Teyvat's Infighting
"Childe Tartaglia — you can just call me Tartaglia," said Tartaglia as he put away his weapon. "Honestly, friend, I don't really know you either. Someone in our organization told me you were an FBI elite, someone who sounded like you could really fight, so I didn't turn down his suggestion that we meet. I have to say, he wasn't wrong — you're pretty capable."
Seeing him sheathe his weapon, Shuichi Akai allowed his taut body to relax a fraction. "'Childe'? Is that your codename in the organization?"
"Mm, you could say that."
You could say that? What kind of answer was that supposed to be?
Akai gave no sign of his thoughts. The situation was still unclear, and he needed to learn more. "Then might I ask who it was that passed along information about me and sent you my way? I'm rather curious what I did to earn this unprovoked visit."
Tartaglia spread his hands. "I have no idea why he's got it in for you, but you're welcome to ask him yourself."
"And where might I find him to do so?"
"Oh, he's right behind you." Tartaglia pointed past Akai's shoulder.
Akai's nerves snapped taut. He turned, and there — standing at the living room door, arms crossed, back against the frame, having appeared without a sound — was a man he had never noticed arrive.
The man waved cheerfully once he saw that Akai had spotted him. "Hello there, ace of the FBI. Mr. Shuichi Akai, I presume."
With that, Kaeya pushed off the door and walked over to the sofa, gesturing for Akai to sit and talk. Tartaglia, completely ignoring Kaeya, had already settled himself onto the sofa across the room.
Akai let the surge of alarm subside, and, following Kaeya's invitation, took a seat.
As long as they were willing to talk, nothing would happen for the moment. Besides, there were two of them and one of him — he was outmatched. Better to hear what they wanted first, then decide how to proceed.
Akai addressed Kaeya first. "And you are?"
Kaeya introduced himself briefly. "Kaeya Alberich — the man your FBI has been tailing all this time. I'm just an ordinary traveler on holiday who happens to do a bit of business on the side, and your surveillance has caused me considerable inconvenience." Ugh. He hadn't even been able to take Klee out to play these past few days.
"So I've come to explain things to you face-to-face, Mr. Akai, and I'd like you to keep your people from showing up around me. If a misunderstanding arises down the line and we clash again, you can't guarantee that all of them fight as well as you do. Next time, I'm not sure we'd hold back."
Akai's eyebrow rose. Now he understood why these men had sought him out so abruptly — so it was a warning, after all.
Seeing that Akai had no reply, Kaeya didn't press too hard. He smiled and continued, "Of course, we know all about your conflict with the Black Organization, but that has nothing to do with us. At its core, our relationship with them is purely transactional. However your FBI intends to deal with the Black Organization — so long as there's nothing in it for us — we have no intention of interfering. There. I'd say that's more than fair, wouldn't you?"
Akai didn't answer directly. Instead, he asked a question of his own. "You keep mentioning your organization, Mr. Kaeya, but I still don't know its name."
Kaeya said breezily, "Oh, just some third-rate little outfit you've never heard of — Teyvat. I belong to its Mondstadt branch, in charge of external relations, that sort of thing."
"If the man in charge of relations fights this well, I can only imagine your organization is full of hidden talent — hardly the third-rate little outfit you describe." Then Akai turned his gaze to Tartaglia, curiosity in his voice. "And you, Mr. Tartaglia?"
"He's with the Fatui of Snezhnaya," Kaeya cut in, "but that doesn't matter. Feel free to ignore them — they've never been popular with anyone anyway."
Tartaglia, who had been silent up to that point, bristled. "Hey, that's going too far. What do you mean, Snezhnaya doesn't matter? Did you forget who just stepped in to help you?"
Kaeya gave a cold laugh. "Ha. Help me? You came running the moment you smelled a fight."
"I still helped, didn't I? And need I remind you — the head of Mondstadt couldn't lay a finger on our Fatui Harbinger, the Lady."
Kaeya's fist tightened, his smile not reaching his eyes. "Oh~? And I hear the Lady got cut down by the head of Inazuma afterward. Did you make it to her funeral?"
"What if I did? That Inazuma woman may be strong, but she's all alone — even her own child is one of the Fatui."
"And I hear someone spent years playing the generous fool for Mr. Zhongli, only to be played for one himself in the end. How's the mood these days?"
"I did it out of admiration for Mr. Zhongli's learning. Paying his bills was my own willing choice."
Kaeya: "......"
Tartaglia: "......"
......
Akai sat quietly to one side, watching the two trade verbal blows back and forth with an air of resigned disbelief.
Even he hadn't expected it — one idle, curious question of his, and the pair had lunged at each other like old enemies settling a grudge.
Listening to their bickering, Akai couldn't make sense of it. This organization's branches apparently feuded to the point of actual deaths — so how did they all calmly stay under one banner, even going on missions together?
And when Kaeya and Tartaglia had first appeared, nothing had suggested their departments were at each other's throats. Now Akai found himself genuinely curious about whoever ran this Teyvat organization. How on earth did its boss keep such a collection of strong-willed subordinates in line?
He made no move to break it up. Whatever the case, gathering more intelligence was never a bad thing.
But to Akai's disappointment, the two of them didn't argue for long before setting the matter aside — old grievances, after all, and pointless to relitigate now.
Returning to the matter at hand, Kaeya once again demanded that Akai put a stop to any surveillance of himself or anyone else in his organization.
Akai sensed the iron beneath Kaeya's pleasant tone. With little choice, he agreed for the time being. He still had the Black Organization to deal with, and he had no intention of provoking another formidable group on top of it — at least, not until they made an explicit show of being a threat.