Hound Dog silently entered the Third Resource Recycling Facility in which Accelerator hid.
When they entered the concrete factory, the noise of the machinery was much louder than they had expected.
Nancy wondered for a second if they should have cut the power there as well, but increasing the amount of work they had to do would only waste time. Currently, Accelerator likely could not use his powers much, but they still wanted to avoid giving him time to regain mental composure.
About five colleagues surrounded Nancy.
Her group was meant to guide him into their trap, so they needed to appeal to the idea that they had a large number of people. The plan was for Nancy and her team to fire bullets all over the place so the target would flee down the passageway and to where another team lay in wait.
The general path the target had taken could be tracked with the olfactory sensor Nancy had handed a colleague not long before. By using that indoors, they had no chance of overshooting his position.
(The only other thing to worry about is if he has a gun.)
According to the olfactory sensor, the target's scent had travelled from the van parked on the road to this facility. No one had been in the vehicle and the bag filled with spare equipment had still been inside. The zipper had been open, so it was possible he had taken a gun.
(No, Accelerator has no real ability with firearms. He has lived his life fully relying on his power and has never received proper training. We should be able to assume we have a great advantage over him.)
That was what Nancy thought.
(But even so…)
Most of the production work was automated, so the inside of the concrete building was not air conditioned and was therefore hot and stuffy. Despite the cold rain outside, the area was filled with heat from the giant motors that were in constant use.
They slowly walked through the steel passageway while the heat and noise wore down their nerves bit by bit. Even the bright illumination of the fluorescent lights seemed to produce heat.
They were nervous.
Nancy decided that was why it seemed so oppressive.
When she glanced over at her colleagues' mask-covered faces, their movements seemed stiff and somewhat awkward.
The facility created electromagnetic interference from multiple sources.
Accelerator received assistance for his powers using transmission equipment, so Kihara Amata had claimed the boy would almost certainly not use his powers for fear of losing control of them.
Nancy and the other members of Hound Dog with her decided that was a valid assumption. With all the restrictions, he was very unlikely to use his powers. The stronger one's powers, the greater the risk of losing control.
But that also meant they could not ignore the risk that he might use them when cornered despite the fear of losing control.
If Accelerator was serious, only Kihara Amata could defeat him.
The guns and explosives Nancy wielded would accomplish nothing.
(That is why we must kill him before he realizes he is cornered.)
That was the point of the plan to guide him into a trap.
The target would be cautious of them, but he would remain somewhat relaxed because he could flee further into the factory. The other team would wait until he did so and then shoot him. For the plan to succeed, Nancy's team needed to take a bit of a risk and head forward to draw Accelerator's attention. Even if he could not use his great esper powers, he likely had a gun. If they focused too much on the diversion side of their role, they could end up shot in the head.
(It's only natural we would be nervous. Everyone on this team is used to just killing people right away. We were given no training for this sort of situation.)
There were different types of soldiers.
Ones battling in the jungle did not need to know how to handle hostage negotiations. Urban snipers would be fine not learning how to survive on a desert island. Training programs were specialized to a specific field by eliminating unnecessary portions and putting that time to better use. That created several varieties of specialized units with skills weighted in one direction.
In other words, Nancy and her team's situation was similar to a unit trained in desert warfare walking through a snowy mountain in the Arctic.
(Can we do this?)
Nancy swallowed some saliva underneath her black mask.
(If we can't, we're dead.)
A small metallic noise cut off Nancy's thoughts.
"!?"
Nancy and her team all pointed their guns in its direction.
But no one was there. Nor was there enough space to hide. Without altering her posture, Nancy used her eyes and fingers to contact the colleagues near her.
"(That noise was different from the ones made by the machines, don't you think?)"
"(I agree. But there is nowhere for anyone to hide there. And more importantly, it doesn't seem like a useful point strategically.)"
"(Could the target have thrown something that made a noise?)"
"(If so, then he must be hiding quite nearby.)"
They all grew even tenser.
"(Rod. What does the olfactory sensor say?)"
"(Wait. The analysis just finished.)"
Their pulses quickened. Their fingers on the triggers trembled slightly. Sweat covered the gap between skin and glove.
And then…
All of the factory's lights cut out at once.
Darkness came as if it had been timed.
The target's plan was to mentally torment them by increasing their tension with light and noise.
Nancy belatedly realized just how bad the situation was.
If she pulled the trigger here, she would injure her closely-packed allies. Even if she pointed the barrel straight up, the metal walls and ceiling would cause any bullets to bare their fangs by ricocheting back.
Her thoughts never turned to the gun's safety.
Her thoughts were bound by the fear that her trembling fingertips would accidentally pull the trigger if she tried to move them at all. Accelerator seemed to have realized they had no night-vision equipment.
"(Wait!!)"
She immediately tried to use her eyes to contact her colleagues, but they could not see the movements through the darkness.
Using her voice to communicate would be best, but that would tell their enemy where she was.
Her pulse sounded eerily loud in her ears.
Her trigger finger trembled.
Trigger…gunshot…accidental discharge. Various images ran through Nancy's mind.
And then a great noise exploded out.
She thought her heart was going to stop.
(Kh…ah…!! That was…the sound of steam exhaust! It was just a sound!!)
She somehow managed to keep her index finger from moving and began pouring all her focus on her outward senses to search for the target that had caused the sound. But then…
"Gah!?"
A low voice suddenly cried out from right next to her.
Her feet on the floor felt the vibration of a human collapsing.
The scent of iron reached her nose.
(Not good…)
If she had calmed down and thought, she might have realized the target had simply thrown a wrench from the darkness. If she had seen the trick for what it was, it might have actually restored some of her mental composure.
But…
Her enemy's plan was to rob that calm from her step by step.
(That bastard… It's not just those powers of his. He can even use people's fear!)
By the time Nancy realized that, it was too late.
It happened precisely when she began focusing all of her senses on the darkness.
Another tool flew into her shoulder with a force that was not all that great.
She had lost more of her calm than she had realized, so her body reacted on its own.
The trembling in her trigger finger exceeded a certain level.
Several gunshots rang out and the scent of iron grew stronger.