Ah, Hollywood. A true kingdom of winners and losers. A place that makes dreamers of us all and fools of those they deem unworthy of the dreams they gave us in the first place. I can't tell what feels worse: never achieving your dream or achieving it and then losing it. If you were to ask Shandra Fuller, I'm sure she would say it was the worst thing imaginable.
Shandra Fuller was born in 1958, back during the Golden years of Hollywood. Thanks to simpler times and her being beloved by the production and the audience for her beauty and talent, Shandra had quite a successful career, starring in over 70 movies throughout her life, living a life others see as impossible. She gained quite the fortune and loved to party the night away, surrounding herself with people who adored her and stroked her ego. But unlike several Hollywood stars who find fulfillment and contentment in their careers, adapt gracefully to the times, and then retire with dignity and respect, for some, it's never enough. Some people just can't accept that even the best years of their lives can end, and that it's best to appreciate what they have in the moment rather than constantly chasing more and more. Shandra Fuller was one of those people. Despite having quite a successful career that so many would kill for even a taste of, nothing was ever enough. To her, all that mattered was the movie business and her beauty; all else was inconsequential. As such, she made several necessary and unnecessary sacrifices for her career that would unfortunately have ramifications for her later on, either by leaving her friends behind when they were caught up in a scandal or by neglecting her family and eventually cutting them out of her life altogether so she could focus entirely on her career. But in the end, what was it all for? I doubt she could even tell you.
When Shandra turned 60, that's when it all came crashing down for her. Her agent, an absolutely despicable, poor excuse for a sentient lifeform named Harvey, started phasing her out of upcoming projects. While he never said it to her face, it was pretty obvious due to his sleaziness that she was getting "Too Old" for Hollywood. While it's easy to say that age is just a number, it's another thing to fully believe it. Eventually, all of Shandra's auditions for new projects were rejected, and she was phased out of the spotlight. When she headed out on the town at night to boost her self-esteem, no one seemed interested in her anymore. She also had no true friends to spend time with, and she was too terrified to ask her family for support, afraid they hated her for how she treated them. Tired of being treated so poorly by Hollywood, Shandra decided it might be better to find work elsewhere, eventually making her way to Gotham City and becoming the Drama Teacher at Puckett Academy, one of the city's best schools. For a few years, she actually did pretty well and befriended several of her students, including Cassandra Wu-San (Batgirl), a 13-year-old beacon of empathy and kindness. And despite Cass being mute, she proved to have true acting skill with simple emoting and movement. But unlike other students and actors who let praise go to their heads, Cass is incredibly egoless and humble, with not a single egotistical bone in her body. Cass and Shandra's friendship became quite adorable, with the two of them even spending time together outside of school. They even got free passes to the Gotham Arts Theater to watch the shows that came to town. But as Cass's tenure in Drama class led her from role to role in bigger school productions and he talent grew, Shandra was stricken by something that often spells the end of otherwise well-intentioned people: Jealousy.
Despite Cass being only 13, Shandra grew envious of the talent she saw in her and even more resentful of her own life and all it had come to. It had been 3 years since she moved from Hollywood to Gotham City, and the words of Harvey and everyone else still echoed in her head, chipping away at her self-esteem day by day. All she wanted more than anything else was to relive her glory days and be a star again, someone she saw as worthy of existence and adoration. In her mind, what she needed was her youth back, and the rest would follow. After considering plastic surgery, she heard talk of a notorious shapeshifter in Arkham Tower: Matt "Clayface" Hagen. Though Matt wasn't a psychopathic supervillain, he was serving time for aiding The Riddler and Maxie Zeus during their 2-month long tyrannical rule of Gotham City, and he also desperately needed the mental services to help with his fragile sanity. One day, Matt was called to the visitor's room and found a beautiful woman in her mid-60s with threads of silver in her hair waiting for him, dressed in a theatrical Victorian-era pinstriped white suit and skirt. Matt recognized Shandra Fuller immediately due to his love of movies, and the two had a lovely conversation about old Hollywood and the movie business. She eventually asked him about his metahuman shapeshifting powers, how they worked, and what they could accomplish. Despite his mental state being rather brittle after everything he'd been through for the past 3 years, Matt isn't stupid. He could guess what she was going to ask him and said, "This power isn't a gift. It's the reason why I'm in here, and you're out there. You've lived a great life, Miss Fuller. Just be happy with what you have." But that advice just went in one ear and out the other. As Shandra was leaving, the tears of dying hope clawing at her eyeballs, she didn't notice one of the nurses was watching her intently before calling a certain "Mister E". That night, Shandra sat in the den of her lovely Gotham home and rewatched a marathon of her favorite movies, tears streaming down her face as she watched what she couldn't reclaim. Suddenly, she heard a knock at the door. It was too late at night for it to be mail, but she answered it regardless. She found a beautiful, buxom blonde woman dressed in a black-and-purple chauffeur outfit and a black-and-green limousine with tinted windows waiting for her outside. The woman said she could wait while Shandra got herself properly dressed. As Shandra was upstairs putting on one of her favorite outfits, she got a text from Cass, who had noticed her sadness and was just checking in to see if she was okay. Rather than admit her feelings, Shandra responded spitefully, "I'm Fine, Cass. It's none of your business. Go to bed." She then headed out the door and got into the limousine, where she found a man in a black-and-green tailsuit and a black mask with a glowing green question mark waiting for her.
He introduced himself as The Riddler and the man who could give her what the selfish Mister Hagen refused to. It turns out that The Riddler has agents all over Gotham City, including at Arkham Tower, and he'd had several of Matt Hagen's blood samples brought to him for experimentation to recreate Matt's shapeshifting powers. So far, he'd had only marginal success, but nobody was willing to test it. That was, until he found her. After a bit more business talk, Riddler gave her a true glimpse of his simple offer: Join me in exchange for Hagen's Shapeshifting powers so you can get your career back, and in exchange, she'll be called upon for a job every now and then. Though it was obviously a sinister proposition, Shandra was in such a vulnerable mental place and so desperate for happiness that it was simply irresistible to her. By the time the limo came to a stop, Shandra found herself in a mysterious underground facility reminiscent of an Egyptian labyrinth and temple, but with black-and-green colors and a cyberpunk aesthetic. All Shandra had to do was submit a week-long sick note to Puckett Academy stating she had a nasty stomach bug and needed time off.
During Shandra's week off, she spent it with The Riddler and his Querymen, who injected her with the Clayface mutagen and then helped her gain control of her newfound shapeshifting powers. It was actually a bit easier than she thought, but it was still incredibly complex to maintain a shape for long periods, like tensing a muscle. Eventually, she grew accustomed to it and was deemed experienced enough by The Riddler to be allowed to leave. While Shandra did return to her job as a Drama Teacher, it was really only extra cash for her. Her true passion was found in her new persona: Bosnia Karlo, a new, beautiful, and talented young actress who began working at Monoscope Pictures. Bosnia quickly found her niche in sexy murder/romance dramas. Though it wasn't as big as her old career, work is work, and most actors start off small before eventually getting something bigger to get their name out there. Fortunately, Shandra managed to get a proper schedule that lets her live her dual life while still finding time to practice and get enough sleep. But then came the time when The Riddler called for her to fulfill her end of the deal. While Shandra wasn't a natural criminal, she was willing to do whatever it took to maintain her newfound career. So, using her shapeshifting powers, Shandra developed her own supervillain persona: Lady Clay, and Lady Clay hit the town like a bomb. Starting off with a series of heists in the banks and jewelry stores around Gotham City, using her incredible strength and shapeshifting to form any weapon she wanted, often impersonating the guards and bank tellers to gain access to the vault, only to absorb as much money and valuables as she could into her clay body and then rampage down the street, treating it all like one grand monster movie, since Shandra had experience with the horror genre in the 80s. She didn't try to hurt people with her actions, but still created a lot of chaos with the spectacle of her crime spree. She quickly made a nemesis of Batgirl and Lady Shiva, as she committed many of her crimes in their side of Gotham City. But she always managed to get away one way or another. After all, how do you defeat someone when they can become anyone? And besides, Shandra always had her two other personas to fall back on: the actress and the drama teacher. Not only was she now a local Gotham Celebrity, but she was now infamous thanks to her exploits as Lady Clay. Either way, she was in the spotlight once again.
