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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He knows Malka has seen him slip into the Winter Soldier many times, seen his fear and his pain as everything he was disappeared beneath what she put under his skin. It must have terrified her because watching the woman he's come to rely on dissolve beneath something not totally human almost makes him recoil.
The Winter Soldier had never seen Aura activated. She always appeared perfectly content with following orders, except for that one week in 1974. There were a few other times he saw the woman behind Aura, saw the hesitation and the fear behind Aura's confidence and bloodlust. Malka never told him how she modified the program.
He had been raging, fighting with every breath to stop the words from resonating in his mind. She placed that safeguard in his head. It seems she removed it for herself. Malka simply stood there, his shouts meaning nothing as Zemo spoke.
Bucky knows what Malka would want. He knows what the Winter Soldier would do, but he can't bring himself to end her before she can cause harm. She wouldn't do it to him; in fact, she had the chance before and stood by him every time. He knows she's in there.
"Bereit zu gehorchen." (Ready to obey)
Bucky takes a step back from her as she tilts her head, her one eye staring into space, yet something sinister lurks in her expression.
"Yo, Mal," Tony calls out. "You good?"
"Turn on the computers for me, Aura."
She moves silently to the screen and turns it on, taking a step back and clasping her hands in front of her.
"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again, but one which crumbles from within? That's dead. Forever."
Bucky wants to shoot him, but the glass is too thick. Maybe it would be cathartic, maybe it will snap Malka back into control. Maybe it will only make matters worse.
"I know that road," he hears Tony say. "What is this?"
"Mission report." Her voice is the same as it was years ago, her accent heavy and consuming. "December 16, 1991. Remember, солдат? Recover what I made for them. What Howard Stark asked me to make."
Voices he only hears in dreams now echo from the screen. He forces his eyes shut in an attempt to block it out, but he knows can't. Not with Tony realizing what he's done, what Malka had done.
"Don't be sad, солдат," Aura coos. "You were the clean-up squad."
It's strange to hear her be cruel again. He knows the Malka he wants doesn't remember this—doesn't remember that it was Stark who asked her to create the serum once more or that the Winter Soldier was sent to clean up the mess. Maybe she figured it out, but the memories are blocked, maybe even gone. She had explained that her mind wipe was something her superiors wanted for confidentiality so they'd be safe. They never were, not from HDYRA and not from him.
