"Come one, come all to the best show of your life!"
"Firequacker, are you ready?"
He pulled his head from the curtains. The Acrobatic Cat-tastrophy waved to him. She was beautiful, and was supposed to be the act right after him. She bore a resemblance to a tiger, but more yellow. Her emerald eyes held a playful personality in them.
"Break a leg!" She smiled.
"Oh, stop it!" He playfully shoved her. "I already have a broken beak, don't wish more on me!"
She giggled. "Okay, but you should know it's-"
"Show biz slang, yeah I know. I was just joking!"
"Today's opening act is the one, the only, Firequacker!" The ringleader signaled towards the curtains.
Firequacker burst through the curtain, the crowd staying strangely silent. "Wow, tough crowd, huh?" He pulled out a firestick. "Who here loves candles? I happen to call be called a candle myself, cause I like fires heh." He used his sharp teeth to light it.
The crowd stayed silent.
He began to sweat. "Um, anywho...Time for a performance, then! Hold onto your feathers and fur, because you don't want to get your buns toasted!"
He spotted a group of people that took up most of the crowd. They were the Beagle Boy family, with Mama Beagle sitting in the middle of them all.
"Are those the-the Beagle Boys I see?" His hand began to shake a bit, and the Acrobatic Cat-tastrophy noticed.
"Yeah, and we came for a show, not a snooze fest! Get on with it!" One of them demaded, and then threw a popcorn bucket at him.
He glanced back at his partner.
"Firequacker, are you okay?" She could only mouth the words, but he knew what she asked.
"I-I..."
More people in the crowd revolted. "How did you even get a job here?!"
"What are you, their janitor?"
"Get out of the circle and save time for the actual performers!"
He rushed back behind the curtain, his fire stick still burning. "What's happening to me...?"
"Firequacker? Is everything okay? What's wrong? If this is about your beak then-"
"St-stay back!" He was shaking pretty hard now. "I really want you to go away. I'm sorry, Emerly."
"Einar! Wait, tell me what's wrong!"
He ran into the back. Emerly didn't follow, as he knew that she realized that he needed space. He curled into the corner and exhaled a shaky breath. He saw the box of fireworks, then looked up at the flammable walls.
"If I can't take down one, I'll just take down all of them!"
He stood and crossed over to the box. He pried it open with the crowbar leaning against the crate. He tossed it aside and smiled at the fireworks.
"They'll feel the fire, all right. Fire can be beautiful, but get too close and you'll get burned."
She entered the room as he was about to light one of them. "Einar! What do you think you're doing?! Have you gone mad?!"
"Ahahahaha! I'll get rid of every last of those dogs, even if I go down with them!"
"Einar, they already left!"
"They what?"
It caught fire.
"They left when you stormed out! They were pleased you were upset, and they were bored, so they left. You don't need to do anything crazy. Please just put the fire stick down before you hurt somebody."
"O-okay..." He dropped it, then saw the lit firework. "Oh...Duck."
The explosion was quick, loud, and bright. Einar coughed and pushed the metal rod off of him. He got to his shaky feet.
"Emerly?" He coughed again. "Emerly? Emerly?! Where are you?!"
He finally saw her when the smoke cleared a bit, and only her arm stuck out of the pillar.
"Emerly! Don't worry, I'll save you!" He tried to pull her out, but failed. He then lifted the rod to the best of his ability. "Get out of here, Emerly! Now!"
No response, and she didn't move.
"Emerly? Emerly, get out! Please! You can't be dead!" Tears filled his eyes from both the smoke and the realization. "Emerly...No...No! What have I done?"
The heaviness of the pillar hit him all at once and he fell with it. He heard something in his arms crack and knew it wasn't good. He pushed it off himself with his leg and got to his feet again.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He ran away, tripping and finally giving up. "I'm sorry..."
"Hey. Seems like you're in a pretty tough spot right now."
He couldn't answer right away, the rod was taking his breath.
"I can help you out, but you need to do something for me in return."
"Who...are you?" He coughed again.
"It...doesn't matter. I'll tell you later."
"I'll do anything...to get her back..."
"So that's a...yes?"
He nodded weakly.
"Once you're fine, you need to break into McDuck manor for me and get his number one dime. Think you can do that?"
"Wouldn't that be stealing...?"
"I'll give it back! It's just borrowing! The thing is, I can't go in there myself because my family and his family have some beef going on between them. Otherwise I'd do it myself."
"Fine...I'll do it...Just help me out of here..."
A purple glow came from the shadow in front of him, and the pole lifted. A hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him out, sending pain up his arm. They dropped his arm.
"I'll be back soon to check up on you. Toodles!"
He waited for the fires to stop and watched the Hospital Ducks pull Emerly out of the wreckage. They covered her and pulled her away, along with everyone else in the tent at that time; including the guests.
A fireman came over to him. "Are you okay?"
"I can't feel my legs..."
"Alright, we'll get you some help." He walked to a Hospital Duck.
"So, they wanted me to break into Scrooge's Manor, hm? Well then, I hope Scrooge likes clowns."