Resistant • Jonathan Kent

iv. The Thing in the Mines

"What's going on with you?" Jon finally asked as Tiana was silently sitting on the bleachers during lunch, having been basically zombie-walking, all through the day and she hardly even looked up at him when he spoke to her, as she sketched something in the sketchbook in her hand quickly. "Hey!" Jon smacked the sketchbook out of her hands and she caught the book, pulling her earbuds out and she was staring up at him.

"What the fucking hell do you want?" She snapped angrily and Jon lifted his eyebrows at the harsh tone, before she sighed. "I'm sorry." Tiana mumbled and he was looking at her, before he sat down on the bleachers next to her.

"What's wrong, Dart?" Jon asked and she was looking at him, surprised that he was able to remember her previous alias that she went under. "I haven't seen you this upset in a while." He reminded her as she sighed.

"I am working on a way to disable my speed." Tiana admitted and Jon stared at her, before she shook her head. "And... Jon, before you go off on a tangent about how many people I've saved with it." She closed her eyes as her tears began to roll down her cheeks. "Just remember, that I have basically lost my entire family to it." She murmured quietly and he blinked, before he reached out and then, he was grabbing her hand in his.

"I see your point." Jon admitted and she looked at him, before he nodded. "You're right. I was going to go on a tangent about how you've saved so many people, but... I was there when your older brother threw himself into the fight, that we all knew you two couldn't win. But he did it anyways, and... And, you lost him." He said and she was lowering her head again.

"You lost your parents when you were young, your brother was doing god knows what for six years and-and not even bothering to look for you... Then when he finally does show up, he dies." Jon said and she was looking at him again.

"He was also using a set of speed-enhancing drugs, which didn't help him in the slightest at all." She murmured quietly as Jon was lifting his eyebrows at her, before she shook her head. "Do you remember how I got out of Tal-Rho's hold, when he had his grip on my throat? How I was suddenly on the ground, because I had phased out of his grip?" She asked quietly and Jon nodded.

"Uh yeah, I think so." Jon said as he was scratching the back of his neck awkwardly and he tried to remember, reaching back into his brain. "You phased out of his grip, he praised you and was surprised by your skill and grasp of your abilities."

"Yeah." Tiana whispered quietly and she looked at her free hand which was vibrating, before she closed her fist and it stopped. "I was always faster. From the moment I was born, I had a lot more natural speed than he ever did." She admitted and he looked at her with uncertainty in his eyes.

"So... So, what are you saying?" Jon was confused, it was written all over his face as she nodded.

"The more that a speedster using a speed drug like my brother did, the more he uses it, the more his natural speed diminishes." She said and Jon shook his head, still very lost. "Okay, never mind. I will just try and draw it out for you." She said as she looked down at her sketchbook, flipping it open to a new page.

"Can you speed-draw?" Jon asked eagerly and she looked up at him, before he sighed at the way it came out. "I didn't mean that. I didn't think."

"The answer is yes." Tiana mumbled very quietly as she was speed-drawing only for this, she told herself as she drew three different rough drawings for the hopefully quick explanation.

"So... Say that this one on the left, it was how my brother's speed began, or rather, how it started naturally." Tiana's drawing had multiple lightning bolts everywhere, but they were bigger, to take up more space. "He wasn't very fast, so the lightning bolts are bigger." She clarified as Jon nodded.