Chapter 5: Turning of the Years

Of course, I can't make miracles of that kind happen at the drop of a hat. It was always going to take time. With what had come before, it made my time in Germany a little easier, but I still encountered my fair share of surprises, both good and not so much. Either way, it was a shape of things to come.

- Where I've Been, 12th Entry

NERV-2, Stahlturm, Neuberlin, November, 2012

Daniel walked into the now familiar simulation room, waving to First Lieutenant Pranashta as she glanced back at him. "Hey there," he said with a smile. "How is your husband doing? Food stand going well?"

Pranashta smiled as he came over to her station. "He's doing well, thank you. And yes, actually, the food stand's been picking up recently. Have you tried his lunch special yet?"

"Not yet, actually. It smells delicious, though." Daniel admitted guiltily. "Now, anything getting on Unit-02's nerves, as it were?"

Pranashta chuckled. "Well, now that you mention it, there is some twitching going on right… here, under the Armor Sleeve on the left arm…"

This was how Daniel's morning routine went, going from person to person on his team and getting a status report for the day. Some he talked with for longer, some he only exchanged a few sentences with. Many were friends, some were only acquaintances, but all knew that Daniel Theisman took a personal interest in their work and that he was perfectly willing to listen to them talk about it.

His course around the room took him about half an hour, leading him back to the main console in front of the simulator Plug, where one more familiar face waited for him, looking rather groggy still.

"Good morning, Misato," Daniel said cheerily, keeping his voice down a tad just in case.

Misato smiled weakly. "G'morning, Daniel," she said.

"So, how's the aftermath treating you?" Daniel asked, thinking of the rather raucous birthday party one of the technicians had thrown last night. And the copious amount of alcohol that had been on offer.

"Decently enough, thanks," Misato said, taking a deep breath. "Thanks for the emergency aspirin last night, too, by the way. You saved me a hell of a headache kicking my ass."

She frowned. "And I didn't know you baked. Those rolls were delicious."

"I've heard from a friend that carbs help with hangovers." Daniel paused, his brows arching. "Did it work?"

Misato chuckled. "Well, at least the rolls were good enough to focus on instead of the hangover. I might need a few more tests."

"You could just ask me to bake you more rolls." Daniel grinned wryly.

"Maybe. But then I'd have to run the risk of sharing them with Asuka."

The two of them shared a quiet chuckle, Misato wincing slightly. "Speaking of Asuka," Daniel said as he looked at the Plug, "how is she doing today?"

"Pretty good." Misato looked down at the screen, watching the polygonal Unit-02 dashing across an obstacle course. "She's been pushing herself harder than usual. She does that sometimes."

Daniel arched his brow. "Any idea why? Is there a pattern to it?"

Misato frowned slightly as the simulation finished, the results scrolling by unnoticed for the moment. "Well… give me a second to think about it…"

It was silent between them for a moment as the Plug drained, a process that took about 1 minute and 30 seconds. Misato thought long, sometimes beginning to say something.

As she seemed to finally come to a realization, the Plug door opened, Asuka once again bounding out and taking the towel that was waiting for her. As she scrubbed off the LCL that clung to her, she saw Daniel, her eyes lighting up in a way that Daniel had begun seeing a little over 2 months ago. The pattern finally clicked as Asuka walked over to them. "Hey, Daniel," she said with a confident smile. "Did you catch the whole test?"

"As much of it as I could," Daniel replied. "How was the backing track?"

Asuka's smile became a grin, and Daniel knew what she was going to say about the little enhancement he'd made to the Plug. "It's pretty awesome, being able to jam out while I'm kicking ass."

She began to pout slightly. "It can be a little distracting sometimes. Especially with that combat test against the enemy you cooked up recently."

Daniel nodded, thinking to the humanoid that he'd had one of his digital technicians, Wilkinson if he recalled correctly, help him cook up for Asuka's test. There were a lot of them that they cooked up in the two nights they'd worked, though only one had been approved by Misato and Löwenherz. That they had many aspects that belonged to the Angels was a secret that was Daniel's to keep for the moment.

"Take a look, Daniel," Asuka said, almost leading him to the monitor that replayed the obstacle run. "I shaved 30 whole seconds off the course here, and I even managed not to take a single hit!"

She put her hands on her hips. "At this rate, no one's going to be able to touch me when it comes to piloting an Eva!"

Daniel and Misato looked at each other with slight smiles, though Daniel believed he might have had a little more information. 'She's trying to impress me.' he mused. But, he noted, that could lead to going down a rather dicey road. He'd need to figure out how to head things off at just a friendship, and soon.

"Not bad, Asuka," Daniel replied. "Not bad at all." he paused for a moment. "Say, what do you know about any other pilots? I imagine there's a First Child for you to come Second to."

Asuka sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Right now, what you've said is about all I know." her eyes lit up with determination. "But at least I know I have competition."

"Well," Misato said, "you can't be the best if you run yourself into the ground. Come on. Let's get some lunch."

. . .

2 Days Later

Daniel took a much-needed day off, leaving things to Krasinski, who'd become something of a second in command. There were many ways in which he spent his days off. Now, though, he engaged in what he found to be the best part of any day.

"So that's why German is so weird sometimes," Shinji said, a tone of wonder in his voice. "They just… smash words together to form one single word sometimes?"

"Yep," Daniel said with a slight grin as he lounged on his couch. "And they have single words for whole concepts that no other European language can match."

"Really? Like what?"

Daniel's brow furrowed in thought for a moment as he searched for something to demonstrate. "Let's see… there's Gemütlichkeit, for example. That can describe a feeling of warmth, cheeriness, and peace of mind. And that's one of the simpler words I've run across so far."

"Wow…" Shinji said. "It makes my English studies sound reasonable."

It was silent on the line for a moment. Then, Shinji sighed quietly. "I wish I had… some of that word you just said right now."

"Why's that, Shinji?" Daniel said as he sat up. "Did something happen?"

"Well…" Shinji paused, seeming to gather his thoughts. "I guess it's what didn't happen. I got called to visit my mother's grave."

Daniel blinked. "By your father?" he said after a moment.

"No. By someone who worked for him."

Silence again. "He was there. Right there, almost as I remembered him that day. But…"

It was silent again. "Take your time, Shinji. It's okay." Daniel said soothingly.

The silence stretched on before Shinji sighed again. "He didn't even say anything to me. He just… stood there, looking at the grave. I don't think he even noticed me leaving."

"I'm sorry, Shinji," Daniel said quietly. "I wish there was something I could do."

"No, don't worry about it," Shinji replied. "You're all the way in Germany. What can you do, really?"

'That's a dangerous question to ask.' Daniel mused darkly for a moment.

"Did you ask him anything?" Daniel said, his voice gaining an edge of anxiety without him willing it.

"No. I didn't even try." Shinji muttered. "But there were still so many questions I had anyway."

He paused for a moment. "I didn't say anything about you, either. I don't know why, because I really wanted to. Just to try and spite him. But I feel like it would have made him… mad."

"Thank you, Shinji," Daniel said quietly. "For now, it's better that your father not know about me. Sometime, when we're together again, we can figure things out with him, hopefully."

"Do you really plan to come back somehow?" Shinji asked.

"Of course," Daniel said assuringly. "I miss talking with you face to face, after all."

'The fact that we'll be facing the end of the world notwithstanding.' he thought.

"What are you doing there, anyway?" Shinji asked. "I know it's probably something secret, but is there something you can say?"

Daniel nodded, for the good it did. "You're right, there's not a lot I can say over a phone line. But right now, I'm working on a big engineering project. Something the world has never seen before."

"Like the Evangelion?"

Daniel's heart seemed to skip a beat as he dearly hoped that Shinji was alone, wherever he was. "Something to that effect, yeah. It's big, and it's going to change the world. I wish I could say more right now."

It was silent for a moment. "Okay," Shinji said quietly.

Before Daniel could reply, he felt his phone buzz with a notification. He quickly checked, seeing it was a text from Misato. "Hey, something's probably come up. I'll call you back at some point tomorrow, okay? Get some sleep. I'm excited to hear about how your recital goes."

"Alright. I'll talk to you later then." Shinji said. Daniel hated hearing how sad he sounded every time.

"Alright. Love you. Bye." he said somewhat absentmindedly.

"Goodbye," Shinji said after a moment, and the call ended.

It took Daniel a second to realize what he'd said, and how late in coming it really was. 'Three years as his de facto guardian, and I never told him that.' he griped, sighing as he rubbed his face. 'Damn it, man. I thought you were going to do better than…'

He didn't need the distraction right now, so he looked at the text message that Misato had sent him. It was short but quite intriguing.

'Im in the moöd to swap war stores with you. Come met me at the Frohliche.'

Daniel frowned. It looked like she was a little drunk, based on the errors. And it seemed a little early in the day to be drinking enough to make the errors in the first place. But, if she wanted to talk about something like that…

Daniel got himself ready and found out that the place Misato was referring to was a quaint bar at the vertex of Side 5 and Side 6 called the Fröhliche Zeitverschwender. It took a second to process the dry humor presented by the sign, but it left Daniel chuckling as he entered. It wasn't exactly his preferred way of getting to know anyone in-depth, but there was a certain honesty when a person had washed away their inhibitions with a drink or two.

The place was somewhat dimly lit, the surroundings largely comfortable, with cushioned chairs at the tables in the center of the space and padded benches at the booths. Televisions played calming music as they swept in a U-shape away from the bar at the back of the tavern, two bartenders keeping themselves busy as best they could in the mostly empty venue.

Daniel scanned the place and found Misato motioning him over to a nicely secluded corner booth, clearly having had a few drinks while waiting for him. He wasted no time making his way over to her and taking a seat, noting the lone menu at the table that had likely been waiting for him, along with a basket of what must have been bread or wings. "So," he said, "rough day?"

Misato shrugged. "Decent 'nough. Rough shit t' think about, though." she said. "Did my best not to get too drunk. I'd hate for you to not be able to understand me."

Daniel nodded. Even with what changes he'd need to make to have his stories sound anywhere near possible, let alone plausible, the memories wouldn't change with the telling.

One of the bartenders he'd seen, apparently doubling as a waiter, came over to their table. "Anything I can get for you, sir?" she asked.

Daniel considered the menu for a moment, then nodded. "Some bröchten and wings, please, and a ginger beer. Non-alcoholic, and Bundaberg if you happen to stock it."

"We do." the bartender said with a slight smile. "It'll be right out."

As the bartender turned and left, Misato leered at Daniel. "Yer no fun, are ya, Cap'n?" she chuckled as she swirled the craft bier she nursed. "The best drink selection in the whole Stahlturm, and you're just getting a ginger beer?"

There were a great many reasons why, Daniel mused as he accepted the Bundaberg, looking at it for a moment. As much as there were times when he wanted to just drown the pain, drown the eyes…

"I'm a terrible man when I lose my inhibitions," Daniel said quietly as he flipped the bottle once, the cap coming off with a pop.

He looked up at Misato, saw the apprehension on her face as he took a sip, then smiled slightly. "Besides, I think you're going to need someone to make sure you get home. I'd hate for you to fall asleep in the tube and go all the way to Side 1."

Misato shrugged after a moment. "Well… that makes some sense. Y're a real… gentleman, y'know?"

"And besides," she continued, "At least y' have a good taste in that sort of stuff. What with it being one of the few things I see coming out of Australia anymore."

Daniel smiled slightly as he took another sip. "So," he ventured, "what war stories do you want to talk about?"

"Well," Misato said after a pull of her bier, "I already know all of mine. But you were in the Army in South America during the whole 'Nuevo Gran Colombia' thing."

Daniel knew it was a question wrapped in a statement. "Yeah," he replied. "I was in Free Brazil, Bolivia, southern part of Peru where its guerillas were. Bounced around the Amazon for a while helping secure the engineers as they constructed crossings. I even got to see the Redemptor statue fall into the sea when I was rotated to the back lines for rest time."

Misato nodded slowly. "You're pretty well-traveled," she said. "I was mostly on the front lines. Special Forces Group, doing deep reconnaissance of enemy positions for missile strikes or artillery barrages, taking out important targets, that sort of stuff. You remember General Roldán, that bastard who ordered his artillery to use WP on civilian targets? I put a bullet in his head myself from 1,000 yards."

"No shit?" Daniel said, veiling the opening of his eyes to Misato's soul with a long drink. What she said was genuine, and he had no doubt, based on how a certain pattern of Framework he saw around her head was active, that she was remembering it rather clearly.

"No shit," Misato said firmly as he closed his spectral sight again. "I spent 2 years doing that, another half a year on the back lines before I went back to Japan. Missed the end of the war that year while I was in the hospital with some disease I don't remember the name of. Remember what it did to my gut, though."

Misato frowned slightly as she paused. "You only spent 2 years there, right? How did you leave?"

Daniel looked down at the table, considering what he should tell her. Or rather, how he should tell it.

"My last deployment there was in the area around Cochabamba." He began quietly. "We were using the mountains to hide, advance out of, and get lost in while the Leopard 1s, T55s, and those Austrian Kürassier tanks that the Bolivian Gran Colombians got a hold of tried to chase us. Hit and fade warfare, with tanks."

"Well," Misato said quietly, clearly impressed. "That's new to me."

Daniel smiled slightly as he nodded. "We had a base in the mountains about 25 or 30 klicks north of the city that we shared with the Bolivian Army. Crazy place was drilled into the mountain itself, with mazes of tunnels, some of them big enough for our tanks, that led to places that were even behind the enemy front lines."

"But," Daniel said with a tinge of bitterness, "there was a rat in those tunnels, apparently."

It was silent for a moment before he continued, his tone dark. "The first indication that we had of the Gran Colombians knowing where we were was when our tanks exploded in their lots one night. We were blinded, confused, lost most of our strength. Easy pickings for the clearing squads that came in."

"I found myself at one of the chokepoint tunnels that led to an escape route to the city. It had been days at that point. Even the clearance squads had mostly run out of ammo. Guess the enemy commander was so confident in taking us he didn't bring any extra."

"It was me and one other guy. His name was…" Daniel hesitated, then sighed. "His name was Duncan. Sergeant from one of the motorized infantry divisions, pretty big guy. We manned this fixed machine gun to give the others time to escape."

Again, a silence that had grown somber and serious descended on them for what felt like ages. "They were on us in seconds," Daniel said quietly. "After the machine gun ammo dried up, it was knives, machetes, what little ammo was in pistols or submachine guns. Everything became a blur. Then I got knocked out when something hit me in the temple. Could have been the butt of a knife or machete, a pistol, a submachine gun. I still don't know."

"What I do know," he nearly whispered, "is that when I woke up, everyone was dead. Everyone. I still can't get how… silent it was out of my head. Or when I found Duncan. I should have taken him, but there wasn't any time. I could hear the reinforcements coming. So I ran."

Daniel fell silent as his story ended. Names had changed, places, weapons, even the world had changed with the telling. But even still, the memories of that hallway so far away rang true in his mind, mocking him for not saving the man who had become his friend.

Misato raised her half-empty glass. "To the fallen," she said quietly. "May they ever be remembered as the finest of us."

"Amen to that."

Her glass clinked against his bottle, and both took long, contemplative drinks, weighing what had drained away in liquid and lives.

"So," Daniel said, "now that you know how I left, and I know what you were doing, got any more stories for me?"

Apparently, Misato had them in spades. So, for a time neither of them cared to keep track of, Misato shared stories, all of them she swore were true and each wilder than the last, which made most spy novels Daniel had read seem tame by comparison.

"And you got out of Bogota alive?" Daniel said incredulously. "After pulling a stunt like that?"

Misato nodded. "That I did. I think I still have a bounty on my head there, even if no one in the current government cares to keep track of it."

Daniel whistled as he shook his head. "Man." he paused for a moment to fully process the rather exciting life that he had not expected Misato to lead.

"So," he began, "with all that said, what brought Misato Katsuragi into the SFG anyway? I mean, of all the places to go after college, what's the draw of the military for you?"

"Oh, lots of reasons," Misato said with a roll of her eyes, which gleamed with an impish light that was dulled by drink. "It sounded exciting, I'd get to see the world, meet new places, new people, get away from…"

Misato paused, a frown seemingly dispelling her good mood. "Maybe I've had a little too much to drink," she said, bravado replaced by something Daniel might be able to call guilt. "I think it's time to go home."

Daniel looked over at the clock on the far wall. It was nearly 9 at night. He had a guess at what she was avoiding, but now was hardly the time to press the issue. "Alright," he said as he stood, "let's get you back to your flat."

He helped Misato to her feet, looking over at the waitress, an actual waitress now that the bar had filled up, walking over to them. "Will I be taking your check then, sir?" the waitress asked.

Misato's hand shot out, holding a finger almost beneath the nose of the somewhat startled young woman. "Put it on my tab," she said, her finger going to Daniel's lips as he began to protest, "for telling a good story."

After a moment, the waitress nodded, and Daniel thanked the waitress for her patience before getting to work on finding the nearest tube train back to her apartment.

. . .

They got lucky tonight, the train car that they entered completely empty as they sat down, the conversation they were having pausing for a moment as the train took off.

"So," Misato said quietly, Daniel hoping that the food had helped, "how did you end up in Japan after your discharge? Is that how you hooked up with NERV?"

Daniel nodded. "Yeah. I was doing independent contract work for their branch out of Tokyo-3, small stuff for their motorpool. I ran it pretty nicely, I'd like to think. Boss liked me enough to let me get an actual application in, and then NERV decided I was hot enough stuff to whisk off to Germany."

"And you had to leave behind that poor boy you mentioned. Shinji, right?"

Daniel nodded. "Yeah," he said somewhat sadly. "We still talk long distance though. He's like a little brother to me now, after having been his neighbor."

Misato smiled slightly as she nodded perhaps one too many times. "Gotcha. Well, he sounds like a sweet kid, with what I've heard you talk about him."

The train stopped, and the two of them made their way to Block E, only a few minutes away from Daniel's apartment. An elevator ride later, Misato leaning on him for support, Daniel rang the doorbell for her apartment.

The door opened to show Asuka, dressed in her night clothes as she looked at them with a cool expression. "So, you came home with a date tonight, then?" she asked somewhat archly. Then, she shrugged. "Well, good to see you. You staying over tonight at all so I can at least kick your butt on one of Flammenseele's bosses?"

"Not tonight." Daniel chuckled. "I'm just dropping off Misato after a few too many drinks. No time for you to soundly thrash me when we have another test in the morning."

He paused meaningfully. "I did manage to get a couple of my homebrewed tests approved, so you're welcome in advance."

That seemed to satisfy Asuka, a gleam in her eyes as she nodded. "Good. I'm looking forward to it. In the meantime, I'll make sure the water and the aspirin are handy for Misato."

With that, she turned and made her way back into the flat, Misato looking over at Daniel with a slight pout as Asuka disappeared. "What, no kiss goodnight for your date?"

Daniel chuckled as he smiled slightly. "No, Misato. My heart's already spoken for anyway."

He fought hard to keep the annoyance and regret off his face as Misato gasped dramatically. "You have a girlfriend? And you haven't told anyone?"

She leaned in slightly with a grin. "Is she someone I know?" she asked in a whisper.

"No, Misato," Daniel said patiently as his heart ached from the memories his unthinking admittance brought forth. "She's not here in the Stahlturm. And I won't say anything until… I'm ready and I know it'll work out." he doubted if he truly would be.

Misato, for her part, nodded with a sly look in her eyes. "Alright. Well, whenever you're ready to announce your engagement, I'll be the first one at the wedding, m'kay?"

She let go of him, walking somewhat unsteadily through the doorway. As Daniel turned to leave, however, she turned and grabbed his arm. Now, she had a calm, kind smile on her face. "And if you ever need to get anything else off your chest… I appreciated tonight."

Daniel smiled. "Good to know, Misato. Good night."

Misato's grin returned. "Good night, lover boy." she giggled as she closed the door.

Daniel waited for a moment, then sighed with head in hands for a moment before he walked back to his flat. Tonight was going to be a restless one.

. . .

6 Months Later, May 2013

Today was an extra-special day, and an air of excitement had settled over the whole Stahlturm. Everyone, experienced and novitiate alike, couldn't help but talk about what was happening today, and every television was likely going to be tuned to one station or another covering tonight's event.

Daniel sat with Misato, Asuka, and Commander Löwenherz in the Fröhliche Zeitverschwender, the bar packed with other NERV members, as they all looked at the screens intently, waiting for the kickoff of the first final game of the FIFA World Cup in almost a decade and a half. Unsurprisingly, Germany had made it to the finals with dogged determination and excellent skills, making most people here in the bar proud of their team. What was more surprising was the underdog story of team Japan, matching and at times exceeding Germany's determination to end up here, facing off against Germany, winner takes all.

"It's been quite the surprise to see Japan's team in such top form," Löwenherz said. "As good as Germany's team can be, they've been resting on their laurels the last few games."

Daniel looked over and smiled. "Well, let's hope it doesn't bite them in the ass, sir."

"Bah! Please, Daniel, we're off duty and we've known each other long enough. Just call me Karl." Karl waved his hand for emphasis.

Daniel nodded. "Alright, Karl. Know anyone on the team?"

Karl smiled. "Well, Hausen, number 12, his father served under me in the Balkan conflicts. And Michals and Schuber, number 8 and 19, are the stars of BVB Dortmund. I'm expecting great things from them tonight."

"Nothing like a little hometown pride, I suppose," Daniel said. He glanced over at Asuka, now closing in on her final year of college. "Anyone from the University playing?"

"A few on sports scholarships with Neuberliner SV, yeah," Asuka replied. "I don't know them personally, but Mosier and Linden in particular are supposed to be good. Really good."

"Sounds like a tough match for Japan tonight, then," Daniel said, glancing over at Misato with a grin.

"It might be," Misato said with an overt innocence that faded into a grin. "But a lot of my buddies who are playing tonight could knock the pants off any of the football players in Brazil they spent their off time playing with when they went home. I wouldn't write them off just yet."

Misato regarded Daniel as he ordered 2 Bundabergs from a passing waiter. "And what about you? Cheering for any team in particular?"

Daniel shrugged. "Me? I'm just here to watch a good game."

As the game start grew closer, the waiter returned with his drinks, Daniel setting one in front of Asuka, who regarded it with some slight confusion. "What's this?"

"Ginger beer. My favorite one." Daniel said. "Want to give it a try?"

Asuka scoffed. "If it's anything like the one I tried before, it's going to be ridiculously overpowering."

"Not this one," Daniel promised. "This one's just right."

Asuka shrugged, doing as Daniel did and tipping it once before opening it and taking a tentative sip. After a moment, her brows rose. "Huh. Interesting."

"Not bad, huh?" Daniel said with a smile.

Asuka smiled slightly in turn. "Not bad at all. Probst."

They clinked their bottles together, and the game was on.

It was a tense, exciting spectacle, each team playing their heart out for the coveted championship title, the crowd in the bar cheering, groaning, and sometimes heckling every goal, miss, and penalty. As half-time came close to hitting, however, Daniel excused himself to the bathroom, hoping to beat the inevitable wave.

Returning back to his table as people chatted excitedly, his focus was turned to an arm raised to seemingly flag him down. "Captain Theisman?" one of two engineers he recognized but didn't know said to him.

Daniel glanced over at his table, then walked over to the engineers. "Something I can help you with?" he asked.

"We've noticed something… weird." the engineer who flagged him down, a somewhat burly man with short black hair said. "We think someone might be stealing our LCL."

"We've been watching the levels ever since we first noticed it about 2 months ago." the other engineer, a slight woman with brown hair interjected quickly. "With biweekly shipments from HQ in Japan, it's hard to spot if you're not looking for it. Hell, we only found it when we only filled the tanks most of the way full instead of completely full when we were working on Unit-02. I mean, it's a liquid, so evaporation's a consideration, but it doesn't evaporate that much."

"Whoa, whoa," Daniel said, raising his hands. "Slow down a moment. I'm not saying I don't believe you; you're the ones seeing this after all. But where would these… LCL thieves be getting in from? That's probably one of the most secure areas in the entire base."

"We don't know." the first engineer admitted. "We've talked to our friends in security, but there's no one on the security cams, no one sees anyone not familiar, nothing. It's like… someone's using magic to take it."

'Magic, huh?' Daniel thought. That could be harmless. Or it could be something much more sinister.

"Alright. Draft a report of your findings and send me a physical copy." Daniel said. "I'll go and take a look around there myself every once in a while, and I'll make sure the commander knows about it."

The engineers both looked relieved. "Thank you, sir." the second engineer said. "The last thing we need is someone who has no idea what they're doing trying to use the stuff."

"What could someone do with it though?" the first engineer said. "Drink it? Besides what we use it for, what else can you really do with it?"

'More than you think, most likely.' Daniel mused darkly. He only showed the engineers a smile. "Well, I'll be looking forward to your report. In the meantime, enjoy the game."

He stood and made his way back to his table as the game began to exit half-time. "What kept you, Daniel?" Misato asked. "Those two must have had something interesting to talk to you about."

"Apparently, we may have some LCL thieves taking from our stores according to the engineers I talked to," Daniel said, immediately getting the attention of Karl. "They don't know how it's happening, or how these people are getting in or out. All we know is that there's likely LCL out in the wild. The two engineers will have a report for me once they make it, and then I'll have a report for you."

"Damn," Karl said, his mood darkening. "I'll upgrade security around the LCL storage rooms. The last thing we need is some damn fool messing with things they don't know about."

"I'll make some rounds around them myself from time to time," Daniel said. "Maybe there's some sort of mechanical catch or siphon that they're using to avoid detection."

Karl sighed. "Well, we'll worry about that later. Here comes another penalty kick for Japan."

The four of them settled in, Misato quietly celebrating the goal as Asuka and Karl groaned slightly. Daniel, however, pondered on what exactly this thievery might mean. And what kind of forces this world might need to expect now.