Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
A power failure shuts down Tokyo-3 and Nerv, interrupting Shinji's attempt to telephone Gendo about a school meeting. The backup systems also fail, leaving the staff to suspect deliberate interference. Misato and Kaji are trapped together in an elevator, while the pilots find that their identification cards no longer open the entrance to headquarters. Without working communications, a military aircraft broadcasts an evacuation warning after another Angel appears. Hyuga commandeers a loudspeaker vehicle to carry the news to Nerv. Shinji, Rei and Asuka struggle through maintenance passages, with Asuka claiming leadership even as wrong turns and arguments delay their return to the Eva cages.
At headquarters, Gendo trusts that the pilots will reach them and joins the staff in preparing the Evas by hand. Shinji arrives to find his father helping with the physical work, an unfamiliar sight that impresses him. The three units launch through the underground shafts, but the Angel is pouring corrosive fluid down toward them. Asuka devises a coordinated response: she will shield the others, Rei will retrieve a dropped rifle, and Shinji will fire at the exposed enemy. Their cooperation succeeds where the disabled base's normal systems could not. With the Angel destroyed and power returning, the pilots rest outside, discussing the stars, the darkness and the motives of their attackers.