Origins

The Posterchildren: Origins is the first book in the Posterchilden series.
==Short description==
Maillardet's Foundation for the Future of Humanity is widely accepted as being the premiere training facility for young posthumans. The Academy guides superpowered posterchildren through the training that they'll need if they want to become licensed public superheroes.Though they come from different backgrounds, Ernest, June, Mal, and Zip all have the same goal: surviving the school year.
==Extended description==
Nestled in the Cascade mountains in the Pacific Northwest, Maillardet's Foundation for the Future of Humanity is widely accepted as being the premiere training facility for young posthumans. The Academy accepts superpowered posterchildren from ages six through seventeen, guiding them through the training that they'll need if they want to become legally licensed heroes. Maillardet's Academy advertises itself as being for all types, welcoming the offspring of the greatest heroes of today - like Ernest Wright, the son of the Commander - along with new posters just learning to control their powers - like Juniper Hovick, a temperamental New Yorker with a flaming menagerie. Maillardet's is where the heroes of tomorrow are assembled today, so the pressure to perform is high. For disgraced legacy poster Malek Underwood, the third block of his training begins with him being knocked from his pedestal as the top student in the school, then paired with an almost-failing lesbian speedster named Zipporah Chance. Though they come from different backgrounds, Ernest, Juniper, Malek, and Zipporah all have the same goal: surviving the year. If they're ever going to become heroes, they have to make it to finals, first.https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/312080
==Plot summary==
Origins is split into "Issues" similar to a comic book publication. As The Posterchildren is inspired by comic books and fits into the superhero genre, Burroughs uses issues instead of chapters, and each issue runs at approximately 5 - 18k words.
=== Issue #1 ===
Mal Underwood attends his father Corbin's funeral. He is accompanied by his mother Amira bint Balqis and Corbin's foster daughter Ellie Lark. His brother Marshal is conspicuously absent. During the Commander's eulogy, Mal leaves the funeral to be sick. He is later found by Ellie, who tells Mal that she came to say goodbye to him before he returns to Foundation. As a belated birthday gift, Ellie gives Mal a poorly carved handmade wooden rook necklace. Once Ellie leaves, Mal breaks down and cries in private before his mother comes to collect him and take him back home.
Newcomer June Hovick arrives at the Foundation from New York. Although she has reservations, she is determined to be a clean slate and adapt to superhero school. June and the other new students, Maks Petrov, Jack Willard, and Lan Lau, are given a campus tour by Ernest Wright, who is standing in for the Commander, his father. Unaware that he is the son of an iconic hero, June challenges Ernest to a fight when he tells her that her candy bar is against the school rules. Afterwards, Maks explains who he is, causing June to think that she made a poor first impression as usual.
Once the tour is over, Ernest goes home to prepare a meal for his father to come home to. He reflects that June treated him like a person, not like the Commander's son, but worries about her chances of succeeding at the academy. When his father returns from the funeral, Ernest drums up the courage to ask him for a favor: he wants June Hovick to be his third block training partner. His father is against the idea at first, noting that the board has already slated Ernest to be paired with Dylan Walsh, a fellow top student. However, Ernest fights for June as his partner, so his father promises to see what he can do.
The start of school brings with it the second block score and third block partner announcements. Mal, who earned a perfect score out of 50 in the first block, expects to be paired with Rosario Galán-Grant, a high-scoring Beta and his childhood friend. Instead, he is shocked to learn that he only has a total of 67 of the possible 100 points, meaning he will be paired with another 67 by the name of Zipporah Chance. Mal storms from the forum and into a training room to work out his anger. He is found and comforted by the Commander, who tells him that his true second block score was a 48. The board threw out his father's assessment, replacing it with a 17. Once the Commander has gone, Zipporah introduces herself to Mal. Still angry, Mal tells Zip that she will be his burden to carry for their next three years as partners. She leaves the gym in tears.
Refusing to be discouraged by Mal's behavior, Zip sits with him at breakfast the following morning. She is shocked to see that Mal is reading her file. Although intimidated by him, Zip tries to strike up a conversation. Mal grudgingly tells her his full name, that he is of Arab descent, and that his posterpower is to heal. Though their conversation does not go as smoothly as Zip would have liked, Mal says he will tutor her once he explains that her superspeed works as a sort of learning disability. Zip promises that she will work her hardest.
Category:Published works
=== Issue #2 ===
Mal suffers from insomnia and is unable to sleep even while physically exhausted. He spends the night thinking about his father due to the wooden rook charm he still wears around his neck. When morning finally comes, Mal goes to his mother's house for breakfast. They discuss his father, and the Queen states that she misses him. Mal is unsure of what to say due to his complicated feelings towards the Rook and seeks an early escape.
At his house, Ernest bakes Mal's favorite muffins before their first day of class. They run into each other on the pathway, and Ernest awkwardly hands his old friend a muffin. Their conversation does not last long as Ernest is forced to run for his class on the other side of campus. On his way there, he comes across Maks and another student, Kenneth McKay, who are in the middle of a confrontation. As Maks is much smaller than Kenneth, Ernest steps in to defend him and effectively scares Kenneth off. Ernest hands Maks a handkerchief for his bloody nose and they talk a bit. The exchange leaves Ernest feeling good about himself and reduces his anxiety about being late to class.
Despite her claim that speedsters are never late, Zip oversleeps and is indeed late to her first Law class with Mal. The two of them sit at the back of the class and Mal scolds her for her tardiness. Luckily, their instructor, Officer Galán-Grant, is running behind as well. By the time class begins, Zip is feeling a little overwhelmed with the subject. Mal seems to have no issues and is even praised during class time, while Zip struggles with her grasp and understanding during a pop quiz.
At the dorm, June finally meets her roommate, a fashionable girl named Jenny Chambers. Their first encounter goes exceptionally well and they make a date to have dinner together before June runs off to class. During History, June comes to realize that Ernest receives favoritism from teachers like Scott Carter, who seems unwilling to start the class without him. Once Ernest arrives, they split off into pairs to discuss their origin stories. Ernest is exceptional at motivational speeches, to the point that even the cynical June feels inspired by him. She asks why the board put them together as partners and Ernest lies, saying that they chose her for him because she's "worldly," while he's been sheltered his entire life. 
By the end of the day, Zip is downright exhausted from classes and training. When she gets back to her dorm, her new roommate Cindy Dunn is there. Cindy is abrasive and intimidating, but Zip wants to make her feel comfortable in their room. Her efforts are unappreciated by Cindy, who demands that Zip keep her personal cheer to herself and stay quiet. 
=== Issue #3 ===
In the next few weeks, Zip notices that Cindy does not get out of bed to eat or go to class. She starts bringing her snacks from the mess hall but notices that they go untouched. Zips heads off to Athletics class feeling defeated, but when the instructor Mongoose decides to get the kids outside for a game of rock-paper-scissor scrimmage, Zip feels like she has a chance to prove herself to Mal. Clay Dillinger and his partner, Henri Olivier, challenge Mal and Zip to a game. Zip takes advantage of her superspeed to make the call to determine which team attacks first, but finds that the rules for the game have changed now that the students are in two-person teams. As the Alpha, Mal is supposed to make the call, and Zip's quick actions get them disqualified from the match.
During Madam Ghostlight's Acting class, Ernest and Maks meet for the second time. Ernest is nervous about acting as he does not consider himself to be a good liar. He took a separate class from June and his other friends due to his embarrassment in his inability to fit the mold of a stereotypical "good hero." When Maks asks him to sit with him, Ernest is nervous because he was hoping there wouldn't be anyone he knew in this class. Maks does not seem to mind or pay much attention to Ernest's worries. Madam Ghostlight calls up Maks as a volunteer and puts him under her trance. She asks him questions about his family and his past to demonstrate her powers. She then asks the class to determine what the term "light touch" means to them and present it in front of everyone. Maks volunteers himself and Ernest to go first, and dramatically relays the story of how Ernest saved him from Kenneth McKay on the first day. At the end of class, Ernest invites Maks out to his "pole-pie" event.
Mal has set up cubbies for napping all around campus. He dreams of rooks that smell like tar and rot. His father is there, telling him to pay attention. They argue and Mal begs his father to let him make the sacrifice, but the Rook is unwilling. The birds flock to the Rook, covering him over until there's nothing left and Mal screams for his father. There is nothing left but the Rook's coffin, covered in his uniform, and pieces of rook bones. When Mal wakes up, he wakes up to a Maine Coon cat sleeping on his chest. The two have a stand-off and Mal gives up his blanket to the "beast." Alone with his thoughts, he realizes that he owes Zip an apology and goes to find her.
Frustrated and defeated, Zip leaves her dorm to go run a few laps around the track. She runs until she's exhausted and takes a break on the bleachers. Mal approaches her from behind, skulking in the shadows, and nearly scares her half to death. Zip rounds on him and tells him what an awful, mean partner he's been. Mal agrees with her and apologizes in a way that only Mal can. He decides to help her with two-man drills and they decide to run around the track together.
Although June does not consider herself the most social person, she makes an appearance at Ernest's pole-pie event. Maks starts up a conversation with her and June determines that she does not like him as he's clearly something of an arrogant showoff. June is defensive around Maks as he is a joker. She seems to believe he will use her weight as a punchline to all of his jokes, but he never does. June decides to make the fire for the pole-pie making. Her power allows her to make animals out of flames, and she puts a tiger into the firepit. Maks tells a story about how he was attacked by his aunt's tiger when working in the circus. Roz, Jack, Roz's little sister Libby, and their family dog show up for the event. When she's bored, June decides to head back to the dorms and Maks accompanies her. June tells him that she thinks he's "gross," but Maks argues back on his own behalf and June realizes she may have misjudged him.
=== Issue #4 ===
Zip decides to go and talk to Nurse Bliss about Cindy. Nurse Bliss explains that Cindy is likely depressed. Zip learns from her that Cindy is a problem poster, and that she's at Foundation because she has to be. Cindy ran away with another girl at the end of the first year of her third block. She was brought back and forced to repeat the year. Nurse Bliss promises to do all she can to help Cindy.
Training has been taking a lot of out Ernest, who is more than ready to take a nap. Strategy class usually allowed him to graze along well-enough without needing him to be too present, but recently the Commander's classes were being substituted by the Queen. Ernest does not feel comfortable falling asleep in a class being led by his Auntie Amira, so he does his best to stay awake. The topic of the class is retaliation. June and the Queen get into a back and forth banter until Mal speaks up from the back of the class and engages in a full argument with his mother and gets kicked out of class for his disrespect.
Mal dreams of the first time he met Ellie Lark and his older half-brother, Marshal Underwood. The dream is a retelling of the fight that ensued between Marshal and Corbin. During their argument, Marshal notes how Mal's foreign name will put nails in his coffin when he joins the public roster. Ellie takes Mal away from the scene, but it is at this moment that Mal decides he will no longer go by his full name. When he wakes up from his nap, the cat has returned. Mal chases the cat away and winds up meeting Ellery Griffin. She shows him that cats can have posterpowers by using the floating Wonder Cat as an example. Mal finds Ellery to be of little use to him and heads off to find Zip instead.
Just when Zip has finished her homework and is ready to head to bed, Mal shows up at her door demanding that it is time for them to train. Zip's running on an empty tank since she had to study for strategy class and missed dinner. Mal tells her that he knows a way off campus and they use it as a training exercise. Mal creates a diversion by cutting his forearm and yelling for help while Zip runs as fast as she can over the school walls and into town just outside foundation. They meet up again in Mal's dorm room and have a deep conversation about Mal's relationship with his parents and his outburst in class. Mal tells Zip about his older brother Matt and the events that led up to his death and how it destroyed his family. Zip determines that they are now friends.
June is frustrated with her sewing project while working on it at the Wright household. She gives up on making a costume for herself (due to the fat microaggressions on her designs) and decides to focus on making one for Ernest instead. While measuring him, Ernest practices his speech for acting class on her. June notices that Ernest really is not good at speaking about himself. They have a heart-to-heart about Ernest's unwillingness to see himself as spectacular. 
The next morning, Zip wakes up to an active and more-social Cindy. They talk about Zip having a strike on her record and Zip recounts defending her older sister, Lacey, from an abusive boyfriend. Cindy says that Zip did the right thing, but when Zip asks about Cindy's strikes, Cindy is unwilling to divulge any information. Zip still considers their conversation a win and is a step in the right direction. 
=== Issue #5 ===
=== Issue #6 ===
=== Issue #7 ===
=== Issue #8 ===
==References==
Category:Published works