Setting up Camp

[Gary Cannon]

*FZZZZZZZZTPOP* Cannon materialized out of thin air standing inside the front gates of the Cannon Estate. He just stood there, gazing up at the mansion stretched out in front of him. He hadn't realized how much he missed his home until just now, when he saw it at it's peak, before it was ravaged by the mutant scum of his time.

Cannon shook his head and snapped out of his nostalgia. Time to get down to business. "Computer. Hide suit." Cannon didn't need to say the command out loud, but needed to hear his own voice to cement himself in the reality that his home was indeed here and whole.

At the command, Cannon's suit retracted around his body into the simple exoskeleton that ran along the backs of his hands, arms, back, legs, top of his feet, and back of his neck. The thick metal skeleton seemed to dematerialize as it instituted it's own camouflage, so as not to give itself away.

If memory served, Jarvis, Cannon's butler, would be the only one inside the home, waiting on Darby, the driver, to be showing up late tonight with young Gary Cannon, after being whisked away from the brutal murder of his parents.

Cannon walked up to the front door, pressed his hand onto the scanner and looked into the retinal scanner in order to open the door. After a few seconds of scanning, the home security system beeped, dinged, and whirred as it unlocked the door with a click. A mechanical voice pipped up, "Welcome home master Gary."

Jarvis came barreling around the corner, a mixture of joy, concern, confusion and fear. Cannon stood just inside the door, and with his augmented hearing, could make out Jarvis' mumbling as he ran for the door. "Master Gary is here already...? Darby was supposed to call me before they got back, and that aside, they shouldn't be back for another ten hours or so...no matter. Young master is going to need all the attention he can get after what just happened. How'd they get that footage on the tele so fast I wonder...? Stay on task Jarvis my good man, stay on task." Jarvis snapped himself out of his rambling, "Oh my dear young mast..." Jarvis looked up and saw a strange man standing in the doorway. "But....the security system said it was Master Gary.... It's top of the line, so can it be wrong at all...?"

Cannon smiled at his old butler, "No Jarvis...the system is working just fine. It's me. I could show you scars on my knees and arms that you would remember....but I'd rather not..." Especially since I've gotten plenty of other scars to cris cross the old ones. Don't want to send the old man into more shock and I am doing right now. "I know it's hard to wrap your head around, but the system does not lie, and if you are still in doubt, I'll be more than happy to submit to DNA, fingerprint, iris, and dental tests to prove to you that I am who I am. That aside, you SHOULD have a letter saying that I would show up today."

Jarvis stood there a little dumbfounded as the door slowly closed. "Hrmm....why...yes...I do believe I see it. You do look like the Young Master in the face. Very much so in the face...yes..." Jarvis let out a barking laugh and shook his head. "I thought that letter was some kind of prank when I got it last month. Also, I very much doubt that an intruder would be so confident in himself to be willing to submit to such a battery of identity tests as you have suggested. Now then," Jarvis smoothed out his uniform and tried to regain his composure. "If it's not too much trouble, would you mind telling me HOW an older version of my Young Master managed to show up on the doorstep of the Cannon Estate?"

Cannon smiled at his butler, very pleased that his letter did indeed make it to his butler. "Walk with me please Jarvis, and I'll tell you." Cannon started walking around his old home wandering around aimlessly, taking in the sights, letting the memories flood back to him. Jarvis walked beside him as they perused their home. "To make a long story short, I will give you a brief overview. I did indeed come back in time from the future. The killing of my parents in that mall was part of the beginning of a chain of events leading to a horrible future. The mutant responsible eventually convinced other mutants to join his cause of mutant superiority. They would wreak havoc upon any human they came across, and when the normal people gathered to try and fight back, other mutants where driven to the cause of mutant superiority. Although humanity tried valiantly, but with the wide variety of powers at the mutant's disposal, they eventually overwhelmed the humans. After a few years of fighting, mutants had either killed or enslaved any humans that still had anti-mutant sentiments. Many humans, such as myself, had to go into hiding. Living in caves, forests, jungles, deserts, hidden shelters, anywhere that the mutants deemed that it was not worth their time to hunt us down. The rest of mankind was thrown into slavery. Used as labor and amusement for the mutants. They even went so far as to re-create a Romanesque Colosseum where they would bet and cheer as regular humans killed each other. Some mutants, the one that killed my parents in particular, liked to participate himself, and kill whatever human happened to be forced into the ring." Cannon let out a long sigh as he stopped in front of a portrait of his parents. "In short Jarvis, I came back to stop that from happening. To save humanity."

Enthralled in his tale, Jarvis stood silently beside Cannon for a few minutes digesting all he'd heard. Finally, he stirred. "Umm...sir....er...Master Gary, if you came back in time to stop such a future, why didn't you save your parents and kill that mutant?" Jarvis eyed Cannon with just a bit of suspicion and worry that his morals and common sense were corrupted or destroyed as he waited for an answer.

Eyes glistening, a tear rolling down his cheek, Cannon turned to his butler and tried to muster up a sad smile. Seeing his face, Jarvis' suspicions were blown away. "In truth, it was the hardest thing for me to do. Not save my parents that is." Cannon breathed in a heavy, trembling breath. "But...if I had done that, for one, I would not be me. I'm fueled by vengeance for the death of my parents. And...if I'd have saved my parents today, your Young Gary, would never grow up with my burden, to come back and save the parents of HIS own younger self. Time lines are funny that way. For another, I was warned by another self, a future self of me, that if I did come back and kill that mutant, I would be the one labeled as a heretic, thrown into an asylum, and would have kick started the mutant anti-human campaign years ahead of schedule."

Cannon leaned his hands on the wall under the portrait, supporting himself as he regained his composure. Shaking his head to clear it from his emotion, Cannon sniffed a few times. Standing upright, he placed his hands at odd angles and pushed in on a brick in the wall while pulling out on an old candlestick wall mount. "Anywhhhhrrmm.....harrum..." Cannon cleared his throat, "Anyway, it's time to make myself at home and start planning on what to do." A portion of the wall slid down into the ground, revealing a staircase leading down into the ground.

"But...how...when...?" Jarvis stammered. "I know every inch of this place, and there was never any secret door here..."

Cannon smiled. "Another of the perks of time travel. I commissioned the builders to put this room in when the estate was first built. I payed in gold, so they didn't care who I was, or for what reason I wanted it here." Descending into the darkness, Cannon lifted a candle out of the holder he just pulled on. Normally for decoration, this candle was going to serve as a light source today.

[Gary Cannon]

Walking down into the darkness, Cannon brushed aside a few cobwebs. Halfway down the hallway, he turned to Jarvis. "Jarvis, we've got about 10 hours to work before my younger self gets home. Please fetch some extension chords. I'll answer the door and let our guests in at the gate." Puzzled, Jarvis headed back up the stairs. "Yes sir, master Gary. But...we don't have a guest at the..." The bell to the front gate tolled before Jarvis could finish his sentence. "Oh...this time travel thing is going to take some getting used to..." Cannon laughed. "Not to worry. I just ordered some supplies to make myself comfortable. Don't worry about the money. I've invested in stocks over the past several hundred years with private accounts, so it won't be coming out of the normal Cannon account."

They went upstairs and went their separate ways, Jarvis to fetch some extension cords, and Cannon to the front door. Pressing a button, he opened the front gate for the trucks to come in, and then turned the knob on the front door and pushed it open. The trucks pulled up front and a man hopped out. "Where do you want this stuff my good sir?" "Just unload everything right here in front of the door. I'll have my staff take care of it from there." Glancing around, Cannon took in the three trucks, and saw the nine men around the trucks. Pulling out his wallet, Cannon peeled out nine hundred pounds. "One for each of you my good men. Thank you for being on time." Cannon turned around and opened the other door of the double door to make it easier to move the supplies inside. "You heard the man. Unload it all right here lads! Pleasure doing business with you my good sir. A pleasure indeed. Please let us know if you need anything else."

The men unloaded all three trucks in about 45 minutes time. There were boxes full of materials such as light bulbs, light fixtures, test tubes, chemicals, screws, nails, etc. Also, there were several large pieces of furniture. A few desks, a bed, cabinets, chairs, etc. The load of the third truck was hardware. Drills, saws, screwdrivers, hammers, and other building supplies. Another 15 minutes and the men and trucks were gone leaving the Cannon and Jarvis alone standing over the load of equipment.

"How on earth are the two of us going to move all this with just 9 more hours left before young master arrives?" Jarvis wondered aloud.

"Now Jarvis, I came back from the future. You think I didn't bring back some fun toys and technology? I'll take care of it in an hour. If you would be so kind as to take the extension cords and hook up some lights in the hidden room for me please?" "Yes sir master Gary." Jarvis took off to hurry to Cannon's task without further prompting.

Cannon, with a thought, commanded his armor back to full activity, but made sure it maintained it's invisibility, so as not to create a ruckus. Activating his anti-gravity field, Cannon started hoisting away the larger furniture two at a time, one in each hand. He had to walk sideways to get through the doors, and in addition to being sideways, had to be a little creative in the angles in order to navigate the larger furniture down the hallway to his secret room. Jarvis had just finished setting up the lights and was turning around when Cannon came down the stairs. He stood slack jawed when he saw his master carrying two large furniture items with no apparent strain. "Will wonders never cease..." he muttered.

With his tech to back him up, moving the entire load from the front into the room took Cannon the better part of an hour. After that much walking, even with his tech, Cannon was grateful when Jarvis presented him with a cool glass of lemonade. After cooling off, Cannon wolfed down the crackers and tea Jarvis had also brought along. "I'd almost forgotten about things like tea and crackers...hah! Well, I'll see if I can't keep these around for the foreseeable future. Jarvis, if you don't mind, for the next few hours, I'd like to be alone while I work. Not that I don't trust you, but future technology could be dangerous, and the less you are exposed to and know about, the less danger you will be in."

"Of course master. Thank you for looking out for my well being. I'll be upstairs if you need me." Jarvis carefully picked his way out of the room and made his way back upstairs.

Cannon jacked his suit into the power tools, and began work. First thing first, power. Cannon brought up his HUD and scanned the walls for power cables. When he found them, he drilled into the wall, and pulled them out. Even with the power on, Cannon cut the cables. His suit protected him from any shock. Quickly, he spliced the wires, reconnecting everything, and giving him access to the grounds power supply. Cannon repeated the process several times around the room and then began mounting lighting fixtures. Once everything was installed, he turned off the lights Jarvis had brought down and carried the extension cords back upstairs. Jarvis was waiting at the entrance to his room. "Finished already sir?!?" Jarvis asked in disbelief.

Cannon chuckled. "Not yet Jarvis. But I've gotten lights up down there, so I can work with the door closed into the night without anyone knowing. If you wouldn't mind, could you bring a table of food and drink around to the top of the stairs please?"

Jarvis hurried off with a grin and a shake of the head, but otherwise silent. Cannon descended back down. Time to hook up the fridge, then I can finish the rest at my leisure.

By the time Jarvis had arrived back at the top of the stairs, Cannon had already finished installing the fridge. When he emerged from the hole in the wall, Cannon found the extension cords he'd left were gone, put back in their place, and a rolling cart full of food and drinks. Cannon called out loudly, "Jaaarviiis?!? Just so you know, I'm going to close the door and keep working now. My younger self will be here in about two hours, and I don't want him to meet me just yet. I'm leaving a two way communicator on the floor here for you. I'll contact you when I need you tomorrow. Thanks again Jarvis!"

Without waiting for confirmation, Cannon placed the device on the floor, hoisted the cart in front of him, and carried it into his new room. Pressing a brick in the wall, the door rose up from the ground, sealing the room again. Cannon settled down in his new living quarters. They would only be temporary, and would eventually become his lab, but until he could move up into the house proper, this would do. Pulling up a chair, Cannon pulled the cart up to him and thought his helmet off of him so he could eat. "Welcome home Gary Cannon..."

He dug in, not realizing just how hungry he was until he got the first fork full to his mouth.