The transition to her new position went smoother than Martha would have ever imagined. With Helen Cho returning to Seoul full time to continue her work with U-GIN, Martha was the natural choice to fill the role of head physician on site. Martha was just grateful that Helen made sure to install her Regeneration Cradle technology before heading home to South Korea. It would make Martha's job easier and keep the team safer.

After submitting her resignation to UNIT, Martha spent the final two weeks in London tying up loose ends. Her colleagues were sad to see her go, her soon to be ex-boss in particular. "I can't help but feel like you're abandoning a sinking ship," Kate said. She looked weary during their last meeting, but she greeted Martha warmly nonetheless.

Martha glanced up at the Tower of London from their spot on one of the benches outside the fortress. It had always been one of Kate's favorite places. "I'm gonna miss it."

"Perhaps it's the wise choice." When Martha stared at her in amazement, Kate waved a dismissive hand. "Don't look so shocked. The writing is on the wall, Martha. Has been for quite some time I'm afraid. Even the Doctor barely deals with us these days. UNIT's best days are long behind us." She sighed heavily and looked skyward. "I just hope whoever…whatever fills the void is prepared for what's out there."

Martha wasn't even sure what a world without UNIT would look like. Even before people knew they existed, they had been saving the world for decades. Torchwood had been active even longer than them, but Torchwood had the misfortune of existing long enough to fall victim to its own corruption, not unlike S.H.I.E.L.D. UNIT, on the other hand, in their efforts to fight with brains over brawn, rendered themselves obsolete in world facing an increasing number of hostile alien threats.

Kate's words stayed with Martha as she returned to New York and the New Avengers Facility. One thing was for certain, UNIT's probable successor was already lurking in the shadows.

Martha had just returned to her new office from meeting with the other members of the medical staff, when she found an unexpected guest sitting across from her desk.

"Martha Jones."

"Director Fury," Martha replied standing in the doorway. He had a disturbing habit of popping up unexpectedly. She supposed she should get used to it. He might not technically be her boss, but it was obvious that a certain hierarchy had carried over from the days of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"I'm no one's director. Call me Fury," he said gesturing for her to have a seat as though it were his office they were sitting in and not hers.

"Fury," Martha replied as if she was sampling a new dish for the first time and trying to decide if the flavor agreed with her.

"You're probably wondering why I'm here."

Martha gave a noncommittal shrug as she took her seat. If he wasn't gonna show his hand, why should she? "I don't suppose it's to welcome me to the team."

"From my perspective you seem to be fitting in quite well already."

"I find life tends to be easier when you learn to adapt quickly."

Fury nodded. "Wise words."

"I also find that people like you aren't known for making small talk, so why don't we just cut to the chase?"

"Direct." Fury smiled. "I respect that." He leaned forward in his seat. "I have a little project I've been working on off and on over the years. I think your expertise could be useful."

"Expertise?" Martha repeated. "Surely you have plenty of connections…"

"Had," Fury cut in. "Even still, I don't think anyone we have is as…uniquely qualified as you in this instance."

"Right…" Martha steepled her hands together on her desk. "That sort of expertise."

"Precisely." Fury slid a folder across the desk to Martha.

"Sentient World Observation and Response Department," she read aloud.

"S.W.O.R.D." Fury stood and headed for the door. "Look it over. I'll be in touch."

Retired spies with dreams of secret intergalactic organizations aside, work changes, it turned out were the easy part. Living arrangements were a completely different matter.

It wasn't the first time Martha had lived with the band of heroes. The time in the Tower was short lived but at least they the luxury was separate living spaces. Currently their accommodations had more of a communal arrangement. As a result, Martha found herself privy to more of the teams' idiosyncrasies than ever before.

Vision, for example, had serious boundary issues, often having to be reminded to knock before entering rooms and use doors rather than floating through walls. Clint had a habit of eating food that didn't belong to him, which lead Rhodey to spitefully labelling everything in the kitchen. Wanda mostly kept to herself, which Martha guessed was a combination of being a moody teenager and in mourning for the loss of her twin brother. Natasha was nocturnal and prone roaming around all hours of the night like a housecat, but she wasn't the only one Martha found roaming at night either.

Martha had slipped out of her and Steve's room late one night during her second week of permanent residency. After spending a fortnight in the UK, her already inconsistent sleep schedule had been irrevocably altered. She popped into the kitchen for a quick cuppa and was headed back to bed when she sensed movement in the dark.

At first, Martha thought it was probably Natasha, but she quickly realized Natasha wouldn't be so obvious. It couldn't be Vision either. Although he was an android, and therefore didn't require sleep, it was established early on that he wasn't allowed to roam at night unless it was an emergency. Martha suspected this was due to the aforementioned boundary issues. The mystery of the late night creeper was solved, however, when Martha noticed where the shrouded figure was headed.

Martha waited for them to disappear behind a door before she hurried past and back into her own room. Once inside, she found Steve sitting up in bed with the lamp on. Martha pressed her back to the door and took a huge gulp from her mug. "I think I just saw Sam sneaking into my sister's room." She quickly gulped more of tea before slowly lowering her drink. She had been expecting Steve to have a similar reaction, but he looked guilty more than anything else. Martha scoffed softly as she moved towards the bed. "But of course you aren't the least be surprised because he's your best mate and you already know all the sordid details." That got a reaction.

"Not the details," Steve confessed with a wince. "I asked him to leave those parts out for obvious reasons, but…I knew something was going on."

Martha set her mug down harder than necessary on the bedside table. "And you just conveniently left me out of the loop?"

"It wasn't that I was keeping you out of the loop," Steve replied calmly. "It just wasn't my news to share." Martha frowned. He was right, but that didn't mean she had to like his answer. "Honestly, I thought you'd be happy for them."

"I'm not unhappy," Martha retorted. "Just a bit…shocked." Steve arched a brow. "Okay not completely shocked. You were there the first time they met. She was in her knickers and neither one of them even batted an eye. And I'm fairly certain they've hooked up at least once before." She crawled back into bed and reached for her tea. "I reckon I just thought Tish might have moved on." She stared into her cup. "You saw how she was after Bruce disappeared. She was absolutely gutted. Heartbroken, you might say." Steve gave a nod of concession. "I'm just hoping that they're both going into this with open eyes." She finished off her tea and sank beneath the covers.

"I'm sure they are." Steve switched off the lamp and snuggled up close to her. "We gotta give them the same chance we were given to figure thing out on their own."

Martha settled into his embrace with a quiet huff. "Your mates meddled every step of the way and they still do."

Martha felt Steve smile against her neck. "True," he admitted. "But I still think they'll figure it out one way or another."

"I hope so."