The Avengers loaded into the quinjet and Natasha took the controls to the East coast. They headed for a small, rural city near the Georgia coast, not anywhere Tony had even heard of, and not somewhere he'd planned on going back to.
"Jet's picking up abnormal readings on ground level," Natasha reported.
Steve put his shell onto his back and opened up the cargo bay, "Well let's go say Merry Christmas," he said before leaping out the bay door.
"Show off," Clint muttered as he grabbed a parachute.
"Banner and I will stay up top," Natasha said to Tony.
He nodded, giving her a little salute before waving to Banner, "Try to not get into any trouble you two," Tony told them before he blasted out of the ship.
"Alright Jarvis, show me something," he said.
"Strange energy patterns coming from 2 miles northeast," Jarvis reported, highlighting the area.
"And do those signatures match anyone tall, dark and reindeer-y?" Tony asked.
Jarvis seemed to hesitate, not answering right away before saying, "Yes sir, a signature matching that of Loki is in the area."
Tony swore in several different languages. He'd been an idiot thinking with his dick, how long had Loki been pulling him along with this 'I'm a good guy now' bull shit?
He kicked his thrusters into top gear and screeched through the air towards the signatures. He heard Steve yelling something into the comm channel but he ignored it. He didn't need Steve or anyone else rubbing in his screw ups. The only person who seemed to be keeping up with Tony's blasting pace was Thor who Tony could just make out flying over in a whirl of lightning and red, like a Christmas lightning bolt come to kick ass on Earth.
As they reached a neighborhood, Tony slowed down to land and looked around. He didn't see anything out of place, aside from the level of tacky some of the light displays were here but everything looked quiet, peaceful even.
Thor landed beside Tony and frowned, "This is where we were to go, yes?"
Tony nodded, "Yep, this is it point break," Tony said.
Jarvis highlight several roofs but Tony couldn't see anything out of the ordinary on them. He knew Loki could hide himself so he guessed his lover was somewhere out here just bidding his time for the right moment to really sink that knife into his back. God, he'd been an idiot.
"You think my brother is responsible?" Thor asked.
"Sorry to say so, but yeah," Tony said.
Thor frowned and looked into the distance. That optimism still burned in Thor and god, Tony wanted to believe it could be right and Loki wasn't involved in this mess, but he was right here looking at it and Jarvis could read Loki all over this place where a horned man had been reported ruining Christmas. If Loki had wanted to reenact How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Tony was sure they could have found another way to make that work.
Thor patted Tony's back and the suit absorbed most of the impact of Thor's strength as the rest of the group caught up with them. "We should spread out and find him. Do not engage if there are civilians around," Cap said.
Tony offered a half-assed salute and flew off to the furthest edge of the area and had Jarvis do a wide scan. Nothing initially pinged out of the ordinary, traces of Loki and, Tony noticed, traces of something else too. Loki wasn't here alone because there were two distinct energy patterns here, patterns Tony recognized as magic from his scans of Loki. Something weird was going on here and Tony somehow doubted it classified as a Christmas miracle.
"I've got something," Clint's voice came in over the comm unit.
Tony scanned and spotted Barton immediately, on top of a roof and with a bow drawn towards a barn. On top of that barn, Tony could just make out a dark shape with distinct curved horns. A pit in his stomach grew wider.
"Loki? What the hell are you doing!?" Tony called.