It was some sort of signal. Yes, that's what it was. The Aperture Science Satellite System had picked up something, though it was so encrypted it seemed almost...foreign. GLaDOS was now trying to make sense of all the data that it had gathered, and was slowly becoming frustrated.

It seemed that it was from some sort of vehicle. A ground vehicle, to be exact. As she continued to decrypt it, everything became more clear. This vehicle, while based on human technology, used some kind of alien system as well. Armed with this knowledge, the AI altered her decryption methods. It wasn't long before GLaDOS understood everything about the signal.

The vehicle was an APC. It belonged to something called the Combine, but more importantly, it was associated with Doctor Breen, who GLaDOS still had as the Administrator of Black Mesa in her files. There must be something she could do. There was something else. Something she felt as though she could alter. They were machines. Dozens of them, lining the interior of the APC. One of them was identified as a "Scanner" in its internal logs, while the rest were "Manhacks". Unfortunately, the logs also said that there were soldiers within the vessel. Oh well, she wasn't going to let them get in her way.

Kooy lightly shook Chell "Ma'am, are you awake?" Her eyes slowly opened, and she jumped at the face staring back at her "Am I a backup? Was GLaDOS telling the truth?" The former security guard, feeling confused, scratched his head "Huh? Backup? What are you talking about?" She was busy inspecting her new clothing, a suit with some odd logo on it "Is this the updated Aperture Science Test Subject Uniform?" Kooy sighed, not knowing what to do about this girl "Why don't I get Doctor Green?" With that, he left the room rather quickly.

Colette had finally gotten the communications system working on a global level. Now she was smiling at the face of one of her former colleagues, Doctor Kleiner. "Its good to finally see you again Doctor Green, how go things in the former United States?" the aging scientist asked. "Not very well actually. Keller has been crushing all signs of resistance. We're still safe, thanks to Aperture's building being such a huge target for the Combine." Green sighed and moved aside to give Kleiner a view of a map of the area that she kept on her wall. It was covered in red X's. "The other bases haven't been so lucky. North Base is still just close enough that it is ignored, but everyone else has been slaughtered." Kleiner looked slightly distraught at this "My word...to think that we were under the impression that victory in City 17 would be an enormous success. We seem to have forgotten that this whole place is just one of seven conti-" The rest of the sentence was cut off by a knocking at the door to the lab.

Chell walked around the room, looking at the oddities. It didn't seem nearly as nice looking as the Enrichment Center. She soon found a door which she opened to find a sink, a toilet, and a bathtub. Feeling the need for some sense of familiarity, she walked over to the toilet and flushed it, only to be disappointed when it failed to produce a computerized voice. She tried again before coming to the conclusion that this one must be broken. As she walked back into the room that had been set aside for her, the door swung open, Colette Green standing on the other side "Miss, a group of Hunters have been spotted moving toward the base. Grab a gun and help us fight them off!" Chell nodded and followed her.

The Manhacks flew away from the APC, led by the Scanner. They had left a pool of Combine blood inside the APC, and were now searching for a new target. They had decided on the building in the distance. GLaDOS was concentrated on the live feed she received from the scanner. There were some kind of three legged creatures headed toward the same building as her new toys. She immediately identified them as the same things that had been trying to break into her precious Enrichment Center. After receiving a new command signal, the Manhacks turned their attention toward the monstrosities on the ground. Quite a few were lost, but, in the end, GLaDOS won the battle.

Colette looked through the stolen Combine Binoculars "That's odd. The hunters are dead. I wonder wha-...Oh no. Manhacks! Seal the windows!" Kooy, who had finally found the doctor, forgot about telling her to talk to Chell, and turned a wheel, bringing a think metal shield over the windows. The sound of metal scraping against metal could be heard from outside. Chell, who was currently holding a pulse rifle, ran downstairs. She aimed the gun toward the ground in the distance and fired, only to be confused by the lack of a portal. "What's wrong with this portal gun?" The vortigaunts who were guarding the entrance simply stared at her before returning to their work.

Chell made her way through the base, checking every room until she reached Doctor Green's lab. On the table was her precious portal gun. Abandoning the rifle, she grabbed it and ran back to Green and Kooy "I found a working gun!" This earned her a glare from Colette "Can you work that think?" "Of course!" she responded, before demonstrating by creating portals above and below her, causing her to fall until she created another portal elsewhere. "Fine, but we need actual weapons to fight the Combine!" Green shouted out of irritation. She then grabbed her own pulse rifle, unlocked the fire escape, and went outside to fire upon the invaders.

Breen looked at the wheelchair-bound scientist across from him. Keller was in his 70's now, but was still an excellent pawn. He had brought the aged man to City 17 from his own base in North America to congratulate him, and offer him a higher position. Keller smiled at Breen and calmly refused the offer "I don't need you dropping more of your work on me, Breen, I have my own problems to deal with. We've just lost an APC to Aperture." The now angry administrator frowned at the other man "I thought I ordered you to stop all operations against that building." "You did, but they took control of some Manhacks and a Scanner. The soldiers couldn't fight them off." Breen chuckled a bit "Keller, you're telling me that Aperture Science can not only crush every troop we send at them, but that they can also take control of our technology." The old man simply nodded. Breen continued "Perhaps, then, I should reconsider my offer and have you relocated to some other world instead!" This earned him a glare from the other scientist "Perhaps if they were better made they would not be taken so easily." "So this is our benefactors fault?" "No, its your fault for sending me second rate weaponry!" The administrator sighed, dismissed Keller, and went into the next room to speak to his own superiors.

Meanwhile, back in the Americas, Chell was running to escape a group of Manhacks. She shot a portal past some thick electric cabled that dangled from the ceiling and another beneath herself. She found herself safely on the other side, watching the 'hacks slice into the high voltage electrical equipment and end up fried. For a moment, she could have sworn seeing a man in a suit on one of the screens that there wires were connected to.

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w00t! Long chapter! Well...its long for me. Takes much longer to write than to read, so I'm sure this is short to all of you. GLaDOS is finally becoming a force to be reckoned with outside of her own base, and the G-Man has found a new potential employee. I own nothing, and I thank our good friends at the Combine Overwiki.