The Hornet's Nest

"My friend, from up here, it looks like the whole village is trying to kill you!" "Tell me something I don't know! Just be ready to pick us up!"

- Nikolai and Captain MacTavish

The Hornet's Nest is a singleplayer campaign mission in Modern Warfare 2. Following the capture and interrogation of Alejandro Rojas, US forces have been barred from entering Brazilian airspace, forcing Captain MacTavish to call for outside help. The player controls Sgt. Gary "Roach" Sanderson as he and Task Force 141 escape the favela through a market to reach Nikolai's Pave Low.

Opening Cutscene
Ghost: I can't get anyone on the horn.

Captain MacTavish: The Russians must've copied the ACS module. Got the key to every lock in America.

Ghost: And they're killing a thousand Americans for every dead civilian in Moscow. Look's like we're all out of friends.

(Then a picture of Nikolai appears)

Captain MacTavish: I know a guy. Let's find a payphone, they still exist?

Ghost: All we got out of Rojas is that the only person Makarov hates worse than Americans is locked up in a gulag.

Captain MacTavish: It's all we got. If this con's the bait to catch that psychopath, let's hang him from a tree.

Walkthrough
The player starts with Roach & his squad members near the last location of Takedown, with Rojas' body after being electrified. Move up until the player ends up in a square. Militia will begin attacking the group from buildings and cover in the center of the square. Eventually two Technicals will enter the square. The player and his/her teammates make quick work of them.

After fighting through the militia, Nikolai's Pave Low will attempt to land at the first LZ (landing zone). The LZ is too "hot" and Soap will tell Nikolai to land at the second LZ on the roofs of the slums. The player and his/her team will jump from roof to roof across buildings until there is a gap that the player/Roach attempts to jump but misses. He loses his grip and Soap will try to grab him before he falls. Sadly, Soap misses Roach's hand, and Roach falls into the alley below.

The screen will black out for a few seconds, and Captain MacTavish tells Roach to get back onto the roofs so that he can be rescued. Nikolai announces that the helicopter is at nearly bingo (not enough fuel in reserve to make it back) fuel and that he will have to dust off (leave) in 30 seconds. The player will have to run unarmed to the roof with Soap guiding him/her back to the LZ. Roach will slide down from a roof into a house, run, and jump onto the Pave Low's ladder. The mission ends with Roach hanging onto the ladder, looking out over the bay of Rio de Janeiro as Soap tells Nikolai "just take us to the sub".

Enemy Intelligence
Intel No. 15: After 1st fire-fight. Look south from the antenna and you will see a doorway with a small inbetween a red section (on the left) and a yellow section (on the right) go throught that doorway it will be on the table on you're right.

Intel No. 16: After 2nd fire-fight, Follow the path to the left ,next to the red top yellow middle and red bottom building, you will see a washing machine. At it's left corner behind the machine is two barrels, The Intel is on top of them.

Intel No. 17: After 3rd fire-fight, on the hill street. Second floor behind "Pelayo's" ice cream store (West side). Kinda hard to miss the stairs.

Intel No. 18: After 5th fire-fight, on the soccer field. Inside the window behind the far soccer goal net (West side).

Weapon Loadout
In this level, the player starts with a UMP .45 with an ACOG Scope and a Glock 18.

Opening

 * The name and plot may be a reference to the novel Black Hawk Down, in which the Rangers have captured some leaders of a militia, then must make it out of the "Hornet's Nest" that is a Somali marketplace, in this case a Brazilian marketplace. They are also being followed by every villager with some sort of weapon as Nikolai notes. ("My friend, from up here it looks like the whole village is trying to kill you.") This is true in BHD as well.
 * At the beginning, Alejandro Rojas is nearby, bound to a metal fence. He is still alive at this point, but can be killed by the player with no penalty. Beside him on a table there is the car battery which is seen in Takedown.


 * The car battery used to torture Rojas is connected at both terminals, which would suggest Rojas should be being shocked. However, the TF 141 may have drained the battery, which would explain why it has no effect.
 * It was possible there was an intended torture scene with the player torturing Rojas, as there is a power drill on a table next to him and located in the games files(found on pc) is the remnants of a cut weapon called "powerdrill".


 * After the first firefight, if the player goes back to where Rojas was tortured, mysteriously he won't be there anymore.


 * The mounted guns on the "technicals" can be used, they have the use icon of the M249 SAW from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.


 * One of the starting allies is called Rocket. This is probably a reference to the main character of the 2002 Brazilian movie City of God, which is also set in Rio de Janeiro.


 * At the beginning of the level Rocket and Chemo are always the first two randomly created soldiers of the squad escaping.
 * Oddly, the ACR Grenadier w/ ACOG and M1014 the player had in Takedown are gone.

Market

 * A M79 "Thumper" and Winchester Model 1887 can be located in the building named "Pelayo's," which apparently is an ice-cream eatery and a reference to the Cobra pilot from the last game. These particular weapons are a homage to the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day.


 * It is possible for either Rocket or Chemo to survive on Recruit. It is easier to save Rocket because Chemo is usually killed near the beginning. It may involve going to the last checkpoint if they die.
 * If the player watches one of the planes taking off they will notice it disappears after a few seconds and leaves two small blips in the sky. This happens every time.
 * There is a Desert Eagle located near the Pelayo's ice-cream eatery.

Chase

 * Instead of shooting MacTavish, the Brazilian Militia decide to shoot Roach while he is jumping.


 * It is possible to get ahead of MacTavish when running across the roofs, in which case he will not be seen attempting to catch Roach when he falls.


 * If the player jumps at exactly the right time, a little faster than Soap, the player may see Soap in mid-air performing the jump, and another Soap reaching for the player as scripted. While tumbling, the player may see the Soap that was previously jumping reach for them a second time.


 * If the player doesn't attempt to make the first jump he/she can see Soap, the TF-141 soldier, and Ghost jump and land. Soap and the TF-141 member whip out their sidearms while Ghost is still holding his beginning weapon. This is because Soap and the other soldier dropped their weapons when running across the rooftops


 * After Roach falls down to the streets, and while he is running to find a way to the rooftops, the player will see gunshots fly through Roach's side, but if the player looks behind him, nobody is there.
 * If the player does not attempt the impossible jump, they can observe an M4A1 on the ground.


 * If the player does not attempt the impossible jump, they may sink through the floor.


 * After the player falls, they cannot use any weapons or items, but they also run faster than usual. The weapons that Roach originally wielded have disappeared.


 * If the player looks to the right, they will see a group of enemies. If the player runs past them, they can fall outside the level through this unfinished area.


 * When Roach slides down the roof at the end and smash the window, even if the player only had say 1 second on the clock when Roach smashed the window he/she will be granted with another 10 seconds.
 * The player can jump and miss the Pave Low's ladder.


 * If the player is hurt while in the last unarmed run, the "hurt" message will say "You are hurt, run for your life!" rather than, "Get to cover!"


 * MacTavish says "Jump for it!" before the player jumps off of the roof and grabs the ladder. This could be an homage to the level "Crew Expendable," as an ally says the same thing as Soap jumps for the chopper.


 * During the jump in which Roach falls off of the roof, the player can save time by simply running off of the roof.


 * At the very end of this level the statue of Christ the Redeemer has disappeared.


 * Although the pilot in the Pave Low is Nikolai, it does not actually use Nikolai's character model and appears to be a completely different person. Also, if players look closely, they will see that Soap's mouth moves when Nikolai says "Where to, my friend?"


 * After the player falls from the rooftops, there is an M4A1 nearby. It can be picked up and used, but when the player switches from the M4A1 to bare hands, the game will say "no weapon selected." This is the only known instance in which this occurs.
 * When Roach jumps onto the ladder on the Pave Low, when Soap looks down at Roach, Roach will wave his fingers at Soap.

Easter eggs

 * Near the beginning of the level, where one of the enemy trucks would first circle the map for one lap before stopping, there is a small row of poppy plants towards the right corner of the map. If the player walks into them and goes behind a building, they will find a former "hideout" of a child. There is a tall crate with a teddy bear sitting atop a drawing of different sized hands. Next to the crate is a soccer ball and on the wall is a movie poster for a movie called "Porter Justice". Porter Justice is also featured in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and other Modern Warfare 2 levels.


 * Right after Nikolai's Pave Low leaves for the first time there is a laundromat (Lavanderia) with what appear to be faces of the game developers on the walls.


 * There are posters that have an Infinity Ward logo, a number 23, a photo (in low resolution) of a man with a microphone, and the name Griggs.


 * In the marketplace with all of the chickens, there is a television on the wall to the left from where the player enters the market. Shooting the screen will reveal a teddy bear inside.

Miscellaneous

 * The music heard at the end of the mission, in the helicopter, is the victory music for the Militia in multiplayer.


 * The Model 1887 appears multiple times in this level. It appears in this level, Takedown, and Loose Ends.
 * The UMP45 in the game has a much longer effective range than it does in reality. The pistol rounds used in the UMP submachine gun, particularly for the UMP45 variant, are not designed to shoot beyond 50m to 70m.


 * The news feed featured in the opening intermission are made of parts of the world reveal trailer. Some include scenes from the game in future levels that haven't happened yet.


 * Ghost says his signature quote "Let's do this!" in reference to his featured Special Ops missions where he says the same thing at the beginning of each mission. (Although the similar character Gaz also said the same sentence in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare at the beginning of each S.A.S multiplayer match.)


 * It is unclear as to how Nikolai obtains a Pave Low to help evacuate TF141, as with the C-130 in "The Enemy Of My Enemy" and Little Bird in "Endgame".


 * There is a glitch when the player is doing the 1st jump. Hold any type of grenade, then jump to the next roof. Just before Roach falls to the ground, a third hand will appear to throw the grenade.


 * If the player does the elevator glitch trying to go to the LZ, Nikolai's Pave Low will be floating in the middle of the sky.


 * The last part of this level, where Roach has to escape to Nikolai's Pave Low, could be a reference to the game "Mirror's Edge", as the player is unarmed and has to run through buildings and jump over rooftops in order to evade armed hostiles. The player can even see both their hands in this part, like in "Mirror's Edge".
 * During the jump where Roach is scripted to fall, if the player doesn't quite make it to the other roof, the game will pull the player to the roof for them.
 * If Chemo or Rocket die, they will usually be replaced with Taco or Bearcat.