Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or Mash or their characters... or the quotes/song.
Chapter 31,
When you go to war as a boy, you have a great illusion of immortality. Other people get killed, not you... then, when you are badly wounded the first time, you lose that illusion, and you know it can happen to you.
Hawkeye loved reading Hemingway before he was drafted. More accurately, he still loves Hemingway; what he didn't like was the occasional romantic notion he had for war. Like when he said 'when you loveyou wish to do things for. You wish to sacrifice for. You wish to serve' 'the coward dies a thousand deaths, but the brave dies once' 'theworld breaks everyone and afterwards, some find strength in those broken places'.
No...
Ernest was more accurate when he said 'they wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason'.
Hawkeye watched as the action around then grew heavier. The brutality of man mixed with the heart's concern for all that pain and suffering. Bullets being fired from their slumber, leaving their chambers just to penetrate man's unsuspecting skin and turn his blood from unoxygenated blue to oxygen-filled red.
Large explosions were often worse. If it didn't kill you, it could rob you of something that leaves you wishing for death. So many people have lost their limbs, sights, hearing and overall will to live.
When they passed a Jeep that was on fire, Hawkeye was reminded of old Francis Scott Key. Francis was a successful attorney who was trying to free Dr. William Beanes, who was captured by British soldiers in the war of 1812. After Fort McHenry was attacked by British soldiers, he watched the battle but more importantly, he saw the American Flag rise up and it inspired him. He was so inspired he started writing a song called 'Defence of Fort M'Henry'
Later he renamed it 'The Star-Spangled Banner' which became the national anthem of America in 1931. Though most people he knows songs the first verse instead of all four.
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Well, the rocket's red glare were roaring to life in this battle, as well as the ill-timed bombs exploding in the air and raining metal and ash upon the soldiers below.
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
"How are theydoing?" Margaret asked Hawkeye. He turned to the kids in the backseat.
It was clear that they were trying to be strong for each other. When he first met Marinette and Adrien, they were clinging to each other, only letting go when he suggested that they were a couple. And now that they were in their superhero suits, instead of clinging to each other, they were leaning against each other and holding hands. All the while trying not to let this destruction fall into their hearts.
"They're battling though the emotional distraught of seeing their home crumble before their eyes by the friends and family they hold so dear." Hawkeye told her and Margaret sighed deeply.
"I know that look. I've seen it on so many South Korean faces. I swear, I think I even saw it on a newborn's face once." Margaret said and Hawkeye looked away.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And then, from the horizon, grew a dark looming tower that seemed to be a beacon of destruction.
"Don't tell me... they only have one room and we all have to share a bed." Cat Noir said.
"Cat, please, this is serious." Ladybug complained. Hawkeye and Margaret looked at each other.
"They sound like us." Margaret said.
"No kidding; you stole my joke." Hawkeye said to Cat Noir and Margaret rolled her eyes.
"Oh, Pierce." She said.
"What?" He asked and she smirked at his behavior. They drove up to the tower and Margaret slowed the Jeep to a stop and Hawkeye stood up and looked around.
"What do you see?" Ladybug said and Hawkeye hesitated.
"I see some soldier... I think they're soldiers, at least. They are walking around the building, guarding it." Hawkeye said.
"Do you see some sort of loading dock?" Margaret asked and Hawkeye nodded.
"Sort of, yeah. I see some delivery trucks in that far corner there. Oh man, you know that's a kid. He's ordering a bunch of ice cream and soda." Hawkeye said.
"Maybe we could pretend to be a delivery truck and sneak on that way." Marinette suggested and Margaret bit her lip.
"That might work. Often times, delivery workers are overlooked." Margaret said.
"Yeah, but that's one of the oldest tricks in the book. Chris is bound to recognize it." Cat Noir said.
"Perhaps, but he's also playing video games and war games or whatever. He may not be paying attention to the rest of his building. However, even though he may not be paying attention to the security of his building, that doesn't mean he doesn't have other to secure the building." Hawkeye said.
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
"Trespassers!" A soldier said and before they were surrounded by soldiers.
"Ugh, again?" Ladybug groaned and she looked up and her eyes widened when she saw Alya.
"This is ridiculous, I call parlay." Hawkeye said and Margaret glared at him.
"Pierce, you idiot, that's for pirates." Margaret said and Hawkeye scoffed.
"Then I want Army-parlay." Hawkeye said.
"What are you talking about?" Soldier Alya said and Hawkeye put his hands on his hips.
"It's temporary protection so that I can talk to your boss; and not do I have some words to say to him." Hawkeye said.
"He's still a kid." Cat Noir reminded him and Hawkeye sighed.
"Major General Chris is not to be disturbed!" Soldier Alya said firmly.
"How High is that?" Hawkeye asked Margaret quietly.
"He outrank Colonel Potter's boss." Margaret answered and Hawkeye nodded.
"And what outranks Major General again?" Hawkeye whispered.
"Lieutenant General and General of the Army." Margaret answered.
"Well tell Chris that the Lieutenant General doesn't appreciate everything he's been doing today." Hawkeye said and Soldier Alya scoffed.
"How would you know; you're only a captain." Soldier Alya said and she gave the signal to detain them.
"Well, I still want to talk to Chris- uh, HEY!" Pierce protested when they grabbed him.
"I will not go down quietly, do you hear me!" Pierce shouted as they were arrested.
"Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just." Pierce sang and Margaret recognizedit as the end of The Star-Spangled Banner.
"And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust', come on, Margaret, sing with me." Hawkeye said as they were dragged inside the building.
"And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave. O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!" Hawkeye and Margaret sang together; terribly, but together.
They were taken to an unknown floor and were put into two cells. Hawkeye and Cat Noir in one cell, and Ladybug and Margaret in the next one. And as Ladybug looked around the stark white room, stripped of windows and benches, just a single camera in the corner of the room; she scoffed and limped over to the cell door.
"You could have let him talk to Major General Chris, you know." Ladybug said to Alya when she passed by the door.
"I don have to let him do anything." Alya said. Ladybug was silent for a moment and then she took a deep breath and her features softened.
"Alya, you're a good person. I know that you care very deeply for Nino and his family." Ladybug said and Alya's eyes widened slowly.
"Deep down, you know something's not right. And we are here to make things right again." Ladybug said and Alya furrowed her eyebrows in contemplation.
"Well... I'll do my best to get the Captain to the Major General; but just the Captain since he asked." Alya said and Ladybug smiled at her.
"All I can ask you to do is your best." Ladybug said and Alya walked away, feeling confused.