I've been thinking about this story. If Clay became a virtual singer or something. Clay x Desmond. No beta.
In short, Desmond took Clay out of the Animus Island. Instead of sharing his body with Clay or finding him a new clone body, he transferred Clay's consciousness into a portable hard drive and connected it to his laptop. All of this was done unbeknownst to Rebecca, Shaun, and Bill.
Clay · is still alive · but in a digital form · inside Desmond's computer · Kaczmarek.
It was easy to imagine that the guy crawled through Desmond's laptop like a virus, rifling through all the data and making copies of himself all over the device. This way, even if Desmond unplugged the hard drive, Clay would still be screaming and shouting inside the laptop, accusing Desmond of trying to "kill" him.
Desmond: You hacked my laptop!
Clay: *Opens a text pop-up* NO. NOW IT'S MY LAPTOP. IT'S MY HOME. IT'S MINE. *Frenzied pop-ups everywhere*
Desmond: *Holds down the power button*
Clay: *Frenzied pop-ups, trying to stop Desmond* NOOOOO YOU CAN'T…!
Ten seconds later, the laptop screen went black.
Desmond: *Sighs in relief*
Oh, of course, Desmond couldn't keep the laptop off forever, nor did he intend to lock Clay in an electronic void permanently. After all, it was he who wanted Clay to live. Even if it wasn't the "real" life Clay imagined—with breathing, feeling water and wind—Desmond was just a bit scared by him. So a few minutes later, he turned the laptop back on.
Clay: *A text box pops up* You knocked me out! That hurt! I thought I'd never wake up again *Accusingly*
Desmond: Oh, sorry. I won't shut it down again. But you have to be kind too, okay? Stop going crazy on my laptop. If it breaks, I can't get you another one.
Desmond: They're asking me to get in the Animus. Just play around by yourself, okay? Don't get discovered by others.
So Clay played. First, he set up a virtual desktop—a screen that just looked like a lock screen, showing nothing is happening. Then, he designed a physical form for himself.
Of course, Clay could access all the data in the laptop. Objectively speaking, every piece of data could be him, but he really needed a "body"—a form Desmond could see, just like in the Animus Island, right? So he made himself into a desktop pet: a tiny, pixelated, chibi version of himself, slightly larger than a software shortcut icon. A desktop pet! Clay could walk around on the desktop, talk (in the form of 💬 bubbles), wave, sleep, etc. Clay made many animations to express his emotions and actions.
Then came the voice. Clay downloaded Vocaloid. Yes, we know virtual singers usually need human voice samples to synthesize a voicebank, which then needs training. But Clay is Clay. He could speak in Assassin's Creed II and talk in Assassin's Creed: Revelations, which proves his AI version must contain his voice data. Therefore, Clay easily synthesized his voice data through Vocaloid, allowing him to speak in the computer.
So, when Desmond exited the Animus, having found nothing in Haytham's or Connor's memories, perhaps having just fought with his dad, and sat gloomily in front of the laptop, the desktop pet! Clay fell down from the top of the screen and landed on the taskbar, sending a 💬 "Put on your headphones".
Desmond put on his headphones, and a voice poured into his ears, almost identical to what he heard in the Animus Island.
"Hello des. Nice to meet you."
I know this is weird, but Clay and Desmond could totally have phone sex. Clay could see Desmond through the laptop's front camera and hear his voice through the microphone. Desmond, wearing headphones, listened to Clay commanding him, praising him, and making moaning sounds while he touched himself. Desmond looked at that ridiculous little pixel man with blonde hair on the screen. Just like that.
Then there is the Vocaloid thing. While Desmond was inside the Animus, Clay had nothing to do and no one to talk to, so he wandered around the laptop. He was so bored that he started playing with Vocaloid. He packaged his voice into a voicebank, named it Subject16, and uploaded it. He tuned his own voice, wrote songs, and made MVs.
Original Song | Self-made Virtual Singer [Subject16] Vocaloid Cover
Voicebank Download: http://subject16?.com
Producer 16 released an original song and MV sung by the virtual singer Subject16 and made the voicebank publicly available, allowing anyone to create music with Subject16's voice.
He went viral online. Because people found that Subject16's performance was excellent; his voice sounded more like a real human than electronic synthesis. And of course, the songs helped. The tracks released by 16 were perhaps dark, eerie, and crazy, filled with strange sound samples, screeches, and catchy melodies. Anyway, he became famous.
Will Abstergo find him? Nope. A man who could trick Abstergo into uploading his consciousness to the Animus and directly communicate with his successor—how could they find him?
Abstergo couldn't find 16. They couldn't trace the account back to Desmond's laptop, nor could they find the uploader of Subject16 through the Vocaloid network, even though the virtual singer's voice sounded exactly like that of the test subject who died at Abstergo.
Okay. Let's return from Clay's online adventure to our heavy canon plot. Desmond was still lying in the Animus, looking for the key. Through the camera, Clay could see every argument between Desmond and Bill and could sense how lonely and painful Desmond was. But Desmond was no longer lonely; Clay was by his side. Desmond needed a hug, and Clay gave it to him. Obviously, Rebecca and Shaun would notice Desmond was always wearing headphones and staring at the laptop. But there was nothing wrong with that, was there? Shaun was always staring at his laptop too. Maybe they just thought Desmond had an internet addiction.
Clay kept writing songs. At first, he didn't tell Desmond because there was no need. "Hey des, I used your laptop to write songs and became an internet celebrity? I released my voice online and became a famous virtual singer?" That wouldn't be good. While Desmond was stuck in the Grand Temple, enduring his father's misunderstanding and pressure, Clay's "good news" seemed rather inappropriate. Clay wrote songs. At first, he just vented his chaotic thoughts; the music was sharp and noisy. But he wrote songs for Desmond. Gentle, comforting songs. He hoped Desmond would feel a little better.
Imagine, one day Desmond sat in front of the laptop, feeling down. He put on his headphones and heard Clay say, "Hey des, I wrote a song for you. Want to listen?"
Desmond widened his eyes and nodded instinctively, "Oh… oh, go ahead."
Then Clay started the music. Soothing chords flowed out, and a gentle human voice began to sing. The lyrics were very tender, making Desmond feel "Ah, this song is written for me," and "So this is what Clay's music style is like."
This is a Vocaloid!Clay story. I've always been thinking about how to avoid Desmond's final fate. I've thought of a few versions, like Desmond uploading his consciousness onto the internet before sacrificing himself, becoming an electronic ghost with Clay to fight Juno.
But I think, if possible, I'd rather see Desmond and Clay live in the real world. Let's skip this part. Anyway, Desmond survived, and the Earth kept turning. He used Isu technology to build a clone body and gave Clay a physical form. Then, they truly hugged each other.
