Chapter Six: Everybody Loves Rico

Miley was pretty miserable in the three weeks Artemis was unconscious. It was like she had lost half her life and most nights Lilly heard her sleep talking about the life she used to have. Lilly was also pretty hung up. Not being Lola meant no free samples at shops and no meeting famous celebs.

Although it seemed like life wasn't going to be like it was ever again for Miley, it is always darkest before the dawn and as soon as they dealt with the crazy lunatic who was trying to kill her, she can go back to her old life.

Lilly was currently living at Miley's because when her mom got a job and was moving to Atlanta, it was either that, living at her dad's which was an hour away, or staying at Miley's where she could still date Oliver and stay with her best friend.

When they got the message that Artemis had awoken, the two of them were eating breakfast with Jackson and Oliver who had been surfing with Lilly that morning.

Just as Miley was about to put a huge chunk of bacon into her mouth, there was a knock on the door. Miley grumbled under her breath, laying the fork down on her plate and went to go and open it. No one was there.

"Hello?" she said uncertainly. Then someone flickered into the visible spectrum. It was Holly.

"Hi," said Holly. "We just came to tell you that Artemis is awake and fine and that we are here to help track down your assassin." Miley smiled in relief.

"Fantastic," she replied. "But what do you mean by 'we'?" Holly looked around.

"Arty!" she said. "Take off the cam foil." Artemis appeared directly beside Holly.

"No need to yell, Holly," he teased. "I'm right here." Miley raised her eyebrows, sensing something else between them.

"Well, come on in," she said. "Everyone in the house knows you." Holly and Artemis followed Miley in and joined them at the table. Artemis, being the genius, got down to business straight away.

"As you probably know," he started. "I have been out for a while so I will not be as up to date as you." He glanced around the table, making sure that he made eye contact with everyone. "But one thing I do know is the assassin is either a fairy or is hired by one and that they do not know that Miley Stewart is Hannah Montana which is a huge advantage. Also as most of The People now know you secret, I am assuming that the assassin has been mesmerised by a fairy to do their or should I say her dirty work and she has been on the surface so hasn't been watching PPTV." Holly's eyes widened.

"You're not suggesting that it's…"

"I'm not suggesting anything," interrupted Artemis. "But she seems the most likely person." Holly shook her head.

"I don't want it to be but I will bet my pension that it is." Artemis smirked.

"Are you sure you want bet your pension again, Holly," he said. "Remember what happened last time?" Holly glared at him, a twinkle in her eye.

"You know very well that because you thought of sending the note, Mulch came." Artemis winked.

"Well, you still better be careful, we may still be dealing with time travel if we're not careful with her." Miley dared to ask.

"Who are you talking about?" she asked. Artemis and Holly both shuddered.

"Opal Koboi," they said simultaneously.

"Who's she?" Lilly asked. Artemis scowled.

"Opal is our old enemy who has tried to kill us on numerous occasions." Holly shivered.

"Or left someone or something else to do her dirty work," she said and then turned to Artemis. "And you look cute when you frown." Artemis looked slightly taken aback.

"Really?"

"Yeah," said Holly. "Little creases appear." She put her hand on his forehead. "Just there." Artemis tried to look at her hand but went cross eyed in the attempt.

"Right," he said awkwardly. Holly removed her hand, smirking at his confused face.

"Now, if it is Opal," she said, her face serious again. "Won't we need retrieval one on standby?" Artemis thought for a moment.

"Perhaps," he said absently. "But maybe we don't." Holly looked at him as if he was mad.

"Have you completely lost it, Artemis?" she asked. "If it's Opal, we won't be able to face her alone." Artemis patted her reassuringly on the arm.

"Holly, the only reason is because having a retrieval team there will make it harder to sneak around if we need to. We could have another couple of officers, but not the whole of retrieval one." Holly nodded, seeing his logic.

"Time travel?" Jackson asked. Holly rolled her eyes; this guy wasn't the smartest demon in the colony.

"Yes Mud Boy," she said as if talking to an infant. "Time Travel."

"But time travel hasn't been inv…" Jackson started.

"You can do anything with magic," Artemis interjected. "You just need to understand the consequences." He gave Holly a meaningful look. "For example accelerated aging and the fact that it is hard to reassemble bodies if you are the warlock sending us into the past." Everyone at the dining room table, bar Holly, had the same surprised look on their face.

"You time travelled?" Lilly finally managed to spurt out.

"Yes," replied Holly.

"Twice," Artemis added.

"Wow," Oliver said intelligently. "Did it hurt?"

"Not really, there's more a sense of belonging when you're going through the time stream, and a sense of loss once you're out of it," replied Holly.

"All your particles are separated into tiny bits but your intellect stays in tact, it is very hard for the warlock to reassemble the bodies of the life forms going through the time stream," said Artemis. Miley, surprisingly figured something out in her head.

"But if it is hard to reassemble your bodies, won't there be the chance that your molecules a mucked up and your clothes are stuck to you for life?"

"Good question," replied Artemis. "In fact Holly and I switched eyes in the time stream on the way back from one of our adventures." He gestured to his hazel eye. "Also about your clothes thing, yes we had to be careful." Unfortunately for them, they both went a telltale red; Holly tried to cover it up by shovelling some bacon into her mouth.

"And…" Jackson prompted.

"We just had to be careful," said Artemis. "Now, if we could leave the subject of Holly and I time travelling and move onto something else?" Miley smiled evilly and winked at Lilly.

"Like the fact that you two are acting really weird and are about to tell us why? She asked. Holly froze, the fork stopping halfway to her lips.

"What?" she asked. Miley smiled.

"I can read people," she said knowingly. Holly nodded uncertainly.

"Right," she said. "Now can we get back onto the subject of Opal trying to kill you?" she asked aggressively. Artemis patted her on the arm.

"Calm down Holly," he said. "I think we should bring them down to Haven for safety while we try and solve this mystery. That way even if Opal did know Miley's secret, she wouldn't know where she was." Holly opened her mouth to object, but closed it again.

"Fine," she said. "They can stay in the apartment next to mine, I'm sure the manager wont mind."

"So," said Robby Ray who had just entered the kitchen. "When do we leave?"

OOO

When the heroes and Jackson had arrived in Haven, they were lead straight to Holly's apartment building. Once the group from Malibu were given their rooms, Artemis followed Holly to her's.

"So where am I sleeping?" he asked. Holly smiled nervously.

"My couch," she said apologetically. Artemis's eyes widened to the limits.

"I have to sleep on a couch?" he asked. Holly rolled her eyes.

"Yes rich boy, a couch." Artemis grumbled under his breath.

"Can't I just sleep with you?" he asked. Holly glared at him.

"What did you just ask?" Artemis gulped, realising what it had sounded like.

"I mean, we could just share the bed," he said hopefully.

"I have a single bed, Mud Boy," said Holly. "And I'm not sharing it with you." Artemis sighed in defeat.

"Fine," he said. "But if I'm sore in the morning, I'm blaming you." Holly smirked.

"What morning," she said. "We're underground, remember?"

OOO

A few minutes later, everyone was fast asleep, except Miley. She hadn't been Hannah for ages and everything was starting to become overwhelmingly hard for her to deal with. It may have been that, or the fact that she hadn't slept properly for a while, that she snuck away that night. It wasn't that she was purposely trying to get herself killed. It was more Hannah, pleading to be free. So with the help of an unsuspecting LEP officer (Grub) she got to the surface and to Malibu, where she twittered her fans.

"Rico!" she said to the boy at the counter of Rico's. Rico looked up.

"Heyo, Bubble Brain," he said joyfully. "Want to try some of Rrrrico's

Enchiladas?" Miley shook her head.

"No Rico," she said. "I was just told by Hannah Montana on Twitter that there is going to be a show tonight and she wants everyone to come. Here check the tweet," she said, passing him her Hannah phone. Rico looked at it for a few seconds and then looked back up at her.

"You're Hannah Montana," he said. Miley's eyes widened.

"No that's ridiculous," she said. Rico shook his head in disbelief.

"It makes perfect sense, this is Hannah Montana's phone and you haven't sent the tweet yet. You're Hannah Montana," he said again for good measure. Miley put her hand over his mouth.

"Fine," she said. "I am. But please don't tell anyone, it's a matter of life or death." And with that, Rico told all his customers about the concert and Miley went and opened her house with her spare key to get into her Hannah closet. She couldn't very well sing without her wig or her Hannah outfits.

Meanwhile, Rico was serving a customer that was particularly interested in the Hannah Montana concert.

"What time is this concert?" the person asked. Rico couldn't tell if they were man or women, but they were scary beyond anyone's imagination no matter what gender they were.

"Seven," he answered. "Why? Are you a fan?"

"Only her No.1," replied the person. "Now tell me who she really is," they said in the most amazing and soothing voice Rico had ever heard. And their eyes were overpowering, he couldn't tell what colour, but they had almost a magical quality to them, he tried to fight the blue glow but found himself drawn to it.

"Mmmmile…" he said and then he fainted.

At six fifty five, Miley was standing in the wings, waiting to go on stage. This concert was one without her band or her usual family and friends. Hannah Montana was all alone with her karaoke CD and hundreds of adoring fans. She first sung Let's Do This, then Rockstar and her third, I Got Nerve.

"I know where I stand, I know who I am I would never run away when life gets bad." Miley's eyes widened, she wasn't running away but she sure wasn't being brave. "It's everything I see, every part of me, going to get what I deserve." She was going to get what she deserved for doing this, most likely death. "I got nerve." She spoke the last part, staring out at her audience. There was an assassin out there trying to kill her and she was singing as Hannah Montana in Malibu when her family and friends in Haven thought that she was asleep. "Who am I kidding?" she finally said aloud. "I don't have nerve, I am being an idiot."

She used the advice Artemis had told her in the shuttle going down to Haven and tried to make eye contact with everyone in the audience. "Someone is trying to kill me and I am up here on the stage risking my life, while people have been risking theirs to save mine. There is a difference between 'having nerve' and 'being stupid'. Being brave sometimes means staying at home while people who are qualified deal with the situation. I took the advice of someone who I long ago considered as an enemy, and now I still do. It's my evil side and even though not very many people see it, it is there and I-I have hurt a lot of people in the past, but today, I hit rock bottom. So if y'all don't mind, I'm going to go and save myself so what my friends did for me, wasn't in vain."

She made a small curtsy and headed for the safety of the wings. But someone got to her first. Many members of the audience gasped as there was a gun blast and Hannah Montana fell to her knees just short of the wings. All they heard from the pop star as she fainted was the word 'Magic' whispered hoarsely through the microphone she was still holding tightly in her right hand.

Sorry it's so short, I had to leave it there. Shout out to Andrea and Livne who will hopefully be reading this. I hope you enjoyed, I'll update soon

Live Long and Prosper

-Captain Short