CHAPTER 44
"Look, Sensei, I am really, really really sorry about the car."
Miguel was at Silver's place late that night. He had decided to drive to his sensei's place first before going home to come clean about what had happened to his beloved Ferrari. Despite it being past midnight and nearly 1 in the morning, Silver was thankfully awake and he had led a still slightly shell-shocked from the fight Miguel into his vast mansion. They sat in the living room, a glass of scotch in Silver's hand and a water in Miguel's, as Miguel recounted the entire story from beginning to end.
"I know you told me not to wreck it at any costs, but I swear it was a complete accident. I, uh…"
Miguel's voice trailed off as Silver waved him off nonchalantly.
"Hey, don't worry about it, my boy. I've got good insurance. I won't have to pay a dime to get the car all fixed up." He replied. "And besides, from the sounds of things, it sounds like you were just defending yourself."
Miguel's face darkened slightly as he nodded.
"Yeah, I know what's happened to them." He murmured. "It was like as soon as they found out I was in Cobra Kai, I was automatically the enemy. I was just minding my own business all night when Hawk tried to fight me. And then Robby got involved too, and it was just chaos, an absolute shitshow all round."
"Hmmm… a shitshow that you managed to fight your way out of, beating both All-Valley finalists in the process." Silver remarked, smiling faintly at Miguel, impressed. He had recruited a good one, a better fighter than he could have imagined. Miguel shrugged.
"I guess so, yeah." He mumbled in reply, honestly not giving a shit about where the boys finished in the tournament. He didn't care about the tournament at all. He cared about the anger he carried towards each guy, amplified by a countless extent after tonight.
Silver and Miguel were both silent for a while, as they both ran through their minds the events of the past few hours, before Silver eventually spoke up again.
"Miguel, do you believe in karma?" Silver suddenly asked him. Miguel looked up at him, slightly confused, and shook his head.
"Um… no. No, I don't really." Miguel replied. Silver nodded.
"That's a shame. Because I do." He stated. "I believe that every action, good or bad, comes back to you eventually. I worked your ass off for many years in the military and starting a business, and the universe eventually paid me back for it with the amazing life I have now. And vice versa too… Hawk and Robby want to try to make you the villain, try to paint you as evil… well, eventually they'll get what they deserve too."
Miguel raised an eyebrow in shock.
"Please don't tell me you're threatening Hawk and Robby, because I really don't have the energy to respond to that right now." Miguel murmured, exhausted. Silver chuckled and shook his head.
"No, no. Don't worry. I'm not going to do anything." Silver said. "But like it or not, Miguel, we're in a war with them."
"Excuse me?" Miguel asked, confused. Silver shrugged.
"You don't invite the war. The war just comes to you, sucks you in. The battles you fight aren't ones you seek to win, but ones you seek to survive. I mean, look at tonight for example. You didn't mean nor want to face Robby and Hawk in battle. It just happened. It wasn't premeditated. It wasn't planned. It was just the result of so much toxicity between all of you. And it would be naive to think that events like tonight aren't going to happen again in the future." Silver stated. "My job as a sensei isn't to encourage you to seek out war, but to train the whole dojo to, if the time comes, be strong enough to stem the tide of battle."
Miguel nodded.
"I get that." Miguel murmured. "But I don't know what battle you're going to be winning anytime soon with the dojo we have, especially if Miyagi-Do and Eagle-Fang team up again at some point in the future. We have no students. We're pretty much dead in the water."
Silver chuckled and shook his head.
"You worry too much, my boy." He remarked. "Don't worry about that. Relax. That's not your job to worry about. That's mine, and I can tell you that we'll have reinforcements on all fronts really soon."
That was pretty much the end of the conversation, as both lapsed into silence again. Miguel knew that Silver was planning on expanding Cobra Kai, and he was reassured to know that it would be in the near future. As he knew that although he had managed to beat Robby and Hawk - arguably the two best fighters in the Valley besides himself - he had only fought them one by one, and he had fought Hawk while the boy was pretty hammered. If all of Miyagi-Do and/or Eagle-Fang came at them at once, Miguel knew that even all of his strength and skill wouldn't be enough to stop them…
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Silver had offered Miguel to stay the night in his guest bedroom as by the time they were done talking, the clock had struck 1:30, so Miguel had shot a quick message off to his mom to let her know that he was staying at a "friend's house", before being led to the guest room, showering, and then collapsing asleep in a large heap. However, it felt like almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, he had Silver shaking him awake the following morning.
"What?" Miguel groaned into his pillow as he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Oooh kay. Not a morning person, I guess." Silver remarked, laughing. "I just wanted to tell you that about the car issues, now that the car has been wrecked and so you don't have a mode of transportation to and from the dojo for the next little while…"
"I have a bike now PLEASE let me go back to sleep." Miguel grumbled, rolling onto his back and looking up at Silver, who was already fully dressed and ready for the new day.
"No champion of mine is going to get around on a common bicycle." Silver remarked, almost shuddering at the mere thought. "We need you to get a new set of wheels, my friend."
"You're going to let me borrow another one of your sports cars?" Miguel asked. Silver chuckled and shook his head.
"No, I think after what happened with the Ferrari, maybe we put a pin in that for now." He replied. "What I wanted to do was get you your own vehicle."
That woke Miguel up, and rubbing his eyes, he stared up at Silver in confusion.
"You… you're offering to get me a car?" Miguel stammered in shock. Silver nodded, grinning at him.
"Yup, and dealerships are about to open so if unless you want me to wait so long I start to reconsider my offer, I suggest you get ready for us to leave pretty soon."
Within a second, Miguel had shot out of bed like a slingshot…
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"You seem chippy." Amanda remarked, as her and Daniel drove to work that morning. It was a beautiful summer morning in the Valley. Birds were singing. The sun was shining. The dealership was doing great. Everything was pointing towards the fact that it was going to be a great day.
"How can I not be?" Daniel remarked, glancing sideways at his gorgeous wife in the passenger seat of the car and beaming at her. Amanda, however, wasn't as cheerful as her husband, as she wore a look of more concern on her face.
"I don't know. I figured that maybe the fact that your daughter has seemed pretty depressed lately would put a dampen on your mood, but I guess not."
Daniel nodded, his smiling fading slightly. Amanda wasn't wrong. Even after their conversation at the coffee place, Sam had not been doing that much better. She had tried to pretend that everything was okay whenever she was around people, but Amanda and Daniel had occasionally walked past her room and seen through a crack in her door their daughter crying. And then last night, Sam had come back early from the party and locked herself in her room, not emerging up until when they left the house. They had no clue if something had happened at the party or something, as they hadn't even gotten a chance to see their daughter in the past 12 hours, let alone talk to her.
"Yeah, I mean to be honest, Amanda, I really don't know what to do to help at this point. I've tried using that Miyagi magic. I got nothing. I honestly don't know what else to do."
Amanda nodded.
"Well, have you maybe tried just talking to her, not as her sensei, but as her father?" She remarked. "You know, try to talk to her to figure out what exactly is bothering her to see if we can help fix it."
"I mean, we know what's bothering her." Daniel muttered quietly, his face darkening. In all honesty, he felt betrayed by the way Miguel had quit karate and broken up with Sam. It had all happened so quickly, Miguel turning around and running, and then not even showing up to give an explanation once he had come back. It was like none of them meant anything to him. Daniel had invited Miguel into his home, treated him like one of his own, only for Miguel to stab his daughter right in the heart not even a few months later.
Sensing Daniel's frustration, Amanda sighed.
"Hey, come on. Don't be too hard on Miguel." She stated. Daniel raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't say anything." He murmured, but Amanda knew exactly what he was thinking.
"Look, you've only seen and heard Sam's side of the story. I'm sure Miguel has his own side of things. A good reason why he hasn't come talk to y… holy shit."
Amanda's voice trailed off as her jaw fell agape in shock. They had just pulled into the dealership and were driving through the parking lot when they saw two familiar figures standing outside their dealership door. It took Daniel a few seconds to spot them too, but when he did, thunder filled his eyes. He stomped on the brakes of the car so hard that the married couple almost were sent flying through the front windshield, and Daniel parked his car in the middle of the street. The couple flew out of the vehicle, and practically sprinted over to the front door of the dealership, where the two men stood. Well, one elderly man and one much younger teenager. The four of them all donned a different expression: one was pure glee; one was sheepish guilt; one was utter disbelief; and the last was unbridled fury. It was the former who spoke first, grinning at the approaching couple.
"Hello, Danny boy." He smirked at them. Daniel's tongue was completely tied as he couldn't come up with the words to respond.
"S-s-silver? M-m-miguel?"