CHAPTER 195
"Can I be the first to say that this is an absolutely horrible idea?" Demetri remarked, as all 6 of the Miyagi-Dos + Marcos stood in the Miyagi-Do dojo that night. Robby and Miguel had called their teammates to meet them there late that night, wanting a place where they wouldn't be disturbed by the adults and would be able to converse freely about the plan.
Robby, Marcos and Miguel filled them in on everything they had missed. They all knew about Laura being missing, but Marcos added on the fact that Sarah had been taken too, and he played them the voicemail messages, illustrating to him the depth of the threat they were being faced with. At one point, the biggest enemy in their lives was Silver; then it became Hector; then it became Sensei Kim and her goons… now they were being forced to face all of them at once. It was an absolutely mind-bending task to think about, with their lives and their loved ones lives literally on the line.
"Do you have a better one for us? Because if you do, we're all ears. Because right now, Robby and Miguel's sister, and my girlfriend's lives are on the line here and time's running out." Marcos replied, pacing back and forth inside the dojo as the 7 teenagers conglomerated. Before Sam could respond though, someone else spoke.
"Well… technically, if we do this, all of our lives are on the line here." Demetri remarked. "Which is why I think we should consider telling the adults. Your parents, Chozen, Barnes… they'd all want to know. Maybe they can help us."
"We can't." Robby said. "You know those people. If we do, my dad and Barnes are surely speeding right down there to try and kick the crap out of Silver themselves, and Mr. Larusso is probably immediately calling the cops. Both of those situations end with the hostages, our family, being killed."
"Besides… this doesn't concern them." Miguel stated. "It's our lives on the line here. It's time we take responsibility and take matters into our own hands. We're all adults. What we do is our decision, not theirs. Telling them would only make things worse. It doesn't concern them."
"Still concerns them though. Especially if we go marching in there and all get killed." Demetri stated.
"No. Robby and Miguel are right." Hawk agreed. "You know exactly what the adults would say and do if they were here. They'd take matters into their own hands, and only end up making everything worse. They'd forbid us from doing it because we'd be risking even more lives than are already at risk."
"Then if we know they're going to say that, maybe… just maybe, we should listen to them as it could be the right move?" Demetri shot back.
"Look, we're not forcing anyone here." Robby said. "I know how much we're asking if you, and there's serious no hard feelings if you don't feel comfortable doing this. Just please say so, as we really don't have much time."
"Before we even start discussing the possibility of doing this, can we talk about something? What the hell is he doing here?!" Tory snapped, pointing at Marcos on the other side of the room.
"He's in the same position as we are. He wants the same things we do. He wants to help." Robby stated, backing his friend despite the animosity that was being radiated from almost all of the Miyagi-Dos towards him.
"So he says." Tory shot back. "But how do we know that he's not just sending us to our deaths too? After all, we all know that it was Silver who brought him back to the country after he got deported. And it was Silver who was his sensei for a while. It would be foolish to think that he doesn't have at least some loyalty to him."
Tory was saying what everyone except Robby and maybe Miguel were thinking deep down, but she was the only one with the guts to say. With the way that everything had happened so suddenly, and the way that Marcos had just so happened to be pulled along… in the pits of their stomachs, all of them harbored a little bit of doubt about the boy's presence. After all, this was a plan made by a member of his dojo to take down their dojo. The fact that Marcos was somehow on their side and not his own dojo's was a little bit fishy to say the least.
Meanwhile, Marcos listened to the allegations against him and slowly turned towards Tory, narrowing his eyes at her.
"You calling me a liar?" He snapped.
"I know your dojo." Tory stated. "All of you are nothing but a bunch of snakes, who want nothing more than to lull their enemy into a false sense of security and then stabbed them in the back."
"You talking from experience there, princess? Because you trained with Silver a hell of a lot longer than I did." Marcos hotly shot back. Marcos and Tory had many similarities: not only had they both been students of Kreese and Silver, but their personalities - their hot-headed, angry natures - were also very much alike. This made a clash in a moment like this almost inevitable, even when the calmer heads tried to step in.
"Guys, stop." Robby told them. "Tory, Marcos is staying. You heard the voicemails. Miguel and I also happened to be there when Silver called him. We heard Sarah's voice. She's definitely been taken against her will. There's no way this is some trick."
"Unless Sarah's involved with it too." Tory pointed out. "They are Cobra Kai's male and female leaders. Is it really so hard to believe that this could be their sick, twisted revenge for losing the Taikai? That they're trying to rope as many of us in as possible to kill us, and this is the way they're doing it… with this charade?"
Robby glanced at Marcos apprehensively, knowing that Tory was incorrect, but watching as Marcos got more and more silently agitated. He knew full well the emotionally volatile state Marcos was in, as Robby was in exactly the same boat, and to have people questioning whether his loved one was even in danger must have been infuriating. It had taken Robby and Tory many months to gain the trust of the Miyagi-Dos when they had originally defected, so to be able to instantaneously gain Miyagi-Do's trust, especially under these circumstances, was a nearly impossible task.
Unfortunately, in his emotional state, Marcos wasn't handling the accusations all too well. He looked pretty ready to hit Tory, storm off, and then attack Silver all by himself. He took a step closer to Tory, his eyes burning with fury as the two stood face to face, though he forced himself to hold back his anger for a few seconds longer.
"Look, I swear to you, I'm not part of Silver's shit." Marcos snapped. Tory shook her head, scowling daggers at him.
"Forgive me if I don't believe you for a second." Tory shot back. "Especially as we hear that your father's involved in this plan too. You have actual family already confirmed to be on Silver's side! Maybe the apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all."
Tory was speaking emotionally, but it wasn't necessarily out of maliciousness towards Marcos. It was because the boy was right: she had trained with Silver longer than anyone, so she knew Silver better than any of them. She knew his conniving, cunning nature. She knew that whatever this plan of his was, the grand extent of it was unknown. They couldn't trust anyone, especially not someone who was still actively on the enemy's side. She wasn't going to allow her and her friends to walk into a trap, especially with a baby's life at stake, that ended up getting them all killed. If her friends and boyfriend were going to be too blind to see what was really going on, then she was going to make sure she pointed it out for them, no matter how much attacking the boy was required.
She had taken it a step too far though, mentioning Marcos' dad. Although they had heard from Marcos all those months ago a brief overview of what his father had done to him, nobody could even imagine the details and the extent of it. Her words stabbed Marcos right in the chest, opening a hole inside him that was quickly filled with more rage than ever, at the thought of being connected with the man he had tried so hard to distance himself from.
"You know it's funny that you're the one making this argument." Marcos snarled. "It's funny that you think I'm the one colluding with him, when Silver's plan involves hurting and trying to kill innocent people… and who knows that world better than you? The person who for more than a year epitomized the perfect monster required for this plan is now accusing me of being a part of it? You see the irony, don't you?"
"Shut up!" Tory growled, raising her hands, prepared to shove the Cobra or swing at him.
"Make me." Marcos spat back. Sure enough, Tory really did strike first, channeling the motto of her former dojo. She didn't actually hit him, but she shoved him backwards, hard enough to have him stumbling backwards and hitting the back wall of the dojo.
The rest of Miyagi-Do were immobile with shock, numb with worry, as they watched Marcos hit the wall but not necessarily go down. He merely chuckled mirthlessly and raised his own hands.
"Fine. You asked for it." He murmured, before lunging at the girl, ready for a fight. He never made it though. Hawk and Miguel caught Marcos just in time, while Robby, Demetri and Sam held back Tory, the 5 Miyagi-Do students creating a barrier between the two fuming teenagers. Marcos and Tory were the two biggest King and Queen Cobras of their generation, so if they were allowed to come to blows, there would be a line of carnage left from their fight that couldn't be erased.
"ENOUGH!" Miguel bellowed, his leadership and authority within the group on display as he called for order. "As we bicker, there are literal lives at stake! We need to put aside our differences, at least for this fight, or else we might as well let Silver kill Laura and Sarah now because there's not a chance in hell we're winning this."
The physical fighting stopped there, and as Tory and Marcos slowly began to struggle less in the grip of the other teenagers, however that didn't mean that they were suddenly on the same page.
"Tory, I trust him. He's a part of this. It's his girlfriend who's also been kidnapped, so he has every right to be here. If you have a problem with it, then you can leave." Robby told her bluntly, looking her right in the eye as he said this. Tory's eyes widened as she stared at her boyfriend, disbelievingly.
"Seriously?! You're taking his side?!" Tory exclaimed. Robby shook his head.
"I'm not on anyone's side. I just want my sister back." Robby murmured tiredly. As Tory looked at him, she saw the pain and terror written on her boyfriend's face, disguised by the look of fearlessness that he had been forced to put on for the benefit of his friends. She was reminded what really mattered in this situation, and how this could be their only chance of ever getting Laura back.
"Fine. He can stay." Tory murmured. The heat and tension in the room died down a little, the teenagers now turning to planning what was about to happen next.
"Look, I still vote that we get the adults involved." Demetri stated. "Maybe we can pretend that there's no adults when Silver gives us the address, but then we show up with the whole team anyways. If we're fast enough, maybe we could stand a chance. Or at least a better chance than we would with just the 7 of us against a whole army."
"Not going to work." Marcos murmured. "You all know Silver. Chances are whatever address he gives us, he's wired the place with more security cameras than the federal gold reserve. If he sees a cop or an adult, he's just going to kill Sarah and Laura and then get the hell out of there before anyone can arrest him."
"They're going to have reinforcements too." Sam told them. "It seems like Silver is trying to round up all of our enemies. We know Miguel and Marcos' fathers are there. We know Silver is there. And we know that Kim Da Eun is there. Who knows who else they have?"
"Another reason why we need to involve the adults." Demetri pointed out.
"No. It's another reason why we can't." Miguel stated. "The more people Silver has, the more people there are to kill the hostages if things go wrong."
As debate continued to rage on amid the Miyagi-Dos, Marcos found himself growing more and more impatient. He knew that with every second that ticked by, Sarah was getting further and further away. The Miyagi-Dos argued about whether or not they should do this, who they should involve, how they should go about it, and a couple of minutes later, Marcos couldn't take it anymore. He shook his head at them and sighed.
"You guys can keep debating all you want, but I'm doing this with or without you. I'm going to go and get my girlfriend back. Have a good night, you guys." Marcos muttered, beginning to head for the door of the dojo, fed up with all of the incessant arguing without them getting anywhere. He didn't care what they decided to do. He was ready to fight Silver's army, even if he needed to do so completely alone.
Just before he left though, he felt a hand pulling him back, and just as he was about to spin around and slap the hand away from him, he saw that it was Robby.
"Look, I want them back as much as you do. I know how much it hurts to know where they are right now, while we're doing nothing to help them." Robby murmured. "I know it's hard, but you need to keep it together."
Tears were threatening to spring to Marcos' eyes as he stood opposite Robby, and he shook his head.
"I've been keeping it together, and look where it got me." Marcos murmured, his eyes slightly watery. Never could Robby have related with a phrase more than that one. He knew exactly how Marcos felt. Robby had been trying so hard to be good, to do the right thing, for so long now. He had strived to be the best teammate, the best brother, the best boyfriend, the best friend. And how had the universe rewarded him for his struggles? By kidnapping his sister and dangling her life in front of his nose. By hurting an innocent person who didn't deserve to be hurt at all.
That was exactly how Marcos had felt. He had tried to be patient. He had tried to do the right thing, but he was sick and tired of that now. He was done, on the end of his string. He had snapped.
"I know you want revenge. I know you want to fight. But just think about Sarah. Think about what will happen if you go down there alone and immediately get yourself hurt or worse. Marching in like a one man army is not the best way to do this. It's only going to get both you and her killed."
"Robby's right. A one man army is not the way to do this." Hawk agreed. "A two man army is much better. We're not just going to leave them to the wolves. We're going to get them back or die trying. Marcos, I'm coming with you."
Marcos shot him a grateful look, his respect for him since the Taikai growing massively.
"I'm coming too." Robby nodded.
"So am I." Miguel joined them.
"Count me in." Sam agreed.
"I'm coming." Tory volunteered to join, still slightly untrusting of Marcos, but forcing herself to bury those feelings. For Robby and his baby sister's sake.
There was only one Miyagi-Do who hadn't joined them: the boy who seemed most reluctant about this whole thing. Demetri was still slightly hesitant, knowing full well the risks involved in this place, and probably the least trigger happy student of all of the Miyagi-Dos. He took the time to think about everything that could go horribly wrong with this plan, but even that wasn't enough for him to turn away from it. That was the nature of the loyalty the Miyagi-Dos had for each other. They weren't going to let each other walk into the line of fire without being there right there beside each other.
"I'm in too." Demetri confirmed that all 7 of them would be taking on Silver's army together. "Now… call Silver. Find out the location he wants us to go to. Let's do this."