That reminds me of the Control level in Goldeneye. You're trying to blast guards coming in left and right, and Natalya's just slowly slamming the keyboard with her fists and not making any effort to hurry up or defend herself. In general I hate levels in games where you can't do the work yourself or you have to escort someone who's dumber than a bag of hammers. Because then you feel like you're not in control of the situation, and the last thing I need is for Happy McRedShirt to pick up a bomb and think it's a Twinkie.
So now I know why you usually keep McRedShirt locked up in a room while you handle the situation yourself. But if you can't do anything and have to rely on an NPC... go hide in a dresser and wait for it to all blow over.