Chapter 44

"HOPE!" Sawyer yelled out. "MAJOR IKARI, RESPOND!"

They saw on the visual Angel 20 come towards the EVA unit like a predator stalking its intended prey.

Sawyer took a look at the vitals display as he breathed in as he saw them. They were falling rapidly. .

Sawyersighed angrily looking at the vitals display. . All of them are decreasing: respiration, heart rate, sinus rhythm, brain function…. all of them are decreasing second by second. She's hurt bad! She's wounded all over. Her shoulder looks broken, she's got internal bleeding! I have to get her out! She has to get out of there!

He looked over to the harmonics and sync ratio output and then breathed in as he read them. Harmonics output at zero! She's offline. She has no control!

As Sawyer looked at Angel 20 on the visual, he saw Hope's EVA laying flat on the ground while the Angel approached slowly.

His anger and pain pulsed through him, feeling helpless as he watched. He wished he could reach into that screen and pull her out.

"REPORT!" Asuka demanded as her face came up on the relay.

"General, Unit 1 is down. Hostile is engaging EVA unit 1."

"Where is Unit 01's location?"

Sawyer was silent for a minute as he thought. She's going to die and I can't help her. I can't do anything. Hope, I love you. I'm sorry. Focus, Sawyer! You have to keep your focus. What you do now is for Hope. Keep control. You can grieve later

"ANSWER ME, COMMANDER!" General Ikari shouted. "WHERE…. IS…UNIT 1'S LOCATION?"

"Unit 1 is…. not responding, General. We've lost communications. We still have the vitals relay though."

"GIVE ME A RELAY AND A VISUAL!" General Ikari demanded.

"General, you shouldn't…you don't want to…"

"Give me…. A FUCKING VISUAL AND A RELAY NOW!"

Sawyer's eyes squeezed shut as he grimaced from General Ikari's shouting, and answered. "Yes, General." Turning to Lt. Fuki he said. "Patch a visual and a relay to General Ikari right now."

"Sir?"

:"NOW!" Sawyer boomed.

"Commander, " Dr. Ibuki said over the comm. "Major Ikari doesn't have much time left. Her injuries are severe. According to the vitals report, she has a large contusion and laceration on her frontal lobe; there is the possibility of a skull fracture. She has three broken ribs one of one has punctured her lung, her right shoulder is completely shattered and she has a large laceration right across her lower left abdomen. Commander, I'm sorry. Rescue crews wouldn't get to her in time. It's only a matter of time for Major Ikari. Does General Ikari know?"

"Yes, Dr. Ibuki." Sawyer responded flatly. "She knows."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few minutes later General Ikari was watching from her command center Major Ikari's vitals from within the EVA unit. .

My daughter. My daughter is… she's dying. Oh dear God, no! How could this happen? Why? No, Asuka, maintain control. You have to do what you need to do. If these readings are correct, Hope will be dead before the rescue crews get out there. She'll be dying in pain. Forgive me, Shinji. I have to do this. It'll be easier for her this way. I don't want to suffer in her death. If she's going to die, I'm going to make it easier for her. Asuka thought as her anger pulsed through her

The screen flickered and then Sawyer's eyes widened as he saw Angel 20 slowly coming towards Unit 1, stalking it.. Hope's Unit was not responding. Unit 01 had completely gone offline. She wasn't in sync with it. She was just an occupant in a large metal hunk of junk.

. "She won't make it, Sawyer." Asuka said sadly over the relay.

"I know." Sawyer told her in a low voice.

"Commander?"

Sawyer breathed in as he said. "Yes, Dr. Ibuki."

"We've been monitoring the harmonics output of Angel 20. It appears as though there is a signal emanating from it…. its barely detectable but its there….it might be a form of communication…….possibly from SEELE relaying commands to the Angel."

"Can we track it?"

"Hard to say. It appears to be scrambled code with a location changer."

"Someone need a hacker?"

Sawyer turned and saw a grinning communications officer turn to him from his terminal. "Commander Dell, I think you know that's my specialty."

Sawyer looked at the young man for a minute and then he remembered who he was. "Lance, this isn't like the hacking you used to do to break into the stock market and what not…this is serious business…"

Asuka then said over the relay. "Commander, if we can use that signal as a location finder…"

"Then, we can track SEELE." Sawyer said.

"Let the hacker do it." Asuka said firmly.

"Commander," Lance said with a grin as he leaned forward. ", I either had to face jail time or sign up with NERV. I chose NERV. Give me the signal. I'll break it and I'll find it."

Sawyer grinned and nodded. "Lance, if you let me down..."

"I'll break it." Lance said as he turned to his terminal and looked at the signal in front of him.

"You'd better." Sawyer told him firmly.

Asuka breathed in as she looked at the visual of Unit 1 being stalked by Angel 20. She took another look at the vitals display and breathed in deeply as her fists clenched.. I'm sorry, Hope. I have to do this. I swear to you, I'll never forget what you gave for all of us. I'm sorry. This has to be done. I love you, Hope. Shinji, take care of her. I'm sorry, my love. I'm so sorry. I hope you forgive me some day.

(A/N: Oh no! Did I do it again? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to leave you at another cliffhanger…oh wait, yes I did. Reason? You guessed it, the next chapters that are coming up are CRUCIAL and you don't want to miss a beat. Stay tuned. If I can update today, I will. I'm trying though. Right now I'm sitting at home waiting for my car to be fixed. I'm supposed to be in Atlanta this weekend but my car had other plans. I may just update the story today. Stay tuned. As always thank you all for reading and see you soon.)