His father turned to a monitor. "Aoba," he said. A monitor flicked on, revealing Aoba's face. "Retrieve Rei."
"But she's still inju-"
"She isn't dead," Ikari said. Aoba nodded sadly, and the display changed, but not to a video display. "Rei," Ikari began.
"Yes?" the girl gasped out.
"The pilot is uncooperative. You will pilot."
"Yes sir."
Doctor Akagi nodded to herself and announced to the workers, "… Reconfigure Eva-01's system to Pilot Zero." She and Misato began to walk away.
On the intercom, Ibuki responded. "Roger. Cancel the current procedures. Reactivate now."
Shinji hadn't moved. He looked down at the floor. 'I knew it,' he thought. He remembered it, of course. All the times Father had hurt him. How young he'd been when they had parted ways. "He doesn't need me."
Rei was brought in, heavily bandaged, on her gurney. The nurses brought her past Shinji, and he stared. When the bed stopped, she tried to push herself up. She could barely do that without whimpering in pain. Shinji watched, without knowing what to do.
---
The Angel was back, standing on a mountain and looking down at the city. The eye holes in its mask lit up, and a pillar of light arose from the buildings it had hit.
---
The Geofront shook from the impact, knocking Rei off of her bed. Shinji fell over as well, and watched in horror as ceiling lights were knocked away and began falling towards him. He tried to shelter himself with his arms as Misato cried "Look out!" but he didn't move.
The Eva did, lifting its arm and deflecting all the ceiling lights. One bounced away towards the booth above where Ikari stood. They bounced off the reinforced glass there too, leaving only Ikari, smiling down. Shinji looked up in horror.
The workers were protesting in shock. "The Eva moved!"
"How could it?"
"It wrenched off the restraints on the right arm!"
"Impossible! The Entry Plug hadn't been inserted!" Doctor Akagi muttered to herself. "It shouldn't have been able to move!"
Misato got back to her feet. "It reacted without any reason… Was it protecting something?" She looked at Shinji. "Him?" Her face slowly began to harden. "… We can do it," she muttered to herself.
Shinji ran to Rei, picking her up. She cried out. He looked from Eva to girl. She wouldn't be able to survive this. Shinji could feel her blood on his hands. 'Father… why would you do this?'
He took a deep breath. 'I have to pilot… I have to… I have to… I have to…'
He looked up at his father. "I'll do it. I'll pilot it."
