Asher showed him the picture of the logo. "ARS... A name that carries more weight than you might think. It stands for Alpha Red Shot."
"Alpha red-" Officer Parker started but was interrupted when Asher showed another picture with two individual figures.
"And this?" Asher asked.
"I've never seen it before! Are these guns!? They look like ones," Officer Parker exclaimed, looking at the picture of two guns. On the left, a thick gun with an orange color for its signature, and on the right, a thin almost transparent gun with an indigo color as its signature.
Asher smirked, then first pointed out at the right image showing the orange gun. And then on the left image. "Arsenic Alloy Z. Phantom Pulsar 2AA+."
"Were they used at the crime scene?! Then why say he died of natural causes?" Officer Parker asked, confusion evident in his voice.
Asher let out a small smile looking away but kept silent, staring at the table with his immense pile of files.
Just then, a weird sensation hit the room. The gravity abruptly shut down sending them both to gravitate in the air. Before Asher could utter a word, a sharp object came hitting him straight on his back head knocking him out cold.
The scene shifted to a different location - Back to the Robinson's house. Jonathan was glancing over at Marcus, who was engrossed in the TV screen. Michelle entered the room a few seconds later.
"Eric, we're ready to leave now." Michelle Robinson announced.
In response, Eric pressed hard onto Jonathan's wounded forehead, causing him to flinch in pain. "Mhm." was all Eric said.
Jonathan, feeling a sense of desperation and pain from the wound that Eric was causing, stood up from his seat and approached Michelle. "Can you please leave this one out?" he asked, his voice filled with a plea.
"No! And please don't ask me again. You lost and now you've to do whatever I tell you to do," Michelle responded firmly, leaving no room for negotiation.
Jonathan exhaled angrily, his patience wearing thin. "Who even started all this?" he asked, frustration evident in his voice.
Eric, trying to save himself from the brewing argument, chimed in. "You had time to back up back then, it was your cockiness that led you into this mess."
"But I wasn't even landed a chance to," Jonathan retorted, feeling cornered.
"Don't start pointing fingers at nobody." Eric warned, trying to diffuse the situation.
Michelle glared at Jonathan as if showing that no one was teaming up with him. "Better get going, my appointment with the kids is about one hour countdown. Eric, I'll be dropping you off." she said, changing the subject.
Eric nodded in agreement and started rearranging all his aid kit content back inside his bag. "Yeah." he responded simply.
Michelle put on her doctor's white coat and grabbed her bag. She quickly made her way to the back door leading to the garage. Her last stop was with the twins at the kitchen where she grabbed a bite to eat before leaving.
"Bye-bye kids!" she called out as she left.
"Mom, you're going to work!" Doria exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes baby." Michelle confirmed.
"Even with what just happened, they still let you go to work!" Jake added in disbelief.
"Yes," Michelle responded simply. "But there isn't much to worry about. We will be fine kids, don't worry too much, okay."
"Mhm." Jake responded nonchalantly while Doria simply said, "Yeah."
Michelle pointed out Doria's yellow transparent lunch box filled with cut-in pieces of salad fruits mixed together and asked the twins if she could take it.
"Sure." Jake responded quickly.
"Thank you!" Michelle said gratefully.
"It's not you who made it, so why are you talking in my place!?" Doria yelled at Jake who had spoken for her without asking.
Jake didn't apologize to her. Instead, he unbotheredly swallowed a handful spoon of cornflake and showed an exaggerated tasty look after the bite. "Mhm!" he responded nonchalantly.
Michelle had no time to stop them from bickering with each other, so she ended up yelling on her way to the door. "No fighting!"
Jonathan made one last attempt as he stood beside the door asking for permission to leave the house. "Please-" he started but was cut off by Michelle's firm "No!"
In the garage of Robinson's house, Jonathan made another desperate plea. "I can go to work for you." he offered but was quickly dismissed by Michelle who said, "Don't be silly, Jonathan."
The big garage door was already open; it was just a matter of getting in the car and speeding onto the road. As they were about to leave, Mimi called out a sweet "Bye-bye, mommy."
Michelle crouched down to reach Mimi's level and kissed her on the cheek. "Bye Mimi, please take good care, okay?" she said lovingly.
Mimi nodded in understanding with a soft "Mhm." feeling a sense of responsibility to take care of herself rushing over her.
Michelle stood back on her feet and called for Marcus's name. Marcus was busy judging Jonathan's dramatic way of dealing with a losing dealership but responded with a simple "Mm!"
"Should I also drop you home?" Michelle asked him but Marcus declined saying he would walk home instead.
"You sure!" Michelle asked again wanting to make sure he was okay with walking home alone.
"Mm-mm. With your work situated on the opposite side from where I live, reaching my place would take you approximately long minutes driving." Marcus explained. "By the time you come back on your track, you'll -"
"I will surely be late, yeah. Then please be extra careful, okay!" Michelle finished for him and reminded him to be careful on his way home.
Marcus reassured her that he would be fine and hugged her goodbye before leaving sprinting home. As he waved goodbye to Eric and Jonathan before leaving, Michelle called out Eric's name one last time before they left.
"Catch up on you later." Eric said to Jonathan who could only respond with a miserable "Mhm."
Eric and Michelle both hopped into a grayish car leaving Jonathan in total misery. Once the door of the garage closed shut behind them, Jonathan wasted no time going inside with his phone ready to dial.
Back inside the living room, Jake turned to his father, Jonathan. "Dad, what are we doing?" he asked.
"I'll tell you what we are doing. I'm calling your babysitter." Jonathan replied. Jake's face fell upon hearing that their babysitter would be the one joining them. "She will be taking care of you kids." Jonathan added.
Before he could dial the babysitter's number, he spotted a missed call from Kelvin on his phone. Distracted, he prioritized returning Kelvin's call first. "Oh wait, Kelvin called. Hello! Yeah, what's up? Did you witness the phenomenon? Was it gravity sudden shutdown? Yeah-yeah it was. It's all over the news. I ended up terribly hitting my head because of it, I'm serious!" Jonathan said into the phone.
While Jonathan was on the phone, Jake suddenly came up with a plan. "Dad, can I call the babysitter then?" he asked.
"Hold on a sec." Jonathan halted Kelvin on the other end of line. "I'm using the phone." Jonathan replied to jake, still engrossed in his conversation with Kelvin.
"No, I will use the family household number." Jake said.
"Okay." Jonathan agreed and left for the corridor, seeking some peace while talking on the phone.