one if what he did for us was any indication."

Lisa could tell her logic was working its magic in Lori's mind. The blonde slowly started to feel her anger subside as she had a mental debate. Lost so deep and quickly, her grip on the genius was quickly forgotten, and the 12-year-old calmly landed on her feet. But while Lori, and by extension the others, thought over this, Lisa felt herself be filled with doubt about a long list of things that made her think back to the curse.

History had shown that of the 11 children, as their fortune of theirs grew, the names of the others faded till the former's passing. So many things were out of line that she was wondering if this curse was real or not or if it was playing tricks on her. For five straight years, Lincoln has had massive success. Even as his started to grow, the others were growing simultaneously. The creation of this tank was arguably the object that did cement his chosen path (like who sinks 200k of their own money into a project like this) for the future.

But then, with each success, each 'big day' that made him bank and sent some of that to his family, each intercept, even the TV show, meant his success was still growing. The curse had two chances to 'silence' the family, and both times, Lincoln was somehow able to be still their sword and shield that made sure they kept going. But what would that mean for the curse? Lincoln wasn't even an adult the first time; the second time, he had yet to reach the age of 20 before that check came through. His success and their downfall weren't as instantaneous as the previous generations, and he still kept them going.

The pattern she had theorized wasn't in play anymore.

'Or was it?' She thought when retaking her seat. History didn't say how the Duke died; history spoke of how their great, great, great grandfather died in battle during a war. The future, however, was more blurred than before.

Then her thoughts drifted back to recent events… Kingman.

No matter what, Kingman was like that devil staring at her right in the face, refusing to admit to what he had done. Everywhere she looked, people called it either the 'Storm of Your Dreams' or the 'Kansas Nightmare' for one reason or another; that was just part of the long list that filled either side. If Lincoln really wanted to have his name remembered in history, that day in June was the day. His biggest achievement possible; the ultimate intercept. One that has no equal in history to its power, with her brother capturing the event all on film for all of the world to see; he was the man that dared to go into the heart of a monster.

But evidence said otherwise. It started as a dream that turned ended as a nightmare.

During the first half of the day, she heard his excitement and determination louder than ever. From what Lynn's recount of her brief interaction with Clyde gave, she understood now that it was Ronnie Anne that was with him on that chase, and if there was a TV show being made at the same time, she didn't doubt there was someone with the production team with them as well.

Ronnie Anne. She was there... She was with Lincoln during their attempts to intercept and escape right in the passenger seat. She possibly knew more about what happened to Lincoln than Clyde did on that day (though that last part is a bit of a guess at this point.) She needed to speak with her. There was more to this story she was missing too much of that sleep, was being extinct, and the coffee was drying up quickly.

And the photos… hearing the recording describe the vehicle again. All the components Lincoln brought together to build the strongest vehicle ever made in tornado history, dozens of intercepts, close calls, and breakdowns, almost crushed that day. Had it been any other vehicle, she was a hundred and ten percent certain that if it hadn't gone airborne, whatever had caused the damage to Shrieker would have outright flattened any other.

Some reports say he was lucky they didn't get hit directly. Others that had the subvortice not formed over Kingman, then they wouldn't have been hit by so much debris. But the common saying was it was sheer dumb luck, a roll of the dice, wrong place, wrong time, but missing complete disaster.

Her brother was too stubborn to die like that. She felt it in her heart, and if the others knew, they would agree.

But this whole situation was just too unbalanced… The success of ten meant the failure of one, but the success of one meant the failure of ten. This was the case of the failure of ten meant the success of one; the success of one meant the success of all.

'And if that's the case, then what exactly does this curse constitute as a victory over failure? Is it that an equal balance is given out that a success causes failure or is it the opposite? Does it collectively measure out how much several of either combined would warrant the outcome? If so, then what did Lincoln achieve on May 17th that at the time caused Lynn such a massive, crippling injury? What did we do that had caused Kingman?'

While Lisa fell into heavy thought, Lori felt her rage diminish like a fire dosed with a flood. Lisa was rarely wrong and, in this case, showed how narrow Lori was thinking. She told herself that all she did was spend and spend. Hell, how much did she waste that could have saved her months of pain or even helped one of the others? She had no right to criticize how Lincoln spent his money. He was making more bank than anyone in the family to the point he could afford a million-dollar radar truck and still send them that check.

He didn't have to; no one asked him to. But he did it anyway without care for repayment. Things happen; they are unexplainable and unpredictable.

"-upon completion, Lincoln felt it within him to give the vehicle a name he felt was befitting for its size and power and as a memento to his childhood."

The narrator's voice ended right there, along with the progress bar and most of the general description. There was one last video, but it didn't play like the others. It was only 20 seconds long, and when Lisa clicked it, it formed a bigger window that showed Lincoln hunched over the front of the truck with an impact drill.

With actual audio of the entire place filled with talking and tools going off, whoever was holding the camera stepped back as Lincoln lifted the drill away for it to pan over to what he was working on. In the same font as the image on the web page and the same you see Ford trucks have the words 'Super Duty' printed as welded on a stainless steel plate, the tank's name proudly stood out in its unfinished glory.

"Storm Shrieker. Hahaha!"

'That voice… that-that was Lincoln.'

That thought was shared through the other nine minds around the computer. Whatever they were thinking before suddenly became irrelevant as for the first time in years, even if it was just a recording, they heard their brother laugh with his heart. For ten years, they heard him laugh plenty of times growing up. Either from him achieving something personal, Luan actually getting him with a good joke, or the moments when Lily was starting to really get active. Every other time, it was a chuckle at best or a forced laugh that, half the time, went unnoticed.

But here, who could blame him? He was building his dream, his future, his own way. 2022 was the start of three years of hell that played Eeny, meeny, miny, and moe with their lives, and at the same time, their brother was building something that was supposed to go into hell on earth. If they had that kind of luck, life could have been so much different…

Moving past the segment depicting the vehicle's specifications, a very long list of videos and photos filled the page by the hundreds. First, starting with some drawings, Lisa remembered him making at home before leaving. Then a mix of them acquiring the truck, videos of the teardown, and construction of what they had seen before. Even gag reels show some mishaps along the way.

The first time she remembered sitting through all of them, Lisa felt her heart twist when her brother exhibited more 'life' in those six months than he did the prior two years. He acted more, far more, like his old self in these videos and those further down the line than the time she started her investigation. After that, there were another half dozen labeled 'Trial Runs' before stopping.

Scrolling down some, two more videos appeared; one titled 'November 4/22 Texas Outbreak- Full Chase' that was over five hours long and showed a radar map of Texas. The other was more absurd, looking more like a photoshopped thumbnail you'd see on a poorly made YouTube video than something that looked real. It looked like what seemed to be Lincoln, if the orange and blue was anything to go by, standing on top of the truck with his arms stretched out to the sides like he was waiting for a big hug. To his left, the bright burning orange ball of the sun breached the rain, and on the other side, a dark mass stood like a shadow over him. It was like he was grabbing onto the sun and tornado.

It was only six minutes long, but the video's title seemed to hold the same kind of enthusiasm; 'Sulphur Springs, Texas November 4, 2022: STORM SHRIEKER'S FIRST INTERCEPT!'

With such a bold statement, Luna leaned closer to ensure she read the title correctly, "First intercept? In November? Wasn't the storm season, like, back in the spring?"

"You are correct. However, patterns in recent years have undergone a more radical rise in severe weather due to our more extreme winters becoming warmer for longer with spikes of record-low temperatures. These unstable events have been why we see so many storms in the latter half of Fall and Winter months with severe events such as flooding and tornadoes at the same time with major winter storms."

Silence filled the garage before Leni spoke up behind her, "...what?"

'Hello Lisa, I'm your daily headache!' "*sigh* If I say global warming, will that be enough for you to understand?"

"Global warming is real?" Resisting the urge to either sigh or bang her head off the computer, the scientist pressed play on the video to get the show on the road. The screen popped up a new window that pushed away most of the page; a loading wheel spun for but a brief second before a black screen with white text appeared;

'November 4th, 2022 Tornado Outbreak'

'Chase 1, Tornado #2, South of Sulphur Springs, Texas'

'Tracking supercell along Texas Highway 19-S, Followed first tornado for roughly 5 miles before racing ahead for possible intercept, deployed on County Road 1165 when funnel lifted and second tornado formed moving towards us.'

The text faded away as the scene appeared to take place from inside the cab of Storm Shrieker. Lincoln was barely visible under the roof's edge with who they believed Clyde was manning the camera, filming as the tornado began to form rapidly.

"What do you think, here's good?" Lincoln called out, leaning over the steering wheel to look out the window.

"Yeah… I think so. Maybe a little further north but-Oh, we got debris!" Clyde moved the camera higher to avoid having a treeline behind them block the view as the funnel shifted from a small multi-vortex to a slender funnel that started tearing up the ground. What could only be seen as flying splinters from the impact of a house out of view and anything that was unfortunate to be in the fields that it ripped across

"Wasn't there a house back there?"

"I don't know!"

"Alright, putting the turret on auto-track. Running deployment cycle; we're locking down." For a brief moment, they could see the turret slowly rotate to the left side of the vehicle; an intense whirring sound filled the cab as Clyde pulled himself back inside to film Lincoln one-by-one hit several switches, and pulled down four of the ten levers mounted by the dashboard.

Holding them down until four little yellow flashing lights turned solid green. His hand shifted over to a set of four red levers numbered D1, D2, P1, and P2 as an even stronger hydraulic whir as Clyde shifted the camera area to show the side arms having finished folding out and started extending their inner components. The spike towers tilted up to aim straight down as once the arms reached max length, what sounded like a sharp hiss, and the towers suddenly collapsed down, ramming the metal rod deep into the sides of the road.

"We locked?" Lincoln asked from behind. Reaching out to shut his door, he swayed the camera over the two arms.

"Yeah, we good." Pulling the door shut with a grunt, causing a heavy thunk when it finally closed, Clyde pushed a massive barrel bolt forward to lock it. Leaning behind his seat, Clyde focused out the back window behind Lincoln's seat. Just enough, from the window's edge, you could see the debris cloud and the base of the funnel slowly getting bigger.

Unbuckling from his seat, Lincoln climbed over the glovebox, past the camera with a muffled 'sorry,' and into the cab's rear. Clyde's camera briefly focused on him as he pushed the turret's seat to the side and stood in a slight crouch behind a very expensive-looking camera.

"How close is it?!" Clyde yelled out with excitement and a hint of panic, hearing things already pinging off the truck as the storm's roar intensified the closer the funnel got.

"About a hundred yards and closing!" Lincoln shouted back. Excitement was the only thing that filled his voice as he ever slowly moved with the turret.

The camera angle changed from Clyde's handheld to now focusing out of the turret itself as the hatch's shutters quickly snapped shut when a large piece of debris came flying towards the vehicle. It landed just yards away in the field, with a spout of dirt sent up as it hit the ground. The camera itself, probably the whole vehicle, was beginning to vibrate as the roar became even louder once the shutters opened back up.

It almost looked like that day back in 2016. The storm made its way right for them but this time with a level of evil that was determined to destroy whatever was in its path. And no matter what was flying in the air; trees, hay, metal roofing, what was a shed possibly, being sucked in and spat out around it, the camera slowly followed.

"Lincoln?!" Clyde was heard yelling in alarm, making some of the sisters snap back at how much panic his voice sounded. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"I wanna see it!"

"But, he can see it…." Luan pointed out, feeling a sense of unease forming.

Lisa nodded once, stoic as ever, holding her hands together, "Just watch."

The same unease swept its way through the crowd. Unable to look away from their sister's words, often telling them to expect something that wouldn't be good, they watched the camera slowly tracking along with the twister. Getting closer and closer to the truck and road.

… when the roof hatch popped up and was thrown open.

Just as the camera was starting to pass back over the roof itself, the white hair of their teen brother stuck up through the hole and was immediately blasted by the wind. He slowly pulled himself up, grabbing onto a side handle as his back became soaked. Wisps of dirt being pulled by the storm flew across the road, with the powerlines just to their left side beginning to sway just as violently as the trees around them.

And yet there Lincoln stood, standing on the roof of a tank meant to protect him from the wind, the rain, and flying debris. Standing on something that put him ten feet higher off the ground, let him be higher up so that most trees would easily get pulled into the funnel first before the peddles on the ground. But he stood tall, unaffected by the force of wind and debris that pinged off the armor or pelted him with leaves getting caught in his hair.

He stood there, almost like he was… relaxed.

The tornado was possibly no more than 50 feet in front of them, crossing the road. Powerpoles and trees ahead of them were already falling and getting ripped apart, adding more ammo to the spinning death machine. But over the roar, over rain, over the truck, and over Clyde's muffled cries for Lincoln to get back inside, the boy stood there, spreading his arms out wide just as the whole of the vortex now stood on the road.

"HAHAHA!" He laughed out, cheering on like he would at one of Lynn's big games. "LOOK AT IT! HAHA! WHAT A BEAUTY!" Lincoln yelled louder, clear as day, despite the chaos that was around him for anyone to later see.

And slowly, the sun began to appear from a distance past the storm clouds. And in but a brief moment, the ten of them watched their brother standing before two of the ultimate powers of mother nature that gave life and snuffed it out.

They all watched, holding their breath stuck in their throats. Thinking that at any moment, the storm would shift and come at him or a piece of debris would introduce itself to him. But the tornado just moved away, uncaring of the potential target that stood there with open arms waiting. Lincoln still stood there, watching it travel past the treeline to its right. Shredding more in its path before it began to lose shape and wither away slowly. The funnel was gone, the dirt cloud becoming less and less condensed as debris drifted away. It was vanishing from the world, never to be seen in this form again except by those who ventured to immortalize it on film.

As it faded, Lincoln lowered his arms back down. Combining his ruffled hair with one hand to get any dirt or items out, he turned to lower himself back into the cab. Yet in the last few seconds of the video, he looked up at the turret camera and smiled. It was a victorious smile. One that just about everyone in the family had after working their butt off to get the big prize to be number one. They had seen Lincoln with it before, but this, this one had so much power behind in those brief seconds that no one else in the world but his best friend was there to witness a massive moment in his life.

That was just the first.

On that day, with the other videos listed, Lincoln managed to get in or close to three more twisters. Intercept number two was from Bogota, Texas, to Idabel, Oklahoma EF4 during a night chase. But it didn't stop there. Dozens more videos, all of either major storms from outbreaks to obscure single events, filled literally half the page. 2023 alone proved how determined he was to get himself and his tank in a twister, and the year after that proved even more undeniable.

But scrolling to the bottom, into the 2025 season, seeing the 16 times Lincoln had her further question his sanity. Everything from the first chase in February to June 5th was posted. Even small posts of them working on the truck in downtime in preparation for the next weather event. After that, nothing. No updates, no 'pre-chase gameplan' or day-after report. Just like his social media, the trail went cold after mid-June…

"This…" Lynn's near-quiet voice spoke, "This is what Lincoln does? This is how he's gotten all of this money sent to us for years?"

Powering down her computer, Lisa folded the device back up, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Yes. From what I've been able to gather, Lincoln's means of acquiring such a large profit over has been the result of him taking an unorthodox approach to how many would be storm chasing-"

"UNORTHODOX?!" Luna screamed out loud enough to make some dust fall from the ceiling, "HE LITERALLY OFFERED HIMSELF ON A SILVER PLATER TO A FREAKING TWISTER! OKAY! I would believe someone like Lynn would be that stupid enough to do something that reckless-" "Hey!" "BUT WHY WOULD LINCOLN?!"

Without realizing it, Luna felt multiple hands grab onto her. Snapping around, she was taken aback by the fact that Luan and Lily had both latched onto her sides. Holding tightly like she was about to fall down as she looked back and forth between their saddened faces.

"Guys? What are…" Why was she breathing so heavily? It felt like she had just run a marathon or had the hardest headbang session in her life. "What-what just happened?"

"It seems you were just entering the early stages of a panic attack," Lisa answered, pressing her glasses back up as she slid off the bucket. "If I had to guess, your mind was struggling to comprehend the dangerous reality that our brother has come to solidify as part of his life. In other words, you feared for his life."

"Of course, I would!" Her outburst made her sisters hold onto her tighter. "Out of everyone in this room, who wouldn't be worried about him getting himself killed?!"

No one answered. No one spoke. A quick glance around the room to each sister was all the answer the Rocker needed to know.

"As I was saying, our brother's means of achieving such success boiled down to his level of 'extreme' that many in the community would deem absolutely reckless. But given his good-hearted nature to help where he could, he helped increase the success rates for many other chasers, some of whom were even inspired by him to chase. His style runs on the principle that the more extreme the shot, the bigger the payday can be. His means of filming everything he could from a great distance to ground zero has been why his royalty checks continue to come to us.

"That still doesn't-"

"And from what I've been able to gather from your discoveries, the existence of this TV show signifies that Lincoln's success has reached the point that many are taking a higher notice of. It stands to reason once it begins airing, we can expect an increase from that. As for the information Clyde provided…" She would need to speak with him directly. Better yet, Ronne Anne might possibly be the better route if she was there during that day. "... the jury is still out on that topic. Hopefully, more info will make its way to the public as we get closer to the fall season. If we can find Clyde, we can get more direct results."

Lisa knew they would try to get the answers they were seeking. Reach out to everyone they knew to spread the word about their brother's whereabouts.

Lori sighed, rubbing her forehead, trying to fend off her own headache from making her want to collapse in a chair. "Then I guess we'll find out in four months…"

---

(Note: These AN notes are written before, during, and after hand to convey my thinking. Not based on what's changed, reviews, etc., and is borderline me ranting out loud my way of thinking.)

Following in part what the previous chapter had built, this one was a bit divided on how I wanted to present some elements and set up future ones. The first part was a given as it was the direct continuation of what I didn't have in Chapter 4. The writing of them discovering exactly what Lincoln has achieved in the last few years made me debate how to do this. Part of me wanted to do a separate chapter that directly told of the events, and part of me felt like that would be an extra chapter that won't hold the same weight as what was coming; another was that with this, I was again able to cut down a lot of word gore for the next chapter in that more elements are already explained that I can cut straight to the chase (literally).

Now part of you might think, "This was just him explaining a lot about a truck," and it really didn't add anything to the plot. In that department, you are both wrong and right.

Storm Shrieker is a bit of a character in of itself, like the Red Dodge/Paxtonmobile from Twister, in that it's the one part of life that when someone is very dedicated to their work, their tools begin to not look like tools but more like extensions to one's self. Describing what Shrieker is, how it came to be, what it can do, and what its limits are in the same vain as 'What is Lincoln's limits'? This will be something touched upon a LOT during the second half of the story when the actual chasing begins and gives some insight as to what kind of insane hell Lincoln has and will experience down the line.

The vehicle itself is a kind of mental child of what I imagine the ultimate intercept vehicle could look like, mainly as a combination of the TIV2 and Titus with more of a personal flare added to have it formed to more of what its functions were desired, with looks coming second.

What 'reactions' the family had here was recycled in a way they are reacting to written information and not to the show itself (again to cut back on word gore and not have unholy cut-together dialogue in between the lines) that They're going into the show later on with more knowledge than an empty slate. Part of me is debating whether I should write out the three main episodes as two chapters (with actual detail involving Lincoln, Clyde, Ronnie, and co. storm chasing) and the family reactions later, part of the episodes (like they are fast-forwarding through it), or cut straight to the last episode depicting the Kingman Tornado (the thing that no one has been able to figure out what had happened to Lincoln.)

One thing that I am trying to maintain for early chases is what exactly would match up to IRL and what Lincoln would be after. The Sulphur Springs EF2 tornado on November 4, 2022, was chosen as it is visually fantastic, and the time period would match how long Lincoln took to build Storm Shrieker.

(Note: These AN notes are written before, during, and after hand to convey my thinking. Not based on what's changed, reviews, etc., and is borderline me ranting out loud my way of thinking.)