Chapter 1

Power

Sci-fi au || Tom is an alien prince who is taken aboard Chris's father's ship as a prisoner to be studied. Chris sneaks into the lab at night to look over the research and do his own tests. He starts letting Tom out of the holding cell, and Tom perches on a desk to watch him work. Night after night on repeat until suddenly Chris finds out Tom can communicate with him. He also finds out that Tom is way too charming for his own good, and eventually they fall into bed together. Afterward Chris is conflicted over what they've done because, well… alien prince!, and Tom begins plotting his escape, planning to leave whether or not Tom agrees to come with him.

Original story outline created by vanceghastrovik on tumblr.

Thor hurried out of his office with an array of papers in one hand and a half empty coffee mug in the other. He'd spilled most of his drink on the papers but his mind wasn't focused due to the alarms going off. He stumbled towards the buildings main telephone line and connected the handset to the main office a few floors down. No reply. If he wanted to know what was going on, he'd have to go to the main bridge and find out for himself.

There were plenty of people running frantically along the corridors but no one gave him a second glance even after he tried to find out what was going on. He decided the lifts were perhaps better than the stairs so he rushed into one and punched the button marked 'bridge'.

"Please enter your key code."

The robotic female voice sounded from the speakers and Thor typed in the numbers. The lift then proceeded to go up. Thor stood in the centre of the lift fumbling with his papers; he'd somehow lost the coffee mug.

The doors to the lift opened and he stepped out into utter chaos. Everyone was on high alert. People were shouting commands to one another trying to clear up an image that was very pixilated on the main viewing screen. He glanced around the large, well-lit room and searched for his father. He was leaning over someones shoulder looking as the man brought up several images on his monitor. Thor walked towards him with a very confused expression on his face.

"Father, what's going on?"

His father turned around and pushed his glasses further up his nose. "Thor!" He clapped him on the back and began walking them both into the centre of the room. He pointed towards the main screen and turned to his son. "That right there is the thing I have been searching for ever since I can remember. He is the entire reason we set this whole thing up."

He gestured towards the whole of the bridge that had calmed down somewhat since he had entered but still seemed to be buzzing with energy.

"How far out is it?" Thor tried to sound excited but he was mostly curious about what was happening. He had always been a big supporter of his dad's ideas and ambitions. They'd been the whole reason why Thor had been able to have the education his father never had. His dad's pure genius had discovered how to dampen the affects of global warming and had perfected stem cell capabilities. However, he had never understood how such a brilliant mind had been conned into thinking that there was intelligent life beyond the stars. Sure, they'd found signs of life on other planets from thousands of years ago, but his father was convinced that he had seen a strange man when Thor was a child, near their house; he was convinced that he wasn't human. Much of his childhood memory was clouded so he couldn't be certain if there even was such a man; current events seemed to be proving him wrong.

"It was last recorded at being 2,000 miles out, but that's not the interesting bit." Odin moved to face his son and put his hands on his shoulders. "It's heading straight for the city."

Thor looked into his father's eyes and realised that he was ecstatic. His head automatically jerked towards the front as the men working on the computers called out to him.

"Sir, we've got it."

"Good track its journey and calculate the impact site."

Thor, who still had a very confused look on his face, still clutching heavily to his papers, stayed motionless as his father walked over to another monitor then turned back to him.

"Thor, go and see if Professor Cavanah is ready."

Thor's eyes narrowed as his father turned away from him and rejoined the group of people still filtering through a mass of images.

"Ready for...?" He cut himself off. Obviously his dad was too busy to even notice he was there. At least he was including him in his work. Thor decided to go to professor Cavanah's lab to see if he understood any of this madness.

He walked towards the elevator and hit the last button. It was a short ride and when he stepped out he saw two armed guards standing outside the professors' door. He gingerly started striding towards the door and the guards turned to him and then let him through.

The lab, despite being possibly one of the largest rooms in the entire base, always seemed to be teaming with gadgets and machinery. Every surface was covered so you couldn't see the marble tops or the walls for that matter and there were no windows since the lab was underground.

The lab consisted of two levels that merged into one towards the back. It was so any large pieces of equipment that the professor wished to build, he could do so within the confines of his own lab. Not that the professor was a hermit or anything, but he did seem to like his own company. He engrossed himself in all of his projects and always put his heart and soul into his work. Perhaps that was why his dad had chosen him as head of medical and scientific studies.

He spotted Professor Cavanah sitting at his desk, which over looked a large, see through glass cage, typing away at his computer furiously. He didn't even notice Thor enter.

"Professor?" Thor edged slowly towards Cavanah who seemed to be editing a program on his computer monitor. Cavanah abruptly turned round, almost sending the papers on his desk flying but Thor caught them before they fell on the floor.

"Yes? Thank you. What is it?" The professor seemed to be slightly agitated that he had been interrupted. He had always worked better alone, hence the lack of an assistant and the fact that he never really socialised with the rest of the crew. He found social interaction when he was working to be a distraction. Since he always seemed to be working, no one really knew much about the professor's life outside the company. But he worked well with others when the situation demanded it and finished his projects to the highest expectation set by Odin, so no one questioned him.

"The captain wants to know whether you are... ready? I'm not quite sure what he meant but I'm hoping..." He trailed off as he looked around the lab; there was no point talking directly to the professor because he wasn't listening to Thor.

He craned his head to get a closer look at the computer screen and realised Cavanah had been working on something relating to the cage. The schematics for the cage were on a separate screen next to the one he was working on. He could see all the readings being relayed to the monitor from the cage. Temperature, humidity, radiation levels, sound waves and something titled FED and MEI. All of them weren't currently turned on, dials on zero.

Thor stared at it for a second before the professor answered while tidying his papers and finished filling in the information on the screen.

"I know what your father means. Tell him we're ready at this end. I just need to know how much time I have left till arrival."

Thor swallowed slightly. "I'm unsure exactly but, soon. Last they checked it was heading straight for the city and was only 2,000 miles away."

Cavanah sighed. "Very well." He handed him a walkie-talkie and moved over towards the cage. "Here, the whole bases internal communication system is down for the mean time and radio is the only way to get anything done. Tell you father to call me on this when he hears anything."

He started pressing buttons on a very flash workstation and turned to Thor and raised his eyebrow. Thor turned and headed out of the door and back up to the bridge.

"Just in time, son."

Thor almost tripped over cabling that was loose on the floor as he stared at the screen. They had opened a coms link to a swat team that was at the crash sight. A man in a black suit, stood in front of the camera and Thor could just make out a large black van in the back ground wheeling someone in on a stretcher.

"Sir, we've got him. Subject is unconscious but not seriously injured. Eta 20 minutes."

"Good. Clean up the sight and leave immediately. We'll have medics standing by."

Odin smiled as the line ended and the screen went black. He turned to Thor and said, "What did Cavanah say?"

Thors' attention wasn't focused and he barely heard his dad. "Huh? Oh, he says he's ready down there." He held up his hand holding the walkie-talkie. "He wants you to update him on the exact time to expect... him."

Thor still didn't have any idea who or what they were expecting. Obviously his dad had known but Thor had never paid attention to his wild stories since he was convinced they were just figments of his imagination.

Odin took the walkie-talkie from Thor and pressed the button on the side. "Martin? Odin. Eta 20 minutes, repeat 20 minutes."

He released the button and waited. The line went from static to clear as Cavanah's' voice sounded. "Copy that. What condition is the subject in?"

"Unconscious, but Coulson assures me that he's not badly damaged. Do you have enough medical equipment down there for basic repairs?"

"Yes. I'll get a clean operating table to assess his wounds. Come down whenever you feel ready."

Odin chuckled to himself slightly. "Believe me, I will."

While Thor stood next to his father in Cavanah's lab, he felt somewhat distant from everything around him. He could see and hear everything that was passing him by, but he didn't feel completely there; almost faint. As the stretcher was wheeled straight into the glass cage, a faint and distant memory suddenly found its way into Thor's mind. A memory that had only ever before been described to him; something he thought he'd never remember himself.

As he continued to stare mindlessly at the glass stretcher and the strange man, now being examined by Cavanah and several other doctors, a man in a sharp, black suit walked up to Odin and handed him an electronic pad.

"Video footage from the time we first spotted the object just before it landed, to everything he said while in transit. Most of it is... garbage, but a few words were repeated so we think he is speaking some kind of as of yet, unidentified language."

Odin took it and swiped his finger over the device several times before looking past him and back at the glass cage. "Thank you, Coulson. Get someone from linguistics to start decoding everything you can." He gave back the device and pushed past the agent and started to walk closer to the cage. He turned his head slightly as he spoke again, eyes still glued to the man at the centre of the vast cell. "Oh and send a copy to the lab and to my personal computer. Allow access to myself, Cavanah and Thor."

Coulson quickly glanced at Thor before he nodded curtly and walked out of the lab.

As all the extra medical staff walked past Thor, he awoke from his daydream like sensation and hurried to stand next to his father. The strange man was stripped to the bare minimum of clothes; a strange material covering his lower body ending just above his knees. Cavanah dabbed his many wounds with clean towels, a water bowl placed by his head. Thor starred at the peculiar man before him, very tall, thin and pale. Not just an unhealthy pale due to his injuries, but he had an almost unearthly shade of skin. Light, delicate looking flesh, currently washed out even further by crimson blood oozing from open gashes on his forehead, arms, and hands, and deep cuts marring his legs. The mans hair, long raven locks, were strewn across his face, covering the upper most part of his face. The man had a beauty to him, a strange sort of familiarity that Thor found... intriguing was the only word he could connect his feeling with.

As Thor tilted his head to the side, his father turned to him before looking back to the man laid out on the table. "Such an exquisite being, don't you think?"

Thor kept starring at the man while Cavanah cleaned his last wound and started to bandage his arms down to his hands. "Quite."

He didn't add anything else since he didn't know what else to say. He merely looked to his dad as he continued to look through the glass, almost smiling at the sight before them. "Why is he so important to you?"

Odin grinned slightly as he walked around the cage, viewing the subject from different angles. "That agonising feeling you get when you know you've forgotten something but you just can't remember what. Or when you know half the answers but know you don't have all the facts. Or even when you can see all of the pieces of the puzzle in front of you, but can't put them in order. These are the reasons why he is so important, so vital..." He paused, allowing his smile to fade and his face to become serious, his voice with a more stern tone. "I have been searching for answers, and he knows them. All we have to do, is convince him to tell us."

Thor dropped his gaze while his father walked up to Cavanah as he exited the cage having fully bandaged up the pale man.

"All of his wounds were mild and should fully heal in a week or so." Cavanah washed his hands in a nearby sink while Odin fidgeted and kept glancing back at the cage.

"Did he say anything? Can he speak?"

Cavanah took his time as he dried his hands on a towel and then discarded it in a bin. "I do not doubt he can speak, but I think it unlikely that he will want to with us at the moment. He is in shock, let him become accustomed to his new... surroundings and then he might wish to talk."

He paused as he saw Odin look agitated and impatient while glancing back at the man on the table. "I would suggest, to increase the likelihood that he will trust us, that we designate someone to act as... safety. To bring him food etc. After a while he should link this person with being secure and therefore he will most likely trust this person enough to talk to them."

Odin bit his lip while he crossed his arms in concentration. "Fine. Thor, would you do the honor of spending some quality time with our new guest?"

Thor shrugged his shoulders but nodded and watched his father clap his hands and head out of the lab. "Good. Immerse yourself in Cavanah's programs and work along side him. I will be in my office. Please do not disturb me unless absolutely necessary." The doors automatically opened and Odin walked out, leaving Thor bewildered in the centre of the lab.

Cavanah walked straight over to his desk and sat down, turning the computer on and leaning into the screen as it flickered into life. "You'll need to be filled in on the basics then." He spoke clearly but didn't tear his eyes from the screen as Thor stood behind him.

"Ok, basic facts. Subject is in a secure area, which means that it can only be accessed during certain times. The reason for this is so all readings are as accurate as possible," he turned his head and grinned, "and of course for our safety and his." Cavanah typed furiously on his keyboard and brought up dials and readings being relayed from the cage. "Ok. The temperature, atmosphere etc are all set to the ideal environments for humanoid life forms. As of yet, we have no reason to believe these should change. Once we have given him a full medical, we'll be able to adjust these accordingly."

Thor glanced back over his shoulder at the man as he turned on his side and moaned quietly; the sound emanating from speaks on the outside of the cage and by the computer monitor.

Cavanah tilted his head back and raised his arms above his head, interlocking his fingers and groaning as he stretched. "Sounds like our guest is conscious." He turned back to his screen and mumbled, "Maybe now would be a good time to dress him; he may be uncooperative when fully conscious."

Thor looked between the two of them as Cavanah got up and picked out a bland pair of blue trousers and a matching loose t-shirt. "These are to be worn until his wounds have properly healed. We'll give him more appropriate garments in a week or so. In the meantime, dress him in these then seal the door."

Thor nodded and took the clothes up the steps to the cage. A clicking and whirring sound emanated from the large metal hinges as the door unlocked and slide to one side. He walked slowly into the room, wary of the man still on the table now scrunched up with his hands over his stomach, eyes glued shut. They flew open and the man started to look around, head darting erratically as his eyes squinted in the bright light. As Thor got closer and put the clothes next to him on the table, the mans eyes focused more on him and he just lay there, staring at Thor as his chest rose and fell unsteadily. Thor looked down at him noticing sweat forming on the mans brow, his body language telling him that he was more scared of Thor, than Thor was of him.

He carefully took the top in one hand and held it up to him, trying to convey what he meant. "Sit up." He spoke softly, hoping to not frighten the man. When he didn't move and just kept staring blankly at him, Thor placed the shirt in his lap and put his hands under his armpits and gently lifted the man so he was sitting up. At first contact, Loki virtually leapt off of the table. Thor kept a calm expression and didn't grip him too tightly as Loki sat up, biting his lip as he let his eyes wander around the room. Thor took the shirt and gently placed it over Loki's head, pulling it down and easing his arms through. Loki tensed as he raised his arms up but relaxed and breathed more steadily when he lowered them again. Thor picked up the trousers and Loki then placed his hands on the table, ready to ease himself off the side. He stood up, slouching and holding onto the table with both hands behind himself as Thor bent down and helped him with the matching pair of plain trousers. He pulled them all the way up and tied the chord around his waist as Loki looked down at him, with a slightly terrified look in his eyes. Thor didn't look up again until he had finished and then gestured back to the table, helping Loki lift himself back onto the surface as he hoisted his legs over the side. Loki eased himself down as he rolled onto this side again, gripping his stomach; a sign that he was in pain, or that he wanted to be left alone? Thor just smiled gingerly and left, feeling awkward and scared and yet sorry for the strange man; and all the more confused.

When he reached Cavanah again, he had several new dials visible on the screen. "What do they stand for?" Thor pointed towards two new measurements that weren't activated yet.

"FED stands for foreign energy disrupter, and FEI is foreign energy indicator. Basically, your father believes this man possesses abilities using unknown forces. If anything unusual occurs while he's in there, the FEI will pick it up, then we can get to work programming the FED."

Thor scratched his head as he took a seat next to the professor and tucked a loose strand of golden hair behind his ear. "Right... What do you know of my father's beliefs?"

Cavanah didn't reply for a second, then leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, while taking in a deep breath. "That is... something we'd all like to know. It's complicated, even to your father I believe. He doesn't like to talk about his experience because it brings him... troubling memories."

Cavanah glanced at Thor whose expression was a mixture of confusion and curiosity. He sighed and picked up a pen and started to twirl it between his fingers. "You don't remember that night do you?"

Thor felt his eyes start to tear up and quickly turned his gaze to the floor. He gulped and shook his head.

Cavanah continued, starring mindlessly at the brick wall in front of him. "That night changed Odin. If it weren't for your father's reputation, I think his claims would have ruined his chance of a decent future, and possible one for yourself. But I've known Odin for, oh, so many years now." Cavanah titled his head in Thor's direction who was now looking up, a tear threatening to fall onto his cheek. "I trust your father, with my life among other things. I trust that he knows what he saw that day. Whether or not he is the man from all those years ago, that is yet to be proved. Whether or not we can explain what he is, that is yet to be seen."

Thor wiped his nose and blinked rapidly as more tears fell. "Do you think we'll find the answer?"

Cavanah froze as he thought for a second, Thor's eyes still trained on him. "I think we will find an answer. Whether it will put his mind to rest... well, we'll see where that leads us."

Thor and Cavanah sat together in silence while the strange man watched them discreetly from his cell, listening intently to their every word.

So chapter 1, always a tricky start especially with such an exciting story line, of which I made a few changes. 1 - Thor and Loki instead of Chris and Tom. 2 - Coulson is alive because I was gutted when he died. And 3 - S.H.I.E.L.D is not such a dominant aspect of this reality. So enjoy and please tell me how you think it's going.