Disclaimer:I do not own National Treasure, just Elizabeth.

Chapter Eleven

Ben pushed a button on the wall and a section of the wall pushed back. Wind blasted from the slight openings on the sides. The dust settled and Ben handed his torch to Abigail and he and his father pushed the stone to one side. Abigail handed his torch back to him and they all entered into the treasure room... At least, what was supposed to be the treasure room: but there was nothing there. All that was there were a couple of broken vases, crates and other objects, completely worthless. Mr. Gates went around the room and lit the torches as Ben stood in the middle, completely horrified.


"Looks like someone got here first." Riley said, gazing around sadly.

"...Aww man... This was so not worth nearly dyeing for..." Elizabeth whispered.

"I'm sorry, Ben." Abigail murmured.

"It's gone..." Ben muttered, turning towards his father.

"Listen, Ben..." he began.

"It may even have been gone before Charles Carroll told the story to Thomas Gates." Ben said.

"It doesn't matter." Mr. Gates said.

"I know. 'Cause you were right." Ben says, defeated.

"No, I wasn't right. This room is real, Ben. And that means the treasure is real. We're in the company of some of the most brilliant minds in history, because you found what they left behind for us to find and understood the meaning of it. You did it, Ben. For all of us. Your grandfather, and all of us. And I've never been so happy to be proven wrong." Mr. Gates said proudly.

"I just... really thought I was gonna find the treasure." Ben muttered.

"Okay. Then we just keep looking for it." he replied.


Abigail looked at her sister. Elizabeth grinned in response.

"We're in." Abigail said firmly.

"Okay." Ben said, feeling a bit better.

"Not to be Johnny Rain Cloud here, but that's not gonna happen. Because as far as I can see, we're still trapped down here. Now, Ben, where is this other way out?" Riley interjected, sitting on a stone bench by the entryway.

"Well, that's it. It doesn't make any sense, because the first thing the builders would have done after getting down here was cut a secondary shaft back out for air." Ben said, glancing around.

"Right." his father agreed.

"...and in case of cave-ins." Ben murmured, walking around the walls. He ran his hand over a slight hole in the wall with a little hole below it. Everyone walked over.

"Could it really be that simple?" he whispered, taking out the meerschaum pipe. "'The secret lies with Charlotte.'"


He fit the intricate ship carving into the big hole and then the pipe part in the little hole. It all clicked in and he turned it until it stopped and he pushed it in. Another big gust of wind came flying from another entranceway and a door slid open.
 Riley stood up and walked up next to Elizabeth. Abigail took a deep breath and put her hand on Ben's shoulder. Mr. Gates walked over to the door and disappeared into it. Elizabeth and Riley followed with Ben trailing them.


The treasure room: golden statues, ancient scrolls, and treasure stacked up to the ceiling line the entire room. Elizabeth walked over to a table with a book on it. She picked it up and looked at the title, nearly dropping it in surprise.


"Archimedes: this is his original work. I thought it was... was lost. Oh my god..." she whispered, holding the book to her chest gently.

"Scrolls from the library at Alexandria. Could this be possible?" Abigail said, gazing in wonderment at a bunch of ancient scrolls.

Riley walked over to a giant, Egyptian, green statue.
 "It's a big... bluish- green, man, with a strange-looking goatee. I'm guessing that's significant." Riley murmured and hugged the statue.

Elizabeth came out of her revelry and gently set the book down and walked over to him. He smiled and hugged her as well.

She squealed. "EW! You're covered in dust!" He just laughed good-naturedly.

Ben walked up to a stand with a bowl in it. He lifted up a black powder and realized it was gunpowder. He put his torch on it and it snapped to life. Flames shot down a ramp into the dark. Soon, the flames revealed a large cavern, filled with treasure.
 They all walked over to a balcony and stared in awe.


"Yes!" Mr. Gates exclaimed, clapping Ben on the back.

Elizabeth began to bounce on her heals until she couldn't stop herself. She let out a squeal of happiness and launched herself on Riley. He quickly wrapped his arms around her so she wouldn't fall but froze as she kissed him. He returned her kiss but she slid off him and gave her sister a big hug. Riley touched his lips but grinned happily. He looked out over the treasure until he spotted the best thing he had seen so far: stairs.

"Riley, are you crying?" Abigail asked him, as she untangled herself from a giddy Elizabeth who shot down the stairs and started to soak it all up.

"Look... stairs." he murmured and wiped his eyes.

They all followed Elizabeth down the stairs and followed the path up to the stairs, but not before gazing at all the wonderful sights. They carefully climbed the rickety steps and crawled through a tunnel until they got to a dead end. Ben began to kick his way through until he broke through to the boiler room, scaring a poor older janitor who was holding the hand of poor Parkington Lane.

"Hi. Do you have a cell phone I could borrow?" Ben asked the man.

The man was shaken up but handed him his cell phone. Ben went off to talk to Agent Sadusky while Abigail and Elizabeth assured the man they weren't zombies and what they were doing down there.

"Really sir, there's a treasure down there. We're treasure hunters and we tracked it here so don't worry." Abigail said to assuage the man's fears.

"There aren't going to be any more 'treasure hunters' popping out of tombs are there?" he asked nervously.

"No, sir. Don't worry. Really. Now, you'll probably have a lot of men coming here and they'll probably be excavating this place so you might want to get the man who owns this church." Elizabeth said.

"Al-Alright." he said and scampered off quickly.

"Poor guy. I think we scared him half to death." Mr. Gates murmured.

"Wonder if he's off to call the police and have us put in the loony-bin..." Riley mused.

"Alright guys, the FBI is on their way here so let's go upstairs and wait for them." Ben said, coming out from behind a boiler.


Everyone nodded and went up the stairs. Riley and Elizabeth slid into a pew together. Riley pulled Elizabeth onto his lap and she snuggled against his body, sighing contentedly: she was so tire all of a sudden. Abigail and Mr. Gates slid into a pew right behind them while Ben sat up in front of the altar of the church. Fifteen minutes went by until they heard the doors open and agents streamed in, guns drawn. Several surrounded Abigail, Elizabeth, Mr. Gates, and Riley while Agent Sadusky walked up the aisle towards Ben.


He stood up and handed him the Declaration.

"Just like that?" he asked Ben.

"Just like that." Ben replied.

"You do know you just handed me your biggest bargaining chip?" Sadusky asked him incredulously.

"The Declaration of Independence is not a bargaining chip. Not to me." Ben said firmly.

"Have a seat." Sadusky said, and they both sat down on the steps to the altar. "So what's your offer?" he asked.

"How about a bribe? Say... ten billion dollars." Ben offered.

"I take it you found the treasure?" Sadusky asked.

"It's about five stories beneath your shoes." Ben said, glancing down at the floor.

"You know, the Templars and the Freemasons believed that the treasure was too great for any one man to have, not even a king. That's why they went to such lengths to keep it hidden." he said, gazing about the church.

Ben stared at Sadusky's pinky ring, with the Masonic symbols on it. "That's right. The Founding Fathers believed the same thing about government. I figure their solution will work for the treasure too." Ben said.

"Give it to the people." Sadusky surmised.

"Divide it amongst the Smithsonian, the Louvre, the Cairo museum... There's thousands of years of world history down there. And it belongs to the world, and everybody in it." Ben finished.

"You really don't understand the concept of a bargaining chip." Sadusky said chuckling.

"Okay, here's what I want. Both Dr. Chases' get off completely clean, not even a little Post-it on their service records." Ben started.

"Okay." Sadusky said.

"I want the credit for the find to go to the entire Gates family, with the assistance of Mr. Riley Poole." Ben continued.

"And what about you?" Sadusky asked him.

"I'd really love not to go to prison. I can't even describe how much I would love not to go to prison." Ben muttered.

"Someone's got to go to prison, Ben." Sadusky replied.

"Well, if you've got a helicopter, I think I can help with that." Ben said.

"Alright, where to?" Sadusky asked.

"Boston. To the Old North Church."

"Alright, well, are you the only one going?" Sadusky asked him.
Ben looked out to his friends and father. Everyone shook their heads 'No' except for Elizabeth, who was sleeping.

"Just me."

"Sounds like a plan." Sadusky said.


They both got up and walked towards everyone else.

"Alright, I need a helicopter to Boston, now. We'll get you guys a hotel to stay in until further arrangements can be made." Sadusky commanded.

Everyone nodded and began to get up and walk towards the exit while Sadusky gave orders for immediate retrieval of the treasure, plans for Boston, and where the others will be staying.

Riley gently lifted an unconscious Elizabeth and stood up. He went to take a step, only he slipped.




"Hey, Riley, you okay?" Ben asked him.

Riley quickly laid Elizabeth down on the bench and bent down to see what it was he slipped in. He paled considerably and stood up slowly, lifting up his hand, which was drenched in blood. He accidentally bumped Elizabeth and she whimpered weakly. Abigail came over and gasped at all the blood. Sadusky quickly ordered an ambulance while Riley frantically tried to stop the bleeding.


So, Archimedes was this first century math mathematician, who wrote this awesome book with all his research in it. Some monk who had run out of paper rewrote over top of it, loosing most of the original text. He was a genius. Experts speculate that if his work hadn't of been lost, humankind would be technologically a couple centuries advanced than what we are now. So yeah, that's why Elizabeth is so awe-struck. Thought I'd explain if you don't know who he was.