Power at my house kept going out yesterday for no reason, then coming right back up. Super annoying, especially when MrsTheGoose and I were trying to watch a movie together. Whole county seems to be having issues for some reason. Seems to be better today at least.

Also, In RWBY's Shadow is sneaking up on 100 favorites! Considering it's been three and a half years since I finished that one, it still amazes me to see new favs and follows (especially the follows, since it's a completed fic). As my first fic, it holds a special place in my heart. Wonder who will get the 100th favorite...

Anyways, enough plugging for another fic. Back to Adam!

Time stood still, even as Remnant seemed to heave under Adam's feet. The air was thick with dust shaken loose from the nearby explosion, engulfing the tunnel in a thick, red haze that burned Adam's eyes. He fought for balance, only barely keeping his feet under him as the waves continued to roll, seeking to hurl him to the ground. Adam could faintly hear the piercing sound of the siren echoing through the cave. The lingering ringing in his ears left him unsteady and on the verge of throwing up.

Mercifully, the ground beneath him finally stilled. Still he clung to the wall until he felt strong enough to stand on his own.

A cave-in. Every miner's worst nightmare. No matter how much training and safety precautions they had, they were only ever one mistake from being buried by their work. A single, poorly-aimed strike was all it took to turn their cavern into a tomb. It didn't happen often, but when it did, there were almost always empty bunks afterwards.

Another shaft. It had to be. They didn't have enough dust in their shaft to cause something that big. 3C weren't idiots, either. None of them would take any risks and endanger the whole crew. Not if Maurice had anything to say about it.

Adam's reassurances did little against the harsh redness all around him. He pushed himself off the wall, stumbling deeper into the mineshaft even as he bounced off the rock around him. His feet pounded against the unforgiving ground, carrying him toward where his crew had been working. His eyes glanced up at every light fixture he passed, praying the next one would be different.

Red light. Red meant it wasn't safe. That was one of the first lessons he'd learned in Orostachys. If a mine was red, then no one should enter. He'd seen it once or twice himself. Every unaffected shaft would still be white. Crews would be retreating due to the siren, eager to escape in case the explosion in another shaft weakened their own.

Red meant it was too late.

No. It couldn't be. Maybe another shaft nearby had blown up and weakened this one. Or maybe they weren't sure yet and turned them all red. He'd get down to the bottom to find all of them standing around in confusion. They'd get topside, find Bane, and enjoy an early end to the day. As cold as it sounded, as long as his crew were safe, he didn't care what happened to everyone else. They'd all have dinner together and mourn the loss of their coworkers, but that was it. At the end of the day, they'd be safe and sound.

Adam broke into a sprint, slipping and tumbling deeper into the mine. The red lights taunted him with each frantic step, warning him of what waited at the bottom. Still he pushed on, refusing to accept anything less than their safety.

Until he reached the end of the shaft.

"No…" Adam gasped at the wall of rock that stood where his friends should have. His hand shook as he reached out, only to shoot back as it met the barrier rather than passing through what he desperately had hoped was an illusion. "No."

His mind raced with excuses, trying to dispel the crushing truth in front of him, but nothing added up. The harsh reality before him stood firm.

"No! It can't-" Adam's words cut off with a choked sob. "It can't be." It was. 3C was gone - buried behind a solid wall of stone. Not all of 3C. Bane was safe. So was he. They'd been spared and would live on with the memories of their fallen friends. The bunkhouse would feel rather empty until Ferric brought in more workers. Replacements. As if anyone could replace their friends. Maybe in time they'd come to see the new workers as family, but it wouldn't be the same.

Dying in a cave-in was a cruel fate. Being the lone survivors might be worse.

If only they'd all gone up to ask about the clearing crew. Or they could've just waited for Adam to get back before mining any more. If he'd been there, he could've protected them. How, he didn't know, but maybe he could've sheltered them from the falling rocks long enough to get to the-

The refuge chamber! Adam jolted as he remembered the metal box sitting in every shaft for just such an occurrence. A cave-in didn't mean everyone died. For all he knew, they were just sitting around in the chamber waiting for rescue. They could make it for days with the food, water and air that thing held.

Adam's hands dug into the wall of rocks in front of him in an instant. "I'm coming, guys!" The words were more for him than his crew. Between the fallen rock and the chamber itself, they probably couldn't hear him. It didn't matter. All that mattered was reaching them and finding them all safe and sound.

Adam tore a small boulder free, toppling it to fall behind him as a few more shifted and rained down around him. He coughed against the fresh wall of dust but kept digging. The next two fell easily, robbed of their support from the first displacement. He strained against another, but it wouldn't budge. His fingers stung and aura flared as the rock above it tried to squash them into pulp. With a growl, he wrenched his hands free and tried again on another further down. Adam pulled as hard as he could until it started to shift. An inch. Two inches. Three. Little by little, he wriggled it out of position.

"Hold on. I'll be there soon," Adam promised. The rock caught for a moment, refusing to give up its position without a fight. "C-come on, you stupid…piece of…"

Adam fell back as he finally won the tug-of-war, ripping the rock from its spot and toppling it away from the pile. It triggered a chain reaction, causing several other, larger rocks to shift ominously. With each movement, others joined the motion until one finally went too far and toppled free, triggering a rockslide aimed directly for the one who'd caused it. Adam tried to scoot back, only for the first to land on his ankle. Aura spared him any major injury, but he still screamed in pain. Worse, he couldn't yank his leg free. Instead, he sat there, pinned in place, as his own handiwork crashed down toward him.

Adam gasped as he felt himself be yanked back at the last moment, his foot sliding free painfully just in time to avoid the avalanche of rocks pouring down. Adam panted for breath, heart pounding from the near miss. He barely noticed the hands under his armpits until they raised him to his feet.

"You okay?" Bane asked, looking him over for a second, relaxing once it was clear Adam was still in one piece.

Adam could thank him later. "We've got to reach them!" He shouted, his hearing still not fully back to normal. "They could be trapped in there!"

Bane nodded and grabbed hold of one of the larger fallen boulders, roaring his defiance as he shoved it back behind him and made room for his advance. The two took to clearing a path through the seemingly endless pile in front of them, tunneling through with their bare hands. They had to stop periodically to push some of the loose rocks further back, shoving them to the sides to avoid walling themselves in, but every rock they cleared brought them one step closer to the others.

"Please be okay," Adam whispered. As Adam continued digging, he couldn't help notice the lack of anyone else coming to help. Where was everyone? Bane had time to make it all the way there, despite being on the way out of the mine at the start. Shouldn't Orostachys have sent someone to help by now? Even just to inspect the damage. Instead, only Adam and Bane dared venture into the shaft, struggling alone in the darkened corridor against the tragedy of a mine collapse.

What had caused it, though? The supports had held just fine since being installed, and the walls had been reinforced just yesterday. The shaft should've been at its strongest on a Monday. Not that he suspected a simple collapse. He'd heard as much as felt the explosion, but there hadn't been enough dust for something like that. They'd only found trace amounts all day and had already sent up a load at lunch, leaving them with barely enough to even bother with. They might have enough for a firecracker at best, not a full detonation like this.

Whatever had triggered the explosion, it had dumped a solid wall of rock between him and his friends. His family. A wall that he'd break through no matter how long it took. He'd stay here all night if needed, carving through whatever the blasted mountain threw his way.

Thankfully, it didn't come to that. Bane called out as he tore another rock free. Adam hastened over, kicking loose stones out of his way until he spotted the tiny gap Bane had uncovered. Peering through, Adam could just make out part of the room his crew had been working in. A few tools were strewn on the floor, abandoned by their users in a hurry. More importantly, the room was still open, meaning there was a good chance their crew could've reached safety.

"Push!" Adam yelled, lowering his shoulder right beside the tiny opening and digging his feet in. Bane did the same beside him. Something shifted. An ominous crack cheered them on, until the whole wall shuddered and gave way, throwing them both through as the remaining rocks crashed down on them. Bane grunted at the pelting while Adam tensed and let his aura tank the blows for him until everything settled.

Adam came up coughing, rolling his shoulders to shake free some of the lingering rubble as he took in the room. Light shone from the refuge chamber, lifting his spirits. The door was shut, but it faced away from them, making it impossible to see inside yet. Adam looked over to see Bane already rising like some prehistoric beast breaking through the depths of Remnant. They were alone, which despite the initial panic helped calm him down a lot.

Dead bodies didn't clean themselves up.

"You good?" Adam asked, getting a nod in return from Bane. They'd be sore in the morning, but that was a concern for later. Adam nearly tripped over a jagged crack in the stone floor, recovering quickly as he made his way across the room and banged on the door.

Wide eyes stared back at him from inside. Jakob, being the closest, rushed over with wide eyes and flung the door open. "Adam!" His voice trembled, lacking his usual mirth. Jakob's smile had been replaced by a look of shock, as if he couldn't quite believe what stood in front of him. He wiped away tears that threatened to spill down his face, though Adam could tell they weren't the first.

"Are you okay? Is everyone alright?"

Jakob gulped, his eyes falling almost as fast as Adam's stomach. Adam pushed past him, taking in the scene.

He wished he hadn't.

Everyone was there, but not everyone was there. Maurice sat against the far wall, trying to smile through a grimace as he clutched his left leg. Sully looked up in concern, hovering over an unconscious Monti. Adam double and triple checked the rise and fall of the man's chest, just to be certain. A bandage had been hastily wrapped around his head, already turned red from the blood it desperately tried to hold in. He was alive, but only just.

Unlike the body next to him.

Duncan lay completely still beside Monti, head turned to the side with lifeless eyes staring at the wall. A quiet sniffling drew his eyes further to where Kieran rocked back and forth, cradling his brother's head against his chest. Adam could only hope Colton and Monti had died quickly, rather than suffer in their final moments. Seb…despite his lack of injury, he looked about as lifeless as the corpse at his feet. His eyes stared emptily at the wall in front of him, hands stained red with blood that wasn't his.

"What happened?" A cave-in, obviously, but Adam needed to know why two of his friends lay dead. His mind refused to believe his eyes and hoped his ears would tell him otherwise.

They didn't.

"There…there was an explosion," Jakob managed, his words slow as he recalled what happened. He held a hand to his head in disbelief. "It was so sudden. I…I don't know what caused it. No one was even working over there. It just…went off."

"Where?" Did it matter? For some reason, Adam felt it did.

"N-near the entrance. Duncan was…he was walking over to the skip when it…the explosion…"

"It's okay," Adam lied, resting his hand on his friend's shoulder. The contact, as light as it was, seemed to crush Jakob as he fell to his knees before Adam could catch him.

"W-we couldn't just leave him. Not under all that rubble. The rocks…they hit Colton. He…he went down and wouldn't get up." Jakob's gaze fixed on Colton's body, then drifted over to where Monti and Duncan lay. "We tried to dig him out, but the rocks…they must've shifted and…and…"

Jakob choked on whatever words he couldn't get out, but Adam had a feeling he knew. He'd been showered with enough rubble already to know what happened if you weren't careful. Unlike him, Monti wouldn't've had aura to protect him. Any of those rocks could've fallen on his head and crushed him. A blow like that could kill a man with ease. Monti was still alive…for now. Adam was no doctor, but he knew a blow like that to the head could turn fatal in no time. They needed to get him to the top and get help, and fast.

"Bane," Adam called, summoning the man who had been waiting just outside the door. "We need to get everyone topside. Can you…can you take Duncan?"

Asking him to carry a corpse wasn't fair, but neither was losing a fifth of your crew. Bane hesitated, looking to Maurice, but he knew carrying one of the downed men was best. Kieran wouldn't be letting go of Colton anytime soon, so that left Monti and Duncan to deal with. Monti needed to be carried carefully, meaning a two-person job, so that left Duncan for Bane. He didn't looked thrilled with the idea, but he didn't question Adam as he carefully scooped up Duncan's body and set it over his shoulder.

The sight seemed to rouse the crew a bit, snapping Seb back to reality with a jolt. He fidgeted nervously, waiting for instructions. Adam sighed as he realized he'd have to order everything. "Sully, help Maurice get out and see if you can find a doctor. Seb, help Kieran." Saying exactly what he'd be carrying would only hurt Kieran more. "Jakob?"

"What can I do?" Jakob practically begged, desperate to help but unsure how. He needed a distraction - something to focus on if only to stave off reality for a few minutes.

"Monti needs help. We've gotta get him out of here, but we have to be careful. Grab his legs. I'll get his head." Because if anything else fell, they had to protect Monti's head above all else. Adam could use his body as a shield if needs be. Nothing else could happen to Monti. Not if they didn't want to lose a third person today.

Adam waited for everyone else to leave before nodding to Jakob and carefully placing his hands under Monti's shoulders. He kept his arms close together, allowing Monti's head to rest across his forearms. Moving him wasn't ideal, but they couldn't wait for rescue, especially when another cave-in could happen at any moment. The risk of leaving him behind far outweighed the risk of moving him.

They journeyed up in complete silence, their pace slow and steady to avoid jostling Monti too much. Adam could feel the warm dampness on his arms and knew they were in trouble. Even if they could get Monti to help, there was no guarantee he'd make it. He might even have a permanent injury after this.

Adam pushed the morbid thoughts from his mind. Right now, he had to focus on the slim chance of saving a man's life. If they could just get him topside, they could get him to the clinic and let an actual doctor take a look. It wasn't just Monti's best chance. It was his only chance.

Every second that ticked by lessened Monti's chances. Adam urged Jakob on faster, but their pace still felt far too slow. Up and up they went, ascending from the accursed depths to the slim hope beyond. When they finally reached the top, Adam was relieved to see Sully and Maurice waiting with one of the few doctors of Orostachys. The moment they emerged, Maurice practically shoved the doctor away, yelling for him to go help Monti before arguing with Sully about something.

"Put him down here," the doctor ordered as soon as he reached them. Adam whispered a silent apology as he deposited Monti as gently as he could on the cold stone. "How long has he been like this?"

"Since the cave-in," Jakob answered. Adam honestly had no idea how long at this point. It could've been ten minutes, but it felt more like ten years. "He took a blow to the head. We bandaged him up, but he-"

The doctor waved him away with one hand. "I'll take it from here." He hummed as he inspected the bandaging. "Crude, but it'll have to do. Blood loss could be a problem, but I won't know more until I remove these."

Remove them? Here? "You can't!" Adam interjected, stepping closer to stop him if he needed to. "He's still bleeding. If you take them off here-"

The doctor slapped his hands away. "Not here, boy. And don't lecture me on treatment." Adam stepped back, suddenly aware just how ridiculous it was for a teenage miner to be telling a doctor how to help someone. "I'll take him back to the clinic. This is hardly a sanitary operating theater. And if you're so desperate to tell me how to do my job, then you can carry the old man for me. Maybe he can yack your ear off instead."

"R-right." He'd help. The doctor waved someone over with a stretcher to carry Monti away while Adam rushed to Maurice's side. "C'mon, Maurice. We're taking you to the clinic."

Maurice groaned as they stood, but whatever pain he was in did little to quiet him down. "The clinic? I haven't needed a clinic since I was your age."

"Your leg-"

"I'll be fine," he insisted, but Adam refused to let him go. "Just need some rest. Give me a few days and I'll be right as rain. You'll see. Don't need that quack poking and prodding me all day. Take me back to my bunk."

Adam tried to force him forward, but Maurice wasn't helping. It would take them forever to get to the trucks, and Adam had a feeling they wouldn't wait that long. Dragging Maurice all the way to the clinic on his own would be a nightmare. He needed a different approach. "It's just to make sure nothing's broken."

"Don't you think I can tell if it's broken?" With how he refused to put any weight on his leg, Adam felt there was a pretty good chance. "Last thing I need is them babying me or pumping me full of drugs."

Adam rolled his eyes, but he still had his secret weapon. "They're taking Monti to the clinic." Maurice stilled against him. "If I take you to the clinic, we can look in on him. Make sure he's okay."

It was dirty and underhanded, but boy was it effective.

"M-Monti?" The two were old buddies, having been at Orostachys together for years. It wasn't uncommon to find them camped in a corner playing cards or just reminiscing about better times. "You're right. We should go check on him. Let's go."

And just like that, Maurice was stumbling along, eager to catch up and get to the clinic. The doctor sat on the nearest truck, waving them over. Monti lay strapped to a stretcher in the middle of the truck bed, with a pair of armed guards riding along, likely for the doctor's protection. Adam eyed them nervously, grateful they weren't ones he recognized.

Maurice lingered near Monti for the whole ride, careful not to touch him after a stern warning from the doctor. The last thing he wanted was to make Monti's condition any worse. Not that Adam expected he really could. Even he could tell Monti likely wouldn't make it out of this, at least not in one piece. Still, like Maurice, he clung onto that thin strand of hope and refused to let go.

Adam had been to the clinic before, but only once. They'd dragged him there after a particularly cruel beating for some stitches. Not that Adam needed it. His aura could've healed him, or he could've just prevented the injury in the first place had he really wanted to. Keeping his abilities secret really sucked sometimes.

The clinic wasn't very big, but then again, it didn't get used that often. People got hurt all the time, but most refused to bother unless it was pretty bad. Even then, they'd just clean you up and shove you back out the door. They were a labor camp, not a daycare. The longer someone was down for recovery, the less productive they were. Between the guards pushing you back to work and knowing your crew would have to pick up your slack, no one wanted to be useless.

Not every injury could be ignored, though.

"Set him down over there," the doctor instructed, pointing Adam and Maurice to a bed off to the side. "Put a pillow under his leg to elevate it. I'll come look at it in a bit, but your friend needs me more right now."

"Will he be okay?" Maurice asked, wincing as Adam helped him swing his leg up onto the mattress.

"No promises." Adam didn't know if he'd appreciate false hope or the doctor's blunt honesty more at the moment. "Head injuries aren't something to mess around with. Blood loss. Brain trauma. Not to mention the risk of infection. I'll know more soon."

"Thank you." Maurice laid back as Adam fetched a couple pillows, bracing himself as Adam raised his injured leg up a little. You okay, Adam?"

Maybe Monti wasn't the only one to take a blow to the head. "I wasn't there, remember?"

"Exactly. You weren't there. You can't blame yourself for stuff like this. There's nothing you could've done."

Ah, so he'd figured it out already, had he? Adam leaned back to make sure the coast was clear, but the guards were posted down the hall, blocking the doors the doctor had taken Maurice through. They really didn't care that much about an injured, old man and his bunkmate. The two of them would either wait there or run off. Either one was fine with the guards. "I could've helped," Adam complained. "I could've protected you all."

"Or you could've died down there," Maurice said. "Duncan and Colton wouldn't be any less dead if you were watching."

"But Monti-"

"Monti got hurt trying to save a friend. If he…" Maurice bit his lip for a moment. The next words were hard to say. "If he makes it, I'm sure he'll tell you it was worth it." The if hung in the air, reminding them both that Monti might be joining the other two in the afterlife soon. Losing two friends was bad enough, but sitting around knowing you couldn't do anything while another fought for their life felt even worse, somehow. The cruelty of hope.

Adam took a deep breath, but it did little to calm his nerves. "I still could've helped. I could've taken his place. If the rocks fell on me-"

"Then you might be buried as well." Maurice fought for a reassuring smile. "Adam, you can't do everything yourself. Even with aura," he hastily added the moment Adam opened his mouth to respond. "Life is a fickle thing. We make friends, and we…we lose them. Death comes for us all in time, but it's not how we die but how we live that makes us who we are." Somewhere, Soji was probably nodding along to those words. "You cannot control everything. Sometimes, things just happen. All we can do is live and treasure the days we have and those we share them with."

Adam stood on his tiptoes and tilted his head. "You sure you didn't hit your head, old man?"

Maurice swung at him, but Adam kept just out of range. "Ha. Maybe you should've been there. See if those rocks could knock some sense into you." Laughing was good. It kept them distracted from reality. "But seriously, Adam. You've been here long enough. These things happen. You can't blame anyone."

Adam's smile dropped. "I can blame them."

"Huh?"

The ride to the clinic hadn't taken long, but it gave Adam a chance to think. Something didn't add up. Their shaft hadn't seen anywhere near enough dust to trigger an explosion that big. They'd been tunneling deeper and deeper into nothing for days. Not to mention it happened near the entrance. No one would've been working over there, so what set it off?

Adam didn't believe in coincidence. Not when it came to Orostachys. The more he thought about it, the more suspicious everything seemed. They'd come for Bane - just Bane - and removed him right before things went south. The guards had been unusually pushy about him coming, too. Almost like they wanted him in the mine when the cave-in happened. It all stank of a conspiracy - a plot to get rid of 3C. But why? The answer was obvious.

Adam.

They were after him. He'd been in their crosshairs ever since killing Geryon. Trechend had it out for him, as did most of the guards. The workers had rallied around him, making him an unofficial leader. When the guards pushed, he pushed back, refusing to bow the knee to the likes of them.

Which made him a problem. They'd stepped up their harassment. Beatings. Detainment. Extra guards. They wanted to break him, but he refused to bend. Did he really think they'd allow that? Why bother? Workers were replaceable. Like Jakob had said, the trick was never giving them reason to get rid of you. Apparently, he'd crossed that line already. Why bother letting him fight when they could just take him out? Just another accident left unreported.

"This wasn't an accident," Adam growled through grit teeth.

"What do you-"

"They did this."

Maurice raised an eyebrow. It wasn't hard to guess who Adam meant. "Adam, you can't be serious."

"Deadly serious. They wanted to get rid of me, just like they did to Axol. And Midori. And who knows how many others? Think about it. You know something's wrong. They have us tunnel away from everyone else, ignoring the dust vein to get us further from the other shafts." Wouldn't want to risk any other crews in the explosion. "Bane is too important to lose, so they pull him out at the last moment, then kill the rest of us in a cave-in."

"That's ridiculous. They wouldn't-"

"Wouldn't what? Waste our lives?" Adam kept his voice low so the guards didn't hear, but he couldn't help the bitter laugh that slipped out. "Don't you get it? They don't care about us. Any of us. They'll work us 'til we break, then throw us away. We're nothing but tools to them, and tools can be replaced."

Especially broken ones. Adam's eyes widened as he looked down at Maurice's leg.

"We need to get you out of here."

"What? Adam, you're being ridiculous. The doctor said-"

"The doctor's one of them." Suits. Normies. Humans. They were all in on it. Plus, 3C was supposed to die today. They'd been willing to sacrifice an entire crew just to get to Adam. Hopefully they didn't come to finish the job, especially with two of them in the infirmary already. "We can't trust them."

"Who?"

"Any of them!" Adam hissed. "The guards. The doctors. Ferric. They hate us. They hate me. They see me as a threat." They were right, though they had no idea how much of a threat he could be. Not that he'd be much good against an entire camp full of guards. Quantity had a quality of its own.

"And whose fault is that?" Maurice asked.

"Mine." If Adam had just kept his head down, like Jakob said, none of this would've happened. He just had to let people die. Axol. Bane. Marion. He could've traded their lives for his safety.

He couldn't accept those terms. He'd brought this on himself, but the alternative was worse. He didn't regret it. If he could, he'd go back and do it all over again.

"But they're the ones taking things too far," Adam said, not willing to take all the blame when he knew they deserved most of it. He also knew this wasn't the end. They'd come for him again. And again. And again. None of them were safe here, which left him only one choice. "I'm getting us out of here."

"You said to get my leg checked."

"Not here." They needed to leave the infirmary, too, but that could wait. "Orostachys. The camp. I have to escape, and I'm taking you all with me." He couldn't leave them behind. Not when Ferric and his goons might take revenge on his crew. He couldn't let them suffer in his place again.

"Adam, be serious."

"I am being serious. I don't know how. I don't know when. But I'll figure something out." He'd have to figure it out soon. They might not survive the next accident.

Maurice didn't look convinced. "Don't say things like that. We'll be fine. Well…some of us." Duncan. Colton. Maybe even Monti. Blood had already been shed. "B-but these things happen. Just wait. Nothing else will happen. I'll get better and we'll be back to work in no time. You'll see. Everyone will be fine."

Maurice didn't even believe his own words. Adam could tell. They wouldn't be fine. Orostachys demanded more suffering. More death. It wanted to claim his life, and anyone who got in the way would just be acceptable losses.

Acceptable to Orostachys, not to Adam. He couldn't let them take the fall for him. Not anymore. If they wanted him, they'd have to come for him directly. He'd make them pay if they tried. He was done running. Done hiding. If they wanted a fight, he'd give them one. He'd keep them focused on him and him alone until he found a way out, then he and what remained of 3C would escape this vile place and never come back. Until then, he'd keep them all safe and make the humans pay for the lives they'd taken. No one else would die in his place. Not if he could help it.

Monti didn't survive the night.

Three named character deaths in one chapter! New record! I mean...much sadness. Yes. Monti wasn't supposed to die until next chapter, but I got a little trigger happy and figured I'd put it at the end of this one instead.

MrsTheGoose said I need to keep a death counter for this story after the bloodbath of In RWBY's Shadow. To be fair, most of those deaths were unnamed characters. Only had like five or so named deaths there that I can think of (several more if you count named teams, but the individuals weren't actually named). Here, we're up to seven (if you count the off-screen death of Midori). There's still more to come, too. Hard not to have more dying in an Adam story, not to mention the deaths we know from canon. Sienna, for one. Not to mention Adam himself at the end (spoilers).

Adam acts up. His mine shaft suddenly collapses and kills a few people. Bit of a weird coincidence. Almost like someone's out to get him. Naturally, Adam won't take it lying down, but he can't exactly go on a killing spree here. Things will escalate, though, and rather quickly, so strap in. We're flooring that accelerator and zooming toward the scene that inspired this whole fic soon!

Next chapter: Adam looks for a way out.