Clay Kaczmarek

He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. This article contains spoilers, meaning it has information and facts concerning recent or upcoming releases from the Assassin's Creed series. If you do not want to know about these events, it is recommended to read on with caution, or not at all. This template should be removed from the article three months after release.

"Why do we have these gifts, these abilities? Because it's in our blood! [...] The seeds were planted as two worlds became one. Behold the Assassins, the children of two worlds!"

―Subject 16.

Clay Kaczmarek (1982 - 2012), most commonly known as Subject 16, was an individual who was kidnapped by Abstergo Industries and forced into the Animus before Desmond Miles. A descendant of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, he was born into the Assassin bloodline.

After his alleged suicide, Clay continued to exist as an AI recreation of his personality within the Animus. As such, he was able to manipulate much of the Animus' programing from within to aid Desmond.

While at Abstergo, Sixteen relived the lives of his ancestors in the Far East and ancient Africa, as well as one at the Battle of Gettysburg, one in the Roman forum, and one who was connected with Queen Isabella.

Biography

Life at Abstergo

Clay was captured by the Templar-backed organization Abstergo Industries for use in the genetic memory recall program. Held within the Abstergo laboratory at all times by Dr. Warren Vidic, Clay was kept connected to the Animus for dangerously long periods, sometimes even days at a time. This led to him suffering from a severe condition known as the "bleeding effect."

Through this bleeding effect, Clay began to explore the memories of his ancestors without the use of the Animus; but his inability to control these visions forced him into a downward spiral of insanity, eventually culminating in his evident suicide.

Before this event, Clay was forced to explore the memories of his ancestor Ezio Auditore, who the Templars knew had located the Vault during his lifetime. However, he was never able to relive the desired memory. By draining his body of blood to paint several cryptic messages upon the floor and walls of the rooms he was being kept in, Sixteen killed himself to prevent the Templars from reaching their goals.

Legacy

Following Clay's death, the Templars were left without the location of the Vault; though they had gained the knowledge that another Assassin – Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad – had once held a certain Piece of Eden. Thus, Abstergo kidnapped a descendant of Altaïr, Desmond Miles, who they labelled Subject 17.

Abstergo

During his incarceration, Desmond spoke often with Dr. Vidic's assistant Lucy Stillman about many things, including his predecessor, Clay Kaczmarek. Lucy, however, was often uncomfortable with speaking about him, as she blamed herself for his death.

Additionally, by accessing private e-mails between Animus sessions, Desmond discovered an email Lucy had written to Dr. Vidic, which detailed the bleeding effect, and explained how it was connected to Clay. She expressed her concern in pushing the Animus subjects too hard; however, the email was never replied to, and was evidently deleted shortly after it was received.

The Hideout

Following Desmond's escape from Abstergo and the beginning of his journey through the memories of Ezio, the Assassins learned that Clay had managed to hack the Abstergo Animus before his death, and had placed twenty Glyphs throughout the Animus' rendering of the memories. These encrypted files, which had been saved onto the Abstergo Animus' memory core that Lucy had stolen, were later unknowingly transferred onto Rebecca Crane's Animus 2.0.

After decrypting all twenty files, the Assassins were rewarded with a genetic memory marked "date classified BCE." The video showed two free-runners (who referred to each other as Adam and Eve) climbing a large glass structure, with an Apple of Eden in hand.

Desmond meeting Sixteen inside the Animus.

Monteriggioni

Within each Glyph, Sixteen also left a set of coordinates, which corresponded with locations in Renaissance Rome. Upon visiting these indicated landmarks, Desmond discovered several Rifts in the Animus programming.

Within each, Desmond solved one of ten Cluster puzzles, and unlocked a piece of a file. Upon compiling them, they revealed a distorted video with the message "The miracle is in the execution," suggesting that (unlike the video hidden in the Glyphs) the Rifts instead concealed an executable file.

Upon accessing it, Desmond found himself in an unknown area within the Animus, and was able to run through a somewhat long virtual maze, similar to those within the Animus Virtual Training Program.

At the end of the maze, he found a hologram (partially broken and made of computing code) of Clay Kaczmarek, who told Desmond that all hope was lost, and that he needed to go to Eden to find a woman named Eve. Before vanishing, Clay told Desmond to find him in the darkness.

File:Sixteenanddesmond.png

Sixteen with Desmond in the Black Room.

Black Room

After the events of AC: Brotherhood, Desmond goes in a coma and enters the Black Room, a place which the mind and the memories of a subject can be saved into the data base of the Animus. Here, Clay Kaczmarek explains to Desmond the difficult situation of his life. When the Animus started to delete everything, Clay saved Desmond at the cost of his own life.

Rift conclusion dialogue

Desmond completes the virtual maze, and encounters Subject 16.

• Desmond: Subject 16?
• Subject 16: (laughs) Yes, yes, Subject 17.
• Desmond: You're dead. I saw your blood!
• Subject 16: No time. It is far later than you know. Too late to save them.
• Desmond: Who?
• Subject 16: She is not who you think she is. Everything you hope to become, everything you hold dear, it's already gone.
• Desmond: Explain. Please.
• Subject 16: Eden. She... in Eden. Find Eve. The Key. Her DNA...
• Desmond: Tell me!
• Subject 16: I cannot... The sun... Your son... Too weak... Must replenish energy...
• Desmond: Don't go!
• Subject 16: I am with you 'til the end. Find me in the darkness.

Trivia

File:Michael s16.jpg

Michael.

• In the Assassin's Creed - French Graphic Novel, Subject 16 is shown to be alive, and is referred to as "Michael." However, the graphic novel is not considered canon in this respect, as it directly contradicts the events of the games.
• The achievement in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood entitled ".. .- -- .- .-.. .. ...- ." (Morse code for "I AM ALIVE") is earned by solving all of Subject 16's Cluster puzzles. The achievement badge consists of the Morse code ".---- -....", which means "16".
• In the Ubiworkshop website, the upcoming release of the Assassin's Creed Encyclopedia will include a full-body picture of Subject 16 as well as a database about him. In the website, his picture is blurred in the trailer so as to avoid spoilers.
• It has been confirmed by Alexandre Amancio that Subject 16 is physically dead throughout the games, and that his "essence" has been absorbed into the Animus. This allows him to interact with the users of the Animus, as well as act as a third person spectator; effectively letting him see everything that goes on inside the Animus.