CHAPTER 31

A week later, Miguel had finally finished making his bomb. It was large enough to level the whole compound, and after Kreese's death, all of the upper level of the cartel were staying in. However, Miguel now had a bigger problem. How the hell was he going to get into the compound to place the bomb?! He had studied the movements of every single one of the compound's guards and he knew that he didn't have much time to slip in and plant the bomb at all. By his calculations, based on the size of the bomb, he had to be inside the inner building of the compound and plant the bomb. Then, somehow, he had to manage to sneak out of the compound before exploding the bomb.

Finally, after endless preparation, the night of the mission finally arrived. Miguel had packed the bomb extremely compactly in a narrow tube and he packed it in his backpack. After saying a quick goodbye to his Aunt Elena, Miguel quietly snuck out of the house and into the streets. The house he was staying in was around a 5 minute walk away from the cartel compound so he made the journey relatively quickly.

Miguel stood a couple of feet away from the compound, gripping a silenced pistol in his hands and feeling the bomb in his backpack. He just hoped to God he didn't get shot in the back during his sneak-in, triggering the bomb and blowing him to smithereens. Miguel took a deep breath and pulled out the picture that the 6 rebels had taken in Okinawa. He was doing this for them. For as long as the cartel was still active, none of them were safe, and it had forced him to become this ruthless monster. His eyes lingered slightly on Sam, who was standing at the far edge of the photo, and he put it in his chest pocket, close to his heart. He was coming home. So help him God he was coming home. Miguel's fingers curled around the trigger of his silenced gun as he advanced towards the compound and saw the first few guards.

PISH! PISH! PISH!

To Miguel's surprise, the sound that the silenced guns made when being fired and impaling their target was extremely quiet, fortunately for him. No one noticed as Miguel picked off the 3 guards who were at the front gate. Gritting his teeth, Miguel stepped over the bodies and further into the compound. To his shock, there were no guards between the compound's front gate and the inner building. So, against the odds, Miguel made it to the spot he needed to go, and he planted the bomb. Phase 1 of the plan was complete. Now, he just needed to get out of there. And that is where things went horribly wrong…

As Miguel turned to leave the room, he made a grave mistake. He accidentally stepped in a zone tracked by a motion camera. At that moment, the high security set in and all of the lights in the compound turned on at once, illuminating the building, and a red siren and alarm started going off in the room he was in, letting everyone in the cartel who was sleeping in the floors above know he was there.

Miguel swore in anger and horror. He grabbed his gun tightly and prepared for an inevitable disaster. He started making his way towards the exit but was quickly stopped by three cartel thugs. Although Miguel managed to use his hand-to-hand combat karate skills to take out all three thugs, it had bought the rest of the cartel time to make it over to him. Soon, Miguel was outside, hiding behind a tower, firing cover fire at the advancing cartel, causing them to hesitate. Miguel knew that he was practically surrounded now. He was a sitting duck. He was being advanced on by most of the cartel, and he knew that in a couple of minutes, all the high-level officials would be evacuated from the compound. That left him one option if he wanted this to end tonight. Miguel opened his backpack and pulled out the remote detonator. He could detonate the bomb now, ending the cartel once and for all. However, he wasn't far enough away from the compound for it to not affect him. If he detonated the bomb now, he would surely die…

Miguel took a deep breath and he made up his mind. He was going to do it. He was going to sacrifice his life for the lives of the people he loved most. It wasn't even a hard decision. But there was one thing he had to do first. Miguel took out the phone in his pocket and quickly dialled…

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Where are you, Miguel? Where are you?" Sam whispered, as her and Johnny scoured Google Maps for any possible location Miguel could be. They were practically blind in their search because they didn't have any information about where the cartel was. All they could do was wait for either Breaking News, or if Miguel's aunt called them to tell them where he was. They had already checked again at her place and Miguel definitely wasn't there.

Suddenly, their silence was broken when Johnny's phone rang. He picked it up and nearly dropped it when he saw the name on the screen.

"Oh my God." Johnny murmured.

"What?" Sam asked, confused.

"It's… it's Miguel." Johnny stammered. Sam's jaw dropped. They were both briefly silent before Sam broke the silence.

"Well, answer it and put it on speakerphone!" She exclaimed. "He could need us!"

Johnny nodded and answered the phone.

"Hello?" Johnny said.

"Sensei!" Miguel yelled into the phone. Johnny and Sam's blood immediately froze when they heard Miguel's side of the line. Or more precisely, the background noise. Gunfire lit through the air and hit all around Miguel. Thankfully, he was temporarily covered, but he was about to be overrun.

"Miguel, what's going on?!" Johnny shouted. "Where are you?! What's happening?!"

"Sensei…" Miguel said in an eerily calm voice. "I don't have much time left."

"Where are you? What's going on?" Johnny asked again. Miguel sighed.

"Look, in about a minute, it's gonna be all over, so I might as well say my goodbyes now." Miguel said. Johnny and Sam looked at each other, petrified. "Sensei, I can't even begin to thank you, man. You helped pull me out of the pits. You built me into the man I am today, more than my biological father ever could have done. You gave me strength, courage and determination I never would have found without you."

"You turned my life around, Miguel." Johnny choked out, his mouth suddenly extremely dry. "You gave me a second chance at not only being a father, but at being a human. You taught me more than I could have ever taught you."

"I… I love you, Sensei. Goodbye." Miguel whispered.

"Bye, Miguel." Johnny replied, tears rolling down his face. Miguel nodded and lifted the phone back to his ear.

"Sam? You there?" Miguel asked. Sam took the phone from Johnny and walked onto the balcony of the hotel room.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here." Sam stammered. Miguel took a deep breath.

"Sam, I, um… I don't know what to say. I know I must sound like a broken record by now, but I'm really, really sorry. After my mom died, I wallowed in my own pit of depression and I wouldn't let you help me. You were so amazing, you tried so hard, but I wouldn't let you help me. I was never there when you needed me. I couldn't be, because I was so fucked up I didn't know how to be a good boyfriend, a good friend or a good person. I used you as an emotional punching bag for all of my frustration and anger. You didn't deserve that. You didn't deserve any of that."

At this point, Miguel's voice was thick with tears, and him and Sam could both tell the end was near.

"Miguel, where are you?" Sam asked, weakly.

"Too bad I didn't come to this whole realisation sooner, huh?" Miguel remarked. "Too little too late. I can't take back the pain that I caused you. All I can do is apologise. Apologise for not being there. Apologise for all of the emotional turmoil I put you through. I'm sorry I wasn't the man you deserved. I'm so sorry."

"Miguel, please, tell us where you are." Sam begged. Miguel glanced around at the advancing cartel troops. They were almost on him, which meant that the high-level cartel officials were about to be evacuated. Miguel's hands gripped the detonator and he took a deep breath. Now or Never.

"I'm sorry, Sam." Miguel whispered. Sucking up the last of his courage and strength, Miguel closed his eyes and pressed the detonator…

The last thing Sam saw was a massive explosion and inferno of flames erupt a couple of miles away before rivers of tears clouded her eyes and she eventually passed out. There was no mistake of it. Miguel was gone…

Hey, so as you guys have probably guessed given I'm writing about it, I'm a HUGE Cobra Kai fan and I stayed up to watch Season 3 right when it was released. So I was wondering, what parts of season 3 do you think I should incorporate in this story. I have in my mind decided on a few things that I am going to make similar or different to season 3, but I want to hear you guys' opinions.