Mercs

"Time to earn your bread, grunts."

- Merc announcer when beginning a match

The Mercs (a shortened version of Mercenaries) is an enemy faction that appear in Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Call of Duty: Strike Team. They appear to be of international origin, most notably Cuban. They are fought in almost every mission playing in 2025. They are also a playable multiplayer faction. They face SEAL Team Six on Downhill, Hijacked, Standoff, Encore, Frost, and Nuketown 2025; the FBI on Aftermath, Detour, Express, Grind, Raid, Rush, Studio, and Takeoff, and the ISA on Plaza and Slums.

Background
During the creation of its parent organization Cordis Die, Raul Menendez needed a private army of highly trained soldiers to conduct various combat armed actions against the militaries of Western nations. With the help of his second-in-command DeFalco, Menendez was able to recruit thousands of mercenaries to join his private army.

Randomly generated names (Odysseus)

 * Hammond
 * Paige
 * Martin
 * Edwards
 * Suarez
 * Baker
 * Moore

Equipment
Due to the immense wealth Raul Menendez has made during the course of the last thirty years to fund his private army, the Mercs enjoy the most state-of-the-art weapons, equipment, body armor as well as a sizable arsenal of drone weapons. In terms of vehicles, the Mercs employ machine gun mounted Technicals painted in Digital Camouflage, unmarked UH-60 Blackhawks, as well as heavily armed MRAPs. Appearance wise, the Mercs look like a well trained, well equipped army wearing Bloodshot Camouflage fatigues, ballistic vests, balaclavas with sunglasses and a radio piece, as well as military grade ballistic helmets. Other Mercs wear an advanced optical camouflage fatigue which they wear a black balaclava with an advanced HUD and a hood over their heads.

In the mission Karma, they pose as an augmentation to the Colossus security team, because of this, the Mercs wear the same uniform as the Colossus Security Crew. They also wear maroon colored beret with the Colossus emblem or a balaclava.

Assault Rifles

 * MTAR
 * Type 25
 * SWAT-556
 * FAL OSW
 * AN-94
 * M27
 * M8A1
 * SMR

Shotguns

 * S12
 * KSG
 * M1216
 * R870 MCS (used by DeFalco)
 * SS-23K

Light Machine Guns

 * QBB LSW
 * LSAT
 * HAMR
 * Mk 48

Sniper Rifles

 * DSR 50
 * Ballista

Submachine Guns

 * PDW-57
 * Vector K10
 * MSMC
 * Chicom CQB
 * Skorpion EVO

Handguns

 * B23R
 * Executioner (used by Menendez)
 * KAP-40
 * Five Seven
 * Tac-45

Launchers

 * SMAW
 * RPG

Specials

 * Assault Shield

Quotes
"Time to clock in, mission is a go."

- Announced by the Mercs multiplayer announcer at the beginning of a match.

"Mission is a go, time to get paid."

- Announced by the Mercs multiplayer announcer at the beginning of a match.

"Alright get out there, you know what to do."

- Announced by the Mercs multiplayer announcer at the beginning of a match.

"Take it to 'em."

- Announced by the Mercs multiplayer announcer at the beginning of a match.

"Shut up, clock in and load up."

- Announced by the Mercs multiplayer announcer at the beginning of a match.

"Guns up, let's do this."

- Announced by the Mercs multiplayer announcer at the beginning of a match.

"Let's go, ladies, we're on the clock. Time to go to work."

- Announced by the Mercs multiplayer announcer at the beginning of a match.

"Good news; the check cleared. Mission is a go."

- Announced by the Mercs multiplayer announcer at the beginning of a match.

"Move in and take 'em out."

- Announced by the Mercs multiplayer announcer at the beginning of a match.

"Time to earn your worth."

- Announced by the Mercs multiplayer announcer at the beginning of a match.

"Keep your head up and your ass down, it's go time."

- Announced by the Mercs multiplayer announcer at the beginning of a match.

"And remember... No prisoners."

- Announced by the Mercs multiplayer announcer at the beginning of a match.

"Don't stop until they're all dead."

- Announced by the Mercs multiplayer announcer at the beginning of a match.

"Finish the mission, you're all that remains"

- When a player is the last one alive in Search and Destroy

"All others are dead, it's up to you."

- When a player is the last one alive in Search and Destroy

"Never a doubt."

- When the Mercs are victorious.

"Never a doubt, good job."

- When the Mercs are victorious.

"Operation complete, nice job grunts."

- When the Mercs are victorious.

"Big win, job done."

- When the Mercs are victorious.

"Brought the pain, time to get paid."

- When the Mercs are victorious.

"Good fight. Time to get paid."

- When the Mercs are victorious.

"Bring it next time."

- When the Mercs are defeated.

"That, is gonna hurt the bottom line."

- When the Mercs are defeated.

"That one hurt our reputation."

- When the Mercs are defeated.

"Terrible effort, regroup and rearm."

- When the Mercs are defeated.

"I'm sick of this asshole, get rid of 'em."

- When a player is kicked.

Trivia

 * Despite being made up mostly of Cubans in the campaign, in multiplayer they are a mix of British, American, Australian, and South African soldiers.
 * In multiplayer, the Mercs have green in the uniforms as opposed to all orange urban-camouflaged uniforms they wear in campaign.
 * They wear different uniforms with winter color schemes in Downhill and Frost.
 * In pre-release screenshots, the Mercs can be seen in the Strike Force missions Shipwreck and Second Chance. They wear the green uniforms seen in multiplayer and their insignia is two crossed M16s, unlike in the final version of the game.

MercsMercs