A/N: Contains a similar theme to other extant fics such as Kellamy's Designer by Scarab Dynasty; no plagiarism is intended. Crossover between the DCverse and the Aceverse based on a discussion with Scarab Dynasty concerning a costume coincidence.
--
"Here she is. Blonde. Black outfit. Electrowhip. I'm thinking Ilsa: She-Wolf Of The SS."
"No. Just…no."
"But this way we get to say that our villains look like they stepped off a Hitler Youth poster too. You know, get the parents off our backs?"
"I don't care. No. Also, breasts don't work that way."
"Okay. Here? Nice brunette, cool-looking body armour…well, okay, body bikini. I thought maybe it could transform itself to react to her thoughts?"
"And another whip. Look, Steve, you draw your personal masturbatory fantasies in your own time, but here we're paying you for something we can use."
"Then look at number three! Redhead. Claws. Spider-design bodysuit. She can maybe climb walls?"
"Okay. We'll use the spider thing, all right? Merges with the rest of the evils. Just don't turn her into Spider-Woman. We want a gypsy-type motif too, and the programmers have decided she's a shapeshifter. Make the skin a freaky colour or something to merge her with the rest of the evils. Then get back to me by the end of the week, or you're out, Steve. Oh, and keep the boobs small."
--
It was on Thursday night he received the final inspiration.
Crap. He screwed up yet another sketch and threw it in the bin. She looked like an anorexic boy (why couldn't Josie let him draw women the way they were supposed to look), not to mention that that shade of red just didn't belong anywhere near human skin.
Okay. Purple? he wondered, glancing around at the scattered papers and sketches he'd made at the park in the afternoon, amalgamations and extrapolations of the various women he'd seen. That brunette with the lilac "Boys Suck" top clinging to her cleavage. Purple skin…oh, maybe brown for the costume, big spider across the breasts instead of lettering, make her lose about fifty pounds…
She came out with ghost-green hair, shaped around her head like spiderlegs reaching out to grab her prey, and skin that looked like grapefruit covered by an outfit resembling sacking.
Okay, maybe….maybe the hair looks okay? Interesting colour there, Steve, sort of translucent ivory green, if that even exists…
He pressed sharply down on the page with the purple pencil, ripping it through. A jagged line passed over her head, misshaping her ear and then ripping through her neck. Almost an improvement, he thought bitterly, pushing the paper away from him.
And then he saw it. Or saw her, rather, but that sounded more like some crappy soap opera than it was.
It was a simple poster. It looked…old? The Flying Graysons, the faded text read.
The funny thing was, he didn't remember picking it up. Had it blown off a wall and somehow found itself inside his collection? Been thrust at him by some advertiser on the streets?
The Flying Graysons. A man, a boy, a woman, the composition of it like a thousand pictures he'd seen before. Perfect happy family, brightly dressed in red and green. Some cheesy circus act he'd never seen and didn't want to.
Okay, so figuring out where he'd picked it up was a distraction.
A cold wind seemed to blow across the nape of his neck, and he shivered.
What was I…
The Flying Graysons, that was it. He looked down at the poster again. Circus act.
The woman in it wasn't bad looking. Dark heavy-lidded eyes that seemed to look right into you. A pose you could see as seductive if you wanted to twist it that way, breasts just peeking through the top of the costume, hand confidently on her waist.
The costume. Not a bad colour scheme, bright like the prelim designs he'd seen for some of the minions, red and green with a few yellow highlights.
The pencil moved automatically under his hand sketching out yet another female figure, this one in bold strokes, as confident as the posed acrobats.
He could work with that.
Small, he reminded himself, forcing this one into the body shape Josie insisted on, almost defiantly tracing in her curves despite being forced to downsize her. Red-and-yellow pencil on the costume's shirt—collar higher than the one in the picture, framing her head and making her look that much more imposing (villainess, remember), narrowing down to a low neckline and slimming corset (better vary it a bit). And for the legs—well, maybe not keep the leotard, Josie wouldn't like that—but colour all the way up from the boots, green leading up into red. A bit Christmassy, maybe, but it actually looked okay. And with the spider motif… He picked up a lighter pencil, and sketched a web pattern down her legs. Even better. The tilt of her head made her look almost regal—villainesses were supposed to be arrogant, until the last few chapters anyway—and he made the costume a bit more elaborate, keeping with the spiderweb theme around her waist and adding a flourish to the shoulder pads. Better. Now if he didn't screw it up when it came to the skin…
Ivory green, he decided, applying the colour to her face and hands. Made her look almost…fey. Freakish. On a whim, he duplicated an accidental line from the last sketch, changing the ear to a vaguely elven style, jagged rather than neatly pointed; nice.
He leaned back, admiring his work. Looking good so far, Stevieboy. You couldn't tell at first glance where the design had originated, though place the pictures side by side and you'd start to see the remaining similarities. She needed hair, though… He used a light pencil to sketch in a short dark mop floating around her face (no long hair allowed, the programmers couldn't handle it), and nodded. Not bad. But he could do more with her, make it a bit more freakish and original; he remembered the way the last hair design had looked a bit like spider legs. Every supervillainess needs a mask, right? The lines flowing out of the pencil made something a bit more organic, a spider-mask welded to her head that he decided to colour red and yellow, reaching down to emphasise her eyes. Interesting. Not to his tastes, but Josie'd have to think it freakish-looking enough. And she was…just right, powerful-looking with the big shoulderpads and collar yet slim-built and vulnerable enough to please the fanboys. Perfect.
"Not bad, Mrs Grayson," he told her. Her dark eyes seemed to glance up at him from the paper. "Not bad at all." One final touch to make, what Josie had called the gypsy motif; that was easy once the idea struck him, a crystal ball in her hand which could probably explode on her foes or something.
The clock above his head read 3:00 on its bright digital display. It was late, early. How much time had he taken on this? He'd need at least three finished concept sketches to show Josie tomorrow…well, today. Yawning, he picked up his inking pen. He'd get this done on time.
--
"You're late." Her high heel was tapping on the floor, a sure sign of impatience.
"Yeah. It was...my bus." He raised his hand to stroke his chin, feeling the stubble.
"Three hours late." The stony expression didn't change. Funny how a lady barely five feet high could look so threatening. "What have you got?"
"These." He held back a smirk as he spread the drawings over the table in front of her; he'd done it this time, he knew.
Her face didn't show any expression as she studied them, and for an instant he lost his confidence. What if she rejected these ones, just because she felt like it and didn't like him? Or maybe they weren't that good after all, it wasn't like it was easy working within her stupid constraints…
"Mmm. Not bad," she finally said. "Yeah, I'll get these to Design. Anything you want to tell me about her?"
He sagged in relief. "Um. I guess she's a shapeshifter who throws exploding crystal balls. And climbs walls. She looks kinda regal, I guess, so I call her…"
I call her…The Flying Spider? Nah. Pointed ears, elf, fey, weirdo, Lords and Ladies, Sidhe…too bad Mystique's taken, spidergirl, shapeshifter…
"Lady Illusion?" It works. More or less. Goes with "Lord Fear" anyway.
Josie shrugged, and scrawled the name at the bottom of the page. "Go find Larry," she told him. "We're two weeks behind schedule on the cover art." She tucked the drawings under her arm, and hurried off to complete her duties as he walked away to his latest assignment.
--
Concrit and any feedback appreciated.