Resistant • Jonathan Kent

xii. All Is Lost

Tiana was looking down at her hand and she saw that it was moving quickly, but it wasn't as fast as she was normally moving and she cursed.

"Fucking hell, this hurts." She muttered irritably and quickly now, Cameron was walking into the room and then he was quickly holding up and now balancing two bowls of noodles for her.

"Have at 'em." Cameron said and she was shaking her head, before she was quickly just picking at one of the bowls. "Okay, now... What's wrong?"

"I'm not hungry." Tiana mumbled and he was looking over at her with clear, a heavy sort of concern in his eyes. "I don't know what's happening, I hurt all over and there is no sign of it stopping. It has been at least two days, so far, and it still hurts." She said and he was holding out his hand and she was putting her arm into it, before he was checking her pulse.

"Could you not just listen to my pulse instead of checking it like a human?" Tiana asked as his fingers were over her wrist and feeling her pulse that way.

"I could, but it's harder for me to keep counting and keep track of exactly how many I got up to." Cameron said and she was taking her arm back. "I am bad at Math." He admitted and she glanced at him with the ghost of a smile crossing her face.

"So, how's my pulse?" Tiana asked.

"Like a human." Cameron said and Tiana lifted her eyebrows. "You know, like a pulse that is normal for an... Average human." He said hesitantly and she was staring at him.

"Oh my god." She whispered and he was shaking his head.

"Hey, hey. Come here." Cameron said and she was shaking, almost immediately just beginning to hyperventilate and she was shaking. "You're gonna be okay." Cameron murmured and then, he was moving his arms around her as she was closing her eyes with tears beginning to prickle at her eyes.

"No... You-you... Cameron, you don't know that." Tiana stumbled over her words nearly choking on them, before she was shaking. "I was born this way, but... But, I can't power up from the sun like you can." She said and he was nodding slightly. "What do I do, if they don't come back?" She asked quietly.

"Stay away from Candice." At the crappy joke, Tiana choked on a laugh and Cameron was looking at her. "You seemed to be fine with being a human for a few days, a couple of months ago..."

"That was me being human by choice and even then... I was only able to do that, since it was thanks to you and your extensive resources, Cameron. I mean, this is a very different scenario." Tiana muttered quietly and Cameron blinked. "You don't get it, you have always had your powers and an ability to recharge whenever the sun was out. Even then, you could just fly up into the sun--"

"I was dying, from that red solar cell." He interrupted and she was looking over at him with narrowed eyes. "That blood that you saw on my face that day, when my father escaped from the cell. It was from torture with Kryptonite collars and from the red sun solar energy." Cameron shook his head and he sighed. "I have never, ever felt pain like that in my life." He said softly and she blinked.

"It was... The red solar panels in the cell were killing you?" Tiana asked quietly and he nodded slowly. "No wonder you flew straight into the sun, of course you did..."

"I didn't want to tell you before, because you'd have been even more worried than before." Cameron said and she stared at him. "Don't give me that look, you already know that I'm right."

"If I wasn't sure about the state of my healing factor right now, you are aware that I would have already hit you... Right?" Tiana asked and Cameron nodded. "Good, I just wanted to clear that up." She said and he was moving his arms away and surprisingly, she stayed where she was.