Books with author J. Ross

“Does Tatiana know she’s here?” Jack asks, finishing off his smoothie even as the cup Superior is holding crushes in his hold. “Yeah, I figured that was it,” he says. “It’s going to blow up in our faces,” Superior admits. “So… want to help me kidnap her and leave her on an island in the Pacific Ocean?”“Tatiana?” Jack asks.“Sparky. If we did that to Tatiana she’d never stop yelling at us,” Superior says. Jack bursts out laughing, only to put his cup on the bar and shrug when he’s done.“Sure, sounds like fun,” he says. “I’ll go find some rubber gloves.”“That’s my grandson-in-law,” Superior says with a brilliant smile. “And these two are the ones I REALLY wanted to introduce last, Grandpa,” Aubrey says, tugging her grandfather over to them with a severely irritated expression on her face, “but I have to do it now because they’re planning to do something stupid and need to be stopped.”

While there are many supers in the world living among the humans, making friends, fitting in, there are also those that just can’t deal with society. They aren’t evil, or violent, they’re just different. They don’t fit in. They will never feel comfortable on a crowded street, or surrounded by so much noise. These are Santa’s elves. Well, actually, that’s not quite true. There’s a group of elves that are perfectly fine wherever you stick them, but for this story, we’re focusing on the first type.Well, actually, we’re focusing on me. My name is Barrett, but everyone calls me Bear. I’m fifteen, and the second child of the latest generation of the Toy Box line. Yeah, that means Dollface is my big sister. You’re probably thinking that means I grew up in a dollhouse, right? Not really. I mean as I got older, once in a while, but the real impact it had on me was that up until I was seven, I thought it was perfectly normal for guys to have cartoon characters painted on their fingernails. I even remember several times where my mom would walk in on Dolly practicing makeup… on me. Thankfully, that stopped when puberty kicked in. I shot up taller than Dolly by the time I was thirteen, and she can’t run well in heels.But other than that, I think I’m pretty normal… nah, I’m just kidding. I’m not normal at all.

“I was informed that you were planning on sending Morgan into the field, soon?” Mastermental says.Nico goes silent, and the group at the table looks at him. “I am,” he says, “but I was planning on sending her into a school that has hidden supers, not on a drug bust. She has a very specific goal in mind, you know.”“Yes, I am aware,” Mastermental says. “And if you really wish to ignore this—”“I didn’t say that,” Nico says, as Morgan jerks in silent protest. “But it’s not what she’s planning on going into.”“Yes, but she is the perfect person to infiltrate a track and field group, as well as see who else is affected. There is a possibility that it goes much higher than that, Lauren has fractured memories of even teachers acting strangely, as well,” Mastermental says. “But as much as I dislike stereotyping—”“I look like a normal, high school jock, right?” Morgan offers.

"I have brought a super child," Tatiana announces. "I do not know where she comes from, but she is one of us. Until we can return her to her parents, I will be taking care of her." "Wait, wait, wait," Blackjack says, getting up from where he was lounging on a couch. "You can't just bring in some random super! Kid or not, we need to know what she's after, right?" Yes, he's Blackjack, he looks exactly as he does in my time. Heroes don't age like normal people, they just stay the same for who knows how long. Well, outwardly, at least."Are you out to destroy all of civilization, kitten?" Tatia asks me in a bland tone."Um, no?" I offer."Good enough for me!" she says cheerfully.

“Before you go, Malina,” Reaper says, “talk to me for a bit. You’re one of my little gem’s best friends. We should get to know each other.”I look at him, and then at Evie, who is squirming, trying to get out of my hold. “Okay, just for a bit,” I say as I put her down. She runs off to a box in the corner, which is filled to overflowing with gemstones and gold chains. “Evie, don’t—”“Oh, it’s fine,” he says. “Those are bait.”“Bait,” I repeat. He gives me a wide grin that would terrify me if I didn’t know him.“All the dames I love like shiny trinkets,” he says. “I have to restock it on a regular basis. The little one there doesn’t take it, she just likes to play dress up.”“She’d be perfectly happy with plastic jewelry, you know,” I point out.“This way she’ll know the real deal when she goes villain,” he says. “Since she’s teething on a diamond, she’ll never fall for cubic zirconium. A woman should grow up knowing what’s real, little sweetheart. It’s the same for everything, really.”

I’m supposed to be cleaning up a mess for the space cops called “Cosmics” in exchange for them cleaning up a problem for us. Back home we have a sentient planet named Clay floating around our planet. He’s caused a lot of trouble, recently, and not in a “Pay-per-view” sort of fashion like my brother does. Nico wants to launch him out into space, far, far away, but in order to do that we need the Cosmic group, who are the supers that oversee the protection of space. The Hall, who oversees all the supers in North America, did a lot of fast talking and card showing, and finally we came to a compromise. In exchange for this job, they’ll take care of making sure Clay doesn’t cause more havoc.So, here I am on a planet that’s being illegally mined by slaves. I’m here to break up the slave ring and find out just who’s behind this little venture. Well, sort of. I’m hoping Nico will do the stuff that needs brain-work. I don’t consider myself stupid, but I’ll be the first to say that I’m better at using my head as a battering ram.

“You are Cub,” Nico repeats. “If they really have a problem with it when your brother’s older, just beat your brother. You can do it easily enough. If you truly want your family’s name and title, take it,” he says, turning to look me in the eyes. “Show them just how much you deserve it.”“But I'm female,” I say.“Who cares?” he asks, going back to his shadow searching. “You worked hard for that title. You were acceptable as an heir before your brother was born, right? Well if you exceed as much as I know you will, you’ll be acceptable even after it. But none of this bowing down, none of this letting people take what you want or force what they want on you. You're a super villain, you do what you want.”

"I'm a tank," I admit, shrugging my shoulders. "No super cool powers like gravity or anything, just good old fashioned power. Or at least I will be," I add. "Dad says I'm still pretty breakable.""Maybe for him," Max drawls. "You're probably the one they'll send after me when we're older, aren't you?""Really hard to crush a tank," I agree. Then I look at him, knowing that we both realize I'm the most vulnerable I'm going to be right now. He probably could beat me, and I think we both realize it."I wonder if they've thought of that already," Max says. "I'm surprised we don't have adults panicking over me knowing you.""Are you going to kill me?" I ask.

"You're awake?" I find myself looking at the most dangerous looking mother--er, man--I've ever seen. I know that face. I know that voice even better. It's Technico, Zoe's dad. "Good. We need that bed. Get up, you should be able to, now.""Water," I rasp out. A woman in a black nurse's outfit moves forward, slipping a straw into my mouth. I take a drink, almost choke, and drink some more. It feels good being able to swallow easily. When she pulls away the straw I start to sit up. She looks panicked."You shouldn't be--""He's fine," Technico says. "He's in better shape than most. Aubrey's got skills I never thought I'd see in someone her age."I feel a little light headed, really, but I'm sitting up. I hold my hand up, staring at the thin metal lines that swirl over my flesh. "I thought I was fine," I say.

"I like the deadly part, but 'darlin's' is NOT powerful!" I declare. "I'm powerful! I'm the most powerful super villain in the WORLD!""Of course you are," Rochester says."She is?" Sam asks with a look of unbelief."I am!" I say, giving him a dark look."She is," Doris agrees in a dry tone. "She's not the most evil, or bloodthirsty, or violent, or even ... well, villainous, but she's probably the most powerful."Cape High Villainy: A Side Story includes short stories about Panther, Skye and her Deadly Darlin's, Phoebe Woods, Shadowman, Cubby, and various other side character villains from the Cape High Universe.

“What’s wrong with her?” Jack asks. Yep, I was right. The entire school followed him here.“I don’t know,” Trent admits, picking me up, “but I don’t think we should do this in the girl’s bathroom. C’mon, let’s go outside. Some sunshine will cheer you up, right?” he asks me. I would reply, but I’m too busy trying to sniffle up my snot. Yes, it’s that gross. And I’m showing it to my seriously good looking, perfect boyfriend.I will never live this down.Trent sits down on the steps, cuddling me. “Is this about Skystep?” he asks quietly. I jerk, so shocked that the tears stop. I stare at him for a long moment before looking down. I can’t come up with anything. “Ditto disappeared in the middle of Rocco’s story, so we were pretty sure something was going on--then we heard you yelling,” he says. “You’ve been looking pale since someone said Skystep’s name, don’t lie.”“Ye--yeah,” I say, still looking at my lap.“What happened with Skystep, Em?” he asks, patting my hair.“She... she killed my parents.”

"I'm not suited for solo missions," I say over the com."Sure you are," I hear Morgan say, "you can handle anything.""He can," I hear most of the zoo kids agree. "Man, remember the time he caught the kitchen on fire? He didn't even break a sweat!""Which time?" Morgan asks, laughing. "Relax, Vinny, you can do this with your eyes closed. You'll be back home with us before you know it, I promise."Why do they have so much faith in me? I look in the bathroom mirror, seeing a punk with glowing earrings looking back at me. I’m surprised Jack didn’t convince me to pierce more than just my ears, honestly. He’s way too happy with a piercing needle for my tastes. “There’s one thing Century didn’t mention,” I say almost silently. “I’m here to prove that Cape High is actually teaching the students enough to send the South Branch kids to it.”“Interesting,” Nico says. “Well it doesn’t matter to me, I only took this job because it’s part of my probation. If there are less kids involved there’s less work for me.”I choke, shocked, and then burst into laughter at that reply. “Aw, man, that’s good to know,” I admit. “I was feeling a bit of pressure there.”