Back at the police station, Thompson and Thomson informed Emma and Haddock that the criminal they brought in was an infamous crime lord named Felix Black, better known as "Black Cat." The police had been trying to catch him for years for smuggling drugs and weapons. As they were talking, a short man with a green coat and round spectacles came barging into the room.

"How incredibly dreadful!" the newcomer cried. "When I heard the news I came at once."

"Professor! What are you doing here?" the captain asked.

"My greatest fear?" the professor questioned. "I wouldn't go that far, Captain, but Tintin's kidnapping is quite alarming. Do you know who it was?"

Quite surprised and obviously a bit irritated, the captain sputtered out, "Black cat."

"No, my hat is green," the professor replied calmly. "But the kidnapper was a man named Felix Black. I'm surprised you didn't know considering I heard you helped to bring him in. Did he perhaps give you any useful information?"

"Just something about 'Green.'" He was clearly annoyed by the professor's inability to hear him properly.

"Mean? Well, I suppose it was rather mean of him to kidnap Tintin. Since he didn't seem to tell you anything I suppose I'll have to. You remember Green Co. the weapons manufacturer? It turns out that he's been smuggling weapons for them for years. Can you believe it? Such a highly regarded company using their power to make money illegally."

"I'm sorry, but what does any of this have to do with Tintin?" Emma inquired.

"Ah, you must be Emma. I am Professor Calculus. So sorry we had to meet under such dreadful conditions. As for how Tintin is involved, it stands to reason that since Black worked for Green Co. and kidnapping is far from his regular criminal activities..."

"Green Co. was behind Tintin's kidnapping."

"You are quite bright aren't you?"

"Wait just one second," Captain Haddock barked. "You can understand her just fine?" He waved his arm angrily in Emma's direction as he yelled in the professor's face.

Professor Calculus gave him a glare. "Captain, how rude! I insist you apologize to Miss Emma at once!" He turned to Emma, seemingly oblivious to the captain's protests behind him. "I'm sorry you had to hear such language. I'm afraid he can be a bit careless with his words at times. I suppose it's from being a captain for so long, though that's no excuse for poor manners on land."

Emma suppressed a laugh as Haddock muttered insults under his breath. She caught a few words: thundering, landlubber, and vegetarian of all things. She smiled to herself, organizing the information she'd just received in her mind.

"Well, we know where we're going," she said, happy to finally have a lead. "Let's go find Tintin!"

***

(IMPORTANT! So far this has been a pretty light story, despite the fact that a main character was kidnapped. That may be about to change. I'm not going to go into a great amount of detail, but I know some people get triggered pretty easily. Again, I didn't elaborate on anything too violent, but I wanted to put the warning out there just in case.)

When Tintin woke up, he was no longer tied to the chair. Instead, he found his hands were tied to a hook above him, his feet dangling inches from the ground. He failed to suppress a wave of panic. What had happened?

Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, Tintin went over the last thing he remembered in his mind. The man had been upset with his message in the video. He had stood to leave and then... The wall had exploded. Another wave of panic washed over him, and he swallowed hard to keep down the bile rising in his throat. As little sense as it made, it appeared he had been kidnapped from his kidnapper.

Tintin had little time to comprehend this new development as a door on the far side of the room had just swung open. The last thing he was expecting was for a petite woman to come in, but here she was, striding toward him with confidence. She stopped a few feet away, a cruel smile playing on her lips.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked.

"N-no," he managed to stutter out, hating that he was showing weakness here.

"My name," she told him slowly, "is Kelly. Kelly Green."

She gave him a moment to process this new information. Kelly Green. He was sure he had heard that name before, he just wasn't sure where. He kept his mouth shut and she spoke instead.

"That's okay," she said in a falsely sweet voice. "Didn't really expect you to remember. Green, not one of those names that leaves an impression on your mind." She sighed and examined her nails as she spoke, as if the subject weren't really worth her full attention. "I get it from my father, you know. Most people do, though I'm aware that's not always the case. Kale Green, and my mother, Ivy. I don't really expect you to recognize those names either. One you might find interesting, though, is my mother's maiden name. You don't by chance know anyone by the name of Rastapopoulos, do you?"

She looked up at his reaction and smiled at the shocked look on his face.

"Rastap-popoulos is-is your..."

"He's my uncle, yeah," she interjected. The smile had left her face as she looked at him with pure loathing. "You took him away from me."

"L-look," Tintin tried to say. "Y-your unc-cle was, was a-a bad man and..."

"And what!" she screeched. "He loved me, and you took him away. You have no idea how much I hate you-you..." she turned away from him, running her hands through her hair as she shook with rage.

Her focus temporarily away from him, Tintin took a moment to assess his situation. Kelly was bent on revenge against him. Sadly, he was in no position to fight back. He'd been kidnapped, not once, but twice, his arms ached from above him, and he was so weak he could barely form a coherent sentence.  If not for the adrenaline flooding his system, he probably would have passed out already. Instead, he watched as Kelly took deep calming breaths. She reached down and pulled something from her pocket and turned to face him, that calm, cruel smile once again crossing her face. Tintin hoped the helplessness he felt didn't show on his face as he saw what she was holding. It was a knife.

"I wanted to kill you," she admitted, a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob escaping her. "But then I realized, that would be too quick. I had to make you suffer, just like you made me suffer. And I knew I had to do it myself. So I made a plan. You remember that Emma girl and the mugging in the alley?"

Tintin's stomach jolted. He remembered where he'd heard her name before. She was the girl Emma had saved.

"That stupid girl," Kelly said, looking at the knife in her hand. "It was supposed to be you who helped me in that alley. You walk by there every day. It would have been the perfect chance to get you alone. But instead she showed up. She ruined everything!" Her face contorted in rage once more, and her knuckles turned white as she gripped the knife tightly. She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she spoke again she was calm.

"When I failed to nab you in the alley, I called Black. He's worked for my family's company smuggling weapons. I hired him to kidnap you for me. I should have known he would betray me. Money is the only thing he really cares about. As soon as he sent that stupid video, I gathered some men and stormed his base. And now," she smiled up at him, some sick version of happiness lighting up her features. "Now I finally have you."

"Congratulations," he said weakly. "What are- what are you going to d-do now?"

She twisted the knife in her hands, still smiling sadistically. "Do you know how many times a person can be stabbed before they die?" she asked, her innocent tone in sharp contrast with the question.

Before Tintin had time to fully process what was about to happen, Kelly had shoved the knife into his gut.

Author's Note

Oof. Yeah, I'm not even sure what happened. Is this really my writing? This just got...DARK. Okay, you guys really deserved this longer chapter, but you did not deserve that cliffhanger, especially since I'm so bad about updating. I feel really bad about it, but I can't tell you another chapter will be out any time soon. I can tell you that, even though I'm not super into Tintin anymore, I don't want to abandon this story. So many people have been really supportive of this story, even though I don't understand why. In fact, I'll probably be surprised by the number of people who even read this, as long as it's been. So, I just want to say thank you to anyone who is still here after all this time, and tell you it's okay to leave pestering comments saying you want the end. As much as I want to see this through to the end, that's probably the only way I'll stay motivated enough to get it done. Thank you again to anyone who is still reading. I love you all for it. Until next time!