A/N: If you know any of my stories, you'll know that I never, ever update this quickly, but you people inspired me (seriously, like, 15 reviews for a first chapter is awesomely huge. Keep it up) so I think everyone deserves another chapter. Plus, I really do like Riley. Oh, I don't own it. Sorry.

"Riley!" Ben almost yelled into the phone as soon as someone picked up. "Riley, this is huge...like, stealing the Declaration huge! I ―" his mini tirade was cut off by Riley's answering machine. Ben held the phone away from his face and studied it for a second. If Riley didn't have his cell phone on him, then the world was definitely going to end tomorrow.

He stared at his computer, scrolling through the hundreds of characters he had typed in for a search. He had taken some of the symbols that had turned up repeatedly on different pieces of the treasure and searched his library (and the World Wide Web) for their meaning. He had it.

The treasure that they had found had been the treasure of the Mason's but (and it was a big but) it wasn't the whole treasure. If the translation of these characters was right, then the treasure that the Knights had ― the real, honest-to-goodness King Arthur Knights of the Round Table ― was somewhere else. Hidden by clues.

And Ben was a sucker for clues.

Ben began to punch in Riley's number again when Abigail Chase came into the room. He looked up at her, then at his watch, and groaned. "It was tonight? Abi, I swear I forgot. It's just this treasure ―"

"Out." The woman, who suddenly seemed to take up the whole room, pointed at the door, her face hard. Her expression softened somewhat at the look of incredulity on Ben's face. "Just...tonight, Ben, it was big, and you blew it. Go out, go to Riley, talk over this treasure. Go on a hunt for all I care! Just leave me out of it. When you're ready to come back and settle down and forget about the clues and the mysteries and the treasure...then come home."

Ben's eyes were round and pleading. "Abi ―" he began again, but Abigail turned her face away. Sighing, he picked up his old bag, stuffed all his papers into it, and collapsed his laptop. He walked towards the door, kissing Abigail on the cheek as he left. "I'm sorry..." he said, feeling her begin to slip into his embrace before she fortified her defenses. "I'll be back." He promised, the Terminator line coming out soft, a promise.

He left her standing in the middle of the room, shaking, one hand on her cheek.

Ben got into his car, which, admittedly, wasn't nearly as cool as Riley's, and started heading the familiar direction of Riley's apartment, which he hadn't changed since college, even though both Abi and Ben had told him to "get a bigger place, damnit."

He remembered the first time he'd asked Riley for help treasure hunting. Two months after their first meeting, way before the Charlotte and Ian, Ben found the need to look at some documents that he knew where an important key to finding the treasure.

Problem: The documents where in the Museum of Natural History, who already hated his guts for telling them that there was no way seventeen knights would be clustered in a clearing, together, with their swords out. Which basically meant that the chances of him looking at the documents legally were basically...not good.

He needed to get past security. A quick get in/look/get out job. But he couldn't do it alone. He definitely couldn't ask his dad, and any colleges he had in the history world thought he was insane.

It might have been stupid, but Ben had remembered a kid he was once trapped in an elevator with. One who was majoring in computer technology. A kid who believed the treasure existed.

Which is how Riley Poole had officially been added to the team. The eighteen-year-old college freshmen got Ben in and out, modified a camera so it could take pictures of the documents in a case without getting shiny, and turned off all the security cameras in the storage room of the museum.

And they never found out.

Riley had basically become a part of Ben's life after that. A computer nerd fifteen years younger than Ben who liked video games, computers, history, and computers, and always had to get the last word in.

Ben parked the car right next to Riley's red "baby", scooping up his documents and computer and trekking up the stairs to Riley's second-floor apartment. Rolling his eyes, Ben realized he'd have to put everything down in order to get out the spare key Riley gave him. He kicked the door, raising his voice. "Riley!"

More kicks, another few seconds before another call, "Riley, open up!" Ben shifted his packages; this stuff should be heavy sometimes.

He suddenly remembered how Riley hadn't answered his cell for the first time in nine years. His "baby" was parked outside. Riley should be here.

Right?

Dropping the stuff, Ben plunged his hand into his back pocket where he kept his keys. Locating the right one, he jammed it into the door, opening it.

"Riley?" He moved his stuff inside, flipping on a light switch. That probably should have been his first sign that something was wrong.

Ducking his head into the room that housed Riley's computer (it shouldn't really be called a computer, because Riley had modified it beyond recognition), Ben saw a flash of red.

All over the floor, red puddles, some bigger than others, a few drops on the wall. Ben had seen enough CSI to know that it was blood. "Riley!"

He rushed into the room, expecting to find his young friend in a corner, hurt, dead, bleeding. There was no Riley. Who would do this? Riley didn't have any enemies...Ben was the one who was always defending the treasure, speaking out...

A page, torn from a notebook, was lying in the middle one of the blood puddles. Ben crouched down, not quite stupid enough to touch it. Again, CSI.

Ben,

The computer nerd is fine. Contrary to popular belief, a human can bleed for quite some time without dying. But he won't stay fine for long.

I know there's another treasure. I know you know how to find it. So let's make this into a game. Prizes at the end: The kid for you, the treasure for me. Rules: No calling the police. You have 72 hours, or Riley's dead.

Simple enough?

Ian. Forgetting everything, Ben's hand curled in a fist around the paper, his hand coming away stained with Riley's blood.

Review?