CHAPTER 19
"Well well well." Marcos remarked drily as the Miyagi-Dos made it over to him, all of them standing over him as he remained seated in his chair, staring up at them, completely relaxed because of the fact that he knew one of them could start anything at risk of being caught by a teacher. They were limited to a verbal confrontation and nothing more. "What can I help you guys with?"
"We just came here to talk. We're not here to fight." Miguel said. Marcos scoffed. Who did this fool think he was? Acting like he was doing Marcos the favor by not fighting, when in reality it was the opposite.
"Please, sit down then. Let's talk." Marcos replied, gesturing to the chairs around him. The Miyagi-Dos all reluctantly sat down, all refusing to break eye contact with him in fear that he'd strike. Marcos obviously couldn't stare at all of them at once, so he remained fixated on Miguel. "How's the head feeling by the way?"
"Fine." Miguel grumbled gruffly back, trying not to let this guy get under the skin. He knew that if any of them lost their temper, they had no chance of talking Marcos out of Cobra Kai. They all needed to stay calm, so he forced himself to push down whatever resentment and fury he had towards Cobra Kai's new champion. "Look, we want to warn you about what you're getting into."
"Oh yeah? Warn me about what?" Marcos asked, not really interested, already knowing exactly what he was about to get from them.
"About Kreese." Miguel replied. "Look, you need to listen to us. I swear, we know what we're talking about. In Miyagi-Do, so many of us have trained under Kreese before. We know how he operates."
"That right?" Marcos said, yawning widely as he spoke. Hawk nodded.
"It starts with him making it seem like you need him." Hawk said. "Like him and Cobra Kai are the only ones who are able to help you achieve your goal. Am I wrong?"
Marcos didn't reply, and by that reaction, Hawk knew that his words had resonated with Marcos, so they continued to press on.
"That's when he starts to manipulate you." Miguel said. "He gets in your head. Infects you with that no-mercy bullshit. Changes the type of person you are. Turns you into just another one of his soldiers to do his bidding. He doesn't give a shit about you."
Marcos sat up a little in his chair as he stared right at Miguel, the boy who seemed to be like the group's leader. The two locked eyes for several moments in silence as the Miyagi-Dos anxiously waited for him to response. What would he say? Would he believe them? Yell at them? Cuss them out? Try and fight them.
Marcos did none of those things, remaining firmly in his chair as he finally spoke again.
"I know." Marcos eventually replied. The Miyagi-Dos were filled with confusion.
"Um… what?" Sam asked.
"I know." Marcos repeated. "I know Kreese doesn't give a shit about me as a person. I know he just wants to use me to win the Taikai. I'm not a 5 year old. It's pretty clear to see."
"Then why are you still with him?" Demetri asked. Marcos shrugged.
"Because I'm using him too. Just like Cobra Kai can't do it without me, I can't do it without Cobra Kai. I'm using them just as much as they're using me, and it would be hypocritical for me to argue otherwise." Marcos replied firmly. Hawk shook his head vehemently.
"No, don't you get it?! This is exactly how it starts! You think you have the upper hand. You think you're using him. But he's a snake. He'll slither his way into your head and before you know it, you'll be just as bad of a person as he is. Trust me, I know."
"Bad person in whose eyes though? In your camp's eyes? Because with due respect, what you think of me as a person means nothing to me."
"No, you'll just be an all-round asshole." Demetri pointed out. "Starting fights with us, hurting people…"
"You just proved my point." Marcos interrupted him. "You're describing what a bad person looks like from your narrative. We each have our own story, our own way of seeing the world. What you see as being an "asshole", I just see as a small cost of fulfilling my own story and winning the tournament."
"And you're willing to sacrifice so much just for a stupid trophy?" Sam snapped. Marcos shrugged.
"To some of us, it's more than just about the plastic trophy." Marcos responded. "Not all of us come from easy lives. For some of us, this tournament is an opportunity. One that I can't squander by any means, even if that means pissing a few people off. Being weak and losing the tournament is worse for me than not having you like me."
As Marcos finished talking, he could see that he was riling up the Miyagi-Dos more and more with each word. It was a pretty impossible situation. Neither party, not Marcos nor the Miyagi-Dos, were open-minded enough to see the other side's point of view, neither side willing to budge. The conversation was definitely not going how Miyagi-Do had expected it to, definitely not going how they wanted it to. Listening to the Cobra Kai champion talking so cavalierly about the prospect of getting into fights with them, not harboring any remorse or resentment. It was a battle of patience between Marcos and the Miyagi-Dos, it was a battle at who would be the first one to break, the first to lose patience and snap. And the person who snapped first was someone they could've easily predicted.
"Alright, listen carefully you piece of shit…" Hawk snapped, having seriously lost his temper now. Marcos raised an eyebrow and slowly stood up, standing face to face with the mohawked teenager. Though there was only a 3 inch height gap at most, in that moment it felt like Marcos was towering over the teenager. He carried a presence of menace and fear with him that made him feel a lot larger than he was.
"You want to try that again politely?" Marcos quietly said to Hawk. Sensing the danger, the other Miyagi-Dos immediately stepped in, all of them staring down the Cobra Kai champion. 4 vs. 1… things weren't looking great for Marcos.
"Look, we are trying to help you! Just calm down and listen to us! You're completely overreacting! " Demetri exclaimed. Marcos raised an eyebrow.
"I think I'm being very calm actually, all things considered." Marcos remarked. "Because from where I'm sitting, all this conversation has sounded like is all of you storming over and insulting the shit out of my sensei. I don't think you'd like it either if I did that to you."
"That's because Kreese is a literal psychopath!" Sam shouted. "He's caused so much pain to so many people, and we're not going to allow that shit to continue!"
Marcos bit the side of his mouth HARD to keep himself from responding verbally or physically to that statement. He was getting very agitated, very impatient, at this point. All of his primal instincts wanted him to fight his way out of it, and it took all of his restraint for him not to. That being said though, he did take a step forward towards Sam before common sense prevailed and he stopped himself, though it did not go unnoticed by the others.
"What? You going to hit a girl now?" Sam snapped. Marcos was about to respond when a voice came from behind him.
"You know you should really look in the mirror before you call yourself that." Marcos heard Sarah remark, quickly walking over to stand beside him and stand face to face against the Miyagi-Dos with him. She had been sitting at the other side of the room, but when she saw tempers beginning to flare and Marcos standing up, she immediately found herself moving quickly over to him to support him. None of the Miyagi-Dos knew who she was either, and the fact that Marcos did, did not bode well in the mind of any of them.
"Who the hell are you?" Hawk snapped at her.
"Oh, God! Please don't tell me this is the girl version of this guy! Cobra Kai having one of them is bad enough!" Demetri complained loudly. Marcos raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe she is. Maybe she isn't. Why don't you try and fight us and find out?" He challenged them, his mouth doing all of the talking right now, hoping to scare off his opponents before things could actually escalate to fisticuffs as although Marcos had seen a flash of skill from Sarah two nights before, he had no idea how good she was, and how good the Miyagi-Dos apart from Miguel were.
Thankfully though, at this point, doubt and uncertainty took over the Miyagi-Dos as they saw Marcos and the girl standing next to each other, preparing for a fight. And in that time, it allowed for their common sense to break through the wall of anger inside them. What the hell were they doing?! This wasn't who they were! They walked away from fights, unless it was absolutely critical that they fought. They didn't get into shouting matches or brawls.
"Guys enough." Miguel was the first to come to his senses and call them off. Maybe partly because he had felt first-hand this guy's fighting ability, and really didn't want to risk any of his friends getting hurt at the hands of him. He almost forced the other Miyagi-Dos to step back from Marcos, and as they did, the temperature of the room slowly cooled back to normal. Once it finally did, the Miyagi-Dos could view the situation for what it was: a lost cause. They were never going to be able to convince this guy to leave Cobra Kai. Their only option now would be to just win the Taikai and get rid of Cobra Kai in that way instead.
Without saying another word, the Miyagi-Dos finally called it quits, and they turned around and walked away from Marcos and Sarah. Once they were gone and out of earshot, Marcos turned to the girl beside him and smiled at her gratefully.
"Thank you for that." He said to her sincerely. "I don't know what I would've done without you."
"I know what you would've done: probably gotten into a 4 on 1 fight and gotten your ass kicked." Sarah remarked back. Marcos laughed and nodded.
"Yeah, probably." He murmured. "Don't worry though. In future, you don't have to pretend to be a Cobra Kai. It'll honestly probably put you in harm's way more than it helps."
Sarah shook her head.
"Who said anything about pretending?" She asked. Marcos cocked his head at her, confused, and Sarah took a deep breath before saying, "I want to join…"