The Flight And The Fight!

On this Veterans Day, it seems appropriate to meet up with two old warhorses who are well-known today in super-powered and intelligence circles, but who also crossed paths during World War II to give 'em hell. (And what else could you give 'em, when you've got Howling Commandos all around you?)

But off-duty, these two knew how to take a break from the stress of the war--though the words "no surrender" still resonated with each of them!

And so Ben Grimm and Nick Fury enjoy some down time before embarking on a mission where they would cut loose on the enemy instead of a bar table, and bullets and grenades would fly like Fury's barked orders. Fury is assigned by his C.O. to lead his men to join up with Carlos LeBlanc and assault an enemy radar base in the mountains--but who to fly them there? Fury has just the man for the job.

Ben manages to deal with the two attacking planes, and the men arrive at the rendezvous point--only to find that their welcoming committee may not have words of welcome to greet them with.

Ben had been shaken up by a near-miss from a grenade--but intent on joining Fury and the Commandos in order to rescue LeBlanc, he insists on staying with the mission, even over Fury's objections. The team faces heavy resistance, but they reach their goal--much to the surprise of LeBlanc's captor, who expected any rescue attempt to end in failure.

The flashback story of Ben and Nick's war days takes place in the backdrop of a mid-1981 tale that has Nick petitioning Ben to pilot a test flight of a new "super-jet"--but a malfunction occurs during the flight, forcing Ben to crash in the Everglades and struggle to keep moving in an effort to save his life. And in his haze, his thoughts drift back to his mission with Fury and the Howlers, memories which help him to persevere until help arrives in the form of Fury and the FF.

The story doesn't mention how Fury, Grimm, and the Howlers celebrated the success of their mission upon their return, but you know these guys. Chances are they all spent some quiet time catching up on their reading or otherwise engaged in intellectual pursuits.

Or....