[h3]Adam Pierce[/h3]

Professor Adam Pierce hadn’t always been in teacher's position, in fact this was all relatively new to him. He had trained people and mutants alike before, but not under the umbrella of “education”; it had always been within the confines of war. His mutation allowed him to observe and replicate any form of combat, whether it be hand to hand martial arts, sword fighting, or anything in between. He was master of combat, it was all that he had ever known, and now he would be responsible for teaching some of those skills to the students here in the academy. To be honest, Adam wasn’t very keen on the idea in any way and really didn’t like teenagers to begin with. He felt as though just one of them carried more angst in their greasy pores than he desired to be anywhere near him, but it didn’t matter because the man who brought him here for this job was a man that he respected and trusted with his life; Malcolm Ashford, the Headmaster of the new school. He owed the man his life, and for that he’d gladly teach some snot nosed kids a thing or two if it helped out his friend, and hey maybe he’d help build a future for his kind along the way. 

Silently Adam leaned up against the hallway wall with crossed arms. His jaw clenched over and over as he watched this first batch of “students” gather in the Training Center’s foyer. Some of them looked like they may actually know a thing or two but he knew that truly not a single one of them knew what it would take to be what they all came here to achieve; something that he had never intended to become, one of the X-Men. As the kids gathered some of them began to chit chat, one of the more awkward of the bunch kicking off the conversation, which was unexpected to him. As they mingled and waited for the clock to strike 7:30, Adam looked over at his co-worker Ms. Kaylee Everose. As always, she looked as though she had walked out of a fashion magazine of sorts with every strand of her burgundy hair in its rightful place and not a single unwanted crease in her rather tight blue dress. He looked down at himself for a moment looking over the wrinkled dark red t-shirt that he was wearing as well as his gym pants and plain tennis shoes. They definitely came from two completely different worlds, just like most of the mutants here came from all walks of life, but not many came as stunning as she did and sometimes he wondered if her mutation was more than she was letting on and in fact somehow managed to help her look so “perfect” all of the time. Just as though she could feel his eyes on her he saw Prof. Everose turn her eyes towards him, giving him a friendly but professional smile. Finally the clock struck 7:30. it was time to begin. He smiled back at Kaylee as she stepped forward to address the kids. 

“Good morning everyone. Sorry to interrupt but I’m sure you all will have plenty of time to get to know one another more soon enough. Especially since from this moment forward you are looking at your fellow team members. Everyone please take a look around you. The faces that you see here are your teammates, your comrades, your partners, and hopefully one day even your friends.” She smiled and paused momentarily, giving everyone a moment to take things in before continuing. “Here at the Ashford Institute for the Gifted you are not graded solely on your individual performance, but since teamwork is one of the foundations of the X-Men and something that is direly lacking in the world today you will also be graded as a team. You will have to rely on each other, be there for each other, and care about each other in order to achieve success at this school. This is meant to teach you that you are all a part of something much larger than any of us as individuals. We are each other’s lifelines...and that starts today with you all. As most of you probably remember from orientation, my name is Professor Everose and I am the Director of Education here at the academy.” She turns, pointing towards Adam, his clenched jaws transition into a forced smile as he steps forwards. “This is Professor Pierce, he will be in charge of the physical education and defensive tactics. Prof. Pierce, the floor is yours.” Adam carried an innate intensity about him, something that he felt he might need to tone down a bit seeing as though this was a school and not a boot camp. She winked at Ms. Everose as she turned to introduce him and stepped in front of the class with his arms stretched wide. 

“Like Kaylee...I mean Professor Everose said. I’m the guy in charge of making sure you lot know how to take care of yourselves in case a situation arises that can’t be resolved without a little bit of violence.” Kaylee forcefully cleared her throat at Adam as he spoke, indicating that he had said something wrong. “Well...Of course violence is never the answer but as a last resort you may be called to rely on a certain set of skills to protect yourself or others around you.” He smirked back over at Kaylee as though to ask if that was better, then he continued. “ Before we begin your training I am going to walk you through the most expensive facility that any of you have ever stepped foot in. Not only is it among the most state of the art training facilities, but it is capable of...well to be honest I’d rather show you than tell you. So if all of you would please follow me we will get this show on the road. Everyone drop your change of clothes off in the locker room ahead as we pass it and come this way”. Adam waited for all of the students to drop off their clothes and activated the password and retina scanner protected doors that stood as the entrance to their destination. As the very large metal doors slid open they revealed what appeared to be a massive room with ever single inch of it being made of steel. There didn’t seem to be much inside, just a whole lot of metallic silver, and as the students began to peek in Prof. Pierce spoke to them. “Welcome to the Danger Room.” He said with a smirk, motioning for them to go on in. 

After everyone gathered inside, relatively close to the middle of the room, a large control room of sorts became visible high up on on the middle wall of the room. No one appeared to be inside, but it was clear that the room was positioned to overlook...something from above. Adam couldn’t help but grinning as he watched the students look around, some of them in awe, at the strang room. After giving everyone a moment to look around he whistled loudly to gain their attention and backed up from them as though in preparation to address them in regards to what exactly they would be doing inside of here. 

Just as Prof. Pierce’s mouth opened for him to speak the doors closed behind everyone and a ear splitting explosion erupted from the room’s ceiling as everyone could see a huge metallic hand crashing through the roof above. The hand came straight down and struck Prof. Pierce hard, crushing him to the floor and them with a sweep launching him into the air and against the far wall. His body fell unconscious on the floor below. Professor Everose screamed out, running towards her co-worker, motioning for the students to stay back, but as the hand lift back up it took more of the ceiling with it, revealing a robotic face staring menacingly into the room. As its eyes followed the beautiful professor they begin to glow red and a beam of energy fired from them, hitting her square in the back and knocking her to the ground as well. She laid on the floor motionless as the robotic attacker turned its eyes towards the students.