Uncountable dozens of cars filled the sardine-packed roads of Manhattan. It was true that the city never slept. Lights shone across the breathtaking skyline from Lower all the way to Midtown Manhattan. Of course, while the metropolis was buzzing with life at night, Matthew had to get some rest after his dizzying experience with the maniac, animal-like beings.

At dawn, he got up fresh and energetic, happy to be back home. He grabbed his phone and texted his friends.

Matthew: Want to meet at Rose Bakery for breakfast? It's the one at Columbus Circle, near my apartment.

Megan: Sure, I'm free and hungry anyway

Daniel: yea, why not?

Emma: mk

As such, Matthew put on his favourite casual coat and left his apartment. It was a busy Wednesday, and cars swooped around and exited through different routes away from Columbus Circle. Unlike Matthew, people going into the Time Warner Centre, most dressed in stylish clothing, were entering the towers to work, not live there.

"Morning," Joel from the café acknowledged him.

"Hey. How's Drake?" Matthew stopped for a moment to pick up a conversation with Joel.

However, Joel sighed tiredly upon hearing the question about his son. He was reluctant to speak about Drake, but he knew that Matthew would force him to spit it out either way. "He... he left. He was just so insolent, and I couldn't convince him to stay. He's probably living with his cousin in Brooklyn now," Joel muttered miserably.

Matthew paused, trying not to be too quick with what he would say. "Hey, it's all right. If he doesn't appreciate what you offer him, let him endure having nothing," Matthew assured Joel with a hint of anger and impatience in his voice.

"I am grateful for your help convincing him to stop bringing up discord in our relationship. I know that you have always been sensitive about this matter of being appreciative of fathers because I still remember you lost yours. But it's no help anymore. I'll have to move on. Once I'm gone, maybe he'll—"

"Don't say that, don't think about your end. Just live life as you want to," Matthew cut in, starting to feel attacked right at his weak point. "Well, I suppose you didn't come all the way for a meal here. I'll talk to you again later, Matthew," Joel finished the conversation with his voice just as husky as usual.

Matthew shook his head and stepped down from the slightly elevated café before continuing his journey to Rose Bakery.

As he took in the fresh air, tree leaves fluttered and danced in the winds, and the absence of balmy weather kept insects like flies and ants away. Attractive flowers emitted favourable scents and aromas as he used the calming atmosphere to keep the trauma from the disturbing events of the past weeks behind him.

He walked further down the street before entering the bakery, taking off his coat and hanging it onto one of the hooks on the wall. He sat down as he waited for his friends patiently. Not much later, Megan, Emma and Daniel walked in and waved to him. "Hey. Good to see you guys again so soon." Matthew smiled as he stepped into the café. It was at that time that he felt that he really needed some friends.

"Wow, looking fresh, huh?" Emma complimented as Matthew took his seat.

The quartet then began selecting their favourite foods. The morning menu that the bakery had was relatively limited, which was why they didn't take quite too long to make their order. Despite this, Emma was still racking her brain, trying to decide between two dishes.

Before she could really make her choice, however, Megan had already called for the waitress. And, in fact, the waitress was awaiting Emma's order. Megan nudged Emma's shoulder, hurrying her up. And so, Emma finally decided between the two, as the awkward silence ended with her speaking.

"Anyway," Matthew cut in as soon as the waitress left. "Captain Jones will be accompanying us later. Since my witness account report was disrupted by the incident the last time round, we all have to—"

"I don't mean to be rude," Emma interrupted rather abruptly. The other three detectives turned to look at her, wondering what she was going to complain about this time. "But Gary is coming? Oh, for goodness sake, he's going to give me a headache!" she screamed.

Matthew stared at her, disappointed by her blatant complaints. "Seriously, Emma? Please have some respect for the captain. I know you don't like him because he's very—"

"It's not that," she rolled her eyes as if what she had meant was obvious. "It's that the déjà vu is going to freak the crap out of me. I just can't believe that our temporary captain at the APD tried to kill us, and I'm just getting paranoid that our captain may not be any better," she sighed.

"Emma, paranoia isn't going to help. For all we know, anyone around us can be dangerous," Megan convinced her.

"Yeah, and this is supposed to be a fun day for you—for all of us. Don't make the worst out of it, okay? The captain will be all right," Daniel added.

"Well... all right," she nodded.

* * *

After arriving at the museum...

Matthew and his friends stepped out of the cab, gasping at the beauty of the new museum building. At the entrance of the museum stood a tall man with bronze skin. Captain Jones, they all thought in unison as they approached him.

"Hello, captain. How are you doing?" Matthew greeted.

"Oh, Matthew, I've been good. You are so kind, as always. I can never seem to convince you to call me Gary."

"Well then, hello, hello, hello, Gary!" Emma exclaimed goofily and dramatically at the same time, which only resulted in her getting a glare from him.

"It's great to meet all of you again. I heard Matthew suggested coming to this new museum because he wanted to see his friend Jacob, who had just started working here. I think it's a good place to catch up and, well, get to know more about your... current situation," he added.

Just then, a man in formal attire walked over. He adjusted his suit as he approached the detectives and the captain. Only one person instantly recognised the man—Matthew.

"Hey, Jake!" he exclaimed as the man stopped before him.

"Matt! It's been a while. How are you?" the man responded. They gave each other a brief hug.

"Hey, Dan. Long time no see, too," he greeted Daniel, who had suddenly recognised the man, delightedly before shaking his hand. He was slightly less welcoming to Daniel as compared to Matthew, however, probably because he wasn't as close.

He looked at Megan and Emma. The two of them had utterly no idea who he was, and so, he began a brief introduction of himself. "Ah, yes, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Jacob Hernandez. Matt and I have been friends since middle school. I met Dan later at NYU through Matthew," he said.

Megan and Emma then took turns shaking hands with the museum owner. "It's nice to meet you both," he said as he took a step back. "Anyway, I'm really excited to show you guys around!" he cheered, his face glowing instantly like the sun.

Out of the blue, there was a metallic screeching sound. It was ear-piercing and almost sounded like a shriek. However, it was clear to everyone that it came from some sort of metal shutter or door.

As a result, Megan flinched as she tried to endure the strange noise. "What was that?"

Emma turned to look away from the detectives. She focused on the sound of the metal, which was getting fainter every second. However, she managed to get a glimpse of what was making the noise. And it wasn't a pleasant thing to know. "Oh my God," Emma stuttered before turning back to face the detectives.

Daniel tried to study the look on her face, but she kept it tilted down. Even so, he could tell she was troubled, either because of something she had seen or just because she was irritated by the noise. "What is it?" he queried.

"T-the exit is s-sealed. It's gone," she shivered as she looked back at the main entrance to the building. She kept her head angled downwards, however, as she didn't feel comfortable looking at the shut door. It made her highly uncomfortable as she began reminiscing what had happened at the precinct in Allentown.

It reminded her of how they were being kept captive. She didn't even need to clarify with Jake or the others about what was going on. She already had a feeling in her gut that something was terribly wrong, and that they had to make their way out as soon as possible.

"What? C-come on. There has to be a side exit somewhere, right, Jake?" Matthew asked.

"Yes, there is. It's at the back. Follow me," Jake directed as he brought the others with him.

However, a temporary delay followed as something undesirable occurred. At the same time, it was quite an eye-opener for all of them. Something that would shake them to their senses such that they would realise the level of complexity of the situation that they were caught in.

"No... no!" Emma shrieked before collapsing to the ground all of a sudden. As she lay on the floor, the detectives, together with Jake and the captain, rushed over to assist her.

"Emma! Wake up!" Megan wept anxiously as she shook Emma vigorously while she rested on the ground.

As a result of the violent shaking, Emma's eyes slowly fluttered open to see a hoard of people standing around her. They all craned their necks, bending their heads downwards to assess both her physical and mental health.

"What is it? What did you see?" Matthew questioned. Emma pointed at the back door. It's happening... again..." she murmured.

Matthew looked at the locks on the door. It couldn't be, he thought.

Two wooden boards. A padlock. A digital lock. Matthew stuttered slowly, his hands turning cold and clammy. Dead silence filled the room, the only sound being the slow, gentle footsteps of Matthew. He eyed the encryption on the digital lock. In a recognisable size and font stood two words.

Yael Technologies.

Matthew attempted dialling the precinct, but it didn't seem to work. The phone wasn't even sounding, and no one picked up the call. Only then did he bring the device away from his ear to look at the top left-hand corner of the phone. "Crap," he blurted out frustratedly as he ended the call, giving up on the hope of being able to contact anyone outside of the museum.

"What's wrong?" Megan questioned, anticipating that Matthew would have been able to get in contact with their precinct.

"There's no signal here. Something must be jamming it. It's just like Allentown all again," he groaned.

Meanwhile, a separate conversation ensued as the others tried to uncover what had caused the lockdown. Noticing the commotion, Matthew and Megan joined back with the others to find out more about their situation.

"Who could have put these locks?" Captain Jones inquired as he placed his hands on his hips. It was a gesture he would display only when he was dead serious about something.

"Well, you guys are the second batch of visitors today," Jake answered promptly.

"So, who was in the first?" Daniel asked.

"A few other visitors, probably three or four of them, and Jamie," Jake responded.

"Who?" Emma asked, still feeling concussed.

"Jamie is Jake's girlfriend. He told me that she would be here," Matthew answered as he stopped scoping the premises for a moment to add to the conversation. After all, he didn't want to miss anything important that could potentially be of help to them.

"Oh great, the more people, the merrier," Emma sighed. Megan grunted at her silently in response, trying to ensure that Emma wouldn't provoke anyone else unnecessarily—in this case, Jake.

"So, how many people are here now?" Gary asked.

"Well, since this is a new museum, and we just opened it, there are around 30 people," Jake answered. "You, Matthew, Daniel, Megan, Emma, Jamie, Edward, our technician, Sharon, our concierge head, a few other concierge and guides, and a couple of other visitors."

"30? You mean, barely anyone visits the museum? It's been almost an hour since it opened," Daniel remarked, frowning.

"Yes, it's quite embarrassing to admit that this museum hasn't been much of a success so far," Jake blushed.

"Well, that means that only Jamie, Edward or Sharon could have shuttered the doors. I wouldn't assume the visitors or lower-ranking staff members would have access to the museum's security system," Matthew asserted, although it was quite a vague assumption.

"You make it sound like there are few suspects, but it's quite the opposite. Speaking of which, I don't think Jamie would have done such a thing. I know her personally, and she would never," Jake sighed. However, he clearly knew that the detectives weren't going to care if he was going to be biased. As such, he added on to make sure that he didn't sound like he was siding with anyone. "But since most of you are detectives, I'm fine with her being a suspect."

Meanwhile, the others were busy trying to solve the mystery of the locked museum, too busy to even respond to Jake.

"So first, let's try to find something to help us get out of here," Daniel said as he began creating a plan. They walked up a spiral staircase to an artefact display table. On it was a safe with a key beside it.

"That's strange. That safe has never been there before, and there's no way that it's an artefact either," Jake claimed.

"Well, there seems to be a key here," Daniel said, picking up a gold-plated key that lay beside the safe. He inspected it closely before realising the key may be able to open the safe. He then slipped the key into the keyhole, pulling open the safe door while raising an eyebrow as he stared into the safe.

"Well, I have no doubt we're being trapped by the same group of people once again." Matthew nodded. "And somehow, I've got a strong feeling in my gut that the corporation 'Yael Technologies' has got something to do with all of this..." he added before grabbing a compact firearm from the safe.

"Whoa, and about that pistol, that's against building regulations. No dangerous weapons should lie free like that. Of course, I trust you all as detectives, but be careful," Jake warned.

Thus, Daniel slipped it into his back pocket as the group continued walking around the second floor.

As they loitered around the place, the group looked around for anything unusual that could point to anything they needed to know. And just at the right moment, Jake noticed something. "Hang on, that's not supposed to be there either..." he stated, pointing to a set of wooden boards that barricaded the stairway to the observatory.

"Never mind, we can find something to break it down later," Matthew reassured as he continued the search for items to assist them in their escape.

Only then was there a sharp, ear-splitting scream. And it originated from the ground floor. "What just happened?" Emma asked, quivering as she looked over the safety barrier and down at the lobby. In spite of this, she couldn't see anything abnormal going on downstairs.

"That isn't good," Matthew thought as he rushed towards where the scream came from.

"Hold up, where did the captain go?" Daniel asked, looking around the group in an attempt to locate him.

Then, out of the door to the art display room came a figure panting heavily. Blood splatters covered his clothes and face.

"Oh my days...." Megan muttered, stepping backwards slowly, shivering in fear.

It was Captain Jones.