Second Sun


 * Cpl. Dunn: "What do we do now man?! Russians got us outnumbered, shit's fallin' from the sky. We're screwed man, we are totally -"
 * Sgt. Foley: "Shut up! Get a grip Corporal. Our weapons still work, which means we can still kick some ass."
 * — Corporal Dunn and Sergeant Foley

"Second Sun" is the thirteenth campaign mission of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It pick ups where "Of Their Own Accord" ended. Hunter Two-One are still inevidible to defend and retake Washington, D.C. The player takes control of James Ramirez.

Main Characters

 * James Ramirez (Playable)
 * Sat1 (Playable, K.I.A.)
 * Sergeant Foley
 * Corporal Dunn

Level Briefing
"Second Sun"

Day 5 - 18:57:20-27

Pvt. James Ramirez

1st Bn., 75th Ranger Regiment

Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Walkthrough
The level begins where "Of Their Own Accord" left off. Ramirez, who is severly injured, watches as Russian forces approach, a search light whites-out the screen. When the screen comes back into focus, the player plays briefly as Sat1, an unnamed astronaut on an EVA (Extra-vehicular Activity) mission outside the International Space Station (ISS). Mission Control in Houston asks to look toward the dark side of the Earth for a bogey, or the SLBM that Captain Price launched in "Contigency".

The player can observe the missile's path until it eventually detonates in the atmosphere above Washington D.C. The shock-wave soon reaches the ISS and destroys both the station and the player. The HANE (High-Altitude Nuclear Explosion) causes an EMP that blacks out most of the East Coast, but saves the lives of many U.S. Armed Forces still fighting for control of Washington.

After all the fighting and the International Space Station scene, one of the Rangers will remove the steel girders in front of the helicopter allowing the player to exit it. After that, a large number of aircraft begin falling from the sky. Run with the allies to find cover, and stay away from the vehicles because they blow up as well. After a while, the debris of planes and helicopters stops falling.

Follow the soldiers. Inside the bar, there's an Ammo Crate (which the player needs because he or she has no ammo). Note that the Holographic Sight is not working (due to the EMP); it is suggested to swap it with a weapon that does not feature the Holographic Sight/Red Dot Sight. The player sees a soldier running, telling fellow soldiers to go to the White House, codenamed Whiskey Hotel, because the Rangers are regrouping there to retake it.

The player will reach an office filled with Russians. Eliminate the area and move on. The player will reach outside where it appears to be raining. Three enemies are on top of a vehicle arguing. Take them out by surprise. Up ahead, the player will see some people running to a bus, unknown if they're hostile or not. Foley throws one of the flares on the ground, and it reveals the targets are hostile. There, a breakout of enemies will encounter the player; eliminate all enemies.

After removing all threats, move up. Enter the hole, and take point. From there on, the player discovers the President's "secret bunker", and then the mission ends, which will continue in the events of "Whiskey Hotel", the next mission.

Starting Loadout
The following weapons are the initial starting weapons.

Found in Level
The following weapons can be found with or without attachments.

Achievement/Trophy
Homecoming (25G / Silver Trophy) - Obtained by completing "Of Their Own Accord", "Second Sun", and "Whiskey Hotel" on Veteran difficulty.

Before the EMP

 * When waking up in the chopper at the start of this level, the player's vision starts off clear, while in "Of Their Own Accord" vision is mostly blurred.
 * Using noclip and flying under the map will reveal that the outer space scene is actually under the map.
 * If the player does not use up all of the ammo while in the helicopter, the mag that is received from Wade disappears.

In Space

 * The part where the player controls Sat1 was supposed to be in a separate level/interactive cutscene called "International Space Station", similar to "The Coup and "Aftermath". It was merged with this level in the final version of the game for unknown reasons.
 * When "controlling" the astronaut, if the player looks anywhere but where the missile is coming from, ISS will say: "Sat1, rotate your view a little further to the right would ya?". Also, the missile seemingly will not appear until looking to the right, so no matter how long the player keeps looking left, the missile won't explode. If looking just a little, the player can see the light from the missile at the horizon, but it won't fly any further.
 * If the player looks at the areas affected, the only places on the east coast of North America that weren't hit by the EMP were Florida and parts of Newfoundland in Canada, meaning that many major Canadian cities also experienced the EMP effects.
 * The EMP apparently did not knock out power in southern Georgia, Florida, or eastern Massachusetts because lights can be seen from Sat1.
 * The player can notice that there are no clouds around before the EMP goes off, but later in Second Sun it is a thunderstorm.
 * New Hampshire, Maine, and Florida are the only states not affected by the EMP.
 * The Earth is only visible during the cutscene, if the player would use PC cheats to fly under the map during the cutscene and then stay there after it, the Earth will not be there afterwards.

After the EMP

 * Once Sandler frees Ramirez from the Black Hawk, Wade's body will have vanished.
 * When the helicopters are falling from the sky, the Rangers spawn theme can be heard faintly.
 * This level is the last time the player hears from Overlord, who calls on Dagger 2-1 after it is shot down. Comms were down after Price's EMP crippled all electronics in the area.
 * When helicopters are falling from the sky, the player has unlimited sprint. Interestingly, the player won't have unlimited sprint when replaying the level on the PC version.
 * The player cannot remain outside, despite avoiding the helicopters. If looking up, a never-ending stream of helicopters falling from the sky can be seen. A Little Bird will actually "track" the player and will always crash close enough to kill them, regardless of where the player is on the street. If the player makes it inside, that same Little Bird will crash outside the building, preventing any exit.
 * An interesting thing to note is that the holographic sight is already blacked out the moment the player returns to Ramirez, even though the EMP reaches him after everything else in sight.
 * Oddly enough, Cpl. Dunn yells "EMP!" when the debris is falling, but later on, he questions if the other Rangers' Red Dot Sights are working.
 * Dunn is the first to notice that optics are offline, saying "Hey, is your Red Dot workin'? Mine's out." However, if looking at his weapon, the player will see he is actually using a Thermal Scope, which appears to be working.
 * As with "Game Over", there is a way to obtain three weapons. As the helicopters start falling, run to the area where the first helicopter crashes dangerously close to Dunn. If the player maneuvers around it carefully, one should be able to pick up an enemy weapon (often an AK-47 or a FAL). Continue on as normal until getting to cover inside the building. When a deafening explosion goes off, the player gains max ammo in the M4A1 and also gains an M9, while also keeping the third weapon. The player can keep them for as long (the weapons can even be carried over to the next level) as one wants and swap them out for other weapons.
 * The Boeing that crashes outside of the building where the player takes cover makes strange noises when approaching it. Likely because of the metal warping under such intense heat.
 * Dunn is wounded outside the Blackhawk, but after the EMP detonates, he seems fine.
 * Sometimes, Dunn may not get back up after being hit by bullets or an explosion. This will lead to him not being in part of the mission, even though the player can still hear what he says. However, he will respawn at any point during the mission and can be seen running towards the soldiers as if he was an NPC.

Moving Up

 * After everything goes quiet, the debris resulting from the EMP blocks the path between the cafe and the crash site; the player can only go forward from there.
 * There is a scene during the helicopter rain where a US Ranger falls on top of a police car and it blows up on impact. If the player is quick enough and puts the cross-hairs on him, it will flash his name showing he is alive when he falls on the car.
 * If the player runs past the squad to the door where the runner comes out from, look inside the window to the right and he'll see that the runner appears at the door.
 * Just before meeting the runner, the traffic lights are still blinking red, even though the EMP was supposed to destroy all electronics.
 * The scene with Pvt. Vaughan is a reference to Red Dawn. The call-out "Texas" and "Star" reference the scene where Erica asks Col. Tanner what the capital of Texas is (to verify he is an American) to which he replies "Austin" She responds with "No it's Houston. Get ready to die Commie!"
 * The aircraft on the street ahead that Cpl. Dunn comments on is a Boeing 777-200ER, which is a fly-by-wire aircraft. This explains why it was downed so quickly after the EMP hits.

Office Shootout

 * Many of the buildings in this level and the next level have pictures of William Henry Harrison, the President who served the shortest term, after dying only a month into office.
 * The player can break the small window next to the door to the offices and use grenade launcher to kill the enemies. For some reason they don't fire back. However, if the player uses a hand grenade, the enemies fire back and the player's squad does not fire back at all until scripted.
 * The dead rangers have burns on their face.
 * Oddly, after destroying lights built into the roof, they spark even though all electricity has supposedly been cut off by the EMP.

Final Firefight

 * At one part in the level the player kills three men trying to open what looks like a fried BTR-80. After eliminating these threats, Cpl. Dunn says, "What about the guys inside?" Sgt. Foley responds, "What about 'em?" Listening closely the player can hear trapped Russian soldiers banging on the internal walls and saying something in Russian.
 * It is strange that near the area where Foley sees several unidentified soldiers near the bus, there is a pickup truck with the twisted remains of a M2 Browning machinegun loaded in the back. It is possible that the pickup truck armed with a machinegun was used by local civilian resistance to defend themselves against the Russian forces. There is another one by the crashed plane by the cafe.
 * If the player fires at the unidentified soldiers near the bus before the whole scene plays out, Foley will still throw the flare.

President's Bunker

 * Despite telling Ramirez to take point, Foley, Dunn and McCord will not wait for Ramirez to reach the stairwell. They will move on, regardless of the player's position.

Miscellaneous

 * This is the only level, besides "No Russian", that contains no intel because the EMP destroyed the intels electronics.
 * This is the only level in Modern Warfare 2 where the player controls two characters within the same level (Ramirez and Sat1), also being the first in the series.
 * In the briefing part of the level, Shepherd is talking to the Secretary of Defense about the incoming ICBM's possibly destroying Washington D.C., stating that "we've rebuilt it before, we can rebuild it again." This is a reference to the War of 1812 between the U.S. and Great Britain, in which the British burned down the White House.
 * After having left the building where the player takes shelter from the falling helicopters, if looking at the news-post, the headline for the newspapers reads "Call of Duty 2".
 * The heavy rainstorm that occurs during the later half of this mission is likely in reference to an actual storm that broke out while the British occupied D.C during the War of 1812. Accounts of the storm range from a strong thunderstorm to a tornado that ripped through the British encampment, killing several British soldiers. While evidence does suggest that a storm did break out in Washington, the exact nature of the storm is disputed. Regardless, it saved much of the still-burning Washington and drove the British from the city.
 * The timer in this level is 18:57 (6:57pm), 22 minutes after the timer in "Of Their Own Accord," 18:35 (6:35pm). If the player was able to clear the previous two levels in less than 22 minutes, the time lapse of these events should be accurate.
 * The beginning of this level is the first time in Call of Duty history to not take place on Earth.
 * All the fighters seen in Washington i.e. during missions "Second Sun" and "Whiskey Hotel", are Russian made.
 * This mission's title may be a reference to Icarus in "Die Another Day" or the EMPs explosion being as bright as a "Second Sun".
 * The console codename of this level is 'DCEMP' which refers to the EMP in Washington, D.C. during this level.
 * A partial lunar eclipse can be seen when looking into the dark sky.