Chapter 80

It was morning in New York City when the call finally came. Steve was making breakfast while she and the kids were watching something called Vines as Peter and Harley quoted them alongside the videos she was watching.

And she may not have completely understood what any of them were saying, she did understand that it made them happy as Abby giggled watching them re-enact some of the scenes in front of her.

"Miss," JARVIS said, interrupting the video, "King T'Challa is calling for you."

"Please put him through immediately, J," she requested and immediately T'Challa filled up the once Vine filled television screen.

"Toni," the man said, "I hope I am not interrupting anything."

"T'Challa," she said in anticipation, "How are you? What happened?"

"The Throne of Wakanda has been reclaimed," he told her, and she let out a sigh of relief.

"And your sister and mother?" she pressed, hoping they were safe.

"Shuri is doing just fine," T'Challa said with a smile as his sister came onto the screen, "My Mother is busy commanding cleanup efforts."

"Killmonger?" she asked, curiously.

"My cousin is still asleep," T'Challa said, "He suffered a grievous blow during our fighting, but allowed us to heal him. He'll make a full recovery. He has dropped his pursuit for the throne."

"And you trust that?" she asked him, curiously.

"Not as far as I could throw him," Shuri snorted.

"Shuri," T'Challa scolded her, but sighed, "My Cousin has had a hard life. He must pay for what he has done. I'd like to believe he has changed but I would be foolish to trust him without being wary of him. But for now, we will give him a chance. At the end of the day, he is family, and what my father did to his was what caused this entire mess. If he had brought N'Jadaka home then perhaps this would not have turned out the way it did. We owe it to him to try and mend the wrongs between us."

She couldn't say she fully understood what they must have been going through, but she understood the desire to try and make amends with family; especially family one wasn't ready to lose just yet.

"Of course," she told them. "Please let us know if there is anything I can do to help you."

"I may take you up on that sooner rather than later," T'Challa told her. "But first I must work through some of the details on just what that would entail."

She nodded at them both.

"Are you guys okay?" Peter asked, speaking for the first time. T'Challa's eyes softened at the concern in her son's voice.

"Yes, Peter," T'Challa assured him, "We are quite fine. I must thank you for your concern."

"We're fine," Shuri rolled her eyes when Peter looked at her for confirmation, though there was a fond look in her eyes. She looked over at her brother with a smile, and Toni's heart ached for the young girl who must have feared she'd lost her brother for those few grievous hours while she trekked to the Mountain Tribe to beg them for help.

T'Challa placed a hand on her back.

"I thought perhaps you also may wish to talk to your friend," T'Challa said. "Sergeant Barnes is unharmed."

"Bucky's there?" Steve asked in surprise, as he moved from behind the couch to go closer to the screen.

"How've you been doing, Stevie?" Bucky said as T'Challa beckoned him over.

"How are you doing?" Steve countered as he looked Bucky over. Wakanda seemed to be suiting him well. He was out of the fighting armour she was so accustomed to seeing him in, and instead in a plain t-shirt that stretched over him similarly to Steve. He had taken off the metallic arm, instead choosing to forgo a prosthetic.

She felt a sense of guilt at having disabled it against his will. Of course she'd re-enabled it the second he was no longer the Winter Soldier and was himself once more. But she felt guilty nonetheless at taking away the functionality of his limb.

"I'm doing good," Bucky assured him, and when Steve looked unconvinced, he rolled his eyes. "I'm doing great, Steve, I promise. I wasn't here for any of the fighting. I was removed for all of it, and honestly I wasn't even aware that anything was happening until Shuri came to bring me into her lab to check on if I was doing okay."

"Are you eating?" Steve pressed, worriedly. "Sleeping? How are your treatments going?"

"I'm eating," Bucky said, looking like a teenager indulging an overbearing parent. But he answered anyways, knowing that Steve had been worried. "The food here is definitely not the kind of thing we used to eat in Brooklyn. Though I could do without waking up to some animal hovering over me."

"He's lying," Shuri said, "I caught him coddling the animals when I went to check on him. He's quite taken with them, don't let his words fool you."

Bucky gave her a mocking glare, but she smiled sweetly.

"And your treatments?" Steve repeated his earlier questions. Abby leaned into her, and she wrapped an arm around the girl. She knew the entire ordeal had been rough on the children, while they all waited to see if the royal siblings and their kingdom were okay.

"They're going well," Bucky assured him, "Shuri and your girl have been working with me every day, only stopping so I have time to rest before we start again. I'm grateful to them both for all they've done. You've found a good one there, Stevie."

"I know," Steve said, turning to look over at her as he smiled at her, "Though I could do with a few less white hairs because of my children's shenanigans."

"Liar," Bucky smirked.

"Please your hair couldn't turn grey because of the Serum," Harley retorted.

"I like this one," Bucky approved, "He'll keep you on your toes."

"Gotta keep things interesting," Harley grinned, "Can't all be like Mr Goody Two Shoes here," he said giving Peter a joking glare.

"Don't corrupt Peter," Toni said with a mocking tone, "I need at least one well behaved child. But I suppose Abby would never betray me like that."

"Never," Abby promised her solemnly.

"See, they all are so good," Harley complained. "No one to corrupt here."

Bucky looked at them all fondly, before looking down.

"J, can you open up a second line?" she asked her AI, "I know the kids want to catch up with Shuri and see how she's doing."

"Right away, Miss," JARVIS said, as she turned to them, "You can use the screen in my lab, but you know the rules. No experimenting with anything that could blow up or hurt any of you."

They nodded eagerly as they raced out of the room, giving the adults some privacy. She turned back to the screen.

"How's Ava?" Bucky asked, softly. "Is she okay?"

"She misses you," Toni told him honestly, "But she'll be okay. I won't tell you or her how to live your lives, but as her older cousin, I'm not all that happy with you for hurting her."

"I wish I didn't," he admitted, "She was one of the best things in my life. If I could do it all over again, I never would have seen her hurt."

"I know," Toni told him gently. "You and Steve are birds of a feather. You're both good men, and I know neither of you would ever hurt anyone you cared about. Or loved."

He looked away, and she knew immediately that she was right. That he loved Ava. That he potentially still loved Ava.

She felt her heart break for her cousin, and Steve wrapped an arm around her.

"I should get going," Bucky said, as T'Challa nodded. "I promised to help with some of the cleanup efforts as a thank you for everything they've done for me here. "

"Of course," she said, as the call ended.

"He still loves her," she said, voice cracking, and Steve turned gently to face her, as he pulled her into a hug.

"I know, Darling. But we cannot tell the two of them how to live their lives," he told her. "If they're meant to be together, they'll find their way back to each other. Life has a way of bringing us towards those who we are meant to be with. Just look at us. It may have taken us a while to find our way to each other, but we did."

"I love you," she told him, earnestly, and he pulled her in for a deep kiss.

"I love you too," he said, kissing her again.

asdf

As it turned out, T'Challa sought to seek out that favour within a few weeks.

It was the beginning of August when he'd requested a visit to the Tower, and she'd happily obliged. Shuri had tagged along, never having been outside of Wakanda before, and Peter, Harley, and Abby had put together a list of things they needed to do, such as taking her for the best pizza in New York, a trip to the Statue of Liberty, trying a Big Mac, and many, many other things.

Peter had his own credit card, and while he was reluctant still to spend it for anything more than lunch at school, she'd persuaded him saying that it was his duty as a host to take Shuri around and have a fun time.

Peter was responsible, and while she'd given Harley his own card as well for him and his sister, she knew none of the kids would abuse it. Sure, they may end up buying a few too many sweets, but nothing overtly extravagant.

"Bye Mom!" Peter said in excitement, as he practically dragged Shuri out the door as Harley led the way and Abby bounced excitedly behind them.

"FRIDAY, can you keep an eye on them and just make sure they don't cause any international incidents with the Princess of Wakanda," she said with a slight laugh, knowing that nothing would happen. But it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Of course," FRIDAY told her.

She turned then to T'Challa, "Now that the kids are all sorted out, how are you doing, Your Highness?"

She led him and Steve over to their seating area so they could talk.

"You know it's just T'Challa," he reminded her, and she grinned.

"Of course Kitty Cat. But you still didn't answer my question. How are you doing?" she pressed.

"As well as I can be," he said finally. "Erik is trying to acclimate into life in Wakanda. He is confused by many of our customs, but that is expected. He does however cause my Dora Milaje quite the headache from time to time. I'm not sure if Okoye wants to murder him or not yet."

The woman behind him grinned but didn't confirm or deny his question.

"He did commit several crimes," she reminded him gently. "Ones that he must pay for."

"I know," T'Challa said, closing his eyes, "I was hoping to work out a sort of arrangement with the British government for the robbery and subsequent murders. We'd pay them restitution for the stolen property and lost lives in return for being able to handle his punishment. And he will be punished. However as much as justice needs to be served, I also do need his help."

"Oh?" she asked him curiously. "What with?"

"The same reason I have come here to talk to you," T'Challa told her. "I require your assistance, Toni."

She gestured for him to continue.

"Since I've become King, I've been listening more and more to what the people around me have to say," he said after a moment. "And at first I dismissed them because of tradition. But if there's one thing I've come to learn after what happened with Erik is that Wakanda truly is fortunate in many ways. There are those who are not as privileged as us. And I don't mean governments, but the people they serve. And I think it's time Wakanda did something about it."

She smiled at him, knowing what it was he came to talk to her about.

"I want to introduce Wakanda to the world. Not the Wakandian image we've worked so hard to create over the years, but the real Wakanda. The one that has something to contribute and can help out."

"You'll need to be careful," she warned him, "If you introduce Vibranium to the world they will come for it. And while your defenses are impressive, if Governments learn the truth they'll send their full force to come and take it for their own gain."

"I know," he said with a nod, "Erik warned me of the same thing. But our country can contribute in other ways too, without revealing the true nature of our Vibranium. But for us to do that, I need your help. Someone who knows how to handle the media and governments."

"Of course," she said in agreement, "We're going to have to do a lot of work then to come up with a plan of how introduce Wakanda to the world. I hope you know what you're signing on for."

"I do," he said with a nod, "This is what's right for our people and for the world."

"Well then let's get to work," she said with a smile.


As August approached, Harley and Abby returned to Tennessee, leaving her home feeling emptier than it had for the last month. But she was nonetheless busy still, trying to help organize everything that would need to be done in order for Wakanda to take to the world stage and introduce themselves as they were.

But now, another matter all-together was worrying her.

Toni frowned as she looked at the permission form Peter had asked her to sign for his extracurricular involvement for his sophomore year. It wasn't that she disagreed with the fact that he'd wanted to join Academic Decathalon. But there was a surprising shortage of activities listed, given the clubs he'd been involved with in his freshman year.

She took the sheet of paper with her, as she walked down the hall towards where Peter's room was located.

"Peter?" she asked, knocking on the door. She heard him tell her to come in, and she opened the door to see him working on his web shooters. "Can I talk to you for a bit?"

He nodded in confusion, and she sat on his bed.

"I saw the permission form for your clubs," she said.

"Oh did you sign it?" he asked, gesturing for the form.

"No, not yet," she shook her head, "I wanted to talk to you about it first before I did."

"What's there to talk about?" he asked, surprised, "I want to join AcaDeca."

"And nothing else?" she pressed.

"No?" he asked her.

"What about band?" she asked him, "I thought you liked playing in it. You were so excited to learn the trumpet. You used to play it at all hours of the day."

"I'm not really feeling it anymore," he said looking down.

"And the school newspaper?" she asked again, "You said the photographer graduated last year and you wanted to see if you could take pictures for the paper."

"I changed my mind," he shrugged.

"Peter," she said gently. "What's really going on?"

"All those clubs take time," he said finally. "Marching band is like two days a week, and the paper means I need to constantly be at every school event. I'd have quit Academic Decathalon too but then Ned would be upset so I stayed."

"So what?" she asked, "It's not like it's a big deal if Happy has to pick you up a few hours later each day."

"But those are so many hours I'm losing a day to be helping people," he whispered, and she finally understood.

"Peter," she told him, "Being Spider-Man doesn't mean that you need to give up being a teenager."

"I want to save people," he said firmly.

"And you do," she told him, as she sat down on his bed. "You've helped so many people, Peter. I've seen the footage from your suit. I know what you've done, and it's incredible. Give yourself more credit than that."

"Maybe," he said, "But think about how many more people I could be helping! How many more lives I could be saving. What if something happens to someone and it's because I was at band practice. How am I supposed to be okay with that?"

"First of all," she said, "If something happens to a person while you are busy, it's not because of you nor is it your fault. You weren't the one who harmed them. Second of all, while you do an amazing job, it's not on you to single-handedly save every single person. You'll burn yourself out. Why do you think cops work on shifts? Nurses, firefighters, doctors, EMTs. None of them work 24/7, because they simply cannot. Would you hold it on any of them if something happens to a person while they're off shift?"

"It's different," Peter said quickly.

"It's not," she said firmly. "You, Peter, are a teenager. A superhero yes, but also a teenager. Look at Steve and the rest of the Avengers. They've helped so many people, but they're not constantly out there because they know that as much as they want to, they cannot or they'll run themselves ragged. They make time for other things like movie night. Your father is almost always home for dinner unless it can't be helped."

He didn't say anything, and she took his one hand in hers.

"I know you want to help everyone, Peter," she told him gently. "I know you feel responsible for all of them, but you're not, okay? What you do is incredible, but you shouldn't feel guilty to let other heroes, be it enhanced or police save the lives of those around them. You shouldn't feel guilty to live your life."

"I'd miss being in band," Peter said after a moment, "I really do like playing the trumpet."

"I know you do," she told him gently, "You were so excited to get your first trumpet for your tenth birthday. Your uncle was so proud to watch you try and play it. They sent me so many videos of you playing, and I loved every single one of them."

"You did?" he asked in surprise.

"I did," she smiled, as she handed him back the permission form. "For what it's worth, Peter, if you're ever in practice and something happens that needs Spider-Man's attention, we can work on a device to let you know, okay? But in the meantime, I want you to keep living your life. I don't want you to give up on the things you love because you feel like you need to. You're doing an amazing job, and Steve and I are so proud of you, okay?"

"Thanks, Mom," Peter said, as he filled in a few more spots for band and for the school paper, before handing her back the form and a pen. She signed her name on the line, pleased that her son had changed his mind.

She stood and kissed him on the forehead, "I'll leave you to your experiments. Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

"Will do," Peter beamed at her, and she felt lighter as she left the room.


As August drew to an end, the time to announce Wakanda to the world approached quickly. The new King had called an audience with the United Nations, wanting to address them in person. She stood off stage as she watched T'Challa take to the podium.

He had been nervous before hand, but she'd given him some pointers. If there was one thing she knew how to do, it was addressing large audiences. He'd been grateful for it, and listened to every note she'd given to him while he rehearsed in front of her.

The ambassadors looked at him, some with interest, others with confusion, and a few with disdain, as they all wondered what it was he sought to speak to them about.

"My name is King T'Challa," he said, as the cameras began clicking. She'd personally selected all the reporters in the audience, knowing which ones would cover the event in a manner that would gain more viewers. "Son of King T'Chaka. I am the sovereign ruler of the Nation of Wakanda and for the first time in our history we will be sharing our knowledge and resources with the outside world."

The audience watched raptly, unsure about what it was that he was here to say. Especially given that no other leader in the history of Wakanda had ever come out in front of the cameras in this manner to address the world.

"Wakanda will no longer watch from the shadows. We cannot, we must not," he said, as he looked off stage to where a young woman was standing. One Shuri had informed her had her brother in a tizzy every time he as much as looked at her. "We will work to be an example of how we as brothers and sisters on this Earth should treat each other."

Erik, or N'Jadaka, as Shuri and T'Challa insisted on calling him, had been left behind in Wakanda, but with the way T'Challa was addressing the audience, she knew he was speaking to his cousin. While the two still had many, many unresolved issues between them, but they were working through it slowly.

"Now more than ever, illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth; more connects us than separates us. In times of crisis, the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe," T'Challa said. "The time has come for Wakanda to contribute to the rest of the world, instead of hiding behind it's walls."

"That was a lovely speech, King T'Challa," The French ambassador said, "But with all due respect, what can a kingdom of farmers offer the rest of the world?"

"Wakanda has hidden many things from the world," he said after a moment, as they both knew this question was going to come their way, "We might have not had a lot of Vibranium, but we had enough to help advance our society. We have more than farmers in our land. We have doctors and scientists. Engineers and scholars. Technology that in many ways, rival those of the rest of the world. And we would like to share it with the rest of the world as well."

"And how is it that you came across these advancements without the rest of the world being aware of it?" The German ambassador said, sounding doubtful.

"We hid ourselves from the world," he told them, "Through the use of masks and barriers, to prevent those such as Klaue from coming and taking our resources. Wakanda has feared for many years what would happen if the rest of the world found out the truth. And with what has happened in Africa over the last few centuries, we were not wrong to doubt that we would have been attacked as those other nations were. However we were wrong for standing by and not helping our fellow brothers and sisters out as we should have done."

He nodded over at where some at the African ambassadors were sitting.

"But we cannot live in fear of invasion, not when we know that we could be helping make a difference. That we must make a difference. We cannot sit back and watch those less fortunate than us be trafficked or live in poverty when we know we could help," T'Challa said.

"It will take a while for you to build any connections," the British Ambassador told him, "If any. The world has built many strong bonds while you hid in the shadows, King T'Challa. You might not find as much reception as you would like to a nation that was recluse for all these years."

"I am aware," he said with a nod, "However I do not believe we will be as alone as you do. You see, we have begun a partnership with Stark Industries."

She took that as her cue and walked out on the podium, as several questions immediately began to be thrown her way.

"And what would this partnership entail?" the American ambassador asked, looking surprised at the announcement.

They wouldn't be introducing Vibranium to the world. Not exactly.

"Wakanda has retained some of it's Vibranium which they used to help their society advance," she said, "And they have generously donated some to me. I've been working with one of the top scientists in the nation to synthesize a similar alloy. While not as powerful as the original, it holds many of the same properties as the original metal. We will begin manufacturing new technology similarly to that of Wakandian design and distributing it to the world in exchange for our assistance helping Wakanda enter the world stage. And in addition to that, any profits made from sales of Wakandian technology and designs will be theirs."

"Of which we plan to use to set up several outreach centers across the world," T'Challa said, "To help those who need it. To give them shelter, or better lives."

They wouldn't be introducing Vibranium. She and Shuri had worked for many hours, studying the make-up of the metal, and had worked to synthesize something which may not have been as powerful as the metal, but was powerful enough to create smartphones and kimoyo communication beads. The country would be at risk if they introduce Vibranium, but there were many other ways they could help the rest of the world.

She took a step back, as she let T'Challa continue to outline their plans. She knew it helped him to have her beside him on the stage, and she stood there gladly to offer her assistance. How could she not when they had given her so much. And she truly did care for the young king and his sister.

At the end of the meeting, there were several ambassadors that looked interested in the partnership and she knew far more would come around given the time to do so.

T'Challa shot her a grateful smile, and she nodded back at him, as he began talking to a few of the delegates about setting up potential future meetings to discuss trade between the two countries.

Wakanda would emerge on the world stage, and she knew that they would thrive now that they had the chance.