Daniel Cross

"It feels like there's something coiled like a snake deep inside of me, and it's waiting to get out..."

- Daniel Cross.

Daniel Cross (born 1974) was a Templar sleeper agent, an ex-convict, and recovering drug and alcohol addict during the late 20th century. Daniel was the great-grandson of Nikolai Orelov, a prominent member of the Assassin Order, and the grandson of Innokenti Orelov.

Following a heavy night of drinking, Daniel was spirited away by Hannah Mueller, a member of the Assassins, and introduced to a new way of life. Curious about his constant visions of a past life, Daniel made it his mission to confront the Mentor of the Order, and find some meaning to his life.

For two years, Daniel searched the globe, visiting every major Assassin camp in his quest to meet the Mentor, before he was finally granted an audience. It was during this meeting that a long-dormant trigger, implanted in his mind during his childhood, activated.

Daniel killed the Mentor, and fled the Assassins, returning to the only people he knew would accept him, Abstergo Industries. There, he joined the Templar ranks, becoming a Master Templar and a member of the Inner Sanctum by 2012.

Early years
"Я хочу домой. (I want to go home)."

- A young Daniel, c. 1985.

His birth name unknown, "Daniel Cross" was, as a young child, kidnapped by Abstergo Industries and subjected to at least one bout of surgery.

Dubbing him Animus Subject 4, Abstergo explored Daniel's genetic memories, and caused him to experience the Bleeding effect later in his life. Using a replicated Piece of Eden, Warren Vidic inserted a hidden impulse that would drive him to kill the Mentor were he ever presented with the opportunity.

After this, the young Daniel was thrown out onto the street. He wandered the countryside alone, until he was happened upon by a couple driving by. When they asked his name, he merely said that he wanted to go home, but in Russian, the language of the ancestor whose memories he had relived.

Daniel grew up to become a petty criminal, though he suffered constantly from vivid hallucinations, and often mistook himself to be his great grandfather, the Assassin Nikolai Orelov.

As a result of not being able to comprehend the hallucinations, Daniel turned to drugs and alcohol. Eventually, his drug addiction led to the death of his girlfriend, Kelly. Daniel was convicted, and upon being released, became court-ordered to take medication to suppress his hallucinations.

At one point in 1998, after it became apparent that Daniel was not taking his prescription drugs, his court-ordered psychiatrist reminded him that he was required to do so by law. Daniel simply threw away the prescription he had been given, and chose instead to visit a local bar.

There, he drank heavily, and tried unsuccessfully to proposition several women; before vomiting into a toilet. He began to have another hallucination, this time about Nikolai's assassination attempt on Tsar Alexander III, before he stumbled out the back door of the bar.

Outside, Daniel was stopped by a man, who asked if he was feeling okay. As Daniel was still suffering from his hallucinations, he accused the man of being a Templar, and very nearly stabbed him with a knife. Before he was able to do so however, Daniel was stopped by Hannah Mueller, who - assuming he was a fellow Assassin - reprimanded him and pushed him into a car to take him back to her camp.

Introduction to the Order
"Are you a field operative? Communications? You don't show up on any of our personnel records."

- Paul Bellamy to Daniel.

The next day, Daniel awoke in a strange location, and learned that Hannah had taken him to an Assassin camp near Philadelphia. She remarked that they had been unable to find his cabin, and that nobody from the camp recognized him.

Shortly afterward, they met with Paul Bellamy, the director of the camp. Paul brought up the fact that there was no record of Daniel anywhere in the Order's personnel records. Daniel continued to protest that he knew nothing of the Assassins or the Templars, and was aghast when shown that a tattoo he had gotten was actually the symbol of the Assassin Order.

At that moment, Daniel had another vision, and said aloud the words Nikolai had spoken in one of his memories. When questioned on this by Paul, and on what "Tunguska" meant, Daniel got up to leave, but was intercepted by two other Assassins. The three broke into a fight, with Daniel quickly disabling his attackers. Paul was forced to put his Hidden Blade to Daniel's neck to prevent him from killing either, and Daniel was returned to one of the cabins.

That night, in a fit of anger, Daniel overturned the furniture in his room, which drew the attention of Hannah. Fearing his uncontrollable hallucinations, Daniel told her that he had left his medication in his flat, and that he needed to get it back.

Although Hannah at first refused to help him, she pitied him, and thus handed him a white hooded-jacket, so that he could blend in as they left. The two arrived at the apartment, but Daniel realized that he had no medication left, as he had thrown the last of it away. Daniel quickly sunk into a state of despair, while Hannah suggested that it might be for the best for Daniel to release whatever was locked up in his mind.

Finding his purpose
"Hannah... it's okay... I saw everything... I saw the shape of time. I know my purpose, I understand what I have to do... I have to find the Mentor."

- Daniel Cross, after his hallucination.

After a brief discussion about her role in the Order and the rigging of the upcoming election, Hannah asked if there was anything about Daniel's hallucinations that he remembered. Rising to his feet, Daniel walked up to the window and drew the figure of the Staff into the condensation; though he was unsure what it meant.

At that moment, Paul Bellamy burst into the room. Paul approached them, and said that he had just gotten off the phone with Bill Miles, whose records had mentioned a small team of Assassins who had been sent to Tunguska in 1908, though only one survived the mission. The survivor, Daniel's great-grandfather, had eventually journeyed to America.

After hearing the name "Nikolai Orelov", Daniel started to hallucinate about Nikolai's mission to retrieve the Staff from Tunguska. Paul urged Daniel to let them know what was going through his head, only to receive a right-hook from Daniel.

Daniel fled the apartment and made his way onto the rooftops, all the while continuing to see the events of 1908 transpire in his mind. He was pursued by both Paul and Hannah, who implored him to come down with them. As his vision reached its climax, Daniel's mind was flooded with a wide array of images; the Apple, Nikola Tesla, Eden, and his own birth. He then collapsed to the floor, but was hurriedly cradled by Hannah. Daniel assured her that he was all right, saying that he had finally found his purpose, that he had to find the Mentor.

Meeting with the Mentor
"Some of the others tried to tell me I was wasting my time, but I knew I couldn't give up the search."

- Daniel, upon meeting the Mentor.

Over the next two years Daniel searched the globe for clues to the Mentor's whereabouts, visiting several Assassin camps in the process. At each location, he appealed to his fellow Assassins for their support and guidance. On November 5, 2000, Daniel finally got his wish.

While refreshing himself in his room, Daniel was accosted by at least two masked individuals, who, after a brief struggle, managed to inject a sedative into Daniel's neck. The following day, he awoke to find himself in the Mentor's Dubai facility.

Although unsure at first where he was, Daniel quickly worked out who it was he was speaking with. Daniel learned that his progress had been watched carefully by the Mentor, who knew about Daniel's visions, and saw him as a unique asset to the Order.

The Mentor then explained how the title of "Mentor", as well as the sum total of the Mentors' knowledge, was passed on from the predecessor. He further went on to explain how the Order itself had changed its way of operating, and no longer simply killed those who became too powerful or greedy.

The Mentor then passed on his own Hidden Blade to Daniel, commenting on how the weapons were mostly ceremonial in the modern era, but still in working condition. As soon as the blade was given to him, Daniel felt as if he was made to use it. Putting it upon his forearm, Daniel suddenly recalled the impulse that had been embedded into his subconscious by Warren Vidic during his time at Abstergo.

Daniel acted upon this impulse and murdered the Mentor. He immediately regretted his actions, unsure of why exactly he had done such a thing. Upon hearing voices from outside the room, Daniel leapt through the glass windows, out of the tower, and into the sea below. He then started making his way to the only place he felt would welcome him, Abstergo.

Return to Abstergo
"I admit, I felt a certain sense of almost fatherly pride, seeing our boy grown and carrying on our work. Indeed, any lingering attachment to his deceased parents has dissolved and he has come to regard Abstergo as his home."

- An email to Alan Rikkin from Warren Vidic.

On November 21, Daniel eventually made his way back to the Abstergo research facility in Philadelphia. As soon as he arrived there, Daniel demanded that he be returned to the Animus; though it was only after an attack on an unfortunate secretary that Warren Vidic became convinced of his urgency. Daniel was placed into the Animus to freely explore the memories of his ancestor, Nikolai Orelov, which had a calming effect on Daniel himself.

Daniel was soon taken out of the Animus and tied to a medical bed. Under the supervision of Steams and other high ranking Abstergo employees, Dr. Sung was forced to extract information from him by administering SK-345 into him. Daniel subconsciously revealed the locations and secrets of the Assassin hideouts he had visited over the past two years, allowing Abstergo to initiate "the Great Purge," which nearly annihilated the entire Assassin Order.

For at least the next two years, Daniel continued his Animus sessions under Dr. Sung's supervision. He began to develop a type of addiction to reliving the memories of his ancestors, going so far as to attempt to use an Animus without consent. While trying to do so, he discovered that his case of the Bleeding effect had escalated to a point where he did not need the Animus to access his genetic memories. He claimed to Dr. Sung that those memories were the closest thing to a family he had ever known, though he was reassured that the people at Abstergo saw him as one of their own.

Subsequently, Daniel rose through the Templar ranks, becoming both a Master Templar, and member of the Inner Sanctum. He took up a position at the Operations Division of Abstergo, and was regarded by his fellow Templars as "a true hero" by 2012.

At some point after becoming a member of the Inner Sanctum, Daniel was entrusted with a special mission. The raids on the Assassin camps had revealed much information, including the location of the hidden library of Ivan the Terrible beneath the in Moscow. He was sent to investigate its connection to the Assassins, who had apparently used the library for generations, as a repository for valuable items such as the Prophet's Codex.

When Daniel infiltrated the library, he was greeted by a guard there, who thought Daniel was intended as his replacement. He showed Daniel the most valuable object – the writings of the Prophet, Ezio Auditore da Firenze - within which the Templar found one of the most important pieces of information, a written recording of the message from Minerva to an individual known as Desmond. Daniel then communicated the message to Abstergo, and departed after killing the Assassin sentry.

After his mission in the hidden library, Daniel went to a church in Moscow. Here he met with his great-aunt Nadya, who was not aware of who he was. She told him that he reminded her of her son, who was always getting into trouble. When she asked why Daniel was in Moscow, having identified him as a newcomer because of the cross he wore, which was different than the patriarchal cross which Russians wore, Daniel responded by telling her he was "visiting family". Afterwards, she told him that there were no stronger ties than those of blood, and Daniel subsequently left the church.

Daniel Cross was later responsible for the capture of Desmond Miles, and was quite frustrated with Vidic when he learned of his escape.

Ancestry
"He's a gift, Miss Clarke. A wonderful gift, delivered to us by Lineage Discovery and Acquisition. And now we're going to open him up and see what's inside."

- Warren Vidic talking about Daniel before experimenting on him in the Animus.

Daniel's unique genealogy caught the attention of Abstergo Industries, and resulted in his capture by the company's Lineage Discovery and Acquisition division.

Daniel's only direct known ancestors were the Orelovs, a family closely tied with the Assassin Order. Daniel's great-great-grandfather Andrei Orelov migrated to Russia and joined the Narodnaya Volya to help rid the country of Imperialism. His son Nikolai Orelov was forced to follow in his footsteps, who was not as passionate to serve the Assassins as his father was. Nikolai married Anna, a Russian woman, with whom he had a daughter, Nadya, while still in Russia. Nikolai and Anna moved to the United States in 1917 to start a new life. Their son Innokenti was born soon afterwards, who became Daniel's grandfather.

Personality and characteristics
"I hear voices, but I don't understand what they're saying. It's all in European or something. [...] It's not always a vision... sometimes it just feels like I'm remembering how things used to be."

- Daniel to his psychiatrist.

Due to his hallucinations, none of which he could understand, Daniel was often confused. This confusion led him to be rude and anti-social, sometimes even going so far to have him resort to violence.

Upon learning of the Mentor, Daniel became incredibly determined to meet him, travelling the world and refusing to listen to others' insistence that his goal was impossible. After the murder of the Mentor, Daniel was shocked at his own actions.

Knowing that he could not return to the Assassins, he ran in desperation to Abstergo. Initially, Daniel felt a longing for connection to something he could call family, and would often use the Animus to relive the memories of his ancestors, claiming it was "the closest thing to a family" he had ever known. However, Daniel eventually grew to fit into his new home, as well as into the Templar Order.

Trivia

 * "Daniel" means "Judgment of God" in Hebrew.
 * Daniel was given the surname "Cross", in reference to the red cross symbol of the Templars.
 * Daniel was one of eight known Assassins to be converted to the Templar cause, with the others being Harash, Haras, Masun, Jamal, Rashid ad-Din Sinan, Vali cel Tradat, and Lucy Stillman. However, Daniel was the only one to have held a connection to the Templars before ever joining the Assassins, albeit unknowingly.