Alex Mason

"Woods, you look like hammered shit."

- Alex to Woods.

"Woods, you look like hammered shit."

- Alex Mason to Frank Woods Captain Alex Mason is a CIA agent and retired Marine Force Recon Captain. He is the main protagonist and the primary playable character in Call of Duty: Black Ops,  and a playable character, NPC, one of the main protagonists in Call of Duty: Black Ops II and the second most playable character of that game. He also appears as an NPC in Black Ops DS and as a playable character in Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified

Early Life and Military Career
Alex was born on June 3, 1933 and raised by Dot Mason (and his unnamed Mother) in Fairbanks, Alaska; the geographical proximity of his home state to Communist Russia brought the threat of the Cold War much closer to his doorstep than most Americans. This was a key contributor to his fervent anti-Communist ideals and eventually led to his enlistment in the USMC. He spent his youth hunting elk and grizzlies in the Alaskan wilderness with his father (A WWII veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart for wounds received during action at the Makin Atoll); as such, he is adept in cold weather environments and is an excellent sniper; at the age of 23 he became the youngest Wimbledon Cup winner in the history of the marksmanship competition.

He was recruited to SAD/SOG at the age of 25 after an exemplary term of service with the Marines. Having served with distinction since joining the Agency, Mason has a long standing friendship with many of his fellow Agency colleagues and shows a particular kinship with operative Frank Woods. Always itching for action, Mason's tendency towards impulsiveness is the one trait that may not have been completely "trained out of him." However, his close friend Woods is well aware of this, and knows exactly when and how to rein him in.

Service in the Korean War
In the early 1950s, Mason served as a United States Marine in South Korea. Shortly after his service there, he joined the CIA.

Bay of Pigs Invasion
"You ready to make history?"

- Woods to Mason before killing Castro's double.

In 1961, Mason was a member of a CIA task force known as Operation 40. Mason and fellow Operation 40 members Joseph Bowman, and Frank Woods, infiltrated Cuba prior to the Bay of Pigs invasion to carry out Operation Zapata, the assassination of Fidel Castro. Using the distraction caused by the Bay of Pigs invasion, Mason, Bowman, and Woods raided a compound where Castro is reportedly living. Mason and Woods encountered Castro with a mistress in his bedroom; Mason then killed Castro.

During their escape, Cuban military forces rapidly turned the tables on the U.S.-supported Cuban rebels and swarmed the airfield where Op 40's escape plane is located. While Mason, Bowman, and Woods made it to the plane, Mason bailed out just before takeoff to clear the runway of Cuban military vehicles. Mason was subdued and captured by Cuban troops. Regaining consciousness, he watched as Fidel Castro, alive and well (the "Castro" Mason shot was a double), turned Mason over to Soviet General Nikita Dragovich as a "gift of their new alliance".

Imprisonment at Vorkuta and Russian programming attempt
"It was their attempt at MK-Ultra. Dragovich programmed you to kill Kennedy, but Reznov sabotaged you."

- Jason Hudson describing the Russian's programming to Alex Mason

Mason was transported to a Soviet labor camp at Vorkuta, Russia. There, Dragovich had Friedrich Steiner and Lev Kravchenko brainwash Mason; Mason was implanted with the knowledge to interpret the outgoing broadcasts from Dragovich's numbers station, and was also programmed to become a Soviet sleeper agent with the primary purpose of assassinating then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy. While Mason's willpower resisted the programming, but they eventually succeeded. Then, Viktor Reznov, a former hero of the Red Army who was betrayed by Dragovich and his underling Colonel Lev Kravchenko, successfully sabotaged Mason's brainwash, programming him to instead kill Steiner, Kravchenko, and Dragovich out of revenge.

Meeting Reznov and the Vorkuta uprising
"I'd given up hope of ever gettin' out. But Viktor Reznov found a way."

- Mason to his interrogators.

By Mason's account, it was six to seven weeks after his arrival at Vorkuta that he was then thrown into the labor force. There it did not take long for him to clash with prisoners loyal to Reznov. The fights got both Mason and Reznov each one month of solitary confinement, in which they both became fast friends. Sometime later, Mason and Reznov plot their escape from Vorkuta. On October 6, 1963, the Vorkuta prisoners initiated a riot and charged out of the mines and the breakout began. Mason escaped back to the U.S. while Reznov died helping him escape; Mason at that moment was unaware he was ever brainwashed.

Family Obligations
"You should have stayed in Vorkuta."

- Dot to his son

A few years after Alex came back from Vorkuta to join the SOG, his mother fell ill and his father called him and his siblings to her death bed. Mason failed to arrive, leaving a bad impression on his father, Dot, and his sister, Marion. The two sent a few more letters to Alex but he failed to reply to any of those. From then, his father considered that his son should have died in Vorkuta, but Marion had informed Mason that he could stay with her at Renier if he needed to, and that her children still loved their "hero," uncle Alex.

Operation Flashpoint
"It's Weaver. He's burnt."

- Mason informing Woods of Weaver's compromise.

Upon his return to the USA, Mason was escorted by his new handler Jason Hudson and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to the Pentagon, where he was given direct orders from President Kennedy to begin Operation Flashpoint: Mason and his team must locate and kill Dragovich and sabotage the Soviet space program. Throughout the meeting, Mason heard the numbers inside his head, causing him to experience everything as though it was a dream; when speaking with Kennedy, Mason hallucinated taking a pistol and pointing it at Kennedy, meaning he was at least partially under Dragovich's control, although resisting it.

On November 17, 1963, Mason and the CIA infiltrated a Soviet Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan per Operation Flashpoint. The Soviets were already aware of this attack by the capturing of Grigori Weaver, a CIA double agent who was compromised by Kravchenko. Mason and his team were able to rescue Weaver (though his left eye was gouged out by Kravchenko) and fought their way to the control bunker for the Soyuz 2 rocket, but were unable to abort the launch.

Mason used a prototype Valkyrie Rocket to destroy Soyuz 2 in mid-air, after which the Operation 40 squad began a sweep of the facility to eliminate the surviving members of the Ascension group, a group of former Nazi scientists who had been collaborating with the Soviets, and to hunt down Dragovich. They cornered Dragovich in his limousine and destroyed it, but rather than verify Dragovich's death, Mason decided to move on after being told by Woods that the explosion would not have left anything recognizable. Dragovich was assumed to be dead, but this was later proven to be far from the truth.

Kennedy Assassination
"There are gaps in your memory. Periods where you went MIA and we couldn’t account for you."

- Jason Hudson to Mason after his interrogation.

Five days after Operation Flashpoint, on November 22, 1963, President Kenendy was assassinated. It is suggested that Mason was involved in the assassination while under the Soviet programming. After Mason escapes his interrogation in 1968 he has flashbacks suggesting he was involved in the Kennedy assassination. At one point he says "Proceed...to...target. Oswald...compromised". This is probably referring to the man who was believed to have shot President Kennedy: Lee Harvey Oswald, who was a Soviet defector. When Mason has Dragovich pinned down on board the numbers station, Mason yells at Dragovich "You tried to make me kill my own President!" to which Dragovich smiles and replies in a mocking tone, "TRIED?!" suggesting that the Russian programming worked.

However in 1989, when Mason is talking to Mark McKnight, McKnight asks about his brainwashing and Mason mentions that the Soviets "gave it their best shot", so it is possible that he was not involved in the Kennedy assassination and that his programming failed.

Imprisonment in Cuba
It is known that Mason, along with Sgt. Michael Shaw, were captured while on a secret mission in Cuba in 1967. A rescue team, led by Sgt. Thomas Hayes, was sent to rescue them on November 10, 1967, but due to bad intel, they were only able to escape with Shaw. Mason eventually escaped, but it is never explained in-game how he did it.

Vietnam, Laos and Kravchenko
"Woods! You look like hammered shit!"

- Mason to Woods, joking about his appearance.



Almost five years after the events of Baikonur, in 1968, Mason joined the SOG unit led by Frank Woods and was sent to Vietnam for the purpose of searching for covert Soviet operations in Vietnam and Laos. After landing at Khe Sanh to meet up with Woods and the rest of his old unit, the hill of Khe Sanh came under attack by NVA forces. Mason, Woods, and Special Agent Hudson repelled the beginning of the attack before the SOG unit left for its mission.

In Hue City, they attempted to pick up a Soviet defector with vital information of Soviet involvement in the war. Inside a safe room, Mason believed he is reunited with Reznov, "the defector", although "Reznov" was a figment of his imagination and the real one died after Mason got on the train from Vorkuta. After collecting the intel, the team left Hue City.

While heading north into Communist territory, Mason's helicopter was shot down but, spurred on by a hallucinated image of Reznov, he escaped the wreckage. Mason and the rest of the team silently entered a village where they sabotaged Viet Cong equipment. Afterwards, Mason cleared out a "rat tunnel" and retrieved a Soviet operations book from Kravchenko's office. The tunnel later collapsed as a result of booby traps set by Kravchenko, and Mason barely escaped with his life.

The intel led them to a Soviet cargo plane downed in Laos which was believed to be carrying some sort of chemical weapon. Mason remembered stories Reznov had told him about a nerve gas called Nova 6, originally developed by Nazi scientist Friedrich Steiner, but commandeered by General Dragovich and reproduced by Daniel Clarke. After combating their way up the river to the crash site, the SOG team was set upon by both VC and Spetsnaz before making their way into the plane. There, they found the Soviets have already retrieved the cargo and were waiting for them to arrive in the valley below. After an explosive fight, the plane wreckage tumbled down a cliff and the team was taken prisoner by the Spetsnaz for the second time.

At a VC compound, Mason, Woods, and Bowman were forced to play Russian Roulette. Bowman defiantly insulted his captors, prompting their Soviet contact to club him to death with a pipe. Woods played, choosing an empty chamber, whispering to Mason that the next one was loaded. Mason shot the VC leader in the chest and took his pistol, fighting out of the compound and killing the Soviet. Woods and Mason commandeered a Hind and flew it to Kravchenko's compound, where they battled to his office along with "Reznov" and attacked him. Mason was overpowered and Kravchenko began to repeatedly kick him, before being stabbed by Woods. Kravchenko pulled the pins on his grenades, prompting Woods to throw both of them out of the office window. Mason watched the ensuing explosion and believes himself and "Reznov" to be the only survivors. In reality, the two survived, but Kravchenko brought Woods to a Viet Cong prison camp, which he escaped from in 1972.

Hunting Steiner
"How many times?! Steiner was at Rebirth Island! We had to kill Steiner!"

- Mason to his interrogators.

A letter in Kravchenko's office showed that Steiner was overseeing Nova 6 operations on Rebirth Island in the Aral Sea. Mason infiltrated the island with imaginary Reznov at his side, flying into a port in Mo'ynoq using a requisitioned light aircraft and stowing away in an empty crate being handled into the island. When the crane carrying the crate set it down, they exited the crate and proceeded with making their way to the labs. They attempted to access the labs through the rooftops, when suddenly an explosion in the distance occured, with the base going to full-alert. Mason told Reznov that it was the CIA assaulting the island to take Steiner alive. The two then picked up their pace to get to Steiner first, going down an elevator shaft, and breach the laboratories from there, carving through troops and scientists alike to get to Steiner. They eventually cleared the facility out, and entered Steiner's lab.

Steiner was contacting Hudson, desperately asking them to hurry up and extract him from the island, as Dragovich's men were executing personnel on the island. Mason then confronted Steiner, who was shocked that Mason had managed to reach him. Reznov began beating Steiner, who claimed killing him would not stop the Nova 6 attacks. Reznov paid no mind, and instead reclaimed revenge in his name. Hudson and Weaver managed to make it to the lab, and tried entering the lab from a window by shooting it, but it was bulletproof, forcing the pair to break it with a crate. But by the time they managed to break the window, they were too late, as Mason witnessed Reznov shoot Steiner. However, as the same story was told through Hudson's perspective, it was finally revealed that Reznov was a figment of Mason's imagination, and Mason was the one actually executing Steiner. As stated above, they broke the bulletproof glass and entered the room too late, as Mason shot Steiner in the head. He then shot Weaver in the arm when Weaver tried to apprehend him. Hudson then tackled and disarmed Mason, knocking him out with a pistol-whip. With Steiner dead, they left the island with Mason as their only link to the numbers, leading to his interrogation.

Interrogation and Redemption
"I remember...Ahhhh! Vorkuta..."

- Alex Mason

Following his apprehension by Hudson and Weaver at Rebirth Island, Mason was interrogated ruthlessly. With Steiner's death, Mason was their only link to the numbers station and the impending Nova 6 attack by Soviet sleeper agents in the state capitals of every state in the U.S. In addition, the President was prepared to launch an all-out nuclear strike against the Soviet Union in retaliation. If the numbers station could not be located and neutralized before Dragovich sent the signal to attack, World War III would break out.

After forcing Mason to relive his experiences leading up to the present date, Hudson had yet to learn anything from Mason. With DEFCON 2 declared, Hudson revealed himself to Mason out of desperation and removeed his restraints. Mason knocked Hudson out and made his way through the interrogation facility, remembering his brainwashing at Vorkuta, realizing that all of his encounters with Reznov after Vorkuta were imagined, as Reznov had actually died during the breakout. Mason also remembered how to translate the numbers broadcasts. After being subdued by Hudson, Mason translated the number sequences and explained that the numbers station is on the Soviet cargo ship Rusalka, which Mason had originally seen during his first meeting with Dragovich in 1961.

Mason, Hudson, and Weaver raided the Rusalka, located in waters southwest of Cuba. In the cargo ship's hold, they discovered an antenna with a tether leading into the depths of the ocean. While a U.S. Navy fleet is en route to destroy the Rusalka, Mason insisted on entering the submerged numbers station to kill Dragovich once and for all. After fighting through the numbers station as it comes under fire, Mason found the console controlling the numbers broadcasts and attempts to deactivate it, but was knocked away by Dragovich. Hudson came to Mason's aid, distracting Dragovich and allowing Mason to pull him down. Mason strangled Dragovich, choking him to death in the waters. He then escaped the imploding numbers station with Hudson. With the station destroyed and Dragovich dead, the crisis was averted.

CIA Duty and personal life
Mason never fully recovered from his brainwashing, as he still heard Reznov's voice after killing Dragovich, making the CIA suspicious of Mason's actions (and presumably his connection to the JFK assassination). Weaver and Hudson became targets of suspicion as well for their association with Mason and their supposed complicity in gathering top secret information for Mason.

Mason continued to carry out several CIA missions from 1975 to 1979, with Hudson still acting as his handler. At some point, he got married to an unknown woman and later (from 1978 to 1979) had a child, whom he named David.

Sometime in 1978, Mason's decision to chase an as of yet unknown lead led the CIA to deem him "burnt" and a threat to national security, along with Hudson and Weaver, who had escaped to South Africa with him. As of October 28, 1978, the CIA was making plans to form a joint task force with MI-6 in order to find and eliminate Mason, Hudson, and Weaver in what they dubbed Operation Charybdis. The operation, however, was seemingly unsuccessful, as both Mason and Hudson managed to survive up to 1986 and the CIA were not on hostile terms with them. Weaver's fate however is unknown.

Mason's wife later died of unknown reasons, which young David blamed on him going "back to the army", suggesting that Alex retired from his duty at one point and then went back.

Returning to the CIA
By 1986, Alex had once again retired and lived in Alaska with his son, David. He was approached by Jason Hudson and Lieutenant Colonel Oliver L. North, who informed him of Woods' disappearance in Angola. While hesitant at first, Mason decided to go in and save his old friend, thinking that he would do the same if Mason were in trouble.

Rescuing Woods
On July 2, 1986, Mason and Hudson participated in the Angolan Civil War, joining forces with the FNLA and UNITA. Mason then received intel on Woods' location from Jonas Savimbi, who warned him of the dangers he could face. Later, they arrived on a transport barge on the Cubango River, and after fighting off the MPLA forces, found Woods barely alive in a container full of dead decaying bodies. A Hind then attacked the barge, and was destroyed by Mason using a Valkyrie Rocket launcher. The barge sank, but Mason and Hudson managed to get into shore along with Woods. After sneaking through a base full of Cuban soldiers, Mason attempted to reach the radio station in order to call Savimbi for extraction. Instead, he encountered Raul Menendez, who smashed the radio before Mason could give his orders. Mason tried to take Menendez hostage against the Cubans but Menendez then pulled the pin on a grenade and almost stabbed Mason in a struggle. Mason managed to shoot Menendez in his face and escape, but was then chased by Cuban soldiers. After holding off the enemy forces, Mason and Hudson managed to carry Woods to the beach, where they were rescued by Savimbi.

Afghanistan / Return of the Numbers and Reznov
Two months later, Mason re-enlisted with the CIA and went on a mission in Afghanistan to retrieve intel on Menendez' location. He, along with Woods, Hudson, and the Chinese soldiers led by Tian Zhao, helped the Mujahideen and their leader, Mullah Rahmaan, fend off the Soviet forces. After several Soviet tanks and helos were destroyed, Mason was called back to the base. He then witnessed the final Soviet attack, led by a colossal tank. As they charged head-on to meet the Soviets, Mason's horse was hit, and he barely avoided being crushed by the giant tank. Woods pulled him up and helped him jump on the tank. As Mason was about to throw a mortar in the tank, Kravchenko jumped out and punched him. The numbers inside his head were re-triggered, and Mason heard the voice of Reznov inside his head telling him: "Kravchenko must die". After a brief struggle, Mason quickly defeated him, and Kravchenko was brought back to the Mujahideen base for further interrogation. Mason kills Kravchenko=As Woods continued to interrogate him, the numbers continued to appear, forcing Mason to kill Kravchenko. Woods kills Kravchenko=Mason manage to resist Reznov's programming and learns that Menendez had people working as CIA moles. Woods then executed Kravchenko with a bullet to the head.

The Mujahideen would betray them, and Mason, Woods, Hudson, and Zhao would be left to die in the desert. After a period of time passed, Mason saw what appeared to be Reznov riding on a horse approaching him. "Reznov" dismounted and gave him a drink. After the events of that day, Mason was convinced that it was the real Reznov who saved him and his teammates, but Woods expressed disbelief, thinking that Reznov would have stayed and explained his presence if he wasn't another one of Mason's hallucinations.

Noriega Deal
Having received intel from Kravchenko, the CIA agents headed off to Nicaragua to find Menendez. They cut a deal with the then-dictator of Panama, Manuel Noriega, and enlisted his help in capturing Menendez. However, Noriega secretly betrayed them, and freed Menendez after he was captured. Menendez, however, gave Noriega a beating and went after his sister, Josefina Menendez. At the same time, Mason, Woods, and Hudson fought through the Menendez Cartel's base. While taking out Menendez' men in the basement, Mason may or may not find a CIA memo, proof that Menendez indeed has a mole inside CIA. Mason and Woods arrived at Josefina's room at the same time as Menendez. An enraged Woods attempted to kill Menendez, but Mason tried to stop him. In the end, Woods threw a grenade which bounced into the room and killed Josefina. Menendez was reported to have been killed also, but in reality he escaped with Noriega's help.

Operation Just Cause
On December 19, 1989, Mason and Woods met up at Mark McKnight's house to discuss the plans for the invasion of Panama (Operation Just Cause) on the day after. The plan was to capture Noriega, aka Objective False Profit, and destroy his reputation. The day after, the three of them participated in the invasion, with McKnight providing sniper support for Mason and Woods. Throughout the fight, Mason tried to contact Hudson through comms, though he failed. After having destroyed Noriega's jet, Mason finally received intel from Hudson, who revealed Noriega's location. He and Woods reached the hotel where Noriega was located and captured him, however Hudson then told them Noriega was to be escorted to a US Army checkpoint, where he would provide intel on a Nexus target. They succeeded, but they did not know that it was all part of Menendez' plan. After splitting up with Woods, Mason was captured by Noriega's men, who then put a bag over his head. Woods, having received intel from Hudson that Nexus target was Raul Menendez, proceeded to shoot the bagged target. Only after that did he realize that the man he shot was none other than Mason. Woods was then shot in both legs by the real Menendez, who proceeded to knock him out. Both Mason and Woods were taken to Hudson, who was tied up along with Mason's son, David. Hudson was then violently killed in front of Woods, who was allowed to live along with David. After telling David that he would suffer with him, Menendez left, at which point David woke up out of his trance and noticed his father's body lying next to him.

Legacy
After Mason's death/disappearance David was raised by a now crippled Woods; who lied about the circumstances of Alex's death and told David that it was "just some nut" who did it. About 37 years later Woods told the stories of his adventures with Mason in Angola, Afghanistan and Nicaragua to David and Mike Harper while asking about Menendez whereabouts. Later in a private one on one session, Woods finally revealed the true circumstances of Alex's death to David.

Mason Killed=After Menendez' plan was averted, Woods and Section visited Mason's grave. Section decided to retire from his duty, which prompted Woods to say that his father would approve of the decision. Mason Wounded=Mason visits Woods at The Vault. Soon David comes to visit Woods and is re-introduced to Alex, who tells him that the day that David fell from the tree was the one that made Alex proud as he got back up.