Chapter 2

They stopped in front of a large warehouse-looking building. Certainly looked industrial, but not in any way, shape, or form like an official building. There was a young woman with medium length pale blue hair standing next to the door. She wore a tight blue catsuit with a long sleeved white crop top over it. She had a pistol holstered on each hip.

"Halt," she said calmly, "State your name and affiliation."

"Paimon, Celestia. And Paimon vouches for Sora," she said, adopting an air of importance.

"Welcome back Paimon. Lisa will be thrilled to see you." The woman stepped aside and opened the door.

"Thanks Eula!! Talk to you later!" Paimon said, back to her childish self.

"Celestia?" Aether asked, "You didn't mention that one earlier."

Paimon looked sheepish and rubbed the back of her neck, "Yeah, Paimon will explain! Just not right now."

A tall woman with short reddish-purple hair came over. She wore fishnets under a pair of jean shorts with a form fitting white t-shirt and an elaborate gold and red jeweled neck piece. "Welcome back Paimon, boss is in his office waiting for you."

"Fantastic!! Thanks Rosaria, is Diluc up there too?"

"Yup, so it's probably best to knock."

"Will do! Say have you seen Lisa anywhere?"

"Nope, check the archive room maybe? If she's not there then she's somewhere else in the city. I know Jean has the day off so Lisa might be with her." Aether just stood awkwardly next to Paimon, wondering who those people are.

"Alrighty, I'm gonna go talk to Ven and then I'll be back!" Paimon waved and continued walking.

"Who was that?" Aether asked kind of impatiently.

"That's Rosaria, she's a hitman," Paimon said as if being a hitman is one of the most normal jobs in the world. 'Which I suppose in this world it is.' "Then Lisa is resource and intel management. And right now we are going to talk to Barbatos and his second in command, Diluc. That's where you can ask whatever you wanted to go to an official building for." The two ascended a staircase and Paimon knocked on the door that was at the top.

"One moment!" a young voice called through the door. There were scuffly noises from the other side and then the same voice said, "Come in." Paimon pushed the door open and in the room stood two men, one only a couple inches taller than Paimon, standing at probably 5'1" with medium length black hair in braids with the tips dyed teal. Next to him stood a tall man with longish red hair tied back in a hastily made ponytail.

"Ahhh Paimon! Welcome back!" the shorter one said jovially, "And hello new person."

"Hey Barbatos," Paimon said, "This is Sora. Paimon was just walking back from school and he was sitting passed out in an alleyway. But he seemed super confused about what day it was and where he was. He asked to come to the nearest official building. Which was here! So Paimon brought him here. And Paimon explained the basics of the Archons so he knows about what you guys do!" The taller man's face darkened slightly when Paimon mentioned that she told Aether everything. "So why did you want to come??" She directed that last part at Aether, who swallowed nervously before speaking.

"Me and my two friends came to Teyvat to explore because my sister wanted to see 'The Closed City'. Which obviously me and my friend thought was a bad idea but we weren't gonna let her come alone. But when we came, this crazy lady with a gun showed up. She called herself 'The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles.'" When Aether said that Barbatos' face paled a little. "And then I was shot with some sleeping bullet thing. And then I woke up in the alley where Paimon found me. It felt like just a few hours but it was actually five years. So I wanted to inquire with the government if there was any info about my sister. But I didn't clarify government so Paimon brought me here. However, gauging on your reaction when I mentioned that woman. You guys can help me out. So, does anyone care to tell me who that woman is?"

Barbatos and the other man looked at each other and seemed to have a silent argument. One that the redhead lost judging off of his sigh. "This woman you speak of, her name is Asmoday. She is the enforcer of the closed city. When anyone enters the city, she goes to question them. If they have an affiliation with one of the Archons then she releases them. If they have no affiliation or are government affiliated she takes them. What she does to them is unknown. People will vanish for any length of time between a few hours to a few years."

The redhead continued, "If she gets ahold of a government person, we know that she wipes their memories of the event. It's the same with civilians. However, outlanders, such as you and your friends, are often treated less than spectacularly. Quite frankly, even if your friends are still alive they most likely won't be themselves."

Aether blanched at that. Paimon saw him and said, "Don't worry. If you are okay after five years with her then Paimon's sure your friends are fine. Don't listen to Diluc." She turned to glare at the redhead.

"I am only speaking realistically. We shouldn't give false hope," Diluc said firmly. Barbatos lightly smacked him across the back of his head.

"You don't need to be that harsh about it though," Barbatos said. Before anyone could say anything else a young boy came rushing into the room. He had short white hair and wore a pair of cargo shorts and a loose black tank top with a whole selection of grenades on his belt.

He skidded to a stop in front of Diluc and quickly saluted, almost smacking Aether in the process. "DILUC! He was sighted!" Those words triggered something for Diluc, Barbatos, and Paimon. All three turned their full attention to the boy.

"Where?" Diluc asked.

"Three blocks north of Diona's. Diona called five minutes ago."

"If we hurry we might be able to catch him," Diluc said, moving to leave the room.

"No," Barbatos said, stopping the kid and Diluc in their tracks, "He wants us to come. It's an ambush. That's too close to the police station. Barely within our territory. Warn Lisa. She's out with Jean. If he comes across them it will blow her cover. Warn Mona as well. All three of you need to be careful when you're out with your people."

"Will do!" the kid ran out of the room furiously typing on his phone. A metallic clang was heard then "I'm okay!" Barbatos just fondly shook his head.

"Who's 'he'?" Aether asked, the others turning to face him again.

"Dvalin," Barbatos spat the name.

"He was one of our guys," Diluc said, "A devout follower of the previous Anemo Archon. He doesn't believe Barbatos is worthy of the title of boss. He betrayed us a few months ago. Ratted out a drug operation to the police. Lost us a very large amount of money and quite a few people."

"He's taunting us," Barbatos said, "Trying to lure us in to pick us off." He turned to Diluc and said, "We need to knock him out of the game permanently. It's too dangerous for him to be out and about. He could blow Bennett's cover which could get the Akademiya on us. What's worse is if he blows Lisa's. That gets the police right on us and basically hands them our information."

"What about Mona? Can she track him through CCTV?" Diluc asked.

"I'm sure she can. It's just a matter if she wants to," Barbatos said, "Which I am sure we can make her want to."

"If we track his patterns we can send in Amber. She knocks him out. Idealistically we pin it on the Fatui," Diluc said.

"You already know that won't work though," a girl said walking through the door. She wore knee high black boots and a deep purple dress with stars on it.

"Lisa!!" Paimon squealed, "You're back!!"

"Hello darlings, I came as soon as I got Bennett's message. Who's this cutie?" She directed that final question at Aether.

"Long story short, he came to Teyvat five years ago and was taken by Asmoday. He was found by Paimon today with no memory," Diluc said, "How do you know we can't pin the Fatui?"

"Jean knows Dvalin is one of ours that switched. He shows up dead and we get pinned."

"Shit," Barbatos muttered, "Why can't Jean arrest him?"

"No reason to," Lisa said, "As far as the police are concerned, he was an upstanding citizen who did his civil duty to turn us in."

"Could Mona pin something on him? Something incriminating enough to get him further investigate-" Diluc began.

"-THEN WE DUMP HIS INVOLVEMENT," Barbatos finished loudly. 'Is this man really one of the most powerful?'

"As long as dumping his involvement doesn't lead anything to us then we're good," Lisa said, "I can definitely cherry pick info so it hits him but not us."

"Then let's get this show on the road," Barbatos said exiting the office. Diluc left to inform Mona of the plan and Lisa to begin searching for info. "Sorry Sora. Until this gets sorted out there isn't much we can do to help you."

"How can we help with the Dvalin situation?" Paimon asked.

"You can't do anything Ms. Celestia. Sora might be able to help though. He will have to stay in the facility unless one of our people accompanies him. Thanks to you he's involved. Whether he wants to be or not. But he can still rat us out to the police." Barbatos turned to Aether, "If you are having any thoughts of trying to rat us out, know that it will not work. It will end with your body in a ditch. Hand me your phone."

"I don't have one. God knows what Asmoday did to it," Aether grumbled, "So what, I'm just stuck here?"

"Unfortunately, yes. And while here you will be accompanied by one of my people the whole time, right now it will be Noelle. However should she be called away someone will replace her. Do not try to overpower any of us. All of us are proficient in multiple weapons and several varieties of hand-to-hand combat. You are permitted to the dining and training areas. Anywhere else you wish to go you must ask Noelle. Am I understood?"

"Yes," Aether said, his mind reeling with all the new information, "How long will I be stuck here?"

"Until we deem you no longer a threat." With that said Barbatos ventured down the staircase and disappeared down a hallway.