Suspicious of the scientists, the Young Avengers entered the laboratories to confront them. Krupptman's lab was in a state of disrepair. Boxes and papers were strewn everywhere. The doctor was the only one present in the lab, he had apparently sent his assistants home for the day. When the Young Avengers entered the lab, Krupptman was busy packing away a few notes and apparatuses. When he saw the Young Avengers entered the lab a look of fear splayed across his face, and he was obviously extremely nervous.
"What can you tell us about these Micro-Scanners?" Iron Lad askee the doctor.
"Those did come from my lab, I provided each of my assistants with their own device to experiment with and modify. The Intruders must have stolen them after their entry into the labs." Dr. Krupptman Replied.
"Why are you so nervous?" Wiccan asked.
At that moment, and as the other young Avengers began to search the lab Dr. Krupptman snapped and produced an experimental laser rifle from under his lab table. He attempted to shoot Wiccan and flee.
Krupptman undoubtedly proved little threat to the Young Avengers. After the maniacal doctor was apprehended they thoroughly searched the both Krupptman and the laboratory floor. They only out of the ordinary occurrences they witnessed was the confirmation that the Micro-Scanner Tool from a glass cabinet with a combination lock had been missing. Dr.Krupptman carried next to nothing, save for his wallet which contained multiple listings of his personal address. The papers Dr. Krupptman had been packing away all pertained to "Chronal Locomotion". Shortly after the arrest of Krupptman, a detail of base security guards who had overheard the commotion arrived to haul the good doctor to the brig. Along the way however, Dr. Krupptman bit down hard and broke open a false tooth which stored a small cyanide capsule, that he quickly swallowed. Suddenly, the doctor began convulsing as the poison went to work in destroying him. After being revived and interrogated, he absolutely refused to answer any question.
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Fury was unavailable for the first hour after the incident; he was far too busy with filing incident reports. Thereafter, the Young Avengers and Vision had no problem entering Fury's office to debrief. The sounds of whirring computers and buzzing phones filled Fury's office. Apparently, the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. was just catching wind of the break-in.
Fury was an impressive sight in the midst of crises. He seemed calm, collected, and in complete control of the situation. As the Young Avengers and Vision entered, Fury proclaimed to them that he had already dispatched an investigative team looking deeper into the matter.
When questioned by Iron Lad what Krupptman had been working on, Fury explained that the doctor had been leading up research on Time Travel. Fury was quite certain that Krupptman's lab work was a long way off from constructing a S.H.I.E.L.D. time machine.
When asked about the Blautot Commandos, Fury admits he had heard of the group back in World War 2, but knew nothing about it.
After debriefing the Young Avengers were asked to keep quiet on the matter, and to progress their own personal investigation by visiting the doctors home.
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Krupptman's home was a large suburban mansion. According to Nick Fury: "Krupptman lives alone, so hopefully there isnt anyone present when you arrive."
From outside it appeared as if the house probably featured 15 rooms, maybe 20. It was located just outside the Albuquerque city limits, maybe only a 15-minute drive from the research facility.
All of the doors leading into the home were secured by dead-bolt locks, which Cassie Lang was able to overcome by picking the locks, a skill she had learned from her father Scott Lang the 2nd Ant-Man. The inside of Krupptman's home lived up to its exterior appearance. The mansion was large, plush, and extremely well-maintained.
As soon as the Young Avengers entered they noticed a series of packs and sleeping bags were spread throughout the living and dining rooms. The gear in the packs was all obviously some sort of military issue. Spread out all over a dining room table were photographs and documents. The photographs showed Krupptman in full German Army uniform, working alongside other Nazi scientist defectors. All the photographs had to have been taken some time during the mid 1940s. The documents included Krupptman's WWII military papers, the falsified background sheet he submitted to the allied forces at the end of the war, and two lengthy scientific journals.
The first journal, which was several years old in appearance, told the story of the crash-landing of the Orphu Time Machine back in 1943, and described the work that Baron Zemo and Krupptman had put in to create two duplicates of the craft. The journal then went on to discuss a mysterious "mission" in which 3 commando teams would be sent into the future. The notes indicated that a team was sent to the year 3126, and that another was sent to the year 2019. The destination of the 3rd team was not listed. Just below the 2019 entry was a notation that read in German: "Timeships estimated point of arrival in 2019", and included coordinates of Latitude 23.260 degrees north and Longitude 117.157 degrees west. After some quick Calculations, Vision informs the others that the coordinates are in San Diego.
A later entry in the journal read: "Team 1 (3126)--Successful.
Team 2 (2019)--Fate Unknown.
Team 3 (5758)--Fate Unknown."
The second Journal were all of Krupptman's personal notes on the Time Travel project he had in progress. The notes clearly indicated that he had met with no success in his efforts to create a functioning time machine from scratch (even Baron Zemo and HYDRA had needed to scrounge parts from the original Orphu timeship in order to create the nazi vessels back in 1943). In several places in the margins, Krupptman had included demented ravings, detailing his plans for restoring glory to the 3rd Reich if and when he managed to manufacture a working time machine for the government. One note in particular read: "Interesting Thought--why should I construct a time machine now for the enemy, when we already did so.for the fuhrer more than 45 years ago!--If I were to rendezvous with the 2019 team we dispatched in 1943, perhaps I could assist them with fulfilling their mission and return. If another team were to return successfully, the entire course of history would be changed. Copper's Cavalier project looks like just the thing they would be looking for!"
Krupptman had all of these notes splayed across the table to show the Commander of the Nazi commando unit, to prove that he was in fact an ally to their cause. There was also a copy of Robert Crane's 'World War 2 inside and out: All the people, places, and events' lying on Kruptman's table. The book was open to the pages describing Germany's Blautot commandos, and Wiccan instantly recognized an image of the skull-and-crossbome badges matching the ones they had found on the intruders. Wiccan then decided to hold on to the book for safe keeping and future reference.
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The coordinates found in Krupptman's journal indicated that the Nazi Commandos had arrived somewhere in the sewers beneath San Diego. After debriefing their discoveries to Nick Fury, and one short trip later, The Young Avengers were hot on their trail. The San Diego sewers were alike to sewers anywhere else: dark, dirty, and rodent-infested. As the Young Avengers came close to the exact coordinates listed in Krupptman's journal, they all began to detect a low buzzing noise. After coming around another damp concrete corner, The Young Avengers found themselves face-to-face with a Nazi Time Machine.
The time capsule itself was a small metal sphere, roughly twelve feet in diameter. There was an obvious metal door welded into its center, and the door was unlocked and ajar. Inside the time machine was a complex bank of alien instruments and computers. A chronometer in the center of one wall showed that the current date was April 18th, 2019, and the capsule had apparently arrived from September 18th, 1943. Lying on one of the control panels was a memo that read in German: "From the German High Command to Commander, Blautot Commandos: You and your men are to proceed to the year 2019 (The exact coordinates and navigational have been fed into the instrumentation) There, you are to locate the most formidable weaponry, and abscond with them and return, so that we may employ these superior devices in our efforts against the Allied Forces. Other teams have been sent to alternate points with similar missions. You will depart tomorrow morning.
--Der Fuhrer."
It was then, with all the information revealed, that the Young Avengers fully understood what had occurred.
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