Daniel Cross is the secondary antagonist in the modern day sections of Assassin's Creed III. He 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. In mid-2012, Daniel captured former-Assassin Desmond Miles and brought him to Abstergo for participation in Warren Vidic's Animus Project. Following Desmond's escape and the failure of Project Siren, Daniel tracked down and confronted him numerous times around the world in an attempt to retrieve his Apple of Eden for Vidic. Ultimately, Desmond assassinated Daniel at an encounter in Abstergo's Rome facility.