Episode:11

"In the Still Darkness" is the eleventh episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Overview
The electrical power in Tokyo-3 is completely cut off as a result of sabotage by parties unknown, trapping most NERV personnel inside, and worse, trapping all three Evangelion pilots outside of the base. A new Angel, Matarael, appears and begins to burn its way down to NERV Headquarters by using a corrosive acid attack, and everyone inside must struggle to power up the Evangelions, as the pilots try to make their way back into Central Dogma through a maze of closed corridors and air ducts. The pilots then enter their Evas and go into battle. After traversing more vents and passageways, they come face to face with the Angel. Asuka defends Shinji and Rei from Matarael's corrosive acid, while the other two pilots retrieve Shinji's rifle. Shinji then uses the rifle to destroy the Angel.

Synopsis
The episode opens as Ritsuko, Maya, and Aoba, are doing their laundry. They then board a train and meet Vice Commander Fuyutsuki, who complains that he is always given the trivial duties, and the city council being nothing but a figurehead, with the Magi supercomputers doing all the job. He also mentions that Ritsuko will be conducting an activation test on Unit-00 that day.

At NERV HQ, Misato boards an elevator. Kaji runs after her, and despite her pushing the "close" button, joins her. At this time Shinji calls his father to tell him that Shinji needs Gendo to show up for a career discussion interview at the school. Gendo starts to tell him that all those parental duties have been delegated to Misato when they are suddenly cut off. At the same time, Misato and Kaji realize that the elevator has stopped working due to a power failure and speculate that Ritsuko might have caused it during the Unit-00 test. In the lab, Ritsuko denies responsibility. Fuyutsuki orders all the emergency power channeled to the Magi and Central Dogma.

Shinji, Asuka and Rei arrive at NERV and find that their cards won't open the gate. Inside, Gendo and Fuyutsuki realize that the power must have been sabotaged. At the same time, the Ninth Angel, Matarael, emerges from the ocean at a point near the former Atami region and heads for Tokyo-3. The JSSDF commanders tracking the Angel get no response from NERV HQ as the Angel begins advancing towards Tokyo-3 inland.

Misato tries to call out of the elevator, but can't get anyone. Aoba also tries to call, but finds that all the phone lines are down. The pilots try to call, but with the same results. Ritsuko and Maya must climb a maintenance ladder to get to the control room. Rei finally thinks to consult her emergency manual; the other pilots follow suit and they realize that they need to get to headquarters.

Asuka declares herself leader and chooses Shinji to crank open the doors manually. Meanwhile, the waiting JSSDF commanders decide to warn Tokyo-3 directly by sending an aircraft to warn the city about the Angel's attack.

Hyuga, who had been picking up Misato's laundry, hears the evacuation order and confiscates a politician's loudspeaker van and heads to NERV HQ. On the elevator, Kaji tries unsuccessfully to flirt with Misato. In the control room, Gendo, Fuyutsuki, and Ritsuko decide that the purpose behind the sabotage must have been to investigate the HQ, and Ritsuko offers to run a dummy program on Magi to make it difficult to learn everything about the structure. At the mean time, under Asuka's leadership, the pilots have got themselves lost. Hyuga passes above them in the van, informing everyone within earshot of the attack, but they are unable to get his attention. Rei points out a short cut and they begin crawling through an air vent. Shinji tries to speculate on the nature of the Angels, but Asuka thinks that the question is pointless; if they're attacking, they must be enemies. Asuka then leads them up the wrong path again, opens a door and encounters Matarael face to face before panicking and slamming the door shut. Hyuga reaches the control room and informs NERV personnel of the Angel's attack. Confident that the pilots will arrive on time, Gendo orders the preparation for the Evas to launch manually.

Thanks to Rei, the pilots are on the right path once again. Asuka accuses Rei of being the favored pilot, which Rei denies. They begin crawling through a duct once again, which they had to force it open. Asuka orders Shinji not to look forward and gives him a flurry of kicks to the face when he disobeys, which made the duct crash, dropping them out of the vents into the Eva launch area, with Shinji and Asuka landing in a heap, Rei nimbly landing on her feet. They find the Evas nearly ready for launch. Shinji looks on in surprise as he sees a side of his father he has never seen before. Gendo is diligently working beside everyone else to insert the Entry Plugs by hand with a pulley.

The three pilots launch and craw into a large horizontal shaft to try to come underneath the Angel, while it had stopped moving, but when they climb into the vertical shaft they realize that Matarael is trying to burn its way into NERV with strong solvent liquid. They scramble into a side shaft, losing their guns and batteries in the process. Asuka comes up with a daring plan: One Eva will be on defense to block the acid and neutralize the Angel's A.T. Field. The backup Eva will go to retrieve one of the guns to the offense Eva who will open fire as the defense Eva dodges back into the horizontal shaft.

Rei volunteers for defense, but Asuka has reserved that role for herself and gives Rei the backup role. Shinji will be offense. The plan works perfectly and Matarael is destroyed. The power is restored, and Kaji and Misato, who had been trying to climb out of the elevator, fall into a heap, and the doors open to reveal Ritsuko, Hyuga and Maya, who all react with disgust. As the episode ends, Shinji once again speculates about the Angels' motives; Asuka thinks that such speculation is meaningless, because there's no way to know why.

Quotes

 * Gendo:"Mankind's enemy is Mankind"
 * Shinji:"Angels, messengers of God, enemies named after servants of Heaven. Why are we fighting them?" Asuka:"Are you stupid? Strange beings are attacking us. If you're going through a fire, you've got to brush away the embers!"
 * Rei:"Man fears the darkness, thus scrapes away at the edges of it with fire"