Chapter 29
Holt was taking cover behind a low wall. An asari had kept him and Wrex backed into a corner for close to an hour now. Holt was by no means a stranger to drawn-out firefights but one hour was a bit too much for him. Wrex seemed to enjoy himself though.
"This is what I was promised when I joined Shepard!" He said while laughing as he was shooting at the enemy from behind the cover. A warp forced him back into cover though but his grin never vanished. "Endless enemies!" And that was what was pissing Holt off. No matter how many times they killed this asari another identic one just came back.
"You're not concerned about the fact that it's the same one we're fighting? An immortal enemy doesn't seem fair." He grumbled as he checked over the edge of his cover. The asari was out in the open, biotic shield up and seemingly unafraid of anything that the two of them can throw at her. "If you ignore the shooting and biotic, she kind of acts like the colonists."
"It's probably that giant flower-thing that's controlling her." Wrex calmly said as he went out of cover again to resume shooting. The flower-thing he mentioned was that giant creature that was hanging in the middle of the room, suspended over a great, seemingly bottomless hole.
"Oh yeah, looking forward to that fight..." Holt grumbled. He remained in cover, frustrated over the fact that all his efforts in the last hour had done nothing for them. They needed to figure out how to stop this constant respawning of copies but they couldn't really figure that out with the constant harassment the asari was throwing at them.
"Where's your battlelust, Holt?" Wrex laughed as he kept keeping the asari at bay.
"It faded about half an hour ago."
"It'll return."
"You realise we're gonna have to eat or sleep sooner or later, right?" Holt sighed as he aimed over his cover to join Wrex in attacking the enemy. "We can't keep fighting forever." He was frustrated and bored but that didn't mean he wanted to die.
"Not with that attitude." Wrex scoffed.
"Can we at least try and stop this respawning madness?" Holt asked which Wrex responded with a glare.
"And give up this unlimited amount of target dummies?"
"Yes. This asari probably pales in comparison to Saren, who might still be on this planet." He very much doubted that himself and guessed that Wrex thought the same. There was still the chance of it being true though and hopefully the krogan would try and go for it.
"Alright, Holt." Wrex answered as they went back into cover. "What do you have in mind then?" He asked as Holt's vision flashed slightly and a low screeching sound entered his mind. This had been going on for the last half hour or so and was adding to his frustrations. He had no idea what could be the cause of it though.
"The only way I can think of that would stop this would be to destroy the thing in the middle of the room." He said as he told Wrex of the plan he had been forming during the last few minutes.
"Problem is that it's hide is too thick for our weapons to penetrate." Wrex said, just confirming what Holt already knew.
"Exactly, but those... tentacles? Arms?" Holt said whole motioning towards the things holding the being up in the air. "We might be able to hurt them enough for it to lose its grip if we get close enough to them.
"And how do we get close with this bitch on our asses?"
"We split up. Should be safe enough since it's only possible for one of those asari copies to exist at a time. I'm guessing you wanna engage in th-" Was all Holt managed to get out before Wrex turned back to firing at the asari with a grin. Holt shrugged and activated his cloak, quickly making his way towards the nearest arm. He wished that Shepard and the rest of the gang would get here soon. He had a feeling that it was this creature that had something to do with how the colonists were acting. And he didn't want to stay this close to it any longer than needed.
"You creatures serve no other purpose other than being thralls." A new voice spoke up. Holt quickly looked around and could now hear nothing other than the firefight going on. Holt was in no way stupid, he knew what was going on. He looked towards the creature in the middle, waiting for it to continue. When nothing happened he turned his attention back towards the arm.
"Wish I had brought my rocket launcher..." Holt muttered as he brought out a bit of omni-gel. Hopefully enough to damage the arm enough for it to lose its grip. He couldn't use too much or he wouldn't have enough for the remaining arms.
"You think yourselves above yo-"
"Don't caaare." Holt interrupted the voice in his head and made his way to a safe distance. He took cover behind a pillar and waited for the explosion.
"The creature known as 'Saren' thought he could dispose of me after his betrayal. What makes you thi-" The explosion that followed cut the being off and Holt checked around the corner. His eyes were met with the still intact arm of the creature.
"How thick is your hide?..." Holt mumbled in frustration. The screeching in his head was still going on and it was not because of the recent explosion. "You said you met Saren?" He asked as he made his way back for another round of omni-gel, not expecting an answer of any kind.
"His betrayal showed the stupidity of you pests."
"I didn't think you would be one to follow the news." Holt chuckled as he knelt down to plant another charge. "Honestly, Eden Prime was over a week ago."
"This is not about this place you call 'Eden Prime'. Saren's betrayal to me is much more recent." Holt realised that he might be able to get some info out of this thing.
"And what did he do? Not quite sure what a plant like you would consider to be betrayal. Maybe didn't water you enough? Didn't let you get enough sunshine?"
"Mocking only works went you hold the advantage." The voice boomed in his head and the screeching intensified.
"I'm holding explosives, is that not enough?" Holt said as he finished setting the charges and made his way back to cover. The screeching had started giving him a headache. He would have to stay back from the creature for a moment after this next explosion. He was starting to break out into a cold sweat now as well. The creature was obviously trying to take control of him but he still had complete control over his own actions. The krogan was still locked in a battle with the asari in the other end of the room.
"It is not, thrall." The voice simply stated as Holt went down behind cover and brought up his omni-tool to trigger the explosives. Problem was that his body never responded to his order of activating it.
