SPARTAN-A274

SPARTAN-A274 is a of the   and. Due to the lack of human records, A274's name is actually unknown to anyone, including A274 himself. Therefore, A274 was assigned to the name of Daniel Cross.

Daniel-A274 is attached to the and was, formerly, assigned to  of the. Daniel would operate as one of ONI's private reapers, as he would conduct covert missions against the and.

Daniel-A274 was viewed as the "Jack of All Trades" by many high-ranking personal within the UNSC. He was an excellent sharpshooter, a proficient Close-Quarters combatant, and a Demolitions Expert. Pegged as the "Ideal Warfighter", Daniel's talents had earned him a spot within ONI's.

Daniel's 'wily' and 'aggressive' demeanor made him ideal for solo operations, but was a danger to any allies that were with him on the field. He was very defiant and outspoken towards authority, and thus was seen by his superiors as 'selfish', a 'liability', and even 'borderline sociopathic', as well. It wasn't until the final years of that Daniel was stable, thanks to the companionship that he developed with soldiers and his fellow Spartans.

Early Life
The future Spartan was born on in October of 2520, to a married couple, whose names have been lost in human history. The only known information was that the young boy's father worked for the, while his mother was a dedicated school teacher. Raised in the sprawling utopia of, the boy was displaying a disposition for physical resilience and preternatural intelligence in his youth. The boy had a knack for mental and physical challenges. He enjoyed the challenge, and his parents would always encourage this behavior. However, the young family's happy life was about to come crashing down on them.

In 2531, the, a religious hegemony of alien species that is bent on Humanity's extinction, had and deployed the bulk of their forces into  to 'cleanse' the planet. The father was killed during the initial Covenant onslaught. The boy and his mother decided to hide in their home, surrounded by a mass of Covenant warriors. Eventually, stormed the home. In desperation, the mother hid her son underneath the bed in his bedroom. However, before she could find her own hiding place, the Elites entered the bedroom and found the mother. The boy could only watch, as his mother was tortured and executed in front of his eyes. The last image of his mother was her smiling at him with tears in her eyes, and the energy swords piercing her body. The event would greatly traumatize the boy, as he would suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for a long duration of his life.

After the Sangheili warriors exited the ruined home, the boy crawled out from under the bed and approached his mother's corpse. He felt a flurry of emotions that ranged from great sadness to furious anger. The boy stumbled out of his home, covered in blood, and wandered the war-torn streets. It was only moments later when a Marine discovered the him in the streets, and rescued the small boy before he was caught in the crossfire. The boy was placed on a evac transport, which promptly fled from the fallen planet.

The civilian transport would arrive at the colony of, and proceed to dump the refugees on the planet. The boy was taken to a local orphanage on the planet. Stricken with immense grief and rage, the boy was silent when the workers questioned him on his identity and what had happened to him. When asked for his name, the boy recalled the name of the Marine that rescued him. Therefore, he claimed his name was Daniel, and that was all that he said. During his time at the orphanage, Daniel was bullied on daily basis by other kids. He was beaten, mocked, and ostracized. However, on one day, the bullies had pressed their luck. After an plethora of insults, Daniel snapped and dished out the beatings himself. He had put two children in the medical ward and gave three others some nasty bruises. Daniel was then isolated from the rest of the children after the incident, to avoid another incident.

Several days later,, who were recruiting kids for a new , had arrived at the orphanage that Daniel was staying at. The operatives discovered Daniel and evaluated his qualifications. The ONI agents were convinced that Daniel was an ideal candidate for the program. So, the ONI agents asked Daniel if he wanted to be part of a "special school". Daniel seemed disinterested by the offer, however, the ONI agents then mentioned he would be fighting the Covenant if he joined. Motivated by vengeance, Daniel accepted the offer.

SPARTAN Indoctrination
Daniel, along with hundreds of children, were whisked away by ONI agents, and placed on a frigate destined for a mysterious planet known as. The trainees were met by, their commander, and were given their first test: a "night jump" from a high-flying Pelican dropship.

Driven by anger and vengeance, Daniel jumped out of the dropship, without hesitation, and safely landed at the drop zone. This event signaled a new beginning for the broken child. This was his rebirth.

Basic Training
From the first day, Daniel, now tagged as A274, was viewed as an outsider by many of the Alpha Company trainees and instructors in. Daniel was hostile and distant from others, which led to making plenty of enemies during training. He came into violent confrontations with his fellow trainees (and trainers), and he would be the target of many acts of cruelty and brutality. Due to his behavior, Daniel was constantly shifted from squadron to squadron. This would lead to heavy discussion of dismissing the boy from the program, due to him being viewed as a liability. However, Daniel was saved from that fate, thanks to his impressive combat skills, physical condition, intelligence, and the support from an interested ONI source. In fact, ONI, who saw an opportunity to mold and utilize this SPARTAN in their own image, offered to take Daniel and few other troubled trainees, and "retrain them" before returning them to Alpha Company. Lieutenant Ambrose reluctantly agreed, as he needed to focus on main contingent of his unit and prepping them for the first combat operation.

Later, Daniel and a few trainees were moved from their barracks and placed in steel cages at a nearby UNSC military camp on the planet. There, Daniel would meet his new head instructor and tormenter, Roman Burrows.

Augmentation

 * Drug 8942-LQ99: A carbide ceramic ossification catalyst to make skeletons virtually unbreakable.


 * Drug 88005-MX77: A fibroid muscular protein complex that boosted muscle density and strength.


 * Drug 88947-OP24: A retina-inversion stabilizer drug. It boosted color and night vision capabilities.


 * Drug 87556-UD61: Improved colloidal neural disunification solution, which in turn decreased reaction time.

Trivia

 * The character's origins are mixed with the origin stories of DC Comic characters, Batman and The Joker. There are also elements from the origins of Marvel's Frank Castle.