As far as heist locations go, art museums are right up there with banks and the homes of the wealthy in the target rankings. A portrait by a posthumously famous painter can be worth nearly as much or more than a couple sacks of bills or fancy jewelry, in a location with much less security than either a bank or a private manor. It was a pretty good place to rob, if you had someone who could reliably fence the spoils.

As the hero pair Iron Angel and Steel Moth entered the scene though, it was immediately obvious that this was not a robbery, but something else entirely. The minions weren’t here for a smash and grab, but were running around grabbing civilians and dragging them kicking and screaming back into the gallery.

“What are they even doing…?” Iron Angel asked her partner, observing the minions to try and get an idea of what they were dealing with. At a glance, they seemed to just be people. But looking closer, something was very weird about them. Their movements were ever so slightly jerky, as if they were moving between set positions without crossing the intervening space, as if filmed through a low quality camera.

“If I had to guess,” the Steel Moth said. While he was wearing full-body armor, Iron Angel could tell from his voice that he was deep in thought. “We’re not looking at a normal heist. Otherwise they’d be running off with paintings, not dragging people in.”

“Could be a hostage situation, trying to get a bigger ransom than the art’s worth.” Iron Angel suggested. She spread her wings out, prepared to leap into action, but the Moth held her back.

“I don’t think so - look at the minions.” Steel Moth zoomed in with his helmet cams. From a distance, the weird movement was the only odd thing, but looking closer, he could see more. The minions all had ridiculously exaggerated proportions like cartoon characters, and were in bright, pastel colors that stood out against the backdrop as if the shadows of the sunset didn’t cover them - they were as bright as if it was noon and cast no shadows of their own, like bad CGI in a live action scene.

The minions were now close enough for Angel to see on her own, and her eyes widened. “Can’t say I’ve seen that one before.”

“But we have seen the behavior before. Clearly created minions, a location that fits with them - not a robbery, but setting up a lair.”

The pair were quiet for a moment, then nodded at each other as they heard sirens in the distance. Let the police save the people outside. They were gonna go at the source.

The heroes stepped back from the edge of the roof and looked for a way inside. It was a big building with a similarly big roof, and a skylight. Quietly entering through it, the two took advantage of their quiet flight to stay up high.

The art gallery was a work in progress, a conversion of an old building to the new function. While some new walls separating exhibits were up, most of the place was divided by temporary walls that didn’t reach up to the ceiling, and that meant they could move with relative impunity.

They progressed through the gallery slowly and quietly, looking down below. Indeed, it looked like the minions were getting the place ready for something - exaggerated construction workers erected new walls and scientist-looking caricatures built machines, while the aggressive minions dragged civilians towards the center. The two heroes followed one such minion as she dragged a businessman in a suit.

It wasn’t long before they made it to the middle of the vast hall. The new walls had been completed there, so the pair had to drop to the ground. Silently, the Iron Angel counted off on her fingers at the door. Three. Two. One. They kicked in the door and burst inside!

One might have expected a throne room or a high tech command center, but instead, the heroes barged into what seemed to be some sort of art studio. Canvases covered the walls top to bottom, some empty, some filled with cartoons and caricatures, some erratic works in progress. In the center stood someone who was obviously different from the other denizens of the gallery.

Their form was vaguely humanoid and feminine, but that was where the normalcy ended. Her whole body was stark white and lacking features but for a mouth, and had the papery texture of a canvas. All she wore was an artist’s smock, it’s drab sandy color blotted near completely by paint stains. The minion they’d seen - a woman in stereotypical black-and-white striped “robber” clothes - was standing nearby, but the victim was nowhere to be seen.

“One moment, one moment! If I cease, my muse will flee!” the canvas figure tutted. She paused, hand on her chin, in a posture of deep thought, before she stood upright suddenly. “Ah, yes, perfect!” Her paintbrush whipped out - she didn’t have a palette, the paint on the brush seemed to simply change color as she needed it. A few broad strokes, and some finer details, and she stepped back from the easel.

On it was a caricature of a secretary - the kind that spent more time under her boss’ desk than in front of his door. Big bust, big lips, and proportions that would lead to a snapped spine on a real woman, there was nothing realistic about it. And then, it seemed to peel itself off the canvas, stepping into the 3D world, solidifying and thickening from a 2D figure to the full three dimensions. The heroes knew how many villains in the city worked, and could hazard a guess as to what had happened to the businessman.

“That’s your last victim, villain!” Iron Angel declared, stepping forward and spreading her wings out. “The heroic duo of Iron Angel and Steel Moth are here to stop you!”

The villain whirled around, her mouth splitting into a wide grin. “Oooh, heroes! I’ve been waiting for a couple, you can only have so much fun dealing with normal people!”

Steel Moth cracked his knuckles as he stepped forward. “Hmph. Are you going to fight us, or just have your minions do it?

“Well, I’m quite occupied, so my minions will do the fighting. I will, however, allow you to serve as my muses! I have some excellent ideas for your designs, if I do say so myself… you should feel flattered that The Artist will use you as subjects for her next masterpieces!”

Right on cue, the minions leapt towards the heroes. Iron Angel and Steel Moth split to fight them, while the Artist turned back to her now blank canvases, and started to paint something.

“I don’t know what she’s doing, but I don’t like it!” Iron Angel said as she swept her metallic wings against the robber-looking minion. The woman laughed, and the wings cut right through her, splattering white and black paint against the walls. She looked to be defeated for a second, but as Iron Angel turned to help her partner, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye and ducked just in time as a blast of paint shot over her head. The caricature criminal had seemed to reform her body, and then blasted paint right at her.

“I’d love to, but I’m not sure how to hurt these minions!” Steel Moth said, as he dodged thrown pencils and pens from the most recent conversion. The secretary was giggling like a madwoman, throwing herself at him without regard for her own safety. The heroes were limited - whatever they might have wanted to do, in the current forms the minions took they weren’t sure how to bring them down without permanent damage.

The Artist was doing something, although it was hard to tell what. “And… ready~” she declared. On the canvas was a pair of pencil sketches, that looked a heck of a lot like the heroes. “Time to get to work~” she trilled.

The two heroes looked at each other, and nodded - they disengaged from their targets and lunged for the Artist, trying to stop whatever she was doing. But the canvases leapt from the easels into their paths, and they flew right into them…

...But not through them.

Where there should have been a tear of paper, there was instead a strange thwump sound. The heroes were nowhere to be seen… at least until the Artist put the canvases back on the easel. One had a sketch of the Iron Angel, and the other a sketch of Steel Moth, with a lot more color and detail than they’d had previously

“Ahahaha~ Perfect~” The Artist laughed, preparing her pencil.

The two heroes were trapped, staring out into the 3D world where the Artist seemed ready to get to work. They couldn’t move, speak, or do anything really - they were two dimensional drawings. And more importantly - they were 2D drawings in pencil, not pen, and that meant they could be edited.

First was the Iron Angel. She struggled and tried to move, but as the pencil came down on her sketch she could do nothing but watch. First the Artist erased a significant portion of her body, leaving only a thin outline. Then she started changing and editing the sketch. The Iron Angel was a heroine with a more modest figure than most, and her armor was rather concealing. That wouldn’t do, evidently, as the first thing to be added back in was her bust - and it was a massive one now, quite possibly up to an E-cup. Using her newly expanded bust as a reference point, the Artist sketched in the rest of her figure - or at least, a caricature of it, with a thin waspy waist and hips that went wider than her shoulders. Her legs were drawn in next, far more sensual, and seemed to go on forever.

After that, it was her outfit. The thick covering of armor that she’d had was no more - instead, it was limited to some very skimpy gear, an iron “breastplate” that showed more than it covered, especially in the neckline, a completely bare midriff, a barely there metallic skirt followed by tight leggings. She looked like the sort of heroine you saw in old comic books before realism was at all a character design factor. She wanted to get out, and smack the Artist around a bit for the insult.

At least, she did until the pencil came down on her face - a few swift strokes, and her head was gone, and with it thoughts. But that wasn’t for long, as a new head was drawn in; long, flowing blonde hair where there had been short and red before, and a lustful expression with big eyes and plump lips characterized the new Iron Angel.

The Steel Moth wasn’t spared the treatment because of his sex, and the Artist’s hand flew as inspiration struck her. Hard masculine lines were soon replaced by feminine curves, and he was given an especially thick and femine bottom. His hair was lengthened and given a vibrant red color, to match the makeup and lipstick he’d gotten. Drawn into a coquettish pose, it was hard for the formerly male Moth’s mind to remember why she’d been so worried as the Artist gave her face a few feminine touches, and in particular made sure her new outfit - which dropped the metal entirely, replaced with a latex bodysuit combined with some fluffy scarves -  emphasized her new sex.

The Artist put away the pencils and took out the paint brush, sealing in the magical change as she painted over her work. As the paint rapidly dried, two new girls stepped from the paintings, the living drawings striking a pose.

“Glitter Angel, at your service Mistress~” The former Iron Angel sing-songed.

“Latex Moth here to serve~” the former Steel Moth joined in.

The Artist moaned softly at the sight. “Aaaah, masterpieces, both of you~” At that moment, there were sirens outside, and there was a loud, muffled shouting from a loudspeaker. The Artist grinned. “I guess we have your first job, ladies~”