DO NO HARM. BE NICE. YOU CATCH MORE FLIES WITH HONEY THAN VINEGAR. BUT WHAT IT I DON'T WANT TO CATCH THE FLIES? WHAT IF I'D RATHER SEE THEM SWATTED?
Mindy McGinnis, THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES

PRAYING MANTISES come from an order of insects comprising over 2,400 species in approximately 430 genera. Easily recognised by their bulging eyes and enlarged forelegs—perfect for trapping their prey—they are, perhaps, most notorious for their posture. Upright, stationary, with forearms folded, insects of the family Mantidae look as if they are in prayer.

The females of the species are also known for their sexual cannibalism. (That's not a phrase you hear often, is it?) Interestingly enough this sexual cannibalism, characterised by female mantids ripping the heads off their male sexual partners just after mating, is exhibited in captivity only—perhaps, there is something to be said about putting women in cages.

Perhaps.

If you saw the Mantis of New York City, however, you would see no such decapitation—though Mantis can't say without lying that she's never been tempted. Vicious and violent, Mantis is no hero: she's the unpaid pest control that moves through the underbelly of Queens at night, exterminating every wannabe criminal, squashing every injustice under her heel like a bug. Unrivalled in her ferocity, determination, and sheer skill, Mantis is the indisputable apex predator: vigilante incarnate, she is a force of nature, a weapon since birth that has evolved into combative perfection. Daughter of elite mercenary the Huntsman, who boasts a 100% success rate as well as a cruelty hand-carved, Mantis has found a way to put her father's brutal training to use: protecting the innocent.

(Well, to be honest, it's more like punishing the guilty.)

During the day, though, when the sun shines on the city and its shadows retreat back into their corners, Mantis becomes Spencer Sato—anger in the shape of a teenage girl, her entire life is waiting waiting waiting, for the sun to set, for the city to come alive, for the mask and gloves to come out of the box in the back of her closet. For the blood to splatter and the bones to break.

The sad, stale stasis that is Spencer's civilian life can be punctured only by a select number of outside factors, and Spencer can count them on one hand.

1) Her sister, Scout Sato, who has protected Spencer since day one, who has taken the worst of their father's fury, both in words and beatings, in an attempt to keep her younger sister safe,

2) Music, specifically music she played with the band Murder Face before it, as well as her relationship with front-woman Mary Jane Watson broke up, and

3) Gwendolyn Maxine Stacy, initials GMS, Spencer's best friend and the living embodiment of reprieve.

Gwen is the only person—save for Scout—who has ever tried to understand Spencer. The only person who has ever really cared. Blonde, brilliant, beautiful, Gwen is so perfect that Spencer can't decide if she wants to be around her or if she wants to be her. Either mission is interrupted, irritatingly so, by Gwen's boyfriend: the social outcast Peter Parker, who despite his own superior intellect, can only ever find himself in one of two uncomfortable positions. A) with his head shoved down a toilet bowl (or inside a locker) by one Flash Thompson, or B) with his lips on Gwen's and his hands around her waist—which Spencer does Not Appreciate, for normal and conventional platonic best friend reasons.

Gwen is the only person who has ever tried to understand Spencer, with tried being the operative word. She can't seem to comprehend why Spencer is so spiteful, so naturally antagonistic, but she has learned to accept it—whereas acceptance is the one thing Spencer herself could never understand. All she understands is that her father, in all his power-hungry glory, has passed down to her more than just his knife-sharp features. All she understands is that the only way she is able to find peace and calm and catharsis is in violence. All she understands is that she hates Peter Parker—even though she's been best friends with him since middle school—and not even the longest line of sycophantic boy/girl toys can distract her from her jealousy.

Enter Harry Osborn: the new kid at Midtown High, who acts as if his secrets are as valuable as the gold chain around his neck, as suffocating as a noose would be too; who is much too good-looking to be as socially awkward as he is; who has expensive tastes and expensive consequences to match. Connecting with Peter and Gwen right away, he provides a particularly palatable distraction for Spencer as she tries to move past the feelings she will never admit to, as she tries to move on from her anger once and for all. Harry is pretty, offbeat, and honestly? kind of an asshole, but he has a good heart. And for once, Spencer isn't tempted to tear off his head after they've had their fun.

But in all her attempts to be a normal teenager, Spencer misses the warning signs of the extinction event that seeks to upend New York, to destroy the careful ecosystem that keeps her city alive. It begins with blood, with the family she's been forced to call her own; her father returns, as savage and animalistic as she remembers, as much of a believer in the notion of "survival of the fittest" as he's ever been. He's always talked about being the predator to prey, about culling the herd, about cutting out the sick and weak and pathetic, but this time is different.

This time, he's more than just talk.

This time, Scout is the sick, the weak, the pathetic.

This time, Scout is the prey.

Then, as Spencer is left alone for the first time in her life, her place as Mantis—as Queens' protector—is usurped by some hotshot new hero calling herself Spider-Woman. Spencer watches as the city begins to rally around the newcomer in a way they never did for her, and a new jealousy, a new anger, begins to grow. But night by night, crime by crime, she and Spider-Woman come to form an alliance—a rapport, even. And maybe the feelings Spencer hoped to overcome have finally met their match, because not even Gwen, perfect, stunning Gwen, not even Harry, with his off-kilter humour and easy smile, can top a web-slinging heroine set on figuring out the reason why the big bad Mantis has such a taste for guts and gore.

Set on convincing Spencer that she's a hero after all.

Then, Gwen shows up at Spencer's doorstep one night, covered in blood and clutching Spider-Woman's mask. The extinction event hits, claiming one order of things after another, and before she knows it, Spencer is consumed by Gwen Stacy all over again. And even though everything is going to shit, with Harry wanting more from her than she's willing to give, with Peter's jealousy and obsession with Spider-Woman growing, Spencer finally begins to feel okay.

Like the animal inside her is finally sedated. Finally caged.

But it's not long until the beast breaks itself free and seeks vengeance on its captors, a biblical reckoning—and Spencer, despite her namesake, has never been one for prayer.

SPENCER SATO  . . . MANTIS.

what is a home / if not the first
place you learn to run from?

GWEN STACY . . . SPIDER-WOMAN.

in the web that is my own  /
i begin again.

HARRY OSBORN . . . GREEN GOBLIN.

brooklyn's too cold tonight /
& all my friends are three years away.

PETER PARKER . . . LIZARD I.

people say friends don't destroy one
another / what do they know about friends?

MARY JANE WATSON . . .

. . . CARNAGE.

SCARLETT "SCOUT" SATO . . .

. . . REDBACK.

MATTHEW MURDOCK . . .

. . . KINGPIN.

CINDY MOON . . .

. . . SUPERIOR SILK.

Dexter DeWitt . . .
. . . THE HUNTSMAN

Samantha Wilson . . .
. . . CAPTAIN AMERICA

Janet Van Dyne . . .
. . . THE WASP

Curtis Connors . . .
. . . LIZARD II

Jefferson Davis . . .
. . . SCORPION

🕷 welcome to AMERICAN ANIMALS, the result of my constant spider-man: into the spider-verse brainrot as well as my love for gwen stacy's earth-65 counterpart.

🕷 AMERICAN ANIMALS is the first entry into my unofficial "satoverse". the satoverse simply comprises any spider-verse fic i write and some of my friends'. you do not have to read each satoverse fic to understand this story or any others in the verse; the extent of interconnectedness (is that a word?) in these stories are literally cameos. i.e. in my peter parker fic NOW YOU SEE ME, spencer appears briefly as the stagewoman of a band called american animals and scout is a minor antagonist as an earth-1048 version of the huntsman.

🕷 basically, it's a gag. so don't worry about it!

🕷 this fic is set in EARTH-65, and loosely follows the plot of the spider-gwen/ghost spider comics. it can serve somewhat as a prequel for itsv but the film aged gwen down, so... i don't know what that's all about.

🕷 spencer sato is the protagonist of this story, and she has two main romantic relationships: an initial one with harry osborn, and an overarching slowburn with gwen stacy. though this fic is labelled a gwen stacy one, both relationships are of equal focus and importance. harry is the i know you on purpose/it's rotten work, not to me, not if it's you/i choose you relationship whereas gwen is the shared history/childhood best friends to lovers relationship with a mix of enemies to lovers.

🕷  i love both of these ships for their own reasons. spencer is not strictly attracted to women; i will not tolerate any biphobia when it comes to her character or anything else in this story.

🕷  AMERICAN ANIMALS is a story about friendship. at its core, that's what it's all about: spencer's friendship with gwen. spencer's friendship with peter. peter's friendship with harry. it all comes back to the friends we make as children and the friends we lose as we grow.

🕷 i know that mantis is already being used by a pre-existing marvel canon character, but because that mantis deals mostly in space and this mantis would probably have no idea she exists, i figured it's fine.

🕷 as the synopsis says, spencer's older sister scout dies in AMERICAN ANIMALS. however, i am also writing a peter parker fic that takes place in the mcu/earth-199999 named UNSPUN, which follows scout instead in a plot where, fortunately, she does not die. feel free to check that out if you're interested!

🕷 the format of these author's notes belong to MEDUSATRUTHER. thank you for letting me use this format!

🕷  the cast/character layout is inspired by both ELYSIANFIEID and SHADOWBXER. thank you for allowing me to take inspiration from you guys!

🕷 trigger/content warnings: major character death, graphic violence, graphic language, physical/emotional/verbal abuse, mentions of paedophilia and sex trafficking, self-harm, suicidal ideation, self-destructive behaviours, negative stigma/s towards mental illness, underage drinking, underage drug use, toxic/abusive family dynamics.

🕷  dedicated to ace, kat, julia, amaya, and rome.

SO CLOSE TO TOUCH I MAKE YOU CHOKE.

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