Titanium (Ti)
Atomic Number: 22
Atomic Weight: 47.867 amu
Solid at room temperature; strong metal resistant to sea water, chlorine, and aqua regia; easily oxidized; relatively abundant in the atmosphere
Warnings: Fire hazard, potentially explosive
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Malka hadn't been sleeping well since the call. Despite Bucky's assurances, he can tell she does not feel safe. When watching a movie, he would catch her staring at the floorboards where their go-bags are stored or her hand playing with her necklace as if to pull it off at a moment's notice. Half the time, she cannot lie still long enough to sleep, the other half of the time, she sleeps for hours on end, unable to wake up.
Bucky had long ago accepted the fact that seeing Malka in pain would hurt him more than it should, so to see her so on edge feels wrong. If they were the partners they were years ago, they'd simply move, but neither is too keen on establishing a new home base in a new country. They had already changed apartments from the call, choosing something more downtrodden. They like Romania. Much more than Berlin, at least.
This morning had been one of those lazy ones. After some distraction and just enough cardio, Malka had fallen asleep in his arms. Even asleep now, a frown still mars her face. Despite his good intentions, it is difficult to pull himself away from her and sneak out of the apartment.
As he walks through the market, a bag of fresh plums in hand, he can't help the excitement in his gut. Malka loves plums, and he had gotten the best ones. They were cheap too. Sometimes, when prices go up, Malka holds off on buying her favorites—plums, oats, a special kind of strawberry that grows in Poland but some vendors sell when it's in season—and only splurges on what Bucky eyes on their daily market trips. She justifies it by their empty bank account which is when it becomes difficult to explain why he would buy it with their lack of funds.
Maybe the plums will make her happy, distract her from the Accords. She denies it, but he knows that she thinks about them all day. He knows she is worried about who chose to sign, the news not as reliable as she would like, so she does not check it anymore. He knows she has been sharpening her weapons, hiding them all over the apartment.
That's not to say he hasn't been doing the same thing.
As he waits for the cars to pause and allow him across the street, he meets the gaze of a newsvendor. Bucky is quick to look away, but something was off. When he looks back again, the vendor pulls away and races out of his shop.
Bucky quickly makes his way through the traffic to the newsstand, glancing around at the people around him. He grabs the paper the vender was looking at and his heart drops. A picture of someone the paper claims to be him stares back.
An explosion in Vienna. Supposedly a statement about the Accords. Thought to be executed by the Winter Soldier.
The Winter Soldier wouldn't have been caught. Especially with Aura by his side.
Besides, he was here in Bucharest. With Malka. She is his alibi; they were...entangled at the time. Sleeping. Sort of.
