"I understand," Bucky says - because he does. Laws don't get passed overnight. Not good ones, anyway. "But I think it'll be worth the wait. And I'm willing to bet on you." He manages to make it sound both like a compliment and a threat, though his voice is finally starting to lose that undercurrent of tightness, as he begins to let up on the clotting wound on his arm. He knows better than to let himself hope too much, when Matt mentions his partner, but there's a little bit of it anyway, flaring up deep in his belly. Hope can get people killed. But it can save them, too. As long as you temper it with a little common sense.

"All right," he says; and then, "I know. But that's your problem, not mine. You're the lawyers, not me - so you find the ones you think might be willing, and we'll see what we can do to persuade them. Does that sound like a deal?"

And then, because he's not stupid, or cruel, "I'm going to let you out of those chains."

He doesn't move to do it just yet, though - first, he waits to see what the reaction he gets to that statement is. Though for all intents and purposes, he's calm - no little kick of adrenaline, no heart rate putting on a burst of speed. Just careful calm, same as before.