Hawks came out of sleep, his eyes opening to see a familiar figure beside him. Confusion washed over him before an uncontrolled fuzziness buzzed inside his chest. He smiled lovingly at the beautiful woman, who still slept peacefully. The room was darker than it was before, the hero estimating it was morning. Otherwise, he could still make out her features. His arms still wrapped around her, Hawks gently rubbed her back in a gentle effort to awaken her. This cute little moan passed through her slightly open lips, making Hawks blush. Her face crinkled a bit and the higher arm wrapped over Hawks's torso moved slightly, unable to move much due to being handcuffed. The woman stirred and opened her eyes, revealing those gorgeous baby-blue orbs.

Upon seeing Hawks right there, Carissa tried to move away. Metal bands held her wrists and prevented her from doing so.

"Good morning, sweet bird." Hawks huskily greeted.

Carissa nervously stared back. For some reason she looked to her higher arm, and then her other when she realized the one under Hawks felt different.

"I can't feel my arm."

Not the answer he expected, Hawks raised a bushy eyebrow. "Mmm?"

"I can't feel it. My blood circulation's been cut off." Carissa said, trying not to panic.

Hawks quickly assumed she could be lying and used his feathers to sense it. When he heard nothing from her lower arm, he lifted himself up. Carissa was forced up too but couldn't move her right arm. Hawks used one of his feathers to unlock the handcuffs, the sound of coiling ringing behind his back. Releasing both her arms, Carissa removed her left arm and grabbed her right after it fell on the bed. It was cold, but warm blood flowed into it again. She rubbed it as it felt cold and a thousand needles poked at the flesh. Her arm started to move, the woman able to feel it again.

Hawks watched her, eventually closing his eyes and smiling in satisfaction. He half expected her to fight him, almost desperately hoping she wouldn't. Seeing her calm made him feel good, though he could sense through his feathers her heartbeat raising in speed. Opening his eyes, the woman stared back nervously, shrinking a little. "I'm going to make us some coffee." He said, slipping out of bed.

He did not lock the bedroom door, giving Carissa the assumption she was allowed to leave the room. Against her better judgement, she left and headed down the hall to where the kitchen was. Hawks was prepping the coffee machine sitting in the corner of the counter.

"Are we in your hotel?" Carissa asked, feeling a bit bold. He had to have had sleeping quarters during his trip, right?

Hawks glanced at her, only smiling in response before resuming prepping the coffee.

Carissa softly sighed, turning away. Something thin was held in place in her line of sight, revealing itself as a feather as it poked the tip of her nose.

"Sit down." Hawks said lightly, prepping the mugs.

With no other option, Carissa obeyed and sat at the kitchen table. Hawks got the machine going before sitting down at the table as well. He asked her some usual questions anyone would ask in the morning. How she slept, if the mattress felt nice, etc. Carissa only answered due to the threat Hawks made against her dad. Her answers were honest and fair, actually having had no issue with anything. Hawks looked happy with that. When their coffee was ready, he had her get up with him to make their own. Carissa noticed Hawks put quite the amount of sugar in his beverage. He noticed her stare and only responded with, "I like it sweet." Something deep within Carissa bubbled, having found what he said humorous and almost laughed. It surprised her as she managed to hold it in.

They sat down again and drank their coffee. Hawks was trying to start a conversation up. Carissa would reply with one or two words to his questions or comments.

"When can I go home?" Carissa asked.

Hawks sipped his coffee before glancing at her again. "You are home." He replied. "At least for now."

"My home."

"You are home."

"I'm referring to the home you broke into." Carissa bluntly stated, half glaring at the winged man.

Hawks mimicked her, returning the half glare. His wings slowly rose, frizzling up.

"Tsk." Not wanting that to scare her, Carissa gave a defiant posture. "Aren't you supposed to be in Japan doing hero work?"

"I'm taking some time off to take care of my girlfriend." Hawks suddenly grinned.

Carissa blushed, gritting her teeth. "Is your agency aware of that?"

"You think about stuff too much, you know that?" Hawks pointed out, taking another swig of his beverage. "You should relax."

"How am I supposed to relax?!" Carissa snapped. "You've stalked, harassed and now kidnapped me! Who in their right mind would be relaxed?!"

"Lower your voice, songbird." Hawks said with a mild, serious tone.

"Did you really stay here to search for villains?" Carissa asked in suspicion, her anger rising. She knew this wasn't a good idea, but her anger was overcoming her fear. "Or just to harass me?"

The sharpness of a feather pushed itself into a sensitive spot in her neck. Carissa gasped at the contact, all of her anger now gone.

Hawks glared in annoyance, placing his mug down on the table. Inhaling a deep breath through his nose, his face relaxed. "Stop freaking out. Like I said before, you need a vacation. Working all the time is not good for you. I am more than happy to help you receive some good time off. I'll even let you out if you don't cause a scene."

Carissa furrowed her eyebrows. "What is that supposed to mean?" She asked. "You're planning to keep me locked in here?"

"I can't have you trying to run off. Too many people would notice something." Hawks said, twirling his mug around as if it were a wine glass.

"A vacation is not being locked up in one spot." Carissa pointed out.

"Then you have to behave."

Carissa shouldn't have been surprised, yet still found herself baffled. He was saying all of this as if it were all normal! "I never asked you to help me. I can do a vacation on my own time." She reasoned on calmer terms.

"Yeah, sure." Hawks replied with humorous sarcasm. He gulped down the rest of his coffee and got up from his seat. After putting the mug in the dishwasher, he looked to the fridge for a moment and then opened it. "Damn it." Carissa heard him mutter as his hand wiped over his face. Shutting the door, he turned to Carissa. "I have to go purchase stuff to make food. Breakfast will have to come a little later, sweet bird."

Hawks went and got ready to leave. While he was away, Carissa took the time to find a possible escape route. Unfortunately for her, every possible exit, such as the doors and covered windows, had at least a few feathers against them. Remembering Hawks could hear anything with these, Carissa didn't dare try to touch them. It wasn't long before Hawks came back and Carissa had to pretend she wasn't looking for a way out. He wasn't dressed in his hero attire, but regular clothes. Oddly he wasn't in winter clothes-just a tight black shirt and olive-green cargo pants.

Carissa frowned at his attire. "Won't you be cold?"

"Nah, I'll be fine." Hawks said, getting to the front door. He flashed her a carefree smile. "Thanks for concerning over me."

He left, and Carissa heard him lock the door from the outside before stepping away. She waited a little while to make sure he didn't come back before looking for a way out. She turned on the lights cause of the lack of light. It was pretty early in the morning, only being around seven. She looked for some way out, but couldn't find anything obvious. There were no telephones either, and with the absence of her phone she couldn't call anyone. But as Carissa looked around the hotel, it soon became apparent she wasn't in a usual hotel room. When she was young, her and her father stayed at hotels in the city a few times. Because her home was so old, they had to get it renovated a lot, so hotels were the option Wade chose. Despite never having been in a penthouse, something about this space was different.

Needing to use the restroom, Carissa went in there and contemplated on what to do. Stressed, she lifted her head up to breathe in. Her eyes landed on a vent. It looked big enough for a person to climb into. Feeling hopeful, she left the bathroom and carefully grabbed a chair and a knife from the kitchen before bringing it into the bathroom. Locking the door, she climbed onto the chair and used the knife like a screwdriver to loosen the vent. Getting the door off and gently placing it against the sink cabinet, Carissa used her strength to lift herself into the vent. It was dark and cold inside, but obviously it was better than nothing. Blunt noises such as a dull hum echoed in the vent tunnels as she quickly moved.

It felt like forever crawling in that tight space. She wanted to make it as far away as possible. A few places she couldn't go because they either led back to the room or went straight downward. Carissa made it to a long, narrow path leading to a single vent at the end. Finding this to be different, Carissa assumed she made it out of the hotel rooms' area. She crawled all the way to the end and tried to peek outside. Not much could be seen with the diagonal vents covering most of the sight. Nonetheless, Carissa decided to get out from here. She couldn't hear any people from the outside, so it meant she'd be alone. There was, however, the sound of very faint music playing in all directions. Carissa turned around and got on her stomach, rolling over before kicking at the vent door. She forgot to put shoes on but it didn't matter to her in the moment. After a few kicks, the vent door came off and light seeped into the tunnel.

It was an empty hallway. Carissa crawled out and put the door back in, quickly heading to wherever the hallway took her. She needed to be quick and call her father before it was too late. Disregarding the abnormal design of the hallway, she made it to the end and found a door. She sighed in relief when the door was not locked. However, an elegant yet strange sight greeted her from the other side of the door.

The other side held a massively large area that looked similar to a mall. Because it was still slightly dark out, it glowed inside in various places with all the mostly white lights. There were large, twirling staircases in the shape of DNA strands and elevators traveling very high up. The lounge was littered with comfortable couches and tables, very few of which were occupied by a few people drinking coffee or eating to-go breakfast. Faint and gentle radio music played throughout the area, helping bring a soothing and homey aura to the place. She must've been on the main floor because overhead several other floors were visible. Not many people were around due to it being so early, but a few people who noticed her kept their eyes glued before walking away. It crossed Carissa's mind that she did not change into proper attire before she left the room, still wearing her nightgown. But she didn't care.

Where am I? Carissa thought to herself. She felt like she was in a weird-looking yet expensive mall. Was this a hotel they never heard of? Her and her father never could've afforded to stay here if it was indeed a hotel. The only thing she recognized was the undeniable smell of the ocean coming from somewhere. Whatever. It didn't matter. All she had to do was get to the shoreline, find a phone and call her father.

Carissa walked across the lounge, her eyes on an opening. There didn't appear to be a door, so when she was hit with only slightly cold air, Carissa became confused. It was definitely the outside, the sky holding this beautiful, almost periwinkle color. Seeing the sky meant there were no clouds, a rare day. The usual morning smell was overpowered by the ocean. It was fall and much chillier than this, so why was it not as cold as before?

Ignoring the multiple stares she was receiving, Carissa got outside. She was greeted by a narrow path with railing and a vague rumbling under her feet. The ocean splashed before her, reaching far into the horizon. As predicted, no clouds. She came to the railing and grabbed the bar, looking down. They were high off the water. She couldn't really see the bottom wall of the hotel. The water's motion did not look right, either.

A couple passed by her.

"When will we be in Greece?" The woman asked.

"We should be there in a couple days." The man replied.

"I really want to see it." The woman mentioned.

"…Hmm?" Carissa slowly hummed in question, slowly turning to the couple and watched as they left. What is that supposed to mean?

One could say they were talking about traveling and were planning their next trip to their new destination. But the way they worded it could've given it more than one possibility. Turning straight to the left, there was no sign of any land. No buildings or even trees in the distance. Just the ocean and the hotel wall with a narrow path attached to it, safe railing leading the whole way down. A bad feeling was clashing around in her stomach as her brain spiraled. Carissa's eyes widened, her heart racing and her skin heating up. She fast walked, hoping to see some form of land somewhere. But nothing familiar was in sight. After several minutes of walking, Carissa finally reached the end of the wall where the path curved.

Carissa stared at the front, and knew she didn't have to walk all the way to the end to realize it. The pointed edge of the front of the structure, similar to that of a cliff, made it obvious.

They were on a cruise ship.

As if this news wasn't bad enough, a warmth behind her back ironically brought a chill down her spine as a familiar voice darkly muttered into her ear.

"Songbird…!"