Gloves and boots (to be signed first)

The soldiers spoke to each other for a moment, nodded, and then allowed the rookie to resume. "Gloves and boots, ma'am."

"... Really? They want me to walk around this deep security in my socks?" she questioned, giving the guy a sterner expression than she had up to this point. "That seems to defeat the point of everyone wearing those clean-suits."

"J-Just my orders, ma'am. And... say... if you aren't going to be needing all these back... would you sign a glove for me?" the man asked, sounding hopeful. It was impossible to see his face, given it was covered by a blue-visored helmet, but she could picture him grinning bashfully.

Samus figured one inconvenience like that wasn't a lot, compared to being asked to hand over the items in the first place. "Real glad that there's only one checkpoint left after this one. They're probably going to have me hand over my socks and make me go barefoot." One of the others went to flag down a scientist and get a pen while Samus unlaced her boots.

"Ha ha... Yeah, maybe! Uh... What if... they asked you for something different, though?"

Samus turned her eyes back up with a dubious look on her face, as she continued unwinding the boot strings.

"Purely speculating, ma'am! L-Like, your hair tie, for instance?"

"Then I guess I'd hand it over," she sighed. "Look, I appreciate you're... 'worried' about me," she continued, thinking that the guy might have something else on his mind regarding his scantily clad idol than compassion, "but I've fought my way through a lot, all across space. This is bound to be one of my easier missions."

She finished pulling off the boots, leaving her standing in black socks, about the same length as the boots. When she was finished, she took the gloves off too. Then, she accepted a pen from one of the other soldiers and wrote her signature on the inside tag of one of the boots in small letters. "I'm assuming I won't get these back. They aren't even mine to begin with."

"Thank you! I'll hold on to this, not resell it! I promise!" the guy cheered. "I-I mean... not cause you've worn it or anything but... but that does increase the value. Okay. Shutting up now."

Samus nodded, letting him know that was for the best. She held her fists at her sides as she walked through the blast doors, heading past the third gate into the fourth security level.

This area wasn't particularly lengthy. Once again, she saw labs, but they had no windows-- each appeared to require an individual's security card to access. They weren't labeled, probably because they were performing the kinds of top-secret experiments that you couldn't name on a big plaque. She felt her skin crawl, but she knew if it was anything really objectionable, they wouldn't have allowed her in this far for fear that she'd blow it up. These must be the more typical kind of developments, possibly including further advancements of the knockoff power armor everyone here was wearing.

At the fourth station, a few more officers in power suits were present, but they didn't greet her. Instead, a hologram projection popped out of the monitor next to the heavily secured gate. The flickering blue hologram displayed a man, clad in a military uniform with several badges on the chest. She didn't recognize him... must be a recent promotion. "Samus Aran," he greeted her, for what felt like the hundredth time today. No salute from this one. "You can address me as Commander Korpus."

She counted that as a good thing, since it meant she didn't have to go through the awkwardness of rejecting it. "Korpus, then. Are you ready to receive me?"

"Security protocols first."

"Figured as much," she shrugged. "Have any of your men turned up anything from the studies so far, or is there some other point behind this?"

"Can't answer too many questions, but from the lack of a lockdown and alarm, you can draw your own conclusions."

Samus was thankful for that, at least. The last thing she needed was to be incorrectly identified as a threat this deep into their facility. "Good. Now, what do you need?"

Roll 3!

Outfit durability: 20/28 (overshirt over sports bra, shorts, socks)