The three sat outside the Lincoln Memorial, pondering Ben's choice. Y/n thought this was crazy, but would anyone ever listen to her? No.
"This is huge," Riley said. "It's prison huge. You are gonna go to prison, you know that?"
"Yeah, probably."
Riley shrugged lightly. "So that would bother most people."
"He's not most people, Riley."
"Ian's gonna try and steal it. And if he succeeds, he'll destroy the Declaration. The fact is, the only way to protect the Declaration is to steal it. It's upside down." Ben sat next to Riley on the steps. "I don't think there's a choice."
"Ben, it's like stealing a national monument. Okay? It's like stealing him," Riley explained, gesturing to the Lincoln statue. "It can't be done. Not shouldn't be done. It can't be done. Let me prove it to you."
*Time Skip*
"Okay, Ben, pay attention. I've brought you to the Library of Congress. Why? Because it's the biggest library in the world. Over 20 million books."
"That, and it's absolutely stunning," Y/n smiled, looking up at the ceiling for the billionth time. Riley sent a soft smile her way before looking back to Ben.
"And they're all saying the same exact thing. Listen to Riley. What we have here, my friend, is an entire layout of the archives. Short of builders' blueprints. You've got, uh, construction orders, phone lines, water and sewage, it's all here," Riley told mostly Ben. "Now, when the Declaration is on display, okay, it is surrounded by guards and video monitors and little families from Iowa and little kids on their eighth-grade field trip. And beneath an inch of bulletproof glass is an army of sensors and heat monitors that will go off if someone gets too close with a high fever."
"Scary."
"When it's not on display, it is lowered into a four-foot-thick concrete, steel-plated vault..." Riley adjusted his glasses as he continued. "Which happens to be equipped with an electric combination lock and biometric access-denial systems."
"You know, Thomas Edison tried and failed nearly 2,000 times to develop the carbonized cotton-thread filament for the incandescent light bulb."
"Edison?"
Ben nodded. "When asked about it, he said, 'I didn't fail, I found out 2,000 ways how not to make a light bulb.' But he only needed to find one way to make it work." Ben handed an open book to Riley, pointing to the page. "The Preservation Room. Enjoy. Go ahead." Y/n gave Ben a look before leaning towards Riley a little to look at the book. "Do you know what the Preservation Room is for?"
"Delicious jams and jellies?" Riley asked sarcastically. Y/n covered her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing too loud, which made Riley smile, before looking back to the book.
"No. That's where they clean, repair and maintain all the documents and the storage housings when they're not on display or in the vault. Now, when the case needs work, they take it out of the vault, directly across the hall, and into the Preservation Room. The best time for us, or Ian, to steal it would be during the gala this weekend when the guards are distracted by the VIPs upstairs. But we'll make our way to the Preservation Room, where there's much less security."
"Huh. Well, if Ian, uh... Preservation... Hmm. The gala. This might be possible," Riley said, looking at Ben.
"Crazy, but possible."
"It might."
*Time Skip*
Y/n and Riley exited the red van, carrying the supplies they needed in a backpack. They headed down one of the escalators, each one replaying the plan over and over in their heads. Y/n took a deep breath, steadying her nerves.
"You doing okay?" Riley asked.
"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"
He glanced her way, taking notice of the way a tiny look of nervousness crossed her face as she regained her composure. He could tell she wasn't okay, but if he said anything, she'd tell him to drop the subject and move on.
Heading into one of the control rooms of the subway station, they took extra care to be as quiet as possible. Riley sat down, pulling out his laptop as Y/n stood beside him, looking at the floor.
"Do you think we'll get caught?"
Riley chuckled softly. "I'd be concerned if we didn't. Not exactly like pick pocketing."
"Just anxious, you know? I don't want anyone to get in trouble."
Holding a set of wires in his left hand, he gently grabbed hers with his right. She glanced at him, biting her cheek to keep the redness from creeping into her face. "We'll be fine, okay? I promise."
She nodded slowly as Riley continued to do what he needed to prepare. He pressed keys on his laptop, and video feed popped up. "And we are in."
"Nicely done, Poole."
"Why thank you." He continued to feed the wire into the tube, glancing back and forth from his computer to the pipe. "There you are. Hello." He said the greeting in a British accent, causing Y/n to smile. He pressed another key, muttering, "The hallway." Then adjusted the wire to get different feed of the Preservation Room. "That's what I want." He placed the router in a hidden location, gathering his things and led Y/n back to the van.
He plugged a secondary wire into his computer once they were back in the vehicle and looked at the video feed from the live and the recorded. He fist bumped Y/n, his devious plan coming into action. "Game on."
"I should go get ready..." Y/n told him, frowning slightly.
"We'll see you there. Once Ben has the Document, they might suspect you as well, so you'll need to get out of there as soon as possible."
"Got it." She pulled open the sliding door, hopping out. Before she closed it, Riley called out to her.
"Wait!"
"Yeah?"
He handed her a small box, explaining. "Earpiece. So you can hear what's going on."
"Thanks, Riley. See you later!"
*Time Skip*
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Ben, are you sure that we should-" Riley was cut off by Ben closing the door to the van, but paused. "Ben? What is it?" Riley looked out the door as well, eyes focusing in the same direction Ben's was, and he froze. "That- that can't be-"
"Y/n? I do believe it is." The two men gazed at the figure approaching the crosswalk. In the city lights, her glittering golden gown shimmered like stars. Her h/l h/c hair was neatly styled, not too fancy, but not too simple, just perfect. Some might confuse her for a Goddess, had they not known who she was. She glanced over at the red van, placing the earbud in her ear and winking softly.
She began to walk across the street, being cautious to watch for oncoming cars. Ben waited a minute to head in so it didn't seem suspicious to anybody. He shut the van door, leaving a slightly starstruck Riley behind.
"Riley," Ben said into the earpiece. "Can you hear me?"
"Unfortunately, yeah. We're all set in here."
"What's my job, boys?" Y/n asked.
"Try to keep Abigail distracted. We don't need her alerting anyone that the Declaration is gone."
"Yes, Mr. Gates!" Y/n said in a mocking tone. "I really hope this works..."
