Continuing our conversation with Jake Simmons, star reporter and blogger for stormchasers.com and his experiences covering the exploits of Storm Chasers: The men and women who dive into natural disasters, hoping to trigger their transformation into metahumans. You can read Part I of the interview (here).<\/p>\n
Jake Simmons is flying out from JFK International Airport to Caracas, Venezuela to cover the opening of the first government-sanctioned foray into Danger Tourism at the Maracaibo Resort. The newly built resort is situated in the path of an ongoing storm that hits the region 180 days a year for ten hours at night with violent lightning storms. Jake has agreed to discuss the phenomenon of Storm Chasing with us, a dangerous hobby that kills one in a hundred of its pursuers. In today\u2019s installment, he tells us how it can be even more dangerous, and recounts an episode with one of today\u2019s most frightening villains.<\/p>\n
HERO BEAT: <\/em><\/strong>What\u2019s your most memorable moment in Storm Chasing?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>You\u2019re talking positive? It had to be that massive sandstorm that hit Syria and Lebanon last year. I was in the region, putting together a report on the Syrian War and seeing if the conflict created more opportunities for triggers.<\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT: <\/em><\/strong>But you\u2019re usually against promoting war zones for Storm Chasers.<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>Yeah, no, absolutely. This was something I was doing privately for a U.S. firm as one of several experts on trigger events. The Syrian and Yemen Civil Wars were pulling in a lot of Arab metahumans and freelancers, and I was trying to see if it created conditions for more triggers or not. <\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> Did you find anything interesting?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>Nothing I can report on now, but I have exclusive rights to post the findings first, so I\u2019m hoping to share those soon. Anyway, we\u2019d just landed in Rafik Hariri International for some R&R when the sandstorm rolled in. Trigger events from sandstorms were rare, but I\u2019d never been in one, so I figured it\u2019d be a good article for the site. The entire experience was surreal. Once I checked in to my hotel, I wandered around Beirut. It felt like I was the last man standing. The streets were empty and visibility went murky after a few feet. Seriously, I\u2019d seen better visibility on dives. It was like everything was lit through an orange filter. The sun doesn\u2019t go out the way you\u2019d expect during torrential rainfall; sunlight is refracted until it\u2019s almost a nimbus that settles in. There\u2019s an orange glow, sound is muffled\u2014it doesn\u2019t carry.<\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> Sounds eerie.<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>That\u2019s not the half of it. I was wandering around Taleet Jounblat when I hear a boom\u2014it\u2019s muffled and it\u2019s somewhere above me. I\u2019m thinking artillery, I\u2019m thinking any second now, I\u2019m going to see debris or a shell come down. But it keeps going, keeps moving, and I\u2019m hearing two sounds now. One\u2019s a \u2018boom,\u2019 one\u2019s a \u2018fwoosh,\u2019 and they keep pushing the sand away. I start feeling it too, the pressure waves through the sandstorm, and I\u2019m seeing the sand ripple. It was a trip.<\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> Metahumans?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>Yeah, Alnnar Alzzll and al Muhandis it turns out, and I was pissed. I was right there<\/u>, and I couldn\u2019t see the fight. I could only hear them, flying and blasting each other. I caught a flash now and again, but I didn\u2019t see shit.<\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> But both are listed as heroes, right?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>Alnnar Alzzll is Sunni and al Muhandis is Shiite, so yeah, they\u2019re technically heroes but in opposite sects, so that\u2019d make them villains to each other. The two sects came to blows in Lebanon back in July, so this was an encore, I\u2019m guessing. Nobody saw what happened, but the next day, I find this nice coffee shop and sit there while these old timers told me what they heard. Man, you should hear the way they spun the fight. It sounded like the match of the century. I just wish I could have seen it. <\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> But that wasn\u2019t your most dangerous experience?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>No, not even close. The sandstorm was just surreal and kinda beautiful and all kinds of frustrating. But mostly tourism apocalypse\u2026 something I felt safe doing\u2014the worst that happened? My throat was raw at the end. The most dangerous thing that happened to me, though\u2026that was the time I almost retired. I saw people die, I got battered something rough, and it, uh\u2026 it was because I\u2019d been kidnapped. We got kidnapped, I mean.<\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> Kidnapped? And who\u2019s we?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>I\u2019m not sure what else to call it? Those of us who got pushed into it don\u2019t like to talk about it, but I\u2019ve never felt so\u2014vulnerable in my life. So violated. I thought I was going to die, and for a while, I wanted to.<\/em><\/p>\n At this moment, I realized Jake was having a problem reliving the moment, so I gave him a minute to compose himself. He sipped his cup of coffee, and the nervousness I\u2019d seen earlier had been replaced by introspection. When he spoke again, his voice was cautious, the words careful.<\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>It was a few years back, close to 1:00 in the morning. I\u2019d just finished writing an article for stormchasers.com, and I was ready to crash. Then the air changed, like all of a sudden. I could feel it, like someone had flipped the dimmer switch on everything. Then he<\/u> was standing in the room\u2026 Bangarang.<\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> You were face-to-face with Bangarang?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>Yeah, and I swear\u2026 never again. The way he looked at me like, I don\u2019t know, a bird checking out a worm, it freaked me out. It was like he wasn\u2019t even human. And then he chirped or something, poked me with his staff, and my apartment disappeared. It\u2019s suddenly daylight, and I\u2019m out by the side of the road. At a bus stop. It\u2019s warmer, but not by much, and there\u2019s no snow. I\u2019m dressed in slacks and a white shirt, and I\u2019m not myself. I know that. I can think clearly and all that, but I\u2019m not me. I am, but I\u2019m in someone else\u2019s skin. There\u2019s all these other people standing around, some looking confused. About maybe a dozen, and they\u2019re all Japanese and we\u2019re all staring at each other.<\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> When was this?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>March 11th<\/sup>. <\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> March 11th<\/sup>?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>2011. The T\u014dhoku Earthquake and Tsunami. <\/em><\/p>\n He leaves that hanging in the air a moment, and I don\u2019t know what to say, what to ask. The journalist side of me wants to doubt what he\u2019s saying, but I can\u2019t. After a moment, he continues, calmly.<\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>So, I say \u201cwhat\u2019s going on?\u201d in English, but it comes out kinda garbled, like I haven\u2019t spoken English for years. And this old woman answers in English but with this French accent. Other people start talking, and we realize it\u2019s happening to all of us, different people in someone else\u2019s body, and we\u2019re all hyped on adrenaline and some of us looked scrapped up. Like we\u2019d gotten into a fight or something. I can remember mandarins lying in the road, and a grocery bag on the ground. Some cars are parked, the drivers looking dazed and walking over to us. It was surreal. Then we hear the chirp again. Bangarang is there. And he\u2019s looking past us, over our shoulders. We look and I saw it, the way the horizon seemed to be moving, shifting. And there\u2019s this thunder, and the ground\u2019s trembling. <\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> How come nobody heard any of this?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>We kept our mouths shut, are you kidding? We didn\u2019t want him coming back. He knew where we lived and he plucked us from our lives like it was nothing.<\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> So\u2026 what happened?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE:<\/em><\/strong> I was expecting him\u2014Bangarang\u2014to be laughing or something, you know, but by the time we look back, he\u2019s just gone and this thing is growing larger. Panic and adrenaline kick in, but it\u2019s weird. It\u2019s someone else\u2019s panic and adrenaline, and it feels like I just put on someone else\u2019s sweaty socks. But we started running across this open field to these buildings we see in the distance, but man, every time I look back, and I looked back a lot, that line of black water seems miles closer. It was this black smudge, and everything it touches just vanishes, like it never mattered enough to leave an echo or shadow. I saw the fires burning on top of this layer of white. My brain couldn\u2019t process it. I thought it was an oil spill, I thought it was the ocean on fire. <\/em><\/p>\n He\u2019s quiet a moment and looks to the side, unwilling to make eye contact with me, like something inside him is ready to break if he looks my way. He shakes his head and finds the strength to continue, but I notice he can\u2019t maintain eye contact for the rest of his experience.<\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>This thing\u2019s bearing down on us. And every time I look back, we\u2019ve lost someone. They\u2019ve fallen, or they can\u2019t run, or they\u2019ve split off for some patch of higher ground that\u2019s not high at all. I know there\u2019s nothing high enough for miles\u2026 nothing I can see. The buildings in the distance aren\u2019t any closer, and it\u2019s all just, fucking flat terrain. That\u2019s when I spot them\u2026 specks in the sky, darting around and swooping down to save people. <\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> Metas?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>Yeah. I screamed at them, begging them to save us. I remember being so fucking angry that they weren\u2019t coming down for us, but there\u2019s no way they could see us. After, I saw the footage. I saw what they were looking at from that high up. I can\u2019t imagine how helpless they felt, watching this thing just crush a countryside. All they could do was pull people from out of its way, knowing that every life they got to higher ground, a hundred more had to die. How do you live with that?<\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> But some managed to save more, right?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>Definitely. Gentle Mountain diverted the tsunami around a couple of villages and Hero Fleet mobilized over a hundred of his drones to save people from drowning. But that was a drop in the bucket, and Japan\u2019s metas suffered from some heavy PTSD after the tsunami. <\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> What about you? How did you survive?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE: <\/em><\/strong>Survive\u2026 that\u2019s, uhm, that\u2019s not what I\u2019d call it. I fell and watched other people run past me, but it was too late for all of us. There was nowhere to go, and I just, kinda gave up. This thing, this surge of black water and debris, and fire and black smoke and thunder\u2026 it was like hell had come for me. Then just like that, there he was again, Bangarang. Standing near me, staring up at it. No fear. Just curiosity. And I swear, just as the first surge of water was about to barrel into me, I was home again.<\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> Just like that?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE:<\/em><\/strong> Just like that, like it never happened. Only it did, and there I was in my kitchen, alone, sweating through my t-shirt, my heart hammering like I\u2019d run a marathon and lost. After, I tried to convince myself it was a bad dream, until I started seeing the news wires pick this thing up.<\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> What happened after that?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE:<\/em><\/strong> I couldn\u2019t sleep for days. I was terrified and sleeping pills couldn\u2019t even put a dent in me. I even checked myself into a hotel, I couldn\u2019t go back home. I couldn\u2019t stop watching the news. And then I start hearing chatter on some of hardcore storm chaser sites, people I knew and respected, asking if \u201canything strange\u201d happened to anyone else during the tsunami or if anyone knew if Bangarang could transplant your thoughts into other people\u2019s bodies. Slowly, we reached out and connected with each other. It was such a relief, knowing you weren\u2019t alone, weren\u2019t crazy. There were about two dozen of us… I wasn\u2019t the only one, and I heard a couple of storm chasers even died\u2026 strokes during the event.<\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> And none of you approached the police?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE:<\/em><\/strong> And say what? Some of us tried, and we were laughed out of the stations. Others were scared shitless that Bangarang would come for us, but we couldn\u2019t figure out why he\u2019d done it. Was it a game? Was he making a point? \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> Not that I\u2019m not grateful for the story, but why talk about it now? And why to me? Isn\u2019t this the kind of thing you\u2019d want to cover in your own blog?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE:<\/em><\/strong> My editor doesn\u2019t believe me and she\u2019s worried about offending the Japanese people. She\u2019s afraid we\u2019ll look insensitive or callous. We\u2019ve fought about putting this thing out there. I\u2019ve been through enough therapy that I\u2019m tired of being afraid of talking about it. I\u2019m tired of keeping it in. I\u2019m hoping you can reach more people through Hero Beat, and maybe someone can give us answers. <\/em><\/p>\n HERO BEAT:<\/em><\/strong> So what would you like to ask my readers?<\/em><\/p>\n JAKE:<\/em><\/strong> Please, I just want answers. I\u2019ve been doing Google searches, trying to figure out where we were. Who we were in. But, I\u2019ve got nothing. I can provide more details about what I saw, so if anyone out there knows anything, please, contact me. But I guess, the thing I\u2019m really hoping to know is\u2026 why? That\u2019s the part I really want to know. Why?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Continuing our conversation with Jake Simmons, star reporter and blogger for stormchasers.com and his experiences covering the exploits of Storm Chasers: The men and women who dive into natural disasters, hoping to trigger their transformation into metahumans. You can read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6OdZi-4d","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":245,"url":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/2016\/01\/07\/hero-beat-storm-chasers-part-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":261,"position":0},"title":"HERO BEAT: STORM CHASERS PART I","author":"Lucien","date":"January 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s 16:40 at JFK International Airport, and Jake Simmons anxiously sips his coffee three hours before his flight to Caracas, Venezuela. He drums his fingers on the table, hardly the figure I was expecting, but Jake Simmons is a contradiction. He\u2019s a nervous flyer, which is a rather strange admission\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hero Beat"","block_context":{"text":"Hero Beat","link":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/category\/hero-beat\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":151,"url":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/2015\/11\/19\/hero-beat-interview-with-grimsta\/","url_meta":{"origin":261,"position":1},"title":"HERO BEAT: INTERVIEW WITH GRIMSTA","author":"Lucien","date":"November 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It was April 27th,\u00a02011 at the height of the Super Outbreak of storms when over two hundred tornadoes touched down across Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Mississippi. It devastated towns and killed 355 people over the course of four days. Four of the tornadoes that spawned that day were F5s, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hero Beat"","block_context":{"text":"Hero Beat","link":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/category\/hero-beat\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Grimsta-copy-218x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":331,"url":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/2016\/02\/11\/hero-beat-prodigies\/","url_meta":{"origin":261,"position":2},"title":"HERO BEAT: PRODIGIES","author":"Lucien","date":"February 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When I first met Gideon March, she looked like any six-year old. She wouldn\u2019t make eye contact, instead looking at her feet like she\u2019d found them for the first time as she kicked them back and forth on the sofa. You knew she was listening, though, by the way she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hero Beat"","block_context":{"text":"Hero Beat","link":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/category\/hero-beat\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":288,"url":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/2016\/02\/04\/hero-beat-roadkill-inc\/","url_meta":{"origin":261,"position":3},"title":"HERO BEAT: ROADKILL INC.","author":"Lucien","date":"February 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"You\u2019ve probably seen their white and yellow vans driving around Manhattan following a metahuman \u2018incident.\u2019 That\u2019s the industry\u2019s polite term for when metahumans get involved in something messy. Roadkill Inc. isn\u2019t a name that inspires confidence, Donna Bartlet will be the first to admit with a broad grin, but nobody\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hero Beat"","block_context":{"text":"Hero Beat","link":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/category\/hero-beat\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":392,"url":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/2016\/04\/28\/hero-beat-is-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":261,"position":4},"title":"Hero Beat is Back!","author":"Lucien","date":"April 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Hero Beat is back! Work has been hectic recently, and I can't wait till I get to announce what I'm working on at my day job at Ubisoft Montreal. Until that time, however, here's a new Hero Beat article talking about The Narcissist, who we showcased in a mini arc\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":176,"url":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/2015\/12\/03\/grimsta\/","url_meta":{"origin":261,"position":5},"title":"BAKER-CLASS HERO: GRIMSTA","author":"Lucien","date":"December 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Grimstav2\u00a0[CLICK FOR PDF] Grimsta - PL 10 Strength 4, Stamina 2, Agility 3, Dexterity 5, Fighting 8, Intellect 3, Awareness 2, Presence 4 Advantages Attractive 2, Benefit, Status 2: Celebrity, Benefit, Wealth 3 (millionare), Connected, Diehard, Grabbing Finesse, Great Endurance, Inspire 2, Leadership, Startle Skills Athletics 4 (+8), Close Combat:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hero Stats"","block_context":{"text":"Hero Stats","link":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/blog\/category\/hero-stats\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Grimsta-copy-218x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":262,"href":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions\/262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mozaikcomics.com\/HeroesWithoutBorders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}