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 member of the Templar Order who subconsciously infiltrated the Assassin Order as a sleeper agent to kill their Mentor. An ex-convict and recovering drug and alcohol addict, Daniel was the great-grandson of Nikolai Orelov, a prominent member of the Russian Assassin Brotherhood, 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.

Biography

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.

A young Daniel wandering down a country road.

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 Assassins

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

―Paul Bellamy to Daniel.

Daniel meeting with Paul Bellamy.

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.

Daniel's drawing of the Staff.

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.

Daniel being sedated.

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.

Daniel killing the Mentor.

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.

Daniel returning to the Abstergo facility in Philadelphia.

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 the next fourteen months, Daniel continued with his Animus sessions and relived the memories of his next ancestor Innokenti Orelov in uninterrupted real time. He was disconnnected from the Animus in 2002 by Dr. Sung when his brain activity went haywire, and she introduced herself to him. She also informed him of the time that had passed and also explained that he was seen as a hero by the other Templars for having killed the Mentor. Daniel, feeling remorse, was led to his new apartment inside the Abstergo facility in Philadelphia, where he soon suffered from the Bleeding Effect once more and slipped into the memories of Innokenti.

Daniel found Dr. Sung when she was about the leave the facility, but as soon as he looked at her the Bleeding Effect caused him to confuse her with Anna Orelov, Nikolai's wife. He implored her to allow him to go back in the Animus, which she denied, saying that he was going through a form of withdrawal. She then told him that she had to go him, though Daniel had already stolen her key card, with which he entered the facility's new Animi room. He walked past severel Animi used to relive the memories of captured Assassins, and was spooked when he saw Paul Bellamy laying on one of the Animi, but further ignored him. He then lay down on one of the Animi, noticing its renewed appearance, and relived more of his ancestor's memories.

He was again woken up by Dr. Sung, who expressed her disappointment in him and pointed out that his Animus was not turned on. Daniel apologized, and asked Sung if they had a file on him and his connection to Orelov. After admitting that they had, she told him that he didn't need to go into his past to be with his family, because everyone at Abstergo cared about him and that his family was right there at Abstergo. After Daniel woke up that night from reliving more of his ancestor's memories, which showed Nikolai's ruthlessness to his son Innokenti, Daniel looked at Nikolai's picture in his files and begrudgingly scrunched it.

Early Templar assignments

"We are the last bastion of civility in a cynical, confused age. We've chased them out of their dens and sent them scurrying. Now it's time to wipe them out. And I'm going to show you how to do it."

―Daniel while training his recruits.

Daniel joined the ranks of the Templars some time afterwards, entrusted with the training of Abstergo employees and new recruits to fight the remnants of the Assassin Order. By taking new medication and having weekly appointments with Dr. Sung, Daniel began to cope with the Bleeding Effect. He also had the hidden blade he received from the Mentor revised and upgraded by Abstergo.

Daniel met with Vidic and several other high-ranking Templars in a meeting room of the Abstergo facility, where they told him that he was put on a new assignment and that Rothschild would be taking over his duties as a trainer.

Vidic sent Daniel the specifics of his assignment via email, and Daniel soon traveled to Moscow, Russia to find the "Prophet's Codex" in the Library of Ivan the Terrible hidden beneath the Bolshoi Theatre. Attending a play at the theatre, Daniel quietly made his way through the theatre to find a hidden door to a tunnnel leading to the library. Upon entering it, he was spooked by an Assassin sentry who intended to greet him, causing Daniel to retract his hidden blade. Daniel pretended to be the Assassin's replacement as sentry, and the sentry eagerly told Daniel about the location of the codex when he was asked about it. When the sentry left Daniel alone, Daniel opened the Prophet's Codex, written by Ezio Auditore da Firenze, and read out Minerva's speech to Vidic via his earpiece, noticing the name "Desmond." Daniel took the box holding the codex with him and killed the sentry before calling in the clean-up team and leaving the library.

Daniel remained in Moscow to visit a local church, where he went to sit next to an elderly lady. Unbeknownst to her, she was actually his great-aunt Nadya Orelov, but she did notice his resemblance to her own son. Communicating in Russian, she told him that he knew that he was not from here by looking at the difference in the cross Daniel wore around his neck. Before Daniel left, Nadya told him that it would be nice if he came by again.

As a Master Templar

Vidic: "Listen, Daniel, and listen well. You know how important this training program is to us. We identified a few promising recruits and-"

Daniel: "Promising recruits my–"

Vidic: "Listen! Right now, you're the best man for the job. The only man, really. You're our top operative and you've been training agents for a decade."

—Vidic and Daniel after Daniel arrived in Rome.

Daniel subsequently rose to become a member of the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order and became known as a Master Templar. In late 2012, Daniel was involved in an incident in Denver, which left him traumatized and later refused to go on assignment there.

In late October 2012 Daniel was responsible for finding Desmond Miles and allowed his capture by Daniel's fellow Abstergo employees. When Desmond escaped from Abstergo, Daniel was notably frustrated, not being aware that Vidic had it all planned out as part of Project Siren.

On 12 September 2012, Daniel led a Templar attack on an Assassin hideout in Whistler, British Columbia in Canada, though one Assassin managed to escape the attack.

Just over a month later, on October 13th 2012, Daniel, in a state of great uneasiness, telephoned Dr. Sung to express his concern following the news of the collapse of Project Siren and the death of Lucy Stillman. Despite his panic, Daniel eventually agreed to meet with her in person at Rittenhouse Square to discuss his concerns.

Daniel called Vidic in anger to show his dissatisfaction for having lost Desmond and his team again, and told him that he found out about Project Siren. He expressed his desire to join him in Rome, to which Vidic agreed, saying he could use Daniel's expertise. When Daniel arrived there, Daniel was assigned by Rizzo to train more recruits for their training program. Daniel insisted that he should be going after Desmond, but Vidic told him that he was the only man who could train the recruits properly and told him that it would only be for two days. Daniel reluctantly agreed, though still wanted to be involved in retrieving Desmond.

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, in order to help rid the country of Imperialism. His son, Nikolai, was forced to follow in his footsteps, and although dedicated, Nikolai was not so passionate in his devotion to the Assassins as his father was. Later on, Nikolai married Anna, a Russian woman, with whom he had a daughter, Nadya, while the couple resided in the country. Following this, Nikolai and Anna later moved to the United States in 1917 to start a new life, where 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.

File:DanielMedication.png

Daniel panicking over his empty medicine bottle.

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.

Gallery

• 
  Daniel Cross in 1998.
• Daniel in 2000.
  Daniel in 2000.
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  Daniel's vision of the past and future.
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  Daniel talking with Hannah.
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  Daniel performing a Leap of Faith in Dubai.
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  Daniel using the Animus.
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  Daniel Cross in 2002.
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  Daniel in his mission gear.
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  Daniel training Abstergo Recruits.
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  Daniel meets Nadya Orelov.