Inktober day 9: acronym

Fandom: MCU

Notes: I could have gone either I-Man or MCU with this one. You can see which won. I'm pretty certain this is the first time I've written Darcy. Here's hoping I channeled her reasonably well

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"BARF. FRAB. FARB?" No, rearranging the words into something even more nonsensical wouldn't do it. I needed to come up with a completely different descriptor for the unit, but I had BARF stuck in my head so thoroughly that it might just have to go to market with that name. If nothing else, I doubted anyone would forget it, though the snickers that would follow after might not be something I could live down.

I pulled the modified glassess off and pinched the bridge of my nose. The headache building behind my eyes from frustration and not use for now. I planned another test run later today to see if the side effects had been reduced or, hopefully, eliminated completely.

They wouldn't be of much use for treating trauma if the wearer ended up with a debilitating headache every single time.

"Doesn't that stand for Binarilay Aug-something something. The brain scanner thingy you showed off at MIT?"

I stopped my pacing, head snapping around to see one Darcy Lewis slurping down a cup of what was most likely my very expensive coffee from my favorite mug, no less.

"Binarialy Augmented-"

"Blah blah blah. You geniuses and your hundred dollar words." She took a sip, leaving perfect bright red lip imprints on the rim of my cup. "Just call it a MNEM."

I blinked twice. "What are you doing here?" I'd seen her at the Compound maybe once before. Her boss, Jane Foster, had chosen not to join the Avengers even as a civilian contractor. Her relationship with our resident demigod hit or miss as of late. Mostly miss since he'd been off-world for several years now. If he'd stopped by to say hi to his mortal squeeze I hadn't been made aware of it.

Darcy shrugged her shoulders. "Jane needed to give some data to Erik so I got to play delivery girl."

Okay, that made some sense given Erik had come onboard fulltime to deal with the various anomalies that had been popping up since Dark Elves had tried to invade Greenwich a few years back. Yes, Dark Elves using something called the Aether, which Selvig suspected was another of those Infinity Stones Thor had gone in search of. Yeah, I had a lot on my plate at the moment. "You? Why you?" I asked in curiosity and no little confusion, given the resources I had at my disposal.

"Jane trusts me," she answered in a tone that suggested it should have been obvious.

I waved my hands about. "She does realize I have several dozen Avengers I could have sent to pick up and deliver the information and saved you the trouble of flying halfway around the world in coach."

"First class thank you very much. And she doesn't know any of them." She huffed out a breath. "What?

You think I can't handle it or something?" A fisted hand settled on one hip, a challenging look in her eyes.

"Not a chance. Just think you have better things to do than play delivery girl," I told her. No, she would never be an Avenger, but she had her place in the grand scheme of things and I'd never mind a visit from her.

"Well, I don't mind that part so much. Means I get to steal some of your coffee." She grinned at me over the top of the mug before taking a deliberate sip of the dark brew within.

I chuckled. If that was her price of admission, I could live with it. "NEM?" I asked, getting back to where this discussion began.

"M. N. E. M. First m is silent."

"And what would that stand for?" I managed to not roll my eyes, though I had to admit it did sound better then BARF.

"Memory Neural Enhancement Module. That's basically what it does, right?"

"Uh, yes actually. Though that description is greatly oversimplified."

"Right, 'cause most of the people who are gonna be using it care about all those big fancy words you used to describe it. And, yes, I read your paper on the subject. I think the idea is really cool."

"But you think the big fancy words are too much," I snarked.

"Look, just because my preferred subject is political science and not science science doesn't mean I'm stupid, all right. I can keep up with both Jane and Erik so long as they use KISS with me. They keep me around for a reason."

Yes, they did. Both of them insisting they worked better with Miss Lewis around so who was I to argue the point. "And?"

"And it's what I do. Jane'll use the big words, I make her explain and then I come up with an acronym that describes it in simple terms. Like a mnemonic."

"MNEM." I wagged a finger at her and she gave me a saucy wink in return. "What do you think, FRIDAY?"

"I think Miss Lewis's suggestion is worth considering. Anything will be better then BARF."

"And from a marketing standpoint, it has potential." I watched Darcy as she drank my coffee out of my cup without a care in the world, and in that moment of clarity I understood, a least a little, why Team Thor kept her around.

"So, any chance you'd be interested in helping me get this thing ready for market?"

Her eyebrows went up. "I don't know. Jane keeps me busy what with all her sciency stuff."

"I'm sure we can work out a timeshare agreement that'll be of benefit to everyone," I assured her. If she were going to be playing courier between Jane and Erik she might as well get some personal benefit out of it.

"Time is money, Mr. Stark."

"That can be discussed as well." Shrewd of Miss Lewis.

"Five percent of the gross when it's marketable."

I laughed. "You have a deal, Miss Lewis."

"You heard that, right FRIDAY."

"I did indeed."