"It's not so simple," Bucky says quietly. If Steve had just given up on him the way Arthur's giving up on everyone here, Bucky wouldn't be here today. Granted not everybody has the patience nor the personal investment nor the determination to take on this Sisyphean effort and push this insurmountable boulder over the hill. But someone has to try to at least get these people to wake up and want something better for themselves, even if there's no point trying to free them, or save them.

He's spent many years with several men like Pollock - not that he wants to talk about it, at all - but. It's not about resolve. Even the coldest, hardest, strongest, most battle-tested and defiant bed of rock gets worn down by that steady trickle of water in the end. He watches Arthur storm away, silently following. In time maybe he'll come to understand. Bucky didn't hate every single moment of his time with men like Pollock. And he's not weak or delusional or stupid for it.

Or, well. Who knows. Maybe Arthur's right. Maybe Bucky wasn't strong enough after all. If that's the case, they have nothing to worry about then.