Okay, there's some crazy Headquarters geography lessons in this one, and a lot of it feels very different from what we're used to today! First off, it looks like Makes-Things's workspace is literally just his private workroom, not an entire department of engineers. This one's pretty easy to reconcile, as we can just say the lab space got expanded and Makes-Things was given a team to help with workload, which eventually grew into an officially recognized department. (And perhaps having supervisory responsibilities started boosting his confidence over time, helping him conquer his TOSera timidity around assassins?)
While this is the story with the "bit of a maze" line, it also gives HQ more structure than it has today. (Or maybe I'm the only one who doesn't picture the central elevator with spokes radiating out?) The idea of each (major) department having its own wing is logical and easy on the brain, but it would also make transit a lot more mundane. Plus, if Upstairs is literally the only area that's on another floor, that further reduces the potential travel shenanigans. I think I'm happier with the modern ludicrous maze HQ that I picture in my head. Also, we get the first description of HQ as a generic surface here, but only after taking the elevator Upstairs. Does that mean the authors intended the rest of HQ to be a "real" building, at least in the sense of being constructed of actual material, if not actually existing somewhere? Definitely too late to go back on that!
The response center is interesting too, if it even is an RC. The narrative refers to it as "the MS control center," and at first, I assumed this just meant the DMS wing of HQ. But the very next line has Acacia sitting in her chair, and soon a console goes off, so this is definitely the same space they've been receiving missions in up until now. They don't seem to live here, though: they had to go seek showers out in HQ somewhere, and they each have their own separate screens to look at here, like they're in more of an office environment? Are they sitting at separate desks? If this is "the MS control center," did all DMS agents use this one room for missions, but during separate shifts? It's kind of mind-boggling how different the PPC might look today if the concept of personalized RCs hadn't developed. Though a shared office space might encourage more cowrite/team-ups . . .
Two minor notes: It's the first mention of janitors! We've come so far from this offhand mention to reach Soap's very excellent Shift Twentieth series! And second, Jay bringing up the "narrative laws of comedy" to explain the timing on the mission seems to be pure speculation, more of an offhand joke that's passed right over to deal with the mission. The idea that literal narrative laws actually govern HQ must have gotten adopted some time later.
The mission is less impactful than all the world-building tidbits we just got, but there are a couple of fun things. The fic definitely had a lot more activity in it compared to the all the previous, so it gave Jay and Acacia more to do. The written conversation they share during the Council of Elrond is cute and funny, very well written. It's funny to think that they considered portalling ahead in time "cheating" when it's become such a ubiquitous way of skipping over non-useful mission content today. We also see "mithril" with no mention of a mini-Balrog, so this either predates OFUM, or J+A and Miss Cam hadn't crossed digital paths yet. The "[Classified! PPC protected information.]" is a great way to get around the question of how Balrogs eat without claiming to know canon info that doesn't exist. (Although, would Balrogs actually need to eat? They're basically spirits given physical form, but would that form need to metabolize energy?)
—doctorlit seems to have found his favorite so far!