Falling Down
By SparklyTree3876
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Adventure
Pairing: Bill/Jo
Author's Notes: Hi, readers. I would like to present my first Twister fic. It is set three years after Twister and shows Bill and Jo being back to chasing tornadoes after two years of running the new lab in which they, Rabbit, Haynes, Beltzer, Dusty, Laurence, Joey, Preacher, and Sanders find themselves chasing the 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore tornado that changed weather history forever. The idea for this fic came to mind when I wondered what might happen if the team chased the infamous Bridge Creek-Moore tornado that prompted the first tornado emergency. As a result, it was born. I did extensive research on this historic tornado outbreak in order to make things as accurate as possible. This includes when the first tornado of the outbreak formed. I hope you enjoy this fic. Constructive criticism is welcome.
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Chapter 1: No Ordinary Day
Clouds covered most of the sky above a wheat field in central Oklahoma in early May. A red-tailed hawk soared through the sky. It let out a loud screech. It flapped its wings to gain altitude. It flew past a large barn that had been turned into a makeshift storm-chasing headquarters. Several vehicles were parked outside of it, including two vans.
Three years had passed since Bill, Jo, and their team made the successful launch of Dorothy IV. Bill and Jo analyzed data and obtained grants for the new lab that was based in Norman. They ran it for two years before the itch of storm-chasing returned. They reunited with Rabbit, Dusty, Beltzer, Haynes, Laurence, Joey, Preacher, and Sanders and resumed their chasing adventures. They visited Birmingham after it was decimated by an F5 tornado on April 8, 1998. They did the same for Nashville when it was struck by two F3 tornadoes on April 16, 1998.
For Bill and Jo, storm-chasing made their marriage even stronger. They were thinking about having children, though the latter was a little uncertain because she was now thirty-five and could experience complications from pregnancy. Despite this, the thought of introducing their children to storm-chasing when they got older excited her. Of course, they intended to be cautious since tornadoes could change direction on a whim.
A brown rat wandered into the barn. Maps were pinned to the walls. Radar screens were everywhere. Their screens flickered a bit. The smell of coffee competed with the faint tang of ozone creeping through the cracked windows. Severe thunderstorms were already popping up on the Doppler. A few weak tornadoes had been spotted an hour west. It was a busy day, but it was nothing out of the ordinary yet.
Bill leaned over a table strewn with weather charts. His brow furrowed as he traced a finger along a tightening isobar. Jo was beside him. She sipped cream-filled coffee from a mug. Her eyes moved between the radar and his tense posture. Rabbit focused on a map on a nearby table. Beltzer and Haynes fiddled with the new Dorothy IV prototype. Sanders was leaned against the wall next to the door. Preacher flipped through his Bible while sitting in a chair in the corner. Laurence monitored weather reporters on his laptop as Joey leaned over his shoulder.
"Radar's lighting up," Jo said while tapping the screen where red and yellow blobs pulsed. "Couple of cells are firing near Lawton. Rotation's weak, but it's there."
"Yeah, but look at this CAPE," Bill said, gesturing toward another part of the screen. "It is two thousand and five hundred joules per kilo. Shear's insane too. Something's brewing, Jo. This ain't just a 'few tornadoes' day."
"You're getting that twitch again," Jo said with a big smirk on her face. "The last time you had that twitch, we nearly lost the van."
"That twitch saved our asses," Bill responded, a laugh coming from him. "You're the one who wanted to ride that F4 like it was a damn bronco."
"Hey, you tried riding a bull once. It tried gored you after it threw you off its back," Jo pointed out.
"Who was the one who dared me to do that?" Bill commented, an eyebrow raising.
"Good point," Jo responded and looked away.
Just then, Dusty burst through the door with a portable speaker slung over his shoulder blaring Sweet Home Alabama. He had a bag of beef jerky in one hand and a wild smile on his face.
"Rise and shine, tornado tamers!" Dusty yelled while cranking the volume. "Mother Nature's serving up a buffet, and I'm starving! Who's ready to dance with the devil's vacuum cleaner?"
Rabbit narrowed his eyes at the map. He took the pencil from behind his ear and tapped the eraser on it. He rolled his eyes without glancing up. He clicked his tongue twice.
"Turn that crap down, Dusty. Some of us are trying to think," Rabbit said, annoyance lining his voice.
"Thinking is overrated, Rabbit!" Dusty said as he tossed a piece of jerky at him. It bounced off Rabbit's head and landed on the map. "I got to feel the storm in your bones like Bill's twitch!"
Bill chuckled while shaking his head. "Keep it up, Dusty. You'll be feeling my boot in your bones."
Dusty waved Bill off and proceeded to munch on a piece of beef jerky. He focused his attention on Beltzer and Haynes as they messed with a tangle of wires hooked to Dorothy. Beltzer had a screwdriver clenched between his teeth. He whispered inaudible words while tightening a bolt.
"Hand me the pliers, Haynes," Beltzer mumbled annoyingly. "This thing's looser than your last boyfriend."
Haynes snorted in a loud way. She smacked Beltzer's arm with the pliers before presenting them to him. She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Least my boyfriends don't break down every five miles like this hunk of junk. What's this, Dorothy Four-Point-Oh-No?" Haynes asked, a big smirk crossing her lips.
"Oh, real clever," Beltzer retorted, yanking the pliers from her. "If you stopped flirting with the Doppler and helped me, we'd be done by now."
"I don't flirt with machines, Beltzer. That's your thing," Haynes responded with an irritated sigh. "Why don't you kiss it and see if it purrs?"
"Ah, shaddup!" Beltzer blurted out as he took the wrench out of his mouth.
Haynes snickered. "Nice jab, Foghorn Leghorn."
Jo glanced at the duo. "Are you two done bickering, or should we leave you here to work out your issues?"
"We are just keeping the spark alive, boss," Beltzer said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Dorothy's ready—mostly."
"Mostly?" Bill said, raising an eyebrow. "That's not inspiring."
Beltzer shrugged. "Eh."
Laurence looked up from his laptop and adjusted his glasses. He had a serious look on his face. Joey furrowed his brow.
"Uh, guys? Latest mesoscale update just dropped," Laurence announced urgently. "Dew points are climbing. They are in the seventies now, and the low-level jet's kicking in. It could be a big one."
"Is it like 'cool chase' big, or is it like 'we're screwed' big?" Joey wondered in much curiosity.
"Both," Bill muttered, crossing his arms. He stepped closer to the radar, his eyes narrowing at it. "Look at that hook echo forming southwest of Chickasha. That's not playing around."
"He's right," Jo said, settling her coffee down. She ran her hand through her hair before clearing her throat. "This feels… different. It is as if the air's holding its breath."
Preacher flipped the pages of his Bible while mumbling inaudible words. He looked up with a worried look on his face.
"The Lord's got a message in them clouds today. I can feel it too," Preacher admitted.
"Great," Sanders said with a roll of his eyes. "Bill's twitch, Jo's gut, Preacher's sermon—anybody else wanna jinx us?"
Dusty spun around and pointed the jerky bag at him. "Don't tempt fate, man! The last guy who doubted the vibes got sucked into a cornfield. It is a true story. I saw it in a chat room yesterday!"
"You are in chatrooms way too much, bonehead," Rabbit grumbled as he looked up.
"Details, details!" Dusty said, waving him off. He cranked up the speaker again. Bad Moon Rising began to play. "I see a bad moon a-rising! I see trouble on the way!"
"All right, rockstar. You better load up. We're rolling in ten. Jo, you with me?" Bill asked, looking at Jo.
"Always," Jo answered, grabbing her jacket. She began to head for the entrance, but she stopped and looked at the radar. She spotted a swirl of colors. "Bill, this one's got teeth."
Bill exhaled. "Yeah. Let's hope we're fast enough to bite back."
The entire teamed started gathering their gear. It broke into rather excited chatter. Thunder rumbled ominiously in the distance. Little did anyone know that this wouldn't be a normal day at all.
