I brought a knife to a gunfight.
I am the knife. I am all blade.
Clementine von Radics, VIGIL

NWH SPOILERS AHEAD

Who is Peter Parker?

To Scout DeWitt, eldest daughter of the elite mercenary known as the Huntsman—as well as the eventual heir to his criminal empire, the Web—he is nothing. (Seriously. She has no idea who Peter Parker is.) It's not the boy behind the mask that matters; to Scout, it is the mask itself. It is Spider-Man.

Spider-Man, the defender of New York City and all who call it home.

Spider-Man, the only person stopping the Web from taking over Manhattan from the inside out.

Spider-Man, the latest in a long line of targets Scout, a killing machine in the shape of a teenage girl, has been instructed to execute. Boasting a 100% percent success rate, there is no doubt in Scout's mind—nor her father's—that Spider-Man will die, be it by bullet or by blade. It's what he deserves, for involving himself in Web business. For trying to take down what her father has worked so hard for his entire life.

Spider-Man. He's just another name. Just another number. Just another spider, like the nameless, faceless Web wannabes Scout's trained against her entire life, again and again, one after the other; each put down to prove to her father she is worthy of his blood, his love, his legacy. Heartless, unforgiving—both in combat and in nature—Scout is the Huntsman's daughter through and through.

At least, that's what she likes to tell herself.

There are only two things Scout wants in this world: to have the Web, or to escape it. There's a fantasy she has, one she keeps locked tight in a hiding place in her rib cage, right next to her blackened, tumorous heart: a life she has with her younger sister Spencer, warm and happy and safe, away from the cruelty of their father and the world he has carved from blood and bone for his daughters to inhabit.

Inhabit, not live. Because living like this—a walking weapon, made valuable only by her actions and her (father's) name—isn't living at all. Scout knows this, even if she doesn't want to admit it.

No. Living is what little she can glean from the freedom her father has allowed her for this mission; the GED classes, the new cello, the cosy little apartment in Greenwich. Living is Peter Parker, the boy she meets in her late-night study session—who doesn't know about her father and his infamy, who doesn't wish to punish her for it. Living is knowing Peter is just as alone as she is, just as isolated from the world. (Even if he refuses to explain why.)

He's almost enough to distract her from the mission at hand. Almost. The Web comes first, and it always has: there is nothing in the world that can make her doubt this. Nothing. Not her sister, not Peter Parker, not what little of a conscience she has left—

Except maybe the question, Who is Peter Parker?

And the answer that follows, the answer that Scout cannot ignore: Spider-Man.

sana minatozaki . . . scarlett "scout" dewitt
REDBACK  /  HUNTRESS

&

tom holland . . .
peter parker  /  SPIDER-MAN

dermot mulroney . . .
dexter dewitt  /  THE HUNTSMAN

adam brody . . .
alistair smythe  /  SPIDER SLAYER

florence pugh . . .
yelena belova / BLACK WIDOW

zendaya coleman . . .
michelle jones

CAST

TED DANSON . . . spencer smythe
LEWIS PULLMAN . . . mac gargan
MASON GOODING . . . harry osborn
JACOB BATALON . . . ned leeds
VINCENT D'ONOFRIO . . . wilson fisk
DREW STARKEY . . . graham grant
HUNTER SCHAFER . . . gwen stacy

TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNINGS

written depictions of violence/death/injury, profanities, racism, xenophobia, general bigotry, physical/emotional/verbal abuse, abusive parental figures, abusive family dynamics, self-destructive behaviour, implications of CSA, mentions of sex trafficking.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

🕸 and unspun returns, to scattered applause and plaintive sighs. bayports' back on her spider-verse bullshit, everyone, and she's (probably?) here to stay.

🕸 unspun is a post-no way home fic that follows my original character scout dewitt as she attempts to assassinate spider-man at the bequest of her mercenary father, the huntsman. her efforts are thwarted, however, by her growing feelings for one peter parker and the eventual (read: inevitable) realisation that he and spider-man are one and the same.

🕸 betrayal! enemies-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers! undercover romance! other tropes that i don't know the names of!

🕸 you might recognise scout and her sister spencer from one of my other spider-verse fics, american animals. aa—which is set on earth-65–focuses on spencer and her romantic relationships with gwen stacy and harry osborn. unspun, which takes place on earth-199999, follows scout, who dies early on in aa. she does not die in this story, don't worry. i just wanted the opportunity to explore her character further, and i also wanted to write an mcu!peter fic, but i was too lazy to come up with a new character.

🕸 scout's story is one about eldest daughters as well as filial piety. scout is no longer related by blood to her [abusive] father dexter; still, she feels indebted to him because he raised her as his daughter and shares blood with her beloved sister, spencer. abusive parents have no excuse for their behaviour, of course, but it can be difficult to reconcile the fact that despite the abuse you still love your mom and dad—or at least, you want to love them.

🕸 back to business. as you might be able to tell from the casting, this fic will feature my own portrayals of comic book characters, adapted and altered to fit into the mcu—namely, alistair smythe/spider slayer and mac gargan/scorpion. (i know mac has technically already appeared in the mcu, but we're going to pretend he hasn't.) i will also be introducing harry osborn; forget what nwh said about harry not existing in this universe. we will be seeing gwen as well. i didn't think too hard about the faceclaims for this fic, but timothee-tom-zendaya-hunter as the big four kind of fucks.

🕸  since hawkeye gave us literally no explanation as to why kingpin is back in power in new york (those who have seen daredevil will understand why it doesn't make sense; i don't want to spoil it for anyone) i'm going to operate on the assumption that matt was blipped—thus, so was daredevil—which gave wilson the opportunity to rebuild his empire in his absence. i don't want unspun to be too similar to now you see me, so kingpin won't be a major antagonist in this story. he will however make an appearance, as i imagine he would work closely with someone like scout's father.

🕸️ 2023 update: this story will now be a lot more intertwined with the red room / black widow project. i've made it that the dewitts' web organisation has connections to the trafficking side of the red room, and there are concerns—primarily from yelena belova—that the web's resurgence will lead to a return of the black widow project. this plotline will run parallel with the primary "kill spider-man" mission scout has, and will involve yelena and scout's little sister, spencer.

🕸️ thank you to everyone who has been supporting this story even though i haven't been updating! i really appreciate it, and can't wait for you guys to see what i have in store for peter and scout.

🕸  unspun will be an exercise in self-control: with this story i am trying to "let loose" a little and not put so much pressure on myself when it comes to the quality of my writing. that's not to say i won't put work into this fic, it just means that at times it will be more self-indulgent than other stories on my profile and might not be as well-written.

DEDICATIONS

🕸 sweetjawregui elfaouly soulofstaars pelides and the ever amazing neplutos 🫶

🕸 an extra thank you to wulfhall who allowed me to take inspiration from their format for mine. thank you so much, i love you endlessly! 💌🤍🕷️‼️

THE POISON DRIPS THROUGH.

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