Victor Charlie

"Hurry Mason! I do not wish this rat hole to become my grave!"

- Reznov

"Victor Charlie" is the 9th mission in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Overview
In this mission the player will start off in a downed helicopter. An injured pilot calls for help, but is shot. Mason shoots 2 Viet Cong with his M1911. The chopper then sinks, Mason attempts to open the escape latch, only to have Reznov (on the outside of the chopper) do it for him. Mason then swims up to a Viet Cong sampan, climbs up and takes a Viet Cong troop hostage and uses him as a meat-shield to kill the rest of the hostiles with the Viet Cong AK-47. Shortly after some more firefights, Mason will only be armed with only a unique SOG knife. Now He and Woods go on a small stealth mission. First they pull two Viet Cong off their sampan and slit their throats. (then Mason plants C4 on an underneath structure.) Second they enter a small hut, and silently kill two sleeping enemies. And finally, Mason stabs a VC troop in the chest piercing his heart. Shortly after that, Mason and Woods will meet up with Bowman and another SOG operative. Now the 2 teams split up. Mason dives down a small cracked wood hole and plants another C4.

Now the player regroups with Woods, Bowman and several other SOG operatives and fight many Viet Cong targets, they go weapons free on them. The player is now armed with a Commando w/ Grenade Launcher, as well as a WA2000. The team encounter a ZPU, and Mason uses the Grim Reaper to dispose of it.

Next they encounter some rat holes, so Mason throws a grenade in each. Then they fight a turret, so if Mason still has the Grim Reaper, he can destroy it. If not, he will just have to kill the operator.

Now he and Swift are ordered to climb down a rat's nest and clear out any remaining Viet Cong, Woods gives Mason a flashlight, and he uses it with his Python. Mason orders Swift to hold, as he meets Reznov yet again, telling him Kravchenko is near. Swift takes point and yells at Mason "What the fuck's wrong with you?" He then, however is killed by a Viet Cong ambusher with a knife. Mason kills the hostile and moves on, he takes out more hostiles ambushed in the rat's nest, until finally meeting up with Reznov.

Reznov takes point, and counter attacks a Viet Cong ambusher. He then orders Mason to take point. As he kills many more Viet Cong, they finally get to a lab or small radio station of some sort, a tape plays, and Kravchenko describes the Nova 6 gas, its effects and the times it takes to kill the victim. The rat's nest is rigged to blow, Mason and Reznov crawl their way to an exit, right up until Mason must dig his way through some rocks.

When they reach the rats nest's exit, there is no sign of Woods or Bowman. Mason stands above a high cliff, and Reznov begins to engage enemy forces on the other side with only his CZ75. Suddenly, Woods and Bowman come to the rescue in a 1st Cavalry Division helicopter. Mason then jumps into the helicopter and the squad is sent to Laos.

Found in level
The following weapons can be found with and without attachments.

Trivia

 * At the part of the level where the two teams meet up, when Bowman jumps into the water, he seems to just disappear, as when the player goes underwater, they can see no trace of him or see him climbing out of the water.
 * When Bowman says, "Whiskey team, on me," then jumps into the water, it is strange that his partner does not follow him. It is possible that he could have been talking over his radio to other soldiers, and his partner could just be staying there to make sure no enemy reinforcements come.
 * When Bowman orders Mason to take out the ZPU on the river with the Grim Reaper, the former acknowledges him as a normal soldier, disregarding the latter's rank. But due to their camaraderie, Mason still obeyed Bowman's order.
 * While using the Viet Cong as a human shield on the beginning of the mission, look to the ammo of AK-47. It starts with a round of 80 in the magazine with no reserve ammo. This is strange because Mason is holding a 30 round magazine. After eliminating the other hostiles, it goes back to 30/270.
 * There is a strange thing that happens in this level, when the player swims away from the boats at the start of the level and get to the two sleeping soldiers, Woods will duck and tell the player to do the same even though it is a boarded up window.
 * There is an odd glitch if the player swims towards the C4 planting location while holding the activation key, they may see Mason has four arms; two are swimming and the other two are planting the bomb.
 * "Victor Charlie" was the term with which American soldiers referred the Viet Cong. The terms "Victor" and "Charlie" are the NATO phonetic alphabet codes for the letters "V" and "C," respectively.
 * A Commando with Tiger Camouflage can be found on a dead squad-mate. However on the PC version, the player starts the attack with the weapon.
 * It appears that the helicopter that is got shot down by Viet Cong soldiers belongs to the 1st Cavalry Division, shown by the horse head in the yellow background seen on the front of the helicopter.
 * Said helicopter above is also a reference to Apocalypse Now as the helicopter was also part of the 1st Cavalry Division.
 * After the player kills the Viet Cong on the ledge during the first battle, Woods will sometimes throw a grenade up the ledge as if the hostiles were still there. This could be because he was about to throw the grenade only to have Mason kill them before he actually threw it.
 * "Victor Charlie" and "Payback" are the only levels in the Call of Duty series where the player can use a human shield.
 * The tunnel scenes are quite gory, in the first few feet, there is a dead VC with blood, limbs and what could be interpreted as brains splattered on the wall, and every time you shoot an enemy in a limb, it blows off, causing the enemy to scream in pain and die. You can shoot off hands, arms, legs and feet, but you can't blow off their head, fingers, or toes (they are wearing sandals.)
 * The SOG knife used in this level is different from the normal melee knife.
 * After Woods silently instructs the player to kill the two sleeping Viet Cong, they can be left alone and do not actually need to be killed, without further consequences.
 * If the player blows up the machine gun with the Grim Reaper rather than shooting the operator they will receive an achievement/trophy called Heavy Hand, The machine gun is usable as well.
 * Diving to prone into the pit before the tunnels will result in death upon impact with the ground.
 * When the player is swimming to safety at the beginning,The player might notice that Reznov is not creating any air bubbles- this is possibly a form of foreshadowing at Reznov not actually being there, or a developer oversight.
 * When Bowman is seen for the first time when he takes out a guard, the player can aim his cross-hair over that guard the player will notice that they still are red, and that knifing the corpse from some distance will cause an odd stabbing animation. The corpse will bleed when knifed.
 * Also, the Viet Cong that Bowman killed may still be partially alive, because his fingers are twitching.
 * The bird perched on the roof of the house where you can kill the sleeping VC can occasionally be killed.
 * When one is swimming in the water, if one were to stay near the top of the water, and look to their side, they will see their shadow. All they see are arms, this is because there is no character model for the character.
 * In this mission, the player is given 6 different weapons without having to pick them up: the M1911, the AK-47, SOG knife, WA2000, the Commando grenade launcher, and the Python w/ flashlight.
 * In the Wii version the player doesn't get the WA2000 but keeps the M1911.
 * Although it only says Python and flashlight, the pistol also has a speed reloader.
 * The opening conversation between Woods and Mason is the only time in Call of Duty: Black Ops that a character addresses Woods only by his first name of Frank
 * It is impossible to pick up a weapon other than the Python in the tunnels. There is, however, another python that can be taken for ammo. In the chamber where the player is reunited with Reznov, a python snub nose is on a table, on top of a white binder, on the right of the chamber.
 * There is a glitch in this mission. After using the Vietcong as a human shield and killing all the enemies in there you will have to continue but Woods will start shooting at nothing in the river and you are not able to advance. Also, Reznov disappears (CONFIRMED)
 * This is the first time in any Call of Duty game where the player can see multiple snakes, birds, and fish acting as they would in their environment.
 * Firing the Python at enemies' limbs will cause the enemy to lose the limb, scream in pain, and die. However, in the rat tunnels, if the player misses a shot at an enemy, they will pretend to scream in pain in an attempt to trick the player into coming closer. If the enemy successfully tricks the player in this manner, Mason will become frustrated and curse the enemy.
 * When Mason encounters Reznov in the rat tunnels for the first time, he states the line "No one fights alone". This is the slogan/catchphrase for the Call of Duty series
 * When you are with Reznov in the rat tunnels if you shoot the Viet Cong soldier that attempts to kill Reznov the mark will show but there will be no effect. (The Viet Cong could have just been in Mason's mind as well as Reznov).
 * Woods and Bowman repeatedly refer to the helicopters as "Hornets," an homage to the fact that SOG's Huey helicopters were called the Green Hornets.
 * When Bowman and Woods talk about the ZSU shooting down the Huey's they refer to the support as "FAC' this is incorrect FAC mean Forward Air Control what they should have said was FAS or Forward Air Support.
 * After Bowman and another SOG operative kill two Viet Cong standing guard before being approached by Mason and Woods, if you check the water where the other body should be it is not there.
 * It seems strange that when Swift and Mason enter the tunnel, Swift has a silenced M1911 while Mason has a Python. Tunnel Rats in Vietnam often used silenced weapons because firing a weapon like a revolver in such tight spaces would be extremely loud and potentially hurt the shooter's hearing and give their position away.
 * Even though the player is placing C4 packs, Woods will call it Semtex.
 * Strangely, in the cutscene leading up to this mission it shows a UH-1 Huey with rockets and guns mounted on it crashing, but in-game the model is of a transport.
 * Mason automatically equips 5 weapons in total, an AK-47, M1911, Commando, Python, and a WA2000.
 * There is a glitch when Bowman does not appear to open the rat tunnel. The player must restart the level.
 * There are two sleeping Viet Cong in the hut. The way the player kills each Viet Cong is different.
 * It is odd how Mason got a Commando and a WA2000 when Semtex is detonated, knowing the player doesn't use the weapons before the detonation.
 * In Kravchenko's room, you will find the same picture of the Soviet soldiers during the level Project Nova and it is the same that you find in Kravchenko's room in the level Payback.
 * The player can kill the chickens and pigs in the village after detonating the C4s.
 * This is the first time Chickens appear outside of cages in the Call of Duty series.
 * There are a few free chickens seen right before the player detonates the Semtex. The player can kill them with the M1911 without revealing their position, even though the Viet Cong are right in front of them.
 * When Mason said to Woods on the rat tunnel, Woods said, "Charlie at 9' o clock." But the Viet Cong moves right not left.
 * The slow motion bullet could be a spoof to the movie "Wanted".
 * In the rat tunnels, the huge bugs on the walls cannot be killed.
 * The ZPU in the village can be destroyed by 2-3 shots of a Commando.
 * It is possible to take out the ZSU in one shot with the WA2000 by killing the enemy operating the ZSU.
 * In the beginning of the level after the helicopter gets shot down and Mason examines the pilot in the PS3/360 version, the pilot is wearing a pilot helmet with a protector covering it's eyes and it's white skinned. While in the Wii version, the pilot is brown-skinned and no protector is being used to cover his eyes.
 * Sometimes, Mason will say "Rat tunnel up ahead" twice, prompting Woods to say "I see it" after each one.
 * When the player escapes the rat tunnels and is on the cliffs, Reznov appears beside the player. This is odd as Reznov should have still been crawling out of the tunnel and Mason was in front of the exit, though this could draw more proof to the fact that Reznov isn't really there.
 * The player cannot pick up any weapons in the rat tunnels, as the enemy weapons disappear.
 * The AK-47s that the Viet Cong drop will occasionally have woodland camouflage.
 * The raven seen in this level, right before you pass the sleeping Viet Cong, uses the same skin as the ravens in Vendetta.
 * The dead pilot in the left seat of the downed chopper is always named Pvt. Davis.
 * There is no real evidence on how the chopper had crashed but is most likely implied that it was hit by the ZPU in the village.
 * When heading to the rally point to meet up with Bowman, the Viet Cong guards' conversations are about fishing.
 * While holding Python with flashlight, it's still possible to sprint. It's done by holding the "sprint" button, but the weapon won't shake unlike the other ones in the game.
 * Sometimes Woods won't say "Shh. Charlie."
 * Sometimes, if you stop for short moments while crawling out of the rat tunnel, Reznov won't appear on the cliff.
 * In the rat tunnels, turning off your flashlight wont stop the Vietcong from spotting you, as they will simply attack you anyway, despite them not actually seeing you.