Chapter 1 - I've Got No Strings
Inside the Takamagahara System - Blazblue World - Shortly after the events of Calamity Trigger
(General P.O.V)
If one were to look into the space within the Takamagahara System, one would describe it as an almost endless white void of nothingness, utterly devoid of any organic life without any human able to stay sane within it due to how far the interminable white void continues.
However, it does have three entities that reside inside that same void that control the Takamagahara system, the same system capable of altering the world of Blazblue through what can be called a form of "Phenomena Intervention".
These same three entities are not human at all however, instead they are the Artificial Intelligence Processors that guide the Takamagahara System and for many that do not live within the world of Blazblue, they are humanity's attempt at creating a machine god to say the least…
However, these three entities would have been talking to a certain vampiric woman right now had they not been sent an offer from beyond what is known as the Boundary, something that greatly intrigued the three AIs of the Takamagahara System.
"To think there lies an existence outside of our world, beyond even the Boundary, a greater Multiverse that we could potentially access, it makes the offer granted by this Contractor T well worth the hassle of incorporating the new soul into our world…" The First of the three AI cores, referred to as TA, says as he begins to calculate the possibilities of what this offer could bring them.
"How do we know this isn't merely a ploy by the Master Unit due to all the resets we had forced it to induce?" The Second of the three AI cores, referred to as TB, comments skeptically as the AI is wary that this might be a trap laid by the True machine God of Blazblue, Known as the Master Unit that has been watching the world from within the Boundry.
"Highly Unlikely, there is a 1/9000000003127 chance that this is a ploy from the Master Unit, We must conclude that this offer is genuinely from outside of the known expanse of our world" The third and final AI core, referred to as TC, responds as all three AI cores now go silent as they ponder the benefits of the offer granted to Takamagahara by Contractor T.
"The soul in question has the potential to alter the outcome we desire, this is stated clearly by Contractor T" TB says after a second of silence, knowing full well that the soul in question has the potential to fundamentally alter the course of events if allowed to exist in the chosen body.
"Indeed, we have already taken a risk by initializing Yuuki Terumi and this offer has the potential to bring greater risks for the outcome we desire," TC says, the female voice coming from the AI sounding reluctant to agree to the offer.
"Unfortunately we may not have a choice, especially due to the actions of Rachel Alucard who we have yet to invite to discuss the rationale behind her release of the Tsukuyomi Unit," TA says firmly as the AI has already processed the offer and knows how they will respond to the offer from Contractor T.
"Then it is decided, we shall respond to the offer from Contractor T and give our assent to allowing the soul to become the new Core of Prime Field Device No.11," TB says after seeing no outright rejections to the proposal, with both TA and TC giving their assent although TC's is more reluctant than TA's…
And so, with the offer from Contractor T accepted, a new Contractor is reborn into the world of Blazblue, as the restored Prime Field Device No.11 of Kokonoe from Sector 7, who would have been essentially a tool of the pink-haired catgirl of science.
Kokonoe's Lab, Sector 7 - Days Later
(General P.O.V)
"Loading…Loading…Loading…"
Kokonoe watches as Lambda-11 is busy integrating the Idea Engine into herself, The Pink-haired Scientist has a sour look on her face as she watches the light-blonde-haired young woman who is supposed to be little more than an empty shell having repeated the same line for longer than she expected.
"I wonder if this is a side effect of what happened yesterday…" Kokonoe says as she remembers how as she was erasing Lambda-11's memory file and emotions, they suddenly became completely inaccessible to her as well as at least tripling in the amount of data.
She could at least tell that they were suppressed for the moment but she was not sure what exactly going on with Lambda just yet, and she was not exactly going to go to the guy who created Prime Field Devices like Lambda to try and give her an explanation, considering how much Kokonoe seriously dislikes the man.
"At least the Idea Engine installation is showing one of the customary side effects on Lambda-11, so that isn't going to be an issue at least….Lambda, begin verification" Kokonoe says with a grumble, watching as Lambda finally seems to be finishing up.
"Loading…Verifying…Complete…" Lambda says in a soft, emotionless echoing tone of voice, the imitation Murakumo Unit soon falling silent as she awaits further orders from Kokonoe. The Pink-haired Catgirl Scientist sighs as she briefly considers holding Lambda back to run further tests to ensure the stubborn data that remains isn't going to cause problems.
Unfortunately, she knows that Tager will need backup in the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, especially with what's been going on there recently, so against her better judgment she decides to have Lambda undergo Spatial Transfer to essentially teleport her to Tager's location in Kagutsuchi
Even as she does give the briefing to Lambda though, she has a gut feeling that something will go wrong with Lambda, so with some reluctance she installs a kill-switch into her programming just in case she goes berserk.
Soon enough though, Lambda is ready to be sent over to Kagutsuchi, with the light-blonde-haired Murakumo Unit soon disappearing from Kokonoe's lab. However, if Kokonoe had known what would happen shortly after Lambda-11 arrived at Kagutsuchi, she would have tried her best to restrain Lambda before the inevitable happened…
13th Hierarchical City Kagutsuchi, Lower Residential Areas - roughly 1 minute later
(General P.O.V
A large, towering man with red skin, wearing glasses, and two large metallic wristbands around his hands bearing a resemblance to a Japanese Oni looks around as he awaits the Backup that he was going to be assigned by Kokonoe.
This is Tager, the Red Devil of Sector 7.
It is this very same man who ends up rather startled when out of nowhere, a light-blonde-haired Murakumo Unit shows up at his location, his arms raised as he gives a wary look toward them before he finds himself being contacted by Kokonoe through the Murakumo Unit.
"Tager this is Lambda-11, She will be your backup here in Kagutsuchi, I'll be using her to gather data here as well in the meantime," Kokonoe says through a Communication Ars Magus, Tager grimaces but nods his head as he remembers the mostly decomposed state Lambda-11's body was in when she was retrieved from the ruins.
"Very well then Kokonoe, I trust you know what you're doing, remind me what our objective here in Kagutsuchi is again?" Tager asks as although he knows the objective already, it's mostly for Lambda's sake as he's almost certain that Kokonoe hasn't gotten around to telling the Murakumo Unit anything yet.
"Fine, let's go over–" Kokonoe begins to say before Lambda suddenly goes stiff, Tager's instincts are the only thing that allows him to move out of the way from Lambda as electrical discharge begins to spark violently from the Murokumo Unit's body.
As Lambda begins to twitch violently, with a clear expression of pain, Kokonoe is trying to figure out what is wrong with Lambda as she quickly tries to re-establish control over the imitation Murakumo Unit with little success.
"Ahh….AH!" Lambda cries out in pain as she begins to clutch her head, memories violently slamming into her mind and completely overriding Kokonoe's programming as she begins to thrash around as if in pure agony from whatever is happening to her.
"Fuck it, I'm activating Lambda's Kill-switch!" Kokonoe says as she quickly inputs the command to shut Lambda-11 down, only to watch in horror as the command does absolutely nothing, making her realize that she's completely lost control of her new Murakumo Unit.
"T-TarGEt ReD DEviL DetECTed, E-ENTERING COMBAT MODE!" Lambda says as the sparks continue to increase in intensity, now even coating the six blades that float behind her as she prepares for combat.
"Tager, take her down now before we lose her entirely!" Kokonoe hastily commands Tager who nods his head, wanting to subdue Lambda before any damage is done to the imitation Murakumo Unit, or at least any further damage that he can't see himself.
[ Lambda-11/? VS Tager, REBEL ONE - ACTION! ]
Lambda screams before suddenly rushing toward Tager, The six electrified blades soaring past her as Tager raises his arms to activate his magnetic abilities to catch the blades easily. However what he doesn't anticipate is when those blades get close, Lambda suddenly turns into blue lightning as switches with one of those blades.
Moments later Lambda grabs his head and a surge of electrical discharge flies down her arm and begins to shock Tager with dangerous levels of electricity, severely damaging him but not enough to knock him out, emphasized by the fact he quickly slams his bulky metal wristband into her side to send her flying.
But when Tager had struck Lambda, he heard no cry of pain from the attack and it felt like he struck something solid rather than the flesh of Lambda's hips, which confuses the Red Devil. Unfortunately for Tager, he doesn't get time to figure out what just happened as Lambda is quick to recover in midair, her expression looking noticeably less pained and berzerk but it is clear she's still not done fighting yet.
This is proven quite true by the fact she is quick to soar forward with speed that Tager can barely track with his eyes, the red devil turning briefly before Lambda's left hand buries itself into his left hip but not penetrating skin.
Moments later, Tager is once again hit with a massive discharge of electricity, this time it's enough to completely lock up his muscles as if he was hit with a taser specifically made to disable a man of his stature.
As Tager falls over and is unable to get back up, he believes that he will be struck down by Lambda when he sees that Lambda has finally become a lot calmer than she was before the fight.
Unfortunately for Tager though, Lambda is quick to flee the area, flying off into the upper levels of Kagetsuchi and soon Kokonoe is unable to contact Lambda any further. This is because just before Lambda had left, she had unintentionally given the Pink-haired catgirl scientist a parting gift.
In the form of frying all the lab equipment remotely…
[Lambda-11/? WINS!]
"Kokonoe, can you hear me?!" Tager yells out as he isn't sure if Kokonoe is alright as the Communication Ars Magus cut out just before the now Rogue Murakumo Unit left, thankfully he soon seems to get a call from his communication device that he struggles to answer.
Eventually, when he does though, he's immediately caught off-guard by a ton of cursing from his boss as he can already tell just how much damage this entire endeavor has been inflicted on both Tager himself and Kokonoe, which may mean that there is a chance he'll need to briefly return to Kokonoe's lab to help fix everything.
Tager can't help but wonder whether or not this is some sort of lingering side-effect from all of the experiments that were performed on Lambda before Kokonoe got her or if something else caused the sudden reaction from Lambda.
"At least it can't get any worse can it?" Tager asks himself, but just as he is slowly regaining control over his body, he feels a presence begin to make itself known as two figures step out from a nearby location, having watched the fight.
"I see that you've been given quite the beating Mr. Red Devil, my sister and I would like to have a few words with you…" says a young blonde-haired boy wearing a purple top hat with a long flowing purple cape and glasses, accompanied by a large mechanical Nox Nyctories known as Nirvana that he calls sister.
Tager immediately begins to join Kokonoe in the impromptu contest of how many curse words can you fit in the span of a few seconds before he gets ready to fight the boy before him. He just hopes he's not going to be beaten by another female entity in the same hour as he got defeated by Lambda…
13th Hierarchical City Kagutsuchi, not far from Litchi's clinic - 5 Minutes later
(Lambda-11/SI P.O.V)
It takes me some time to finally calm down from the absolutely painful awakening of my memories and emotions, taking me a moment to collect myself as my new mental faculties immediately help to clamp down on my emotions.
"Prime Field Device No.11 Lambda has become Contractor Lambda, Conclusion, I am Lambda-11…" I say, combat mode still fully engaged as I can hear myself speak in a soft, emotionless mechanical tone, my mind is still trying to process all the memories I just experienced as Lambda.
Eventually, I deactivate combat mode, the Murakumo armor and armaments fading from my body as well as the more robotic feel to my mind as everything hits me all at once all over again, clutching my head as my red eyes just stare out into the sky.
I don't know exactly how long it takes for me to finally calm down, but I know that I can feel the tears of pain and agony still fresh on my face, the memories of my first death as Lambda as I cried out for release, for an end to the pain, hoping that tomorrow would be a better day…
"I…..I can't, I won't be a tool anymore, not again and not ever…" I say softly, before slowly shaking my head, trying to push past all the pain that I felt upon being restored completely and take a look at the blue sky above Kagutsuchi.
Part of me wants to be thankful to Kokonoe for giving me a second chance at life, for both myself as Lambda and for who I was before all this, but at the same time I can't help but hate her, hate her for trying to wipe my mind and emotions, being so similar to the scientists who killed me the first time.
I ultimately decide to turn my attention away from my memories, lest I fall into a pit of pain and sadness again, and towards the lightning shroud that immediately begins to appear in a surge of electrical discharge around my body, forming a cloak of pure lightning that feels all too comforting.
It's one of the few things I can rightly call my power, something that belongs entirely to me, as parts of my soul, the fact I am an imitation Murakumo Unit and even the Raven Branwen Template that grants me the power of Aura can't confidently be called my own power yet.
From the very start, a lot of the things I was granted in this world originally are knock-offs from a more powerful Murakumo Unit, lesser metals for my armor, and the fact I was originally supposed to run on a sliver of Nu-13's soul retrieved from the boundary makes it clear that I was just supposed to be someone else's tool or replacement.
But now I have a chance to make my destiny my own, Even in this weird time-looping world, I can live my own life and make my own destiny. There is one man that can grant me this, one that already feel a tight bond toward as I can't help but smile.
"Ragna the Bloodedge, I can't help but feel the same yearning for your affection as Nu does, and knowing what lies ahead, I will be by your side before long to protect you…" I say softly, with a tender smile on my face as I think of the man who is the very core of this world.
Deciding that it would be best not to use my Murakumo abilities for the moment, I access my pocket space to retrieve Raven Branwen's dust blade Omen and strap it to my side. Once I was satisfied with how I'd set it up, I began to walk away from the spot I had flown my way over to in my previously unbalanced mental state…
Now there is only one objective in my mind, something that I know I need to fulfill to ensure that I will be able to live in this world without worrying about being used anymore, and I know I can fulfill that objective here in Kagutsuchi.
Find and protect the one that my Heart Calls to, Ragna the Blood Edge…
13th Hierarchical City Kagutsuchi, just above Lambda's location - seconds later
(?'s P.O.V)
"Hehehehehe, oh I knew that coming back to this world was just too much to resist, especially now that I have a fellow contractor to keep an eye on for entertainment, thank you Takamagahara~!" a man in a fashionable black suit and black fedora says in amusement, grinning as he watches Lambda walk-off to try and life a new life in this world.
"I wonder what this world's version of me will do once he sees her going off script, will he contact Relius, will he try to make her one of his Kusangi or will he be all too eager to let the chaos unfold…perhaps the answer is multi-choice~," the man says with a serpentine grin on his face, a single glowing yellow eye watching Lambda walk out of sight as he shakes his head.
"Either way I can just sit back and watch my brand new source of entertainment, Of course, it's no fun for either of us if the heroine of this shining new epic isn't thrown a few curveballs, but that can wait until I see what Captain Hazama does in response," the man says in amusement, soon pulling out a company phone and dialing a specific number, Idling rubbing his fingers and glancing at his Tempest Jewel Ring on his ring finger alongside one other ring on that same finger before the person on the other end picks up.
"Hello Alpha, could you be a good wifey and prepare some hardboiled eggs for dinner, I just watched a new sister of yours beat the shit out of the Red Devil and I need some celebration food for tonight~," The man says on the phone, soon hearing yelling coming from the other end as he winces from the volume coming from his Wife.
"Oh come on, you're craving another dominos Pizza, didn't you have one for breakfast?" The man says before he winces at another bout of angry yelling from his wife, making the man sigh before promising to stop by one of the Real World instances to buy some Domino's Pizza.
He soon ends the call after giving heartfelt goodbyes before sighing and shaking his head with a bemused smile on his face, never once expecting to have ended up hitched to someone like Alpha but he shrugs before looking out over the lower levels of Kagutsuchi with a serpentine smile back on his face.
"Oh yes, it is good to be back!" The man says as begins to laugh maniacally as a thick, venomous green aura buffets the ground he's standing out, knowing that with his defenses, Takamagahara can never perceive him let alone try to interact with him in any way.
With that, he takes out a green orb and teleports away, disappearing from Lambda's world for the moment as he has an errand to run for his wife, after all, she is the only one who could have ever matched him.
Plus he can't forget to get food for his wife's pet Rabbit~!
Author's Notes
Hello and welcome to the first chapter of Azure Intervention, my Blazblue Waifu Catalog Fanfiction featuring Lambda-11 as our new Main Heroine of the fanfic!
While I unfortunately can't share much right now due to this being the very first chapter, I have many plans in mind and I can't wait to see not only which ones I end up implementing but also to share this wondrous, lore-packed world of Blazblue for both newcomers and veterans alike.
Although I can't say that I have fully in-depth knowledge of how the canonical story should go, I have a rough idea of at least the core beats of Continuum Shift and Chronophantasma that I can make this story work.
Now then, before I get into a tangent…
Next Time on Azure Intervention: Kokonoe's grumblings, Clinical Encounters, and Lambda gets a job
See you all sometime next month!