Helena Stark: A WWII Survivor

chapter sixteen: Sense

"How are you doing?" Natasha asked. 

"Annoyed at Tony," I answered. "There are people who needed me today, and I'm stuck here because my nephew is a bigger ass than Howard."

"Remind me not to make you angry," Natasha said, before turning as someone approached us.  

"Excuse me, Ms. Romanoff?" A woman asked. 

"Yes?" She asked. 

"These need your signature," she reminded, and Nat quickly signed. "Thank you."

"Thanks," Nat said awkwardly, and I tried not to laugh. 

"I suppose neither of us is used to the spotlight," a voice said, and I turned to see the Prince of Wakanda. 

"Oh, well, it's not always so flattering," nat responded. 

"You seem to be doing all right so far," Prince T'Challa said. "Considering your last trip to Capitol Hill I wouldn't think you'd be particularly comfortable in this company."

"Well, I'm not," Natasha said.

"And that alone makes me glad you are here, Ms. Romanoff," T'Challa said. 

"Why? You don't approve of all this?" I asked.

"The Accords, yes," T'Challa said as he turned to me. "The politics, not really. I think, Ms. Stark, that two people in a room can get more done than a hundred."

"Unless you need to move a piano," another voice chimed in, and we turned to see the King of Wakanda. 

"Ms. Romanoff, Ms. Stark," he greeted. 

"King T'Chaka," I said in greeting. 

"Please, allow me to apologize for what happened in Nigeria," Natasha said. 

"Thank you," Kind T'Chaka said. "Thank you for agreeing to all of this. I'm sad to hear that Captain Rogers will not be joining us today."

"Yes, so am I," Natasha said, and I gave her a look.

"Yet, Ms. Stark does not agree," King T'Chaka said.

"If my nephew hadn't asked me to represent him, I would be with the Captain right now," I said simply. "We're both mourning a loss."

"I'm sorry, we didn't know," T'Challa said. 

"There's nothing to be sorry for," I replied.

"I remember meeting Peggy Carter," T'Chaka said. "She was a good woman."

"And an even better friend," I said. "She basically raised my daughter, if I let Howard, I think she would have been too much like me." 

"You seem to be the reasonable one of the Stark family," T'Chaka said. 

"I learned from my mistakes," I said easily. 

"If everyone could please be seated," a voice said. "This assembly is now in session."

"That is the future calling," T'Challa said. 

"You really don't like this thing," Natasha said as we took our seats in the front row.

"Call me old fashioned," I said simply. "But as lovely as Wakanda is, the other nations were falling apart in the forties, can't imagine they're much better right now." 

"Can't blame you there," Natasha said. 

"But I'm not a superhero, so it doesn't matter," I shrugged.

"You love a superhero," Natasha said under her breath. I didn't argue. 

"When stolen Wakandan vibranium was used to make a terrible weapon," King T'Chaka began, "we in Wakanda were forced to question our legacy. Those men and women killed in Nigeria were part of a goodwill mission from a country too long in the shadows.