David "Section" Mason

"This is what Menendez planned all along. Taking out the G20 leaders will cripple capitalist governments across the world."

- David Mason

Lieutenant Commander David Mason (codenamed Section) is a playable character and the main protagonist in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. He is the son of CIA Agent Alex Mason, and also a member of SEAL Team Six and the JSOC counter-terrorism. He is also the Commander of all Strike Force missions from the U.S.S Barack Obama.

Early life
David Mason was born in 1978 or 1979 to CIA Agent Alex Mason and his wife. Raised in his father's hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska, David's relationship with his father soured after the death of his mother. Due to his father's past experiences, harsh upbringing, and his commitment to serve the U.S., David held a deep resentment towards his dad but did not want to lose him, which was why he had his dad promised to not go on any more missions for the military.

In 1986, the retired Alex Mason returned to active duty with the CIA to rescue Frank Woods, leaving the young David in the care of Jason Hudson's wife, Jenny. In 1989, Raul Menendez kidnapped David, drugged him unconscious, and brought him to Panama prior to Mason's mission to capture then-dictator of Panama, Manuel Noriega. Menendez's moles within the CIA helped facilitate Noriega's capture and fooled both Mason and Woods into believing that they would be trading the captured dictator for Menendez. After Woods was tricked into shooting and possibly killing Mason, believing it was Menendez, the narco-terrorist killed Hudson and left both the young David and crippled Woods alive. David later came out of his trance only to see his father unresponsive. Believing his father to be dead depending on the player's actions, David started to cry while Woods attempted to comfort him only to lose consciousness from his wounds. Guilt-ridden about having shot his best friend, Woods took the young David in and raised him.

Early Military Career
When David became of age 17 he either enlisted in the U.S. Navy or graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy as a Naval Officer and eventually made it into the Navy's elite U.S. Navy SEALs. After a few years in the regular SEAL Teams, David was accepted to try out and accepted into the ultra-elite SEAL Team Six. David Mason would also rise to the rank of Lieutenant Commander before the events of Call of Duty: Black Ops II occurred.

Events of Black Ops II
Thirty years since his last encounter with David, Raul Menendez rose to power and planned to launch a cyberattack in an attempt to start the Second Cold War. On April 19, 2025, David, having become a Navy SEAL Commander codenamed Section, with his ally and close friend Mike Harper, and a team, went to Woods' retirement home and asked him about his knowledge on Menendez. Woods recounted his adventures with Mason from his rescue at Angola, up to Nicaragua, when he assumed Menendez was dead. When Section questioned why Woods was still alive even though Menendez paid him a visit, Woods ignored the question and told him to "go find that maniac".

The day after, Section, along with Harper, Salazar and Crosby went to investigate the presence of Menendez's soldiers at Myanmar. Here, they discovered that Menendez was planning to use Celerium as a basis for a cyber attack that could cripple the entire cyberworld. They also learned that Menendez was using all his cartel money to hire Militias, SDCs and Mercenaries. He was using the facility in Myanmar to build his own army of CLAWs, quadrotors (MQ-27 Dragonfires), A.S.D.s, and MQ Drones. With the help of a scientist named Erik Breighner, Section and his team retrieved a Celerium core, which he later gave to Admiral Tommy Briggs who brought in an extraction team.

About one month later, Section and his team went to investigate Menendez's second-in-command, DeFalco, who was spotted in Pakistan. They were able to infiltrate Anthem, and managed to record Menendez's conversation with the leader of the Pakistani ISI, revealing that General Tian Zhao of the SDC was secretly forming an alliance with Menendez and that they would have a meeting on June 17. They managed to escape after almost being compromised, but ran into Zhao's forces. However, Zhao let them live since he assumed they were only after Menendez, and didn't know his secret because he didn't want to get captured.

The intel recorded from the conversation also revealed that Karma, which was then assumed as the cyberweapon Menendez planned to use, was on Colossus. Section, Harper and Salazar went to Colossus, and after fighting through several PMCs found out that Menendez planned to bomb the entire floating island. They also discovered that "Karma" was not a weapon, but a woman named Chloe Lynch. They located Chloe at Club Solar, but at the same time DeFalco also appeared and took several bystanders hostage. After Chloe decided to give herself in, Section and his team gave chase. They either managed to save Chloe and kill DeFalco, or let DeFalco escape with Chloe.

Knowing that Woods still had some information, Section went to The Vault and asked about what happened at Panama. As the story was told, Section was shocked to find out that his father did not die by the hands of Menendez, but rather Woods himself. Knowing that it was not his fault, Section reassured Woods that Menendez would be defeated.

David assisted in the ambush on a Cordis Die rally in Yemen, and appeared in person after either Harper or Farid was killed. Harper or Farid were evacuated and Section advanced on a crashed VTOL Warship where Menendez was. David captured Menendez without incident and brought him back to the U.S.S. Barack Obama.

Section interrogated Menendez, but he took Salazar hostage and incapacitated Section. When he came to his senses, Section fought through the Obama, defending it from an attack by the Mercs. Section attempted to contact Briggs but to no avail. Over the security cameras, he witnessed Menendez take Briggs hostage and Salazar betrays them, as well as the killing or wounding of Briggs. Menendez used the Celerium worm in his fake eye to hack the world's defense systems. Section came down, and either Chloe (if alive) attempted to reboot the system or Section himself did. He then confronted the captured Salazar, who surrendered without incident. Section escaped the U.S.S. Obama (with Harper, if he survived).

Believing that Menendez might be planning to target the U.S. President, Section took charge of escorting President Bosworth through the streets of Los Angeles amidst the worldwide chaos of Menendez's hacking. He also assisted several G20 convoys (including the Frenchs President's), and piloted an FA38 to cover the convoy from above until the reach the Prom Night Hotel.

Having finally secured the president, Section led an international team of special forces in a massive raid on Menendez's Cordis Die facility in Haiti, where the systems were being controlled. Midway, he witnessed a live broadcast by Menendez, and the self-destruction of the hacked drone army. He continued pursuing Menendez (with Harper, if he survived). As they reached a room, the floor beneath them exploded. Section managed to grab hold of the ledge, but then noticed Menendez about to escape with two Mercs soldiers (one of which could be DeFalco, if he survived; as well as Harper having his leg injured). Section slid down, while grabbing a KAP-40 from a dead soldier's holster, and shot the Mercs (and DeFalco if he wasn't killed earlier). He then stabbed Menendez twice, grabbed his Tac-45, and could either execute or capture him.

If Section captures him, Menendez is escorted to a VTOL Warship and flies away in the distance. Depending on the survival of Chloe, Menendez either stays in prison, with Cordis Die gone in the 'best' ending, or escapes from prison, murders Woods, and commits suicide, possibly triggering his death video in the 'worst' ending.

If Section kills him, a death video is triggered on Youtube, causing massive public outrage, worldwide riots and chaos, with military and police forces weakened by Menendez's attack, hinting at the destruction of the U.S. government.

If Woods shoots Alex Mason anywhere that isn't the head or torso, Mason reappears in 2025 and greets Woods at the Vault. When Section arrives, Woods introduces him to his Dad, causing him great shock. Mason then reminds Section of the scar he got back in 1986, and how he made him proud that day.

Trivia

 * Section outranks his father (Mason was a Captain, Section is a Lieutenant Commander, which in the Army and the US Marine Corps is a Major).
 * He is the fourth playable character known to see their reflection in-game, the first being Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's John Price in "Dust to Dust", the second being Raul Menendez in "Time and Fate" and the third being Frank Woods in "Suffer with Me".
 * Liam O'Brien was Section's voice actor during the E3 2012 LA demo. In the finished version of the game Rich McDonald portrays Section in 2025, while Hayden Byerly portrays a young David Mason in the 1980's missions.
 * In the Mission "Cordis Die", during the E3 2012 gameplay, Section's reflection has many differences to the finished in-game cutscene, the largest being he doesn't have any glasses on and he bears a resemblance more to Harper than his finished self.
 * Section also appears in Black Ops II's outro dancing and is seen holding a Cordis Die sign.
 * Section is the only playable character in Black Ops II that stands over 6 feet tall.
 * Section is the only main character in Black Ops II who cannot die, regardless of the player's actions.
 * Section is currently one of two characters in the Call of Duty series who is seen as a child, as well as an adult; the other being Raul Menendez.
 * Also, Section is the first playable character in Call of Duty series to be the son of another playable character, Alex Mason, making this the first father-son relationship on-screen in the series.
 * Section is the first protagonist in the Call of Duty series to have the game go into his personal life, including his childhood, relationship with Alex Mason and Frank Woods, past with Raul Menendez, as well as his personal life in between missions.
 * Whenever Section is seen in third person, he wears a pair of shades that acts as his HUD, displaying several in-game mechanics such as ammo count, objectives, etc... However, in pre-rendered cutscenes, he is never seen wearing these.
 * Interestingly enough, when players play as Farid in Achilles' Veil, the same HUD style is used although Farid is not wearing any sort of shades.
 * Section's age in 2025 was revealed in a teaser picture, released long before the game, leading to speculation that he was born in 1980. However, during the intro cutscene, Alex states that David is 7 years old in 1986, so it is likely that the information has been changed, and he was born in 1979 instead. However, if Section was born sometime in July then the speculated information is still likely to be correct.
 * David Mason is referenced to as 'Section' as an adult and as 'David' as a child in the subtitles.
 * When Section is reuniting with his father, he draws a B23R when entering Woods' room, but if Mason is killed and when Section is visiting his grave, he draws a M1911 instead and puts it in front of the gravestone.
 * Section doesn't appear in any way during one ending in the game; the ending where Menendez kills Woods and then himself at his sister's grave.
 * Section joined the U.S. Navy when he was 17, like Joseph Bowman.

Дэвид Мэйсон

David Mason