Chapter 15

The slender, athletic woman with bright red hair and soft blue eyes walked through the corridors. She had on a red and gray uniform and on her head was a small cap. Over her right ear was a small communications device sitting in her ear attached to that was a small microphone, which came out right above her lips.

The uniform, different from her usual black uniform, fit her well. It hugged her body tightly but it was not provocative in the way it looked. In her right hand was a small metallic attaché case and in her left was a small plasma pad.

Her face showed a wide smile and in her footsteps was the air of confidence as she continued down the long corridor. She continued with the same smile as she stopped in front of the desk, handing the small plasma pad to the man.

"This way, Major." He said as he ran a light pen across it and got up from the desk. The man was wearing a uniform similar to hers except for the holster around his waist revealing a pistol as his sidearm.. As he walked over to a door and inserted a keycard into it, he punched a secondary code into the panel.

The door slid open, the man stepped to the side, and then she stepped through it. The door closed behind her and she walked along a long metal bridge in a large, cold room.

She walked up to a turbo lift and pressed a button. Seconds later, a computer voice came on.

"State current destination?"

"Evangelion Unit One." Hope said.

"Identity? Please, confirm."

"Major Hope Ikari."

"Accepted."

The doors opened up and Hope walked through them, turning to face them as they closed shut. The doors were transparent as she began to travel upwards. In her view, she could see Evangelion Unit 01 rising to meet her gaze through the doors of the turbo lift.

She took a deep breath as she clutched her attaché case's handle and the doors opened up as the turbo-lift stopped.

She came out of the turbo-lift and walked on another metal bridge, walking further until she was directly in front of the huge mecha.

Hope stared at it. She was amazed. Such power, she thought to herself. It's so huge. It feels so odd. This was my parents' weapon and now its mine.

She took another deep breath and then uttered to the Unit. "I'm here."

It was then Unit One opened its eyes and Hope's eyes widened, as she didn't expect that type of reaction.

Taking another deep breath and regaining her posture she said. "For the hope of the world, EVA, with all of my strength…I need your help to do this."

She looked at the giant one last time before she heard Sawyer over the communications relay coming through the small earpiece in her right ear.

"Major, don't be alarmed."

"I'm not, Commander." Hope said.

"That's just the EVA acknowledging your presence. It does that to a pilot."

"So basically, its saying hello?" Hope asked.

"You could say that." Sawyer told her. "Okay, Major. Proceed to the Simulators. Keep walking down the bridge until you see the stairs that lead up to the simulation area."

"The simulators are kept pretty close to the EVA." Hope said as she began to walk down the bridge. "Why is that?"

"Simple. The closer we are to the EVA, the better sync ratios we can acquire. Also, its necessary due to the design of the simulators."

"I see." Hope said as she walked further down. She saw the staircase and walked up, then saw a door and went inside.

"Okay, Major.. Proceed to Unit One Simulator. When you open the hatch and seal yourself it will be just like you are in the EVA. Are you prepared?"

"Yes, Commander." Hope said firmly.

"Continue." Sawyer told her.

.Hope walked over to a small hatch that read UNIT 01 SIMULATION TANK. She took another deep breath and then turned the handle that opened the hatch.

Looking inside of it, she saw a large chair in the center of the room. Coming out from the chair were two places to put one's right and left leg, extending from the arm of the char were two places to put one's arms and at the top of the chair looked like a type of headset.

"Major, enter the tank and close the hatch."

Hope walked in and crouched down as she closed the hatch and then saw an eerie red light come on in the small area.

"Sit in the chair, Major. Put your right leg in the right leg control and the left leg in the left leg control."

"Yes, Commander." Hope said as she went into the chair and did as Sawyer instructed.

Then she heard a locking noise and felt two large clamps, lock down trapping her legs in the device.

Hope breathed out as she suddenly became aware her legs were trapped and they were spread open.

"Major, before you place your arms in the arm control holsters reach for the headset above your head and bring it down slowly over your head."

"Yes, sir." Hope said as she reached up and bought the headset down until it fit snugly over her head.

"Now the attaché case you bought with you needs to be plugged into to the socket at the base of your console. That's your flight recorder, Major."

"Understood, sir." Hope said as she took the attaché case and flipped open a panel on the side where a small cable was wrapped up. She took the cable and plugged it into the socket.

"Okay, here's the last part. Place your arms into the arm control holsters and grip the handles at the end but do not, repeat do not move them."

"Will my arms be locked in?"

"No. The pilot needs to have full use of their arms for other tasks within the EVA."

"Okay." Hope said. She slowly slid her arms into the holsters and then gripped the small handles she found at the end. "Ready."

"Now here's the tough part. In a moment, you are going to have LCL flood that entire cabin. Its going to feel like your submerged in water for a minute but then its going to disappear and you'll synced with the EVA."

"Yes, sir." Hope responded.

"This is what you do. Close your eyes and hold your breath for twenty seconds when you hear the alarm. This will make the sync experience less traumatic for you. Under no circumstances do you panic. The LCL has oxygen in it. It's a breathable liquid that dissipates in less then thirty seconds. Do not panic, Hope. It's not something you can drown in. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Commencing with LCL Flooding." Sawyer said.

Hope heard the alarm and then closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, holding her breath. She could feel liquid start to fill the cab, it was rising quickly, over her legs, then her abdomen, then her chest, her neck and finally above her head.

Over her headset, she listened to Sawyer. "Major, you're sync ratio is currently 60…. now 70…85…. we are at 100, Major. You are now in sync with the EVA."

She felt slightly apprehensive but then felt the liquid disappear and she heard over the headset. "You can open your eyes now."

Hope opened her eyes and breathed out, amazed that the liquid was nowhere in sight and that she wasn't the least bit wet at all.

"Okay, Hope all of EVA's functions are voice activated aside from the physical movements that you make yourself. Anything you want to do just state it. First up, activate the control panel."

"Okay." Hope said.

"Major, begin the command control sequence. You do that by stating the name of EVA and its function. For instance…say Unit 01, control panel."

"Unit 1, control panel." Hope said.

Then monitors started flickering in front of her and she could hear noises coming from the radio. Soon, the monitor flickered again and a small square popped up showing Sawyer's face smiling back at her, he too was wearing a headset.

"Good work, Major." He said with a smile.

"What are you staring at?" Hope asked with a grin.

"Nothing." He told her. "I just have…. a good view of the cockpit." He said with a smirk.

"I'll bet, Commander." Hope said back to him with a smile.

"Major, I want you to try to send basic commands to the EVA. Walk, move, and turn. Things like that."

"Okay." Hope said.

"Command the EVA to walk."

"How?" Hope asked.

"How do you normally walk?" Sawyer asked

"I just….walk." Hope said.

"Exactly. Imagine that you are walking and act as if you are going to walk. You're legs are now synced with the EVA. You will not be able to remove your legs until the simulation is complete or if you were to have your sync terminated. Imagine you are walking."

"Acknowledged." Hope said. She tried moving her leg and then felt the entire simulator move as she could feel her steps being intimidated. "Oh my God, I did it!" Hope said with a wide smile.

"This is what happens when you sync." Sawyer told her. "Your movements become the EVA's movements. You are in sync with the EVA. You control its body therefore; your body movements are what the EVA will follow."

"I understand, Commander." Hope said.

"Now, let's try raising its arms."

"Okay." Hope said as she gripped the handles of the arm holsters and felt like she was moving her arms around.

"Very good, Major.." Sawyer said as he looked at a computerized display showing Unit 1 raising its arms up and down. "That's great progress. Now make the EVA turn, just make like your going to turn."

Hope shifted her body and then her eyes widened as her console moved with it as she felt herself turn around.

"Whoa!" Hope said with a chuckle. "All of my movements are replicated! This is fun!"

Sawyer chuckled. "Just try not to have too much fun, Major. We're on a timetable."

On the computerized display, Sawyer watched as Unit 01 spun completely around and he chuckled.

"EVA Ballet?" Sawyer asked.

Hope chuckled at him and said. "How's this for a sync test?"

As Sawyer looked up at the screen, he watched the EVA raise its arm and then extend only its middle finger.

Sawyer chuckled. "I'd say that's progress."

Hope laughed back as she stared at him on the monitor.

Hope peered over to the vital statistics monitor and smirked as he saw her heart rate rise after he had smiled at her.

"Easy, Major. You're heart rate just rose somewhat. I wonder what could cause that?" He knew it was cheating by reading the vitals display to know that he had gotten to her but he couldn't' help it.

Hope shot a look at him as she smiled and chuckled, her cheeks flushed and again Sawyer saw the heart rate rise. "Commander, keep your eyes on the task at hand."

"I'm doing that." Sawyer told her with another smirk.

Hope chuckled at him. Yesterday had been quite an evening. I would have never have believed I could feel this way again.

As she smiled at him and the way her eyes shined at him, he knew that yesterday at her house was a major turning point for both of them.

Hope continued to do test after test. Sawyer continued to watch her, monitoring the harmonic outputs and sync ratios until he said. "Are you ready for a break now?"

"How long has it been?" Hope asked.

"Uh, about six hours worth."

"Six hours? Why is it I'm not hungry or have to go to the bathroom?"

"Well, its because the EVA has the ability to restrict certain things like hunger, the ability to relieve yourself. It has something to do with the sync, I really not sure what it is. After the sync is over, you might want to find the nearest restroom."

" I suppose." Hope said.

"Okay, Major. Disengaging simulation. When the red lights come back on, the hatch will open, disconnect your flight recorder and exit the simulator, then meet me in the control room."

"Okay, I'm just going to change out of the plug suit first. It's not that restricting. I mean it's tight but it feels like I'm naked."

"That's the idea." Sawyer told her. "In the EVA, you need to feel as little of a restraint as possible. The plug suit protects your body from the LCL and at the same time, provides you with the ability to use your body without being restrained by your normal clothes."

"I can understand that." She said. "Is that why I did those other tests naked?"

"Exactly. Harmonic outputs needed to be adjusted so that your plug suit could be designed to be a better resonator."

"This is really amazing." Hope said.

"I agree." Sawyer said with a smile. "Meet me at the control and I'll show you the results of your first simulation test."

"Sounds good."

Hope then breathed out, as she felt dizzy for a moment. The headset on her head was raised up. She saw the red lights come in the simulator and saw the hatch door open. Her legs were released and she pulled them from the restraints as she reached down and disconnected her flight recorder.

"You're sync has been disconnected." Sawyer said. "Good work, Major."

Hope sighed and then suddenly felt like she really needed to use the lavatory quickly.

About a half hour later, after she had finished taking a shower and changing back into her black uniform, she went into the NERV Command Center.

She saw Sawyer in the command hub, sitting at his desk. She smiled as she proceeded to go over to the stairs and walk up towards the command hub. As she came up to the hub, she walked up to Sawyer who was seated at his desk overlooking the entire command center.

"Commander." Hope said as she nodded, looking at him with a smile.

Sawyer looked over and turned around in his chair so that he faced her. "Hello, Major." He answered her with a smile.

"I…didn't take too long, did I?"

"Not at all." He said. "Come here, I want to show you something."

Hope approached his desk and stood next to him suddenly several panels on his desktop appeared, each showing different readouts.

"Throughout the test, we observed that your vital statistics were normal from start to finish. That's good."

Hope nodded.

"Now, over here, this is your sync and harmonic output. Your signatures stay nominal at 100 throughout the simulation but, it dips slightly around here to 85 and we want to avoid that."

"Where?" Hope asked as she bent down slightly, leaning over so that she was next to him, looking at the desk.

Sawyer, noticing how close she was at that point, simply looked at her but then cleared his throat and said. "Well, its right here." He told her as he pointed.

"Where is it?" Hope asked as she leaned closer to him.

"Its right there." He told her in a low voice as he took in the scent of her perfume, mixed with the smell of her shampoo and the LCL, all of which, a dangerous combination to have around him. "You smell good." He whispered to her with a smirk.

"Sawyer?" Hope asked as she turned her head to him with a smile. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know." He responded back with a smirk.

"We're at work, Sawyer." Hope said with a smirk.

"I know." He told her.

"We should act…. professional." Hope said with another smile as she looked at him.

"I'm trying." He told her.

Hope giggled as she blushed slightly and looked back at those dancing blue eyes of his. "Sawyer, ….you know…. last night…."

"I know." He said with a smile.

"Well," She said as she giggled again. ", Its just….it was a while for me, y'know?"

"I had that feeling." He told her as he smiled.

"Does that mean you thought…I was inexperienced?"

"Hope, don't take this the wrong way….but yes, I could. Its okay though, you only get better with time."

"I'm acting so foolish right now." Hope whispered as she looked at him.

"Its okay to be silly." He told her with a smile.

"Yeah, but let's face it, our jobs don't exactly seem like the type of place where we'd be…silly."

"I know but how about we both be silly later?"

Hope smirked as she said. "How silly?"

"Very." He whispered back.

"Is it the kind of silliness that could us both into trouble?" Hope asked.

"I hope so." Sawyer whispered back to her.

"Well then, we should be silly later." Hope whispered into his ear with a smirk.

"I can't wait." He said with another smile.

Pulling away from his ear, she said in a very professional manner. "Okay, so show me the harmonics output."

"Okay." He told her as he looked at the display. "Its over here. For the most part, it was nominal too but it dipped slightly….you went from 100 to 85 at one point and that's not good."

"What should I do?"

"I think it was because it was, " then he turned with a smile as he said it, ", your first time so to speak."

Hope giggled at him as he said it, shaking her head.

", But…. the more time you spend in the simulator the more you will get used to it. Its to be expected with a new pilot that there will be apprehension but after a while, you'll get used to it and then we'll move you into Unit 1 itself."

"I am just amazed what I was able to do. Piloting a device like that? It simply amazes me."

Sawyer resisted the urge to say something. When she said that all he wanted to do was tell her that she amazed him, but he resisted and simply said. "A good pilot can make all the difference in making sure an EVA is successful in its duty."

Sawyer's phone rang on his desk; he reached for the speakerphone and picked it up. "Yes?"

"Commander Dell, I have the President of the United States on the phone for you."

Sawyer looked to Hope and then back at the phone as he picked up the receiver. "Go ahead. Put him through."

Hope straightened up as she watched Sawyer's demeanor shift and he sat upright in his chair and said in a firm, commanding voice. "Good morning, Mr. President."

Hope watched him as he nodded his head and then replied. "At this time, sir, our intelligence data have not yet pinpointed the location of SEELE. We are running on a few leads."

Sawyer was silent for a minute and then answered. "At the request of General Ikari, Mr. President, I am working fully in compliance with the Japanese government and the United Nations in securing and dismantling SEELE's base of operation."

Sawyer nodded his head once more and then responded. "No, Mr. President, I do not, at this time, have the evidence that is required in order to find SEELE."

Sawyer grimaced and breathed out, as he nodded his head and responded. "Tonight, sir? Washington? Tomorrow morning? Sir, I am in the middle of training a new pilot. Sir, I realize that the CIA needs to be briefed on the operation but I have been selected to run NERV and prevent a worldwide catastrophe from occurring!"

Sawyer breathed in again as he said. "Of course, Mr. President, I know my allegiance to my country! I know where my duty lies and right now, Mr. President; I am not able to leave my base of operation in order to attend a one-hour CIA briefing. I can conference in at your time and attend the briefing."

Sawyer was quiet for a moment and then said. "What new data? They found…what?"

Sawyer breathed in and then said. "Of course, Mr. President! Yes, I will leave within the hour. Thank you, sir."

Sawyer hung up the phone, stood up as he looked at Hope and said. "Change of plans tonight."

"Well, I do think that meeting with the President is a terrible excuse!" Hope said with a smirk.

"I'll be back tomorrow. I just have to get through this meeting. Apparently, there's some information that they've discovered and I need to be there."

"I understand." Hope said. "After all you are in the CIA."

Dell smiled at her and then said. "I'll have Dr. Ibuki supervise your session tomorrow. Let's walk together for a while."

"Okay." She said as the two of them walked out of the command center and preceded to walk down the hall.

Sawyer looked over at her and said with a smile. "I never expected you to change your mind about me so quickly."

"Neither did I." She said to him.

"Hope, don't think I'm…well, that…. I'm…a romantic or anything…. but, last night…I just…."

"I know." Hope said as she looked over at him. "I feel the same way. Sawyer, I haven't laughed like that or felt like I could be with anyone like that in so long…I can talk to you about anything… and it frightens me to know that I've only known you two weeks, and yet…. feel this way about you."

"I know what you mean." He said to her.

"I've never done anything like that before, Sawyer! I mean, I just…. I don't know."

"Here." He said as he turned a corner and hit the button on the turbo lift. The doors opened and they quickly got inside, as the doors shut, Hope leaned against the wall.

Hope looked into his face as he came towards her and smiled at her.

"Sawyer…you…"

"Listen to me very carefully," he said to her as he stood in front of her. ", I don't think either one of us should fight what we're feeling for each other. Okay, granted we've only known each other a short while…. but, its obvious that there is something….between you and I that just…. just …brings us closer."

"Sawyer, I feel like an idiot." Hope said with a chuckle. "What we did last night…I mean…"

"Yes, I know!" Sawyer told her with a smile. "What's so wrong about it? Haven't you ever wanted to just…. break out and do something totally out of the blue?"

"Of course I have…Sawyer, don't get me wrong…. I'm not saying…. I didn't like it…. I did…I loved every minute of it. I never thought it would be so much fun…."

"You've done it before though? Haven't you?"

"Yes but only once before, many years ago." Hope said with a smirk. "I just…. I had so much fun last night. I can't explain to you…how much fun I had."

"I did too." He told her. "Oh God, Hope. Its taking every bit of restraint not to just take you into my arms and kiss you…kiss you long and hard…. kiss you the way I've been thinking about kissing you."

"Not here, Sawyer." Hope said as her cheeks became red. "I'm not prepared to hear that you and me are the subject of gossip."

"I don't care where it is." Sawyer told her. "I just want to seize the moment."

"Let's also not forget that there are security cameras in here." Hope told him.

"Hope, all last night, I wanted to kiss you. If Souke hadn't interrupted us before dinner….and if Souke hadn't interrupted us before…."

"…. You would have." Hope finished.

"Of course, I would have!" He told her. "I wanted to a thousand times last night. It's almost crazy, Hope. I'm acting like I'm seventeen again."

Hope laughed as she heard him, swatting him on his arm gently. "Sawyer!" She continued to smile at him as she said softly. "I can't seem to understand myself either." Hope said as she looked at him. "I mean it was only one night, Sawyer."

"Yes, but what a night it was!" He said with a wide smile as he stepped closer to her and put his hands on her waist. "The way you looked…. my god, you looked amazing…"

"Sawyer, I was wearing a rumpled sweatshirt with blue jeans! I did not look like a beauty queen."

"Oh yes you did." He said to her with a smile. "I couldn't take my eyes off of you. The way you smelled that night, Hope, intoxicated me!"

Hope giggled and blushed as she looked at him. "You are a very odd man!"

"If I didn't have to go to board a plane to DC in a hour…I would say, let's find a nice quiet corner where I could kiss you as much as I wanted to."

Hope again blushed. "Who would have thought?" she said as she giggled again. "A game of mini golf would be…. I can't even find the words…."

"I know! Its crazy, isn't it?" he asked her.

"I mean, we're acting like we…. well, you know…"

"What?" he asked her.

"Don't read into this or anything but, you and me we're acting like we slept with each other and we didn't!" Hope said with a laugh as she turned a deep shade of crimson.

"Don't get me started on that." Sawyer said excitedly with a smirk as he looked at her. "Once, I get started…I can't stop."

"Sawyer, we're getting in too deep." Hope said nervously.

"I hope so." He whispered in a husky voice.

"Is it wise with…. all of these projects going on? You're my superior and I have rules about that…"

"Rules, Schmules!" he said.

"What?" Hope asked.

"I just mean………who cares…I love being with you." He told her with a smile.

"Is it normal to feel this way? I mean, we've only known each other a short time…"

"I know." He said to her with a grin. "Hope, I wouldn't trade anything for this feeling I have right now…I wouldn't give it away for all the riches in the world…. there's only one thing that could ever make me trade the way I feel right now."

"What is that?"

"To have a kiss from you. In that regard, I'd never lose that feeling at all." His palm reached up and cupped her cheek lightly, making her breathe heavy as he moved closer to her.

"Oh." Hope said as blushed again and smiled. "…Uh…okay."

Sawyer smirked at her. "You are adorable the way you do that."

"The way I do what?" She asked with a smile.

"Blush ever so slightly." He said with a grin. "I really like that…. I think I like anything that you do."

"Sawyer…." She breathed out as she looked into those eyes.

"To hell with cameras." Sawyer said as he moved in closer to her just as the doors opened and several people started coming inside of the elevator.

Quickly, the two of them straightened up, both looking away at the same time and each of them flustered as people looked at them.

"Commander…" one of the people mentioned.

Sawyer nodded his head in a greeting as he took a look over at Hope and smirked slightly.

Soon, the elevator, which only had the two of them, was extremely crowded with NERV staff.

Hope took a look at him and giggled, as Sawyer looked back at her and smirked. The two of them now stood jam packed in between several people in the elevator and they both couldn't help but to laugh.

After they got out of the elevator, and arrived at the above ground platform Sawyer looked back at her and told her. "I'll be back soon."

Hope smiled at him.

Wanting to hold her in his arms and kiss her with everything that he felt at that moment, Sawyer Dell looked back at Major Hope Ikari in the midst of the crowd moving about.

Hope equally couldn't stop staring at him as she smiled back at him and wanted to feel his strong, muscular arms around her. She needed to feel him kiss her and make her feel just as amazing as she all ready felt.

"Have a good flight." Hope told him.

He breathed in and out as he looked at her and told her. "We'll continue this when I get back."

"Oh, I know we will." Hope said with a smile.

Then Hope and Sawyer both went their separate ways as she went to go head home and he went to go board a plane for Washington DC.