Cordis Die (mission)

"Marine One is shot down over Los Angeles, and David Mason must escort President Bosworth to safety as US drones under Menendez' control destroy the city."

- Mission description

"Cordis Die" is the tenth mission in Call of Duty: Black Ops II where David Mason escorts the President Bosworth through a war-torn downtown Los Angeles by using SAM Turrets, Dragonfires and FA38s.

Characters

 * David Mason (playable)
 * Mike Harper (Alive/not present) (Player-determined)
 * Bosworth
 * Chen (on-screen only)
 * Jones
 * Samuels
 * Johnson (K.I.A.)
 * Anderson (W.I.A/K.I.A.) (Player-determined)
 * Raul Menendez (Mentioned)
 * Officer Jannsen
 * Officer Barnes

Plot
David starts out in a MRAP cruising through Highway 110 under siege by drones. He sits opposite of a heavily wounded Secret Service agent being attended to by Harper. To his right is the U.S. President, concerned about the city's condition. Mason checks his Wrist Pad, readies his KAP-40 and looks through the window. As they are passing through traffic, citizens are being evacuated by a police helicopter hovering overhead while drones invade Los Angeles. An incoming missile hits the helicopter, causing it to crash onto a military convoy entering the city below. Debris flies towards the truck, causing it along with most of the convoy to crash. David blacks out and when he comes to, he sees Harper giving orders to the agents, telling them to stay down. David climbs out of the wreckage as Harper tells him about a mobile SAM turret that they could use that had crashed on the other end of the road. They make their way to it. David jumps onto the hood of the car and nearly falls off, he regains his footing and mans the turret. He takes down the drones that attempt to circle the president's location. Once they are taken down a missile hits the SAM, disabling it and breaking the ground beneath. Mason jumps out and watches it fall, he turns back around and sees a drone coming for him. It was then shot down by Anderson, crashing down and narrowly missing him. Anderson arrives and provides close air support. Mason gets up and regroups with his squad at the end of the highway, he can choose whether to snipe from the highway or to rappel down. Either way, he picks up a Storm PSR and fires at enemies hiding within a crashed truck, behind a column and approaching enemies. As they reach the second convoy, Mason regroups with the team. He drives the president out of there while the freeway falls apart, running down any opposition. Anderson takes down the drones trying to get near them, and blasts the debris blocking the tunnel. As they travel through the destroyed roads, Harper mentions Menendez's attack on the Pentagon, Washington, and Wall Street from the previous days. As David turns to reply, a truck is seen rushing towards the two. The screen blacks out.

The screen fades back to David recovering from the impact of the truck, and he climbs out of a hatch in the roof and fights his way down the street with Anderson still providing cover fire, destroying C.L.A.W.s along the way. At the end of the road he reaches a plaza in downtown with LAPD officers and his SEAL team, machine gun nests have them pinned down so they decide to bypass them through a mall to the right. Quadrotor drones arrive and David uses them to distract the machine gun nests and help clear out the mall. They come out onto the balcony and kill the enemy snipers and gunners in the nest. Anderson gets on the radio and asks for help, her last wingman is dead and the presidential convoy is taking heavy fire from all sides. David promises relief and advances down an alley, and onto a road with his squad. Anderson says she is hit and has to settle the jet down. They advance down while taking down tangos towards Anderson but a building falls down their immediate front. Mason blacks out for another time and gets up. Anderson is no longer talking.

They reach her FA38 to see her unconscious body next to it. LAPD arrive and bring her to an ambulance. Harper follows inside while David, not even knowing how to pilot it, mans the FA38 and follows the ambulance. They head towards the president's convoy and take down enemy troops, drones, armor and emplacements that threaten it. A drone garrison attacks the convoy and David detaches from the convoy to chase them down, locking on and firing. The president reaches the evacuation point and the mission ends.

Video Walkthrough
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Challenges
Completing 2 challenges in the Cordis Die mission will unlock the Throwback perk for use in Single Player. Completing 5 challenges in the mission will unlock the Ammo Pickup perk for use in SIngle Player.
 * 100% impact ratio with SAM engagement on highway.
 * Perform headshot (x10) sniper kills from the upper freeway.
 * Direct quad drones to eliminate enemy personnel (x8).
 * Rescue trapped SSA in damaged vehicle.
 * Destroy enemy drone (x30) using SAM on roof.
 * Protect G20 cougar at the intersection.
 * Destroy drones (x3) with one shot.
 * Protect all G20 vehicles.
 * Collect intel (x3).
 * 100% survivability rating.

Access Kit Usage

 * Dragonfire drones that fire rockets are available inside the overturned container, near where the player engaged the first enemy CLAW.
 * Before the player enter the plaza, there's a flipped MRAP just outside and is catching fire, Secret Service agents will be heard calling for help if the player gets close.
 * Take the left route into the mall and after taking the escalator to the floor above, there's a locked glass door to the roof, up there is a SAM turrets that the player can use to take out some of the drones.

Trivia

 * The mission was originally named "Protect P.O.T.U.S" during the E3 demo.
 * "P.O.T.U.S." stands for President Of The United States
 * This is the fourth time in the series that the player can see the character's reflection in game; the first time being John Price's reflection in the level "Dust to Dust", the second being Raul Menendez' in the level Time and Fate, and the third being Frank Woods' in the level Suffer with Me.
 * Although this is a reflection, this the fourth time Section (or at least his third person model) is seen in third person outside of cutscenes.
 * Section's Wrist Pad in the E3 Demo says that the mission took place on October 3, while the mission itself says differently. However it was fixed in the final version of the game.
 * If Harper did not survive the events of "Achilles' Veil", his role in this mission will instead be filled by Agent Samuels. Two other operatives, Officers Jannsen and Barnes, will assist the player during the ambush scene, somewhat making up for the lack of an invincible ally, as both operatives are invincible, but have less effective anti-armor weapons than the player, having a KAP-40 and KSG, respectively.
 * Even if Harper is alive, Jannsen and Barnes are still invicible characters.
 * The E3 demo had David looking at his reflection without his HUD glasses, but in the actual release, he was wearing them.
 * The E3 demo has different lines and voice acting compared to the final version of the game.
 * In the E3 demo, Jones says that the soldiers attacking Los Angeles were Cordis Die sleeper cells, but in the final game he says they are instead mercenaries.
 * If sleeper cells were used in the final game, then this level may have references to the first Black Ops; the sleeper cells would have been placed by both games main antagonists (Menendez/Dragovich) as part of an invasion in the United States.
 * If the player chooses weapon other than the Storm PSR or a sniper rifle, they will only be allowed to rappel, after the SAM sequence on the highway.
 * If Anderson dies in the ambulance during the escort, the player will not have access to the Sky Buster Missiles during the dogfight with the drones. She will live if Section protects the ambulance while escorting the convoy.
 * During the flight sequence where the player must deal with drones, it is possble to hear "Dogfight", a track from Black Ops II OST.
 * During the section of the level when player must reach the MRAPs, Prom Night, a track from Black Ops II OST, can be heard.
 * In the E3 demo, the drone initially shot down by Anderson was an Avenger. However, in the final version it is a Lodestar.
 * At the very start of the level, if one looks back into the crashed truck at the Secretary the name will read "secretary" without proper capitalization.
 * Directly before one of the cutscenes, one can find a semi-automatic KAP-40 with no attachments. However, after the cutscene, the KAP-40 is automatic as usual.
 * Before the player chooses to rappel or to snipe, there's a typo in the subtitles. Samuels will say "PMCs", but the subtitles read "PCMs".
 * This is the third mission in the Black Ops series to take place in the United States, the first being U.S.D.D, the second Revelations, both in Black Ops.
 * This is also the first mission in the Black Ops series to have actual combat in the United States, instead of a cutscene.
 * This mission is the only time that Harper, provided he survives Achilles' Veil, will say Section's last name instead of his codename.
 * At the end of the mission, even if the player flies the FA38 high, low, on the side or straight up, the player is flying out of the FA38 at the same spot in downtown as always.
 * After Section jumps out of the crashed MRAP, Harper destroys a CLAW with two XM31 grenades and one shot from the Storm PSR, but if the player do that to the same CLAW (when Harper's dead), it won't take much damage.
 * When Harper fires the XM31 grenades, he doesn't have his left hand on the trigger.
 * Rarely, one of the paramedics that carries Anderson can be named Officer Anderson.
 * Strangely, in the beginning, Marine One is shot down by two men of the Militia. However, since the Militiamen are part of Cordis Die, it's most likely that Menendez sent them to invade.
 * In the intro, if subtitle is enabled, Jones is referred as "Agent".
 * At the beginning of the level, after taking down all the drones with the SAM turret and getting down off the truck, at the right side before to sniper or rappel down of the bridge on the wall it's written with pink graffiti the words "DIE YOUNG".

Achievements/Trophies
Late for the Prom (20 / Bronze Trophy ) - Escort the president to the secure location in downtown LA.

Futurist (20 / Silver Trophy ) - Complete all future levels in veteran.