Mike Darwin

Mike, a character in the Endless Summer series, is a member of a group of soldiers called the Arachnids. He is first seen as Mouse in Book 2, Chapter 9.

Appearance
He wears a red high tech suit and a mask covering his face. It is later revealed that the helmet controls him.

He has several scars along his neck and one of his eyes is brown while the other, the bionic one, is yellow.

Personality
Not much is known about him but he is shown to be obedient, as he obeys every order that Lundgren or Fiddler gives him. It's revealed in the Endless Summer Book 2 Finale, Mouse was actually Mike himself all along.

When he fights you and your friends, he is shown to be a master strategist. He chooses to knock out Quinn first so that she can't use her powers.

Before he was mind-controlled, he was shown to be a fun-loving wise-cracker. He was also dedicated to doing the right thing as he wanted to expose Rex Lundgren for selling weapons to dictators and terrorists.

History
Mike was a pilot and best friends with Jake McKenzie when they first joined the army. He and Jake found out that Lundgren had been selling weapons to their enemies. Mike and Jake were attacked while flying, Mike's eject button crashed while Jake managed to parachute out of the plane. Mike was presumed dead by Jake.

Mike was found by Lundgren. When he woke up in hospital he found out that he had 87% of his body covered in third degree burns. Lundgren then fitted him with new experimental technology to see if he could become a mindless robot soldier, it worked and Mike aka "Mouse" has been working for Lundgren ever since.

At the end of Book 2 Chapter 15, the bonus scene shows Mouse playing cards with Lundgren's top soldiers. Mouse is slow to respond when Lundgren asks him about Jake, suggesting that Mike still might be in there.

As of Book 3, Chapter 7, he has slowly started to come out of his brainwashing.

Book 2

 * Chapter 8: Let's Promise We'll Do This Again (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 9: Toward a New Horizon
 * Chapter 12: Last Chance to Turn Back
 * Chapter 13: All We Have is Now
 * Chapter 15: Self-Destruct

Book 3

 * Chapter 3: What Doesn't Kill Us
 * Chapter 6: The Ties That Break
 * Chapter 7: Where I Needed You To Be
 * Chapter 8: You Are a Warrior
 * Chapter 9: All Our Yesterdays
 * Chapter 10: I Was Lost Until You Found Me
 * Chapter 11: Like There's No Tomorrow
 * Chapter 12: You Mean The World to Me (Determinant)

Jake
He has a positive relationship with Jake as they have been best friends for many years. They formed a deep brotherly connection. When Mike was presumed dead by Jake, this caused the latter to alienate himself from other people. When Jake found Mouse's true identity, he seemed heartbroken to see what Mike had become.

Aleister
In Book 3, he is shown acting as Aleister's bodyguard.

Trivia

 * Like other high-ranking Arachnids, his codename is based on a type of spider. In his case, the mouse spider is the common name of a genus of spiders called Missulena.
 * Jake started giving people nicknames to honor his memory. Originally, Mike was the one who gave everyone a nickname, which Jake found annoying.
 * Given that his full first name is revealed to be Michael, he shares the same first name as Michael Kim from Veil of Secrets, Michael Harrison from High School Story, and Michael Spoors from Queen B.
 * He also shares the same first name and nickname as Mike Xiao from Wishful Thinking. He also shares his name with Mike Knoblauch from Open Heart and Mike from Sunkissed.
 * In many ways, Mike is like Bucky Barnes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. For one, both lost their memories of who they were, they aren't quite human, and both have been "enhanced". Lastly, Mike has the Mouse persona and Bucky his Winter Soldier alter ego.
 * Jake's Ember of Hope shows that Mike will eventually be cured of his brainwashing and will testify against Rex Lundgren.
 * If you also pick to go with Rourke's plan, he will be alive again.
 * In one of the alternate timelines, he is seen riding in a taco truck with Jake and the Shore Guardian.