Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or it's characters. If I did, The Originals would never have happened, Kol would be alive and happily causing mayhem somewhere, and Klaus and Caroline would be travelling the world and sexing it up.
0700 hours, somewhere over the North Atlantic Ocean
"Are we going to regret this?" She asks Katherine quietly as they sit in the belly of the A400M turboprop aircraft that Elijah is currently piloting.
Katherine looks up from the map that she's currently committing to memory, an intricate layout of the roads surrounding Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
True to Kol's word, it would seem that the first part of their operation involved a jailbreak, unsanctioned and totally illegal, given that the Hungarian authorities had no clue what their intentions were beyond the fact that Elijah wanted to use their airspace and an old abandoned airfield for some 'refuelling'.
This meant that they were immediately on a time limit, anything longer than three hours would most probably draw the attention of Hungarian special forces and the army, two factions that she had absolutely no desire to come face to face with anytime soon, given their reputation.
"Honestly? I have no idea." Katherine finally replies, returning her gaze to the countless maps strewn across the floor between them. "Here. Make sure you've got the layout of the jail memorised in case plans change."
She glances around the belly of the plane, the thrumming of the propellors keeping them aloft a somewhat soothing sound all things given.
Kol had disappeared into his workshop hours before, no doubt coming up with the right combination of C4 and other explosives that would do the trick for this particular mission.
Klaus wasn't even on the plane, having hitched a ride out to Budapest the previous night, a military transport agreeing to drop him off on the way to their ultimate destination of the American base out in Germany.
He had some groundwork to lay before they hit the ground, and although she's kind of freaked out by the fact that they hadn't had contact with Klaus for over 12 hours, she does her best to put him out of her mind.
Picking up the map, she squints at the layout of Budapesti fegyhaz es borton, or roughly translated, Budapest Prison.
It was a lot simpler than she thought it would be, the prison itself built in a large square surrounding a massive courtyard, each of the four sides being it's own wing. It was two levels of cells, but she didn't anticipate that she'd have to spend anytime in there if all went to plan.
Their mission was relatively simple. Kai Parker was an MI6 operative who had been caught operating illegally on Hungarian soil. While he was awaiting extradition to Britain to be reprimanded by his superiors, he was being held in Budapest Prison in the wing assigned to political prisoners.
Kai had been languishing for nigh on 3 months now, and although he was getting extradited anyway, they were merely speeding up the process, as Kol would put it.
Either way, heads were going to roll once the Hungarians cottoned onto the fact that MI6 had busted out one of their own, and she certainly didn't envy the negotiations and the smoothing over of ruffled feathers that the director of MI6 would have to undertake after this.
But apparently these orders had come from the very top, so she tried not to let it get to her too much.
"Hey." Katherine interrupts her train of thoughts, her tone gentle. "Are you alright? I know this is a bit crazy, even by our mission standards."
Between the two of them, they'd done plenty of unsanctioned missions on foreign soil, operating efficiently as a partnership that hadn't gone unnoticed by Alaric and the rest of the intelligence community back home.
She wasn't stupid, she knew the odds of her making it out of this alive were ten times higher when Katherine was with her to watch her six.
But running with the Mikaelson siblings was something else entirely, because it was pretty much unheard of.
"Yeah. I'll be fine." She replies with a quick smile for Katherine's benefit.
Katherine looks very much like she doesn't believe a word of it, but to her relief chooses to say nothing more, instead bends her dark head of curls over the map once again.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" She hisses towards Katherine, who gives her an amused smile before pulling another map towards her.
"Caroline, this is Klaus Mikaelson that we're talking about. His sense of self preservation is remarkable all things considered. He'll be fine, stop worrying."
"Alright, ladies!" Kol Mikaelson comes bursting out of his work shop, a manic look in his eyes as he skids to a stop in front of them, folding down onto the floor and crossing his legs.
Katherine, realising that Kol is holding incendiary devices, sweeps the pile of maps towards her hurriedly, stacking them into a pile before dropping them on the nearest flat surface.
Caroline scrambles backwards a little as Kol dumps the pile where the maps had been, looking at both of them expectantly, a little taken aback by their reactions.
"Oh god, nothing is armed. Please both of you relax. I'm not that stupid." Kol begins quickly.
"Could've fooled me." Katherine mutters under her breath, just loud enough for her to hear. She cracks a smile as Kol glances between them both before clearing his throat.
"Right, well. I've been tinkering around in the workshop for a bit, and I've come up with some stuff that will possibly help with our little jailbreak side mission."
"If it's going to level a street block then it's a no go. We have our orders Kol."
Kol just sighs, as if Katherine had done him a great disappointment.
"It's like you think I have no sense of finesse or subtlety at all."
"You're a Mikaelson. Finesse isn't exactly your style."
"I'll concede that point." Kol replies with a wink. "But as you'll very quickly learn Katerina, I prefer a much more subtle means of gettng the job done than my brothers do."
"Call me Katerina again and I'll tear you limb from limb." Katherine doesn't look at Kol when she delivers the threat, but judging by the full body flinch that Kol does she doesn't need to.
"God, what is it with everyone wanting to kill me?"
"Well it does sort of come with the territory, when you think about it." Caroline points out as Kol nods thoughtfully, as if in agreement.
"We're getting off topic." Katherine snaps, bringing them both back down to Earth. "What have you got for us?"
"For you, a couple of hand grenades and a stun gun. Sorry, not much I can rustle up on short notice." Kol replies with a shrug, pushing what is obviously Katherine's pile towards her.
"Thanks." Katherine responds dryly, holding one of the hand grenades up to inspect it.
"For you, I have this." Kol pronounces with relish, holding out what looks to be a silver pen.
"It's a pen." She remarks after a moment, Kol looking at her expectantly.
He slumps with a sigh.
"It's not just a pen, as cleverly disguised as it is. The pointy end turns into the equivalent of a blowtorch, can burn through most walls if given enough time. Just use it like you normally would if you need to bust out of anywhere."
She eyes off the clicker, thumb hovering over it as Kol's eyes widen.
"I wouldn't do that, unless you like the idea of being blown out of the sky."
She almost drops the pen at those words, Kol lunging towards her suddenly.
"Be careful with it." He admonishes, handing her back the pen. "Click three times and throw it as far away from you as you can. It has a delayed ten second timer before it goes boom. You'll want to be as far away from it as you can by then."
"You made this in the time that we've left America?" She asks, a little impressed as Katherine eyes off the pen with some trepidation.
Kol looks a little smug, but simply nods to confirm her question.
"T minus ten minutes until we land. Please make sure that you're buckled in Kol, we don't want a repeat of what happened last time." Elijah's voice is crisp and oh so English over the plane's intercom, and Katherine muffles a laugh at his words.
Together they stow away any loose items, Kol glowering away from where he's buckled himself into his seat.
"Honestly, it's like they think that I can't function on my own. God I wish I had a stiff drink right about now."
There's a term that's been used by the military since WWII to describe a situation that is totally out of control and beyond repair.
FUBAR, otherwise known as Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition has been lovingly thrown around by armed forces all over the world for decades now.
FUBAR was an accurate description of just how well their jailbreak was going.
What she thought would be an easy walk in, walk out jailbreak has now turned into a miles long literal run for her life through Budapest's subterranean tunnels, Klaus and the British MI6 agent, Kai Parker barking out instructions to each other.
And of course, somehow the army had gotten involved. And they were apparently more than prepared to use deadly force if it meant bringing Kai Parker back under the roof of the Budapest Prison.
Getting in had been the easy part. Security was lax for the most part, prison guards armed only with a taser and a revolver, not on the lookout for anyone that was coming to bust out one of their political prisoners.
After all, how often was there actually an emergency? With her blonde hair pulled back into a bun and the glasses she looked innocent enough, small enough to not draw any unwarranted attention to herself as she scrawled the signature of one of her many aliases that she used when operating out in the field.
She'd already clocked the cctv set up, determined that it wasn't sophisticated enough to do anything like iris scanning. Even if it did, the likelihood of her showing up as anyone other than her alias, Clarice Masterton, was slim.
Waiting in the visiting area, she cast her mind over what she knew of Kai Parker, which admittedy wasn't a whole lot. Elijah and Klaus for that matter had been surprisingly tight lipped about their colleague, and Kol, actually displaying some tact for once in his life, had followed his brother's lead.
Katherine hadn't pushed, which was enough for her. If the older woman was willing to go all in on this one, then she would go along for the ride as well.
The next part of their plan had gone just fine as well. Klaus, who had been in Budapest for the past 24 hours, had been a busy man.
Not only had he tracked down one of the many prison guards who rotated through Budapest prison, he'd had enough time to incapacitate one of the more unfamiliar faces, stealing his identity and replacing it with his own.
She didn't like the fact that their entire plan was riding on the fact that Klaus was essentially posing as one of the guards, who any of the others may have already worked with. But they were already running on borrowed time, and they couldn't just charge in guns blazing.
They worked well as a team, she knocking out the remaining guard, he unlocking but not removing the handcuffs around Kai's wrists. They still needed to get out the front door of the prison, which was going to be the riskiest part of their plan.
Of course, that's when everything went to hell in a hand basket.
The guards on the front desk, apparently tipped off by something in thier demeanour, were strangely alert when they stepped out of the room.
Klaus moved forward first, placing a hand on Kai's shoulder and propelling him forward towards the two guards. She fell into step behind Klaus, eyes sweeping the room, determining if there were going to be any further threats.
"Prisoner transfer." Klaus begins gruffly as the two guards exchange glances. "Orders from the warden."
He takes a piece of paper from his pocket, holding it up in front of him. The two guards lean forward to peer at the writing on the paper, and what happens next is nothing short of stunning.
Kai, as if reading Klaus' mind, jerks his wrists apart, cuffs falling to the floor as he launches himself at the closest guard.
Even weakened and no doubt exhausted from his time spent in less than savoury quarters for the past couple of months, Kai Parker is still deadly, still a force to be reckoned with.
Klaus takes care of the other guard with a simple elbow to the nose, the guard crumpling where he stands, probably still alive but with a very broken nose.
Klaus glances distastefully down at his blood splattered sleeve as a loud, klaxon like wail begins to echo all around them.
Kai tilts his head towards her, motioning for her to follow them.
"Time to go."
They don't waste any further time, the pounding echo of footsteps racing towards them as the guards respond to the breach in security. No doubt a panic button has also been triggered down at the local precinct, police probably already on their way to assist in any way that they can.
The two guards at the gate have no idea what's going on despite the chaos unfolding around them, and it's easy enough to knock both of them out and gain access to the gate, Katherine revving an SUV on the other side.
They pile into the car, Katherine not bothering to wait for them to buckle up before she's peeling away from the prison, plunging them into the labyrinth that is Budapest.
It's all twists and turns, and it doesn't take long before they have three police cars tailing them, lights flashing and sirens up at full volume.
Katherine doesn't bother with conventional road rules, weaving around cars, always staying on the correct side of the road. The job of a field agent is an occupational hazard, but that doesn't mean that they don't try and minimise the carnage they often leave in their wake when they can.
Klaus is all heat as he presses into the side of her body, reaching around her to buckle her into the car lest they hit a kerb and they all go flying.
Her eyes flick towards his at the surprising gesture, but he's already learning forward as much as he can in his seat, murmuring under his breath at Katherine, who nods and wrenches on the wheel, hard.
They lose one of the police cars in a series of tight turns, the others forced to hang back and go single file through the narrow streets.
Amazingly, through all of this her phone still manages to ring, and it's with some surprise that she fishes out her iPhone and swipes her thumb across the screen to accept the call.
"Hello!" She yells into the receiver, Katherine leaning down on the horn to warn other motorists of their coming.
"Well that certainly sounds like fun." Kol's voice echoes down the line, decisively British and sounding the very image of relaxed, which does nothing to improve her already frenetic mood.
"Kol, I really do not have time to listen to you be a little bastard about whatever the hell you're about to tell me." She replies furiously, clutching the phone to her ear and holding on for dear life as Katherine throws them around another tight corner.
"There's no need to be rude." Kol replies with a sniff. "And you're really not going to like what I'm about to say next then, darling."
She sits in stony silence as Kol takes a breath.
"You're going to have to delay your arrival at the airfield by an hour or so." He says offhandedly, like it's not a massive fucking deal that they somehow need to shake off their tail of police and army personnel. "Elijah is dealing with some members of the Bulgarian armed forces presently."
"What?!" She shrieks, drawing the attention of everyone in the vehicle save Katherine, who just maintains a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel as they crash through a fruit stand, careening through a marketplace as civilians dive out of the way of their vehicle.
Klaus rips the phone out of her hand quite rudely she might add, before hitting the button to put the phone on speaker.
"Oh it's nothing too drastic just yet, nothing that Elijah and I can't handle. They're starting to get curious though, poking around the plane and demanding to see our flight manifesto, wondering why we need to refuel here of all places."
"Deal with it. We can't delay on this end." Klaus replies curtly, glancing in the rear view mirror. "We're going to have to ditch this vehicle but then we're coming straight for you. Be ready."
Klaus hangs up, tossing the phone back to her as Katherine continues to drive.
"Stay down." Katherine hisses, waving her and Kai towards the cover of the alley as Klaus jimmies the lock on a little Fiat sedan.
It's inconspicuous, designed to not draw attention. She feels sorry for the poor soul that's going to exit their apartment tomorrow to find their car gone, but she tries not to dwell on it too much. Collateral damage is a common side effect of working in the field, and she's long since learnt to not feel bad about it.
She's a little impressed by the speed in which Klaus manages to break into the car, hot-wiring it and revving the accelerator a few times before waving them all towards the vehicle.
The sound of a siren has them all ducking in and closing the doors, Klaus drawing away from the kerb at a normal speed. The last thing they need at the moment is a surprise traffic stop because they're exceeding the limits or driving erratically.
They'd managed to shake their pursuers thanks to Katherine's scarily effective driving, and the last hour had been spent sloshing through the subterranean water tunnels beneath the grounds of the city, while the police and the army had launched a city wide sweep to find them.
They'd popped up on the opposite side of the city, well away from Budapest prison where the streets were quiet, the avenues shaded by delicate greenery. It was like another world, and under any other circumstances she would stop and admire the delicate beauty of the city around them.
All the same, the feeling of wet socks was not a welcome sensation, and she can't help but wince as she wriggles her toes in her boots.
Katherine, having long since memorised their route out of the city, manages to somehow avoid all the road blocks that the police have put up, navigating her way through a slightly circuitous route towards the airfield where they all hoped that Elijah would be waiting, preferably without an armed guard in the form of the Bulgarian army.
Kol Mikaelson is sitting on top of a pile of unconscious bodies when they draw up to the airfield. He looks the very picture of relaxed, a faint bruise just blooming on his cheekbone as he reclines, elbowing one of the soldiers in the temple who was just beginning to stir.
"Unbelievable." She mutters under her breath as they exit the Fiat, Elijah appearing at the bottom of the loading ramp, casting an exasperated look at his younger brother with a sigh.
"Right on time, as usual Niklaus." Elijah begins, fiddling with the cuffs of his ever present suit, dress shoes still impossibly shiny.
Despite the fact that Elijah and Kol had just taken down a unit of crack army troops, there's not a hair out of place on Elijah's head, Kol getting up and loping towards the aircraft.
"Looks like you had a chance to have a bit of fun here as well, brother." Klaus replies, steering Kai towards the aircraft, the rest of them following along.
Elijah waves a hand dismissively.
"A minor inconvenience. Nothing that Kol and I couldn't handle, given enough time."
Elijah slams his fist over a button once they're all in the belly of the aircraft, sealing the door behind them as he strides towards the cockpit.
"Still some way to go I think, before we're out of their airspace. Katerina, would you mind assisting?"
Katherine, no doubt exhausted from their mad dash through the city, doesn't protest, simply follows Elijah up the ladder and into the front of the plane.
The rest of them are left to their own devices, and she doesn't hesitate to find the nearest jump seat and deposit herself into it.
She rests her head against the wall of the plane behind her, and within seconds, she's asleep.
When she finally stirs, the belly of the aircraft is dimmed, lit only by a faint overhead light.
She's alone, Katherine and Elijah still up the front flying the plane, Kol and Kai probably having no doubt gone to seek out more comfortable sleeping quarters.
It takes her a moment to realise that it's Klaus sitting opposite her, avoiding her gaze and cleaning his weapon slowly, methodically.
It's the first time that the two of them have been alone since their shared dance at Damon Salvatore's fundraiser, the chemistry still sizzling between them even as she'd tried to deny any lingering feelings for him.
She keeps her eyes slitted, not showing that she's fully awake yet as she watches him.
His brow is furrowed, frowning in concentration as he finishes cleaning the barrel of his gun, dropping the rag onto the jump seat next to him and very suddenly turning a knowing gaze on her.
Busted, she sighs, stretching her arms above her head and opening her eyes fully.
"Welcome back." Klaus remarks quietly, sitting still and continuing to stare at her as she tilts her chin defiantly, meeting his gaze evenly.
"Where are we?" She questions, because honestly she has no idea how long she's been out for. Two minutes could have passed, or two hours.
"Somewhere over Western Europe I presume." Klaus replies, dismantling his weapon within seconds, hands moving on autopilot. "But we are out of Bulgarian airspace, for what it's worth."
She lets out a sigh of relief at this, because every country operated by the same, strict set of international laws.
While they already had their flight path approved ahead of time, skirting most of the European airspaces that would have warranted extra permission, the Bulgarian army would have no doubt not had theirs cleared fast enough in order to pursue them.
Couple that with whatever cloaking technology the aircraft they were flying in had up it's arsenal, they were probably invisible on most radars, their presence only known due to the noise of the engines.
It's strange, sitting here with him, remannts of their weekend all those years ago still lingering between them, the unspoken elephant in the room.
Klaus glances warily at her for a moment before taking a breath.
"Is there a particular reason why you are opposed to discussing what happened between us?" He begins hesitantly, unsure just how far he should push.
"Klaus, what happened between us is ancient history." She replies immediately. "We had a weekend together, we didn't know each other's identities. I'm over it."
Klaus rubs his hand through his hair thoughtfully for a moment before resting his elbows on his knees.
"Now why don't I believe you?" He remarks lightly, the ghost of a smirk curling at the edge of his lips. "You're an awful liar, considering your occupation. Might want to work on that."
She digs her fingernails into the palms of her hand, anything to stop herself from taking a swing at him, if only to wipe the infuriating look off his face.
"Do you really think I'd sleep with you again, given all the horrible shit that you've done? That you've done willingly? And don't just use the you were 'following orders' bullshit. Sometimes horrible people do horrible things." She sneers at him, twisting the metaphorical knife in a little deeper.
A shadow passes across Klaus' face, expression flipping from arrogant to murderous in what seems like split seconds.
He stands, striding across the small space that separates them, slamming a hand into the wall next to her head as he bends down, not afraid to meet her eyes.
She can't help but shrink back into her seat, a little intimidated by his proximity, swallowing audibly.
"Yes, I am a horrible person, and I have done horrible things, sweetheart." Klaus breathes into her ear as she sits frozen in her jump seat, waiting to see what he'd do next.
He trails a single finger down the column of her throat, catching on the collar of her shirt for a moment as he tugs at the material.
Her heart is racing in her chest as she turns her head slightly to face him, his dark gaze meeting hers.
"I find it somewhat amusing, that you call me an awful person. I suppose then, you've forgotten what happened in Fallujah." Klaus continues quietly, pausing for her reaction before pushing away from the wall, turning on his heel and letting the darkness of the plane swallow him up.
She slumps back into the wall, sucking in a deep breath of air, trying to calm her racing heart as the plane vibrates around her.
It takes a moment for her to realise that her hands are shaking.
AN: And here's Chapter 4!
This one was actually written, but then I decided that I hated it and finished rewriting it today. I like this version a lot better.
Here we have our long awaited jail break, and the introduction of Kai Parker into the fold. This is the first time that I've written Kai in one of my stories, so bear with me as I try and get a grasp on his character.
Caroline and Klaus argue. I really wanted to convey Caroline's confusion with her feelings towards Klaus here. She does what most people tend to do when confronted with something they're not ready to deal with- she lashes out.
We will find out next chapter exactly what happened in Fallujah, Iraq. It involves a mission gone wrong for Caroline and will reveal a bit more about her character.
I will try my best to also work on the next chapter of Fever Pitch this weekend.
See you on the other side, and don't forget to review!