Birthday present for the wonderful 'peraltiagoisland' on Tumblr.
In the case of Holt, Rosa, and Gina (and later, Kevin and Terry), to make their names more "Time Lord"-ish, I've sort of gone for a method of mashing up their first and last names for the weirder, alien feel. Except Holt's is still kind of stiff because really, it was always going to be.
Part 1 - The Time Meddler
"She's averted the assassination of JFK."
A data slice violently slides onto Holtmond's monitor, making him blink up at the livid face of his best operative, Rosadiazana (Rosa, for short), who had her hands planted on his desk.
"JFK?" Holt asks.
"John F. Kennedy. Famously assassinated world leader from 20th century Earth."
"Ah yes, of course, I wasn't sure if you were referring to him or Kraxel Minor's Jenaastra Fenda Kel the Third and most wonderfully glorious and divine and wise and shining, also famously assassinated and thus ending a prominent local religion," Holt says, nodding.
Rosa frowns. "Right. Well, anyway. It's the third fixed point she's altered in one rotation! And those idiots you keep sending after her clearly aren't getting the job done!"
"I quite agree," Holt replies. "Which is why I'm sending you, Agent."
"Me?" Rosa looks disheartened, before gritting her teeth and nodding. "Fair enough. I guess… if you want something done, you have to do it yourself."
"I have every faith in you."
"Thank you, Coordinator," Rosa says, nodding again before turning to leave.
"Agent?"
"Yes, sir?"
"The rumours about her travelling with… humans. Is it true?"
Rosa sighs. "It seems to be the case, sir. The last pair you sent after her found themselves tied up by one who apparently spent at least five minutes bragging and proclaiming himself to be called Jake Peralta."
Rosa's people are… complicated. Complicated, and pretentious in a way she can't stand. (But then, she can't quite kick the innate sense of superiority herself, either, dammit.)
It's in the name, of course. Time Lord. Aristocrats with dominion over time, the dimension only they have the true ability to control. Most of them are just that. Dull nobility, politicians, or academics, so caught up in their old fashioned tradition to bother giving any newer alternatives any thought.
Holtmond is perhaps stuffy, but he's intelligent in practical ways as well as academic. He might be shrewd and cunning like many others, but he is far more honest and forthright than almost any Time Lord that Rosa has ever met.
She's lucky to have him and not some close minded busybody as her boss.
But then, they're hardly in a conventional line of work. Only the higher ups in their society even know that their organisation exists - it's safer for everyone, that way. Plausible deniability, and all that.
The Celestial Intervention Agency has two major concerns. Homeland security, and the preservation of the web of time. Which is why a renegade running around changing history, seemingly on a whim, is making Rosa's life hell.
Ginettina of House Brightshore is not the most notorious renegade this planet has ever produced. Far from it. She's not some idiotic hero, and she's not some murdering megalomaniac. She's not a household name used to deter children from rule breaking. Most people on Gallifrey probably don't even know who she is - if only because the CIA are doing their absolute best to keep her disruptive exploits from being public knowledge.
Still, if she keeps up this nonsense, not even Holtmond will be able to manage that.
Rosa strides through the TARDIS bays until she comes to the section reserved for vehicles designated to the CIA. She doesn't exactly have one of her own yet, not officially, but she has one she's taken on seven previous excursions, one that seems to welcome her like a friend these days.
She rests her hand on the exterior when she reaches it. "Hey," she says, simply, only to glance around and check no one had seen her being so silly. (But is it really silly? When she'd definitely felt a brief presence in her mind, a brief flash of greeting from the ship's matrix? Some would probably still say so, Rosa herself possibly included.)
She heads inside and starts entering in the biodata for Ginettina into the TARDIS console, so that she should be able to track her movements across time and space. It's strange, to think that this distant, irritating figure is someone she is about to come face to face with.
What will she be like, this person who seems to be cartwheeling across history, colouring over sections and outside the lines however she pleases?
Rosa checks the TARDIS is on course, before heading to the wardrobe. If she's going offworld, CIA robes aren't going to be practical. She finds some leggings, a tunic, and some nice solid boots, all black but for the tunic, which is white. She doesn't like any of the warmer garments in the main section, though, and decides to explore the clothes from other cultures. She finds a longer black coat, and goes with that.
She returns to the console room, fidgeting in the feeling of unfamiliar clothing, and checks the flight path. Shit. It's changed.
"Where the hell are you going now?" Rosa mutters.
When the TARDIS finally lands, Rosa tucks her small staser, set to stun, into the pocket of her coat, and heads outside after checking that the environment is safe. It's not Ginettina's usual kind of stop, from what she has been able to make out. No big history to mess with. The TARDIS scan revealed only one major settlement on the whole planet, and on the opposite side to where Ginettina and her TARDIS seem to be.
What it is is… green. Unsettlingly green. Rosa's never seen so much green in her whole life, given that she comes from a planet of red grass and silver trees - and as a child of the Capitol she's not sure she's ever seen this many trees in all her life, either.
She shakes her head at herself. Still a typical Time Lord in so many ways, no matter how much she likes to think otherwise. But then, some Time Lords would probably have a mental breakdown just from being outside, so she's not wrong in thinking she's still a mile ahead of some of her kindred. (Give her a neat, paved street lined with tall buildings any day, though.)
There are voices in the distance. Four distinct ones, jovial shouts and laughter that make Rosa's jaw clench. They're enjoying themselves. Having fun. These humans with Ginettina can have no concept of just how much damage their Time Lady friend is doing. No concept of what they are accomplices to.
And as for Ginettina herself… well, Rosa has some choice words for her, and a stun gun so that she can drag the renegade's reckless ass back to Gallifrey and have her punished.
Rosa keeps herself hidden in the cover of the tree line as she comes to the oasis of sorts where the group are enjoying themselves. A huge pool of sparkling water, high rocks and a waterfall, and a smaller pool that seems to be steaming.
Two of the humans are scaling the rocks by the waterfall while another yells at them about how it's dangerous.
"Sounds to me like you're too scared, Santiago!" the highest human shouts, and the young woman with shining dark hair scowls and starts climbing after him.
From the steaming pool, the other woman in the group chuckles at their antics and shuts her eyes again, leaning back with contentment. Rosa's psychic sense pinpoints her as a Time Lady.
"Gotcha," Rosa whispers, before striding out into the open, heading right for her.
"Woah, hot scary lady alert," the shorter male human says from his perch on the rocks.
"What are you - oh, damn," the other male human says, both of them staring at Rosa, who ignores them and continues on towards Ginettina, who doesn't seem to have heard them, or else just doesn't care.
"Gina! Incoming!" the girl named Santiago shouts.
"I know, Ames. It's all good, girl," Ginettina replies, still not opening her eyes. "I told you, none of them can sneak up on me."
"Ginettina of House Brightshore and the Prydonian chapter, you're under arrest for interference and willful damage to the web of time," Rosa tells her as she comes to stop by the pool.
Ginettina cracks open one of her eyes to look at Rosa, only to open both of her eyes a moment later and lift an eyebrow.
"Well well well, looks like they finally fulfilled my request to be pursued by a gorgeous, angry brunette type with a well placed scar," she says, looking at Rosa with an appreciation that almost throws Rosa completely.
"You didn't request that," Rosa replies, frowning.
"How do you know?"
"Because I've been leading the case of your capture."
Ginettina looks more interested now. "Really?" She chuckles, and there's an annoying smug confidence to her. "Must be a bit embarrassing for you, huh? Me giving all your little friends the slip over and over."
"Not as embarrassing as resorting to humans for company," Rosa retorts.
"Hey!" At least two of the humans sound fairly offended, not that Rosa particularly cares.
Ginettina shrugs. "Right, because meanwhile xenophobia gives you that real nice edge," she says to Rosa, who blinks at her, not having thought about it like that.
"Look, it doesn't matter," Rosa replies. "You've been changing fixed points, too many more and you'll have caused permanent damage to the web of time! Do you… not even realise how serious this is?
"I mean, isn't it your job to fix it all? How serious can it be when I know you're tidying up after me as I go?"
"That's not how it works."
"Then why was JFK murdered at a spontaneously scheduled outdoor party the night of the day he was supposed to die?"
Rosa had had to get… creative with that particular solution. The details change, the story stays the same, and all that. It might change the history of a few television shows trying to start up around the time that the news of Kennedy's death was meant to be airing, but surely none of them can be drastically important in the long run.
"Why the hell did you save him in the first place?"
"Because he was way too hot to die," Ginettina says, like it's obvious.
Rosa stares at her. "You messed with a fixed point because of - some human's symmetrical face?! What the hell is wrong with you? He's human anyway, why would you-"
"Xenophobia," Ginettina says again, tutting and looking at Rosa with disappointment. "You know, for a second, I thought you might actually be interesting. But nope, looks like you're the same kind of stick in the mud they always send, just with better hair."
Rosa gets out the stun gun. "Out of the pool, now."
Ginettina smirks and gets out, revealing that she's only dressed in a small two piece swimsuit. Now that Rosa thinks on it, the humans are dressed in a similar manner.
It's more skin than Rosa has seen in her whole life, and she can feel her cheeks flushing as she tries not to look.
"Aw, classic Time Lord prude, that's kind of adorable on you," Ginettina coos, all condescending.
"Just shut up and get moving."
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm just not about that whole 'answering to my crimes' and 'dealing with consequences' thing," the renegade says, making a face. "Such a drag, you know? I got other things to do."
"Like taking a bunch of humans swimming and sitting in heated pools?"
Ginettina does a singular finger gun in her direction, grinning. "Exactly."
"I'm bringing you in with or without your cooperation," Rosa says, scowling at her, gripping the stun gun tighter.
"I'd like to see you try," Ginettina scoffs.
So, Rosa shoots her. As her body drops, unconscious, Rosa is vaguely aware of Santiago and the shorter male human shouting, and has just enough time to wonder where the heck the third human is before a hard, blunt pain registers on the back of her head, and she has her answer.
She doesn't remember hitting the ground.
When Rosa wakes up, she has a headache, and no prisoner or humans in sight. Damn.
Cursing and grumbling, Rosa picks herself back up and makes her way back to her TARDIS. Once inside, she sets it to find Ginettina's bio trace again, and off she goes. As the ship makes the journey, she decides to check in with Holtmond.
"Agent, what progress have you made?"
"Made contact with her, but she got away," Rosa says, rubbing the back of her head, which is throbbing painfully. "I think one of the humans managed to sneak up on me. The one called Peralta."
"Yes, the records show that he's usually the one causing the most trouble for our agents," Holtmond says, nodding. "Well, I'm sure I can count on you to have learned from the experience, and that you'll be more successful when you next find her."
"Of course, sir," Rosa says.
This time, it seems she has followed Ginettina and her… companions, to an Earth city with a shining harbour and a lot of tourists. Rosa steps out from behind the tree that her TARDIS has disguised itself as and moves through the park quietly, trying to spot Ginettina.
As it turns out, she hears her before anything else.
"Here we are, kids, Australia!" Ginettina is using the most horrendous accent Rosa has ever heard in her life, and the CIA agent can't help but wince.
"Oh my god, look, that's the opera house over there," the human called Santiago says, and Rosa gets them in her line of sight just in time to see her pointing across the water to a building of rather unique design. "It's an architectural wonder."
"Amy, seriously, only you could travel with an alien and still find a way to make things boring," Peralta says, rolling his eyes.
"I'm sorry, this coming from the guy whose first request out of all the destinations in all of time and space was Taco Bell?"
"It was Taco Bell on the moon, Amy, and I was hungry!"
Rosa is debating on how to handle the situation - it's tricky, when there's so many clueless humans around, she can't let them know anything strange is afoot. But before she can come to a decision -
"Are you gonna hide behind that tree all afternoon?" Ginettina asks, suddenly turning to look right at Rosa, head tilted. Or at least, Rosa is fairly sure she's looking right at her, but she's wearing sunglasses, so it's hard to be sure.
"Wait, who's hiding behind a tree?" the shorter male human asks.
"Santiago's sense of fun, probably," Peralta snorts.
"Actually, Charles, I was referring to Miss Tall Dark and Gorgeously Irritating," Ginettina says with a smirk.
Rosa steps out and into the full sunlight, and the three humans look shocked.
"You again?!" Peralta asks. "Gina, permission to whack her over the head again."
"Permission denied, Jake," Ginettina says, rolling her eyes. "She can't do anything here, there's too many people around. See? Look at her face. She knows it, I know it, and you'd know it if you had anything on your mind other than flirting with Amy."
"Flirting?!" Jake looks horrified, but not as much as Amy. "I wasn't - I would never - not with Amy-"
"I knew it! I knew I wasn't the only one who sees it!" Charles whooped. "If the super intelligent alien can see it too, then it must be real."
"The super intelligent alien also thinks that Crocodile Dundee is a better movie than Die Hard," Jake retorts, "so just because she's a genius, does not mean she's right about everything."
"You're so cute when you're horrendously wrong, Jake. Now, who wants ice cream?" Ginettina asks. "My treat, obvs."
"Yes!" Jake says. "Now that's what I'm talking about." He looks between Gina, who is in jeans and a coat, and Rosa, still in her coat and leggings and boots. "Seriously, are you two not like, literally boiling from the inside out?"
Rosa takes note of the clothing the others are wearing. Shorts, light shirts. Likely because of the heat that they, as humans, are quite sensitive to.
"Our biology isn't as sensitive as yours, we're all good," Ginettina tells Jake. "So, ice cream. This way then, kids."
"Are we… not going to deal with the fact that the woman who shot you has just turned up again?" Amy asks, frowning deeply in Rosa's direction.
"Nah," Ginettina says, smirking. "Like I say, she's stuck for the moment." She turns to head off, before looking over her shoulder and grinning at Rosa. "You coming, Agent?"
"You're inviting her for ice cream?!" Jake yelps.
Ginettina shrugs. "Might as well, she's gonna follow us anyway."
They start walking towards a brightly coloured mobile trailer in the distance, and Rosa, thoroughly unsettled and not remotely sure how to proceed, falls into step with Ginettina and the humans.
"So, Agent, you got a name?" Ginettina asks.
"Rosadiazana."
"Pretty. Rosa for short?"
"You can just call me Agent," Rosa replies irritably.
Ginettina grins. "Pretty sure I'm gonna call you Rosa."
"So, I guess aliens can be Latina, not just white?" Amy asks, glancing at Rosa with great interest. Rosa just lifts an eyebrow at her. "I mean, it obviously makes way more sense, but you see enough whitewashed movies and then meet a white alien and you have to wonder, you know?"
Rosa glances at Ginettina. "What the hell is she talking about?"
"You're wasting your time trying to talk about that kind of thing with a Time Lord, Ames," Ginettina says, chuckling, "the only racial awareness they tend to have is that as a species, they think they're better than anyone else. Skin colour doesn't have anything to do with it - I told you, we change appearance like we change a profile picture."
"Oh, right," Amy says, looking slightly disappointed, before perking up. "I mean, I guess it's actually kinda cool, that that kind of thing isn't an issue for you guys."
"Yeah, just nice dose of general xenophobia and superiority instead," Ginettina says, snorting. "We all got our issues, Ames."
"Okay, can we just address the obvious here?" Peralta asks. "Why are we suddenly all chill with the latest agent to come after us? And who exactly are all these people out to get you, anyway?"
"One, because she's the gorgeous brooding type I can't resist. Two, I told you, they're giant stick in the muds."
"We're CIA," Rosa growls.
Amy snaps her fingers at her. "Ha! No way you're CIA, you're an alien, same as Gina."
"Not your CIA, Ames, our CIA," Ginettina says, chuckling and popping a cherry in her mouth. "Celestial Intervention Agency. Same basic principle, though. Homeland security, plausible deniability, all that jazz."
"Okay, that's kind of awesome," Jake says. "Except that I don't get why you're after Gina. She's not done anything wrong."
"She's done everything wrong," Rosa snarls. "You think doing things like saving Kennedy and the Library of Alexandria is all fun and games? Those are fixed points in history, they have to stay how they are, or the web of time could disintegrate."
"The Library was on me," Santiago says sheepishly. "I was complaining about how it was such a loss of knowledge, and so she said she'd save it for me."
"She was so excited, it was adorable," Jake adds, only for the others to look at him funny. An odd panic crosses his face as he hurries to add, "uh, adorably lame, that is. Obviously."
"Anyway, I guess your lot are why it only lasted a few more days, huh?" Amy asks Rosa.
Rosa nods. "We have to fix things as much as we're able."
"Okay, no more serious talk for a bit, god," Ginettina groans. "You're all killing my buzz. You better not have turned my dumb humans against me and my idea of fun, Rosa."
"No way, you're still one of the most awesome people I've ever met," Jake insists. "Besides, why should we believe someone who shot you?"
"It was only set to stun," Ginettina and Rosa say at the same time, only to look at each other curiously a moment later.
That's when they reach the ice cream stand, and the humans place their orders before Ginettina orders her own as well, and then looks at Rosa expectantly, only for Rosa to serve her a blank look in return.
"You getting anything, Agent?"
"No," Rosa says, frowning.
Ginettina shrugs. "Suit yourself." She pays for the ice creams and the humans move off with theirs, getting a bit ahead before Jake whirls around and narrows his eyes at Rosa.
"Wait, we can't get too far away, she might try something," he says.
Gina chuckles and reaches out with her free hand to clasp his shoulder. "Jake. Kiddo. I'm a genius alien with two hearts and the literal ability to reboot my body in a new form if I die. I can handle myself, m'kay?"
"Okay, if you're sure," Jake says, frowning.
"Go flirt with your girl, I got this."
"She is not-"
"Be gone. Now."
Jake grumbles under his breath as he moves to catch Amy and Charles up. Immediately, Rosa can see that he's started exchanging banter with Amy, while Charles just grins at them.
"Crazy kids," Ginettina says fondly, shaking her head and licking her ice cream.
"Where did you find them?" Rosa asks.
"A Brooklyn police precinct," Ginettina replies. "Their commanding officer was actually a Slitheen in disguise. I pretended to be a secretary to like, investigate and stuff. They ended up helping me out. And since the Slitheen had like…. kinda eaten a couple of their coworkers, they were a bit shaken up. I asked if they wanted a break, come see the universe and all that. And they said yes."
"You don't really seem like the type to bother with things like a minor Slitheen incursion."
"Little punk had stolen a necklace off me, so I was willing to do pretty much anything to get it back."
"Okay... but you also don't seem like the type to randomly feel like offering humans some kind of weird space travel therapy out of the good of your heart, either," Rosa points out.
"Yeah, I know, I guess I just thought they were kind of cute," Ginettina admits, "like little puppies or those funny little noseless caterpillars on Vermillion Five. And they thought I was like, the most awesome person they'd ever met, and I thrive on praise, so… it seemed to work out."
"Aren't they kind of… a nuisance to keep an eye on, though? I thought humans were like… super fragile."
"Well, yeah," Ginettina says. "And dumb. So dumb. And small minded. But also, like, not. They have strong hearts." She makes a face. "Gross, I'm going all sentimental like them."
They come to lean on the outer railing of the footpath, and look over the glistening waters of Sydney Harbour. They stand there in silence for a time, while Ginettina eats her ice cream.
"Blue sky is weird," Rosa eventually says, not because she feels the need to break the silence, but because the thought has been bugging her for the last five minutes at least, and she needs to express it to the one person who could understand what she's used to instead.
"Better than orange sky," Ginettina retorts.
"That's a matter of opinion."
"Not really. Orange is a terrible colour."
"Still a matter of opinion."
More silence. Again, Rosa is the one to break it, but not because she hates silence - quite the opposite - but because she has a damn job to do, and Ginettina is making it difficult by being... well, Rosa isn't sure what she's being, but it's definitely a problem.
"Look, Ginettina, you have to realise why I'm taking this so seriously," Rosa says, sighing.
"Ew, okay, call me that again and I will dump the rest of this ice cream in your face," Ginettina complains. "Call me Gina, seriously."
"Fine."
"You may now continue with what I'm sure will be an awesomely boring lecture."
Rosa is almost completely out of patience, and gets up in Gina's personal space. "Look, it's not like you're just running around getting into dumb little scrapes and changing meaningless little details or bigger things that are totally in flux. You and I both know that there are already a couple of people running around doing that shit, and it's not ideal but it's more or less fine."
Gina mutters something under her breath about 'idiot in a long scarf'.
"Exactly. But you're deliberately going after fixed points. You can't. Do that. You could shatter everything," Rosa says.
Gina sighs, and actually looks sheepish. "Yeah, I know. My bad, I guess."
"Then why keep doing it?"
"Cause I knew I could get away with it!" Gina says, shrugging. "I knew you guys would keep fixing up my messes and sending me all those dumb agents and letting me and my little gang totally humiliate them. It's awesome."
Rosa stares at her. "You're doing this for the CIA attention?!"
"Well, yeah." Gina makes a face. "Except for Kennedy, that really was just about me trying to get a foot in the door of that sweet Presidential bedroom. Metaphorically speaking, of course, it was obviously Dallas where I hooked up with him and his wife."
"You had sex with the Kennedys?!"
"Uh, yeah, I knew you guys would be killing John off properly soon and wanted to make sure I gave him and his wife the time of their lives in the precious new hours they had left."
Rosa can barely believe her ears. She can barely get her head around the idea of having sex with a human, let alone the kind of crap Gina had apparently pulled. "You're unbelievable."
"Unbelievably awesome, I know."
Gina seems somewhat distracted, and Rosa follows her gaze to a shirtless man who happens to be jogging past.
"Seriously?"
"I used to look like that," Gina says, sighing heavily. "I was this amazing, muscular guy. With an eight pack. I had abs. I miss that. But no, I had to get caught up in that big ass radiation bomb and turn into… this." She gestures to herself. "Why is regeneration such a damn lottery?"
Rosa lifts an eyebrow, and Gina ends up cackling.
"Okay, who am I kidding, this me is pretty great," she says. "Especially, you know, the boobs. But I do miss the eight pack. This body has the muscles, you just can't see them no matter what." She looks at Rosa and grins, waggling her eyebrows. "You wanna feel?"
"What? No," Rosa says, back to thinking Gina must genuinely be insane.
"Fine, your loss," Gina says, already having moved on to putting a fresh coat of lip gloss on her lips. "Well, Rosadiazana of the CIA, this has been real fun and all, but I should probably get back to my humans now."
"You know I'm not leaving."
"It's so cute that you think that you have a choice," Gina says, putting her chin in her hand, elbow resting on the railing.
"What the hell is that supposed to-"
Before she knows what is happening, Gina has leaned forward and pressed her lips to Rosa's, kissing her firmly, even slipping her just a little bit of tongue. Rosa, despite mostly being too shocked to do anything, is vaguely aware of her lips instinctively kissing Gina back.
Gina pulls away, and smirks, while Rosa just stares.
"What the hell - wait-" Rosa wavers as her head starts swimming, and her hand goes to her lips. A horrible realisation washes off her and she looks at Gina with new fury. "What did you-"
"Paralysing lip gloss, learnt it off a couple of hot Time Agents a few years back," Gina says with a grin. "Except, you know, I reworked the formula a bit, made it so it doesn't start shutting down your vital organs if you don't get the antidote within like, an hour. Grisly murder ain't really my thing. This version will just wear off in about that time instead."
Rosa feels her legs giving out on her, and Gina catches her and holds her up. Their chests are pressed together, and Rosa is so glad that she's too fucking livid to take any proper notice of how pretty Gina actually is, especially this close up, or how nice she smells. Mostly.
"Come on, Agent, let's get you back to your ship," Gina says, half carrying her back across the footpath and into the grassy area.
"It's disguised as a tree, you'll never find it."
"Bitch, please, I'm a telepathic goddess, I can sniff out an eleventh dimensional matrix like it's a New York pizza."
"That…" It's a struggle for Rosa to even talk. Her whole body feels so heavy. "Means…. nothing… to me."
"Man, you're gonna make me cry with how uncultured you are, Rosa. We might need to fix that, when we see each other again. We'll get your dumb CIA ass a pizza, okay?"
"Gonna… kick… your... dumb ass…"
Gina stops outside the tree that Rosa knows is her TARDIS, and fishes in Rosa's pockets for the key before opening up the door in the back and hauling Rosa inside and setting her gently on the ground.
"There you go." Gina pats her arm, and before getting up, tilts her head and leans down to press a kiss to the corner of Rosa's mouth. "Catch you later, girl."
With that, she walks out of Rosa's TARDIS, leaving her able to do nothing but wonder just what the hell she's managed to get herself into, because her hearts are pounding in her chest and she's not sure it has anything to do with the chemical on her lips.
Thanks for reading, let me know what you think!