Leaving for Las Vegas, Magnus bids farewell to his friends Jessica Drew and Jerry Hunt. After Magnus's departure, Jerry informs Jessica that SHIELD wants him back on assignment and drops Jessica off at home. Jessica begins to ponder over what she should do for employment. After a night out as Spider-Woman, Jessica begins job hunting and finds that people's negative reactions towards her make the jobs she applies for not last. Wondering what's wrong, she decides to go to the Hatros Institute for Emotional Research to try and figure out why. As a stroke of luck, after her first session she is offered a job as a receptionist at the institute.

As Jerry Hunt receives mission orders to find two missing SHIELD agents, Jessica begins her job as a receptionist. Hearing a strange noise, she goes to investigate and is knocked out by the Shroud, who is investigating the Hatros Institute because he suspects they are tied with the Cult of Kali.

Reviving, Jessica changes into Spider-Woman and counter-attacks the Shroud, and after a brief battle she easily defeats him, knocking him out with a venom blast. Carrying his unconscious body through a therapy room, she is shocked to find it filled with members of the very cult that the Shroud had come looking for.