Klaroweek Day 7: AU

Based off of a prompt from my tumblr (klarolinesbuttons): Klaus has been hired as a bounty hunter to capture Caroline.

I decided to set this in a post-apocalyptic world with a bit of a sci-fi western feel to it. Enjoy!

In which Klaus underestimates his bounty.

He had assumed this job would be easy. A simple snag and grab, maybe take him two days, tops. He'd be back collecting the reward money in no time.

Oh how wrong he had been.

Klaus felt like kicking himself not for the first time that week for underestimating this job. Or rather, the bounty herself.

Caroline Forbes seemed like an easy mark on paper, a willowy blonde with no ties to anyone, on the run from her third charge of theft, though Klaus now suspected there were many more incidents that she was just not caught doing.

He had confidently followed her trail from the last robbery, sure he would come across her in a day or two. But after five he began to worry. How was she even managing to survive out there in the barren wasteland? Klaus was a seasoned bounty hunter, raised and trained to survive in any environment, but she was just some girl. Or so he thought.

On the sixth day he caught a glimpse of her while he was passing through a town. He had chased her down, but lost track of her in the woods outside of town, cursing her as he was forced to spend another night out in the elements. He was planning on getting an early start in the morning, determined to find her trail before she could increase her lead.

And so he found himself the next day, ducked behind a boulder as he exchanged fire with the wily thief.

He had managed to catch her unawares, sending a bolt from his crossbow through her left arm before she had ducked behind a large tree. Klaus had smirked to himself, thinking he had finally caught her, and taking a small amount of satisfaction from wounding her after the chase she had led him on.

But once again he underestimated Caroline. As he approached the tree he was met with laser fire from a blaster, causing him to quickly dive behind a boulder 20 or so feet away from her tree.

"You asshole!" she yelled at him as she opened fire, scowling at him before she ducked back when he loosed another shot at her.

Where had the girl even come across a blaster? Those were rarely seen outside the militarized zones, and were very hard to come by through legal channels, which was why Klaus himself had never owned one. A fact he now regretted very much as the red blasts of energy slowly chipped away at his cover every time he raised his head within her line of sight.

"Why don't you make this easy on both of us and give up now, sweetheart?" he called, trying to buy himself some time as he thought of a plan to end this standoff.

He could hear her snort from his place behind the rock.

"As if I would go anywhere with you willingly!" she yelled, enraged by his audacity. "I'd never turn myself in to a filthy bounty hunter like yourself, Mikaelson," she spat.

Klaus was intrigued. She must have spotted him tailing her at some point and figured out his identity. Or at least his family's identity. He was oddly impressed.

"You can call me Klaus, love," he called, smirking when he heard a low cry of 'crap' in response.

Caroline could just smack herself. Klaus Mikaelson?! Out of everyone in that infamous bounty hunting family, he was undeniably the worst to have after you. He had the best record of capture, nearly perfect.

Why oh why couldn't it have been Finn or Rebekah? she wondered. It was well known that Finn would much prefer to be at home with his wife and children than off hunting fugitives, he probably would have given up on her by now. And Rebekah was easily distracted by a handsome face, Caroline was sure she could have ditched her in one of the larger towns fairly easily.

Even Elijah would have been preferable. He was well known for being the most honorable of the siblings, always bringing in a bounty alive. Well, except for the times he went against his word, which were apparently fairly high in number for someone who claimed to hold honor in such high regard. At least she would have had a chance to reason with him.

Then again, Caroline was also glad that it wasn't Kol hiding behind that rock. He was just as capable as the rest of his family, yet he had the lowest success rate after Finn. Not for lack of effort or lack of actually finding the fugitives, of course. No, it was because of the lack of identifiable remains left behind. That boy had a serious issue with pyromania, and Caroline was keen to not gain any firsthand experience in that area.

She fired a few more shots towards her pursuer before holding her blaster between her thighs, freeing her hands. She tore a strip off the bottom of her shirt, tying it around the wound in her arm after she pulled out the bolt, tossing it to the ground with gritted teeth. She would pay him back for that.

As she reached down to grab her gun, she was suddenly tackled to the ground, the wind knocked out of her momentarily. When she looked up her eyes widened as she took in the face of Klaus, annoying smirk on his lips as he attempted to pin her down.

"Looks like we'll be doing this the hard way, sweetheart," he said, voice low.

Caroline glared at him. "I guess so," she ground out before she kicked up with her leg, kneeing him between his.

At his gasp of surprise she rolled them over, pining his arms above his head and curling her legs under his, squeezing her legs around his in warning.

She looked down at him as she caught her breath, her arm aching from the wound. She idly thought he was quite handsome for a bounty hunter, the frown on his face making her smile.

"What's the matter, Klaus? Not used to being on the losing end of a fight?" she teased, pleased when he growled at her.

"We'll see about that," he declared, refusing to admit defeat to the rather beautiful blonde sitting on top of him, fully aware of their current position. He shook his head slightly to prevent his mind from wandering too far in that direction. "Just what exactly do you plan to do now, Caroline?"

The way he said her name made her shiver for some reason. She glared down at him. "I plan on going on my way," she stated matter-of-factly. "Now what do I have to do to get you to let that happen?" she asked him, tightening her grip around his wrists threateningly.

He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before he replied. "You'll have to kill me," he said nonchalantly, as if it was no big thing.

"What?" Caroline squeaked out, surprised by his answer. She had expected him to demand a bribe or some kind of favor. Or she would just tie him up and leave him to fend for himself. But she could tell by the look on his face that wasn't an option. If she left him alive he would come after her again until he caught her or one of them was dead. She shuddered at the thought. "Why can't you just forget about me?" she asked, making one last attempt to sway him her way.

"I am sworn to bring you in," he said, as if it was obvious. "And I always keep my word."

"Always?" she questioned, quirking an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Always."

Caroline looked at him thoughtfully, weighing her options. She had never killed anyone before, could she bring herself to now? There had to be another way.

"Why don't you just let me bring you in, sweetheart," he said, interrupting her thoughts. "They'll probably go easy on you, seeing as you're so lovely."

She snorted at that, although something told her he wasn't being completely sarcastic. "Well, considering I didn't do anything wrong, I'd rather not get sent to the prison camps," she informed him, her tone bitter.

Klaus looked up at her curiously. "Last I checked, robbing three different people was a crime, love."

"Not if they're the ones who stole the stuff in the first place," she ground out, glaring at the memory. "Look, you're not going to believe me anyway, but I was just returning those items to their rightful owners. Just because someone is rich doesn't give them the right to take from others," Caroline said passionately.

He regarded her with new eyes now, wondering if she was telling the truth. The 'victims' who had accused her were all fairly shady people, he knew, perhaps she wasn't lying to him.

"Anyway, I think I'll be going now," she declared, cautiously beginning to shift her body, reaching for a close by rock to knock him out.

That was the opportunity he had been waiting for. Klaus kicked out his legs when he felt her move, knocking her off balance and allowing him to flip them over so he was once again hovering over her, pressing his hands down against her shoulders as he straddled her. She wasn't getting away from him now.

"You were saying?" he smirked, enjoying her glare. He liked her angry, he decided, the flush of pink across her cheeks really brought out the blue in her eyes.

"I was saying," she growled, "that I'll be leaving now!"

Klaus howled in pain as she punctuated 'leaving' by stabbing him in his left arm with the crossbow bolt she had previously dug out of her own. He was forced to roll off of her when she followed the move up with another well placed knee to his groin. He really needed to start wearing protective gear down there.

"Payback's a bitch," she mocked, standing over him and dusting herself off.

Klaus glared up at her through eyes narrowed in pain, clutching his arm. When he moved to pull the bolt out Caroline raised the blaster she had also managed to retrieve at him.

"Ah, ah, ah, none of that now," she chided, letting the blaster hum as it charged. "Now, I'm not a killer, so you're gonna leave that in and stay on the ground like a good boy until I'm gone. Or else I'll shoot you somewhere non-fatal," she said in a no-nonsense voice. "And I'll make it painful," she assured him, toeing him in his injured arm, drawing a growl from the bounty hunter.

Caroline stood watching him for a moment, making sure he would comply with her rules before her eyes shifted to the ground next to him.

"And I'll be taking this with me," she added as she scooped up his crossbow. "Don't worry," she assured him when he made a noise of indignation, "I'm only borrowing it, not stealing. You can have it back the next time you run into me. If you ask nicely," she smirked, slinging it across her back.

Klaus couldn't help but return her smirk, knowing as well as she did that he would find her again. "'Til next time, sweetheart."

"'Til next time, Klaus," she echoed, backing away from him deeper into the woods, blaster fixed on a rather important body part.

As she disappeared between the trees he felt himself grinning despite the pain. Oh, yes, he would most definitely see her again. And he couldn't wait.

So that's the last one! Hope you all enjoyed my Klaroweek contributions :)