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'Kayla Maple Croft.'

His eyes scanned over the files, eying the picture of the girl with the tousled brown hair, who seemed as if she had a bone to pick with the camera guy. He supposed that he shouldn't have been even slightly surprised. It'd seemed that the girl had had a record on her, mostly small marks for being disruptive in class, fighting with the teacher, getting into spats with the other students. He'd heard her name come up several times before, but the teachers most often insisted that she was nothing that they couldn't handle.

Now, he wasn't quite sure he could believe that, especially after her performance in the tournament, the headmaster certainly felt the need to talk to her himself.

"Send her in once she arrives," He had told Miss Laine, who was comfortable at the secretary desk.

The flicker of the lights announced her coming before her footsteps.

Kayla Croft came ambling through the door with her hands stuffed in her pockets, an insolent expression shadowed by the brim of her cap. The dark school blazer was left unbuttoned, her tie left hanging loosely around her neck, with old worn sneakers in place of the required black dress shoes, and underneath her pleated skirt, shorts. She couldn't help but grin as she wandered inside, looking around to drink it all in. Honestly, if anything, she was surprised this was her first time inside the Headmaster's office. After all this time, she'd figured Mr. Wright just preferred to save himself the headache and leave her for the other teachers to handle, which made it all the more surprising when she got called up.

There could be a million reasons for it, but as Kayla racked her brain, she couldn't think of what it could be. She sauntered toward one of the leather couches and plopped herself down, slouching back against the cushions and kicking her feet up on top of the mahogany trestle table. Kayla glanced at him from the corner of her eye, wondering with dull resignation if she was finally getting kicked out. If she was, this was coming way too late. Maybe he'd just forgotten about her until now. "Sup."

Nathaniel leaned back in his own chair as he noticed the lamp on his desk begin to flicker on and off seemingly randomly in front of him. As if on cue, not a few moment later, the shape of the young gifted appeared in the doorway, seemingly having no problem throwing herself in and unto the couch, putting her feet up on the table as if this were her own room - or some other uncouth place. He raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Already proving herself to be an autumn through and through, it seemed.

"Afternoon, Miss Croft." The Headmaster greeted, sitting up to get a better look at her. It was strange how non-nonchalant she was about this whole situation, he thought. Most students who were summoned to meet him were almost always nervous of them being in trouble, or curious about the area and their reason for being called. More than anything, she just seemed bored. That struck him as interesting. "Do you have any idea as to why I've called you here today?"

Any idea? She couldn't seem to go three days without pissing off some prefect or teacher without even trying. Fights, property damage, swearing, backtalk, not following the dress code, yadda yadda yadda. So many rules to follow, there wasn't any point in remembering them all. Even if this was her first real time meeting Mr. Wright, she wasn't unfamiliar with the principal's office. Seen one angry old man in a suit, seen them all.

Kayla had done millions of things that might've pissed the school off enough to send her up here for a little chat, but they'd never done anything until now. "No," she answered.

Considering her record, it was a little funny to him that she'd answer 'no' so bluntly. He didn't do much to show his mild amusement other than give off a small smile, nodding his head and closing the thick file in front of him, nodding a bit as he considered his next few questions. "How do you like it here at Beata?" He asked her after a few quiet moments, "Are you making friends? Taking care of yourself?" The questions came gently, not giving much away, just simply prodding. "Are you learning anything?"

She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Was this what he brought her up for? Smalltalk? "Sure," she told him. No friends, she'd spent the last few weeks gorging on leftover junk, and all her lessons had gone through one ear and out the other, but the Headmaster didn't care about that. It was a formality, just mindless prattle before he laid out the reason she was actually here. "It's alright here."

Better than back at home, honestly, but he didn't care about that either. What's the point of this? Kayla gave him a sidelong glance. She left her own questions unsaid. What did I do this time?

He didn't say anything for a moment, simply watching and studying her reactions. "I can tell that you're lying, Miss Croft." He said plainly, "There's no need to blow me off with these ritual answers." Nathaniel had been hoping that it wouldn't exactly be like this, where he would be the one doing all the talking and she'd just listen and throw a one answer word back carelessly. If that's how she was going to be, then it would only be a waste of time for the both of them.

"The gift mastery teachers have much to say about your talents," He mused. "And it shows as well outside the classroom: your performance in the tournament goes above the skills of most other students, the school's Easter event, and well, in your missions especially... Despite the horrible circumstances you were put in." He let out a quiet sigh. "Care to rethink those questions again?"

That took her by surprise. Kayla blinked and narrowed her eyes, sparks crackling around her head, caught somewhere between irritation and pride as he went on to lay on the compliments. After a quiet moment of contemplation, once the small shock wore off at his blatant honesty, she grinned. "What horrible circumstances?" Images flashed through her head of blood and singed metal, and a girl with a ghost's pale eyes. Her fingers wrapped around the coin in her pocket. "No. I don't have any friends. My grades are shitty in everything except science and gift mastery. Is that what you wanted to know?"

She glanced up toward the ceiling. "And I lost against your perfect honor student, didn't I?"

His golden eyes stared her down for a few moments longer, discerning exactly how she felt about everything he'd said. Certainly, she had to have known what "horrible circumstances" that he'd been talking about. Although she was still trying to 'play it cool' out on the surface, the turmoil was all to obvious to him underneath the surface. He decided not to press the matter, at least not so soon. "Miss Corvina is one of the school's strongest students." Nathaniel said, glancing out the window in thought. "She's spent years here working with the teachers, and other students, pushing herself and her gift. She's already on tract to being one of the strongest guardians as soon as her graduation."

Although Nate was certain she wouldn't appreciate him throwing praise at the one who'd beaten her in public so recently. "You do know what a Guardian is, don't you?"

Kayla's bitterness showed on her face. You didn't need Empathy to see how sour the memory of that fight was. She'd hit Hosa with scraps of metal going past the speed of sound, blown up half a street, exploded a dumpster full of flour dust right in her face, and she'd still managed to trudge through all of it just fine. The self-righteous little lady that everybody loved, so perfect and so refined, and Kayla was the second-rate bad guy once again.

"Bodyguards, aren't they? Hired muscle. Substitutes sometimes." Everybody knew what a Guardian was. Why ask?

"Essentially, yes." Nathaniel said, pushing his seat away from the desk and standing up. He walked up to the window, glancing out further outside, where he could see the pathways and the courtyard, and all the students and staff who walked through or stood around in sight. "They work for the school, are considered some of the strongest known gifteds in the North American region, and are meant to protect the school and town beside it - almost always under my direction." He paused, looking back at the young student. "They also carry out the most dangerous missions."

"To put plainly, I think your talents are being wasted." The Headmaster said, "I'm assuming that you have no real plans for your future, after you eventually graduate?"

Her smile turned wolfish as he spoke, and she raised her hand toward the ceiling, electricity flitting along the tips of her fingers. Talents being wasted, huh? Yeah, that sounded about right. Tournaments, school fights, Easter egg hunts... they were all pointless distractions. A challenge was always what she wanted. That's what had driven her to sign up for that mission to Japan in the first place.

She gave a small snort. "No, no plans." That was too obvious, wasn't it? There was nothing waiting for her past highschool. "So you want me to be your private goon, huh?" When she was little, she'd wanted to be a princess, then a fireman, then a doctor. Her mom had worked at Jack in the Box and 7/11, her dad in some unmarked warehouse moving boxes and scrap electronics around all day. "Sure, why not? I just need to ask ..."

A face flashed in her mind again, a face with crimson eyes and faded hair, with the ghost of a smile playing across her lips. The crack of a gunshot echoed in her head. Her voice dropped, and she turned her gaze fully on Nathaniel Wright.

"... who you need to protect the school from."

The Headmaster said nothing at first, not averting his gaze as she turned to look at him, memories of that mission to Japan practically etched into her sharp eyes. Nate curled his hands into a fist for a moment. It'd been a mistake allowing them to be sent there, and a miracle that every student that went had made it out alive. "You don't need to know the all the details quite yet," He said, coming over and taking a seat on the couch opposite of Kayla. "Not until you're a Guardian, or at least not before you start proving yourself trustworthy."

He paused. "There are people out there, though, who do have plans and motives of their own. And I know you've seen how dangerous they can be."

The light overhead flickered again, and a ripple of electricity went coursing down Kayla's arm. "I don't need to know? Trustworthy?" Fire and disgust tinged her words as sparks crackled around her head. Was he trying to fucking insult her right now? "I did your dirty work for you. You trusted me enough then." Her grin turned incredulous, sounding almost like she was about to burst into bitter laughter. "Do you think I'm just some little kid you can blow off? I thought we were being honest with each other now, but you won't even tell me who I killed? Who you want me to fight?"

She stood to her feet, hands curled into fists. Whips of electricity lashed out from all around her, sizzling and hissing in the air. "If you want a dog that'll just follow orders without question, then you have Corvina for that. I'm not your fucking private soldier!"

"Calm down." His gold eyes glinted as he watched her unflinchingly, even as the lashes of small lightning ran dangerously across the room. "I don't want you to fight anyone." He sighed, "Not yet anyways." Maybe this was a damned stupid idea after all, he thought to himself, already she was proving herself to be one of the most headstrong student's that he'd ever seen. It was only a passing thought still. He knew that this was for the best, at least in the long run.

"Japan was a mistake." He admitted, "Had I known what you'd all be getting into, I would've never sent you there in the first place." Nate glanced around the room for a moment before looking at her again. "If you're going to become a Guardian, then yes, you're going to be doing it my way." He said plainly. "If all you want to do is run around and blow up big insects and imaginary buildings, then be my guest and join the other students." Nate made a gesture towards the door. "If not, I suggest you sit down and listen to what I have to say."