by R. J. Ross
RAINBOW RUSH
by
R. J. Ross
Rainbow Rush
Amazon Edition
Published by Book Candy Publishing
Copyright © 2017 by R. J. Ross
All Rights Reserved
Cover design by Leslie Zielinski
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
~Other works by R.J. Ross~
The Winstead Files Series
Courting the Beast * Snow White, Snow White
Seasons of the Fae Series
Raven's Return * Death of a Dryad * Water Wielder
Cape High Series
Super Villain Dad * America's Grandson * Hello Kitty * Don't Know Jack * Daddy's Girl * Aces Wild * Steampunk Time * Fire Hazard * Ditto Ditto * Sunny Daze * Life Light * Guitar Hero * Super Girls * Shadow Boy * Super Villain Grandpa * Mic Drop * Coyote’s Howl * Rocky Road * Rainbow Rush
Cape High Side Stories
Cape High Christmas: A Side Story
Cape High Villainy: A Side Story
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER ONE
*Four years ago in Texas*
According to the usual logic, he should be in third grade, Davis thinks as he tugs the backpack on his shoulder. It’s got a few books in it, but they’re not really the same as the ones the kids in the school are using. Of course they’re not, a little voice in his head whispers sarcastically, these children don’t even read books that don’t have pictures in them. They’re blundering, ignorant, and above all, not in his league. So why is he here? There’s a crowd of kids outside the front of the school, talking, joking, playing with stuff like game systems. He’s always wanted a game system. He stares at them for a moment too long before realizing what he’s doing. No, he needs to blend in. He’s here to…
What IS he here to do? He’d just wanted to get away from his mother and the latest tutor that she’d brought in. Of course most of his work is done through online courses, but lately she’s brought in specialists to lecture him. This week’s specialist is a brain surgeon. Sure, the subject is fascinating, and he’d actually been looking forward to it, but the man she’d hired has the most terrible handwriting on the face of the planet. Taking notes is like trying to decrypt a strange code, and it makes him feel like an idiot every time he asks “what does that say?” It’s even worse when the surgeon looks irritated with him, as if he’s mentally saying, “WHY am I lecturing this brat in the first place? He’s EIGHT.”
Davis wants to snap at him that it’s his own fault for never learning to write, but the last time he’d gotten “sarcastic” at a lecturer, his mother had taken away his dessert privileges for a month. Now, he merely bites his tongue, literally. He almost bit through it yesterday, when the surgeon had started talking down to him with a picture book featuring cartoon characters.
“Hey!” someone yells, making him look over. Two boys about his age are heading over. “The bell just rang, so are you coming in or what?”
Davis looks around, seeing that the crowd of kids is slowly filtering into the building. “You coming?” one of the boys asks, grabbing his arm and tugging him along. “You new?”
“Um, yeah…” Davis says, letting himself fall into line. He needs to sneak away just before getting into the building, because the adults will realize he doesn’t belong there, but…
“Hey, hey, did you see last night’s game?” one of the boys asks. “That was SO AWESOME!”
“Yeah, I saw it!” the other boy says. “That was SO AMAZING! Hey, hey, you saw the game, right?” he says, looking at Davis. “Did you see that touchdown at the end? When the guy did that dance? It was like this.” He starts doing the most ridiculous dance that Davis has ever seen, and then throws down his invisible football.
“Oh yeah! Oh yeah!” the other boy chants. “It’s your birthday! It’s your birthday!”
Davis feels an unfamiliar twitch pulling at his lips as he stares at the two acting like that. “I don’t watch sports,” he says as they both turn to him expectantly.
“You don’t watch sports,” one repeats, as if it’s a foreign sentence. “Okay, then what about Century and that bus load of nuns?” he asks, shrugging off the offense of non-sports watching people.
“I don’t watch that, either,” Davis says, although there’s a hint of sadness to this statement. “I don’t have a television.”
“You don’t have a television,” the second boy says. “Man, you must be some sort of freak, or something. EVERYONE has a television.”
“Television causes your hypothalamus, septum, sensorimotor area and visual cortex to thicken,” Davis says, automatically repeating what his latest lecturer had told him. “Reading causes the brain to engage and every time you engage the brain, it creates more neural pathways and more neural pathways allow you to…” he trails off as he sees the blank looks on their faces turn to irritation.
“You’re weird, man,” one of them says. “Come on, let’s go.” He grabs the other kid by the wrist and pulls him into the building. Davis stops, realizing that he’s almost to the door. People start running into him from behind, yelling for him to get a move on. Awkwardly, Davis steps out of line, starting to walk away. He can’t go in there. Even if he did, he’d just get more people staring at him, calling him weird or a freak.
“Hey!” an adult yells, making him look over. A large man wearing shorts and a t-shirt is running out of the school. “Are you trying to skip?” he demands. “We can’t allow that.”
“I’m not skipping,” Davis says. “Well, no, actually, I am, but—” he blinks as the man moves, blocking his way.
“Is there something wrong?” the man asks. “Are you hungry? We have a meals program set up for the children that haven’t eaten.”
“No, I’ve eaten, I’m just trying to—”
“You don’t have to lie to me, son,” the man says kindly. “Why don’t we go in, get you something to eat, and then you can go to class with everyone else.”
“I cannot go to class with everyone else,” Davis says. “I don’t go to this school.”
“You don’t go to this school,” the man repeats blankly. “I think we need to call your parents.”
“Davis,” someone says from behind him. Davis stops, turning and looking around. There’s a man heading for them wearing a white lab coat. He’s never seen—no, that’s not true, he realizes as the man gets closer. He’s seen a few pictures in his mother’s picture album. “Forgive my nephew,” Richard Penski says as he reaches the coach. “You see, since he’s so much further advanced than the children in your school system, he’s homeschooled. And wh
ile I’m certain that the specialists we bring in to teach him are much better equipped to deal with him than… well, no offense, you, obviously once in a while he gets the urge to see how the other children live. Davis, hasn’t your mother told you not to cause trouble for… normal people?”
“Uncle… Richard?” Davis says, still stunned.
“I’m back,” Richard says with a smile. “Have you missed me?”
“You really shouldn’t trespass, kid,” the coach says, giving Richard a glare before looking at his watch before heading inside.
“Mom said you were dead,” Davis says. “That you died before I was born.”
“If you had a sister like her, wouldn’t you fake your death, as well?” Richard says.
Davis thinks this over for a long moment before asking, “Can we fake mine?”
***
*The Present Time, Kansas City*
“Okay, okay!” I say, falling to the ground dramatically. “You got me!” My five siblings let out cheers, piling on top of me, even the twins, Toby and Tommy. They told me just last week that they were too old to play supers. I lay there, staring at the sky for a good five seconds before letting out a deep breath. “Okay, I’m starving and you guys are heavy, so off!” I say, pushing them off of me. They start laughing as they get up and my youngest sister runs off to tell my parents something. Probably that she needs to go to the bathroom. I look up as Dad comes out the back door, holding a plate of meat in his hand.
“Are you sticking around for barbecue, sweetie?” he asks me.
“Not this time, Dad,” I say, grinning. “Tonight Vinny’s making hand-tossed pizza! If I get there quickly enough, he’ll let me pick my own toppings.”
“That sounds nice of him,” he says. “Is there something you need to tell us about?”
“About what?” I ask.
“About this Vinny boy,” he prompts.
“Ummm… no?” I say, a bit confused. “Well, I mean, his dad is our janitor and his uncle is living on the campus because Vinny almost burnt down his room one time thanks to a nightmare, and I THINK he’s got a thing for Jimmi, but Jimmi went down to South Branch because she’s the daughter of Voltdrain, and—”
He starts laughing, holding up his hands. “That’s enough, enough!” he says. “I think I get what you mean. So no crush on Vinny, is that it?”
“Ewwww,” I say, making a face. “He’s my BROTHER—well, my zoo kid brother, at least. We don’t have crushes in that group, that’s just icky.”
“She’s in love with Niiiiightsteeeep,” Toby says in a sing-song voice, smirking widely at I turn a glare on him.
“I am not!”
“She’s all, ‘Oh, Nightstep, come to the good side and we can make kissy kissy faces at each other!’” Tommy chimes in, hugging himself and making kissing sounds.
“I did NOT!” I say, getting more irritated by the second. “Nightstep and I are just friends!”
“Who’s Nightstep?” Dad asks as Mom comes out carrying more food for the grill.
“He’s that cute villain that walks through shadows,” Mom says. “Carla and he had quite a little flirtation during the villain parade, didn’t you, sweetie?”
“Not you, too, Mom!” I say, groaning.
“Cute, huh?” Dad says, looking a bit overprotective. “I don’t know if I want my daughter flirting with a villain.”
I roll my eyes. “He’s one of the Cape High villains, Dad, it’s not like he’s out doing anything that isn’t set up by the Hall,” I say. “You’re a black suit now, you should know all about that!”
“I spend my time with the cars, not the capes.”
“Well, you’ll find out about it sooner or later,” I say. “Now I should get going. Kisses!” I demand, grabbing my littlest sister and kissing her noisily on the cheek. I follow that up with my other sister, and then chase my brothers down, one by one. “Bye, everyone!” I say, hugging my parents and pulling on a mask before racing out the door. I pull to a stop about halfway across KC as I hear a voice echo over loudspeakers.
“Yes, everyone, I AM here to rob you!” I hear Max say. “You should count yourself lucky that I’m giving a discount today! For every two that give me their money, I MIGHT let the third go! If they’re kids, that is.”
“Hey, Nico?” I say, tapping on my comm-bracelet. “Who’s going up against Max, now?”
“Hmm?” I hear Sunny ask. “Mornin’ Carla.”
“Sunny! Hi! But it’s not morning, it’s six o’clock in the evening, you know?” I have to point out. “Can you tell me where your dad is? Or maybe just who’s fighting Max today?”
“I think it’s Emily, since Trent’s still on another planet, remember?” he says. “And Dad went up to the North Pole, ‘cause he has to help rebuild it, since he wrecked it.”
“Oh. Okay, then I’ll just sneak around the fight scene,” I say, only to groan as Max appears overhead.
“And who do we have here?” he says, grinning evilly. “I think I recognize that blinding uniform!”
“He found you?” Sunny asks.
“He found me,” I mutter. “Maximum!” I declare as the hologram disappears. “How dare you rob these good people?”
“How dare I? How dare you ruin my chances for taking over the Hall?” he demands. “Do you think I’m going to let you just run on by after you did that to me?”
“It’s your own fault! You’re eeeee-vil!!” I say with extra drama. “Bad will never win as long as good is there to save the day!”
“Good is naive, if it thinks that’s the case,” he says, coming closer. “Nightstep says hi, by the way.”
I glare at him, placing my hands on my hips. Before I can reply, Emily teleports, landing on Max’s head and slamming him into the ground. She hops up a second later, holding Max’s mic. “Good might be naive, but at least it’s not monologuing all the time,” she says as the crowd starts to cheer. “Hypersonic Rainbow, thank you for your help! But don’t worry, I can handle this.”
“I’m sure you can,” I say as Max gets up, dusting off the rubble on his uniform and jumps into the air. Soon they’re brawling in an appropriately flashy fashion, complete with smart aleck comments and mic stealing. I look around, making sure that no one’s in a dangerous place, and I head out, leaving them to do their thing. I’m not even scheduled to work today, so I could totally get Max in trouble! I might, too! He deserves it for calling me out!
“I’m on my way home, now,” I say to my comm-bracelet. “I’m starving, so if I don’t get my own pizza, I’m going to make Max buy me one!”
“Sounds good to me,” Sunny says.
I race down the streets, sending things flying as I go past, and finally reach my destination. I glance at my comm-bracelet to check the time, heading for the entrance of the school campus without really looking around. I think I’m in time. I REALLY want to put pineapple on my pizza! And then I was thinking I would have a meat lovers, and then—
“Hy-bo?” a woman says, making me look up in surprise. She’s tall, tough looking, and has dark skin. She looks familiar, but I can’t exactly place her…
“I’m always happy to meet a fan, but you really shouldn’t be here! It’s dangerous,” I tell her, defaulting to my “hero character.”
“Yeah,” she says, looking behind her with a slight smile. “All of the Halls have heard about the school security systems your principal put up.”
“Oh, you’re Hall?” I say.
“I’m Ruckus,” she says, pulling out her hero ID and showing me the hologram. “I’ve wanted to meet you for a while.”
“OH!” I say, relaxing. “You’re one of the Nemeses!”
“Is that our official name, now?” she asks. “I knew we should have named ourselves.”
“Well, it’s not OFFICIAL, but it’s what everyone calls you,” I admit. “Um, I need to call Zoe to get you onto the campus. It shouldn’t take long, so—”
“Don’t bother. I came here to see you,” she says.
> “What?”
“I want to talk with you, if I could? I’d be happy to buy you dinner, somewhere.”
I hesitate, images of handmade pizzas floating away into the distance. “Sure,” I say, shrugging it off. I’ll get him to make me a pizza later. “But I should tell my teachers, so could you wait here for a bit?”
She nods and I head into the school campus, running into the cafeteria where Banshee is eating her dinner. “Can I go out to dinner with Ruckus?” I ask. “She wants to talk to me.”
“Are you sure it’s Ruckus?” Banshee asks. “Wait, who’s Ruckus?”
“Ruckus is one of Skye’s nemeses, and yeah, she showed me her ID!”
“Then sure, I don’t see why not,” she says, “but you might want to change into something less colorful.”
“Thanks!” I say, running to my room and changing. A minute later I’m back outside, with a candy bar in my hand. I finish it off as she looks over. “Sorry, I was running on empty. Now! Let’s go eat!”
“Your powers take a lot of fuel, huh?” she says as I move to her side. She’s got a curious expression on her face. “If I didn’t have a job tomorrow, I would want to see your campus. Maybe I will some other time.”
“Why did you come all the way up here, anyway?” I ask. “You could have just called!”
“No, I couldn’t,” she says. “This is something that needs to be done face to face.”
“Oh, um, okay?” I say, confused.
“I wanted to meet you, first. I never met Dolly before they teamed us up, you know? If I had, things would be different, now.”
“Do you not like Dolly?” I ask.
She goes quiet for a moment and I can practically see her thinking of the best way to put it. “If I had the CHOICE of partners… it wouldn’t be someone that wears six-inch-high wedges and has never thrown a punch in her life. All she does is play with toys,” she says, finally. “I mean, it’s gotten tolerable, sure, especially since her powers seem to keep Skye and Ariel distracted, but… it’s still a bit much.”
