Hey, I'm back! Sorry this took so long to upload. I meant to upload it earlier, but forgot and then work got crazy and I haven't had time to get on my computer. I also just spent the last half hour rewriting a couple sections of this story cause I didn't like how it sounded. Anyway, at least this chapter's longer right? Btw, as a reminder, the Italian bits are mostly from google translate, others are from phrases I looked up. Please read and enjoy!

After pulling ourselves out of the water and taking out the mercenaries, Nate opened a small gate leading to the rest of the city. A small platform jutted out into the water, two jet skis floating next to it.

"This was a big mistake," Nate announced.

"Whatever gave you that impression?" I inquired sarcastically, sitting down on a fallen pillar and smacking the side of my head to rid my ears of water.

Elena laughed. "No kidding. Y'know, I should've turned before the bridge."

Nate didn't seem impressed. "That's very funny."

"Oh, c'mere a minute - I wanna show you something," Elena said, sitting down and holding up her camera. I walked over, surprised that the camera was still operational.

"That thing still works?" Nate asked, voicing my thoughts.

Elena nodded proudly. "Uh-huh. Check this out." On screen was the orange-domed building Nate and I saw earlier. "Okay, see this building in the harbor? That's where all the boats coming into the colony would've unloaded their cargo. So if the El Dorado treasure came to this island, it would've had to've come through here."

"Wait a minute. What - what was that?" Nate suddenly asked.

"What?"

"Rewind it." Elena rewound the video, looking at Nate quisically. "Wait - stop." The footage replayed. "Right there." Nate pointed to a boat in the harbor, more specifically, a speedboat. "That's our ticket outta here." I smiled. Good, I was ready to get off this island.

Elena frowned in confusion. "Our ticket outta here? Are you giving up?"

"Maybe you hadn't noticed, but we're kind of outnumbered."

"We're doing fine so far…"

"Yes, but we've already had two close calls and need I remind you, Nate and I have already lost Sully," I told her. Elena's gaze softened. "Neither one of us needs your bullet-riddled corpse on our conscience."

Elena frowned again, this time in frustration. "Oh, please, you quit if you want to, but don't use me as an excuse."

"Fine. It's us, okay? We are quitting," Nate admitted in exasperation. "Are you coming or not?"

"So that's it? You're both just gonna forget about the treasure, and forget about Drake?" I glanced at Nate. Elena did have a point. I knew that Nate spent most of his life learning all he could about Sir Francis, me having helped with a good portion of it. The question was, how far was he willing to go?

Nate rounded on Elena, his jaw clenched. "Goddamn it, this is not worth dying over." Elena was quiet for a moment, then nodded solemnly.

"Okay. Okay," she conceded. "Listen either way we have to head back to the harbor." She grinned and smacked his arm. "Don't worry about it. We can argue about it later. It'll be great." Nate and I shared a look as she walked towards the jet skies. Elena was turning out to be more of a trouble maker than either one of has had thought possible.

I followed Elena towards the jetski. "You're driving," I told Nate.

We sped through the flooded city. As I was the only one not driving a jet ski, I was in charge of shooting the explosive barrels that Eddy's men were dumping into the water. And if it wasn't bad enough we had to avoid explosives, mercenaries were constantly shooting at us. Elena made sure to stay behind Nate and I as I took out the men one by one.

"It seems like Eddy brought an entire army of mercenaries with him," I grumbled, shooting yet another bad guy and causing him to tumble into the water below.

"Eddy was never one for subtly," Nate said, driving up a waterfall to the next part of the city. "Hold on!" I gripped his waist tightly as we drove over a ramp, finally making it to the harbor.

"There it is!" Elena announced.

"Yeah, now we just gotta find a way in."

"Y'know, I read a story once about a cursed Inca treasure… you don't suppose that -"

"Please don't tell me you believe in that stuff," Nate interrupted.

"I'm just saying… something bad happened here. A whole colony doesn't just up and vanish," Elena reasoned.

Nate chuckled. "Yeah."

Elena shot him a glare. "Well, how do you explain it?"

"I'm sure there is a logical explanation," I assured her. "Though I do admit, it seems highly suspicious." We docked the jet skies. "Looks like that cable would get us up there," I said, pointing to a cable running from the top of a nearby building.

"Let's go check it out," Nate said.

"I'll stay here and keep an eye on our rides," Elena told us, "See if you two can figure a way to get us to that tower."

Nate and I rounded a corner only to be met with gunshots.

"Merda!" I cursed as I dove for cover. "Seriously? Don't these guys ever give up?!"

"Nah, this is what these guys are paid to do," Nate replied, firing blindly from behind his cover.

"Well, if they're paid to be a nuisance, they do their job very well." We took out the rest of the guys and moved on. Nate climbed across some platforms and disappeared around a corner.

"I got the gate open!" Nate called. "Go get Elena."

"Back in a jiffy." I ran back the way we had come. "Nate's got the gate open, follow me," I told Elena, hopping onto my jetski. I pulled under the platform Nate was on and he jumped down once I moved out of the way. No sooner were we through the gates and we were getting shot at. "Oh, porca miseria! (oh, for goodness sake)" I exclaimed. I began shooting. "Vai al diavolo, bastardi! (go to hell, bastards)"

"What did she say?" I heard Elena ask.

"You probably don't want to know," Nate replied, driving on as I cleared the area of mercenaries and explosive barrels. We stopped in front of a gate. "I don't see any lever." I looked up and noticed a couple counterweights holding the gate. I shot the chains holding the counterweights and the gate slid down.

Nate grinned. "Nice!"

I blew imaginary smoke off the end of the gun's barrel. "Who needs levers when you have a gun?" We drove through and Nate climbed off.

I moved into the driver's seat. "Head for the tower. Elena and I will meet you at the customs house. Oh, and take this." I passed him a grenade I had picked up earlier. "Try not to blow yourself up." With that, I drove off, Elena close behind me.

Elena and I waited by the customs house door, me messing with the rings around absentmindedly. I glanced up and noticed Nate sliding down the zipline and into the customs house. He opened the door and let us in a moment later. We wandered around, eventually coming upon an old library. Elena pulled out her camera to film.

"Wow… These must be all the old ship manifests," Nate said, looking around. I picked up a random book and examined it.

"Still seem to be in good shape," I noted, impressed. Nate wandered over to the desk.

"Hey, check this out - this looks right," he called. I put the book back and stood next to him. He was looking at an open book on the table. "The Esperanza. Sailed from Callao, Peru. Carrying 800 bars of gold, 1200 silver. Emeralds… golden masks, ornaments…" I whistled appreciatively.

"Whoa, reading 16th-century Spanish," Elena commented, looking over his shoulder. "Not just a grave robber after all, huh?" I gave her a sideways glance and continued reading.

"Right here," I said, pointing to a section. "Gold statue, weight: 20 arrobas."

"That's over five hundred pounds," Nate calculated, grinning at me. "That's gotta be it." He turned the next, revealing a picture of El Dorado. "Wow… There you are…"

Elena shivered involuntarily. "That thing kind gives me the creeps." I hummed in agreement. Nate turned the page again, but it was blank.

"Huh. That's the last entry…" Nate started fiddling with the ring around his neck, a habit he picked up from me.

"That somebody special?" Elena inquired, noticing Nate's movements.

Nate blinked in confusion. "What?" Elena nodded to the ring. "Oh, yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Huh. I had you pegged as more of a woman-in-every-port kind of guy." I tensed ever so slightly as Nate laughed.

"Don't I wish. Alex intimidates most of the women I meet though. No, this was ah… this was Francis Drake's ring." I tuned out the rest of the conversation. I knew the story of the ring well, having been with Nate the day he acquired it. I always felt that Francis Drake's motto, 'Sic parvis magna' or 'Greatness from small beginnings' suited Nate. I walked away from my companions, Elena now standing way too close to Nate for my liking as she examined his most treasured possession. Nate has been my best friend practically from the moment I met him. We grew close, nigh on inseparable and I quickly developed a crush on him. Once we reached our teenage years, Nate started to get physically affectionate. It started out a simple side hugs when we managed to pull off a job, gradually progressing into full on embraces and chaste kisses to my forehead. It used to make me blush so heavily that I could hardly speak, but it became so commonplace I grew used to it. Over the years, my crush blossomed into love. However, Nate never seemed to express any other feelings for me, so I kept it to myself, though I was often hostile to any women who showed interest in him. Eventually, I gave up on thinking we could be anything more than just friends, and I was okay with that.

Lost in my own thoughts, I wandered up some stairs, not really paying attention to what I was doing or where I was going. Rounding a corner, I happened upon yet another mercenary. Luckily for me, I startled him, so I wasn't immediately shot. I had just enough time to mutter a curse and dive for cover as the man shouted to his mates. As usual, a gunfight broke out. Alerted to the sound of gunshots, Nate and Elena came running.

"Sully was right!" Nate shouted above the gunfire, blindly firing several shots from behind his chosen barrier. "You are as bad as me when it comes to attracting trouble."

"Yeah, yeah," I snapped, shooting a couple guys. Once the room was clear, I gathered some spare ammo and reloaded my gun. "Through that gate there." I pointed to a gate at the top of some stairs. Nate used a mechanism to open the gate and the three of us walked out onto a balcony overlooking the ocean. It truly was a beautiful view if one were able to stop and enjoy it.

"I don't see any boat," Elena said. "Looks like we missed our chance." I could practically hear the excitement in her voice.

"No, there it is. On the other side of the harbor." Nate corrected, pointing to said boat. "C'mon." He started to walk off with me close behind, but Elena didn't move.

"Hey, you know what - why don't I just wait here, and you two can uh, swing around and come back and pick me up," she suggested hopefully.

"Okay, what are you up to?" Nate laughed, seeing right through her.

"Nothing," Elena assured him, flashing an innocent smile. "I just wanna, y'know, stay here and get some more footage. I'll be safe." Nate glanced at me for my opinion, but I shrugged. If she wanted to stay behind, that was fine by me.

Nate sighed. "All right - fine. But promise me you'll stay put." Elena nodded and held her hand up. He raised a brow. "Whatever that means."

Nate and I jumped across the platforms on the outside of the building. Just our luck, one of the platforms collapsed under us. I made it to the next platform fine, but Nate had to jump. I pulled him up and we continued on. We had to quickly take cover as we were once again shot at.

"These guys just don't give up, do they?" I asked rhetorically as I shot a guy carrying a rocket launcher.

"No kidding," Nate agreed. We re-entered the building and paused as a helicopter flew over us. "Who's this, now? Wait, that's not one of Eddy's…" We shared a concerned look. Whoever's copter that was, it didn't spell good news. After taking care of an ambush, we finally made it to the harbor. We quickly took cover and observed as men loaded up the boat.

"Hey." Nate and I both jumped as Elena snuck up behind us.

"How did you get here?" Nate inquired as I placed a hand over my rapidly beating heart.

Elena ignored him and held up her camera. "You two really need to see this."

"Now is really not the best time." He went to stand, but Elena grabbed his arm.

"No - Nate…"

Nate glared at her. "What are you doing?!"

"You really need to watch this," Elena insisted. "Just -" She shoved her camera at him. I peeked over his shoulder at the video. On the video we could see Navarro waiting in the helicopter we saw earlier. Roman was walking towards him with another man. "Aaand… Hello." Elena paused the video and my jaw dropped. The man next to Roman was none other than Sully.

"He's alive," I whispered, more to myself. I couldn't stop the small joyful laugh that escaped me. The man who had become like a father to me was alive.

Nate frowned a bit in confusion. "Huh."

"I don't know, Nate… I mean, how much do you trust this guy? It's not exactly like they're holding him at gunpoint," Elena pointed out.

Nate sighed and handed back the camera. "I know. Yeah, it seems weird." We peeked over the short wall we had hidden behind to see the boat sail away. I had to admit, it did seem suspicious that Sully was magically still alive. However, as strange as it seemed, I trusted him.

I shook my head. "In all the time Nate and I have known him, Sully has double crossed a lot of people, but never us." Elena gave me a skeptical look. I understood her concern as an outsider, but she didn't know Sully like Nate and I did.

"Alex is right," Nate agreed, causing me to smile slightly. "Sully may be a lot of things, but he's not a backstabber." He took the map out of his pocket. "Which way were they headed?"

"Uh… North-ish. Yeah, towards the mountains," Elena said, pointing to the top section of the map.

"Probably to the monastery then," I guessed.

"All right, let's go," Nate said.

"What if it turns out he's working with them?" Elena inquired.

"We either rescue him or we beat the crap out of him," Nate answered. "Hell, I might just beat the crap out of him anyway."

"We can worry about that when we rescue him," I said. We continued our journey through the customs house, of course meeting more men along the way. These guys were seriously getting on my nerves. We made it to a bridge a cautiously made our way across signal file.

"How does something like this happen?" Elena inquired, once again filming.

"See those scorch marks?" Nate asked, pointing.

"Uh-huh?"

"Somebody packed this place with enough gunpowder to blow it wide open."

"Sad really. Must have been beautiful before it was blown to bits," I commented. I froze as the bridge creaked under us.

"Whoa - watch where you step," Nate warned. "Some of these boards are really falling apart -" Just as he said this, the boards beneath Elena broke. I dove to catch her hand before she fell.

"I got you!" I grunted as I tried to pull her up. Unfortunately, the board I was holding onto to keep me up decided to break and I let out a startled scream. My descent was halted as Nate grabbed my hand. I could feel my hand slipping.

"Alex, I can't hold on!" Nate yelled, straining under Elena and I's combined weight. "Give me your other hand!" I looked down at Elena. She was still holding tightly to her camera.

"Elena, grab hold of my leg!" I told her.

Elenna stared at me, her eyes wide with fear. "What?!"

"I need my other hand! You have to let the camera go!" Elena hesitated and for a scary moment, I was afraid she wouldn't let it go. Thankfully, she did, cursing as her camera tumbled towards the water below. She wrapped her arms tightly around my leg and I grabbed Nate's hand. Slowly, Nate pulled us both back up onto the bridge. He held onto me as I trembled slightly, my heart pounding in my chest. Elena was peering sadly over the bridge, seeming more upset about losing her camera than how close she came to losing her life.

"You're all right," Nate assured me. "I've got you." He placed a comforting kiss to my hair as I calmed.

"I've had about enough of these life or death situations," I muttered, leaning into his touch.

Nate smiled lightly. "You and me both."

We continued on our way, cutting down anyone in our path. It took awhile, but we finally managed to make it to the library where they were holding Sully. We climbed to the second floor of the library and crouched behind the railing. Sully was chatting away with a couple of guards.

"She worked in this little bar in the Philippines… Oh man, she had a smile that'd melt your heart," Sully chuckled to the less than amused guards. "But oh, I swear to God, she'd just as soon kill you as a kiss you, if she caught you steppin' out. Just a wee bit of a thing. She couldn't of been much more than four-eleven. They called her 'the spinner' because she -"

"Will you shut up, old man? You told us that one a dozen times already," one of the mercenaries growled.

"Oh yeah, right. Course I did. Memory's not what it used to be." Sully told them. I frowned. What was he playing at? That man's memory was still sharp as a tack.

"What the hell's taking you so long, anyway?" The mercenary demanded.

"Well, maybe you hadn't noticed, but most of these books are half-rotten. And written in Spanish."

"Yeah well, hurry it up. The boss is waiting on you." Just then the second mercenary spotted us.

"Hey! Up there!"

"Ah, crap!" Nate groaned. As always, a gunfight ensued. Once all the mercenaries we taking care of, we went down to the first floor to Sully.

"Ah, man. It's about time you showed up," Sully said, coming out from behind the table.

"Sorry, traffic was terrible," I joked, smiling at seeing my old friend in one piece. I embraced the older man tightly.

"Well, you're looking awfully good for a corpse," Nate remarked, giving Sully a suspicious look.

"So you brought the girl after all, huh?" Sully inquired, noticing Elena.

Elena raised an eyebrow. "The girl?"

"Hey, if it wasn't for her you wouldn't be getting rescued right now," Nate said sharply.

"If this is a rescue," Elena remarked skeptically. I glared at her. She still thought he was a traitor.

"What the hell does that mean?" Sully demanded.

"You gotta admit, Sully, this all looks a little shady," Nate pointed out. I snapped my head to Nate. Not him too. "I mean you tipping those guys off."

"And miraculously showing up alive," Elena added.

"Now wait a goddamn minute," Sully said angrily. "Roman had a contract out on me. I needed to buy some time. All right, stupid mistake. I didn't realize they'd try and track us."

"Sully, we would have been headed home with the treasure by now if you had just for once kept your mouth shut." I had to agree with Nate on that one. Sully always had a bad habit of running his mouth.

"And you might've thought of checking for a pulse before running off and leaving me for dead," Sully shot back.

"Well we might have if we weren't worried about being shot ourselves," I told him.

Sully sighed. "Look none of that matters now."

"All right, so how is it you're standing here breathing and all, huh?" Elena inquired in an accusatory tone.

Sully chuckled. "You are not gonna believe this." He smiled as he held up Francis Drake's journal, revealing a bullet-hole in the middle.

Nate grinned, all previous suspicion gone. "No way… Ol' Francis took a bullet for you?"

"Yeah." I walked over and took the journal, looking over it in awe.

"I thought this kind of thing only happened in the movies," I commented.

"Yeah, well, it still hurt like a sonofabitch, I'll tell you that," Sully said. "Anyway, once they realized I wasn't dead, I convinced Roman that they'd never find the treasure without me. So I've been trying to mislead them ever since, waiting for you two to show up."

"Well, where are they now?" Elena questioned.

Sully smirked in self satisfaction. "Well, they're chasing a little red herring I sent 'em on, on the other side of the monastery, to get rid of 'em." Sully took the journal back from me and opened it. "Look, Drake had it all figured out. See that's the symbol the Spanish used to mark their secret vaults. The treasure is hidden right here in this monastery. Find the symbol…"

"...and we find the vault," Sully, Nate, and I finished together, grinning excitedly.

"We have everything we need right here," Sully continued. "All the clues to take us right to the treasure. We can do this, kids." Elena stepped up behind Nate and I and threw her arms around our shoulders.

"All right, you three aren't gonna get all chummy and leave the girl behind again, are you?" She inquired. Sully gave us a sideways glance.

"Don't even think about it, Sully," Nate chuckled. "She's got a mean right hook."

"I'll keep that in mind," Sully said. "There's more to this room than meets the eye, I'm sure of it." I studied the journal then looked up at the four statues around the room, fiddling with my rings in thought.

"It must be something to do with those statues," I mused. "Nate, help me out." Nate and I turned the statues to face the correct directions, solving the puzzle and opening a secret wall.

Nate grinned. "Bingo!" We walked down the stairs into another room.

"Oh - another library?" Sully wondered aloud.

"Huh. What now?" Elena inquired.

"Y'know, this looks familiar," Nate commented, examining one of the statues on the wall. A few minutes later, he solved another puzzle, opening another door. Sully shone his light down the dark stairwell. "Well, this looks promising. Here, let me see that." Sully passed over the flashlight and Nate shone it around. "Okay, you two sit tight. Alex and I are gonna check things out."

"Whoa, whoa, wait. No, you're not going out there alone," Elena protested.

"Yeah, Roman's men are swarming all over this place," Sully added.

"Yeah, and two people'll make a lot less noise than four," Nate pointed out. The two still didn't look convinced. "C'mon, we'll be fine. And you guys will be safe here. They don't even know about this room."

"Okay, take this with you," Sully said, handing Nate a walkie-talkie. "Leave it on channel 13 - they don't use that one. And keep us posted."

Nate nodded. "All right, you got it. Close this back up."

"Nate, Alex - be careful," Elena cautioned as we turned to enter the passageway.

Nate chuckled. "C'mon, we always are." As soon as he said this, he turned around and hit his head on the entrance archway. "Ow! I did not see that!"

"You were saying?" I asked in amusement.

Nate shot me a glare, rubbing his head. "Shut up." I chuckled and followed him into the catacombs as the door slammed closed behind us.