Flavius stood amidst the rusted iron of the Sectors Infernus, the lowest reaches of the Medusan hive, where the concepts of ground and sky were nothing more than alien myths. Above him lay miles of man-made mountains, towering urban complexes known as hives that housed millions in factory blocks and dirty hab zones. If he was going to climb this metal mountain, he needed more than the rags he wore.
He also needed equipment. Food and water weren't really a concern anymore, since he could easily solve that with a mask if he had to. And thankfully, thirst and hunger could be solved that way. He checked.
To begin his resource gathering, Flavius summoned the mask of Wally West, the Flash from DC Rebirth. This was the fastest Flash in all of DC comics. He was so fast, in fact, that he was faster than the Speed Force itself.
Speedsters were overpowered, but in this case, it was immensely useful for Flavius, since he had to traverse a large distance and cover a lot of ground to find the technology and resources he wanted, which would take literal years or decades. He still might not find what he's looking for.
The red mask appeared. Whitish-blue lightning flickered on the sides. Without thinking too much about it, Flavius put it on, and as he did, the world froze.
The distant thrum of atmospheric scrubbers became a low, static hum and then stopped, and the falling droplets of toxic black ichor hung suspended in mid-air.
Time seemed to have stopped entirely. It was a novel feeling, and yet it seemed so familiar. A smile appeared on Flavius' face, as he felt like a little kid, enjoying himself as he dressed up as the cool heroes he read about in the comics.
However, he had something to do, and since it wouldn't take much time, he would have enough time to play around later on.
With the powers of the Speed Force coursing through his existence, Flavius pushed himself off and disappeared from view as he 'moved' through the "Ruined Manufactories", monstrous hab-blocks and abandoned domes. He covered thousands upon thousands of kilometres of hive-strata in less than seconds, his hyper-accelerated mind looking for the distinctive signatures of Archeotech hoards or any other technology and resources he could use to clothe himself and arm himself or use to create weapons later on.
He was insanely fast. And thanks to being able to choose which mask he summons, he also gets to choose which particular version of a character he gets the powers from. The Wally West he chose now had an incredible grasp of his powers, so Flavius didn't have any problems using them.
He vibrated through walls, ran up walls 90° and even on the highest ceilings, zooming through buildings, sitting at chairs of some nobles as they were eating and then going on his way again.
After an hour, Flavius had more or less mapped the entire upper part of the Hive City from where he had started and knew where he could find what he was looking for.
Finding a cache of old and valuable technology high in the Hive Spire, where the nobles and pompous lords lived, he now only needed a way to transport all of it without dragging a literal mountain of scrap around.
Sure, he could have run back and forth, but he had come across someone interesting, so he wanted to be flexible and ready for a new 'HQ' in the future.
Flavius used Wally West's speed to reach the places, then momentarily switched to the swirling, orange-spiral mask of Obito Uchiha, from Naruto.
As he did so, he could feel the new power inside him: Chakra. The Essence of Masks was truly overpowered. The sheer versatility was staggering. He could solve many problems with this. The reason he chose Obito was, of course, for the abilities of his eyes, his Mangekyo Sharingan: The Kamui.
Kamui allowed the user to transfer objects between realspace and his Kamui dimension. These transfers were characterised by a spiralling void that swirls into or out of, distorting their form as they move between dimensions. So basically, Flavius used it to transport his things.
Utilising Kamui, he warped the air around him, sucking the Archeotech in: power cells, reinforced plating on carapace armour and even ceramite, high-end sensors, and many weapons, into a personal pocket dimension.
After he was done, he disappeared using Kamui before anyone knew he was there.
He moved further through the Sectors and even infiltrated the Mechanicus, materialising only to snatch high-grade weapons and armour, black-market flak-leathers and more before vanishing back into the "Kamui" dimension.
He spent another hour stealing things from rich, pompous nobles or the Mechanicus, whom he didn't like and who hoarded all their stuff. And after he was finished, he used Kamui to appear inside his dimension, and organise the large pile of things he got.
Because with this out of the way, it was time for the next part of his plan.
.
Flavius was well aware that the Essence he was given was powerful and could even be overpowered if used correctly, but it also had a glaring weakness. And that was that he could only wear one mask at a time.
Sure, what did it matter if he wore the Flash's mask and then another one? It would have been too much anyway. But if he wanted to switch powers, he had to take off one mask and put on another. That took time, and that could cost him his life, very easily.
So, what was Flavius going to do?
He was going to do two things.
Number 1: He was going to use the many different characters he already mentioned to use the technology and resources he stole to create far better weapons and armour for himself.
Reed Richards, Dr Doom, Iron Man, Batman One Million, Mister Terrific, and so many more were incredibly useful in this regard and would allow him to do so swimmingly.
When he is done, the Mechanicus will scream curses in binary at the sheer advanced technology he possesses. Not that they will know about it, of course, but still.
Number 2: Flavius was going to look into ways of enhancing himself
This was just as important for Flavius as the first point. And a few things came to mind.
The most obvious was to use a mask to improve himself. And the one that he knew of which could do that was the Stone Mask from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.
The Stone Mask was activated when it came into contact with blood. Once activated, the mask produced stone tendrils that extend from its edges, piercing the wearer's skull and brain. This process was similar to acupuncture, as the tendrils were designed to stimulate specific points in the brain. Additionally, it caused a brief flash of light.
The effects of the mask manifested immediately upon piercing, liberating the wearer from natural limitations and granting them immense strength and other abilities.
This transformation had been observed in both horses and humans. No joke, the manga's name wasn't for show. It was truly bizarre.
According to Robert E. O. Speedwagon, humans affected by the mask could jump five to eight meters, deliver punches with a force of 2000–4000 kg/cm², and triple their leg strength.
However, the human body struggled to adapt to this power, resulting in a state described as "dead" in a sense and making the wearer vulnerable to direct sunlight and the Ripple technique, which uses the power of the sun and turns it into a martial art. Furthermore, the wearer experiences an uncontrollable bloodlust that can override even familial bonds. Basically, it turned the human into a vampire.
Kars, a member of the Pillar Men species, used the Stone Mask and fitted it with the Red Stone of Aja. The combination of the mask and the Red Stone granted Kars complete immunity to the sun, the ability to use the Ripple, and the power to transform their bodies on a cellular level into any creature, preexisting or new.
All in all, it was a seriously powerful artefact that could turn you into a vampire or a basically immortal being.
Flavius wasn't stupid enough to just summon the Stone Mask with the Red Stone of Aja on it and then 'see what happens'. No, he was going to use Dr Doom's skills and knowledge to research the mask, its effects, and how he could either make it safe or even enhance it.
Other than the Stone Mask, there was, of course, the Astartes creation process. True, Flavius was now too old to start the process, but who said that had to truly be the case?
Technology had stagnated in the Imperium of Man. But with the skills and genius of several of the characters he could use, Flavius was not only sure he could replicate the Astartes gene-seed enhancement on himself, but he was also certain he could improve it and make it safe for him.
But for that, Flavius needed more resources, such as the 19 or 22 organs and implants required to create either a normal Space Marine or a Primaris one. And if he wanted to go further, which was the Primarchs, then there was only one individual who knew of them in this current age.
Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl, of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Belisarius Cawl has been deeply involved in one of the Imperium's greatest secrets for many centuries. He would first emerge publicly during the Thirteenth Black Crusade in the late 41st Millennium, which was still a few years off from now, but he was born 10 millennia ago.
Cawl is known as the Dominatus Dominus, the Master of Masters, which is one of the highest ranks within the Mechanicus.
Unlike many Tech-Priests of the Mechanicus, he does not aim to merely replicate or uncover lost technology; instead, he seeks to innovate. And it was this quality that made him so important to one of the Primarchs, Roboute Guilliman.
But who were the Primarchs?
The Primarchs were twenty artificially engineered, gene-wrought creations of the Emperor of Mankind, serving as both the gene-sires and supreme commanders of their respective Space Marine Legions. It was through their genes that the gene-seeds were created and used to create their legions.
The Emperor used his own DNA in their creation, resulting in individuals designed to be vastly superior to the average human: they were immensely larger, roughly 3 meters tall if not taller, far stronger, durable, faster, and more intelligent.
Additionally, they possessed extraordinary charisma, as their primary role was to act as generals and leaders of the Imperial military. Each Primarch had a unique purpose and speciality, enabling them to fulfil specific functions needed by the Emperor's forces in their quest to reconquer the galaxy.
In an event known as the Horus Heresy, the Primarch Horus Lupercal turned traitor and managed to turn half of his brothers as well, causing a galactic civil war that tore the Imperium asunder.
One of the loyalist Primarchs was Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Ultramarines Legion.
Roboute Guilliman was an accomplished warlord and diplomat who once ruled his own empire, known as Ultramar, before being rediscovered by the Emperor. Unlike his brother Primarchs, he viewed himself not only as a warrior but also as a builder of civilisations. In addition to leading the largest Space Marine Legion during the Great Crusade, Guilliman became well-known for his efforts to preserve the Imperium in the aftermath of the devastating Horus Heresy.
He was a logistical genius, and he was the one who secretly gave Belisarius Cawl the order to use the gene-seeds of his brother Primarchs to improve on the Space Marines.
And that's what the Archmagos did. In secret for 10 thousand years, he worked and managed to complete the order as he had been tasked. The deadline was almost upon the galaxy, but the most important information here was that Cawl possessed the pure gene-seeds of all the Primarchs.
If Flavius wanted to turn himself into a Space Marine or something beyond that, he would need those resources.
...
Then again, there were many more ways to enhance himself.
Flavius summoned the vox-grill and other apparatus Cawl had implanted into his face and looked at it. The fact that it worked was already a miracle, because that meant that it counted as a mask or at least as something that could be summoned and used.
Now, Flavius had to find out how to use it, without implanting it into his face.
It was time to get to work. Thankfully, he could use the Kamui dimension as a laboratory, even when he used another mask. It didn't disappear automatically, which was seriously useful.