Samantha Cross

Doctor Samantha Cross is a character in Call of Duty: Ghosts. She is a doctor in paleolinguistics and a former member of the Nightfall Program in Alaska, where she studied the origins of the Cryptids.

Appearance
Samantha Cross has red hair and hazel eyes. In Nightfall, Cross wears a black jacket, black shoes, a white shirt, a faded yellow scarf, and black jeans which accent her behind. This can be seen when Archer is carrying her. In mayday, she wears hospital gown-like clothing.

Biography
Samantha Cross received her PhD in Paleontology Linguistics from Harvard almost a year before the events of Nightfall. She turned down a seven figure contract with the NSA and instead decided to "dig holes in the jungle". In an interview, she revealed that she was born with a rare neurological condition, which allows her brain to process complex patterns into a code or language. Because of this condition, she is known as a natural code breaker. Because of this publicity, Cross was brought out to the Nightfall Program's head facility in Alaska by David Archer to study the Cryptid specimens he retrieved from Colorado.

Involvement with Nightfall and Betrayal
Cross had spent months at the Nightfall facility learning about the Cryptid species. During her time there, Archer and the other members of the project denied her questions she wanted answers to. After four months of learning the origins of Cryptids, Archer tasked her with the decoding of the Ark, an obsidian stone carved with Cryptid glyphs found at the Colorado colony. After weeks of insomnia caused by her devotion to decode the obelisk, Archer unveiled his newest creation, the monstrous Breeder, causing Samantha to fear the true intentions of Nightfall. Giving into her suspicions, she breached the facility's location to the U.S. government, begging them to put an end to the group's work. Unbeknownst to Cross, her ongoing translations of the Ark began affecting her subconscious, making her suffer from the mimetic virus the stone carried, allowing her to broadcast the telepathic commands sent to the Cryptids from their distant commanding Ancestors. Under their influence, Cross breached Nightfall's hatchery in an outbreak that slaughtered 127 of the Program's employees, her being one of the remaining survivors due to the Cryptids' refusal to harm her.

U.S Military Response and Abduction
The U.S. Military organized a Rapid Reaction Force codenamed CIF Team One to retrieve Dr. Cross, gather intelligence related to the Nightfall project, under the command of DIA's General Castle. After encountering and defeating the Breeder for the first time, Castle declared Cross among the deceased killed, however Samantha revealed over the intercom she was hiding in the facility's research lab.

After breaching the lab, Cross prepared to kill herself after finally finishing the translations of the Ark, her brain slowly defecting further to the Cryptid enemy. Moments later, Archer quickly incapacitated and kidnapped Cross, escaping from the compound and leaving CIF Team One at the mercy of the Breeder. As the military cleaned up the second outbreak, an unconscious Cross was taken aboard Stormbreaker, Archer's escape vessel, and oversaw the bonding of her brain to the Beacon Amplifier, a device designed by surviving Nightfall scientist Dr. Kassar, to lead Archer and his men to the next Ark.

Transformation
Days into the voyage, Archer learned of Cross' telepathic communication with the Cryptids, believing her to be the key to taking control of the creatures. To investigate this clairvoyant, Dr. Kassar was instructed to begin a series of psychological evaluations on Cross, her mind now completely deteriorated to the Cryptid masters, making Kassar fearful the virus turned her to something more than human. Samantha's presence caused Stormbreaker's crew to experience vivid and terrifying nightmares, spreading rumors of mutiny and even one crewmember attempting to kill Cross in her sleep. Enraged, Archer fed the man to Cryptid larvae, intending on beheading Cross when the time was right to wield her brain as a sabotage weapon against the Cryptid commanders.

Disappearance
Over three weeks after the Nightfall outbreak, Cross used her telepathy to summon the protector of the Arks as the vessel reached the shores of Ball's Pyramid, the location of the second Ark, as well as a third outbreak of the Cryptid specimens aboard the ship. Responding to a mayday broadcast, General Castle dispatched CIF Team One to pacify the outbreak and rescue Archer as a double-agent, as per their earlier agreements to gain his help in the Cryptid war under the condition Cross' head is brought out from the vessel. Protected by a shield of bulletproof glass, the Beacon room was flooded with chlorine gas that would poison Cross, allowing for the safe removal of her head. However, upon reaching lethality, she disappeared from the ship entirely, the Beacon Amplifier along with her. As Castle and his men searched for Cross amid the wreckage of Stormbreaker, the military descended upon Ball's Pyramid, locating a Cryptid master in the process.