Cuba Briefing
On March 12, 1981, Adler briefs the whole team before they finally set sail to Cuba to find Perseus. This is also the last briefing of the campaign, after which the previously mentioned side missions (Operation Chaos & Red Circus) won’t be available. One of the names on the sleep agents list was Theodore Hastings, a nuclear engineer based out of Salt Lake City. The CIA closely monitored him and put him under surveillance, where he finally leads them to a vacant government facility in Cuba. This abandoned government compound became a hub of activities for Perseus. And so the team decides to go to Cuba in hopes of finding the stolen nuke at this abandoned facility.
End of the Line
On March 13, 1981, the team arrived at the Cuba facility. The team also believes that Fidel Castro might have been involved in aiding the movement of the Nuke for Perseus. For those of you who are not aware, Fidel Castro was the main antagonist in the original Black Ops.
As the team fights their way into the facility, Bell uses the CCTV footage to find the team of scientists, including Theodore Hastings. When they find the room, they are shocked to see Perseus shoot and kill all the scientists in the room. The team then rushes to the room with Bell, Lazar, and Park reaching them.
When they reach the room, they find everyone but Hastings dead. They question him about Perseus’ motive behind using the scientists, upon which Hastings tells them that he wanted them to reverse-engineer the nuclear detonation codes. Perseus wanted control of all the nuclear bombs in Europe to wipe out half of the continent and blame the USA for it.
The team then makes its way to the roof and waits for extraction. As they wait, they are swarmed by Cuban forces. Bell, Lazar, and Park are together on the roof, trying to fend off the Cuban forces until the extraction helicopter arrives.
Once the helicopter is there, Bell manages to attach himself, but one of the Cuban soldiers fires an RPG, severely wounding Bell, Lazar, and Park.
The players once again have a choice to either save Lazar or Park. They can even leave both of them to die. It is up to players to make this decision. Depending on who the players decide to save, the character shows up in the game, moving forward with the other dying.
Interrogation
On March 14, 1981, Adler helped severely wounded Bell walk to the CIA safe house when Bell suddenly collapses. Sims and Adler put Bell on a gurney and tie him up.
Despite Hudson’s resistance, Adler still insists that Bell is useful to the CIA and is the key to finding Perseus.
Adler gives Bell an intracerebral injection in hopes of making Bell remember where Perseus is. As Bell loses consciousness, he relives his memories, transitioning into the next mission.
Break on Through
Adler keeps giving Bell psychoactive drugs in hopes of making him remember the location of a Soviet bunker located deep within Vietnam during the war on July 16, 1968. In the memory, Bell can hear Adler narrate what he did, although as a player, you can disobey him and do the opposite of what he says. There are a total of four scenarios that Bell can go through. All the scenarios start with Bell waking up in the middle of a firefight in Vietnam.
However, once the correct final scenario begins, Bell enters a red door in the temple located at the crossroads. Upon entering the red door, Bell will be in a meeting with Perseus and his associates.
During the meeting, Perseus reveals that he will detonate the Greenlight nuclear bombs from the safety of the Solovetsky Islands. The memory sequence ends, and it is revealed at this point in the campaign that Bell was actually an associate of Perseus, and all this time, Bell was brainwashed by the CIA into thinking he is part of the CIA.
Bell was found mortally wounded at the Trabzon Airport in Turkey during ‘Nowhere Left to Run.’ Bell was one of the car passengers that Kadivar shot. A bit ironic considering they were against the Soviets brainwashing Mason in Black Ops, isn’t it?
Identity Crisis
After the memory sequence ends Bell becomes conscious and remembers everything partially. Adler, joined by Sims and either Park or Lazar, depending on who you chose to save during the mission ‘End of the Line,’ will tell Bell the truth about his identity. They tell him how they believed him to be a valuable asset to be used against Perseus.
After coming to grips with the truth, Adler further asks Bell to tell where Perseus is. At this point, the player is given a choice to either tell Adler the truth or lie about Perseus’ whereabouts. If the player chooses to tell the truth, Bell joins Adler and the rest of the team at Solovetsky for a mission called ‘The Final Countdown.’ This is the canon ending.
If the player lies about the location, then the player joins Adler and the team at Duga. Before the team leaves for Duga, Bell can radio the Soviets and set up an ambush. Lying to the team unlocks a mission called ‘Ashes to Ashes.’ This is a non-canon ending.
The Final Countdown (Canon Ending)
President Reagan tasks the CIA team with stopping Perseus. On March 15, 1981, Bell joined Adler and the rest of the CIA team at Solovetsky Islands, where they face a lot of resistance as they try to destroy the facility’s anti-aircraft (AA) guns.
The team successfully destroys the AA guns, allowing the airstrike team to bomb the whole facility, leaving Perseus’ plan to activate the nukes to dust.
It turns out that Perseus manages to escape unharmed. It was also revealed that the Soviet government had no clue about Perseus’ plans and that he acted out of his own accord. A cutscene plays where Hudson briefs Black about all the events that took place. This cutscene varies slightly based on the player choices throughout the campaign. At the end of the cutscene, Hudson orders Adler to kill Bell to clean up loose ends.
A final cutscene plays with Bell and Adler overlooking the shores of Solovetsky Islands. Adler tells Bell that whatever happened between him and Bell is nothing personal. He calls Bell a hero and thank him for his sacrifice. Adler then thanks Bell for another “sacrifice,” followed by both Bell and Adler drawing their pistols on each other.
The shots are fired with the screen fading to black, followed by the end credits. It is unclear who got shot and who died.
Ashes to Ashes (Non-canon Ending)
If the player lies to Adler, Bell is confronted by the team after they arrived at Duga on March 15, 1981.
If Bell sets up an ambush earlier at the CIA safe house, he can signal the Soviets to attack the team. One of the Soviet soldiers fires an RPG at the team prompting the whole team to take cover.
A masked man comes out of the bushes and helps Bell up. It turns out that the masked man is Perseus himself.
Bell is then tasked to finish off all the CIA members, including the iconic Woods and Mason. Bell also kills either Park or Lazar, depending on who was saved in the ‘End of the Line’ mission.
Adler is wounded in the process and rushes inside one of the buildings to take cover. Bell, joined by Perseus, enters the same building to finish Adler. Bell finds the wounded Adler in the building where Adler asks Bell for a lighter, which is on the ground beside him.
As Bell reaches for the lighter, Adler attempts to kill Bell, but Bell overpowers him and kills him by stabbing him through the chest.
Perseus enters and gives Bell a radio to order the activation of Greenlight Nukes.
If the players do not set up an ambush in the CIA safe house, all these above events are skipped as no Soviets come to Duga. Instead, Bell is killed by Adler, followed by a cutscene of the Greenlight nukes going off.
Side Missions
As mentioned earlier, two optional side missions can be completed before proceeding with the ‘End of the Line’ mission as you won’t have access to the evidence board beyond the ‘Cuba Briefing.’ The names of these side missions are Operation Chaos and Operation Red Circus.
These side missions include finding pieces of evidence in different campaign missions to help you solve some puzzles and decipher codes. Feel free to check out our complete guide on how to complete both side missions with 100% completion.
