Hello people of the Interwebs! So glad you could join us for the third and final installment of my Hannah Montana/Stargate Atlantis crossover! Who knew I'd write three of them? Particularly because I was originally planning on killing Miley off at the end of the first one . . . But you know how it is . . . Anyway, I want to thank my sister, Valborga S. H. Wagner is her Fanfiction name (she doesn't post or review, she just lurks . . .), for helping me with this. Also thank you to my Beta, my mom, Katmom, for editing it for me. We had blast writing it and hope you enjoy reading it! You can probably understand this one without reading the first two, but it would help. There are going to be six chapters and one or two epilogues. I'll be posting every other day. And of course I do not own either Hannah Montana or Stargate Atlantis . . .
You Said Who's Here Now?
Chapter 1
~*~Miley~*~
A twinge of pain woke me from sleep. My leg was mostly recovered from my last trip to Atlantis, but apparently it takes quite a while to get over a gunshot wound. When I got the bandage off, Jackson and Dad were so shocked that they never even admitted what it was, they just went with the cover-up. I gently massaged the ache before pulling myself out of bed. It was almost five thirty anyway.
I flipped the television on so I would have background noise as I did my morning exercises. The murmur of voices was calming in the quiet of the morning before Dad and Jackson got up. The exercising helped stretch my leg and kept me in shape for when I next went back to Atlantis. It kind of seemed inevitable. But my dance choreographer had never been prouder of me.
As I was finishing up, my phone buzzed; Jake was calling.
"Morning!" I said, a little out of breath.
"Hey, babe, just wanted to catch you before you left for school."
"I'm just about to make breakfast. So how's the filming going? I haven't heard from you in awhile."
"Been super busy, you know how it is. Plus, the hotel has the worst cell connection."
"Are you doing destination filming? I thought it was all green screen?"
"It is. I guess we really haven't talked in a while! I'm just staying at a hotel because my house alarm has gone off like half a dozen times and there were signs of a break in or something like that, so the police said I should stay away until they catch whoever's doing it."
"That's freaky. Jake Ryan fanatic?" I asked as I poured milk into a bowl of cereal.
"That's what the police suspect. So, enough about me. How have you been, secret lives and all that?"
"What do you mean, 'secret lives' plural?"
"Miley, Hannah," he lowered his voice, "intergalactic pop star."
"I never thought of it that way, but all three of me are pretty good."
We then proceeded to talk about nothing until Jackson came down and started making faces and mocking me.
That night I was in my dressing room getting ready for my concert.
"Do you think I should wear Cotton Candy Pink or Dazzle Berry Fuchsia?" I asked holding up the two different lipsticks.
"Does it matter?" Oliver replied while he continued trying to get his fake goatee to stick. Lilly and I just stared.
"Yes, it does, and totally the Dazzle Berry Fuchsia!" Lilly told me, her purple wig trying to shift off center as she nodded her head.
"Whatever." Oliver rolled his eyes and opened a magazine. "Hey, look at this article, 'HANNAH MONTANA INTERGALATIC POP STAR!' What's up with that?"
Lilly and I went to look over his shoulder. That's when something caught my eye.
"Give me that!" I ordered. Oliver jumped but complied.
It was a tabloid but there was a picture that couldn't be what I thought it was. I snatched the magazine from him and read the caption below the picture.
A body was discovered and identified as 24 year old Jill Smolders who has been missing for 48 hours. Her remains appear to have been aged to death. There are no released theories on what happened to her. This is not the first body to be found this way. There has been a string of four others all in the Malibu area. Is there a life sucking serial killer lurking in the shadows?
"No." My heart fluttered in my chest. There was no way people would ever believe this; it will be like the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot. It was a tabloid. No one really thinks this stuff is true.
"Miley?" Lilly asked. I barely heard her.
"What is it?" Oliver added.
I just couldn't take my eyes off the photo. There was only one thing that could have committed a murder like this. The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees.
My friends jumped back as I suddenly dropped the paper and sprung for my cell. I dialed the number from memory.
"Pick up, pick up," I muttered so quietly that Lilly and Oliver could probably only see my lips moving.
The phone rang several times before the automatic answering machine finally picked up.
"Stewart, Miley calling for John Sheppard."
"This option is not applicable at the moment. Please try again later."
"Sweet Niblets!" I mumbled under my breath. "It's an emergency."
"Please try again later."
This is the stinkin' government; don't they know I'd only call if it was important?
"Ms. Montana, you're on in five." The stage manager called.
I slammed my phone down on the desk and took a shaky breath. This was not the time to freak out. I had a concert to perform. This had to take a backseat for a few hours.
No matter how much I tried to convince myself of that, my stomach was still doing back flips and it wasn't from stage fright.
"Hannah, are you okay?" Lilly asked.
"Yeah. I just thought I saw something that I didn't." I saw that she didn't believe me, but I didn't have time to worry about that. I had a stadium filled with fans that needed a bright and bubbly Hannah Montana, not a serious and responsible Dr. Miley Stewart.
The good thing about lying for so many years about being Hannah Montana and going to a secret military base in a different galaxy, not once but twice, meant that lying through one concert was as easy as pie. Or Pi. After my stints in Atlantis, high school math was easy.
Oliver and Lilly were still worried about me after the show, but I pretended everything was fine. But as soon as they were gone and I was alone in my room, my phone was in hand and I was dialing again.
Finally, I got through to a real person.
"Hello?"
"Who are you and how did you get this number?" a man's voice asked.
"Yes! Finally! This is Miley Stewart and I really need to—"
"How old are you?"
"Nineteen, but that's not im—"
"Listen, I don't have to deal with prank calling teenagers."
"But I'm not—" The line went dead.
I pressed my face into my pillow and let out a small scream. Once I got that out of my system, I grabbed my laptop and went to Google. There wasn't much on the deaths because of the obvious. Who would believe them besides nuts and kooks?
My alarm went off, signifying that I had spent all night researching. Only now did I feel how tired I was. I could miss my workout for one day.
I shut my computer and pulled my blanket up over my head. Stupid government. I have higher security clearance than most military personnel! I'm not just some stupid teenager. Ugh!
When my alarm went off again I really did have to drag myself out of bed. Dad was in the kitchen.
"Decided to sleep in today?"
"Couldn't fall asleep last night," I replied as I rubbed my eyes.
"To pumped from the concert?"
"Yeah. It sure was something special." He had no idea.
I arrived at school and I caught Lilly and Oliver exchange glances.
"Guys, I'm fine. I just thought I recognized someone in the paper. It wasn't them, trust me."
"Okay."
"Whatever you say."
"Anyway, so did you see the hot sound guy last night?" I asked Lilly to take her mind off the previous conversation.
"I know. Total hottie! Did you see him do a hair flip?" She sighed. Oliver once again rolled his eyes. "Hey, we should go to the mall after school today. I feel a new pair of shoes just calling my name."
"And maybe a matching purse?" I added.
"Definitely!"
"There's a new videogame store…" Oliver said.
"I guess you can come, too," Lilly told him.
The Galleria was as busy as ever. Teens moved from store to store in little packs. As per usual there were several couples making out on the railing near the fountain.
"Ooh! Look at this dress; is it me?" Lilly asked.
"I'm going over there to look at manly stuff. You know, like sports equipment and videogames," Oliver said and popped his collar.
"Run along now." I gave him a hurry-up wave.
As if life wasn't complicated enough, I felt a chill run down my spine. Quickly my gaze scanned the mall. Nothing unusual; just my paranoia getting the better of me.
I started to turn back to the display when I saw it. There was a person in a black jacket with the hood pulled up. Nothing abnormal. But then there was a flash of unnatural white hair and a glimpse of greenish shiny skin.
I felt the cold glass against my bare shoulders as I stumbled backward.
"Miley?" Lilly asked, sounding concerned.
In a blink the figure was gone. Now you're imagining things… No, I was sure I wasn't. There was at least one Wraith around here. A mall full of teenagers with their whole lives ahead of them must have been some draw.
This just proved that I really needed to find a way to get in touch with Sheppard.
"Ugh, just a really bad headache. We should go home and since I drove, you guys have to take me."
I sounded like a diva, but I needed to get my friends out of there.
Lilly rolled her eyes, but complied. "Yeah, of course."
She texted Oliver and he agreed to meet us at the entrance.
They were both looking at me oddly, but I didn't care, I just needed to get them to safety.
I hurried them to the car, still complaining about my headache. When I saw a political bumper sticker, a plan started to form in my head.
