EDITTED AND REPOSTED. This used to be in chapters, but I literally editted almost EVERYTHING changed it to a one-shot... if you read the old one, you probably wouldn't even realise this one-shot used to be that :P

- Lollie


BANG, BANG, BANG! Many gunshots filled the air as Ben, Abigail and Riley slid their way into an elevator right as the doors closed.

"I'll get you for this, Gates!" Ians voice rang through the wall as the elevator slowly moved upwards.

"That was a close one…" Ben wiped his forehead with his wrist.

"I can't believe you stole the Decleration!" Abigail wheezed, not entirely sure what was going on.

"Here we go…" Riley predicted, rolling his eyes.

Abigail's head snapped toward Riley. "Here we go?" She repeated, glaring at him. If looks could kill, he would, well… he wouldn't be alive, that's for sure. "Here we go? Are you serious? I have a right to be upset! You stole the Declaration of Independence, for goodness sakes! I should turn you in, I should turn you in right now!"

She put her hand in her handbag, digging through her belongings and trying to find her phone. Ben and Riley just looked at each other, not really surprised, but not worried either. They were just mutually uninterested.

Just when the palm of her hand touched the phone, the elevator shook rapidly and as the creeks of metal were heard. The shaking stopped after a few seconds, but so did the elevator.

The lights flickered, and then shut off completely.

"Uh oh…" Riley muttered. He pushed the ground button. Nothing happened. He pushed it again, and again, and again; but still, nothing happened. All that was heard was Riley swearing indistinctly and the faint sound of beeping from the buttons being pushed.

Ben bent down to rummage through his bag. He found a flashlight, and put it in the middle of the elevator, shining it against the roof. It instantly lit up the whole room.

"This is great. This is just great!" Abigail flailed her arms in the air wildly. "I'm stuck in an elevator with two good-for-nothing lunatics who so happened to decide to run against the law, and steal the Declaration of freaking Independence!" The tone of her voice grew louder as her rant continued.

"Hello?" Riley raised his arms, looking highly distraut. "Did anyone bother to remember that I have claustrophobia? I'm not so keen at plunging to my death at the age of 26! My muscles are getting weaker… my breathing is getting unnatural…" His face went pale. "I think I might be dying…"

"Both of you, stop over-reacting!" Ben yelled. This was probably the first time both of them had heard Ben yell. They snapped their heads towards him, letting him finish. "I have no reception, I'm holding the Declaration of Independence in my hands and I have a hunch that someone will be fishing us out soon. We need to be more worried about going to jail then fretting over being here. In my opinion, being in an elevator is much more satisfying than being in a jail cell. If you want to keep your criminal record clean, I suggest you help!" He narrowed his eyes. Riley knew he was freaking out inside, as was he.

Suddenly, a light bulb (metaphorically) flickered above his head. "Hmm…" Riley pondered. "If you take the declaration out of the frame…"

He was interrupted by Abigail, who shockingly shouted, "No, no, NO! I will not let you destroy the most precious piece of American history just for your criminal records!" She said your as if she was talking about a squashed bug, not caring at all.

"Don't forget, this is for your record too." Ben told her. He quite enjoyed watching the blood drain from her face as she realised, what would the FBI think of me if I told them I was with the guys who attempted to steal the Declaration? No, they didn't attempt, they succeeded.

"Feel free to let me finish my sentence?" Riley tapped his foot on the ground a few times, it was obvious he was quite impatient.

Abigail and Ben glanced at each other, then turned to look at Riley, nodding.

"If we take the Declaration out of the frame and roll it up, it could pass as one of the souvenirs…"

"What do we do with the frame then?" Ben asked, suprisingly keen on the young boy's idea.

"Hmm…" Riley lifted his head up and stared at the wall. "Ah ha!" He grinned, pointing to the roof.

The other two followed his gaze to a small hatch in the roof. "I'll climb through the hatch, then… erm…" He thought about it for a second.

"No, that wouldn't work… actually," Riley's facial expression changed almost every second as he put his mind at work. Ben knew he would be nothing without this intelligent kid in his life. "We'll just throw the frame down the shaft." He dropped his arms to his hips and looked back at Ben, waiting for a response.

"Absolutely not!" Abigail declined.

"Actually…" Ben beamed at Riley, "That could possibly work…"


"Actually," Riley gulped, lifting his foot over the roof of the elevator, "I'm not sure if this is a good idea… It's really high, and…"

"Riley!" Ben struggled to hold his best friend on his shoulders, "Hurry up, you're breaking my back…"

Riley managed to climb up on the roof, moving the door of the hatch with his foot so he could turn around.

"Did I mention I have acrophobia?"

"Riley!" Abigail warned.

"Right, right. Ben pass me the frame."

Ben held the frame over his head, and Riley grabbed it off him as fast as he could, and threw it over the edge of the elevator.

"Done!" He grinned his cheesy grin, then carefully put his leg down the hatch of the elevator roof. He paused; his leg still hanging. "Uhh… Ben?"

"Yeah?"

"Did I ever tell you that I'm arachnophobic too? There's this giant, hairy, spider staring at me from the wall up here…"

Ben rolled his eyes. "Riley! Hurry up!"

Riley wouldn't budge. "It's looking into my soul, Ben…OH GOD, IT'S MOVING!" Riley almost fell down. He was trying desperately to get back, but he was too fast for Ben, and he kicked him in the face, knocking him over. "IT'S MOVING TOWARD ME! AHHHH!"

Riley was gripping onto the top of the elevator, his legs waving around, dangling in the middle of the lift.

Ben helped him, pulling him down to the ground, and Riley landed on his feet with a thump.
"Thanks," Riley grinned.

"I cannot, cannot," Abigail repeated, "believe you just did that! Do you have any idea how expensive that frame is? It's gold-lined!"

Rileys head snapped toward Abigail, his eyes widening every second. "Wait, what's this about gold?"

"Argh!" Abigail sat down against the elevator wall and out her head in her hands. She finally lifted her head up, only to bang it repeatitively against the wall.

"What," She banged her head against the wall again, "now?" She hit the wall harder with her head, receiving a glare from Ben. "Ow!" Abigail rubbed her head.

"We play truth or dare?" Riley suggested, beaming like a child who just got given a lollipop; but his smile disappeared once he saw the looks on Ben and Abigail's faces, "Or not…"

"We can't really play truth or dare in an elevator… What about just truths?" Ben suggested.
"I knew you'd warm up to the idea!" Riley joked.
"You're both so childish," Abigail rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"This is so unlike me, but…Truth or Dare?" Ben asked Riley.
"Well," Abigail interrupted, "We can't really play dare whilst stuck in an elevator…"
"Or, can we?" Riley winked.

"No, we can't."

Riley sighed and drooped his shoulders. "Fine," he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms like a child having a tantrum, "What else?"

"Would you rather?" Ben asked.

"Would you rather?" Riley repeated, "What's that?"

"I'll demonstrate. Abigail, would you rather cake or cookies?"
"Cookies?" She raised her eyebrow, thinking, what have I done to deserve this…

"Ohhh!" Riley grinned, "I get it, I get it! Ben, would you rather find the Templar Treasure or get one trillion dollars."

"The Templar Treasure? What's that?" Abigail asked.

Ben, ignoring Abigail's stupid question, told him, "the Templar Treasure is probably worth one trillion dollars, you know."

"Answer the question, Ben." Riley ordered.

"Or you could answer mine instead of ignoring me completely!" Abigail groaned, and then asked herself. "Why do I even bother?"

They both turned toward her.
"How could you not know the Templar Treasure?" Ben raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Riley agreed, "Aren't you supposed to be a historian, or something?"

Abigail looked at Ben, then Riley, then back again. "You know what?" She sat down in the corner. "I'm out. I'm just going to relax and try not to bother you lunatics until help arrives."

"Would you rather…" Ben pondered. "cats or dogs?"

"Uhm…" Riley bit his lip. "I'm sort of allergic to cats, but…"

"Sort of allergic?" Abigail raised an eyebrow.

Riley shot a glare at her, and she put her hands up in mock defense. He turned toward Ben, finishing his sentence. "But I like cats better. They're so fluffy and furry!"

"Okay then." Ben looked at him weird.

"This is stupid." Abigail complained. "Why don't we just…" She paused, her eyes widening.

"What?" Ben and Riley asked at the same time.

"Theres… theres… an emergency button!"Abigail pointed to the level buttons. Sure enough, there was a big red button labled 'PRESS FOR HELP'. How did they not see that sooner?

"Hello?" A voice came out of the speaker just as quick as Ben pushed the button.

"Hello?" Riley beamed, jumping to the speaker box. "HELLO! THIS IS RILEY POOLE. MY FRIENDS AND I ARE STUCK IN THIS ELEVATOR, AND…"

"Jeez, you don't have to shout, bro. I'm right here." The man said. "Don't worry your pretty little head; help in on the way!"

Riley did a little fist pump and victory dance. In less than a few minutes, help surely arrived.

They managed to open the elevator doors with a crowbar (no idea how that worked, but it did. Those legends!).

"Thank you, thank you so much!" Riley hugged one of the men, and he just looked like he didn't want to be there. He looked like he wanted to go home, but Ben didn't blame him. He wanted to go home to, and forget about everything.

"Uhm, it's fine, kid." He told him, brushing him off. And walking away. The other man put a large sticker on the elevator doors that read 'OUT OF ORDER'.

Ben just smiled, shaking his head at his luck.

He had no idea where Ian was or what he was planning then, but he didn't care. He had the declaration, and his faithful, geeky-but-lovable friend, Riley. And that was all that mattered.