Ben and Reed are in the lab, where the Thing is in one in the midst of one of Reed's new inventions, an exerciser for Ben. This ends the way these always do (the Thing "accidentally" destroys it), and almost immediately Nick Fury shows up at the door with an aeronautics expert. It seems the U.S. has developed a new superfast fighter plane, and they need Ben Grimm to help test-fly it. Ben, a former test pilot, is intrigued, and agrees to sign up, after much soul searching and many tears from Alicia. After some training and testing, the launch is on...

As almost inevitably happens when Ben goes back to test piloting, something goes awry (a mechanical malfunction), and the plane crashes. It comes down in the Florida swamp, and a barely conscious Ben stumbles out of the wreckage.

Meanwhile, in that same Florida swamp, the mindless Man-Thing is distracted from its encounter with some poachers by the crash, and is drawn to the emotions of the delusional Thing, who is reliving his experiences in World War II, where as a young pilot he hooked up with Nick Fury and the Howling Commandoes...