Fanfic / Twisted

Twisted is a fanfiction of Worm by Wolf of the Sea.

In 2009, Taylor Hebert is off in a summer camp in Arkansas, having been woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of hail falling. Suddenly, an EF-5 Tornado plows through the area, destroying the camp and several surrounding towns, and warranting Triumvirate intervention. Taylor only survives by hiding in a bathtub, and is still badly injured.

Meanwhile, Paige Mcabee, more famous as the Parahuman singer Canary, happens to be in the area when the tornado rolls through, and decides to help. Taylor Hebert is the first- and apparently only- survivor she finds in the wreckage of the summer camp.

The fic is ongoing.

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This fanfic contains examples of the following:

• Adaptational Location Change: In canon, Taylor's summer camp was in New England, a reasonable driving distance from Brockton Bay. In this fic it's just outside of Hector, Arkansas, a town 60 miles north of Little Rock.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Sophia is being set up to become much nicer than in canon, both to being fleshed out and to being disabused of her 'predator/prey' mentality by seeing a tornado's aftermath.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: Paige Mcabee happens to have grown up in the town by Taylor's summer camp, and performed there a couple times before going big. Paige happened to be in town for a family visit the night of the tornado, putting her in a position to rescue Taylor.
  • Sophia's little sister is friends with Dinah Alcott, Missy Biron, and Aisha Laborn.
• All There in the Manual: The author makes several Word of God explanations on how his interpretation of Earth Bet is different from the real world, such as...
  • The Endbringers prompting the US to institute its own National Health Service in imitation of the United Kingdom's.
  • La Guardia airport in New York having been shut down due to a Turbine Blender incident that killed 500 people.
  • How Air Traffic Control manages flying Capes.
  • The Triumvirate will also respond to natural disasters such as Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, and EF-5 Tornados...
  • According to the author's maps, the tornado started west of Van Buren, Arkansas, and in addition to destroying Taylor's summer camp it also hit the towns of Van Buren, Ozark, Clarksville, Hector, and Clinton.
  • WOG also states that even the Slaughterhouse Nine would be terrified by the devastation inflicted by a Tornado.
• Anachronism Stew: In the scene where Sophia shows she's a Sabaton fan, the song she plays on Emma's phone is "The Last Battle", which was released on the album "The Last Stand", which didn't come out until 2016. The story is set in 2009, and "The Art of War" was the most recent Sabaton album to date at the time.
• An Arm and a Leg: In spite of Taylor having a regeneration power after surviving an EF-5 tornado, her left leg is still written off as a loss by the trauma center in Little Rock.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Sophia can't believe that a tornado is that bad. It takes a lot of explaining from Danny and Alan for her to realize that yes, they are that bad.
• Big Disaster Plot: The plot of the fic kicks off when an EF-5 tornado destroys the summer camp Taylor is in.
  • The PHO interlude in chapter 5 mentions that this EF-5 tornado was part of a larger tornado cell, which included at least one other EF-5 and several EF-4 tornados.
• Bombproof Appliance: Taylor shelters in a bathtub from a tornado. Subverted when the tornado just picks up the tub and throws it.
• Bring My Brown Pants: Taylor pisses herself when she sees a tornado form right in front of her.
• Celebrity Survivor: Downplayed- Paige Mcabee was in the area when the tornado happened, and helped rescue survivors, but was not directly in the path of the tornado itself.
• Cluster F-Bomb: After being told that an EF-5 is the most powerful type of tornado, Alan Barnes starts swearing profusely.
• Compelling Voice: Canary manages to use this power for a genuinely heroic purpose in rescuing Taylor. The PRT basically say as much in chapter 2.
• Cool Plane: Alan Barnes has a Beechcraft Starship (gifted to him from a wealthy divorcee), which he uses to fly the Barneses, Danny, and Sophia to Arkansas.
• Desolation Shot: Alan, Danny, Emma, and Sophia receive this via an overhead view of a tornado tearing through town.
• Divorce Assets Conflict: How Alan Barnes acquired a Beechcraft Starship, per Word of God.
• Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud: Averted. Taylor and the bathtub she was sheltering in were nowhere near the Tornado and still got tossed like children's toys.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!:
  • Paige Mcabee belatedly realizes that Taylor was the only survivor at the summer camp after explaining what happened to the PRT... and then realizing that nobody else answered her Compelling Voice.
  • When Danny relays what he learned about tornadoes, Alan Barnes starts swearing profusely and Sophia can't believe tornadoes can be as bad as he says.
• Expy: The tornado that destroys Taylor's summer camp is explicitly one of the 2007 Greensburg Tornado, per Word of God.
• Fangirl: Emma Barnes is a big one of Paige Mcabee, to the point she starts to Squee loudly when she finds out that Taylor met her, and does it again when she meets Paige herself.
• For Want Of A Nail: An EF-5 Tornado is a very big nail, resulting in a lot of changes from canon:
  • Taylor has her Traumatic Superpower Awakening before meeting Sophia, preventing her falling out with Emma.
  • Sophia Hess witnesses the results of an EF-5 Tornado from overhead, and is basically humbled into abandoning her 'predator/prey' mentality.
  • Paige Mcabee ends up cancelling her tour (which Word of God states is the same tour that ended in her telling her ex-boyfriend to go fuck himself, which in turn got her Birdcaged) so as to help survivors in her hometown.
• Godzilla Threshold: EF-5 Tornados are severe enough to warrant automatic Triumvirate intervention. Eidolon is one of the first on the scene (and nearly having a Midair Collision with Paige and Taylor's helicopter), while Legend appears to drop off another survivor in chapter 4.
  • Paige is also willing to use her Compelling Voice to call out to any tornado survivors.
  • The PHO interlude in Chapter 5 also confirms that an S-class Truce was called for the tornado.
• Groupie Brigade: Paige Mcabee has to rest in a normally Staff-Only area of the hospital to hide from one of these in chapter 4.
• Healing Factor: Taylor has a regeneration power that fixes her spine, but the doctors at the Little Rock trauma center still still write off her left leg as a loss.
• Hell Is That Noise: The distinctive 'roar' of an EF-4 or EF-5 Tornado is this for those unfortunate enough to survive one. PHO user "Jack of Blades (Verified Cape) (At Ground Zero) (Not Jack Slash)" mentions in the Chapter 5 PHO interlude that the tornado's roar "has been burned into my brain". He provides a link to tornado footage later in the thread:
  Vista: Holy fuck that's the most terrifying thing I've ever heard.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Alan Barnes is revealed in Chapter 3 to have moved to Brockton Bay after surviving the 1974 F-5 Tornado of Xenia, Ohio.
  • Sophia Hess is attributed as being a fan of hard rock such as King Crimson and Black Sabbath... and also became a fan of classical music after a Wiki Walk. Word of God is that Sophia was deliberately given characterization based on things other than violence, so that she wouldn't be a one-note thug.
• Horrifying the Horror: Word of God is that even the Slaughterhouse Nine would be disturbed by the sheer scale of destruction an EF-5 Tornado could inflict.
  • In the Chapter 5 PHO Interlude, even the Fallen and the Simurgh are spooked by the destruction the tornado caused.
• In Memoriam: The PHO Interlude in Chapter 5 is dedicated to Storm Chaser Tim Samaras, who died in the El Reno tornado of 2013.
• Hypothetical Fight Debate: One of the tangents in the SpaceBattles.com thread asked what would happen if the Slaughterhouse Nine were hit by an EF-5 Tornado. The general consensus was that it would be a Curb-Stomp Battle in the Tornado's favor, only Crawler (and maybe Hatchet Face) could tank it, and the rest would have to Run or Die.
• Lightning Reveal: Taylor's only sight of the tornado bearing down on her before she runs for it is illuminated by a lightning strike.
• Midair Collision: Narrowly averted, when a helicopter carrying Paige Mcabee and a badly-injured Taylor has a near-miss with an airborne Eidolon while on the way to the hospital. Paige decides to call the FAA and report Eidolon over the incident.
• Mundanger: Earth Bet is a setting with supervillain gangs, Parahuman serial killers, and Endbringers. An EF-5 Tornado is mundane in comparison, but still deadly enough to warrant Triumvirate intervention and calling an S-class truce.
• Mr. Exposition:
  • Danny Hebert in chapters 2 and 3, after having done a lot of tornado research and relaying it to the Barneses.
  • Real-life Storm-Chaser Tim Samaras in the PHO interlude in Chapter 5, explaining tornadoes to the various posters in a PHO thread about the disaster.
• Oh, Crap!: Given the premise involves a tornado, this is a given.
  • Taylor's reaction to seeing the silhouette of an EF-5 Tornado... and it's already too close to run to the Tornado shelter.
  • Paige Mcabee when her helicopter has a near-miss with Eidolon in mid-air while rushing Taylor to the hospital.
  • Danny Hebert and Alan Barnes when they find out that Taylor was caught in a tornado and hospitalized as a result.
  • Paige belatedly realized that Taylor was the only summer camp survivor after explaining what happened to the PRT.
  • Sophia Hess is afraid of heights. She has to board an airplane to go with Emma to Little Rock.
  • Alan Barnes starts swearing profusely when Danny explains what "EF-5" means in context to Tornadoes.
  • The doctors at the Little Rock children's hospital when they realize that Taylor had Triggered during the tornado.
  • Sophia's reaction to seeing the aftermath of a tornado
  A quarter-mile wide, that wasn’t any two-bit cone. That was a wall of shrieking fury that was pounding toward you, shredding everything in its path. “Good God.” she breathed, shocked as she gazed upon the devastation and realized just how far the path went and how it widened out even more before it faded out from sight.
  How wide was it at its maximum? How could it do such devastation? How?
  How had Taylor survived that in a bathtub?
  Sophia realized at that moment, that it didn’t matter if you were predator or prey. Nature was the one that ruled them all and it didn’t care if you were the lowliest mouse or the mightiest of tigers. You were still squishy all the same and that meant... what did that mean for someone like her? A predator of the night?
  • When Sophia shows the devastation to Emma, her response is a lot more succinct:
  Emma: "Holy shit."
• Only Bad Guys Call Their Lawyers: Averted. Paige calls her lawyer to help explain how she used her Compelling Voice to rescue a survivor of an EF-5 Tornado.
• Plane Awful Flight: Sophia Hess does not like airplanes, considering them all flying deathtraps.
• Real-Person Cameo: Storm Chaser Tim Samaras appears (via his PHO account) in the Chapter 5 PHO interlude. The chapter was dedicated to him.
• Recognition Failure: Danny Hebert has no idea who Paige Mcabee is, despite the latter being a famous singer. Word of God is that he doesn't listen to her genre of music.
  • Emma Barnes, however, does recognize who Paige is.
• Run or Die: Pretty much the only thing anyone can do when faced with an EF-5 Tornado is to run as fast as they can to the nearest underground shelter, bathtub (in Taylor's case), or (if in a vehicle or with a Mover rating) move in a direction perpendicular to the path of the tornado.
  • Word of God also mentions that if the Slaughterhouse Nine were in the path of an EF-5 Tornado, Crawler and possibly Hatchet Face are the only two members who have high-enough Brute ratings to withstand a direct hit, and the rest would have to run for their lives.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Sophia screams like this when a plane takes off. Emma thinks it's funny.
• Shout-Out:
  • The title is one to Twister since Tornados are integral to the plot.
  • One of the Doctors in Arkansas Children's Hospital Trauma Center is named Chakwas.
  • Sophia casually admits to Emma that she's a Sabaton fan.
• Shown Their Work:
  • The deadliest tornados are the ones that happen at night. Taylor only survives because she happens to be awake, sees the tornado form, and then runs and hides in a bathtub- and is the only survivor Paige found.
  • Taylor sees the tornado look vaguely like a corpse when it's coming at her, which Word of God explains is a multi-vortex tornado with the infamous "Dead Man Walking" shape.
  • The nearest hospital to the summer camp Taylor is at happens to be in Little Rock. It's also site of a Level 1 trauma center, one of only two in Arkansas (and the other Level 1 trauma center is also in Little Rock).
  • Taylor surviving an EF-5 tornado by hiding in a bathtub, and said bathtub being picked up and thrown several hundred yards, was based on how one woman survived the 1997 Jarrell, Texas tornado.
  • The author included an Information Threadmark explaining the Fujita and Enhanced Fujita scales to readers.
• Sole Survivor: Taylor is the only person at the summer camp who responds to Paige Mcabee's Compelling Voice. Paige realizes as much affter talking with the PRT.
• Squee: Emma's reaction to finding out that Taylor met Paige Mcabee (who Emma is a fan of) is an enthusiastic "I'm sorry WHAT?!".
  • In Chapter 4, her reaction to meeting Paige is an enthusiastic high-pitched squeal.
• Trailer Park Tornado Magnet: Summer camp instead of a trailer park, but an EF-5 Tornado still demolishes it.
• Trauma Button: Alan Barnes witnessing the tornado's aftermath brings up bad memories of his experience of the 1974 Xenia tornado.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Taylor has a Trigger Event when her bathtub is thrown into the air by a tornado. One of her powers is a regeneration power that saved her spine but not her left leg.
• Turbine Blender: Narrowly averted when a helicopter barely avoids hitting Eidolon in mid-air.
  • In one of the Author's exposition notes, an airborne Cape getting sucked into a jet engine (which in turn resulted in a deadly plane crash) was the direct cause of La Guardia airport being permanently shut down.
• Wham Shot: When Taylor sees the silhouette of an EF-5 Tornado lit up by lightning.

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