CHAPTER 45

Miguel and his dad stared at each other, and Miguel didn't know if it was just him seeing things, but he saw something in his father's eyes that he had never seen before: there was happiness that Miguel had come to visit, and regret for all he had done. That didn't take away the rage Miguel felt as he looked at the man. Nothing would ever quench the hatred Miguel felt boiling inside him when he looked at the man who had traumatised him for so long.

"Miguel. I'm glad you came." His father said, almost actually sounding genuine. "Other than Kreese, no one has come to visit me since I got in here."

"Well that's what happens when you try and kill your son, your wife and then later your son's stepfather. People don't want to be around you anymore." Miguel stated. "And I wouldn't be here if I didn't really need you. Look, I'm going to cut to the chase. We're looking for Kreese and I was wondering if you had any idea where he was."

"I haven't seen Kreese since that day of the tournament." Miguel's dad stated.

"Did he ever mention any place he would stay at?" Daniel asked. Miguel's dad shook his head.

"No. He never told me anything like that. The whole idea with the All-Valley was not to break me out of jail. It was purely to psych Miguel out, and that brawl was not planned either."

"And you're sure he hasn't mentioned anything about where he is?" Johnny asked again. Miguel's dad nodded.

"I'm sure." He replied. The group then all stood up.

"Well, that was useless. It was a good try, Miguel. Some leads just don't pan out." Daniel said to Miguel, who still hadn't gotten up yet. Miguel looked at his father for several moments before turning to the group.

"Could you guys wait outside for a moment? I want to talk to my dad alone." Miguel said. The group slowly nodded.

"You gonna be okay?" Johnny asked. Miguel nodded.

"Yeah. Just wait for me outside. I'll be right there." Miguel said. The group then left the visiting centre and Miguel turned back to his father, switching to speaking in Spanish in case anyone was listening.

"Okay. It's just us. Those pendejos are gone." Miguel told his dad. "Now, I'm going to ask you one more time... do you have any idea where Kreese is?"

"Kreese never told me where he was living." Miguel's father replied again. Miguel tutted and shook his head.

"That's not what I'm asking though." Miguel murmured. "Do you know why I came to you for help? There are a handful of people who know Kreese as well as you do. Why would I come to the person I hate most in the world?"

"I don't know." His dad answered honestly.

"Because Kreese is a psychopath. He has no regard for human life. He doesn't care about who lives and who dies. You are the only person I know who also thinks that way. Let me rephrase the question for you… if you were Kreese in this situation, what would you do?"

Miguel's father looked at his desperate son and he took a deep breath. Despite everything, he was extremely remorseful for everything. His abusive ways had started due to his anger issues on top of him losing his job. He had lashed out, and then he couldn't find a way to stop. Miguel and his mom fleeing to L.A and then remarrying had just been a massive slap in the face to him and he let his IMMENSE anger issues get in the way of everything. Despite everything, he did still love his son, and he always would.

"Okay. You want to know what I would honestly do in his place?" Miguel's dad asked.

"Yeah. And I can tell if you're lying so you better not." Miguel snapped. His father nodded.

"Well, actually, I was on the run in Ecuador for about 6 months a couple of years ago due to drug stealing. It wasn't from the police. It was from a rival gang. My gang had poached their shipment from the cartel, so they had declared war on us. But you know me. I don't like to fight. So do you know where I hid the whole time?"

"Where?" Miguel asked.

"I hid at the last place people would expect me to be: the place I have an emotional connection with."

"Our house in Ecuador." Miguel realised. His dad nodded.

"Yeah. I hid there and waited it out. So if I could give you one piece of advice for finding Kreese… find places he has an emotional connection to."

Miguel slowly nodded. He completely understood where his father was coming from. Only problem was that they knew next to nothing about Kreese, and they had no idea who or what he had an attachment to.

"Thank you." Miguel said, genuinely, to his father. As his father looked at his son and thought about everything he had done to him, tears started to spill over his dad's eyes. When Miguel saw this, his heart stopped.

"I'm so sorry, Miguel." His dad whispered, tears rolling down his cheeks. "For everything I've done to our family."

Miguel scowled at him, standing up.

"I'm not your family. And I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the case." Miguel growled.

"I know you hate me. You have the right." His dad said. "But I want you to know… I still think of you as a son."

Miguel shook his head.

"You shouldn't do that. You mean nothing to me." Miguel spat, before walking out of the visiting centre. As soon as he walked out the door, the rest of the group stood up and immediately approached him. They all saw the troubled look on his face and they looked at him, concerned.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked, extremely concerned. Miguel nodded.

"Fine." He responded, gruffly. "And I have a lead…"

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"Okay, so according to Miguel's dad, we should be looking for places that Kreese has an emotional connection to." Daniel announced to the group later that day. It was the middle of summer break so thankfully none of them had school, so they were able to sit around in the Larusso house and spent all of their time on this case.

"Who the hell is so monumentally stupid that they have an emotional connection with Kreese?" Demitri remarked.

"Hey! They could have been manipulated." Robby stated.

"Yeah. If we know one thing about Kreese, it's that he's very good at talking and always gets his way." Tory stated. Miguel shook his head.

"No, no, no. It's not like that. It's got to be something he has a genuine connection to. It can't be someone he's manipulated. He wasn't born an asshole." Miguel stated, standing up. He then walked over to the whiteboard and erased all of the little information that was on there. Everyone exclaimed protests as Miguel had removed the little progress they had done. It was a list of people Kreese could possibly have a connection to.

"Dude, what the hell?! We worked all day on that list!" Hawk exclaimed.

"It's useless." Miguel replied. "We keep looking at people Kreese might currently have a connection with. I knew Kreese for less than three months and I'm sorry, that man has NO friends."

"We don't know that for sure though." Daniel said. Miguel nodded.

"That's fair. But it's pretty unlikely. Just hear me out. Let's look at this logically… Kreese was also the manipulative bastard he is today 20 years ago. That leads me to believe that whatever connections he might have had would occur before that time."

"Miguel has a point." Johnny remarked. "He was just as big of a jackass back when we were kids as he is now."

"Exactly." Miguel nodded. "And also… if I'm not mistaken, Johnny, didn't you tell me that Kreese's glory days back in his early 20s, when he was in the Army?"

"Yeah, he would go on and on about his heroics and how he was given the medal of honor. So?" Johnny asked.

"So, how does someone who was a Medal of Honor receiving hero in 'Nam suddenly become our Kreese? Something happened to him towards the end of his service or right after. That's the time period we should be looking at." Miguel said, before sitting back down and leaving a flummoxed Daniel and Johnny gaping at him.

"Son of a bitch he's right." Amanda murmured.

"Miguel, that was amazing!" Johnny stammered. Miguel shrugged.

"I don't know. It might not even be right." Miguel said.

"It might not be, but it's definitely a start." Demitri said. "So what do we do now?"

"Well…" Daniel said, taking charge again. "A reasonable place to start would be looking into Army records to see any information we can find about Kreese's service. Maybe an Army buddy that he was particularly close with. Let's split this up. Demitri and Hawk… you two try and find anything you can find about Kreese before he enlisted. Robby and Miguel… you two see what you can find about Kreese's time in 'Nam. Tory and Sam… you two see what you can find about his life after."

Everyone's eyes widened. Daniel was seriously putting Sam and Tory together? Although Miguel and Robby had warmed up to each other and had become one of the most effective partnerships in the group, Sam and Tory had NOT been as sold about each other at all. Maybe it was because Miguel and Robby were step brothers. Maybe it was because they had already redeemed each other by saving each other's lives. Maybe it was because they had already fought side-by-side against Kreese. Whatever it was, it wasn't rubbing off on Sam and Tory, and it was a massive gamble pairing the two of them together. They would either find a way to work together… or they would kill each other.

"Daniel, are you sure about this?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah, dad, are you sure about this?" Sam asked, nervously. Daniel nodded. He was. He remembered back in Miyagi-Do, the only way to get the ex-Cobras and the original Miyagi-Dos was to have them work together.

"Yeah, I'm sure." He stated, confidently.

"Oh, boy, this is going to be interesting." Hawk murmured to Miguel, who nodded. It sure was…