The last message from GLaDOS startled the team, but didn't discourage them.

"Alright…patch yourselves up and let's get rolling" Bain called out over the four

Still, everyone who heard it(including Bain) had been rather frightened by the insane AI's last announcement. It wasn't even what she said, but the way she said it. She didn't sound like the normal GLaDOS. The kind Chains had seen so much of before. Not sarcastic, rude, creepily sadistically upbeat and yet insane and murderous. She sounded like she meant business. Now, she always means business, but this was different. You weren't supposed to be able to tell when she was angry. She usually keeps those hidden from her subjects; and yet with that last message she didn't sound calm, cool and collected. She sounded like she had made it her life mission to kill the Payday gang. It seemed like she was actually showing some emotion, scary emotion. She was clearly very stressed and worried now. If she didn't stop those four, Aperture Science could be destroyed. This wasn't like Chell escaping, that didn't matter. What would she tell everyone on the surface? There was an underground science center run by a computer that has portal technology? No one would believe her. They'd think she was crazy. But now these four had proof. They had the long fall boots, and worse, they had portal guns. She could not let them escape with those. She had to make it her life goal to stop them. But now it was worse, now they had guns. Chell never had any guns. GLaDOS and Aperture were both in danger now. They could shoot through cores and turrets now, and they could be guided out easily. This was worse then any other threat she had faced. She had to stop them. She couldn't let them get out. Not with portal technology.

She turned all the lights off now, including the ones near the vault.

"Hey, woah! Where is everyone!? Does she always do this?" Hoxton panicked

"Dude, chill! Bain can still guide our way through. Just gotta feel along the rail to make sure you make the right turns." Dallas replied, freeing Hoxton of fear

A sliding sound was heard from the rail system above them. Dallas and Chains knew what was coming, and it was a good thing.

"There's another…think we can shoot it down and use it's flashlight?" Chains asked

"We can try. Yo, Hox, gimme your pistol for a sec…" Dallas replied, Hoxton handing over his silenced pistol and Wolf having no clue what they were talking about.

The core rolled onto the area in front of the vault. Dallas was waiting for it. As soon as he saw it, he fired toward the lock holding it to the rail. The core fell and it's flashlight flickered off.

"Ouch!" The core said. Chains wasn't too surprised, a lot of things talked in here. Dallas was slightly taken aback and Wolf and Hoxton were in amazement.

"That thing talks?" Wolf said

"Not to you! You are the criminals GLaDOS sent us to find!" The core said

"Great. Now how about you turn your flashlight back on or you get a bullet through your monitor?" Dallas said

"Never! She has been alerted of your whereabouts already!"

"No shit, Sherlock. We haven't moved and she knows where we are already considering she just tried to kill us here."

"Also, there's a camera right up in the corner. Even I cans see you guys." Bain suddenly chimed in.

"Our goal at this point isn't stealth anymore, it's getting out. Now you're gonna turn your light on and help us, or you're gonna lose your personality chip. Got it?" Chains said and fired a shot from his Bronco into the air.

"Gah!" The core said and turned his light on. "But I'm not happy about it!"

"We can live with that." Wolf said

"Alright, lets get moving. There are some stairs nearby. Find them and go up." Bain said

The gang used the flashlight core to find the stairs and started up them.

"Okay, I think I can get you right back where you started, back to the elevator shaft where you can climb up. First go straight…" Bain instructed the crew once again

The heisters followed Bains instructions, and now it looked like the odds were in their favor. They could see, shoot, and had everything they needed to leave, so no more looking around for rooms. Now, finally, all that was left to do was leave; and with a flashlight, it was easier then any of them imagined. They didn't even care if she could see them. At this point, it hardly mattered. As a team, they were unstoppable. GLaDOS still set more traps.

She had an idea of which route they would pick, but she couldn't take any chances. She set deadly traps all over the escapes, waiting for the criminals to walk into one.

The crew walked along the rail, listening to Bain when they saw what was waiting for them. More of the computer claw grabby things could be seen moving along the rail, carrying turrets with them. The claws didn't stop at them, but rather kept moving along on its mission to place the turrets further on the path. Knowing this was a trap, the gang knew not to let it scare them. They had gins, after all. In fact Dallas and Chains, the ones who knew these creatures from experience, didn't wait for the turrets to come to them. Both of them shot their guns into the claws that carried turrets along the path, spraying bullets all over the core rail system. They destroyed all of the turrets that would have met them further ahead.

"Heh. Dumb bitch should've took another way around." Dallas victoriously announced

"Why's she even using those things anymore? She forget we have guns too or somethin'? Chains replied equally cheerfully

The gang moved on, laughing off the attempt. GLaDOS realized they had been prepared for her usual traps. She couldn't use these puzzle, escapable traps anymore. These four had to be stopped soon. As much as she hated sinking down to essentially just plain murder without giving the victim any chance of escape, she couldn't let them have a chance anymore. This wasn't a test at this point. She had to start really squashing them. That meant using traps that were guaranteed kills, not mind testing traps escapable by quick wit. She prepared the bomb carrying pipes. She started directing bombs to their location.

The four trekked on through the Center, with no traps in sight. They knew something was coming for them, but they were confident they would be able to handle it. The first real surprise they had in a while was that the darkness that surrounded them, though nothing more then an inconvenience now, had at last turned to illuminating light. The gang could see again. It surprised them, and made them believe something would hit them, but at the moment they were more relived then anything. The path, at last, was clear.

"Hey, the lights are on!" Wolf cried, now throwing the core they used for a flashlight down the bottomless pit below, despite it letting out a final scream in vain.

"Yeah…maybe this AI finally gave up." Hoxton said

"Ha. Doubt it. That crazy bitch'll never give up. But I gotta say, it's a relief." Chains responded

The gang only had to travel a few more turns through the AI started her final attack. They weren't far from the exit. She had to stop them now, but had to deal with her limitations. She had no way to directly blow the railway, sadly, so she would have to get creative. The bombs GLaDOS had redirected were in place. As the heisters walked forward the pipe above them turned, opening at the end and aiming itself at the rail. A bomb rolled through the pipe and out the opening. The crew took notice but didn't know how to react yet, not even knowing what the bomb was yet. The bomb landed on the rail ahead of them and blew a hole in it, separating the crew from the rest of the path, but not by much. The crew had all taken a step back upon the detonation.

"Bombs…she probably could've used those earlier…" Dallas said

"The exit is not far from, about the equivalent of a block. She's gonna be attacking you, but you can make it if you're fast. In other words: RUN." Bain told the gang

The crew exchanged a glance and started running, Chains carrying the loot bag. All four of them were able to easily jump over the destroyed part of the path created by the bomb.

GLaDOS sent more bombs through nearby pipes. Each one rolled out and either broke part of the rail, which the crew would jump over, or would be to late and land on a part of the rail after the crew had already ran past. The four continued.

They turned one corner closer to the exit, being greeted by a very large scale turret trap. At least 20 or 30 turrets were waiting for them; and all of them took aim at the crew at once. They weren't discouraged. The turrets bullets were relatively weak, and when compared to the armor the crew wore, it was nearly useless until hitting them very heavily. With all four having much more effective guns they shot right back at the turrets, destroying them much easier then the turrets could ever kill the heisters. One by one, all of the turrets burst into flames and blew up, occasionally taking out another turret with it; a rather spectacular sight to be seen. In under 40 seconds the turret trap was clear, and the crew ran on again. GLaDOS was stressing now. She had to take far more drastic measures.

The gang ran past the corner directly after the turret trap, which was on a somewhat segregated path. In a nearby room that hung from the rail system like all the others, through the window closest to the gang, a rocket turret sprung from the ground. Its aim marker moved towards the crew, and upon targeting the mass that they seemed to be clumped together within, it fired a rocket directly at them. Wolf noticed it just as the aim marker turned red. He knew some kind of large attack was about to be thrown at them.

"Hit the deck!" Wolf yelled and pushed his fellow criminals onto the floor of the rail, and when the rocket was fired, it went right over them. Dallas got up, seeing the rocket turret now, and fired at it with his rifle, causing it to retreat back into the floor of the room in which it hid.

Escape was straight ahead. Bain said he could get them back to the elevator shaft they came in, and they could climb up from there; and luckily now they could see the staircase that led up to the corridor containing the door that directly behind lied their way out.

The crew ran forward towards the stairs, paying little attention to the moving test chamber above them. The unknown chamber slid along the upper system as it could, and finally hung over the path the crew would run over. They all ran along the path, about to reach the stairs. Dallas and Hoxton ran slightly ahead of Wolf and Chains. As Dallas and Hoxton together ran over the last part of the path over to the stairs, the lock on the rail that connected the chamber to it was undone electronically. All four of the gang looked up. Hoxton pushed Dallas forward and onto the safe area, while Chains and Wolf knew they couldn't get over in time. Chains and Wolf ran backwards, and the falling chamber reached them and broke through the rail, leaving a much larger hole then any bomb could. The gang was separated again, Dallas and Hoxton closer to freedom and Wolf and Chains trapped within the confines of the center, still. Chains still slightly held the loot bag.

"Shit, you can't jump it!" Hoxton called over

"Yeah no-" Chains started to reply, but was cut off by the sound of a loud flare and rocket flying at them. Again Chains and Wolf hit the deck, barely dodging the rocket.

"Ah son of a-" Wolf started again, but this time was cut off again by the rocket turrets aiming laser pointing at them. It prepares to strike, and Wolf and Chains got ready to duck; but the turret stopped. It turned its body away and looked else where. It looked back behind the path and found the nearest support beam; and it took not it was behind the two marooned heisters. So By shooting behind Wolf and Chains, the platform they were on would fall.

Meanwhile, as the turret looked around and saw the support beam, more turrets came through on the rail system just like they had before to be dropped off. These were not to kill them, like before. GLaDOS knew that wouldn't work at this point. These were simply to cause a distraction and make their escape more complicated for them.

"Ugh, these again? She knows we're just gonna shoot through them" Hoxton said and took aim

"Wait!" Chains quickly yelled "Don't shoot 'em…" Chains smiled smugly to himself

"Bad move, AI"

Chains instructed Wolf to fall back further behind the path. He and Wolf went backwards and Chains further instructed.

"Alright, we're gonna jump off this ledge and grab the turrets. Those will swing us over. Just as soon as they get here. Got it?" Chains told Wolf

"I guess, man. Sounds crazy, but we gotta try something." Wolf replied

"Good. Take this and hold on." Chains said, handing Wolf the loot bag. Wolf and Chains got ready to run at once, hoping they could end up jumping together.

The rocket turret saw them moving back, ready to jump. The turrets were about to be perfectly aligned. The rocket turret took aim.

"…Now, run!" Chains yelled and the two began running forward, ready to lock onto a turret. The rocket turrets eye turned red. The rocket was chambered and was fired quickly at the path. Chains and Wolf both took notice.

"Oh fuck-RUN FASTER!" Wolf yelled in panic upon seeing the rocket headed towards the path. The rocket itself was aimed behind Wolf and Chains, still trying to break off a piece of the rail whole and cause them to fall down the pit.

The turrets GLaDOS sent were just perfectly in line. The marooned criminals sped towards the gap as one. The rocket hit the railway directly, causing the exact effect GLaDOS wanted. The rail started to break down. Chains and Wolf both saw how their altitude decreased. They were falling now.

They still had to make the jump. Chains ran forward a little and leaped off the edge of the destroyed rail. Wolf followed immediately behind, grabbing onto Chains back, loot strapped around his shoulder. Chains' arm reached out for the turret and grabbed it by the leg. It swung forward slightly after being pulled on by so much weight and the velocity at which the two heisters jumped caused the turret to swing.

"Hey! Get off me!" The turret yelped

"Wolf was still firmly connected to Chains. The two used their weight to keep making the turret swing. The other turrets around it shot at the nearby Dallas and Hoxton, but all not containing their partners were shot off. As the turret swung forward towards Dallas' side again, Wolf unhooked the loot bag from his back. It was holding them down too much. Wolf extended his arm and threw it over to the other side.

"Catch!" Wolf called over. Hoxton caught the bag and threw it towards the stairs they were working near.

GLaDOS had to finish them off. She dropped the turret from the rail via the electrical lock connecting the mechanical arm that carried the turret to the rail.

Chains and Wolf swing towards their goal again, knowing they would have to jump now. They let themselves swing back, trying to redirect all their weight to make them go back further. Once again the turret swung towards Dallas and Hoxton. The blue light on the connecter holding the mechanical arm(which held the turret) turned red. Chains released his grip on the turrets leg and flung himself and Wolf towards the section of the rail they needed to be on, simultaneously as the turret was released from the lock and was dropped down the bottomless pit of Aperture Science. The turret let out a final scream of agony as it descended down the hole. Chains soared, carrying Wolf, just barely onto the other side of the destroyed rail. His armored fingers were just able to slip into the small decorative holes and slits that were all along the bottom floor of the rails throughout the whole center. The holes were part of the design, supposedly.

"Yo, need help here!" Chains struggled to hold up himself and wolf while he carried heavy armor and a light machine gun.

Hoxton and Dallas both came to Chains' aid. They grabbed the two and pulled them up, successfully on the safe part of the rail. The stairs, leading to the door, leading to the elevator shaft, leading to freedom were only a feet away from them. Everyone got up, ready to walk over undefeated, when the rocket turret took one last futile attempt at wiping them out. The rocket turret aimed at the criminals and fired a rocket, but it was obviously in vain. The crew started running, right up the stairs and down the stairs on the opposite side. They saw the door they entered from right in front of them. Since she obviously wasn't going to open the door, the gang shot some bullets into anything resembling a chamber and the door sparked open. There was the elevator shaft, waiting for them to climb up and leave the way they came. They all grabbed on and began the victorious trek upwards; first Hoxton, then Chains, Dallas, and Wolf.

GLaDOS was officially in a panic now. It wasn't like her to get distressed, but this was a very big problem. Aperture Science was about to be discovered and then shut down. She had one last choice, however. The large auditorium area which she had filled with opera turrets before when Chell left. They would pass right by it. Though all her turret traps had failed horribly, she had only this one option left. She began filling the room to the brim with turrets. Perhaps it was in vain, but at this point she had very little(and at the same time, a lot) to lose.

The four partners climbed up the shaft, moving their arms and then legs like clockwork. Wolf had been given the loot bag again. At last they past the large scale auditorium. It was dark, and yet all at once when Hoxton crawled into view the room lit up with red lasers. Hoxton didn't need to think, he knew immediately what was happening.

"Shit…this again…boys, we've got sentries!" Hoxton called down to the others while taking out his weaponry with one hand, still keeping his other arm and legs wrapped around the rope of the elevator shaft.

The gang wasn't about to be worried by more weak firing turrets, but they were to be alarmed by the sheer amount of them. The whole room was filled with the things. As they started to fire at Hoxton Chains crawled up next, causing some to change target and fire at him.

"Wanna do this again? Alright, I'm game." Chains said aloud and unhooked his KSP. He began firing just like all the other times.

These turrets would be problematic for them. Whenever one was destroyed, it seemed to be replaced quickly. The gang knew that meant they couldn't wait to take them all out. As the turrets fired, all of them fired back while continuing up the rope. Hoxton, having nearly no protecting, rushed up to the top first avoiding the firefight. Chains had no problem with his heavy armor, but still felt pain as the immense amount of bullets started getting through his armor. Dallas was okay as well. Wolf climbed up last, having his shotgun prepped. The problem was just in that: He had a very small fire rate. He couldn't take out turrets as quickly as the others. The turrets targeted him and fired mercilessly, piercing his skin with every bullet.

"Hey, get moving! I can't take much more of this!" Wolf yelled to his partners above him. Dallas and Chains started moving up faster. Wolf followed quickly up the rope as well, trying desperately to get out of the turrets field of view. Chains was out of frame of the auditorium soon enough, Dallas was 3/4th of the way, and Wolf was at the half way mark and bleeding bad. He simply kept going up through his pain, trying to make it up with the loot he carried. Dallas was just barely out of frame when Wolf was at the 3/4th mark.

"C'mon man! Just a few more feet!" Dallas called down to Wolf

"Argugh, fuck man!" Wolf said, being shot badly

"Oh shit-alright, I'm coming for you! Just try and meet me!" Dallas said and started repelling back down towards Wolf.

Wolf pulled up slightly more. Dallas helped to support Wolf on his way up, even his lightweight vest providing enough support to support the turrets weaker bullets. Dallas pulled Wolf up slightly, not to pull on any open wounds.

"Dallas…the loot…take it…too much…" Wolf said to Dallas through bullet wounds.

Dallas started to reach for the loot bag around Wolf's back. Wolf also assisted in trying to unhook it from his shoulder. In doing so, he released the loot bag from his back causing it to fall into his hands. As the bag fell into Wolf's hand, the weight of it pulled his arm down, making Wolf connect to the rope by his legs, one arm, and Dallas' support.; while his other arm dangled down over the shaft holding the bag. The force of his arm being pulled down by the bag caused immense pain and opened his arm to fire. The turrets targeted again, not shooting Wolf's exposed arm.

"AUGHHHH"

"Wolf!"

Wolf couldn't hold the bag containing two heavy portal guns with his arm being shot open by the turret swarm. Wolf couldn't hold on for more then a second. The bag pulled hard towards the bottom of the shaft. Wolf's arm was beyond broken. His tight grip on the bag released quickly. The loot bag plummeted down to the bottom of the shaft.

"Augh…ugh…the…the bag…" Wolf stuttered through blood in his teeth

"C'mon man. It doesn't matter now." Dallas said to Wolf and supported his whole body up the rope.

Dallas supported Wolf the entire length of the climb up. Wolf fought passing out from blood loss. He held his arm close to his stomach, not letting release much more blood. Chains and Hoxton had been waiting at the top, still hanging, waiting for them. Eventually Dallas and Wolf made it up to their level, and Dallas, Wolf, Chains, and Hoxton climbed out off the shaft and onto the cold, concrete ground of the shed they entered from. Dallas still had to support Wolf. Chains kicked the steel, rusty door of the shed open and in fled sunlight filling the room. All four of them walked out into the wheat field again. Wolf collapsed to his knees on the concrete, but didn't pass out. Dallas came to his aid and released his second medic bag.

"Hey, Bain…send the fucking chopper, will you?" Hoxton ordered Bain

"Holy shit, you guys are fucking soldiers! Sending it now. Be ready!" Bain replied

Dallas healed and secured Wolf's wounds with supplies from the medic bag. Wolf said he felt fine. He stood on his own, but would definitely need to rest on the helicopter. All the heisters also took from the medic bag, healing the wounds they had received. After about 2 minutes, the chopper arrived.

The gang stepped onto the chopper one by one and all took a seat. Wolf sat near the back and laid across 3 chairs, resting his injuries. The helicopter pilot looked back at them with a confused look before taking off. He asked the group

"What? No loot?"

All four heisters looked up and gave a collective

"Fuck you."