The alien is captured while contact is made with leaders outside the swamp. Soon after the team led by Cable and Samson arrives at the barn and likewise confront the alien who seems befuddled by their hostile behaviors. A battle ensues and Swamp Thing is defeated and his wounded body is deposited into the swamp.
Meanwhile Swamp Thing returns to the barn in which his lab had once been located with the meager hope he can find a cure, but instead finds a spaceship inside along with its alien pilot. The leader is Captain Brad Samson and Cable doesn't cotton to him. Because of his familiarity with the swamp areas he is assigned to assist with "Operation: Space-Face" which has detected a UFO in the immediate area where the Hollands did their research.
Cable is perhaps having doubts about his relentless pursuit of the Swamp Thing when he gets notice he is to return to Washington immediately. The scene shifts to a Florida beach where Matt Cable and Abigail Arcane recuperate from their torture at the hands of the Conclave. The two miscreants are thrown from the train, and Swamp Thing swiftly follows since he realizes that he has at long last returned to the place of his birth, the bayous and swamps of Louisiana. The story begins on a train where to hobos try to mug a another only to discover the victim is Swamp Thing. The cover of the Swamp Thing erupting from the ooze has been used as the cover for most of the reprint packages the character has seen, and the one I'm currently reading, Roots of the Swamp Thing, is no exception.
It might be argued that the ninth issue of Swamp Thing showcases the series most famous image.