Two figures were moving through the Hive, keeping to the shadows with impressive speed. They were dressed in massive black cloaks trimmed with white fur. Cowls covered their heads and cast their features into shadow. They were taller than most of the men they passed, and thinner too.
"Are you certain this is necessary, Auric?" one of them asked in a foreign tongue.
The sound was melodic and beautiful, but muffled.
"It is, Athenys. Ulthran has forseen it to be necessary, and we shall follow his guidance, for he is far wiser and more knowledgeable than we are," the second individual stated.
"I understand. How much further do we have to wade through this filth?"
"Not much further. We should meet him very soon."
At the same time, in another part of the large labyrinthine city, there existed a particular bar called the Palace of Pleasure. The bar's owner was Justina. She was born as a street urchin on Medusa and grew up in the back alleys of Medusa Warren.
She clawed her way up using her beauty and indomitable will, and learned to change her accent to one closer to that of high nobility. This was something all those who had the misfortune to be born at the very bottom, but had the willpower to climb their way up the wealth and power ladder.
Now, she owned a bar and was well connected in Medusa's underworld. She had dealings with crime lords and even a lot of young nobles who had nothing better to do than to waste their parents' money by getting drunk, having intercourse and getting high or all at the same time. And the Palace of Pleasure was a good place to go, since all of the employees Justina had were scantily clad bargirls.
The Palace of Pleasure was a kidney-bean-shaped pit filled with drinking booths, drinkers, and the aforementioned bargirls. Dim reddish glow-globes floated in their mock-Imperial chandeliers below the ceiling, and poison snoopers hung like metal-legged spiders above every table.
On one of the tables lay a special man, drunkenly on the table with an empty glass in his hand. Despite his current demeanour and status, he was a rather powerful and skilled Rogue Trader. Darke's Company had become a legend in this part of the Segmentum Obscura, a force almost as feared and respected as the Space Marines, some said.
But right now, he was not that man anymore. He had gone through a rather traumatic expedition close to the Eye of Terror, and when he came back, the luck and insane success that characterised him seemed to have left him. He was currently in debt to some rather unpleasant people.
His starship had been placed under restraint, and his trade charter was under investigation by the Planetary Governor. He was stranded, as they said, and whatever had happened on that fateful expedition had done more damage than he told anyone.
For some reason, he was trying to drown something in drink, a concoction of Cadian firewine and the last of the powdered Golconda. Golconda was a narcotic, which caused a tingling sensation on the tongue when drunk with firewine.
What Janus didn't realise was that his life was about to take a drastic turn, and multiple parties were interested in him and about to make a move.
.
Flavius stood before the massive, pulsing matrix of the ascension chamber. That's what he had called the part of the Kamui dimension which housed the most important things.
His mind was running thousands of simulations. He had chosen to use Wally West's mask to assemble and go over everything again. It was the fastest way after all.
He had used many masks for the final corrections and triple- and quadruple-checks.
Through the cold, uncompromising genius of Doctor Doom, he understood the mystical or Warp aspect. He turned it into the ultimate exercise in bio-genetic engineering, keeping the potential of the Primarchs intact while remaining independent of them.
He wasn't merely trying to become a Space Marine; he was engineering a custom-built, artificial biological vessel, much like the Emperor had done in the deep labs beneath the Himalayas when creating the Primarchs.
This husk would be entirely devoid of a native soul or independent consciousness, bearing only a temporary spiritual imprint of Flavius until the moment he transferred and anchored his own essence into the body.
Because he was separating the biological perfection of the Primarchs from the volatile Warp the Emperor had bound to their souls, Flavius systematically stripped away parts of the supernatural quirks. He didn't want the Warp-born taints, the curses, or the emotional instabilities.
He wanted the raw, peak physical framework. And he went for the following.
From Mortarion, he took the unmatched, bone-dense physical resistance and hyper-durability, creating a cellular lattice capable of withstanding inhumane pressures, vulcanic heat and toxic atmospheres without flinching.
From Vulkan and Fulgrim, he took their respective gifts to create a semi-perfect defence against death itself.
Vulkan was a perpetual. A Perpetual is an immortal and nigh-indestructible human. Thanks to his perpetual regeneration, Vulkan survived the explosion; however, he soon found himself surrounded by hundreds of warriors from the Iron Warriors and the Night Lords. Believing he was fighting to his death, Vulkan endured multiple stabbings, gunshots, and bludgeonings until he eventually collapsed into unconsciousness.
Vulkan was tortured by one of his traitor brothers, killed over and over again in the most ruthless ways, but always came back.
Fulgrim also had an enhanced healing factor, even compared to his brothers, except Vulkan, of course.
Flavius synthesised Vulkan's baseline insane Perpetual and physical prowess with Fulgrim's accelerated healing factor. Even without a Warp-soul, this sheer genetic code would force the new body to violently reconstruct itself from almost any physical trauma and turn him into a Perpetual at least on the level of Vulkan.
From Jaghatai Khan, Flavius took the absolute apex of transhuman cardiovascular efficiency, muscle-twitch response, and speed. This would make him not only a ridiculously powerful but also fast being, allowing the grown body to move like a blur.
From The Lion, Horus, Leman Russ, and Sanguinius, he took the ultimate culmination of martial and tactical prowess.
The Lion can instinctively counterattack at a rate so fast that he can fence while reading a book. He had a state of ultra instinct during fights that even surpassed his brother, Konrad Curze, in precognition.
Not only that, but the Lion was also uniquely resistant to and effective against Chaos. So much so that He may even be completely immune to the Warp's taint.
So, Flavius synthesised the martial perfection and ultra-instinct physical coordination of the Lion, added the peak tactical and strategic potential and of Horus, and the almost predatory instincts of both Russ and Sanguinius.
Flavius was careful with the genetic information of Horus and Sanguinius. He wasn't entirely certain that their traits or characteristics could be carried over through genes.
From Corvus Corax, Flavius extracted the genius for stealth, giving the vessel the baseline ability to mask breathing, heartbeat, thermal output, and his aura entirely. With Corax's genetics, Flavius was also careful, as it was rather unstable.
From Magnus the Red, Flavius didn't take anything. That was too dangerous as Magnus was the second most powerful psyker after the Emperor. And the stronger the psyker, the more he shone in the Warp and the more attention he would get. That wasn't something he was interested in.
His desire to remain incognito, at least mostly, made the XXth Primarch Twins, Alpharius and Omegon, so darn interesting. Alpharius/Omegon could shift and hide their appearance in a very similar way to the Emperor, making you see who they want you to see.
To weld these disparate demi-god frameworks together and push the vessel entirely beyond the limits of Warhammer's standard biology, without relying on the Warp to make it work, Flavius turned to the collective minds of his mask-wearing Shadow Clones.
There had to be something that could carry this 'weight' and the strain this would place on the body. It wasn't just the physical aspects; it was the mental ones he was going for, and, most importantly, the potential he had worked very hard to achieve.
Wearing Orochimaru's masks and giving his clones those of Charles Xavier, Doctor Doom, the Evolutionary, and Thanos, his mind dove deep into the concepts of the mutant X-Gene and chakra.
Orochimaru's mastery of genetics, biology and forbidden body modifications, paired with Xavier's masterful understanding of mutant genetics and the unbelievable skill of the Evolutionary and Thanos, enabled Flavius to create a blank X-Gene that would fit and thrive within the Primarch-tier vessel he was creating.
He didn't need flashy, destructive elemental mutations like Cyclops' optic blasts or Magneto's magnetism; those could be easily replicated or used through a mask. There was one particularly powerful helmet that would allow Flavius to use both Charles Xavier's and Magneto's powers simultaneously.
Instead, he needed something that fundamentally elevated or further protected his biology. A few specific X-Genes perfectly fit his high-stakes situation in this galaxy:
Option 1: Darwin's X-Gene, which was Reactive Evolution / Environmental Adaptation.
Armando Muñoz's mutant power was the subconscious ability to instantly adapt physically to any threat or environment. If plunged into a vacuum, the body would stop needing oxygen and develop a space-hardened hide, or it would simply teleport out. If struck by raw energy, the cells could alter their composition to absorb or reflect it.
The potential was immense, and given that Flavius was looking to combine multiple power systems and put a massive strain on his body, this was probably the ideal. And it helped that Charles Xavier knew quite a bit about Darvin's particular case.
By inserting this into the blank Primarch vessel, Flavius would create the ultimate insurance policy against the unpredictable horrors of the Warhammer 40k universe. Combined with Mortarion's durability and Vulkan's perpetual-ness, Darwin's X-Gene would ensure that if a weapon or psychic attack managed to bypass his baseline defences, his body would physically evolve on the spot to survive it. It would make his new vessel nearly unkillable and immensely adaptive.
Option 2: Forge's X-Gene, of Intuitive Tech-Genius & Mechanical Harmonisation.
Forge possessed the mutant ability to intuitively understand, design, and manufacture any mechanical or technological device imaginable. His mind operated at a level where complex engineering, physics, and energy dynamics were perceived instantly as raw, instinctive concepts.
In a way, it was similar to the Primarch Perturabo, just that it was not a Warp ability.
Option 3: Vulcan, a.k.a Gabriel Summer's X-Gene of Omni Energy Manipulation.
Gabriel Summers was an Omega-level mutant with the ability to absorb, manipulate, and project vast amounts of any energy form imaginable, including magic, electricity, cosmic radiation, kinetic force, and even psionic energy. Unlike standard mutants, Vulcan could literally siphon the power out of his opponents, control the energy grids of entire starships, and survive in the vacuum of space by feeding on ambient radiation.
This gene would act as the ultimate regulator and be a superior option for Magnus the Red's genes. Instead of just having the capacity to channel energy, Flavius would possess absolute, master-level control over it. And Vulkan never wore a mask in the comics, so Flavius wouldn't be able to just use his powers in case he needed it.
Combined with Mortarion's durability and Jaghatai's speed, the Vulcan X-Gene would allow Flavius's physical brain to safely absorb a hit from a psychic warp-blast, a lascannon, or an Xenos attack, and immediately redirect that energy back at his enemies tenfold. It would turn his body into a living, breathing perpetual engine of power.
The versatility of Energy Manipulation was nigh endless. So this was a very strong option.
Option 4: Jean Grey's X-Gene, of Omega-Level Telepathy & Telekinetinesis.
Jean Grey possessed the absolute apex of telepathic and telekinetic potential. At her peak, her mind could manipulate matter at a subatomic level, dismantle complex machinery with a thought, and shield her consciousness from the most insidious mental intrusions. She was the perfect host of the Phoenix Force, a beyond cosmic level force of psionics and fire.
This power was also not going to be a problem for Flavius, like it was for Jean, since there existed no Phoenix Force in Warhammer. This was an entirely different multiverse.
Since Flavius was already utilising a very powerful body and had plans for another energy system, adding Forge's premier engineering and intuitive invention, or Darwin's evolution X-Gene, would immediately bridge the gap between his physical brain and his psychic/technological potential.
So the question was, which one should he go for?
Furthermore, Flavius could use Darvin's X-gene as a "genetic glue" and a blueprint for the systemic integration of Darvin's or another's abilities. The X-Gene would act as a stabilising matrix, forcing the conflicting physical traits of the Primarchs to achieve something far beyond that of Alpha Primus. It would harmonise flawlessly without mutating into a horrific biological soup, and maybe give the option of adding other parts of X-genes into the mix at a later date.
Flavius made his choice, directing his Shadow clones to begin sequencing the selected X-Gene into the massive amniotic vats.
The ceramite plating of his future custom armour sat on a nearby rack, catching the blue and blue glow of the vita-ray emitters. Flavius didn't have time to focus on making his armour, but that would come soon.
The Kamui dimension hummed, a rhythmic, mechanical sound. Flavius had to create the necessary power from the machinery and equipment he stole, and things he created using the powers of Hyperstorm and Monarch. The power surged, channelling raw energy directly into the genetic matrix and activating the entire sequence.
The fluid inside the 'birthing' chamber began to stir, darkening as different pure genetic material, the vitality-enhancing serums, and the optimised mutant strands were introduced, and the strands began to weave together, forming the spine of a brand-new human.
Flavius smiled. The zygote had been created; all he needed to do now was wait for it to reach full maturity. And while he waited, it was time to get out and have a look at the criminal and corrupt aspects of Medusa. Flavius already knew what he would do in the future.
He was going to fight the corruption in a more effective way than the Imperium did. Target high-priority enemies and finally make a difference. And he would start on Medusa.