Mike Harper

"I'm Mike Harper, a Navy SEAL."

- Harper to Karma

Mike Harper is the non-playable deuteragonist of Call of Duty: Black Ops II. He often appears with Section.

Biography
Harper first appeared in the prologue, where he, along with his teammate David "Section" Mason and several other JSOC operatives, arrived at The Vault to investigate the retired Frank Woods and his connections to Raul Menendez. Harper and Section then listened to Woods telling the story of his adventures with Section's father, Alex Mason, in 1986, and how Menendez came to be the man he is today.

He later appears in Celerium, where he and Section recon an information base in Myanmar from afar. The two grapple each other from the cliffs to land, which is when Salazar and Crosby join them. The team glides down the mountain paths to the base, and break their stealth and engage the Cuban enemies there. After making their way inside the laboratories, they come across Erik Breighner, a scientist hired to inspect the properties of celerium. He introduces them to the quantum entanglement device, a chip that would make the U.S. Army infrastructure useless due to its capabilities. He also tells of Menendez' assumed superweapon called "Karma". He is shot in the neck, and the team returns fire and goes back to the lab entrance to see Briggs, who takes the celerium device.

Harper reappears in Fallen Angel as the J-SOC dug in to investigate and record DeFalco's and Menendez' meeting. He first is seen along the rest of them team pinned down in a grocery store, until he fixes a malfunctioning CLAW by kicking it. They work their way up the flooded streets, until a bus ridden by the flood is about to crush them. However, they manage to unlock a gate with brute force and come into the Anthem. They move on, and notice an MQ Drone patrolling the area, executing looters. They sneak past it, and cut into the sewers. From there, they move onto the rooftops near Menendez' meeting, and they start investigating. They move as does Menendez, eventually leading them to an ambush, as Menendez had not only known of the infiltration, but he had engineered it. They manage to break free, and come into a courtyard full of hostiles. With the assistance of CLAWs, they clear the area and commandeer enemy SOC-Ts to exit the area. As they drive, Section and Harper come against a flaming pipe, which Harper warns of.

Flames avoided=Harper mentions how close it was for his face to get burnt, but makes it through with no harm. This will award the player with the Hey Good Looking achievement/trophy. Flames not avoided=Harper, who is higher on the car than Section, will have the right half of his face burnt in a third degree burn. This mark will show in later missions, although it is purely aesthetic and adds a little extra dialogue in Karma.

The two turn into SDC soldiers lead by Tian Zhao, who is recognized by Section as a former comrade of his father. They are at first hostile, but after hearing the J-SOC is only in Pakistan in the interests of Menendez, they turn neutral.

After relooking at the recording, the team learns that "Karma" is located at Colossus. Section, Harper and Salazar travel there, with the technical assistance from Farid. Harper detachs from the two to sweep the upper floors while the others breach the central database. Harper bumps into Chloe Lynch and hits on her, but gets rejected. After Section and Salazar learn that "Karma" is not a superweapon, but a former Tacitus Corporation employee named Chloe Lynch (nickname Karma) and send an image to Harper, he notices she was the girl he bumped into. Harper runs after her into Club Solar, telling he is a Navy SEAL and she is in danger. She at first is hostile towards Harper, but after knowing terrorists are after her, she seems to (shockingly) believe. However, DeFalco and a few Mercs join in the search for her, shooting hostages until she is given in. As he is about to kill another innocent, Chloe punches Harper to break free of his grab and surrenders, with DeFalco ordering open fire. Harper and Section clear the Mercs left in the club, and start chasing DeFalco. After DeFalco has detonated explosives rigged around the hotel, Harper manages to convince a shellshocked security officer to open the armory to gear up and get his men ready for combat. They chase DeFalco down, and either are unsuccessful or successful in killing DeFalco and securing Chloe before they get away.

Harper is heard on comms during Achilles' Veil as mental support for Farid (as for being Menendez' undercover operative) and guide. He then tries to contact him again when Farid relocated with Menendez, and the latter shoots down the VTOL he is in. He is dragged out and held by Menendez' troops, and Menendez demands Farid to kill Harper with his Five Seven. As Farid holds the pistol on his head, the player is given an option to shoot Harper or Menendez.

Shoot Harper=Farid will look away and pull the trigger, killing Harper on the spot. Section's VTOL comes in and Menendez' troops retreat. Farid is shocked about what he did (although Section calms him saying he had no choice), and is taken to U.S.S. Barack Obama. Section closes Harper's eyes to respect the fallen. This outcome will make Harper not appear in upcoming missions, but is essential for Farid to live. Shoot Menendez=Farid will quickly attempt to aim and shoot Menendez, who dodges the shot, draws his Executioner and shoots Farid. Menendez, now knowing it is Farid who betrayed him, will lecture Farid about loyalty and then executing him. However, Harper will stay alive, although he is unable for combat for the rest of the mission and is taken to U.S.S. Barack Obama.

During Odysseus, the siege on the ship, Harper is unheard of for the most of the mission. He only appears after Salazar's betrayal, wondering "what the hell happened there". After Section tells him what Salazar did, he is shortly denial about this. As Section and Harper rush to the hangars, they see Salazar, who had surrendered without combat. Salazar will calmly say "Today is a difficult day, Section. But tomorrow, we all win.", to which Harper responds "Not you!" and shoots him in the head. The two eventually make it to a VTOL with Crosby, and escape the scenario.

Harper then assisted Section in Cordis Die in protecting President Bosworth, as well as in Judgment Day in killing/capturing Menendez. However, Harper will be stabbed by a metal bar in the end, but is safely evacuated.

Quotes

 * "Sergeant Woods! Raul Menendez is the leader of Cordis Die, and the most dangerous terrorist since Osama Bin Laden."
 * "You're wasting your time, you fucking... bastard! you... you wont get SHIT! From Me!"
 * "Come on. Come Suffer With Me."
 * "We lost contact with a recconaissance drone over Pakistan Just last week"
 * "What do you say we blow a little steam huh? Throw a few punches first?"
 * "ISI Got us pinned down!"
 * "Your GCM must be stuck!"
 * "Oh shit. That was a close on huh? Still got my balls... How about you? Let's go"
 * "Talk about dirty jobs."
 * "Activity's ahead. Looks like we're on the right track. Let's go."
 * "Here comes Menendez."
 * "LOOK OUT! GRENADE!"
 * "Do it man! Come on, you don't have the stones to fucking shoot me!? Come on egghead! Do it! (Possible last words)

Trivia

 * He is voiced and motion-captured by Michael Rooker, who also plays himself in Call of the Dead. Rooker's face is also replicated via facial capture.
 * Harper's first name is Mike which is a nickname for Michael, the same name as his voice actor.
 * He is briefly seen in the after-game dance party doing an air guitar while listening to Avenged Sevenfold.
 * Him and Frank Woods share many similarities. Both have heavily tattooed arms, use heavy language and are well-known by each game's main protagonist (David Mason and Alex Mason respectively) as well as fight with them in many missions.
 * Beside the soldier that says: "Let's move out", Harper has the first quote in-game.
 * Harper's weapons of choice seem to be M8A1 and SCAR-H.
 * Harper was awarded "Character of the Year" by Ben of TheGamerDrive. Praise was directed towards Rooker's performance, as well as Harper's reliability as a character.
 * Harper is the only NPC to use the Storm PSR in-game, using it on the CLAW in Cordis Die.
 * Harper carries an holstered, unusable M9, similar to Salazar. In Celerium and Judgment Day, it's on his left side of his waist, and the rest of the game, it's on his right.
 * Also, like Section, Salazar and random SEALs, Harper carries a couple of unknown Tactical Grenades.
 * He is never seen using a helmet except in Celerium and Judgment Day when during flight in the wingsuit and when using glider wings at the start of Judgment Day.
 * It's unknown what happen to him when his safety evacuated at the end of judgment day (if the player did not killed him in Achilles' Veil)
 * He appears to have strong bond with women as seen in Karma.