A/n-Alrighty then, my faithful and very distraught reviewers, Anne is back! And she regrets to inform everyone that this is the last plot relevant chapter…Yup. You heard me. The last plot-relevant chapter. This means there will be an epilogue. It also means that there is a distinct possibility that Riley will not survive to see the light of day again…MWAHAHAHA!
Disclaimer-I don't own any recognizable characters except (you guessed it) the lady with the water bottle. If I did own National Treasure, this is probably how the movie would go, anyway.
The resonating bang of the gunfire was a sound that would haunt Ben for the rest of his life. He hadn't ever thought that Ian could actually shoot somebody. Every time, it had been Shaw who had been overly offensive. But when the sound of the gunfire echoed off the walls, the accompanying flash of light…it was too terrible for words. Time seemed to stop as Riley crumpled to the ground. Abigail screamed.
"Riley!" Time sped up again as Ben found himself at his best friend's side, with no memory of ever moving. Abigail was standing above the two of them, her hand over her mouth and her eyes wide.
"Riley, can you hear me? Are you alright?" Ben asked. Riley cracked one eye open.
"…Hurts…" he moaned. One hand moved up to his shoulder, where a patch of red was growing on his shirt.
"It'll be alright, Riley," Ben said softly, "Just relax," He pulled the Declaration off his shoulder and handed it to Abigail before tearing a large strip of cloth off his shirt. Something clattered out of his pocked, though he paid it no attention. Unfortunately, Ben also had to somehow work Riley's shirt off to get access to the bullet wound. It was not an easy task, and it involved much tearing of clothes and several pained cries on Riley's account. Somehow or another, Ben managed to get access at the injury and applied pressure with the torn strip of his shirt.
"Ben, we have to get him to a hospital," Abigail said softly. She was trembling slightly; there was no way out of this hellhole, and Riley was going to die without treatment.
"I know," Ben said, his teeth gritted, "We're lucky Ian left, it'll be easier to get out without him,"
"But there's no way out!" Abigail cried. She could see the pained despair on Riley's face; it was the look of someone who knew he was going to die.
"Yes there is," Ben said, as calmly as one could be in his situation, "The first thing the builders would've done is created a second exit, for air and in case of cave-ins," Using Riley's discarded shirt, he wiped the sweat off both their faces, "Come on, Riley, stay with me," he added, noting that the younger man was struggling to stay conscious. He didn't know if Riley had sustained a concussion when he hit the ground, and currently Ben was in no position to find out.
"There's another way out?" Abigail asked. It dawned on her, "There were two lanterns in the Old North Church, the British came by sea. You fed him a fake clue!"
"Yes," Ben replied, "You see, Ian left us in an interesting and ironic position. The only way to save Riley is to find the treasure, because the treasure will be on the way out," He looked around at the walls, "And the way there is somewhere in this room. Abigail, please hold this and put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding," She moved to take the cloth from Ben, her forehead wrinkled in concern. If Ben was correct, everything would turn out alright. Riley would get to the hospital, they would find the treasure, and Ian would be arrested. But if Ben was wrong…?
"Through the All-Seeing Eye," Ben murmured, looking at one of the wall paintings. It was faded, but he knew what it was. He put his shoulder to the wall and pushed. To his surprise, there was a loud grinding sound and the panel moved, revealing a large dark space beyond the reach of the torch.
"Riley!" Abigail cried, patting the younger man's face lightly. Ben looked at her in alarm, "He's unconscious!" Ben nodded, worry shining in his eyes.
"Grab the torch and go in there. That's where we'll find the treasure, and the way out," Ben said, "I'll follow with Riley," He carefully picked up the younger man, as a parent carries a sleeping child to bed. Riley moaned softly and shifted, though he did not regain consciousness.
Abigail strode forward, trying to put on a brave façade. It wasn't that she was afraid of the darkness before her, but rather what she would find. And not dead bodies, either. She was quite sure there would be none of that. It was the prospect of not finding the way out, to be left forever by Ian to die of starvation, dehydration, or in Riley's case blood loss. Upon entering the room, she held the torch aloft and looked around. She stepped forward, allowing Ben and Riley into the room. But when she lit several of the other torches and saw the entirety of the room, something died within her.
"It's empty," she said, despair heavy in her voice. We're all going to die…
"It should be here…they would've put a second way out!" Ben whispered. Abigail had never thought she would hear hopelessness in Ben's voice. He carefully laid Riley out on the stone table in the middle of the room.
"I know, Ben. Ian will come back though, when he discovers that we lied. We can overtake him, and take the elevator out," Abigail said, at least attempting to be optimistic.
"Riley will be dead by then," Ben said, looking up at Abigail, "I never told him that I was sorry for yelling at him," Tears were brimming in his eyes, threatening to spill over, "I failed Riley, I failed you, I failed my grandfather, and my great-grandfather, and every other Gates,"
"No, you didn't. This entire place is at least proof that the treasure exists. And if we get out of this alive, we're going to keep searching for the treasure," Abigail protested, "I know that Riley trusted you, he'd follow you wherever you lead him. There has to be a way out, you said it yourself! It doesn't make sense!" With Abigail's words, Ben seemed to get a new heart.
"That's true, Abigail. There's a way out. We just have to find it," Ben said. Again, he resorted to the walls. There was something odd about one of them, "Look there, Abigail. Isn't there something missing?" Abigail moved to the wall. Indeed, there was a deep indentation on an ornamental disk.
"It would seem that way," she said, fingering it. She swapped places with Ben, continuing pressure on Riley's wound, as he moved to investigate the wall.
"Could it really be that simple?" he asked, "The secret lies with Charlotte," He reached into his pocket…to reveal nothing.
"What's wrong?" Abigail asked.
"I need the Meerschaum Pipe," Ben moaned, "Ian still has it," To his puzzlement, Abigail smiled.
"No, he doesn't!" she said. She reached into her own coat pocket and withdrew the Meerschaum Pipe, "It was in your pocket, but it fell out when you destroyed your shirt. I picked it up because it would've been a pity to lose it," she handed the pipe to him.
"Though, I have no idea how I ended up with the pipe," Ben said, snapping the stem of the pipe off. He didn't remember taking it from Ian. Ben carefully put the ornate bowl of the pipe into the indentation, and used the stem as a key to turn the circular engraving. Another grinding sound was heard as another wall moved, revealing yet again a dark space. Ben gave a devious look to Abigail, who grinned in spite of herself.
"The treasure!" she said. Ben nodded.
"You stay here with Riley, I'll go get help," Ben said, taking the torch. Abigail opened her mouth to protest, but knew that it was in Riley's best interest that someone stayed with him. Ben took a torch off the wall and vanished into the darkness. Abigail could only hope that he made it back in time.
Ben hated to "ruin the moment", but he wasted no time in hurrying into the newly discovered room. Though he had a limited range of vision with the torchlight, he knew instantly what he had found. The suggestive glints of light beyond the torch range gave him enough proof. It was the Templar treasure, the object that so many generations of Gates had searched for. It was the object of his dreams. He strode forward, his previous mission half forgotten in the amazement of it all. He noticed a long line of gunpowder extending into the darkness. Remembering his previous experience with the gunpowder barrels on the Charlotte, he dipped the torch into the vase. The fire immediately ate up the gunpowder, racing along the trail and illuminating the room. Ben was speechless. There was so much treasure…But what drew his attention first was the stairs. He nearly cheered aloud when he saw them.
As he hurried for the stairs, he wished that Abigail and Riley could've been there with him. He could picture in his mind Abigail making a beeline for a rack of scrolls. "Scrolls from the Library of Alexandria…but that's impossible!" He could picture her saying. And Riley would probably be drawn to one of the statues: "A large, greenish blue man, with a strange goatee that's probably significant somehow" He would probably hug it too; it was such a Riley thing to do. And, of course, there were the stairs. He wasted no time in ascending them.
Back above ground, someone had finally noticed the desecration of Parkington Lane's tomb. As he inspected one of the skeletal hands and wondered who, or what would do such a thing, there was a thumping from behind a nearby tomb. The man's mind was flooded with images from every horror movie he had ever seen, with zombies and ghosts killing people. There was a crash as the stone erupted and a person came out. The man jumped, clutching the skeletal hand in fear. The man gave a half-apologetic grin.
"Excuse me, do you have a cell phone? My best friend and my girlfriend are still down there, and one of them is badly wounded!"
Not even half an hour later, Ben was sitting within Trinity Church, above ground this time, holding the Declaration and watching the FBI agent make his way down the aisle.
"Hello, Benjamin Gates," the FBI agent said, waving slightly, "My name is Agent Sadusky, and I understand you have recovered the Declaration of Independence?" Ben nodded as the detective took a seat next to him.
"Yes, but I did not steal it," Ben said, knowing that he didn't cut a very uncompromising figure. A large portion of his shirt was missing, he was covered in dirt and dust, and there were several bloodstains on his clothes.
"We heard from your father all about the Templar treasure, and I must admit it is a fairly far-fetched story. But how did you end up with the Declaration, if you did not steal it?" Agent Sadusky asked.
"Do you mind if I hold off on this story? My best friend is in the hospital undergoing surgery to remove a bullet," Ben said, offering Sadusky the Declaration. Sadusky sighed.
"I'm sorry, Ben, but this is an investigation. I'm sure you care about your friend, a Mr. Riley Poole I presume, but if you wish to remove any implications against yourself, Mr. Poole, and Dr. Abigail Chase, you should relate how you ended up with this important part of American history," It was Ben's turn to sigh, before quickly leaping into a series of events, careful to iterate that it was Ian who stole the Declaration, and how Ian had kidnapped Riley, shot him, and abandoned the three of them down below Trinity Church.
"It truly is an amazing story. I assume you found the treasure?" Sadusky asked. Ben nodded.
"It's about ten stories beneath your feet," he said, glancing down.
"Now then, I can't let you leave, under the pretenses that I have to arrest you," Sadusky said, shaking his head as Ben began to rise.
"But…" Ben began.
"However, you do happen to have in your hand one your greatest bargaining chip," Sadusky added. Ben shook his head, remembering how Ian had used Riley.
"Instead of an offer, how about a bribe? Say…ten billion dollars," Ben said. Sadusky smiled.
"You truly did find the treasure then," Sadusky replied. Ben nodded.
"I want all of this taken off Dr. Chase's record. Everything. She deserves to keep her job, and it was her doing her job that got her into this mess. Finder's credit goes to the entire Gates family, with the assistance of Riley Poole. And I do expect his hospital bill to be paid for," Ben said, half-smiling. If he knew Riley, the moment the young man regained consciousness he'd be clamoring for a way out of the hospital.
"And for you?" Sadusky asked.
"I really don't want to go to prison. I can't even begin to describe how much I don't want to go to prison," Ben said. Sadusky sighed.
"Somebody has to go to prison," Sadusky said. Ben smiled suddenly.
"If you have a helicopter, I can give you someone,"
Riley could've sworn someone was calling his name. The last thing he remembered was Abigail pressing the bloody cloth to his shoulder, looking very worried. Then there was a loud grinding sound…but that could've been just his imagination. They were still trapped down beneath the Trinity graveyard.
"Riley?" the voice asked again. It sounded like Abigail.
"They caught Ian, Riley," a second voice said, "We found the treasure. I bought you a new car," Riley would've laughed. He was definitely in heaven if Ben had bought him a new car.
"He's waking up!" Abigail cried. Well, if there was a new car in the offer…
"Come on, Riley, that thing is beeping too fast for you to still be unconscious," Ben said. There it was again, that smug know-it-all-ness that Riley needed to beat somehow. Wait. If there were a beeping thing, he'd have to be in a hospital. To be in a hospital, that would have to mean that they had escaped the underground passageway. Maybe they had found the treasure! Maybe he did have a new car after all!
Abigail could've done a victory dance when she saw Riley's eyes open, "Riley, you probably have been sitting there pretending to be unconscious just to bask in how worried we were about you," she scolded. Riley grinned.
"Dude, where's my car?" he asked, attempting a joke. Abigail and Ben both grinned, though whether it was in humor or relief Riley wasn't sure.
"Still at the dealership," Ben replied, "I didn't think you'd want me to drive it home. At any rate, you won't be in any condition to drive until your shoulder heals," Riley grimaced at the memory.
"So, I assume you found the treasure?" Riley asked.
"All of it. And Ian and his cronies got arrested for kidnapping, several counts of attempted murder, and theft. Theft of the Declaration, that is," Abigail smiled.
"So, how soon are you going to spring me?" Riley asked. Abigail rolled her eyes, and Ben gave a half-smile. Riley was definitely back.
I think that was a good note to end it on. Next chapter; Riley leaves the hospital and is aquatinted with his Ferrari!
HYPE COMPELS YOU TO REVIEW! OR ELSE SHE'LL SMACK YOU WITH A FISH AND FORCE YOU TO DO HER ALGEBRA 3-4 HOMEWORK!