THIRTY FOUR.
( she's so gone. )

"They know the three of us are the biggest threat. But they also know we can't risk violating probation."

Emmy crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not on probation. Leave all the brute work to me."

"Then all we need is to get them somewhere no one else is around," Tory added on with a nod.

Kenny gave one final kick to the dummy Tory was holding on for him, before Kreese and Silver came walking in. "Listen up. Gather round."

The three glanced at each other before getting to their spots.

"We just had a little powwow with the senseis at Miyagi-Do. From here on out, there'll be no more fighting until the tournament."

"So our enemies humiliate us, and we have to back down and take it?" Tory asked.

"Of course not," Kreese spoke up. "We should always show our enemies no mercy."

"But there's a time to fight," Silver said, turning to Kreese. "No need to waste a punch if it's not gonna score a point."

Emmy narrowed her eyes at him. He reminded her a lot of Johnny when she first joined.

"So if your enemies do something to mess with you, or laugh in your face, good! Take all that anger and store it. Because you're gonna need it when the time comes. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sensei!"

"LaRusso," Kreese called out.

The girl turned to him, already knowing what he was asking her for. She nodded, giving Robby a tight lipped smile before following after him to his office. "What now?"

She shut the door behind her, watching him take a seat in his desk chair. "What do you think?"

Emmy furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't know. I don't think I've done anything wrong."

"No?" he raised his eyebrows.

"No. But if I did, I would appreciate it if you would tell me."

"You're holding back."

"Excuse me?"

"I've known you and seen you fight long enough to know when you're not putting your best foot forward," he started to explain. "You're thinking too much about something. That something is holding you back. What is it?"

"I ⎯," Emmy frowned. "I don't know."

"Yes you do," he countered. "You're just pushing it away because you don't want to believe that it's reason you're holding back. But it is. So, tell me. What is it?"

Emmy went silent, trying to dig deep. And as the seconds go by, it became clearer and clearer to her. The thing that has been plaguing her mind for weeks now.

She cleared her throat. "I lost my best friend to the people who hurt me. He chose to go with them."

"Ah," Kreese smirked. "Hawk. One of the most promising students Cobra Kai has ever seen. He betrayed you."

"A bit worse than that," she said. "He promised that he would never be like them."

"And how does that make you feel?" he egged her on.

"Angry," she immediately said. "I got him out of every bad situation he got himself into and he just left me to fend for myself. After all I've done for him."

"I do recall that you two were quite the pair," he nodded along. "I understand you were some of the lasting members of Johnny Lawrence's Cobra Kai."

"Yeah," she solemnly said. "He was kinda the only person I had."

"Well, you certainly weren't his only person," Kreese hummed. "That other friend of his accepted him with open arms. They all did. Even after he caused them harm and damage. Would they have done the same for you?"

Emmy's face slowly fell into a frown, eyes going to the ground as she thought about his question.

She saw the way that Demetri immediately forgave Hawk for everything he had done. Even after breaking his arm. He wouldn't have done that for her.

Her dad welcome Hawk into his dojo with no problems. He wouldn't have done the same for her.

Johnny didn't care that Hawk chose Kreese over him. He would have cared if it was her.

Miguel didn't even question if Hawk had another motive for switching sides. He would have grilled Emmy if she had.

No one cared how Hawk's role in all of Cobra Kai's schemes. But they all cared about hers.

She looked up, making eye contact with Kreese. The man smirked, seeing a new look in her eyes. "That boy...he took everything that was meant to be yours. He took the forgiveness, the reassurance, and the closure that you needed. And you're letting him cloud your mind? Control you? What have I taught you about control, Ms. LaRusso?"

Emmy took a deep breath. "That if I'm not in it, then I have to take it back."

"Exactly," he looked at her, satisfied. "And how can you take it back?"

She swallowed thickly. "By gaining control over him."

He smirked. "Excellent. You are truly what Cobra Kai has needed from the start, Ms. LaRusso. Believe me when I say, that this is what you were meant to do. If you rid of all your evils, you will not only gain control over your enemies, but the upcoming tournament. I am putting all of my faith into you."

Kreese then pulled open his desk drawer, pulling out a shiny object. "It's time for you to rid of this final evil."

He handed it out to her, and she slowly took it, observing it in her hands. And with a quick flick of her wrist, a sharp blade unfolded. She admired it, twisting it left to right and watching the light hit it. She looked him in his eyes again. "I won't let you down."

He stood up from his seat, eyes glinting with internal glee and his smirk deepened. "I know you won't. Dismissed."

She quickly folded the blade back into its place, holding it tightly in her hand as she opened the door and walked out of the office, Kreese closely behind her. She could see that everyone was reaching for their water bottles, and headed towards her friends.

"Second sensei's working us hard today," Kyler said. "Guy's going best mode! Sucks we can't give a beat down before the tournament."

"Wrong," Emmy spoke up, alerting them of her presence. They all looked at her curiously. "Payback doesn't always have to be a fight."

"What do you have in mind?" Tory asked.

Emmy just smiled, and took the girl's water bottle, taking a sip. "A way to show them that we're in control."

✸

Emmy breathed heavily as she shook out her hand, looking down at the unconscious man in front of her. "Sorry, Rico. Hope we're cool."

"Damn, Em," Kyler hissed. "That was some punch. Knocked the dude good night."

"Shut up," she snapped, brushing her hair out of her face. "Who knows how long he'll be out. Come on."

They all followed her into the tattoo parlor, the door opening and closing alerting the clueless boy inside. "Hey, Rico, you good?"

"He's not," Eli looked up at the feminine voice, eyes widening at the sight of Emmy walking in with more Cobra Kais behind her. "Rico's taking a nap."

Eli panicked, tossing his phone onto the ground and slid off the black table he was laying on. Kyler rushed forward. "Where'd you think you're going?"

Eli kicked the table into Kyler's stomach, making the latter groan and flop on top of it. Two other Cobra Kais charged at Hawk, both trying to incapacitate him so that they could hold him down. And since Eli was so caught off guard, he was pinned down after seconds, Kyler wrapping a gi belt around his neck to help hold him down. "You weren't that hard to find, you little bitch."

Tory stalked up in front of him, looking down at him with a smirk.

Eli struggled to get out of their grip, breathing heavily. "You assholes just ignoring the no-fighting rules?"

"We're not here to fight," Emmy came into his view, and Eli's heart almost stopped. He forgot she was here too.

But, she looked different. Like an entirely new person. Her eyes were darker than normal, and he had never seen such a look on her face. A face that lacked any emotion.

Emmy held out her hand, and Robby placed the blade into it. She unfolded the blade, holding it delicately. She leaned in closer to him, hand tightening around the handle to the point where it turned white. She looked him in the eyes, and Hawk could only describe the look in her eyes to be absolutely insane.

"This won't hurt a bit," she whispered.

Eli gulped, hand clenching at his sides. What was she going to do?

✸

"Hawk?"

Everyone looked up at the sound of Miguel calling out for his best friend, seeing someone walking towards them with a hood over their heads.

"Shit. Eli, what happened?" Demetri asked as they all took steps towards him.

Eli didn't say anything, only lifting a shaky hand and pulled down his hood. What once was a purple mohawk was now shaved off, only remnants on the sides. His eyes were red and puffy from crying, and he looked embarrassed.

They stopped in shock, eyes wide. Johnny, who was behind them, pushed in between Miguel and Chris to get to his student. His eyes were locked onto the mess that was on top of his head and he nodded to it. "Who did this?"

"Cobra Kai," the boy answered, barely able to look him in the eye.

Johnny shook his head in disappointment. "Kreese and Silver did this. They need to pay."

"Jesus, Johnny. Please," Daniel said from behind him. "Kreese tried to kill you last time. What do you want? To fight them both?"

"Damn right I do. Look what they did."

"Dousing the fire with gasoline, that's your answer? What am I not surprised?"

"Sensei, stop," Miguel tried with Johnny.

"You still think your way is the only way," Johnny went on. "You were so proud when they pulled their little sprinkler prank the other day. But if they stood their ground and kicked some ass like I taught them, this would've never happened."

"It wasn't Kreese or Silver."

Everyone turned back to Eli. His jaw was clenched and it looked as if he was going to cry again. "It was Robby."

Johnny felt like the air was sucked out of him.

"And Tory," Eli continued. "And Kyler. And ⎯ "

He cut himself off, as if he couldn't bear to say the other name, But Demetri knew. He just knew.

"She was there. Wasn't she?" he asked. Eli made eye contact with him, and the silence was the only answered Demetri needed.

"Who was there?" Sam questioned, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Emmy," Miguel answered with a solemn tone, also getting who he was talking about.

Johnny's head was spinning. "Pinky was there? She did this too?"

Eli swallowed thickly. "I'm pretty sure it was her idea. She's the one who did it."

"Jesus," Johnny breathed out, having trouble wrapping his mind around this situation.

"I told you all she was crazy," Mitch scoffed. "Something is seriously wrong with her."

"She's not crazy," Johnny quickly shut him down. "This is what Cobra Kai does. It strips you of everything you're worth until all you are is something they can control. Emmy isn't crazy. She just needs to get out of there."

"He's right," Eli sniffled. "She's changing."

"What do you mean?" Demetri knitted his eyebrows together.

Eli gulped. "When she was... The look in her eyes was scary. It was so dark, like, she wasn't there. Like, it wasn't even her."

"I bet on everything that Kreese is drilling bullshit into her head," Johnny huffed. "It's what he did to me."

"Yeah," Miguel nodded. "He knows what she can do and what she's capable of. I mean, when I was still in Cobra Kai, he would pull her into his office almost all the time. He'd make her do things for him. Like, spy on Miyagi-Do."

Daniel just let out a breath and shook his head.

"He kept on doing it after the school fight," Eli added on. "She'd only say what they talked about if she wanted to tell me."

"And it's not like he did it with anyone else," Mitch interjected. "It was just her. I know because people would complain that she was getting special treatment. They all said that she was like his soldier."

"And she's a damn good soldier," Johnny scoffed. "He knows what to say to her to make her do what he wants. He tries to act like he's the only person looking out for her. He's spent time shaping her into the perfect soldier. And she believes him. There isn't anything she wouldn't do for him."

He turned to Eli. "She burned her last bridge. Which means it's not Kreese or Silver we have to watch out for, because they're not gonna be the ones at the fight. She is. Emmy's the one we gotta look out for."

"So, what? We just attack her when we see her?" Chris's face twisted.

Johnny thought for a moment. "If necessary."

"You are not going to attack my daughter!" Daniel exclaimed. "What we need to do is get her out of Cobra Kai. For good."

"That'll be the hardest part," Miguel sighed. "She's been under his control for so long. There's no way she'll let up without a fight."

Daniel bit the inside of his cheek, and turned to Eli. "You are going to tell us everything. I don't want a single detail of Emmy's time with Kreese left out. Do you understand?"

Eli nodded. "Yes, sir."

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

yes this is when emmy completely loses it