Captain America is fighting furiously against hordes of Nazi soldiers to get at their leader, the Red Skull, braving gunfire and bomb blasts, determined to bring his archenemy to justice. The Skull taunts him by saying they are immortal, locked in an eternal battle to the death; Cap shouts his defiance…then the blinded Steve Rogers awakens from the nightmare in a hospital bed. Sam Wilson, the Falcon, calms him down and fills Steve in on his doings: he encountered a giant bird (issue #210) and had to be rescued by SHIELD. At this moment a heavily bandaged patient is brought in under heavy guard. Known only as "The Defector," his background is top secret….
Late that night, a thug stealthily enters the room, armed with a club to assassinate the Defector. Steve hears him and leaps into battle, which goes poorly for Steve until he manages to hurl the hit man out of a window.
Elsewhere, Kligger, a powerful man who wants the Defector dead, is forced to deal with the beauteous Veda, who assigns the kill to her minion the Night Flyer. The Night Flyer is a cold professional who uses a recorded voice to psyche himself into believing in his own perfection. He heads for the hospital in a glider but near his destination he is intercepted by the Falcon. Kicking the winged hero in the face, Night Flyer manages to elude Falcon and dodge the gunfire of guards stationed on the roof. He detaches himself from his glider and enters the building with the Falcon in pursuit. Entering the Defector’s room the assassin quickly pumps several bullets into the bandaged form—then discovers it is a dummy, set out as a decoy. The Night Flyer has suspected this but had to try. He surrenders his weapon to SHIELD security forces and announces his intention to carry out his mission—and no one can prevent it….