A/N Part 1: Before you start reading chapter 4, first thing's first: I have a humble message to one of my fellow readers. This chapter is dedicated to luvAdventure123, as today (9th of November) is a special day for her: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I'm very glad you got inspired to write because of my fanfic, and I hope you find more inspiration in your life! I hope you have a wonderful birthday, and I wish you the very best!

Everyone wish her a Happy Birthday!

Without further ado, ENJOY!

Chapter 4: Silence on set

Later that night, Tintin, Haddock, Snowy and Calculus met up with Jacq in her apartment to go to the party, all of them dressing up more formally. Jacq had done her hair again, put on some make-up, and was wearing a light-pink dress.

They arrived at the party in the film studio. It was almost entirely packed, but Jacq managed to get her friends inside. It was a special party venue for filmmakers to promote the release of their films, and was also used for other occasions such as celebrating the premiere of a recent film, or celebrating someone's Birthday. The place, although not with the tall ceiling as one might expect, was a wide, fancy hall with elegant glass windows and doors and light-green, flower-printed curtains. One room on the side was specifically for projecting films for the party. Famous filmmakers, people from the press, the studio crew, and especially a few movie stars came tonight in party outfits, drinking champagne, and talking to each other, while producers of the film talked to the people of the press about their film. It was slightly crowded, but not a bumpy place.

Soon, Jacq spotted someone and said, "Professor, I heard you were interested in the magic of cinema. There's someone I'd like you to meet. Hey Tulio! Over here!" She waved her arms and caught the attention of a very tanned man with black, curly hair. He walked towards them. "Jacqueline! You came! Finally!"

"Yeah! I'd like you to meet my friends. This is Tintin, Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, and their dog Snowy. Guys, this is Tulio. He's from Brazil and he's in charge of the visual effects of some of the studio's productions. He's also an expert in props, mechanics, and a bit of cinematography. The Professor actually loves the work you did with the film."

"Really? You like what I do?"

"You come from Peru? You do look South American," said Calculus. "In fact, I remember a few years ago I was in a film about the Incas in Peru."

Haddock tried to assure Tulio that the Professor was hard of hearing, but then the Professor took something out if his pocket. "Just a moment." He adjusted the hearing aid on his ear. "There, now we can speak. It's quite loud in here."

Haddock's expression changed, "You had that all along?"

Tintin asked, "Why didn't you use that before?"

"Oh yes, but I'm only using this for loud places. I'm just a bit hard of hearing in one ear." Jacq and Tintin gave an uneasy look, but Haddock just looked frustrated. After a while, Tulio and the Professor ended up talking with each other for the rest of the night about the technology in film.

A group of girls from afar spotted Jacq and said, "HEY! Over here!" They came over and met the girls. There were six girls there wearing very bright coloured, girly dresses. One of them, a tall girl with short black hair, didn't look too pleased to see Jacq. Jacq introduced her friends to the girls. They were choir girls who also had a few roles as extras in some movies. The girls went immediately towards Snowy. "Oh! Look at his cute ears!"

"I love dogs!"

"I want one just like him!"

"Me too!"

"Aww… You're so sweet!"

Snowy thought, "I'm starting to like this place already!"

The girl with black hair, named Roxie, looked at Jacq said, "Well, I didn't think you'd make it."

"Well, yeah. I wanted my friends to have some fun tonight, and Mr. Bucks invited them."

"Oh, how nice," said Roxie bitterly, but Jacq didn't seem to mind her attitude.

The rest of the girls stayed around Snowy and began to ask Tintin and Haddock some questions about their lives. They heard from Jacq about their adventures, and one of the most recent adventures she took part on. After they answered the girls' questions, Tintin asked about their lives in the film studio. Some of them aspired to be a star like Sally South, including Roxie, and some of them just wanted to be part of the whole fun. As the conversation developed, Tintin noticed that Jacq tried to join in the conversation, but kept hesitating over and over again.

"Um…" she finally spoke and everybody looked at her, "I… have to go to the… thing… be right back…"

Jacq left the girls and went outside. "Weirdo," mumbled Roxie. Tintin left the Captain and Snowy with the girls to check on Jacq. He caught up to her in the garden where there were a few people chatting. She was standing in front of the small balcony, where the colourful lights of the city could be seen from afar, but all she could look at was the light of the full moon. "Jacq? What's wrong? You look a bit upset."

Jacq turned around and said, "No, I'm not… I'm sorry. I'm just… uh… Fine." She sighed and proceeded, "The truth is I'm trying to strike up a conversation. But whenever I try to do so, I become shy."

Tintin chuckled. "You? Shy?"

"Really! I'm telling you! It's not as easy as it looks! Most of the time I feel they talk differently."

"How come? They're American, you're American, right? How do you talk any different?"

"But they don't travel all over the world all the time. I sometimes feel out of place here."

"Very ironic, isn't it?"

"Yeah. As an aspiring filmmaker, I have to learn how to communicate. Sell my ideas… and stuff… but lately things aren't going as well as planned. Even when I try to write now. Before a story came to me easily, but now it's all confusing."

"Why do you think that is?"

"I don't know. I'm pretty sure my last script's just another failed attempt. If I don't write a good script, or prove that I can make a good film, then Mr. Bucks won't give me any permission to make a film or have a larger position in a film production."

"Well, just because you can't create an original script, that doesn't mean that you can't tell any story. You said it once in a phone call. It's how you handle the story that matters. The way you tell the story."

"Yeah, and I had many ideas before in the past. I know I could try and make an independent film, but I have to learn how the industry works, how the production side works- UGH! There I go again! Talking too fast again! And I'm not even letting you speak now! I'm just annoying you!"

"No, Jacq. I think you speak well."

"Really? Sometimes I feel like I bore people because I talk a lot. Or sometimes I'll talk so fast that they think I'm crazy. Although not all the time. I really gotta work on that."

"Not exactly. They don't understand you. I can talk to you. You just need to relax a bit. That's all."

"I guess… I wanna be a filmmaker, but there's something missing now." Jacq gave a look that Tintin had seen before. That night when she had her nightmare and Tintin stayed with her and comfort her.

Tintin said, "Jacq, don't put yourself so down. I remember that night when you told me you wanted to become a filmmaker. You were extremely enthusiastic. So where's that confidence now? Don't lose hope in yourself. You know you have talent. So relax. Don't worry about it so much."

Jacq looked at him and smiled. She still looked a bit uncertain of herself, but said, "Oh, you can always come up with the nicest things to say. You are just the sweetest and kindest guy I have ever met."

"Eh… thanks."

"Seriously. I'm so glad you came. When you and the others are around, you make me feel so much better. I feel happy being myself around you."

Tintin looked at Jacq. Behind her were the blurred and colourful lights of Hollywood. He stared at her with the moon lit over her face and the moon shining in her eyes. He suddenly blushed and felt shaky. Jacq asked him, "Are you ok?"

"I-I-I…"

"Jacq!" said Sally South waving from afar, wearing a long scarlett dress and her hair up in a curly ponytail. She excused herself from the group of people and came towards Tintin and Jacq into the garden. "Hey Sally!" said Jacq now back to her usual self.

"You finally came, didn't ya? About time you had some fun! Say, where's Mr. Captain and that Professor feller?"

"Oh. Calculus is with Tulio, and Captain Haddock's with the choir girls."

"Ah, I see. Enjoying yourself, Ponyboy?"

"I am. You look very good tonight," said Tintin now a bit calmer.

"Thank you! Real gentlemen, you are!"

"So this whole party is to promote the gorilla film, am I right?"

"That's correct."

"Speaking of, what's the name of the gorilla movie?"

"The Gorilla Movie."

Then Jacq said, "I know. Very original. This film has a pretty low budget compared to the other Vermont productions, so this time they couldn't even afford to think of a better title." Tintin and Sally laughed.

Sally said, "Good one, Sugar! Yeah, it is true. Mr. Maroon wanted to make a better film than the previous one. The last one flopped pretty badly in the box office. A shame. Wasn't amazin', but it still was a good movie. So he cut down the budget a bit on this one to make more profit next time. And the gorilla movie ain't sound that bad. I'm lookin' forward to see Mr. Captain there."

"He actually makes a very good gorilla," said Jacq.

"Speakin' of, I heard about Joey and the other understudies. Sad about that. Strangely enough, Joey didn't even come to the party today. Oh look! That's Mr. Marty Calvin over there!" She pointed at a white-haired man talking to Mr. Bucks on the other side of the balcony. "He's a film distributor, and he's distributin' the film I'm in. Twelve Hours."

"Is he distributing the gorilla movie?" asked Tintin.

"Nah. He ain't distributin' this one. But he distributed Mr. Maroon's previous movie. Actually, we need to get a few more distributors. The movie company ain't doing so good, so he's helpin' out. I otta introduce ya to 'im."

They went towards Mr. Bucks and Mr. Calvin. "Hi! Mr. Calvin!"

"Oh look!" said Mr. Bucks, "That kid I met earlier! A friend of Jacqueline's."

"Is that so?" asked Mr. Calvin. "Nice to meet you, young man. What do they call you?"

"Nice to meet you too, Sir. I'm Tintin."

"Tintin? Where have I heard that name before?"

"He's a famous reporter! He goes 'round the world catching criminals!" said Sally.

"… Is that so?"

"Something like that," said Tintin.

"… Interesting. Miss Jacqueline. Miss Sally. Both of you look fantastic tonight."

"Thank you," they said in unison.

"Mr. Bucks was telling me how very happy Mr. Maroon was when you brought in your other friend. It was just our luck he came. So where is he? I'd like to meet him."

"He's nearby. I'll go get him," said Tintin. He went inside to search for the Captain.

"So, Jacqueline," said Mr. Calvin, "How are you doing? Still working hard in the studio?"

"Very! I hope that I become a filmmaker like Robert Wise or Alfred Hitchcock."

"Oh, interesting… And you're still not thinking about becoming an actress?"

"Well, yeah I considered it. I do like acting, and overtime I enjoyed it more and more, but—"

"Then I keep askin' ya: why aren't ya doin' acting?" asked Mr. Bucks interrupting her.

"I'm getting there. If I were ever to act, I'd be a filmmaker first. Becoming an actress now would just pull me down from making any film."

"So that's your strategy, kid?"

"Yeah, Mr. Bucks."

Mr. Calvin tried to persuade her more, "But you should think about your acting talent. I offered you a chance to be in Twelve Hours. I can give you another chance with my next film. Don't waste your talents. In fact, don't waste that opportunity or else—"

"Sir, with all due respect, I know what I want," she said a bit upset. "I'm sorry… but I've been dreaming of become a filmmaker for a long time, and I'm trying the best I can to achieve that goal. Mr. Bucks, did you read my script yet?"

"Jacqueline," said Mr. Bucks. "I invited ya here to loosen up, not to think about your script. If it matters to ya so much, I'll tell ya tomorrow how it fairs up. Now it's almost time to screen a bit of the movie. GREGORY! TELL THEM TO START SETTIN' UP THE MOVIE! So try to calm down. Got it, kid? HURRY UP!"

Tintin grabbed Haddock and Snowy, and brought them to meet Mr. Calvin. A while later, everyone was taken to the screen to see a sneak peek from The Gorilla Movie. "We're going to show some of the scenes with the Captain in the costume," said Mr. Bucks to the group.

Mr. Calvin leaned over to Mr. Bucks and whispered, "I still think she's wasting her time. Why doesn't she just become a star? That's what every girl wants."

"Jacqueline ain't like other girls," he whispered back.

"She wants to be a filmmaker first and an actress second? If you ask me, she's far from Orson Welles. Those scripts were terrible."

"Shut it, Calvin. She may not be the greatest filmmaker, and may not look like one now, but I'll tell ya that kid's got somethin' else. She's definitely got heart." People were still waiting for the film to come up on screen.

Someone shouted, "What's taking so long?"

"Yeah! We wanna see some gorilla action!"

Mr. Bucks shouted, "COME ON, FELLAS! TURN ON THE MOVIE! That's strange. They should have turned it on a while ago."

Then someone ran up to Mr. Bucks and said quietly so that no one else could here them. "Mr. Bucks. We have a problem. It's the film reel."

"What d'ya mean? Ya can't find it? Mr. Maroon gave it this afternoon, didn't he?"

"Yeah, and we do have it… it's just that it's a MAJOR problem. We just called in Mr. Maroon. Come, quick." Mr. Bucks followed the worker, and Jacq instinctively followed them. "Jacq, wait!" said Tintin following her. Then Snowy followed Tintin, and then Haddock followed.

Mr. Bucks noticed Jacq walking fast by his side and he asked, "Hey! Why did you and your friends follow?"

"I was curious. And I think it's the same reason for these guys."

Haddock said, "To be honest, I don't know why I came along. I'm probably just used to it by this point."

They reached the projector room on the other side of the party. The people at the party were told to stay where they were while they checked on the technicalities. They entered the projector room, and found Mr. Maroon already inside. He held the film reel: it's been tangled up, scratched, and cut into many pieces. The film was ruined.

"What happened?" asked Tintin.

One of the people from the projector room said, "We were going to set up the film reel on the projector, and when we opened the case, we found it completely destroyed."

"Mr. Bucks," said the second person of the projector room, "I think it's better if we use a different footage from the same film."

"Well! I don't know who could have done this, but I ain't gonna let 'em ruin anythin'. We'll deal with this later. Right now I'll go get the reel. We can't keep the party waiting any longer." He picked up the keys in the pocket and went out quickly to his office.

Jacq and Tintin looked at each other with the same thought in their heads. They were starting to suspect something going wrong. Why would anyone want to ruin someone else's film? Mr. Maroon looked especially agitated and left the room and dropping the ruined reel on the floor.

"This is a disaster," said Mr. Maroon leaving the room.

Jacq said, "I'm getting a bad feeling about all this."

"Me too. There might be something going on here," said Tintin.

"And just when I thought I was going to have a normal vacation," thought Haddock in disappointment.

Almost half an hour had passed and Mr. Bucks hadn't arrived yet. What was taking him so long? Tintin, Jacq and Haddock agreed to go and check. On their way to Mr. Bucks' office, Snowy picked up a scent. He barked to his left and ran towards that direction. "What is it? Is someone there?" said Tintin following his dog. The rest followed. Jacq was able to run in her dress and her shoes, as she wasn't even wearing such high heels anyway.

Then they stopped in front of a building, next to the prop house, and heard noises coming from inside. "That's where the film library is," whispered Jacq. She quietly led them to the entrance and noticed three men who had opened the door of the library. They were pulling out film reels of the films between pre-production and post-production, as well as some film stock needed for some films. "Look at that!" said one of the men, a chubby man, looking through a film reel. "That's Sally South! She's a real dish in this new one! I think she's in the party!"

"No time for that. Put it in the rest of the pile," said the tall one. He pulled out the film reel of Twelve Hours and started cutting them into pieces.

"HEY! He can't do that!" said Jacq. If they didn't do something, they were going to destroy the films.

"Sh!" said Tintin. "Right now we have to take care of these guys. Jacq, can you think of anything we can use from the prop house against these men?"

"I don't know where to get any prop guns."

"Don't worry about that."

Soon, Jacq went in stealth mode to grab some rope from the prop house. She arrived back, and the men were almost done with half of the film reels and film stock. Once the time was right, they entered quietly, and Tintin, pretending to hold up a gun, said "HANDS UP! Don't turn around or I'll shoot!"

They raised up their hands instantly. "Now drop your weapons," he continued. The men dropped two guns. Tintin picked up both guns and pointed the guns at them. Haddock had the pleasure of tying them up. As he was tying up one of the goons, he asked "Now what are you rascals doing here? Why are you destroying the film reels?"

"Jacq, go get the guards. Quick!" said Tintin.

"GUYS! Look out!" said Jacq noticing someone behind them. Someone hit the Captain and Tintin from behind and they fell to the ground. "Tintin! Captain!" said Jacq. She tried to throw a punch at the big man, but he grabbed her fist and punched her in the stomach. She fell to the ground from the pain. Snowy tried to bite off the man's leg, but the man kicked Snowy away. Luckily the dog wasn't seriously injured.

"Come on! Let's run! The cops are coming!" The men grabbed their guns and escaped, one of them still running with the rope tied around the upper part of his body. The guards, Mr. Buck's and his assistant, Simon, came running towards the building. The guards tried to catch on to the mysterious men, but it was too late. The men had escaped. Apparently the man had stolen the keys to the film library and hit him in the head in his office. He called Simon and they called the police and got the guards from the studio. They entered and helped the people up. "Are you ok, Jacq?" asked Tintin helping her up.

"I'm fine… this pain at least means that I'm alive…"

A few minutes later, the cops arrived from the back gate, as to not create any commotion in the party, and everything was explained to the guards, showing the mess that was made in the film library. Mr. Bucks, talking to the guards, said, "I don't get why someone would do such a horrible thing. We're actually in a crisis right now. Our company ain't doin' so good financially. So much so that we have to rely on others to help finance our future projects."

"Yeah…" said someone taking a picture of the pile of destroyed film reels.

"The past few projects a while back lost us lots of money. So it was a relief to finally see some new commitment, includin' the generous cooperation of Miss Sally South. After the production of Bright Red Sunset, I knew we was goin' to produce quality works and save the studio."

"Go on," said the person now writing down Mr. Buck's statements.

"And just as we was promotin' The Gorilla Movie, someone had to come by and ruin everythin'. So much hard work lost. We don't even have enough money to re-shoot the scenes on time for the release dates. I don't want Vermont Studios to shut down."

"Good. Good. Say, is there a hyphen between 're' and 'shoot' for the word 're-shoot'? Or do I write it as a whole? 'Reshoot'? Whatever."

Then Mr. Bucks turned his head to the man, "Hold on a sec! You're not a cop! You're a journalist! Don't write any of this down!"

"Are you kidding? This is gold!"

"GET OUTTA HERE!"

The journalist pranced off like a child getting away with stealing candy. "Ah! Let that jerk go! People are goin' to find out anyway!" said Mr. Bucks and sitting down on a chair now even more saddened. "Everyone'll soon find out about cancelled projects and soon enough everyone'll know about the end of Vermont Studios."

"Poor Mr. Bucks," said Haddock. "If only there were something we could do."

"Well, now I'm pretty sure someone's trying to threaten the studio," said Tintin.

"But why Vermont Studios?" asked Jacq. "From what I can tell, Vermont Studios wasn't any threat to anyone or any other studio, and Mr. Bucks didn't have any enemies or anything." But before the trio could ponder about it, someone came by and told them that there was a problem at the party. They reached the party and heard people complaining and begging for some entertainment.

"Let's have a sneak preview!"

"It's late at night! We've been waiting forever!"

"Where's the gorilla?"

Snowy thought, "Some people can be so impatient."

"Oh, fine," said Mr. Bucks. "I'll get the film now. Luckily those men couldn't find The Gorilla Movie. Mr. Maroon asked me to hide the rest in the safe in my office." He went to set up the movie right now in the projection room.

The people at the party were finally watching the movie at the party and enjoying themselves, but Jacq pulled Tintin away for a second in the back of the crowd in the dark. "Hey, Tintin," Jacq asked, "I don't want to point fingers at anybody, but don't you think it's convenient that Mr. Maroon had put the footage of the movie in a safe?"

"What do you mean?"

"Although this is just a theory, it's almost like Mr. Maroon knew about something that was going to happen."

"You think he had planned this?"

"No, not exactly. For whatever reason he had his film inside a safe, I still think he's a lead. He just might have something to do with this whole thing. Or at least he knows something about it."

The scene finished, the lights turned on, and a satisfying audience applauded for Mr. Maroon. And then they called out for Captain Haddock to come. Tintin said, "Come to think of it… what about those understudies? They unexpectedly quit the role of the gorilla monster. If Mr. Maroon were behind this, it wouldn't make any sense to get rid of them."

"I know. That does seem suspicious. So what does it all mean?"

"Maybe I should find out tomorrow."

"You mean WE should go," she said with enthusiasm. "Unless the Captain doesn't want to come, and I don't know about the Professor. Then it'd just be me, you and Snowy."

"But aren't you working tomorrow?"

"And miss out on all the action? No way!"

A/N Part 2: Looks like we've got a mystery ahead of us!

Another thing: Hey everybody! I have a twitter account, so if any of you have a twitter, and you want to get new articles from my film blog (Dani and the Screen) and want to know when a new chapter comes up, you can follow me on twitter: Dani_the_muggle

Thanks to TigerBlack62 for mentioning me in the last part of her fanfic! You're awesome! Your fanfic was awesome! Loved it!

I also replaced the "THE END" at the last chapter of How I met Tintin to "TO BE CONTINUED…" because even though it doesn't matter that much, it'd make more sense by the fact that I'm continuing the story and planning a trilogy. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave reviews!