“On the contrary,” Jack drawled over his shoulder as he stalked down the long, antiseptic corridors toward his final destination, “I think you’ll find all the neat little excuses you could dream of in that file you still haven’t looked at.”
“Th-the Queen will hear about this!”
He rolled his eyes. “Excellent!” False cheer filled his voice. “I’m having tea with her on Sunday. I’ll pass on your regards.”
It wasn’t the first time Captain Jack Harkness had overstepped boundaries at Torchwood One, and it most certainly wouldn’t be the last. He had Toshiko to thank for what he’d seen, really - his arguably most loyal member of his team now, she spent slow periods in between rift activity strolling through Torchwood One’s most secret records and files just to keep her hacking skills sharp. Consider Jack’s curiosity when she’d shown him the plans they had for a new prisoner - someone undeniably human, but oddly almost too human, by their records. Someone who didn’t...fit.
Someone who the rift would suck back in, eventually. But not yet. And, until he vanished, the sick things they had in store to see if this subhuman man could handle them, could be manipulated, could be cloned? They didn’t sit well with Jack.
It wasn’t hard to draw up transfer plans. Torchwood Three sat on top of the Cardiff rift itself, and was the best possible location for the man to be transferred back through in a timely fashion. And the right people owed Jack favors. They always did.
Striding past the armed guards standing outside the cells, most populated with various sickly and dying alien creatures, Jack skimmed his gaze over the cells - then paused at the man whose photo he’d stared at one long, sleepless night, wondering if he’d be worth the trouble of transferring in the first place. He couldn’t quite say what had possessed him to say yes. Only that now, he wouldn’t be taking no for an answer. Jack was well known for being a troublemaker, enough that the guard outside of the cell didn’t hesitate before he unlocked it for his entrance, and then Jack swooped inside, his coat billowing around him, pinning the man with a sparkling gaze and immediate smile.
“Hey there! Captain Jack Harkness. You missing fresh air? Thought we might go on a quick little road trip.”