Taking risks

Daisy walked down the side of the storehouse, trying not to think about the fact she'd left her clothes behind. With any luck they'd be dry by the time she was done here, and she could get out and no one would be any the wiser.

The wall wasn't too far away. Shelves lined the length; suddenly reminded of the dull task that awaited her, Daisy sighed, but got to work.

Along with her bra, panties and shoes, she had a small pack looped over one shoulder. She fished around in it for a moment, and withdrew a small handheld device, fiddling with it for a second; it beeped in response. This was meant to get a reading on the local environment. Temperature, light, air all what she expected; no radiation, and no dangerous quantities of terrigen this end.

It wasn't worth making a note of that, unless it changed. Daisy reached for the bag again, depositing the scanner, and starting to walk down.

Everything was labelled. There were a couple of symbols she had to look out for; as it was, she walked slowly down the aisle, looking up and down the shelves on both sides. Some items were in boxes, others loose on shelves with a small placard just by them. A couple took her a few seconds to find the label - a few characters summed up the origins and capabilities of the items.

Most were non-entities, objects of interest from important sites, with little practical application. Old HYDRA weapons, carvings from some old site, an album that appeared to contain cat photos...

In amongst the miscellanea, however, were other things marked as dangerous or as unknown, meaning it was better to assume they were dangerous. When Daisy reached one of them, she sighed, stopped walking, and withdrew the other device from her pouch. She lifted up the datapad, very carefully angled the camera to never face her, and kept an eye out for any reflective surfaces, and sent off a picture of the artifact and the label to SHIELD.

"Can we get a location for that one?" Coulson said in her ear, suddenly.

"Leftmost aisle, still," Daisy said. "Lot to get through."

"Got it," Coulson said.

He sometimes chimed in. SHIELD was getting a live feed of the data she sent in, with a handful of operatives keeping track of what she found. Low-interest stuff wasn't important.

It was simple. It just also wasn't hugely captivating, and it took a remarkably long time to walk down the aisle when she had to look up and down and read every stray label. When she reached the far end, Daisy sighed again, and wiped her brow.

She was hyperaware of how her legs brushed against each other with each step - her panties were snug, leaving her thighs completely bare, toned skin in constant contact with itself as a reminder. It was a distraction, at least.

At the far end of the storage facility, Daisy pulled out the scanner again and let it do its thing. It whirred for a little longer that time; when it beeped, she clicked her earpiece.

"Small terrigen signature," Daisy said. "Far left, back corner. Not a dangerous amount, will keep you posted."

"Got it," Coulson said. "Good work."

One more aisle to go down. Daisy took a step, then hesitated.

Being in underwear did add a certain... something to the otherwise rote mission. SHIELD wasn't all high stakes action, there was always far too much admin and inventory, and even if she'd done it before, it wasn't exactly something she'd enjoyed. She'd have been bored out of her mind by the end of the first row.

Now she was here, and she was feeling a little bit different. Her heart rate was a little bit faster - something she'd never been able to say about paperwork before - and it felt so unlike the usual.

Maybe that was a plus.

She walked down the next aisle, snapping pictures, exchanging a few words with Coulson, and made it back to the entrance-end of the building. She took out the scanner, took another reading - negative - and turned back around to walk down the next aisle.

And hesitated. She was still thinking about it. Official SHIELD business, in her underwear. No one could see.

Daisy paused for a moment, on instinct looking around again, and felt an odd smile playing at her lips. Well if no one was ever going to know...

Bras were uncomfortable. That was just a fact. They managed to be too tight and too lose all at once, to dig in at awkward angles despite her best efforts, and more often than not the first thing she did at the end of a long day was walk into her room, and tug hers off under her shirt. So in the interests of adding a little more spice to the tedious mission, and to get a bit more comfortable...

Daisy reached back, made quick work of the clasp, and slipped her bra off of her arms, baring her perfect breasts to the slightly musty air of the safehouse. She kept it dangling off of one wrist, balling the cups up to keep them in her hand with the pouch, and hesitated for a moment.

There was her heart again, nerves acting up just at the prospect of being naked, without any immediate worry about embarrassment. Alone. Just her. No one would ever know.

She was smiling a little, as much as the fact she was doing it as anything else.

One aisle. She could go down one aisle, just to see how it felt. Heart racing, Daisy started to move again.

Her hands were shaking a little as she did the requisite scans that time. She made doubly sure that every photo of a high-risk artifact showed absolutely none of her, not even her hands, starting to bite her lip.

"Can we get a better picture of that one?" Coulson's voice came through. "Right side, please."

"O-on it," Daisy said quickly. Face warm, she obliged, taking another photo of the artifact and sending it off.

He didn't know she was topless, Daisy told herself. No one did. Traipsing around an old SHIELD base in nothing panties and shoes.

Still, she made it down the aisle. It didn't take as long as she'd expected - it was good progress, already almost back to the elevator. Then she'd just have the far side of the site to do. Honestly, it probably seemed like it was going faster when she was wearing this little. She was so focused on the sense of exposure, being unused to nudity, that her mind had more to do than linger on boredom.

Scanner out, check the environment...

"More terrigen down the far end," Daisy said, activating her earpiece. "Definitely a diviner or something stored here. I don't think it's above the threshold, and it seems to all be at this end, but I wouldn't recommend any human personnel go too far down."

"Got it," Coulson said. "Mind going back and taking more readings when you're done? See how far down the aisles it stretches."

"Will get to it," Daisy said.

Another deep breath. Daisy walked back down the aisle, the idea of putting her bra back on not even occurring to her.

It was... a little thrilling. Certainly fresh, and she'd have taken any distraction just then. Her breath was a little faster, a little shakier, and her heart rate wasn't settling down at all.

Back to the entrance side, then back down, scan - more terrigen, though less of it, and then back up...

She was smiling a little, though it was an adrenaline-born smile, a 'can't believe I'm getting away with this,' grin. She made it back to the door she'd come in through, and took a second to feel her clothes - still damp.

And she hesitated. Well, if she really wanted to get the full experience, she supposed...

She hadn't worn her bra for a while. Okay, she sometimes had an arm over her chest to help hold the pouch, but she'd been basically topless. Holding onto her bra was something of a safety blanket though, even if she knew both that no one else was coming down her, and that she would take a few seconds to get it back on and would still be in her underwear, if someone did.

Daisy swallowed. Half a dozen more aisles to examine, and this was easily the most memorable inventory experience she'd had.

She untangled the bra straps from around her wrist, and left the garment on the floor by the table where her other clothes lay. Then, tentatively, she took a step away, bizarrely feeling all the more naked just without it in her hand.

Deep breath. Scan - safe for humans around here, as it always was this end - then linger, decide if she really wanted to put more distance between herself and her bra.

Oh, why not? A little shakily, Daisy took a step forwards.

There was a mystery box almost immediately. Daisy snapped a photo, then continued on -

"Take off the top?" Coulson's voice came through her earpiece.

Daisy squeaked, stumbling back, accidentally bumping into a shelf. Face hot, she stumbled forwards again, trying not to think about the press of the cold metal of the shelf against her thigh.

"What?" Daisy said.

"Everything alright?" Coulson said.

"What did you say?" Daisy said.

"Oh, the crate, can we get a look inside?" Coulson said. "Someone here thinks they know what it is. Just want to confirm."

"Oh. Oh, right," Daisy said, face still burning. "Made me jump, that's all."

Carefully, she edged forwards, and prised the top layer of the crate off. She snapped a photo of the odd knick-knack within, then backed away. She looked uncertainly at her bra and her clothes, not so far away.

No, she told herself. Don't panic. He wouldn't know if she didn't tell him. This was something to spice up the job, and then a story to tell no one (except maybe Bobbi when they'd been drinking, Daisy had a feeling she'd appreciate it).

"Very good, thanks," Coulson said.

Daisy clicked the earpiece off, and started walking again, every step putting more distance between her pantie-clad body, and her clothes. She could almost feel it, like some tangible thing in the air.

Still, she told herself, it was more interesting than her actual task.

And, unnoticed by her, a small machine lit up from where she'd bumped into its shelf. Quietly, slowly, it began to activate.