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[center][b]Aubrey Adkins[/b][/center]
	Home at last. I was starting to believe this night would never end. I have been shot at or almost shot at way too many times this evening, first by that metahuman who interrupted the charity event and then the Hounds trying to kill me and Slipstream, the speedster girl I just met tonight. Or rather last night, since it is already a few hours past midnight. Anyways, I’m tired, hungry, and in a dire need of a shower. But I can’t fall asleep in clothes that had been drenched with blood and sweat! But the real question is do I eat first?

	While I contemplated this ‘problem,’ so to speak, I cracked open the skylight window of my apartment. I found that this way, as opposed to one of my side windows (or God forbid, my front door), provides an entrance obscured from a bystander’s curious eye, especially at night.  Once the window was opened, I entered my apartment on a web strand just like a spider descending to the floor from a ledge. I made sure that my landing was soft so that I would not disturb my neighbor below me.  With one final yank on a webline connected to skylight window, I was finally within the safe confines of my home. 

	I decided the first thing on my to-do list was get myself out of this costume. I tiptoed over to my closet, side stepping around some dirty laundry spread out over my bedroom floor. When I slide open my closet door, I was half surprised that the dress that I wore to the charity event earlier that evening was hanging up before my eyes. I guess that meant my decoy that Athena conjured made it back, although I didn’t see any other signs of her.

	After pushing the dress to one side, I began searching for something comfortable to wear. I finally settled on a grey t-shirt that I “borrowed” from Will. While the shirt was a little oversized for my boyfriend, it still had sentimental value to him since it was ’08 NFC Champions shirt when the Cardinals went to the Super Bowl. I then pulled out one of the yoga pants that Athena had refashioned so that it could fit my spideresque lower body.

	Now for the tricky part. Normally, I would just use my power-nullifying band to swap out my superheroine costume for my civilian threads. However, I don’t know where my costume goes when it gets swapped out. That’s definitely on my list of questions for Athena whenever I see her next. Since I used it quite a bit this night, I suppose I should probably throw it into the wash. Honestly, the only difficult part of taking off my costume is when I have to remove it from my spider-half. I can pull off the human-half of my costume like a regular shirt, while my boots (if you could even call them that) come off like four pairs of socks, although my hind legs do require some flexibility on my part. It’s just I cannot easily get leverage for pulling my costume off my spider abdomen. The only option that I have found was to attach some weblines on the posterior of my costume, tie the other end onto something sturdy, and gently pull it off.

	Once I finally pulled off my costume, I covered myself back up with the grey t-shirt I had retrieved from my closet. Before that, however, I also removed the two bras I had been wearing. While it does help hide my secret identity, after a few hours wearing a bra that uses some technological mumbo-jumbo to make my bust appear smaller, the compression effect starts to get on your nerves. Then I gathered up whatever dark color clothes that were lying on the floor and shoved them, along with my Arachne costume, into my washing machine.

	Clothes cleaned? Check. Now to tell my stomach to shut up. I darted straight towards my refrigerator and acquired the tub of strawberry ice cream from the freezer. After I found the ice cream scoop in one of my kitchen drawers, I dished out several scoops into a bowl. Before I returned the ice cream carton back into the fridge, I added few more scoops, just to make sure I got my fill.

	Two down. Two to go. I grazed on my strawberry ice cream while I quietly walked over to my apartment’s bathroom, making sure that the tapping of my eight legs would not disturb my neighbor below. But when I entered the bathroom, I peered at the bathtub, then at my shower, then down at my arachnid abdomen. There was no way I was going to fit my spider-half without being incredibly uncomfortable. I already knew the shower was out of the picture, but I surprisingly have never tried to fit into my nice tub.

	I continued to munch on my ice cream while I contemplated on what I was going to do. In the end, I decided that I needed to activate my power-nullifier. Sure, I would have to remain in my drider form for a few hours in the morning, but it was a sacrifice I had to make. As the tub’s basin filled with warm water, I finished up my bowl of ice cream. Once the water’s temperature was to my liking, I slid into the tub after I turned on my power-nullifier.

	Considering how my night had went, I probably should feel fortunate that I can have a belly full of ice cream and can enjoy a heated bath after facing two near-death experiences. Things could have gone down way worse, not only for me, but also for Slipstream and Chris’ girlfriend. I can’t quite put my finger on her name. Anyways, now I have three things on my list checked off. Sleep is the last thing on the list. I just have to make sure I don’t dose off in the tub.

[hr]

	Kensei wandered through the streets of Pacific Point. He had heard rumors that there was a [i]joroguma[/i] at large within this American city. Whenever Kensei was on the hunt for supernatural beings, especially those which are particularly apt at remaining undetected to humans. In these situations, Kensei’s most valuable asset is the Staff of Birog, an item that he had acquired many ages ago. Normally, Kensei would keep the dangerous and valuable items that he had acquired on his journeys under lock and key. Nevertheless, there are some that are safe enough for his use. The Staff of Birog allows its wielder to detect and follow supernatural beings and items.

	His wild goose chase for this [i]joroguma[/i] finally led the legendary Japanese warrior to a gated apartment complex that, from his sources, was reserved for the models of a men’s magazine called Viera. Kensei was not at all surprised that a [i]joroguma[/i] would be drawn to this sort of occupation. This was almost too easy.

	Once Kensei was out of sight, he activated the tracking abilities of the Staff of Birog. However, the readings given of by the mystic item shocked the samurai warrior. There was only a weak magical presence here. Yet, this was definitely the epicenter of the energy. Kensei was puzzled by this. The staff would have given him a different signal if a [i]juroguma[/i] happened to inhabit the premises, but was absent at the moment. This was different.

	Was Kensei wrong about his suspensions? He knew for a fact that there was an individual like a [i]joroguma[/i] among the Pax Metahumana terrorists. But maybe this was just a case of misidentification.

	Therefore, Kensei jotted down the address of the apartment complex and then departed. He still had plenty of time to investigate this mystery.