Alaska
On a road that was mostly white, with some splotches of the tarmac visible, a small passenger car was trudging along, a most peculiar sight in the month of November. Not just because the car's constitution did not belong on one of the harshest terrains during the harshest winter, but also because the car in question did not have any helpful accessories.
Nothing that would help it trudge along on the road, without losing traction, without skidding on the snow and veering off course. No chains, no winter tyres, and certainly not a road clear of snow.
Bizarrely enough, the windshield was not snowed in. In fact, not a single inch of the car had ice on it, despite snow being everywhere around it. The tyres left marks on the road, carving through the snow as if the tyres somehow had haters installed in them.
Aside from that, the driver of the car had his windows down, and was currently singing along to the semi broken stereo, playing the same song on repeat.
Alex cheerfully followed the lead of the stereo that had a mind of its own and changed songs on the fly.
~~but I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred miles
Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles to fall down at your door~~
The speakers in the car played static for a moment before the song changed abruptly, and the driver followed seamlessly as well, with not a moment of hesitation.
~~Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong~~
–Alex Warner–
He grooved at the catchy tune, the car chugging along nicely on the icy road, with a full tank. He had two jerry cans full of gas, a ton of water, food(mostly jerky), and the icing on the cake.
The sceptre.
He wondered if he could have used that to power an electric car? Would have saved him a ton of hassle of steal–requisitioning this car, finding the Jerry Cans, filling them with gas before starting his journey.
As for why he did not use his chakra and the sceptre to wave his problems away and reach his destination in a flight? A climate controlled flight?
Well, for one, he was not yet sure of his destination, even now. Secondly, where was the fun in that? Thirdly, the very thought of mind controlling someone to force them to do something against their will? Especially for something so trivial? It sent a visceral disgust up his spine.
It was funny. He could beat up, severely injure, or even kill people, no problem, based on the person anyway, but when it came to the concept of mind control on the very same people? He backed out.
He looked back at the sceptre and as if sensing his gaze, the glow in the black duffle bag increased a bit, but he just chuckled and kept his attention on the road, not that there was anything aside from him for miles on end.
In a way, he was right in keeping the Mind Stone. He would never use it anyway, not even when he found out that either the Stone itself or the material of the sceptre was extremely receptive to his chakra, almost greedily drinking it.
Just as he was about to stop for a bio-break, his senses tingled, as the road in front of him was hit by a beam of blue and white, sizzling away the ice, before Iron Man landed in front of his car, with his signature 3 point landing.
He did hit the brakes in his car, not because he was scared or anything but because it would be really awkward to ask for a lift from Tony after having beaten the shit out of him, and also because the stereo and the song selection of the car were kind of growing on him.
Tony stood up, looking at his painfully slow braking car, as the bumper hit the suit's legs, stopped and after a moment of silence and then staring at each other, the car's lights and horn began blaring like the aftermath of a mass crash on the freeway.
He could actually feel Tony's deadpan through the suit as he gestured with a what can you do, before opening the car and getting out, letting the sceptre remain in the car.
Leaning on the side of the car, he casually asked Tony, "Sup?"
The car alarm was getting on his nerves though, so he casually hit the side of the car with his fist, and nodded when the alarms stopped ringing.
"Hand over the sceptre." Tony said in a serious voice, as if ready to fight to the end if that did not happen. He blinked at that, before relaxing, his expression one of realisation.
"Ah, so you're not really here, are you? Just an empty suit, sent to retrieve the sceptre. Gotta say, that's smart of you. Unfortunately, that also means I will no longer be entertaining you." He then stepped back, ready to get back into the car, only for the suit to attack him.
Or at least, try to attack him.
His hand snapped up, blocking the attack from hitting his chest, hitting lightning natured chakra that he put up on instinct. It had a kick but the chakra managed to absorb the energy based repulsor attack with ease. He was sure that it was meant to be a warning shot, so it was still up in the air whether he could absorb an amped up attack or not.
He looked up from his arm and at Iron Man, "Now, why would you do that?" He cracked his neck while doing so, taking a step forward, leading to the suit raising both its arms towards him, repulsors crackling to life.
"You sure about that? Why are you here anyway? I was expecting SHIELD, not you. Don't tell me you started working for Fury? For Shame, Tony. For shame!" He mocked the man, but received no reply for a while.
He was starting to lose his patience here. If it was Tony himself here, he could have had some fun messing with the man. It was not nearly as fun messing with just an empty suit of armour.
"You don't understand. No one can be trusted with that sceptre. It can–"
He yawned at the fear in the man's voice, rapidly losing interest in the man as Tony's position in his mind rapidly lowered. Yes, mind control was scary. Yes, being faced with their own mortality was even scarier. But for it to push Tony into making rash decisions like this?
Meh.
"Control humans, yeah. So, tell me this genius, in the past week that I've had it, have you seen a single mind controlled human? Hell, I am sure you have something to track it, have you even felt its energy once?"
"...That does not mean that–"
"I have not used it, you idiot. I have just kept it from the most untrustworthy hands of all, the government. Plus, I participated in the battle and helped a lot, bled a lot. I deserve something in return. Consider this my prize."
The suit remained standing in place, even then, and he decided to take matters into his own hands. A single leap had his palm touching both ends of the head, as he used chakra to blow it off, before immediately dismembering the whole thing, leaving only the chest piece with the Arc Reactor behind.
He had no idea what kind of reaction chakra would have with what was essentially a nuclear reactor. Sure, he was in the middle of nowhere, with no people for miles around but that didn't mean he could risk a nuclear core getting destabilised and having NORAD scramble jets to investigate.
Interestingly, probably as some sort of safety and anti-theft measure, the light around the Arc Reactor dimmed before it smoked, probably safely destroyed.
Gathering the stuff, he piled it up, and left it at the side of the road, before continuing his journey.
~~but I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred miles~~
Oh, look. It was back on that song now. He checked the condition of the bumper, which had a small red scratch, from the paint of the Iron Man suit. Probably just the paint was worth more than the car he was driving.
Humming to the tune, he began driving away, supplying chakra to the entire vehicle, using it as a training opportunity to create the perfect amount of traction to the tires. More than once, the thought of just letting excess chakra blast through the tyres came to his mind, but it would certainly lead to their destruction and he did not fancy sleeping in the snow.
If he wanted to sleep anyway. He barely needed to sleep anyway. Food, a power nap, and aggressive chakra cycling through his body were enough to get rid of most fatigue.
He looked in the rear mirror, to see smoke still coming, white smoke strangely enough, from the remnants of the Iron Man suit, to which he shrugged and moved on.
The time was 2012 and he still had a lot of sightseeing to do before the world encountered some major threat that required his attention. He would defend the planet, since he lived on the bloody thing, but all the other little interlude events? The others can handle them easily enough.
The pulse of energy from the sceptre made him sigh as he realised that the next interlude event involved an Infinity Stone, and those things were just bad news all around.
Another pulse from the sceptre, as it tried to influence his mind, had him cursing at it, as he zapped the sceptre with his chakra, the glow around the gem dying down as it apparently got what it wanted.
Maybe he could just throw it in the Mariana Trench or something?
Certainly better than lugging it around and not using it.
Maybe it would be his next destination once he reached some civilization on this road. Seriously, this Alaska Highway was bloody long. He could understand why such an undertaking could only happen during times of war, when roads had multi-purpose use cases.
If somebody proposed this now, it would be made for 10x the cost and would be stopped a dozen times for environmental clearances, during which money would exchange hands, and the environmental concerns would just miraculously disappear.
With the thought of government inefficiency in his mind, he just continued to drive, listening to his tunes, knowing that he was being tracked and should expect another attack.
Let them come, though.
It was getting kind of boring just seeing snow everywhere on his way.
__xx__
Stark Residency, LA
–Tony Stark–
He breathed out, as he watched Alex systematically dismantle his suit, leaving it lying in a ditch by the side of the road. It was a lightweight model, built for long range reconnaissance and very light offense, but to see it get destroyed like that, within seconds.
It just really drove home the fact that Alex was in just another league. Outside of the Hulk or Thor, he did not think anyone could meaningfully face him in single combat. He could try, but with the sceptre in his hand and the nightmare still fresh in his mind, he will not–could not afford to get anywhere close.
He sighed, as Jarvis spoke up, "Sir, it has been 27 hours since you have slept. On top of normal fatigue, you have multiple minor injuries from the invasion that have not fully healed. The mental toll of–"
"Yeah, yeah," He waved off Jarvis' worries, "I get it, I need to go lie down. Where's Pepper?"
"Ms.Potts is on her way. ETA - 29 minutes."
He squinted at the ceiling in suspicion, "You tattled on me, didn't you?"
The silence was answer enough.
With a sigh, he stood up, his entire body one giant bruise right now, and hobbled towards the exit, "Just send in the preliminary report, along with last reported locations to Fury. Secure the remains of the suit before them, though. Also, no need to give them the entire matrix. Just tell them that I have it and it's proprietary," he smirked at the last bit. He was still pissed at SHIELD for attempting to nuke Manhattan.
"Would that be wise, sir?" Jarvis spoke through the speakers installed everywhere. In this case, his voice came from the speakers installed on the stairs.
"Yes, while I do believe our friend there doesn't fully understand the dangers of that sceptre and is a little too violent for my tastes, I don't think he is our enemy yet. Plus," his mind flashed back to the nightmare that haunted his dreams every time he so much as closed his eyes, "I have a feeling we are going to need him going forward."
He shook his head, the dull ache in his head on the verge of turning into a migraine, and waved at Jarvis, "Good night, Jarvis."
"Good night, sir