Subject: WTG part 3 (true crime)
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Posted on: 2012-04-30 18:48:00 UTC
Once the Console had been restored to good repair and the two Agents had the full report available, they knew they had a particularly vicious and complicated case on their hands: several breaches of canon, and heinous crimes against good taste. The intelligence report indicated that the continuity involved was Harry Potter. This was a continuity riddled with such problems due to its massive popularity, and required constant vigilance on the part of the Protectors of the Plot Continuum. Agents Wirewood and Bromia did not have any particular experience in solving canon breaches involving the Harry Potter continuity, but the mission briefing assured them that their knowledge of the continuity would suffice; and due to the aforementioned frequency of Harry Potter missions, most Agents had some experience working with the continuity regardless. On the other hand, the fact that no specialist was necessary spoke of the seriousness of the crime.
The story involved a Mary Sue of unknown magnitude, many instances of wild Out of Character behaviour, and overuse of adverbs. To the Agents’ chagrin, large parts of the report had been corrupted by “technical difficulties”, meaning they would be going in partially blind. A lot of the Agents’ work, and even their very survival, would hinge on their own reconnaissance of the story. It was clear, then, that they would need to infiltrate the story itself to compile the needed evidence and then finally be judge, jury and executioner to the Mary Sue, whose identity was unknown at the time. This was their job, and they were reasonably ready for it.
To deal with breaches of Canon and crimes against it, the Protectors of the Plot Continuum have a multitude of devices and technologies at their disposal. The Console is able to generate a portal that allows the Agents access into the various dimensions of the multiverse. This portal can be activated even from within the fic, at will, using a remote activator. Once on the ground, they could use Character Analysis Devices to determine the level of canonicity or OOCity in the mission.
However, it was Agent Bromia’s firm opinion that the best and most useful tool in an Agent’s arsenal was the notepad and the pen. Agent Wirewood was not similarly convinced, and the two would often argue on the merits of gathering charges “in your head” or by simply writing them down. The debate between the two schools of thought rages to this day.
After familiarizing themselves with the intelligence -- what there was of it -- the Agents prepared for the task ahead, both mentally and in practice. The division of labour was that Agent Bromia would gather up the necessary foodstuffs, estimating the length of the mission to be, while Agent Wirewood would collect their various investigative devices and ensure that they were still functional. This was a complicated and thorough process, which needed to be done properly because the Agents’ success depended on their equipment being in as sharp a condition as possible. Agent Wirewood spent roughly five minutes on it before every mission, and most of those minutes were consumed by finding where the CAD had been stowed: it was, after all, a device with many uses, and on this occasion it had been employed as a doorstop.
Everything finally ready, it was time to open the portal and enter the story itself.
[The genre prompt for the next one is noir.]