Ramona Ross

Ramona Ross, also known as superhero Celestia, is the wife of Martin Perry mother of Seymour Ross-Perry. She died from a brain tumor at the age of 44. She is a former Syndicate Member and the former leader of the Vega City Team.

Personality
While Ramona Ross wore a lot of different masks, she was undeniably a warm and generous person in all forms. In her adulthood, Ramona worked as a Social Worker and was notably a very skilled in her work. She had great people skills, always able to meet someone in whatever emotional state they were in. This helped her in both her civilian and hero life, as she often attempted to communicate with enemies before battling them.

As Celestia, Ramona was a strong-willed leader who believed that peace was more important than justice. By this she meant that pursuing revenge or violence for the sake of "justice" should never be the priority of a hero.

As a mother, Ramona deeply treasured her relationship with Seymour. She was very attentive and at times overprotective of Seymour, which did cause some tension between her best friend, Ronda, who was much more carefree in her attitude towards Seymour when she watched him. Ramona became more eccentric after having Seymour, caring less about how people thought of her and only for how Seymour saw her.

Near her death, Ramona's personality began to shift because of the tumor in her brain. Ramona had random fits of anger, struggled to remember things, and behaved in an unfamiliar way to how her family knew her.

Childhood
Ramona Ross was born in Vega City, New Jersey to Seymour Ross and Regina Ross. Her family was impoverished and all was struggling to make ends meet. Seymour worked as a taxi driver while Regina worked as a maid in a hotel downtown.

Ramona got along well with the kids on her block and played with them often. She struggled in school because she had difficulty asking for help when she needed it. In spite of struggling in school, she had a healthy home life and a close relationship with her father. She had a habit of calling her dad "Seymour" instead of dad.

Seymour was a rather lenient father, and because of Ramona's tomboy nature as a kid, they spent a lot of time together. She took an interest into baseball when she was younger, and her dad would take her to the batting cages after he got off from work.

Losing Seymour
By the time Ramona was 15, her dad was struggling with his work. His hours having been cut, he wasn't able to get the money they needed. Initially, Seymour started off by pawning off their greater possessions to buy back later when they had the money.

It being Ramona's 16th birthday, Seymour decides to buy something from the pawnshop as he sells many of their belongings. He sees a plain looking ring priced at $7 and convinces the owner to knock it down to $5. He gives the ring to Ramona as a present, but she isn't super impressed by it. She keeps the ring in her jewelry box, not wearing it.

Within the few weeks, money continues to become tight for the Ross family. With a desire to make money fast, Seymour agrees to be the getaway driver for a friend, who is a goon for a major villain in Vega City. However, the crime is busted by Black Patriot, and results in Seymour being severely injured. Seymour dies before his body was found, and he is removed from the scene and not mentioned on the news. The Ross's find out the next day about his death when asked to confirm his identity.

Becoming Celestia
Ramona, heartbroken, brings out the ring her father bought her as a present and soon discovers the ring possesses the spirit of a white dwarf star, Stella. Stella explains that for years they've been teaching humans about the world beyond their Earth,

Ramona isn't interested in the expanse of knowledge and cares more about the powers the ring gives her as she believes she can use them to get back at Black Patriot for what he's done to her father.

While Stella is uncomfortable with the idea of using the ring for violence, they go along with Ramona's plan. However, as Ramona prepares to confront Black Patriot, she has a change of heart, realizing she doesn't want to be someone who kills. She instead defends the lives of the goons while still stopping the crime, insisting to Black Patriot that his ruthless hand of justice isn't welcome in Vega City anymore.

Taking Back Vega City
Black Patriot continues to linger inside Vega City with the help of the American Syndicate of Heroes, and Ramona continues to work as the newly dubbed "Celestia" to fight hate and evil. Working with Stella, they develop a suit that will overlay on Ramona whenever she puts on the ring, as well as a nonlethal attack system. After becoming Celestia, Ramona gains a certain confidence that wasn't there before. She does better in school and even pursues an acceptance and scholarship to a local college, choosing a City College to stay and protect Vega City.

By the time Ramona was 20, Vega City was publicly in support of Celestia, resulting in the A.S.H. being unable to stop her easily. Multiple smear campaigns are made against Celestia, trying to paint her as unruly, uneducated, and unfit to be a hero. Ramona thinks she can simply ignore the media, but she finds things get increasingly difficult as lies are spread about her and how she developed her powers.

It was through the help of journalist student Martin Perry that Celestia stood a chance against the media. A fan of the figure Celestia, Martin began documenting her acts of heroism to try and make a case for why Celestia should be the hero of Vega City. Interning at the city paper, Vega City Gazette, Martin tried to bring photos he'd taken of Celestia into the paper but most were rejected for being too simple and not interesting enough.

Martin began to follow Celestia around, and on one night accidentally caught her changing back into Ramona on camera. In a state of shock, Martin and Ramona see one another and realize just what's happening. Ramona pleas with him to keep her identity secret and delete the photo, he promises to, claiming he's a fan and he wouldn't want to hurt her.

Ramona lets him go, but is still brought into a state of panic at the thought of someone knowing her secret identity. She tries to ignore it, but she keeps seeing Martin places. He soon tracks her down and blatantly asks her to do an interview as Celestia. She says she won't, fearing the media will spin her in a bad way.

As things get more dire, and misinformation on Celestia continues to spread, she finally agrees to the interview, not knowing how much control Martin had over it considering his position as an intern. As Celestia, Ramona meets Martin at the station, and is shocked to discover that Martin has no control over the situation and has simply decided to lock the producers out of the broadcasting room with the aid of a cameraman and several other interns.

Martin himself conducts the interview, it airing live on TV. Celestia is asked why she believes Black Patriot is a danger to Vega City. She claims she doesn't believe he's capable of really saving Vega City because he doesn't care about the city. Celestia laments that we've come to believe that a single man with a tightened fist and furrowed brow and a sense of "justice" that exists outside the law is what it takes to create change, but it doesn't. She expresses that she doesn't believe in justice, she believes in peace, and that a hero doesn't come from hate and pain, it's created out of love.

The interview comes to an end and the doors are unlocked, the producers filtering in escorting them out of the building. To their surprise, the interview had a very positive impact, while Black Patriot's press continues to try and paint Celestia as naïve to how the world works, public support of her increases.

Things come to a stand when Black Patriot is given a warrant for Celestia's arrest. To her surprise, The Jersey Devil, a vigilante with a dark streak, appears in Celestia's defense, saying whether she's naïve or not doesn't change the fact that she's right. With more people and heroes coming forward in support of Celestia, the A.S.H. found itself forced to accept her into the organization and remove Black Patriot from Vega City.

Accepting the offer, Celestia soon forms the Vega City Team with Jersey Devil, and young hero Silver Bullet.

Relationships and Family
After many years serving as Celestia, Ramona forms a relationship with Martin Perry who she continued to meet after the interview that secured her future as a hero. While the two are dating, the first Vega City HQ is created, more heroes eagerly joining the Vega City Team.

While many heroes cycled in and out of the team, as well as techs, it was the addition of Ronda Robinson that was most impactful to Ramona. A runaway teen, Ramona joined the team after having broken into the HQ. Impressed with her skills, she was hired on in spite of not being professionally trained yet.

She and Ramona formed a tight friendship, Ramona even allowing her to live with her for a period of time when she just moved to Vega City. Ronda and Martin seemed to clash, often entering squabbles as Ronda didn't feel he was good enough for Ramona. They eventually found some common ground and the tension ceased.

After three years, Ramona and Martin marry, soon discovering she's pregnant at the age of 33. Ramona takes a break as Celestia, Ramona filling in as E.T., wearing the ring in her place until after Ramona gives birth. Seymour is born, but Ramona quickly returns to her role as Celestia.

Deciding to Retire
While many different heroes joined the Vega City Team, the core members that remained throughout its entire lifetime included Silver Bullet, The Jersey Devil, and Ramona.

Summoned by the ASH, the Vega City Team was asked to travel to the American Space Station after the station lost contact with Earth. Celestia is specially requested as she is able to travel through space (with heat limitations). Silver Bullet is left behind due to the danger of his powers being used in space, but the Jersey Devil joins.

Making it to the station, they encounter a kind of new alien life. With no one left alive on the station, the DCT's new goal is simply to make it off the station and stop whatever is on the station from getting onto Earth.

Realizing they can seclude the alien into a pod, they decide to lure the alien into the pod then ejecting it from the station away from Earth. The plan was for Ramona to play the bait, as if she got trapped in the pod she could escape and survive in space for a short period of time.

Realizing that Ramona won't likely make it without a heated suit, Jersey Devil takes her place as the bait, saying he's lived a meaningful life thanks to her and knows she has much more to look after in her life than his.

The Jersey Devil is sent off into space with the alien, never heard from again and presumed dead. Ramona returns to Earth heartbroken and soon announces her retirement. Having lost a loved one and brushed with death herself, she realizes that being Celestia could hurt her son.

She casts out the superhero life entirely, and the family moves from Vega City to Lincoln Bridge, Kansas, a town with no hero activity to keep them safe and away from the ASH.

Ramona takes up work as a social worker, Martin working at the local news paper. Ronda, unable to continue working in the DCT without Ramona, quits her job with the ASH and moves near Ramona and her family becoming a commercial pilot.

Ramona enjoyed her years of retirement, developing a closer relationship with her son and community.