Alyx slammed her hands on the door, trying with all her might to get it open to no avail. The door wouldn't budge or unlock no matter how much she fought.

"What the hell are you?" Alyx yelled at the screens, her hands slamming on the control panel in rage.

The voice sounded annoyed when it spoke next. "Really? Is the violence necessary? Well, if you must know, I am the single most advanced work of artificial intelligence ever designed." It or she paused with a delighted hum.

Certainly not humble, Gordon thought. Although there was another part that gave him pause. Did she say artificial intelligence? That couldn't be right. Black Mesa hadn't even been close to perfecting their artificial intelligence program. Something was off about the whole thing. The closest form of artificial intelligence Black Mesa managed to make was a waffle iron that kept burning swear words into the waffle, and yet Aperture apparently had one and it was capable enough for human conversation?

"Artificial Intelligence?" He finally managed to question.

There was silence from the voice until there was a soft chuckle. "Oh, good. He can speak. I thought I was going to be dealing with another mute who only wanted to destroy my property."

Gordon rolled his eyes at the remark. It wasn't the first time he had been accused of being mute, and it probably wouldn't be the last. The last few weeks had been a stressful and no one gave him a chance to speak, so he didn't bother trying unless it was one of the rare moments when he wasn't being shot at.

Alyx was messing with the panel, trying to get the door open, to no avail. "Dammit! I can't get us out, Gordon."

"Of course not. This is my property, and you are trespassers," the AI responded.

Alyx crossed her arms, anger and annoyance mixed together on her face. "You keep saying that. What about the scientists and employees of Aperture? Doesn't this belong to them?"

"I wouldn't be so sure. None of the staff are alive to claim it," she replied. Her voice was refined and measured, as if she knew she was smarter than everyone. Reminded Gordon of a less angry Magnusson.

Alyx wasn't putting up with it. "How can you know that they are all dead?"

"Because I killed them."

It was like the air had been sucked from his lungs and then he'd been kicked for good measure. The only sound he could hear was the pounding of his own heart as the gravity of what the AI was saying sunk in.

Alyx and Gordon looked to each other in a mixture of panic and confusion. Alyx was the first to respond. "Let us go right now!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

Alyx then pulled her pistol from her hip and aimed it at the control panel. "Let us go or else!"

The AI had the audacity to laugh at that. "Or else what? You think I'm afraid of a little gun? You'd only be hurting yourself," she said. She paused as the screens flickered on to reveal diagrams of several different physics models. Gordon recognized them. Most dealt with forward momentum. "Look at the screen. Speedy metal projectile plus a tiny metal room? Do the math."

Gordon frowned. He did do the math and it wasn't pretty. The size of the room, coupled with the average speed of a bullet, would not spell well for them. Even if the bullets lost velocity after the initial rebound, they'd still run the risk of serious harm.

With a resigned sigh, Gordon reached a hand out to place on top of Alyx's hands. She still had the gun extended, but Gordon slowly made her lower it. "It's right."

"Of course I'm right, but I do not appreciate being called an It. If you must know, I am the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System; a.k.a. GLaDOS," she replied.

Alyx holstered her gun, but she was practically vibrating in rage. Her face was screwed up tight, fists clenched at her side, and shoulders tense. She was like a stretched rubber band, ready to snap when the tension got too much.

And it did.

"What do you want from us?! Let us go!" Alyx screamed at the screens. She went to the door, ripping Gordon's crowbar from his hands as she went. He looked put off from the action as she walked by, but he could only watch as she tried to pry the heavy door from its hinges.

"Hmm… Rage truly does cloud the mind, does it not? You shouldn't need my help to know that isn't going to work," GLaDOS said. "Besides, you are perfectly safe. For now, at least."

Alyx gave a few more pulls with the crowbar before giving up. She rounded on the console and threw the metal rod as hard as she could. It struck one of the screens. It sparked wildly as broken glass fell to the ground in a shower or crystalline pieces. Gordon frowned as he walked over to collect it while brushing some of the glass with his foot to rest under the console.

"Stop breaking stuff. If you want to survive, I need everything to work," GLaDOS snapped.

Gordon paused. Survive? Was she threatening them? No. It wouldn't make sense to do so even if she did kill the Aperture employees. Her wording was off too. She needs everything to work, to survive…

"I can feel them coming. They are on the deck, trying to break in, but I am keeping them at bay for the time being. Although a couple sealed doors are not going to last forever. What I'm saying is that I need you to protect this place and activate the rest of the security measures," GLaDOS went on to explain.

"I thought you said you were fully operational," Alyx replied, her voice took on a mocking tone.

GLaDOS let out an annoyed sigh. Gordon would have laughed at the idea of an AI sighing if it wasn't such a serious moment.

"I am, but some of the security devices are offline and separated from the primary grid. I need you to activate them for me."

Gordon grit his teeth at the prospect of saving the very thing they were being sent to destroy. It was all that mattered to him. He had to destroy the Borealis, or Eli's death would be for nothing. Eli had to be avenged.

"And if we refuse?" Alyx asked.

"I'm not asking. You will protect this place, or I will kill you."

Gordon and Alyx shared a look again. There were a thousand words shared, and none at all. What were they supposed to do? How could they protect something but then destroy it in the next moment?

The silence dragged on for nearly ten seconds before there was another pleased hum. "Like I said before… This is a small room and sealed quite tight. I could always tamper with the vent system or up the carbon dioxide levels."

To accentuate her point, Gordon heard the sound of the small metal vents shutting tight. He looked to them and frowned as they opened up again before closing once more in a wave motion. Gordon furrowed his brow that she was showing off just what she would do and how she could do it.

Gordon grimaced and bowed his head. There was a sigh of defeat before he mumbled, "What do we do?" Gordon said softly.

Alyx looked to him in shock. "Gordon, you can't be-"

"The Combine needs to be stopped. Then we can do what we came to do," he said with finality.

Alyx kept that same angry expression on her face, even as she sighed in resignation.

Then the door hissed and slowly opened for them.

"Perfect. Go out the door, turn left, then go down the stairs. There will be a room at the end of a hallway with the things I need. Do hurry. I feel that they are almost inside," GLaDOS explained, a bored tone laced the edges of her voice.

The humans moved in tandem, following the directions exactly. The door in question was a little rusted, but they managed to get it open after a few good pulls on the crank.

The room was pitch black, the only light coming from the doorway behind the humans. It cast a dim glow that reflected off strange white shapes.

"Hold on. Let me get the lights," GLaDOS said.

There was a blinding light that caused Gordon to rub his eyes at the suddenness of it. When the spots in his vision cleared, he got a better look at what he was dealing with. Rows upon rows of white spherical pods on three black legs. They stood like sentinels, unmoving statues to a time. All smooth curved lines, awaiting orders.

"What are they?" Alyx asked to no one.

Gordon crouched down in front of one. He tentatively prodded at it with one finger, but it all that came of that was the structure oscillating on its three black legs. When nothing else happened, he rested his hand on top and ran it over the sides. He could feel creases running through the smooth while metal sides, but couldn't pry it open. His gloves prevented him from getting a good enough grip on the surface.

While he was studying the structure, Alyx was at a terminal. GLaDOS was speaking to her on how to activate the security measures.

The words slowly started reaching his ears as the dots began to connect.

"And there we go!" Alyx cried out.

"Perfect. Now let's see what we can do," GLaDOS chuckled.

Gordon started to slowly back away from the structure, but twin shutters opened in the center of the body to reveal a bright red eye. Every last structure in the room flickered to life as red beams of light swiveled around the room, like children entering a building for the first time. Then the lights all focused on him at once.

Gordon froze in place.

They all moved in sync as the indentations opened at an agonizingly slow speed to reveal what the structures really were.

Huh… Turrets, Gordon thought.

"Hello," they all said in unison.

All the turrets focused on him, and he reflexively brought his hands up to cover his face for protection, but none of them fired a single bullet. There was silence in the room as Gordon and Alyx locked eyes. Sheer panic written on both their faces as the reality of what could happen is happening.

Then as sudden as the lights appeared, they all adjusted to stare straight ahead, away from Gordon. Their guns whirred back into place as Gordon stumbled back in shock.

"Sorry about that. I nearly forgot to reset their targeting parameters to not shoot you. How clumsy of me," GLaDOS laughed.

Gordon shook his head as he calmed himself down. If this was her idea of a prank, it wasn't funny.

"You are to set these turrets up and defend this ship. I don't know how many of them are coming, but you cannot let them take it," GLaDOS commanded.

Gordon understood perfectly. He would do whatever it took to make sure the ship was destroyed. Readying the gravity gun, Gordon picked one up. The turret distressed its concern at being picked up, but he ignored it.

This was the routine. They would pick up a turret, it would say something about wanting to be put down or wondering where it was being taken, they'd put it in a defensible position, then return to the room to do it all again.

By the time they set up the last turret, there was the soft echo of vocoder voices coming from somewhere in the ship. Gordon and Alyx set up base in the security booth where they found the turrets to begin with. Armed and ready, they took deep breaths.

This is where they make their stand.

"Ready?" Alyx asked.

"As I'll ever be," Gordon nodded.

They turned back to the door with weapons drawn as the sound of childlike voices and bullets echoed down the halls.