Strange Bedfellows
On board the U.S.S. Flagg Hawk explains to Lady Jaye and Flint that analysis of the parts from the stolen Terror-Drome[1] is incomplete because of several strange components that have been traced to M.A.R.S., Destro's arms company. He further explains that they have learned that Destro, and likely also Cobra Commander, have escaped from the wreckage of the Pit[2] and that Destro was spotted in Glasgow returning to his ancestral home. He dispatches them to the United Kingdom to intercept Destro.
Destro arrives at Prestwick International Airport and changes into his familiar costume, then calls a taxi. Later Lady Jaye and Flint land and are met by two British soldiers, officer "Jingles" Smythe-Barret and Sergeant Day. Lady Jaye has read their dossiers and notes impressive records in Malaysia, the Falklands and the anti-terrorist unit. As they drive off Flint notices a hanger labelled "R.A.F. Museum" and Smythe-Barret explains it's just a storage hanger for large exhibits.
Destro has reached Castle Destro where he is welcomed by his Sergeant Major and other troopers who escort him to the arboretum. There he finds an impostor presiding over tea. The impostor declares that Destro is an impostor because he sneaked into the country on a commercial flight, and has arranged for local constables to arrest him. Destro's arrest is observed by the US-UK team from a nearby hillside. Lady Jaye suggests a jailbreak. She disguises herself as a lay sister of mercy and infiltrates Destro's cell just as Flint blasts a hole in the wall, allowing escape. On the road Destro explains that Cobra deliberately use multiple contractors to prevent anyone knowing what the finished product is, but as the major contractor/primary consultant he had a complete set of plans in a safe at the castle. He declares he is finished with Cobra and offers a deal - help him regain his castle and title and he will give them the plans. He then explains there is a way to invade the castle.
The five take an old Second World War glider from the R.A.F. Museum hanger an Lady Jaye, Smythe-Barret and Destro take off in it, shocking a lorry driver in the process, whilst Day and Flint head off in a rover. The glider evades the radar at Castle Destro whilst the rover is spotted and the troopers dispatched. Flint and Day draw the castle's fire. Inside the impostor orders a squad of guards to secure the plans room but one reminds him that "he" had the captain of the guard remove them from the safe. "Destro" declares he will see to the security of the plans personally. Destro now crashes the glider into the green house. This is the signal for the ground support and Flint uses a bazooka to blast down the main doors.
The impostor barricades himself in the plans room behind blast proof doors, but Flint and Day use the rover to smash through. The impostor tries to run but the real Destro jumps him. The Sergeant Major tells the other troopers that the real Destro will win. Destro overpowers the impostor and reveals him as Major Bludd. Destro wonders if this is part of Serpentor's plotting. He tells the troopers to let Lady Jaye, Flint, Smyth-Barret and Day go, declaring that "the problem with making a pact with a pretty lady is that one is obligated to honor it." He gives them the plans.
"Jingles" Smythe-Barret speaks in a stereotyped "posh British" dialect that no-one uses.
As Jingles and Flint drive up the staircase, Destro's head is colored flesh-tone.
Day and Flint, under heavy fire, joke that either Guy Fawkes Day came late this year, or (American) Independence Day came early. There is no possible date on which this exchange could make sense, since it would have to be simultaneously before July 4 and after November 5.
Items of note
The comic bothers to spell "jail" in the indecipherable former British manner: "gaol".
In the United Kingdom the story was reprinted in Transformers #204, #205, #206 & #207.
Real-world references
The title is a reference to an often-paraphrased Shakespeare quote.[3] It often refers to alliances between those who might be expected to be enemies - in this case the Joes and Destro - and could be applied more literally to the scene where Lady Jaye and Destro take shelter together under the bed from Destro's cell.