When his baby brother was born, Barney had hoped they wouldn't be on a train, but there was little to back up that hope but stories. Barney had been on the train since he was a baby himself. His mother and father had told him stories, something to look forward to, they had always believed the ice would thaw to reveal the world underneath.
After 18 years, he's thinking they were wrong.
His brother, Clint, small and blond and quiet, arrived a few months after their father's death. His baby brother was sweet, but they soon found out he was deaf. He didn't react to sound of any kind, only to touch and facial expressions. It made things hard, but they managed. And then when Clint was seven months old, their mother died of an infection.
Barney was left with a deaf baby brother in a dirty train full of too many people not enough food and unrest. But Barney was more than willing to keep his head down and take care of his brother.
Clint was sweet, loving and so smiley, Barney couldn't believe it or understand where it came from. He couldn't talk very well, or at all really, he could make noises and they had started working on their own crude version of sign language only they and anyone else who bothered to learn knew. Everyone in the tail section of the train knew of the little deaf boy, many pitied them, but Clint didn't know any better and he was happy. Barney was more than willing to keep him that way.
He was also quite mischievous for only being a little older than four years old, the trouble he got into kept Barney on his toes.
Today he'd decided to hide, for whatever reason and take his protein bar with him, but it just so happened that the bar Clint had, also contained the secret message from the contact in the front, so naturally Bucky, the unspoken leader of the rebellion, needed it. Bucky was a strong, persistent and calculating man, obviously hiding a deep and dark secret. Barney didn't care, he didn't mind the man as long as he was kind to his brother, which he was, so Barney had no issues.
"I found him!" Steve called, down further in the car from where Barney and Bucky were talking. Steve was a gangly seventeen year old who looked up to Bucky and had been with him since he was a baby, "He's hiding up top."
"Oh great," Barney sighed and shook his head, he didn't know why his little brother liked high places, but that was where he usually hid and it took forever to get him down.
"I'll get him," Bucky said.
"Be careful with my brother, Barnes," Barney grunted, the older man rolled his eyes.
"You think holding him upside down is going to kill him," Bucky groused back, "He's made it this far, he's a strong kid, you don't give him enough credit."
"He also can steal better than anyone else in the car, which makes him pretty self-sufficient and capable." Steve shrugged, "Though I still want those gloves back he snatched."
"I think he traded them for some chalk, sorry," Barney shrugged, trying not to smile.
Steve sighed, "Damn...I really liked those gloves..."
They stopped a little ways down on one of the maintenance bridges over the top of them, Clint was crouched up top, looking like he was giggling, Bucky had climbed up to try and reason with him, it wasn't going so well since Bucky only knew a few of their signs.
"He keeps doing one I don't recognize," he told Barney, mimicking the sign, hand out palm up, fingers closing repeatedly.
"He wants to know what you want for it," Barney translated.
"Little shit, jeez," Bucky muttered, and then offered up the other protein bar. There was a firm head shake, no.
He held up two fingers, to indicate two bars, Clint seemed to think about it but shook his head again. Bucky turned to ask for other ideas and Clint was gone already scrambling down and giggling down the train.
Barney was again trying not to laugh, he shrugged when both of the other males gave him a look.
"Get him," Bucky told Steve who sighed and nodded, Clint liked Steve, so he had a better chance of getting him.
"Yeah, yeah," Steve shot after the kid it took him awhile but he finally caught him and carried him back carrying him over his shoulder, the boy giggling the whole way.
Steve held him up so Bucky could switch out protein bars.
"Baaanaaa!" Clint cried for his brother, not liking that at all, he made grabby hands for his first bar. Barney took him and gave him his own.
"Come on Clinty, let them have their bar, we'll go make another fort," he said, signing the word 'fort', Clint pouted but nodded, putting his head on his brother's shoulder, he waved at the other two as his brother walked away though, he'd enjoyed the game.
Barney didn't want anything to do with the rebellion, he knew he wanted better for his brother, but he didn't want to risk him being alone, so he kept his head down and kept Clint safe, warm, and smiling. Barney would do anything to make sure Clint stayed that way.
~
"All the kids need to come forward, medical check," one of the enforcers grunted. Barney tensed, oh no.
He looked down at Clint, he was around that size. They had noticed which children were being taken, he couldn't let that happen to Clint.
He glanced at the lady next to him, she gave a minute nod, and trying not to let any of the enforcers see, he cajoled Clint into hiding under her skirts. Clint thought it was another game so went willingly.
But it was no good, the bitch in red seemed to know he was there, somehow, and Barney experienced the worst kind of living nightmare.
Clint was grabbed and taken away, calling for him, confused, crying out for his big brother, arms reaching out, struggling against the hands gripping too hard and keeping him away.
"Baanaa!" he wailed, trying to sign, but too distressed to make anything recognizable, "Baaaa!"
"Clint! No! NO! You can't!" Barney yelled at them trying to get to his brother, but it was no good, the others were holding him back, they knew what would happen if he fought now. "YOU BITCH! NO! GIVE HIM BACK! CLINT!"
He was held back, and there was nothing he could do but watch as his brother was dragged out of his sight, crying the whole way.
Not even a half an hour later, Barney demanded to be allowed to help with the rebellion to get to the engine. He was going to find his brother, and nothing was going to stop him.
~
The train was long, Barney hated every car more and more the further they went. Every car they went through and his brother was no where in sight. He hated this train with his whole self, he would destroy it if he found his brother with anything wrong with him, that was a promise. But first he was going to kill that bitch in red.
The fight to the engine was long and brutal, so many were already lost, Bucky had looked almost broken when Steve went down, Barney could understand that feeling.
They kept going, they had to make it to the engine, they lost more people every few cars, Dum-Dum, Jim, Gabe, Jacques, Monty, they were all lost. People he had known his whole life. However, Barney was too driven to find Clint to let his emotions overwhelm him yet, they would, once he found Clint.
Getting to the engine, actually managing to get there had to be some kind of achievement, he just hadn't expected to get shot as reward.
The door had opened on it's own after Bucky's story, which for Barney was a bit nerve wracking, he had been a baby all that time ago, but he likely owed his life to his father, he remembered now, always sleeping on the inside of the bed, safe, his father a shield.
Bucky's relation to Steve was probably the saddest thing Barney had ever heard. And Steve was gone.
Everything made sense now, he got it. He really did, everything was awful. This train was terrible, none of them deserved all that had happened.
But all he wanted was his brother.
The door had opened, the woman, Yelena her name was, stepped out, gun in hand. He had only opened his mouth, he'd been about to demand for his brother when the shot rang out and he felt warmth blossom from his gut. He fell, shocked and watched as Barnes yelled, but eventually walked through the door, determination and anger to drive him on as he walked through the door and didn't come back.
Barney had never felt worse, and it had nothing to do with the hole in his gut.
Clint was alone now.
Barney had failed.
~
Bucky was pretty sure he was in shock.
Everything Alexander Pierce said, about the train and about Nick, the elderly man who had helped him find a new path, about balance, he just couldn't comprehend it.
In the end he just let his instincts take over, it cost him an arm but saved him a child.
In the end it didn't seem to even matter when everything exploded. And it all felt like the end when his eyes slid closed under a blue sky.
~
He woke again when he was jostled, someone was lifting him up, his eyes fluttered open now he could feel soft cold flakes dusting his cheeks, he could see the sky, so blue it almost hurt.
"Hey there, sunshine," a voice said, "Been through a lot? Don't worry, we got you."
"....the hell 're...you?" he blinked up at a woman, she had on what looked like a suit of armor.
"I'm Carol, but we're really more like the Calvary, came just in time too, we caught the crash on the sensors, we were about an hour out though, but hey, not all is lost."
"...I...what?" he blinked he didn't really get it, he was too out of it, blood loss he was pretty sure.
"Don't worry about it," he felt a small pressure on his shoulder, like a hand, "Oh boy, that looks like it hurts."
"...numb..." he mumbled, she shook her head.
"I'll bet you are, don't worry sunshine, we'll get you fixed up," she said, and he was rising, something had been put underneath him he hadn't even noticed, and now slowly warmth was spreading through his body.
"Hey Danvers! There's a kid over here!" another voice shouted.
"Oh, I'm coming Wilson! I'll be back, sunshine, don't worry," she said and was about to go but he was able to get her attention before she did by waving his hand.
"Clint...'is name's Clint...." he mumbled, "'e's deaf..."
She paused and then nodded, "Thanks, Sunshine, that'll help."
Bucky turned his head and followed her with his eye, he could see them from where he was. In the snow, a redheaded man on his side, a little blond boy clung to him like his life depended on it, he could hear Clint's cries now, "Baanaa! Waaak! Baaanaaaaa!"
Clint was clinging to his brother's dead body. Bucky felt like everything was somewhat pointless. He hadn't saved the people in the tail end. He hadn't kept his promise to Steve. Barney hadn't been able to see his brother safe. What was the point to it all? Clint's slurred cries, his sobs, echoing around the mountains, lonely and sad, it only solidified the thoughts in Bucky's head.
He watched blankly as another woman, she had red hair and was wearing a black suit came over to Clint, and oh so gently pried him away from his brother's dead body, she signed something to him, he must not have understood though, he only kept crying. The woman pulled him to her chest and rubbed his back soothingly as he sobbed into her shoulder.
Bucky closed his eyes and turned his head to look back up at the sky, it was so blue, like the color of Clint's eyes, but almost the exact shade of Steve's when he was smiling. He closed his eyes again and tried to will the tear away, but it was stubborn and ran down his cheek.
Even through this, Bucky realized one goal had been realized, they had brought equality to the train. After so long, working so hard, just to get here, Bucky knew it had happened.
Everyone was equal, because everyone was dead.
They were finally at the front.
And Steve was in a better place.
Bucky only hoped he was happy there.
He was ready to fade to darkness when he felt something being set down on his right side, it was a body, he opened his eyes and noticed it was Clint, he was whimpering and shivering like crazy. He wasn't wearing warm clothes, so that was to be expected in the middle of snow and ice.
"Sorry," the red headed woman said, "But you knew him, and we couldn't let him stay there any longer, he'll also be warm here with you." She pet the little boy's head gently, Clint's face was buried in Bucky's shoulder, still shaking, though he was sure it was from sobs now.
Slowly and carefully he raised his right arm to wrap around Clint in a secure embrace, it was the least he could do for the kid.
"Alright, we're gonna take you two home while everyone else looks for more survivors. Stable ground, real bathrooms," Carol said, pushing the two of them away from the crash, "Sounds good huh?"
She didn't wait for an answer which was good as Bucky had already drifted off into unconsciousness, arm still wrapped around the little boy.
~
What those on the train didn't know, was that there had been another in the world who had known the chemical wouldn't work.
Tony Stark had made his Tower and many of the buildings surrounding it impervious to the ice and snow, the Arc reactor was capable of keeping them warm and functioning for a long time without using up any resources. Tony had been prepared for this and had made sure that everyone was going to be well taken care of. Everyone who had evacuated to the Tower had an apartment or living space in the Tower or in the nearby buildings that had underground pathways to and from.
Everyone worked to maintain the balance of life, some helped to produce food in various greenhouses, some were maintenance workers making sure everything ran smoothly, some taught children or cared for the young ones, some cooked, some sewed, it was like a smaller world inside of the world of ice.
But several years later, Tony realized the ice was melting, slowly but surely, he thought it would be best to see if there were any survivors, he had found a few small fractions that had managed to make it underground before the ice had hit, and was able to help evacuate them back to the tower.
He had built suits that could withstand the cold and travel faster than the speed of sound for long distances. There were also other things Tony made to help with rescues, such as stretchers with built in heat shields, and even small jets that could travel faster and bring injured back to the tower medical floor quickly. Tony had put together a team to do this as well as gather more resources needed for the Arc reactor to run. It had lasted ten years, but he needed it to last longer.
Life with Tony Stark at the top wasn't that bad, things weren't perfect, people still fought, issues still arose, everyone had to do their part to keep things balanced, but in the end, everyone was safe, warm and fed, there was very little to complain about.
The team had discovered the Trains' tracks and followed it until they found the train crashed and most of it down the mountain.
They didn't know what had happened but they picked up every person still with a pulse. They would find out after they returned home.
The ice was melting, the world was about to be reborn, everyone who could should be there to see it.