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✵︎

JAVI, SHE'S NOT OKAY!

The road grew bumpy and the wind grew harsher the further west they drove. The storm was picking up, and Dakota watched from the backseat while monitoring all the vitals of the storm

"What'd the tornado cowboy have to say?" Javi asked.

"Exactly what you'd expect," Kate said, rolling her eyes.

"You left out the part where he's an arrogant asshole," Dakota chimed in. "Though I guess I should've surmised that from the cowboy hat."

That made Javi and Kate laugh, and Dakota missed the sound of her friends' laughter. Maybe this trip would be good for them.

Then Kate looked out the window. "Oh, updraft is cycling. Okay, let's lake a right up here."

They ended up heading for a wind farm, and Dakota watched with a frown as the wind turbines began trembling, a sign that most of them wouldn't hold up if things got much worse.

"It's forming just like you called it," Javi said excitedly.

Dakota then watched Kate, who was watching the clouds circling nervously. This was the first real tornado Kate had been in since it happened, and Dakota just hoped she wasn't too scared.

No, Dakota herself wasn't scared. She was still too fearless for her own good — or maybe it was a lack of regard for her own life. But she knew she'd be okay no matter how things went.

"Are you sure about the equipment?" Kate asked Dakota, looking back at her. And she noticed the doubt on her face.

"Like I said, I'm not the end all be all on this stuff."

"I trust you, Dakota. Even if maybe you still don't trust yourself," Kate told her softly.

"Last time you trusted me, we killed three people," she said, her throat feeling tight.

Trying to lighten the mood, Javi smiled. "Well, maybe Tyler will be one of them."

That got a big laugh out of Dakota and a smile from Kate as they continued down the road. Then Javi called to the others on the radio.

"Scarecrow, Tin Man, get into position?" Javi said over the radio. "Wizard, stick with me."

"What's the plan?" Kate asked.

It was Dakota who answered, having already familiarized herself with the system. "We want a 3D scan of the entire area around the vortex, which means we're gonna surround it with three radars, each one pointed at the tornado."

"Exactly," Javi kept on. "Tin Man will get in there behind the tornado and plant its radar on the right hand side. Scarecrow is gonna get behind the tornado and plant his on the left. And all the data that they collect will be received by Wizard."

"How about Lion?" Kate asked, knowing it was the one saddled to their truck.

"We gotta complete the triangle. We get right in front of that thing and set up our radar," he said before noticing how she was taking deep breaths. "You got this Kate. Just tell us where the front of the tornado is."

"Okay," she breathed out.

Then a thin funnel began forming, which excited Javi and Dakota. "That's our tornado, baby!" he exclaimed.

But suddenly, an annoyingly large truck came in front of them, running them off the road. Dakota grabbed the back of Kate's seat and cursed, glaring at Tyler's truck as Javi tried to regain control.

"It's like psycho Wild Wild West out here!"

"Yeah, but he's not fucking Will Smith!" Dakota shouted in annoyance as he got back on the road, driving behind Tyler. "Speed up, Javi!"

"Do you wanna drive?" Javi asked, glaring at her through the rearview mirror.

"No!" Kate exclaimed, making Dakota laugh. It was just like old times.

No matter what, Javi couldn't get past Tyler's obnoxiously large vehicle, who was purposefully blocking them. And behind them, the caravan was blocking the rest of their team as well.

Dakota looked out at the wind turbines, noting that they were beginning to shake.

"Get me in front of it," Javi told Kate, trying to ignore Tyler's car. They could hear the radio blaring from the speakers.

"Okay, okay. We need to take a right. Here!" Kate instructed.

They made a sharp right, and hail began falling. It was easily golfball-sized, Dakota noted, which was a good sign. She kept her eyes on Tyler's car, her eyes going wide as one of the fans fell and the blades nearly crashed into them. Sure, she'd joked about it, but she didn't want to watch him and his crew get crushed by a wind turbine. Thankfully, they swerved right out of the way, no doubt terrifying that reporter that was with them.

And the show was certainly exciting to a group of fans who were parked nearby, cheering for the YouTubers. Much to Javi's annoyance, one of their own trucks pulled over to watch.

"Hey!" Javi shouted, honking. "What are you doing?"

"Is that the Tyler Owens effect?" Dakota asked, raising an eyebrow. His channel must've been bigger than she thought to garner this kind of a reaction.

"Wizard, hang back. Get those hard drives fired up," Javi ordered over the radio.

"Copy that, Wizard hanging back."

"The path is shifting," Kate noted before looking at a map. "Okay, there's a right coming up."

The truck turned down a muddy side road. And as they drove, the units with Tin Man and Scarecrow got their PARs in position, sending in the hard date.

"Where at, Kate?" Javi asked, knowing they were the last step. "I gotta be within three hundred meters for the radar to work."

"We're almost there," Dakota said, leaning forward a bit.

Javi then held out two pairs of goggles to the girls. "Kate, Kota, take these."

Dakota scoffed and tossed her pair in the floor. "Since when do we use safety goggles? Hell's that gonna do in a tornado?"

Unlike Dakota, who was fearless, Kate did slip her goggles on. Then she noticed the windshield wipers beginning to shake, unable to fight the wind. Dakota noticed how she was beginning to hesitate, reminded of that day.

"Come on, Kate. Talk to me. Talk to me," Javi said, noticing as well. "We're getting close."

"Just up there in the clearing," she finally said, pointing it out. Javi came to a quick stop, facing the bed of the truck toward the oncoming tornado.

All three got out, and while Dakota and Javi moved to the bed, Kate looked at the tornado, suddenly frozen in fear. And so Dakota forgot all about the PAR and instead went to comfort her friend.

"Kate! I need you! Kate! Kate!" Javi shouted, not noticing her panic attack.

"Javi, she's not okay!" Dakota snapped.

Then Kate snapped out of it and ran to the truck. "Javi, Dakota, get in! Get in!"

Even though Dakota wasn't sure fleeing was necessary, she did as told, getting in the back of the truck while Kate got behind the wheel and Javi was in the passenger seat.

"What is it? What do you see?" Javi asked, scared that the storm was going to get worse.

"This isn't right," she muttered, stepping on the gas.

"Hang on, guys. We're gonna find a closer spot," Javi said over the radio. "Is this where it's headed?"

Once they were back on the road, Kate brought the car to a halt. "Javi, I—"

He was already scrambling out of the truck, prepared to set up the PAR. However, after opening up the bed, he actually looked at the tornado, which he realized was too far away. And Kate knew it too.

"We're too far!" he shouted angrily, slamming the bed closed.

And of course, Tyler had to pull up, his music blaring. Dakota leaned out her window, an unimpressed look on her face.

"Javi! What are you doing out here, man? Tornado's that way!" he teased. Then he looked at Kate. "Hey, Kate! Howdy, Cutie."

Dakota was taken aback as he directed the compliment at her, accompanying it with a bold wink. Then he drove off, while shouting, "Nice goggles, Javi."

Dakota then climbed out of the truck and watched Tyler as he drove right for the tornado. He and his crew were hollering at the top of their lungs, and Dakota was amazed at how well the vehicle was holding up in the wind. Nothing was flying off of it.

And as they disappeared inside the tornado, bright red and orange lights shot up into the vortex. Dakota's mouth fell open, thinking it was beautiful as the tornado lit up.

"Are those fireworks?" Kate asked, not believing it.

"Yup," Javi muttered.

"That's amazing," Dakota said in awe, running a little closer to get a better look.

She could hear them cheering as the tornado passed them, leaving the truck in tact. Then all of them got out of the truck, jumping around excitedly. Except for Ben, who stumbled on his feet and then threw up.

"He's insane," Kate breathed out. Then she saw the look on Dakota's face. "And he's givin' her ideas."

"Yeah," Javi said, clearly very upset as he went to the truck. The girls silently followed, knowing that they couldn't fix this. They'd missed their chance.

As they got inside, Tyler pulled his truck back up to theirs and smirked at them before swirling his finger like a tornado mockingly. Then he drove off.

"I'm sorry, Javi. I - I screwed up," Kate admitted shamefully.

"Hey, we'll find another one," Javi said, trying to not make her feel bad. "That's all part of the gig, right?"

"Yeah, of course."

"I'm gonna go check in with Scott," he then said, getting out of the truck.

It left the girls alone, and Dakota saw how upset Kate was with herself. She kicked the side of the door and put her head in her hands.

"Hey," Dakota said, a tight smile on her face. "It's gonna be okay."

"No, it's not. I completely choked," she said, rubbing her eyes. "And Javi might get in trouble."

"Javi's team knows how unpredictable tornados are—"

"But they brought me on to predict them," she reminded her. "What if I can't do this anymore?"

"Come on," she said, wrapping her arms around her from behind, the headrest separating them. "You're the storm-whisperer. There's no one like you."

"Yeah, I guess," she mumbled before covering Dakota's hands to the her own. "And what's a storm-whisperer without her machine-whisperer?"

"Nothing. That's what."

✵︎

Dakota walked alongside Kate and Javi toward their rooms at the motel. The parking lot was alive, a little party around every car. There was live music and food and chattering everywhere. It made Dakota smile, reminding her of the hangouts she had back in California.

"Haven't we stayed here before?" Javi asked, thinking it looked familiar.

It made Kate laugh. "Yeah, Javi. We've stayed in every motel in Oklahoma."

"Remember we used to have Addy check in," Dakota said with a sad smile. "Then later, we'd all sneak into the room so that we could all sleep ten bucks. We'd have Addy do it cause—"

"Cause she looked so sweet," Kate said, smiling bitterly. "Even though Dakota was younger."

"It's cause she was blonde."

"Hey, um, you wanna hang out later?" Javi suddenly asked, looking more at Kate than Dakota, who put her hands in her pocket awkwardly. "You know, I'll just go up to the room real quick and, obviously, shower and we can come back out here."

"Um, look, I'm real tired," Kate mumbled. "But maybe another time?"

Javi was clearly disheartened. "Yeah. Alright. Night."

Rather than remind him that she was still free to hang out, Dakota opted to follow Kate, who was walking away.

"Night," Kate mumbled.

"It's good to have you back," Javi said. "Both of you."

"I'm not back," Kate said, shaking her head.

"I remember. One week."

"I could probably be convinced," Dakota said, winking at Javi, who brightened up. She'd missed the thrill of storm chasing.

Then the girls walked up the metal stairs, heading toward their shared room on the second level. Only to pass by a big ol' truck.

"California Cutie? City Girl?" Tyler questioned, not expecting them. He thought they'd be holed up in some fancy hotel in town.

"Whoo!" Lily cheered.

On the drive there, Dakota had googled the storm chasing team, doing her research so she knew who exactly it was that was getting on her nerves.

"Hey," Dexter greeted cordially.

"The cells to the west will choke each other out, she said," Tyler said, shaking his head. "The one to the east will put on a show."

Kate just smirked. "Well, didn't throw you off the scent."

"Hey, that's what makes Tyler famous," Boone bragged.

"Oh, he's famous?" Dakota asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You mean on YouTube?" Kate asked, clearly judging them.

"Y - Yeah. We're on the YouTube," Boone said. "We've got about, what? A million subscribers now."

"Yeah!" Lily exclaimed proudly.

"Uh, Kate what?" Ben then chimed in. "Your surname just in case I include you in my piece. And even a first name for your friend would be nice."

Kate bit her cheek, knowing her last name would give her away. "Oh, um, just Kate's fine."

"She's a tricky one," Tyler told him.

"Actually, you made a good call earlier. The other storm, it looked stronger, but the cap never broke," Boone said.

"What's a cap?" Ben asked, unfamiliar with the terminology.

"Temperature inversion in the mid particle atmosphere inhibits the storm from forming," Dakota explained.

"Okay," he said, clearly not understanding. "Good."

"Thought you was a mechanic?" Dani asked, raising an eyebrow. "What you know about storms, California?"

"Where did you guys all meet?" Kate asked when Dakota didn't answer. "Did you - did you study meteorology at the U of A?"

Lily, who was working on her drone, just laughed with the others. Dakota tilted her head and eyed the piece, wishing she was closer.

"Me, you know, I just flow with the wind," Boone told them. "You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I never went to, like, school or nothin'. Tyler, he studied meteorology though."

"That right?" Dakota asked, looking a bit surprised. "Don't you gotta know how to read to go to college?"

Tyler sucked on his teeth to hold back a smile as Boone kept going. "Yeah! You know, he's a cowboy scientist. You know, he's got this natural instinct—"

"Okay, Boone," Tyler said, getting a bit bashful.

But Boone kept going. "Taught me everything I know. So—"

"Boone," he cut him off firmly. Then he eyed Kate. "You know, our crew's not like your crew, Kate. We don't need PhDs and fancy gadgets to do what we do. I gurantee you, these guys have seen more tornados than anyone else in this lot combined."

She raised an eyebrow. This guy had no clue. "Is that right?"

"Do you think there's a chance we'll see one tomorrow?" Ben questioned.

Dani threw him a beer that he barely caught. "Yeah."

"Oh, yeah," Boone agreed. "Outbreak baby."

"You know, if you can keep up, we'll put you two in the episode," Tyler offered before sipping his beer. Dakota followed the movement closely, a more intrusive part of her brain sort of wishing she was that can.

"Wow," Kate said, not impressed.

"Where are you chasing tomorrow?" Lily asked.

"Oh, no. No, no, no," Tyler said quickly. "Not falling for that again. Kate's from New York. Can't trust a thing she says."

"Well, you can always trust a guy that puts his face on a t-shirt," she shot back.

"Oh!" Dani and the others laughed as Kate finished going back up the stairs. Dakota just kept leaning against the railing of the stairs.

"Oh, my god. Look at his face," Lily teased, watching Tyler.

"That surprised you, didn't it?" Dani asked, chuckling still.

"Here," Dakota said, digging for her wallet in her pocket. She pulled out a few twenties and tossed them down to Dexter. "Read on Twitter you guys buy food with the t-shirts."

"Ah, thanks," Dexter said, pocketing the money. "Want to take a shirt?"

"Oh, I'd never wear something so tacky," she snorted.

"Hey!" Tyler exclaimed, grinning. "I designed that shirt."

She bit back a smirk. "Why am I not surprised?" Then her eyes fell back on the drone. "Hey, Lily, tomorrow, mind if I take a look at that thing? Mechanic's interest."

"Only if we get your name, California," Lily said, unknowingly doing Tyler a favor, who was dying to know her better.

Dakota thought it over, drumming her fingers on the rail. And Boone saw the curiosity in her eyes, so he egged her on.

"Come on. It's way nicer than that clunker your team is running around with. Runs so smooth," he said with a grin.

She sighed and backed away, walking up the stairs. Then she looked at Tyler over she shoulder, who was watching her eagerly. "It's Dakota."