So I'm an idiot and instead of working on Now what do I do?, I've been starting new fanfictions. It's an idiot move on my part because I'll spread myself too thin trying to get every story updated and then every story will suck. So, I'll forget about the other stories until I finish this one. Sound good to you? Also, this chapter includes the deleted scene that can be found on the DVD and YouTube, so I suggest getting familiar with it before reading or prepare to be confused. I made this one long for you because I kept you waiting. Enjoy!
They all scattered around the basement once down there. Valerie wandered around the room with the rest of them, searching for a way to the treasure.
"How do we get beneath the church?" Valerie asked.
"Start digging." Riley said, pointing to the ground. Valerie chuckled.
Valerie was looking at the tombstones on the wall when she heard Riley yelling about Parkington Lane and pointing at one of the tombstones.
"Ben!" Ian said as he went to check out the tombstone.
"Parkington Lane. He was a third degree master mason of the Blue Lo- Hey!" Ben moved quickly out of the way as Viktor crashed a wrench through the stone.
Shaw pulled the remaining pieces away and grabbed for the coffin. Ben, Ian, Viktor, Phil, and Powell helped him get it out. Then the bottom broke and a skeleton fell out.
"Eww." Valerie said, holding her nose to the smell of death.
"Careful no one steps in him." Powell said. "Okay, put it down."
They lowered the coffin on top of the body and everyone looked into the tomb. Shaw shined his flashlight inside.
"Who wants to go down the creepy tunnel inside the tomb first?" Riley said.
"He's right." Valerie said, backing away. "I'm not going in there. Look at all those spider webs! I'm terrified of spiders!"
"You're really going to pass up finding one of the greatest treasures of all time, because of a stupid fear?" Shaw asked her.
"It's not stupid! Did you know that some people are more afraid of spiders then they are of death?" Valerie retorted.
"See? Stupid. You're coming." Shaw said.
Valerie huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. Ian smiled at their bickering.
"Relax, Val." Ian told her, wrapping his arm around her waist. "I'll protect you." Then he turned to the others. "Right, McGregor, Viktor, you stay here and if anyone should come out without me, well . . . use your imagination." He smirked and turned to Ben. "Shall we?"
Ben went in first, then Ian, then Valerie, then Shaw and the others. Ian grabbed Valerie's hand and walked in front of her once they got in. Soon there was something collapsed in their way and Ben stopped to help people over. Ian led the way cautiously into the darkness.
"If you fall, I'm running." Valerie said.
Ian laughed. "That isn't something a good girlfriend would do."
"Well a good boyfriend wouldn't have dragged his girlfriend into a dark, creepy tunnel filled with spiders, so I guess we're even." She said back. He laughed again.
Soon Ben came back up front and the stone floor turned to wood. Ben led the way over a hole in the floor that Valerie cautiously avoided.
"What's this?" Valerie asked, pointing to some big thing in front of them.
"It's a chandelier." Ben said.
He used the torch he was holding to light the chandelier then he handed the torch to Ian, who passed it to Powell. Ben undid the rope to the chandelier and it slowly went into the center of the room. Everyone could see now that they were standing at the top of a long winding staircase, whose end could not be seen.
"I'm leaving." Valerie said as she looked down. She looked on the verge of tears. "I'm terrified of heights and falling." She started to back up, but Ian held onto her hand.
"I don't want you to get hurt running away too fast." Ian told her. "Just relax. I'll hold onto you and make sure that nothing happens to you."
"But this place has to be like two hundred years old! With all this old rotting wood!" A couple of tears were forming in her eyes.
"Listen, me and Shaw will be in front and behind you as we walk down. We'll hold onto you and make sure nothing happens to you." Ian reasoned with her.
She struggled to calm down and finally nodded. Riley looked at her sadly, having no idea why Ian was making her come when it was clearly hurting her emotionally. Everyone else had been having some conversation about the room while this was going on.
"Right, let's go. What are we waiting for?" Ian said.
Powell handed the torch to Patrick and motioned for him to go down.
"I'm not going out on that thing. 200 years of termite damage and rot." He protested.
"Dad, do what he says." Ben said.
Patrick started down the stairs with Powell, Ian, Valerie, Shaw, Ben, Riley, and Abigail behind him in that order. A stair he stepped on broke and Valerie jumped.
"Watch your step." He said before continuing.
They continued walking. Valerie was holding tightly onto both Ian and Shaw's hands with hers. Soon there was a rumbling and everyone stopped.
"Subway." Ian said. Ben nodded his head in confirmation and they continued walking.
The wood beneath Shaw's feet crumbled and he would've fallen to his death had Valerie not had such a death grip on his hand. It only increased as she struggled to keep him and herself from falling over the edge. She let go of Ian's hand to grab onto Shaw's other hand and Ian grabbed her waist as Powell held onto Ian. They all pulled and, after much struggling, got Shaw back onto solid ground. At least it was until it jerked forward and was about to fall.
"Get on the elevator!" Ian shouted at Powell. He looked at Ian like he was insane. "Jump!" Ian pushed him onto the nearby elevator.
He made it okay and motioned for the others to come on. Patrick passed the torch over before jumping himself. Then Shaw jumped and the walkway jerked again. Ian held tightly onto Valerie's waist and held her close to him as he jumped, making it just in time as the walkway tipped 90 degrees. Valerie continued to hold onto Ian tightly even after they were safely on the elevator.
"I'm sorry." Ian said to her. "Had I known that would've happened I never would've made you come."
"But, then Shaw would've died." She struggled to get out. Her eyes were tightly closed and her arms were wrapped around Ian's waist.
It seemed Ben, Riley, and Abigail had had their own problems with the falling walkway and were now farther back up the path.
"Ian, it's not worth it." Ben said.
Ian looked at the terrified Valerie and was about to agree when she interfered.
"I'd love to go back, but there is no way back!" She pointed to the walkway they had jumped off of and the missing section of wood and finally the piece of walkway that Ben had been on that collapsed as well.
"She's right. We have to go on." Shaw said.
Ben thought for a moment before saying, "Me, Riley, and Abigail will go and get help so you can get back here."
"I told McGregor and Viktor not to let anyone come back without me. We're going. Now get on the elevator." Ian said, pointing to the elevator by Ben.
Ben looked like he didn't want to, but he had to. So him, Riley, and Abigail got onto the elevator.
"Alright. Let's go down." Ian told Powell.
Powell started cracking the wheel to lower the elevator and Ben did the same a few seconds later. Valerie clung to Ian as they descended, terrified that the elevator would break and fall. The elevator did fall, but it wasn't the one Valerie was on. Ben's elevator suddenly jerked and they plummeted. Ben, Riley, and Abigail all screamed as they fell. The elevator stopped just as suddenly as it started, now hundreds of feet below Valerie, Ian, Patrick, and Powell.
"Get down there! Get down there!" Patrick said, pointing below them at his son.
Conversation was heard coming from Ben's elevator as Powell didn't move from the crank and Valerie still clung to Ian. Patrick looked around frantically for something to throw down to Ben since no one would help him. Soon a thud was heard and everyone looked below them, seeing that Riley had jumped onto the walkway from the elevator.
"That was easy." Riley said.
Ben went to hand him the Declaration when the elevator started falling again. When it stopped this time, half of it broke and Ben and Abigail were sliding off. Ben caught Abigail, but the Declaration looked like it was about to fall. Patrick looked away and started once again to look for something to throw down. With a look at Ian, Shaw went to help him. They needed Ben to find this treasure. They soon found a rope and lowered it just in time to save Ben from falling after he had dropped Abigail somewhere safe. Ben grabbed the rope and swung to where Abigail was.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I dropped you. I had to save the Declaration." Ben apologized to Abigail.
"No, don't be. I would have done the exactly the same thing to you." She told him.
"Really?" Ben asked.
"Gold digger." Valerie murmured into Ian. He chuckled.
"I would have dropped you both. Freaks." Riley said, walking over to where they were.
Powell lowered the elevator to where Ben, Abigail, and Riley were.
"Get on." Ian said, Valerie still clinging onto him. She had her eyes closed.
Riley took one look at her, the woman he loved, and nodded. He moved to get on, but Ben stopped him.
"Ian . . ." Ben pleaded.
"No, Ben. We had this discussion. There is no back. We have to go forward." Ian said.
Ben sighed in defeat and they all got on the elevator. Powell started to turn the wheel again and they went down. They reached an opening in the wall and Ben threw a rope to catch onto a post to pull them over to the side so they could go into the opening.
"Now what?" Riley said.
"This is . . . This is where it all leads." Patrick said.
Ben pulled the rope to get them closer to the side and tied it off so it would stay. He grabbed the torch from Abigail and started into the opening.
"Okay, let's go." Ben said.
They all got off of the elevator and into the room. Ian still held Valerie and helped her get off of the elevator slowly. Ben lit other torches with his torch so they could see the inside of the room. It was small, perhaps hexagonal in shape, and empty. They all walked around the room, examining the walls. Valerie detached herself from Ian and looked around. Patrick used a torch he had picked up to light the lantern in the middle.
"What is this?" Riley asked.
"So where's the treasure?" Powell asked.
Everyone looked at Ben, demanding an explanation.
"Well?" Ian asked. Valerie stood next to him.
Ben looked disappointed.
"This is it?" Riley said. "We came all this way for a dead end?" His voice rose for this sentence.
Ben sighed. "Yes."
Ian laughed in disbelief.
"There's gotta be something more."
"Riley, there's nothing more."
"Another clue, or-"
"No, there are no more clues! That's it, okay? It's over! End of the road. The treasure's gone. Moved. Taken somewhere else." Ben yelled at Riley.
"Maybe we could find it." Valerie asked quietly. She was still shaken up from before.
"You're not playing games with me, are you Ben? Hmm? You know where it is." Ian said.
"No." Ben said after a slight pause.
Ian turned to Powell and Shaw and muttered, "Okay, go." They ran back to the elevator and Ian grabbed Valerie by the arm, pulling her along so they could get on before Ben and the others could. Ian undid the rope, ignoring Ben and the others' pleas to not leave. Powell moved the elevator up so they couldn't get on.
"You can't just leave us here." Abigail reasoned.
"Yes I can. Unless Ben tells me the next clue." Ian said.
"There isn't another clue." Ben said.
"Ian, listen, why don't you come back down here and we can talk through this together?" Riley said.
Ian signaled to Shaw and Shaw drew his gun and pointed it at Riley.
"Don't speak again." Shaw said.
"Okay." Riley agreed.
"The clue. Where's the treasure?" Ian asked. "Ben?" Shaw pointed the gun at Ben. He said nothing and Shaw cocked the gun.
"The lantern." Patrick said.
"Dad . . ." Ben pleaded.
"The status quo has changed, son." Patrick said.
"Don't." Ben said.
Patrick ignored him and turned to Ian. "It's part of freemason teachings." Shaw lowered his gun. "In King Solomon's temple there was a winding staircase. It signified the journey that had to be made to find the light of truth." He pointed to the lantern. "The lantern is the clue."
"And what does it mean?" Ian asked.
"Boston. It's Boston." Ben said.
"The Old North Church is Boston, where Thomas Newton hung a lantern in the steeple, to signal Paul Revere that the British were coming. One if by lantern, two if by sea. One lantern. Under the winding staircase of the steeple, that's where we have to look."
"Thank you." Ian said and nodded at Powell to go back up.
"Wait." Valerie said and Powell stopped. "You just basically said what we just did. Staircase." She motioned to the stairs around them. "Light of truth." She pointed to the lantern. "Then you just added the whole Paul Revere thing. Which wasn't even right. The British came by sea, so it was two lanterns."
Ben and the others froze, she had figured it out. Ian, Shaw, and Powell all turned to look at them.
"So what I want to know is, why? Why would you lie?" Valerie asked.
"You're pointing guns at us and you want to know why we want you to leave?" Abigail said.
"Shove it, Blondie." Valerie said then turned to Ben. "You and Ian were friends. Then the whole thing with The Charlotte happened and you've been against us. We are after the same thing! Why do we have to be on different sides?"
"Because you tried to kill us!" Riley shouted and Shaw pointed his gun at Riley.
"Don't shoot him, Shaw. He used to be my friend. Before The Charlotte." She reached over and moved the gun so it pointed away from Riley.
A loud bang and smaller pings sounded off in a split second. Then Valerie flinched and her shirt around her shoulder turned red. Shaw's gun had accidentally gone off and bounced off of the stone walls before the bullet imbedded itself in Valerie's shoulder.
"Ow." She said and stumbled. Ian caught her.
"Oh god." Shaw said. "Ian, I'm so sorry. I must've left the gun cocked."
"Val! Val! Look at me!" Ian said, shaking her. Her eyes were closing. "Stay with me! Oh god." She had closed her eyes and they weren't opening. He turned to Powell. "Go up. We need to get her to a hospital!"
"You can't leave us here!" Patrick said.
"We don't have time to get you." Ian said, turning to Powell again. "Go!"
Then Riley jumped up onto the elevator. He pulled himself up and fully onto it.
"I'm not letting you leave with her like this. I gotta know if she's okay." Riley said.
Ian seemed about to argue, but instead went back to trying to wake Valerie. Ben and the others seemed to not want to be left behind and, after many attempts, they all made it onto the elevator.
"What are we waiting for? Go up!" Ian told Powell again and they began their ascend up and to the hospital.
I bet you all HATE me now. Waiting for updates just to get this HUGE cliffhanger. It's reaching the end now and I'll either have two or five more chapters.