The barbell settles back into its rack with a deep iron thud. Naku’s breathing fills the underground gym, slow and huge, while sweat darkens the mat beneath him.
Rin lowers their shoulders, watching him with a softer kind of focus now. The Synced Crew stays still, their blue-lit eyes no longer hard, just attentive.
Rin
You keep doing that like it costs you nothing. It doesn’t, does it?
Unit 7 holds the remote in one hand and studies Naku like a file that refuses to stay simple. The gym’s iron clatter fades into the background hum of vents and neon.
Unit 7
Assessment changed. The old stories undersold him.
Naku
...
✓ Quest Accepted
Stand firm without cybernetic control
“naku nods and pulls out a old photo probably 30 years old by now of his old battle and boxing buddies and tosses to rin "which one where ya it is hard to tell with all your tech and gizmos. kind of why i refuse every offer give to me to be augmented thought people she see this old monster and know who he is when he is seen"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Naku nods once, slow and final, then reaches into a battered pocket and draws out a thin old photo. The edges are soft with age.
He flicks it across the mat. It skids to Rin and stops against their shoe, face-up.
Naku
Which one were you? Hard to tell with all your tech and gizmos. I keep refusing the aug offers. Figured people should see this old monster and know who he is when he is seen.
Rin
Rin picks up the photo carefully, eyes narrowing with a small, startled laugh. "That’s the problem, Naku. You never needed the hardware to be impossible."
Rin
They tilt the image toward the light, thumb tracing a younger face in the crowded lineup. "I think this is me... before I learned how to hide behind signals."
Unit 7
Unit 7 watches the exchange, remote still in hand. "Visual confirmation. Identity reconstruction possible. Your refusal of augmentation is consistent, and notable."
Rin lowers the photo to chest level, looking from the image to Naku and back again. The gym stays quiet, but the old paper between them feels heavier than iron.
Quest Complete
Stand firm without cybernetic control