Disclaimer: Don't worry. If they were truly mine, you would be seeing me in Russia with them, not sitting here at home and being like, "So, they're now flying off to Russia…." But, Clara, Nick, and Dustin are mine, as well as the crazy Russian people!

A/N: I love summer, and I think you guys do too since that means I get to update more! Yes, I'm back with another update, but that's because that I now have free time to write and get to a computer. I'm so glad you guys liked the last chapter, though I wasn't too pleased with it myself. I like this one better, mainly because they're actually getting somewhere. This one is sort of a transition too, but more things actually happen. In the next chapter, things will really begin to pick up! But this chapter covers a two-day span, so the section after Riley and Ben's conversation starts the second day. Thank you so much to Spellinggirl, LoremIpsum, LupinandHarry, Miss Fenway, Charlotte Lewis, The Elder Swear, momiji'sunusedhalo, Halo, and myloveimfaithfullyyours for your supportive reviews. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Note: Again, this is National Treasure, so there will be mixing of fact and fiction. For convenience and for this story to flow, I'm going to be using one of the homes of the Romanov family that is located in St. Petersburg, Russia as the city and Russia where Ben and co. must go. Also, a swear word is said by Dustin, but again, I don't think anyone cares! As long as I warn you, lol. So, again, enjoy!

Chapter 11

"Ben!"

Ben blinked when he heard his wife's voice, and Ian vanished into the crowd. It was probably just a trick of his imagination and he hadn't really seen him at all… He then turned back to look at her with a small smile on his face. "I'm sorry, Abigail. What did you say?"

Abigail glared back at him. "I didn't say anything, Ben," she told him. "I'm wondering what you're staring at."

"Oh. It's nothing, Abigail," Ben replied. "I just thought I saw someone, that's all. But, they're not there, so never mind about that."

He could tell that Abigail was still suspicious of him by the look on her face, but they were soon interrupted by a twisted pretzel appearing in front of both of their faces. "Look, Daddy!" Clara said brightly, climbing on to Ben's lap. "Uncle Riley got me a pretzel!"

"I see that," Ben muttered, glancing at Riley, who smiled sheepishly.

"You didn't tell me that you wanted anything, Ben," the techie protested in his defense.

"I know, Riley. That's because I didn't want anything."

Suddenly, Abigail grabbed his arm. "Ben, our flight's here!" she said.

"All right then," Ben muttered, grabbing his bags. "Let's go. There is no way we can miss this flight!"

xxxxxxxxxx

The first part of the journey to Russia didn't seem to take so long, and they landed at the airport in the early evening. But the second part was going to take longer, most likely until the early evening of the next day since they were flying to a different country.

When night approached, all of the passengers on the plane appeared to fall asleep at once. Riley stood up and pulled his iPod out of his carry-on bag, smiling when he saw that Clara was curled up on her seat beside Abigail, both asleep. He sat back down in his seat behind them, noticing that Ben was still strangely missing before he put his earphones in his ears and began to listen to "Taste of India" by Aerosmith. His eyes closed as he laid his back against the seat, feeling a yawn escape from him. He was more tired than he had thought.

"Riley, are you awake?"

At the sound of the quiet question and the gentle hand on his arm, Riley opened his eyes and looked to his right. He blinked in surprise when he saw that Ben was suddenly back from wherever he had disappeared to. "Well, I am now," the younger man complained, sitting up straighter in his seat and taking out one of his earphones. "What's up?"

Ben sighed heavily as he looked at his best friend. "I'm just… I'm nervous, Riley," he muttered, almost as if in defeat. "There's so much at stake this time if I fail."

Riley sighed and turned in his seat to completely face the older man, and a small smile appeared on his face. "Listen to me. You're the great Benjamin Franklin Gates. It's pretty much impossible for you to fail," he told him. "You haven't failed this far, and I'm sure you won't this time. Even though we've never dealt with a crazy Russian group before…"

"There's a first time for everything, Riley," Ben countered quietly. "What if this is that time? What if things go horribly wrong are you are infected with the disease. Or Abigail?"

"Ben, things never go horribly wrong with us," Riley reminded him. "They almost do, but they never actually do. Besides, that's a risk I'm willing to take, and same with Abigail. We know what can go wrong, but we don't care. We're still going with you. A little late now, unless you want us to jump out of the plane… But I mean, come on. We're off to save the world, aren't we?"

Despite the bad feeling that had settled in Ben's heart, the treasure hunter felt a small smile beginning to form on his face. "Yes, we are," he agreed.

Riley grinned. "Sweet! Maybe we'll get a movie made about us after this. Or maybe even our own action figures. Picture this. Ben Gates with Declaration-stealing and president-kidnapping action!"

"Riley Poole with ten smart-mouth action phrases," Ben teased, laughing a little at the thought of him and his family as small, plastic figures. "Toy laptop included."

"And of course, Abigail Gates with her ten nagging phrases and Mean-Declaration-Lady action," Riley concluded proudly.

Ben couldn't help but laugh again, but he looked at the seats ahead of them to make sure that Abigail was still sleeping. Thankfully she was, or else Riley would be missing his laptop. "Those wouldn't be very popular in stores," he added, not able to contain the joke.

Riley laughed, but he made sure that he was quiet enough so Abigail wouldn't wake up. "Dang, Ben," he said, smiling broadly. "If Abi would have heard you say that, you would bee sleeping on the couch for the next week!"

As he laughed again, Ben was relieved that he decided to talk to Riley. Through all the reassurances and joking, his fears about the danger that lay ahead were repressed, and he knew that everything would work out all right. It had to. It always did. "All right, Riley. Get some sleep," the older man muttered, yawning. "We have a big day ahead of us when we land in Russia tomorrow."

"All right," Riley agreed sleepily, watching as Ben situated his pillow so he could fall asleep and be comfortable. "Good night, Ben."

"Good night, Riley."

Riley sighed as he turned back to looking out the window absently, not able to see anything except for the night sky. He was relieved that his words had been able to calm Ben, even though he wasn't sure if he believed them himself. He had said that nothing would go horribly wrong, that Ben wouldn't fail, but the older man had been right when he said that there was much more at stake this time. There were too many things that could go horribly wrong, especially when dealing with a man who wasn't quite all there and had a very deadly disease in his possession. And in truth, he was terrified by the idea that he could catch this disease, but he knew that it would be better if it was him than Ben, Abigail, or… No, he wasn't even going to think about the third option, the worst thing that could possibly happen. He knew that he was going to do everything in his power to make sure that it didn't happen.

Finally not able to hold his eyes open any longer, Riley put his second earphone back in and laid back against his pillow, allowing his heavy eyelids to close as he drifted into a light and uneasy sleep.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Dustin silently gazed out the window, starting at the gray sky as it steadily darkened. They were finally reaching the end of their flight as evening approached, and they would soon be landing in St. Petersburg, Russia. He hadn't even wanted to come along on this trip, but he knew that Ian wouldn't have allowed him to stay behind.

But then, Dustin suddenly remembered that his father, Jeremy Poole, had gone to St. Petersburg during college. He had always been telling him and Riley how beautiful it was and how he had hoped for them to have the chance to go one day. Well, at least one of his sons was fulfilling his wish.

Powell turned to look at Dustin, sitting still and silent in the seat beside him, and he laughed a little. "Hey, Sunshine. Do you ever smile?" he asked teasingly.

Dustin slowly turned to face the older man, his eyes glaring at him angrily. "Shut up," he muttered before turning back to looking out the window.

But Powell only laughed at his response. "Oh, I'm so scared…"

"Don't aggravate him, Powell," Ian warned from the seat in front of them. "It's not worth the time or the effort."

Powell grinned at Ian, watching as a small grin appeared on the other man's face as well. Dustin rolled his eyes, otherwise not paying any attention to them. Nick looked back at the older Poole from where he sat beside Ian, frowning slightly when he saw how angry he looked. Ian noticed this out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't worry about him, Nick," the English man said, watching as his younger stepbrother turned to look at him. "He'll get over it. Besides, we're going to be landing in St. Petersburg in a couple of minutes anyway."

Nick nodded in response, turning back around to face the front of the plane. He hoped that once they reached their destination, the tensions from being cooped up in the plane for nearly two days would evaporate, and the fragile alliance that they had with Dustin, or at least what was left of it, would remain intact.

Xxxxxxxxxx

"So, this is St. Petersburg, Russia."

"Yep. Beautiful, isn't it?"

Riley nodded, but his expression looked as though he was about to complain about something. "Well, Dad was right about it being beautiful, but he failed to mention all the snow."

The techie was standing with Ben, Abigail, and Clara, looking out at the city of St. Petersburg from the window of the airport. Abigail laughed. "Why are you complaining, Riley?" she asked. "It was winter back at home too."

"That may be, Abs," Riley answered in a mutter, "but how much are you willing to bet that it's colder in winter here than winter back home?"

Abigail smiled. "You're probably right about that, Riley," she admitted.

Clara beamed with excitement as she looked out at the snow-covered city below her. "Daddy, this is just like in the movie!" she exclaimed.

Ben smiled. "Yes, Clara. It is," he told her. "We're going to be doing a lot of things dealing with Anastasia during our stay."

"Will we see her?" Clara asked.

"I don't think so, Clara, but we will learn a lot about her," Ben answered with a small laugh. But then, his smile vanished when he remembered the folded piece of paper that was tucked safely in his jeans' pocket. The cure is found within the crown of Anastasia. The cure was here in Russia, he was sure of that. But where in Russia was the problem. It could have been anywhere…

Clara smiled up at Ben, but then she looked up at Abigail. "Mommy, I'm thirsty. Can we get a drink?"

"Sure, sweetheart," Abigail told her before turning to look at Ben. "You two will still be here, right?"

"Yeah, we'll be here," Ben said, smiling at his wife. "You go ahead."

Abigail smiled only half-heartedly before taking Clara's hand and leading her to find a drink, leaving their luggage behind. Once they were gone, Riley turned to face the older man. "All right. Show me the clue that Artem gave you."

Ben dug into his pocket and pulled out the folded sheet of paper, handing it to his best friend. Riley quickly unfolded it and read over the scribbled handwriting, his eyes narrowing in confusion. "The cure is found within the crown of Anastasia?" he muttered. "I'm not very good with riddles, and this one is definitely confusing. My only guess would be like the palace or something where the rest of the jewels could be on display."

"That's what I was thinking," Ben agreed, taking the paper back from him and putting it in his pocket. "So as soon as we're settled in our hotel, we'll check it out. I know that a popular attraction is the renovated Romanov Palace, which has been turned into a museum."

"Sounds like a good place to start," Riley supported.

"A good place to start for what?"

Ben tensed when he heard the familiar English accent, and he slowly turned around to find himself face to face with Ian Howe. Behind him stood Nick, Powell, and Dustin. So, he had seen Ian at the airport back at home after all… Riley's face darkened when the older Poole smirked at him.

"Interesting to see you here, Ben," Ian continued in a friendly manner. "I mean, we're in another country and all. But tell me, why are you here?"

"Remember that 'everyone's going to die' thing that Artem was talking about?" Ben asked, seeing the confused looks that Powell gave him. "Well, he brought it up to another level. He didn't find what he wanted back at home, so he forced me to fly to Russia so that I could help him find it."

"And of course Riley, the ever faithful puppy, has tagged along with his master," Dustin sneered coldly.

Riley's face grew even darker and his eyes narrowed as he tried to lunge at his brother, but Ben was able to hold him back. He looked at Ian, who turned to Dustin and gave him a warning glare. Dustin returned the glare before turning his back on the group.

"So, what exactly does Artem want to find?" Ian asked, turning to look at Ben again.

"The cure for the disease," Ben answered, making sure that Riley wasn't going to try to get at Dustin again. "At least, that's what I'm assuming by the information that Artem gave to me."

Ian looked at him thoughtfully. "May I see it?" he wondered.

Ben hesitated for a minute, feeling as though he had already revealed too much. After all, Ian had betrayed him over a treasure, even tried to kill him. But then, Ian had also saved him from being killed by Artem. He felt indebted to him, and he was confident that Ian felt the same toward him since he had saved him from being thrown back in prison. There was an unstable truce between them, but it was still a truce. That was the reason, despite Riley's look of disbelief, that Ben handed the small slip of paper to Ian.

The English man looked the paper over quickly before giving it back. "So, you think that it's in the Romanov Palace then?" Ian said.

"Well, it would be a good place to start anyway," Ben replied. "Just to get a good ground for the rest of our search."

Ian nodded. "That does make sense," he agreed. "The reason that we're here also relates to Artem, but if we can find that cure… I'll tell you what. We're going to go get settled in our hotel, and we'll meet you at the palace in half an hour."

Ben smiled slightly. "Sounds good," he told him. "See you then."

"Later, Ben," Ian muttered before he, Nick, Powell, and Dustin disappeared into the crowd.

"So now Ian's suddenly helping?" Riley asked, his frustration showing through in his tone. "Why not just invite him to come stay with us, and maybe then he can take the place of your puppy."

Ben blinked in surprise, knowing that Riley's rotten mood had come from the brief encounter with Dustin. But he hadn't seen this kind of hostility come from the techie before… "Relax, Riley," he tried to calm him. "No one's going to replace you."

Riley raised an eyebrow. "Oh, no?" he countered. "What about your new best friend?"

"Ian's not my new best friend, Riley. You'll always have that title," Ben replied. "Look, I don't know why he's here, but we've both encountered Artem before, and I'm willing to accept any help that he can offer since he knows what we're dealing with."

The techie looked as though he was about to say more, but he held it back as Abigail returned with a cup of steaming coffee and Clara with a can of soda. "There was a long line," the older explained with a smile as she took a cautious sip of her hot beverage. "So, what's the plan?"

"We're going to get settled in at our hotel, and then we're going to go to the Romanov Palace," Ben told her, casting a look to Riley. "Oh, and be prepared to meet some people there."

Xxxxxxxxxx

"Why are you helping them?" Dustin asked in disbelief after he, Ian, Powell, and Nick boarded a bus that would bring them to their hotel. "It doesn't make any sense, Ian."

"Look, Dustin. I know you hate your brother, but there is a reason for my decision," Ian answered as calmly as he could, taking a seat in the back of the bus with Powell and Nick beside him. "I have no intent on helping Ben save the world. I'm not a hero. But with his help, we can find whatever this cure is faster. And since Artem has crossed me too many times, we can use the cure as leverage since he wants it."

Nick smirked. "Clever," he muttered. "Maybe it's a good thing that Ben's here after all. He could help your plans for revenge along nicely, no matter how unknowingly." Powell nodded in agreement.

"I still don't like it," Dustin said, crossing his arms. "We don't need Ben. We know the clue. We can just find the damn thing ourselves."

Ian rolled his eyes. "Face it, Dustin, you just don't like the idea of being close to Riley," he retorted. "Well, it's just something that you're going to have to get over, and fast."

Dustin didn't say anything in response. Ian sighed, looking ahead of him at the front of the bus. He blinked in surprise when he saw that a cute little girl with pigtails was looking at him curiously. When she saw that she had his attention, she began to speak quickly in Russian.

"Does anyone know what she's saying?" Ian whispered in awe, glancing at the people with him. Powell shrugged while Nick shook his head. Dustin only looked away from them, his gaze suddenly interested in something out the window.

"You could always call Viktor to find out," Powell suggested. "He might know."

Ian laughed a little as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Viktor's number before he brought it to his ear. "No answer," he told him as he put the small phone back in his pocket. "Where's Viktor when I actually need him?"

Powell laughed a little. "Well, I guess he can't join us in Russia then," he muttered with another shrug. "Oh, well. His loss."

"His loss indeed." Ian leaned back against the seat, a sigh escaping from him. Revenge on Artem is what he wanted, what he flew all the way to Russia for, but he hated having the feeling that he needed help to complete it.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Ivan grinned as he watched Ben lead Riley, Abigail, and Clara out of the crowded airport through his one good eye before pulling out his cell phone and dialing a familiar number. The call was answered after the first ring.

"Da? Yes, Ivan? What is it?" a man with a heavy Russian accent asked.

"Gates has arrived, Artem. He and his family are leaving the airport now," Ivan answered. "They are going to the Romanov Palace."

There was a moment of silence on the other end before Artem laughed. "Make sure Gates knows that we have already checked there," he instructed. "You know what to do, Ivan."

A grin appeared on the older man's face when he heard his order. "Da. Yes. It would be my pleasure, Artem."

A/N: Whoa, that chapter turned out to be longer than I thought! But, I'm pleased with it. And as I said, things will begin to pick up in the next chapter. Thanks for reading! You're reviews are much appreciated. Thank you!