Managing the Avengers

Hack Attack

        Summary: The Avengers betting isn't unusual. What is unusual is Tony losing based on how many followers he has on Instagram?
        Inspiration: We actually got this idea because one of  the author's siblings spammed her Instagram and she lost tons of followers and we thought it would be funny if it happened to the Avengers.

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 "Ha! Guess who just got 160.7k on Instagram?" Clint bragged.
        "Hmmm... I'm guessing... you?" You asked, looking up at him from your phone. You were currently laying on the couch, your head propped up on Clint 's lap and your feet on Natasha. The rest of the Avengers were all on their phones as well, sitting around in the living room.
       "I bet I have more followers than you," Nat smirked, not taking her eyes off of her screen.
       "Doubt it," Clint responded, his eyes also glued to his phone.
       "Please, I probably have more followers than all of you combined," Tony spoke up cockily, holding his phone with none other than an iron man case on it.
       "Why is it so important to have 'followers'?" Thor asked, confused. He'd didn't understand why social media was such a big deal.
       Steve decided to answer, wanting to test his own knowledge on technology. "It's a popularity thing. Basically if you have more followers than another person, you're more popular than them and are 'better'," Steve met your eyes, asking if he was correct. You nodded, then spoke.
       "On Instagram, people follow you based on what you post and how popular you are, so Steve is right. The more well known you are- the more people will follow you."
       Loki was the next one to speak, "In all honesty it's rather stupid, but people of this realm seem to appreciate it. You just don't question the Midgardian ways, Thor."
       "Bullshit, Loki," Nat stopped him. "You care about how many followers you have too. Admit it."
       "Well... I admit that I do appreciate having many followers," Loki revealed. "But I am not making ridiculous bets that I have more followers than my neighbor."
       You and Tasha met eyes, sparkling with understanding, both of you knowing exactly what to do. "I bet I have more followers than you,” Nat bragged, waiting to snare him in a trap.
      "I highly doubt that Romanoff," Loki scoffed.
      "Really? Well if you're so sure, then lets bet on it. $50 says that I have more followers than you."
      "Very well," Loki said, sitting up straight and placing his phone down on his lap. "I will indulge you. I agree to your "bet". [Name] shall be the judge. That is if that is alright with you, [Name]?"
       "I'm for it," You answered, trying to hide the smirk.
       "Excellent, now how many followers do you have, Natasha?"
       "213k," Nat announced, feeling confident that she had more than him.
       A smirk tugged at Loki's lips. "I will take my winnings now."
      "What?"
      "I have 1.8 million followers," Loki stated proudly. "So I will take my money."
       Tasha's mouth was open in shock as she handed Loki the money, which he took with a wide smirk. "Wait a second-," Nat stopped him, pointing an accusing finger at him. "I still win because you said you would never bet on something like that!"
       Loki chuckled. "It's not really a gamble when you know you've already won."
        Nat was about to spit out a retort, but she closed her mouth in defeat, muttering a few Russian curse words to voice her complaints.
        "Once again, I bet I have more followers than all of you," Tony stated.
       "I'll take that bet," Bucky smirked, arms crossed over his chest.
       "Uhh... Bucky... I don't think that would be wise-," you started to say, but Bucky cut you off with a raise of his metal hand.
       "I doubt he has more followers than Loki, but really, I bet that at least one of us has more than Tony.”
       You looked around at everyone who were nodding their heads, though you didn't know where they got their confidence. You'd seen how many people followed Tony and there were a ton. "You guys can do whatever you want, but I'm not betting anything."
       "So who’s in?" Nat asked.
       Everyone raised their hands except for you. You raised your eyebrows in surprise when Steve and Bruce raised their hands.
      "Alright, JARVIS?" Tony asked. "You start us off. And make sure none of these freaks cheat." He glared accusingly at everyone while the Avengers all rolled their eyes, knowing that if anyone was to cheat it would either be Loki or Tony.
      "Very well sir," Jarvis responded. "The rules shall be that whoever loses has to pay the winner $100 dollars. Is everyone ready?" He paused for a moment to allow everyone time to get their phones out. "Go."
       "I've got…," Steve squinted at his phone. "1.5 million."
       You gave a long whistle. "Dang."
       Clint spoke next. "Mine and Natasha's was already stated. I had-"
       "160.7k," Tasha finished for your brother. "And I have"
       "214k," Clint answered for her.
       You smiled at the two of them, thinking it was cute that they finished each other's sentences. "You guys would be such a cute couple," You muttered softly, but unfortunately they heard.
       "What?" They both asked.
       "Nothing!" You said quickly, giving them an innocent smile. Although they didn't buy it, they left it alone.
        "1.1 million for me," Bruce announced, locking his phone once he checked.
        "Once again, I have 1.8 million." Loki bragged, glancing at Steve. "More than the super soldier."
        "Man and I thought that I had a lot of followers," You grumbled, crossing your arms.
       "I have 200-” Thor paused. “What does the ‘k’ mean?
    “Uh.. I think it stands for thousand,” You said unsure then looked at Nat, which she nodded, telling you that you were correct. “Yup. Thousand.”
    “Then I have 200 thousand followers!” Thor boomed.
       "And I have 139k," Bucky said, closing it off for everyone except for Tony.
      Jarvis spoke suddenly. "I've gone through all data and everyone is correct about their numbers."
       "What about you, Tony?" Nat asked, looking over to face him. "What's yours?"
       Pure smugness was written over his face as he pulled out his phone as if it was a gun in one of the old western movies, twirling it in his hands. "Well…," He started cockily, unlocking his phone and clicking the Instagram app, keeping his eyes on everyone. "Last I checked I had 3 million and that was almost a week ago so I definitely have-,"Tony stopped suddenly, his eyes wide and expression panicked. "More," He said in a whisper, though rather than the cocky face he wore only moments before, he looked as though Thor had struck him with lightning.
       "What?" Steve asked, voicing why everyone was so confused on Tony's sudden mood.
      "This can't be possible," Tony mumbled. "I- how could I-?"
       Clint rolled his eyes. "He's probably so stunned by his 'pure awesomeness'," He mocked, using finger quotations. "Just lemme see it." Clint reached for the billionaire, who was sitting in front of you, and took Tony's phone, the billionaire frantically trying to get it back.
        "Holy hell!" Clint yelled.
        "It can't be that much," Nat said, her eyebrows scrunched in confusion.
        "Come on, Clint, how much?" You pressed.
         Your brother started to laugh, "Take a look for yourself," You tilted your head, but took the phone, despite Tony's protests. While you took the phone in your hands, Clint started to laugh.
        "Oh, Tony. What have you done?" Clint chuckled, shaking his head.
       As you looked at the screen, your eyes widened seeing his number: less than one thousand. "What....even." You asked, as you scrolled through his Instagram. Tony had gone through and posted hundreds of pictures of Justin Bieber and almost as many horrible photoshopped pictures of Tony and Justin kissing or hugging.
        "So Tony, do you have something to say?” You asked in a joking way, handing the phone to Natasha who immediately started laughing. You were perfectly okay with Tony being who he was, but Bieber? You knew for a fact that Tony could do way better than that.
       "No!" Tony yelled, sounding exasperated and glaring at everyone.
       "Then why....?"
       "I swear to hell that it wasn't me!" He yelled then started to ramble. "Someone must have hacked into my Instagram and posted things! They spammed everyone and I went from 3 million to less than a thousand!" He snatched your phone from your hands- getting a protest from you- and looked himself up. "These random three best friends, Breann Preston, Londyn England and Nicole Stan, who all follow me, all have more followers than me! And...." He looked closer at the phone. "JARVIS!?"
         "Yes sir?"
       Tony looked up at the sky.  "You have an Instagram!?"
        "Oh yes sir, I do."
       "What do you even post?" Tony asked and was clicking on the name.
       "No, wait, sir I wouldn't-"
       "Jarvis!" Tony exclaimed, his voice loud with anger. "Why the hell are you sending people videos of us in the tower!? And most importantly, how do you have more followers than me?!"
       "I believe that my systems are shutting down," Jarvis stuttered
       "Don't you dare JARVIS-!" Tony started, but it was too late as you could already hear the AI shutting down.
        Tony cursed under his breathe.
        "Alright Stark," Loki smirked. "Pay up."
        "Excuse me?" He sassed back.
        "The deal was that whoever lost payed the winner, or winners, a hundred dollars. We all bet that at least one of us would have more than you and Loki do," Steve reminded.
        "What!? That's not fair! You would only have to pay $100 and I have to pay $100 for each of you!"
       "Not if you would have won." Bucky snarked.
       Tony snarled at him. "Fine!" He yelled and stuffed his hand in his pocket, swearing while he pulled out his wallet then fished out $100 dollar bills for everyone. He walked over to everyone and shoved the bill in their hands. Pissed off, he ripped his phone out of Thor's hand then stomped off like a three year old, just because he lost.
       Before he left the room, however, he apparently looked at his phone because he spun around. "Really Bruce!?" He yelled. "You unfollowed me too?"
       "Not really a Beiber Fan." Bruce shrugged sheepishly, making Tony hit the air and storm away leaving everyone smiling, holding their new money in their hands.
       You sat up and couldn't speak, you were shocked.
       Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Clint fist bump Bucky, as he walked behind the couch you, Nat and Clint were on.
       Crossing your arms, you put the pieces together, knowing that Bucky and Clint had something to do with it. "Clint...." You said his name in a warning tone, your foot tapping against the floor.
        "Yes?" He asked innocently, looking over at you, batting his eyelashes.
        "What did you and Bucky do?"
        His face broke as both him and Bucky burst out laughing.
       "Alright, alright." Clint finally said, wiping a tear from his eye. "A few weeks ago, Tony was bragging about his follower count, and telling Bucky that he would never get more followers than him, since Bucky has the least amount of followers. And so Bucky- the genius he is- wanted to get Tony back for making fun of him. With my help- since Tony had also made fun of me with my lack of followers- we managed to hack into Tony's phone and spam all his followers so people would unfollow him."
        "Nicely done," Tasha praised, giving them a slow clap.
         Both Bucky and Clint bowed dramatically.
        "For once it was nice to see Stark as the one that had his ego smashed," Loki smirked. "Brilliant work indeed."