CHAPTER 34

"You have 3 seconds to apologize before I swear to God, I'm going to ram my shoe so far up your ass, your boyfriend's going to be able to see it in your mouth the next time he…"

"Woah, woah, woah! Sarah!" Marcos exclaimed, rushing into the room and seeing the scene that was unfolding before him. Something had happened. Something between Sarah and Sam clearly. Sam had said something to her, and whatever it was, it was bad enough that Sarah had completely lost control and now was hurling verbal spats Sam's way. Sam was doing the same too, but the difference was that Miguel was holding her back and preventing her from getting too close to Sarah. Robby also stood between Sarah and Sam, though he stood facing Sarah rather than Sam, not laying a finger on her this time but making sure that his presence was there in between the pair of feuding teenagers, in case they lunged at one another, which was looking like an increasingly likely scenario. Anthony meanwhile, was hiding behind his sister and the other Miyagi-Dos.

That was it. Those were the only people in the living room confrontation: Robby, Miguel, Sarah, Anthony and Sam. Marcos had been in the dojo with Daniel. Meanwhile, Carmen, Johnny, Amanda and Miguel's yaya had all been in the kitchen, beginning to wash up. This meant that they arrived on the scene around the same time as Marcos and Daniel. Marcos was the first person to act. He was only person who really could do anything at this point, as Sam had already been restrained by Miguel so the only person left to hold back was Sarah. He didn't waste a second, sprinting towards Sarah and grabbing her by the waist, backing her away from Sam and the Miyagi-Dos.

"What the hell is happening?" Marcos asked, utterly bewildered, a face he shared with most other people in the room.

"I'll tell you what's happening!" Sam replied. "Your girlfriend's a psycho!"

Marcos turned towards Sarah and ever-so-slightly raised an eyebrow. He knew there was more to the story than just that, so he looked to her to explain her side in it.

"Me?! Because you didn't just shove me over as soon as I had turned away to put my shoes on!" Sarah snapped.

"I didn't!" Sam exclaimed. "I brought you your jacket from the cupboard and I tapped you GENTLY on the shoulder to give it to you! You just fell over!"

However, the scuff marks on Sarah's forehead told a different story, providing more evidence for Sarah's tale than just her words.

"I'm sorry, Sarah. I'm sure it was just an accident and Sam didn't mean it." Amanda said, turning to Sarah apologetically, before shooting a look at her daughter to tell her to apologize. Everyone had made it into the living room at this point, and they were all watching the scene unfold.

"No! I'm not apologizing!" Sam exclaimed. "Because I didn't do anything! It was barely a tap! There's no way a light tap is enough to cause someone to fall over like that!"

"Oh really? How about we test that theory? I'll give you a light tap to the face, and then we can see whether you fall over or not!" Sarah shot back. If looks could kill, right now Sarah would've been eviscerated by the young Larusso. She couldn't believe what was happening right now. She couldn't believe that she was being confronted for doing absolutely nothing!

"Look, there's no need for that." Robby said, trying to establish some sort of leadership in the room. "Sam says she didn't tap you very hard. Maybe you did just lose balance and fall?"

"Or maybe she's lying." Marcos replied, standing beside Sarah as the two of them stood face to face with all of the Miyagi-Dos. "From what I've heard about your past relationship with her, she's pretty good at that… dishonesty."

"Hey, hey. That's my daughter you're talking about." Daniel quietly warned him. Marcos shrugged.

As he did, Marcos couldn't help but do a scan of the room, and something became clear to him. The familial bonds between this group were clearly really strong. Daniel hadn't hesitated to stand in front of Anthony, Amanda and Sam. Johnny had rushed to get in front of Miguel, Robby, Carmen and Miguel's yaya. The love these dads had for their kids was evident, and although he would never admit it, part of Marcos resented that. He didn't resent the fact that Johnny and Daniel did that for their family, but he was secretly jealous. Not once in his life, not once, had his father been there for him like that. Navigating through his relationship with his father was like being in a blizzard with no flashlight. It was entirely up to him, and him alone, to sort his shit out for himself. His father never got involved. However, Marcos reminded himself that the fact that his father didn't do that, didn't blindly step in front of him to shield him from harm's way, is the reason that he had the courage to stand up for himself without the man. This had been a good thing. He owed it to his father for making a strong, independent individual, without having to rely on support from others to function.

"Am I speaking dishonestly, Mr. Larusso?" Marcos replied. "I guess sometimes it's easier to lie than to face the God's honest truth, especially if the truth is inconvenient. That inability to face the truth when we know it isn't convenient is the reason humans lie, humans steal…" Marcos paused for a moment, his eyes flickering towards Sam and Miguel, before he said his last few words. "They cheat."

The reaction was immediate. It was clearly a sore spot with both Miguel and Sam, as well as with Robby too. They were all livid, fighting back every bone in their body that told them to attack Marcos and Sarah right now. It was a losing battle, as they could feel restraint beginning to crumble with each passing second. Daniel, however, managed to step in before that happened though.

"I'm going to have to ask you both to leave now." Daniel told them, trying desperately to keep his temper under wraps. Sarah and Marcos didn't need another word. They nodded and walked to the door together, stepping out into the night. They walked down the driveway in silence, feeling every Miyagi-Do eye on them as they got into Sarah's car and drove away. It was only when they had driven for a minute and knew they were well away from the Larusso house that Sarah pulled the car over at the side of the road, and the couple looked at one another. They couldn't hold it any longer. Marcos and Sarah burst into hysterical laughter.

"Too easy! That was too easy!" Sarah exclaimed. That's right. Every moment of that heated confrontation had been planned, orchestrated as precisely as the performance of the Philharmonic. Kreese, Sarah and Marcos had sat down together that morning and had planned every second of what they would say and do that night. They talked about how Marcos should leave the room, and drag one of the senseis out with him, establishing a bit of a personal relationship with them. They planned that while he was out and there were less eyes on the situation, Sarah would fake a shove from Sam and act like she had just been run over by a bulldozer. They talked about how exactly Marcos would act when he would return to the room, how quickly he would stand against Miyagi-Do and prove his loyalty to Cobra Kai. And they discussed exactly what sore spots to target with the Miyagi-Dos to eventually get them kicked out of the house.

It had all been planned to a tee, and the reason for all of it: raise the stakes of the rivalry. Increase the hatred that Miyagi-Do had for them, this time in front of the senseis as well. Hopefully, this and future interactions with Miyagi-Do would push Miyagi-Do further into accepting a fight with them. And it had worked too. Because there was no mistaking the looks of unbridled loathing in the eyes of every single Miyagi-Do as they walked out of the house that night…

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"I hate them! I hate them! I hate them so much!" Sam muttered under her breath as she paced the living room. The two Cobras had just left, and that had allowed the Miyagi-Dos to now process the events that had just occurred. Well, they could at least process them after their emotions calmed down, as right now they were at full-force. Carmen, in the midst of her pregnancy, had begun to feel tired, so Johnny had driven her and Miguel's yaya home, leaving just the teenagers, Amanda and Daniel at the house.

There was only one word you could use to describe Sam right now: incandescent. She was fuming, positively burning with rage. She felt like she was back in the very depths of her rivalry with Tory, but this time with a new person: Sarah.

"Sam…" Miguel murmured from his place on the living room couch.

"No! I'm sorry but I! Did! Not! Push! Her!" Sam exclaimed. "She's lying!"

Robby shrugged.

"We believe you. Trust me, in no way are we going to be taking their word." He remarked, the pits of his stomach bubbling with anger. He was furious at the disrespect Marcos had shown, walking in saying the things he had said, and then leaving without so much as an apology. There was something about him, something that Robby absolutely despised. Hawk was right. The peaceful, passive version of him that Robby had briefly met in class at the beginning of the year had indeed been a facade. Because when push came to shove, he turned and became the worst king Cobra Robby had ever met. Because when Miguel had been King Cobra, when Hawk had been King Cobra, and when he had been King Cobra, there had always been a bit of a feeling of reluctance when walking into confrontation. There was that fear of their opponent that prevented them from going all in. That wasn't there with Marcos. Not at all. He wasn't scared of them one bit, and it showed in the way that he didn't hesitate to disrespect them in more ways than one.

"Sam, are you sure you didn't even just accidentally…" Amanda started, but Sam vehemently shook her head.

"I didn't!" She cried. "I swear! I wish I could prove it somehow!"

"I mean… you can." Anthony remarked. It was the first time the boy had spoken in the entire confrontation. He knew that this wasn't the place for him. If Karate had taught him anything, it was that he wasn't the end-all, be-all. He learned to respect those ahead of him, and those behind him too. And Robby, Miguel, Sam… they were all definitely ahead of him.

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked his son.

"The security cameras." Anthony replied. "The ones you had put up after Cobra Kai's break-in. We had them set up in the entrance-way, where Sam supposedly 'pushed' Sarah. We can see whether it actually happened."

"Let's do that!" Sam exclaimed. "Bring up the footage, Anthony!"

Anthony raised an eyebrow at her.

"Um… I don't have it." He told her. "The footage gets sent to mom and dad's security company. We don't get it on a computer or anything."

Half an hour later, Daniel was off the phone with his security company and the email containing the footage of the past hour was in his inbox. Eagerly, the Miyagi-Dos all watched it together, and by the end, there was only one possible conclusion…

"Pieces of shit." Robby murmured.

"See! I told you all!" Sam said, pointing at the small laptop screen. "She's just dived and fallen over! I barely touched her!"

"But why though? Why would they do that? That's what I'm curious about." Amanda remarked. Sam shrugged.

"Isn't it obvious?" Miguel spoke up, and they all turned to him. "Cobra Kai are trying to egg us into fighting them. They're trying to push us into starting a fight."

"Right. But that doesn't say much. I mean, it is Cobra Kai." Robby commented.

"Nope. It says a lot." A voice came from behind all of them, and they all spun around to see Johnny re-entering the room, back from dropping off Carmen and Rosa.

"What does it say?" Daniel asked. Johnny sighed.

"Look, I know Kreese well. As aggressive as he is, he's not stupid. He wouldn't be trying to get his students to fight if he wasn't totally confident that his students would win."

"Great. So all you're saying is that Cobra Kai are more powerful than ever?" Sam snapped. Johnny shook his head.

"The opposite. What I'm saying is that we have an opportunity to prove the exact opposite." He replied. "Cobra Kai exposed their hand with this. They want us to get so angry at them that we challenge them to a fight on their terms. We know that's their game plan, so we can work against it. Instead, we can challenge them to a fight on our terms."

"Or we could… you know, not challenge them to a fight?" Robby commented. Johnny raised an eyebrow.

"Look at what they pulled tonight. If they realized that that didn't work, they're only going to get more desperate. Start pulling worse shit. It might not have escalated to a fight this time but who knows, maybe next time it will. A fight is coming. And we have the opportunity to dictate the when, the where, the how, the who, knowing for a fact that Cobra Kai will accept the challenge. Are we seriously not going to take that opportunity?"