"C'mon…it's okay, angel." Hawks said while gently pulling Carissa down the dimly-lit staircase, showing a patient and gentle smile as reassurance.

The woman reluctantly followed him down the steps while holding the railing in case of falling. The confined space was making her anxious-how was Hawks even able to move through such a small space with his wings completely in place?

It was the day after they had gone to the doctor. Carissa had lost all of her strength from mental exhaustion at the reality of what could happen in less than a year. Hawks made her stay in bed the rest of the day, not wanting her to stress out. He did what he could for her until it was time to sleep, and held her the whole night. But this morning after breakfast, Hawks told her he wanted to take her somewhere. It had to be aboard the ship since they were at sea, and Carissa guessed right when he led her deeper and deeper down into the confinement. Passing down a few flights of stairs, the woman questioned why they were going so deep down the ship. Hawks said it was a surprise, but she couldn't help but feel uneasy. She kept thinking about Felice Marino, how Hawks attacked left him to die. She didn't even know if he was still alive or not, what had happened to him. But she was too afraid to object to the winged man out of fear that he might do something ill-willed in response.

Carissa did her best to go down the stairs without slipping or hitting the walls. She already felt a heaviness in her middle, wondering if the baby was already formed as she didn't know much about pregnancy processes.

They finally reached a door at the end of the staircase. Hawks glanced back once more to make sure Carissa was staring forward before grabbing the door handle and opening it.

It was dark inside, yet there was an instant blue glimmer as the door opened more. It took a moment for Carissa to process the room around her. Inside was the lower part of the ship, so the room was slightly smaller than the upstairs. Parts of the ship's walls were made of tough glass, revealing the beautiful blue ocean below its surface. Circular couches sat in front of the glasses, a few people already comfortable and talking while admiring the beauty of the water itself or any sea creature that passes. It was the water itself that gave light to the room.

"Oh~." Carissa let out this tiny moan of wonder, admiring the room. She felt Hawks gently squeeze her hand and pull her into the room, bringing her over to a vacant couch and having her sit down. The couch was built for people like Hawks, those who needed space because of any extra parts on their person, so Hawks was able to settle next to Carissa without a problem. Carissa sat there, trying not to shift uncomfortably as Hawks slowly rested his arm on the couch behind her.

They both stared through the glass, the ocean's beautiful and intense cyan color reflecting off their bodies. Hawks's eyes glanced at Carissa. He was hoping this would help Carissa relax, as stress would not help her or the baby. It seemed to be working-his songbird stayed silent and watched the sea as if it were casting her under a spell. He had to hold back a chuckle at her wondrous gaze towards the ocean. Grayish-blue shadows cast over her body, making the winged hero turn back to the glass. His eyes widened in amusement as a large group of small, silver fish covered the glass while swimming by. They all moved in sync, not a single one breaking out of place. Kind of like how he made his feathers move. The large group eventually swims by and disappears behind the ship's wall.

Carissa hummed in thought while watching the ocean. Never had she heard of a cruise ship having something like this in the lower part of itself. It was very nice and relaxing. However, a little enigmatic as well. The massive abyss outside the glass gave her slight chills, like anything unknown could turn up at any moment. She felt Hawks shift in his seat next to her before feeling pressure on her lap and behind her lower back. She looked down to see Hawks's foot resting on her lap. She wasn't able to respond before his fingers curled around her arms and pulled her toward him. Hawks shifted to lying on his back while pulling Carissa's back into his chest, having her lie between his legs. She tensed at first, but eventually calmed down while Hawks gently pet her arms in a soothing manner.

While watching the ocean, a dark-blue shadow in the distance came into their view. It was very slowly coming closer into view, its size intensifying with its close proximity. Its large body casually moving in this wiggling motion, swaying side to side as it approached the glass to study the ship. It was a shark. A great white shark. Carissa quivered at the sight of its face. Its mouth opened and revealing those very sharp rows of teeth. Its lips showing multiple scars from having fought with other sharks or having eaten its prey. Those completely black eyes dull and lifeless-looking as they stared through the glass and into the ship.

Hawks watched the shark before feeling Carissa shiver against him, making him turn to her. She whimpered in fear before flipping her body over and nuzzling her face into his chest, as if trying to hide herself from the sea creature. He smirked, intrigued. "Don't like sharks?"

Carissa shook her head in him, still hiding her face.

Hawks chuckled at her unintentional cuteness. He wrapped his arms around her in a protective manner, beginning to stroke her hair. "I've gotcha. He can't get you." He assured, holding her securely.

Carissa tightly gripped Hawks's shirt as if she were a small child, trying to hide from the possible danger lingering outside. Although she loved the ocean and sea life, the woman couldn't bring herself to favor sharks due to an incident when she was young.

"Afraid he's gonna eat ya?" Hawks gently humored, unable to help his curiosity.

Carissa hesitated, but gave a small nod, gripping his shirt even more while shifting her face to the couch to expose her mouth. "…W-When I was eight, my daddy and I went to the beach." She brought up. "I was in the water, and…I felt something brush against my leg."

Hawks's eyebrows raised, listening intently while watching her.

"I couldn't see it…I felt something sharp sink into my calf. My scream alerted a nearby pro as I was pulled into the water. I was rescued, but there was a large chunk of my calf missing. It hurt like hell."

Hawks's jaw slightly dropped, letting out a low gasp. His grip on her tensed.

"Thankfully the hospital had someone with a healing quirk at the time. They were able to heal it completely. I had to rest for a few weeks to regain my strength, though." Carissa said.

"Shit…" Hawks muttered. "Sounds scary."

"It was." Carissa whimpered, hiding her face again.

He didn't actually find it as scary. He was just trying to help Carissa feel better. Though the thought of something trying to eat you alive was obviously unpleasant. Hawks did have his fair share of villains trying to drive 'teeth' into him before, but he always quickly dodged it.

Hawks rubbed her before looking back at the glass. The shark was still there, swimming around the glass as if trying to find a way inside. Hawks watched it, as if believing it could find a way in. The shark swam around the glass for a little longer before finally getting bored and moving on, disappearing from view. Hawks smiled and looked down at Carissa. "He's gone now. It's okay." He told the woman, who finally removed her face from him. He continued to rub her back soothingly, reminding her he was there and that she was alright with him.

As time ticked by, the two continued to watch the ocean. More sea creatures gradually swam by: several kinds of fish, a blue shark, a pod of dolphins, and even a humpback whale went by. Besides that, viewing the ocean was a success when it came to relaxing. Hawks felt Carissa's tension lower and come to a halt for the time being. It brought a smile to his face, feeling his sweet songbird calm. However, it still nagged in the back of his brain that her pregnancy might kill her and it would be his fault. That made his smile falter.

"Hawks."

Hawks hadn't felt as bad as he did at the moment. The thought of losing Carissa because he couldn't control himself.

"Hawks, you're hurting me."

Carissa's voice got through to Hawks, who quickly loosened his grip on the woman. His grip had been tightening around her the more he thought of losing her.

"Sorry." Hawks apologized, rubbing the woman gently and stroking her hair. He felt her body return to its calm state and rest her head against his chest again. His finger pads gently rubbed circles into Carissa's clothed back while his other hand ran through her hair, massaging her scalp every now and then. He felt Carissa moan against him, enjoying the feeling. It caused his cheeks to tint red.

Carissa felt her cheeks warm, unable to deny how nice she felt in the moment. The attention Hawks was showering on her. Like she was the most precious thing to him out of everything else in this world.

"Keigo."

"…Mmm?" Carissa hummed in question, glancing up at Hawks with an eyebrow raised. "Go where?"

Hawks blinked before it hit him. He chuckled rather loudly, almost laughing out loud. "No, no, my name is Keigo. Keigo Takami."

Carissa blinked this time. He randomly told her his name. "Keigo…Takami…" She muttered, as if testing the name on her lips. "That's a nice name."

If Hawks was still blushing, it deepened. He held his gentle smile, his golden eyes looking deep into Carissa's baby-blue ones. The woman caught on to the intense gaze of his and blushed herself, quickly hiding her face into his chest again out of embarrassment. This made Hawks chuckle once more.

She was completely unaware he just revealed to her something confidential.

Things just kept aligning, making it more apparent Carissa could be in Hawks's possession.

After having sent Wade Lockhart home after interviewing him about his phone call with Carissa, Detective Waterson and Endeavor spoke privately in an interrogation room. Endeavor reiterated his recent phone call with Hawks once again, who revealed he kidnapped and impregnated a woman. Mr. Lockhart said his daughter told him she was pregnant before the call abruptly ended.

"He said there was something wrong with him. He sounded like he wanted to tell me, but stopped himself." Endeavor pointed out, suddenly gritting his teeth. "He blocked my phone again."

Detective Waterson leaned back against the wall, sighing before cupping his mouth with his fingers and furrowing his eyebrows. The assumed motive was that Hawks fell in love with Carissa and abducted her. The timing around all the evidence just seemed too close together. The two met each other. They interacted seven times, all on Hawks's accord. Almost every interaction, they were intimate in some way but without Carissa's consent. Hawks's behavior is unusual. Carissa sounds paranoid, also according to witnesses. Now they're both missing.

And Mr. Baxter gets murdered in the middle of this-witnesses say he and Carissa might've had a relationship. It made Morgan cringe, thinking Hawks might've killed Carissa's boss out of jealousy. But according to some witnesses, the guy didn't treat Carissa very well and was constantly putting loads of work on her. Mr. Lockhart did say Mr. Baxter made Carissa stay late a lot, after all.

The thing is…Hawks doesn't do stuff like this. Endeavor admitted to not knowing the guy for very long, only having recently partnered up with him for hero work. But it just didn't seem like something he would do, and not just because he was a hero. Sure he sometimes fooled around on the side and that included girls, but kidnapping one? Especially one that clearly did not want to interact with him? Very odd, indeed.

Detective Waterson watched some videos of Hawks on the internet to view his personality, since he never met him before. The guy seemed pretty chill and carefree. Any girl he was around squealed over him, too. He was a very attractive guy and had that fun personality, so many women probably wanted him. After having sat down with Mr. Lockhart about the phone call he had with Carissa, the detective asked him for more details on how Carissa was when she was with Hawks that one time they were out. After getting Wade to dig more into detail, the older man admitted to noticing his daughter did not seem comfortable in Hawks's presence.

Wade's face crinkled a bit, staring at the floor. "…You know, now that I think about it…Carissa did want to get away from Hawks. She said he was a jerk, but also hid behind me. She used to do that she was little and was scared of someone." He admitted.

Carissa was a rare case, having no romantic interest in a guy who many girls clearly fond over.

…Did Hawks find that intriguing? Annoying? Could he not stand the fact that this one girl didn't want anything to do with him?

Still, abducting the woman just for that very reason seemed far-fetched.

No, Hawks admitted something was wrong with him over the phone.

Unless…

"…You said it sounded like he tried to tell you?" Detective Waterson asked Endeavor, removing his hand from his mouth.

"Yes." Endeavor replied, not looking at the other man.

After a moment of silence, the detective pushed himself off the wall. There was a sudden familiarity streak connecting this case to a few other cases. Some he dealt with in the past when his trainer was still teaching him.

"It's possible Hawks might be under the influence of a quirk." The detective revealed what he was thinking.

The number one hero of Japan's turquoise eyes instantly landed on the detective. "What're you talking about?" He asked, his gruff voice low with confusion.

"Hawks wouldn't do this, right?" The detective asked. "Just kidnap a random woman and…? All flaws aside, Hawks is a professional pro hero, right? Like you, saving people on a daily basis, keeping up with patrols, investigating groups of villains at all angles. But all of a sudden his behavior shifts. Unless he hit his head or something…"

"…Hawks might be under the control of someone else's quirk." Endeavor said, trying to understand what the detective was saying. "You're saying someone might be making him do this?"

"Yes." Detective Waterson answered. "It's a possibility. I've been involved in cases like this before."

Endeavor looked away, thinking in deep thought.

The detective continued. "If so, the question is: why?"