The Menacing Metropolis begins just as the Menacing Moors concludes, that is, with Watson accompanying a newly invigorated Holmes back to London from the South Downs and the bees only forthem both to be confronted with the uneasy notion that Moriarty could well bealive after all and behind all the outrages on the Moors. Agreeing to maintain the illusion of Holmes' dejection, the pair embarks on a series of covert investigations to discover just what it was that Holmes was being diverted from. Hints of impending though mysterious nation-breaking events are suggested by a secretive collective of citizens well-placed to observe anomalous and potentially threatening behaviour in key locations across the city, from the docks to the taverns, the taxis to the railways, the banks to the upper echelons of government. Gold reserves are being readied for transfer to secure locations should an undisclosed threat progress to a critical level but Holmes suspects that the threat is a bluff and that the gold is vulnerable when being moved. He feels that any threat to that gold perceived by the Public would undermine the value of the British Pound and render the nation unable to effectively respond to financial or military attack. Whitehall's hand is eventually forced and Mycroft requests that the Prime Minister tell all so that investigations can find their directions necessary for determining the true nature and scope ofany threat.