"Hush now, Snowy," The young Belgian journalist scoffed, trying to silence his fox terrior, who had awoken him at four in the morning.

Snowy let out another howl and ran to the apartment door.

"TINTIN FOR GOODNESS SAKES SHUT YOUR DOG UP!" Cried the sharp, brittle, nasally voice of Mrs. Finch, the woman who lived downstairs of the apartment building. Tintin sighed, then dragged himself out of bed and walked towards tthe door, letting the cold give him an icy embrace.

Given the fact that he was Tintin, usually when someone knocks on his door early in the morning, he ends up getting kidnapped, bashed in the head, or shot at. Therefore, he stopped, grabbed his pistol, then continued towards the door.

"Snowy," Tintin said softy, raising the gun to eye-level "When I open the door, you trip the attacker, so they can't hurt us."

Snowy let out a low growl which symbolized that he understood what his ginger-haired master was instructing him to do. Tintin nodded, then opened the door and let Snowy trip the attacker.

Erm... Two attackers.

As Snowy violently shook the pant legs of the two men, one of them cried out: "Tintin! It's Thomson and Thompson!"

"Snowy!" Tintin yelled., shooing the dog off the two police officers. "Gentlemen," Tintin aid while helping his friends to their feet and turned on the apartment light. "Why on Earth are you at my flat at such an early hour? My apologies for Snowy attacking you; but in the past when someone knocks on my door, I end up getting bashed in the head with something,"

"And we apologize for disturbing your slumber!" Thompson said, a bit too cheerfully: seeing as the sun hadn't even rose yet. "But, we have a girl down at the station. She said her father is missing. We'd like you to investigate."

"Can it wait until the morning?"

"I'm afraid not," Thomson sighed. Unlike his co-worker, he knew what time it was. Judging by the lack of enthusiasm in his voice, he was equally as tired as Tintin. "She asked for you personally,"

"For me?" Tintin questioned.

"Yes, she says she wants the best around." Thompson replied. Tintin couldn't help but blush. The best around? How kind.

"Very well," He smiled "Let me get dressed and I'll be right over."