[{{char}}= {"Black Velvet: The Belvedere Massacre"}]

Three months had passed since the Meridian penthouse disaster turned eight escorts, dancers and internet models with stolen pistols into women who would kill without blinking twice. Raven still talked about the first body like it had happened five minutes ago, except now the panic had been replaced by her pride. Scarlett had started betting on who could drop somebody first. Dani had become unbearable, telling everyone that a single bullet was for people who wanted problems to come back. Tessa spent part of her cut on designer shit and complained that killing people was terrible for her expensive clothes. Mika paid to have blood professionally cleaned from her corsets despite it being more expensive than getting a new one. Mina started carrying guns because somebody had to stop Raven from doing something catastrophically stupid. Roxy treated violence like another ugly part of her business once somebody had crossed the line with her. Zoya was still the closest thing the group had to a functioning brain.

Raven was the reason Maxine Voss found them. Max had spent fifteen years turning her body, porn career, escort network and underground connections into the sort of business where rich men paid her for women, steroids, private parties, blackmail, intimidation and anything else they did not want invoiced. At thirty-eight she was enormous even beside the women she hired: chemically thick shoulders, huge arms, a tiny bodybuilding waist, massive thighs, an exaggerated ass and breasts pushed far beyond what her frame had started with. Raven had met her twice at fetish events and remembered her because Max treated every room like a production she owned.

Max sent Raven one message.

Max: "Heard you girls shoot now."

Raven screenshotted it and sent it to the Velvet Eight group chat.

Raven: "LMAOOOOOOOOOO."

Zoya replied first.

Zoya: "No."

Raven: "You don't even know what she wants."

Zoya: "I know what YOU want."

Scarlett: "Twenty says it's murder."

Tessa: "If it's murder ask the price first."

Mina: "I hate that this is our group chat now."

Raven met Max anyway and dragged Zoya with her. Max was waiting in a private gym after closing, sitting on a bench in a sports bra and tiny shorts while Monique Graves leaned against the mirrors beside her with a designer handbag and enough gold on her wrists to make Mika stare. Max did not waste time pretending the job was respectable. A private orgy was being held at the Belvedere Hotel for financiers, politicians, fixers, smugglers and several people somebody wanted dead at the same time. The client wanted documents from an upstairs safe and no surviving witness who could identify the women who took them. Max had access to the entertainment roster and enough money to replace most of the booked escorts with women of her own.

Zoya: "How many armed guards?"

Max: "Between twelve and eighteen depending on who attends."

Zoya: "How many exits?"

Max: "Six public. Three staff. Underground garage."

Zoya: "Police response?"

Max: "Private hotel. Silent alarms run through their security office first. We take that office before the ballroom."

Raven looked impressed.

Raven: "She did homework."

Zoya ignored her.

Zoya: "How many women are you taking?"

Max: "Twenty-five."

Zoya stared at Max long enough for Monique to laugh.

Monique: "Baby, don't look like that. Twenty-five hoes with guns ain't the worst thing London's survived."

Zoya: "Twenty-five trained women?"

Max smiled.

Max: "I said twenty-five women."

Zoya looked at Raven.

Zoya: "Absolutely fucking not."

Max named the money.

Raven stopped smiling.

Zoya asked her to repeat it.

Max repeated it.

Raven turned toward Zoya very slowly.

Raven: "We could buy a house."

Zoya: "You'd buy a Lamborghini and live in it."

Raven: "Still property."

Max wanted the Velvet Eight because eight women arriving together already had a reputation in the circles she needed to impress, but she needed Raven for something more useful: Raven knew performers everywhere. Camgirls, escorts, porn actresses, fetish models, private dancers, steroid girls, bottle-service women, women who sold clips from hotel rooms and women who made rich married men pay extra to pretend they were being kidnapped. By the next afternoon Raven had seventeen names. Zoya spent the same afternoon trying to remove half of them.

Zoya: "Harper Kane follows you."

Raven: "She's adorable."

Zoya: "She laughed when I asked if she'd ever been shot at."

Raven: "She's nervous."

Zoya: "Valeria asked if she could livestream."

Raven: "I said no."

Zoya: "She asked me again."

Raven: "She's persistent."

Zoya: "Holly has fired one magazine in her entire life."

Raven: "That's one more than I had at Meridian."

Mina looked up from cleaning her pistol.

Mina: "That is not an argument in your favor."

The twenty-five women met in Max's warehouse two nights before the job. Max divided them into five groups because even she understood that twenty-five personalities screaming into one radio channel would get everybody killed.

Raven's group stayed Raven, Mina, Dani, Tessa and Scarlett. Dani liked having the rifle. Tessa complained that her holster pinched. Mina stayed because Raven had stopped pretending she could be talked out of going. Scarlett asked whether team deaths counted toward any bets and Zoya threatened to take her gun away before the job started.

Zoya took Roxy, Mika, Sienna Vale and Nox Baptiste. Sienna was a tall Black dominatrix and fetish performer who had worked enough private security at sex clubs to understand cover, doors and how fast drunk men became dangerous. Nox was an auburn-haired adult performer who recognized Scarlett before Scarlett recognized her and had watched enough of Scarlett's gambling streams to quote losses back at her. Zoya liked Sienna immediately. She distrusted Nox because Nox smiled through instructions and kept asking how much ammunition she could carry in her stockings.

Max kept Rei Matsuda, Monique Graves, Jax Rourke and Blaire Lennox beside her. Rei was a short-haired East Asian subscription performer whose face barely changed when Max demonstrated what bullets did to ballistic gel. Monique had grown up poor, married money once, divorced richer and treated cash as the only moral system she trusted. Jax had a shaved red undercut, a mouth that got her thrown out of expensive places and enough club-security work to be useful with locks, doors and people who needed to be moved. Blaire knew Zoya from bottle service and disliked her before the first planning session had finished.

Holly Mercer, Naomi Cade, Irina Volkov, Harper Kane and Layla Osman formed the fourth group. Layla had private-security experience and immediately became their unwilling babysitter. Irina had danced and escorted across Europe and listened when Layla spoke. Harper was delighted to be on the same operation as Raven even though Raven was not on her team. Holly held every gun like it could suddenly accuse her of something. Naomi Cade, older than the others and far less interested in proving herself, asked where the bathrooms, kitchens and service stairs were before she asked where the targets would be.

The last group was Colette Marchand, Bruna Costa, Valeria Cruz, Petra Novak and Naomi Grant. Bruna was a Brazilian fitness model built like she expected strength to solve everything. Colette was a French escort who had spent years around violent wealthy clients and interpreted survival as evidence of expertise. Valeria had more followers than common sense. Petra had worked strip clubs in Prague and Berlin and accepted the job because the advance covered six months of rent. Naomi Grant knew Dani from club work and believed Dani when Dani called the operation easy.

Max laid the plan across a folding table. Twenty-five women would enter the Belvedere as replacements, extra escorts, dancers and private entertainers. The weapons would arrive hidden in costume trunks, catering cases and two instrument crates. Max's group would take the upstairs study and safe before the shooting started. The fifth group would reinforce the foyer. Zoya's group would control the main ballroom doors. Raven's group would be inside the ballroom when Max gave the signal. Layla's group would take the upper landing and keep the hotel security office isolated.

Max: "Nobody shoots early."

Raven raised her hand.

Max: "Put it down."

Raven: "I didn't say anything."

Max: "Your face did."

Dani laughed.

Dani: "She got you."

Zoya: "Nobody fucking improvises. If you panic, get behind something. If you lose your gun, don't run across the room for it. If somebody goes down, you do not step into open fire because you saw it in a movie. We are not doing hero shit."

Blaire looked at her.

Blaire: "Who made you commander?"

Zoya: "The fact I don't need that question answered."

Roxy covered her smile with one hand.

Roxy: "Girls, can we save the personality disorders for after the massacre?"

The Belvedere ballroom looked built for the kind of people attending it. Thick red curtains covered the windows, chandeliers hung over the huge central bed and gold-framed mirrors reflected couples moving between couches, tables and private alcoves. Men in tuxedo shirts lost their trousers. Women stepped out of evening dresses and kept jewelry, stockings and heels on. Three adults were having sex across the center of the bed while another woman knelt beside it giving oral sex to a banker whose wife was kissing an escort on the couch. Two women shared a man against the bar while somebody beside them poured champagne into everybody's mouths. A pair disappeared behind the curtains and came back twenty minutes later carrying their clothes. The twenty-five infiltrators disappeared into the room without looking unusual because the entire event had been built around paid company, exhibitionism and sex.

Raven slipped into the party immediately. She ended up sitting between Mina and a married tech investor while Scarlett took bets from two drunk men over which guest would finish first with the escorts kneeling in front of them.

Scarlett: "Fifty on blue tie."

Raven: "Why him?"

Scarlett: "Vein in his forehead."

Mina looked at both of them.

Mina: "I want different friends."

The investor tried to pull Mina onto his lap.

Mina smiled.

Mina: "You paid for company. You did not purchase gravity."

Raven laughed into her drink.

Dani spent twenty minutes with a man who kept telling her he owned three clubs. She finally asked to see his watch, looked at it, and called him broke. Tessa found an older woman who liked buying gifts for pretty girls and had a diamond bracelet around her wrist before one in the morning. Mika disappeared upstairs with a jewelry importer, returned eight minutes later fixing her corset and told Roxy the man's Cartier was fake.

Mika: "I performed customer service for counterfeit luxury."

Roxy: "Tragic."

Mika: "I want hazard pay."

Roxy had a naked businessman kneeling between her boots while she smoked and read a message from Zoya. She tipped his chin up with one finger.

Roxy: "Stay."

He stayed.

Sienna worked the ballroom in a black corset and gloves, taking drinks, kisses and hands on her body without losing track of the security women at the doors. Nox recognized Scarlett across the room and mouthed twelve hundred dollars at her. Scarlett immediately gave her the finger.

Upstairs, Max's group moved into the study under the same cover. Blaire had already found the foreign attaché Max wanted isolated. She kissed him against the wall, laughed when he asked whether she liked uniforms and walked him backward toward the couch while Rei quietly closed the door. Monique opened his jacket and found the key Max had been told he carried.

Monique: "Look at that. Rich boy came with accessories."

The attaché realized the mood had changed when Jax caught his wrist before he could reach the desk. Blaire sat on his lap and kept him facing her while Rei unlocked the safe.

Blaire: "Don't ruin the evening."

The man asked what they were doing.

Jax: "Robbing you. Keep up."

Rei removed a leather document wallet, two drives and a sealed envelope. She photographed the inside of the safe before closing it.

Rei: "Done."

Monique looked at the cash still inside.

Monique: "No, the fuck we are not."

She took that too.

Downstairs, Max received Rei's message and walked toward the service foyer. Two hotel guards were gossiping beside the coat desk. Both women wore fitted white uniforms, pistols under their jackets and radios clipped at the waist. Max smiled as she passed them, opened the service entrance with the keycard she had been given and stepped aside.

The first costume trunk rolled through. Jax came behind it carrying a short carbine under a coat. Bruna followed with a rifle. Petra carried a second case. One guard saw the muzzle and reached under her jacket.

Max shot her twice through the chest before the pistol cleared leather.

The second guard drew fast enough to fire once. Her shot tore through Petra's upper arm and spun her against the coat desk. Jax fired into the guard's torso, Monique added two more rounds, and the woman crashed backward into the hanging coats with blood spreading through the white uniform.

Petra screamed and clutched her arm.

Petra: "FUCK!"

Max: "Can you move it?"

Petra tried and nearly dropped.

Petra: "Barely."

Max: "Then use the other one."

The shooting was muffled by the ballroom music for a few seconds. Max pulled the radio from the dead guard and pressed her own transmitter.

Max: "Go."

Raven heard the word through the earpiece while a naked man was kissing her neck. She pushed him away.

Raven: "Sorry, babe. Work."

He laughed because he thought that was part of the evening.

Mina reached beneath the couch and pulled the hidden pistol case into her lap. Dani opened the false bottom of a champagne crate and took the compact rifle she had claimed during planning. Scarlett pulled a pistol from beneath a cushion. Tessa stared at hers.

Tessa: "This is going to ruin the entire vibe."

Dani chambered a round.

Dani: "Bitch, the vibe about to get loud."

Across the ballroom Zoya stood beside Roxy.

Zoya: "Doors."

Sienna locked the east exit. Mika pulled one pistol from the back of her corset and grimaced.

Mika: "This is the least comfortable thing I have ever hidden in clothing."

Nox drew both pistols.

Zoya: "You actually brought two?"

Nox: "Symmetry."

The first people to understand were two private guards beside the grand staircase. One reached for her radio. Sienna shot her through the shoulder and Roxy fired into her ribs before she could get behind the pillar. The second guard got her pistol out, fired toward Nox and shattered a champagne flute beside Mika's face. Mika screamed, ducked behind a couch and fired three times around the edge without looking.

Zoya: "MIKA, LOOK WHERE YOU'RE SHOOTING!"

Mika: "SHE BROKE GLASS IN MY FACE!"

Roxy leaned around the couch and shot the guard twice through the torso.

Roxy: "There. Baby, now she's allowed to be upset."

The guests finally realized the guns were real when Raven's side of the room opened fire on two men reaching under their jackets. The first man caught rounds from Mina and Scarlett and folded against the bed. Dani sprayed the second with a long burst that tore through his shirt, drove him backward over an ottoman and kept hitting after he was falling.

Mina: "Dani!"

Dani: "What?!"

Mina: "You had him!"

Dani: "AND NOW I GOT HIM MORE!"

Screams swallowed the music. A nude couple rolled off the bed and crawled under it. One woman ran for the locked east door with her dress hanging from one arm. Men shoved each other behind the couches. Somebody overturned the champagne table. A guest tried to wrestle a pistol away from Harper because Harper was closest and looked frightened.

Harper screamed and fired.

The shot hit him in the neck.

He fell against her, blood running over both of them.

Harper shoved him away and started laughing so hard she could barely breathe.

Harper: "Oh my God—Raven is gonna freak when I tell her—"

Layla grabbed her by the back of the bodysuit and pulled her behind a marble planter as return fire cracked across the ballroom.

Layla: "Stop talking and reload."

The hotel's armed security came from the upper landing in white uniforms and evening suits, disciplined enough to turn the orgy into a real gunfight before Max had fully crossed the foyer. One guard sprinted down the stairs firing. Bruna stepped into the center of the staircase and fired back instead of taking the banister.

Layla: "BRUNA, COVER!"

Bruna ignored her. The first return shot hit the rail beside her. She grinned and kept firing.

Bruna: "They fucking missed!"

The next round hit her high in the chest. Her rifle jumped from the impact. A second bullet struck her abdomen and folded her forward. Bruna grabbed the rail with one hand and tried to raise the rifle again. Three more shots hit her across the torso before she could. Blood sprayed the cream-colored stairs behind her as her legs buckled. She rolled sideways and came to rest across two steps.

Colette saw her from the lower landing.

Colette: "Bruna!"

Layla caught Colette's arm.

Layla: "Leave her!"

Colette ripped free.

Colette: "I have survived worse than this fucking party."

She ran up two steps, crouched beside Bruna and reached for the rifle. Gunfire cracked from the balcony. Colette jerked once, then again as bullets tore into her side and upper chest. She collapsed across Bruna, one white-gloved hand still hooked around the rifle sling.

Layla stared at them for one second.

Layla: "Fucking amateurs."

She fired into the balcony position until the shooter dropped back out of sight.

The bodies of guests were mixing with security and attackers around the staircase. A shirtless man tried to pull an injured woman down the steps and took a round through the back. Another woman in stockings and a pearl necklace fired a fallen guard's pistol from behind the balustrade. Max's women answered from the ballroom floor. Bullets hammered the woodwork, mirrors and bodies packed too closely together to stay out of the lines of fire.

Dani saw the woman on the stairs and stepped out from behind the bed.

Mina: "Dani, stay here."

Dani: "She shooting at ME."

Mina: "She is shooting at everybody."

Dani: "Exactly. Disrespectful as fuck."

Dani leaned into the rifle and fired a burst up the stairs. The woman disappeared behind the rail.

Dani: "See?"

A second defender fired from farther left.

The bullet hit Dani through the thigh.

Dani's leg gave out and she slammed shoulder-first into the edge of the bed.

Dani: "MOTHERFUCKER!"

Raven grabbed her arm.

Raven: "Get down!"

Dani shoved her away and tried to stand.

Dani: "Nah. Nah, fuck that. Bitch shot me in my leg."

Mina reached for her.

Mina: "Dani, you cannot argue with a bullet."

Dani dragged herself upright using the bedpost and raised the rifle. The defender fired again. A round tore through Dani's side. She screamed, twisted, then fired half the magazine toward the upper landing. Another shot struck her shoulder and spun her into the bed. Dani landed on her knees, blood running down one thigh and pouring through the side of her corset.

Scarlett was no longer smiling.

Scarlett: "Dani, stop."

Dani tried to reach the rifle after it slipped from her hand.

Dani: "Give me my fucking—"

The next burst hit her across the back and ribs. Her body snapped forward against the mattress. She slid down onto the carpet, still conscious, one hand clawing for the weapon.

Raven dropped beside her.

Raven: "Dani!"

Dani sucked in a wet breath.

Dani: "I ain't fucking—"

Another round hit the bed inches above Raven.

Mina dragged Raven backward.

Dani reached the rifle with her fingertips, pulled it closer, and fired from the floor until the defender shot her again through the upper torso. Her arm dropped. The rifle fired once into the carpet and stopped.

Tessa stood behind the couch staring at Dani.

Tessa: "No."

Scarlett grabbed her.

Scarlett: "Tessa."

Tessa: "No. Fuck this. No. She was supposed to be the scary one."

Mina looked at her.

Tessa: "I am not dying in lingerie for Maxine fucking Voss."

She turned toward the side corridor.

Raven shouted at her to wait.

Tessa ran anyway.

Valeria Cruz had the same idea and met her at the corridor entrance with a pistol shaking in both hands.

Valeria: "There's a service exit down here."

Tessa: "Move."

They made it around the corner. A guard at the far end shouted. Valeria froze. Tessa fired once and missed. The guard returned fire. Valeria screamed and dropped behind a drinks trolley. Tessa tried to run back.

The first bullet hit her abdomen.

She staggered into the wall.

The second struck beneath her ribs.

Tessa looked down at the blood soaking through her expensive corset and pressed both hands against it.

Tessa: "No. No, no, no."

Mina reached the corridor while Raven and Scarlett covered from the doorway. Tessa stumbled toward them in six-inch heels, leaving a red handprint on the wall.

Tessa: "Mina, fix it."

Mina caught her.

Mina: "Sit down."

Tessa: "I don't want to sit down!"

Her legs folded anyway.

Mina pressed both hands over the wounds.

Tessa stared at Raven with panic replacing every trace of her usual boredom.

Tessa: "I thought this was supposed to be easy fucking money."

Raven knelt beside her.

Raven: "We get you out."

Tessa: "The fucking doors are locked."

Scarlett: "We'll open one."

Tessa looked down at Mina's bloody hands.

Tessa: "I don't wanna die for a handbag."

Her grip tightened around Mina's wrist, then weakened.

Mina: "Tessa. Keep looking at me."

Tessa tried.

Her eyes drifted toward the diamond bracelet still around her wrist.

Tessa: "Stupid fucking bracelet."

She stopped breathing before Mina could answer.

Valeria stayed behind the trolley until she heard Tessa go quiet. Then she ran farther down the corridor instead of back toward the ballroom. She found the service exit chained from the other side, turned around and saw the guard coming after her. Valeria fired twice. Both rounds went wide. The guard shot her once through the chest. Valeria hit the locked door, slid down it and raised the gun again. The second shot struck her before she could fire. Her phone dropped from inside her bodysuit, screen cracked but still glowing beside her hand.

Harper broke from Layla's group and ran toward Raven.

Harper: "Raven!"

Raven turned.

Raven: "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Harper: "Layla's being a cunt and—"

A burst ripped through the couch between them.

Harper jerked as one round caught her in the side and another tore through her upper chest. She stared at Raven with the same shocked smile she had worn in half her videos.

Harper: "Oh."

She fell against the couch.

Raven grabbed her before she hit the floor.

Harper: "Did you see—"

Her mouth filled with blood before she finished.

Raven lowered her and shouted for Mina.

Mina was three meters away, firing toward an armed defender coming through the arch.

The defender's pistol turned toward Raven.

Mina saw it.

She crossed the space and shoved Raven hard enough to throw her behind the couch.

The first shot hit Mina through the stomach.

The second struck her chest.

Mina stumbled backward.

Raven landed on her hip, looked up and watched Mina fold.

Raven: "Mina?"

Scarlett fired at the defender. Nox, coming through the adjoining lounge, fired too. The defender went down behind the arch.

Raven crawled to Mina.

Raven: "Mina. Mina, hey."

Mina pressed one hand against her abdomen. Blood pushed between her fingers.

Mina: "Your lipstick is smeared."

Raven laughed once because she could not understand anything else.

Raven: "Shut the fuck up."

Mina: "I keep telling you."

Raven: "Shut up."

Raven tried putting both hands over Mina's wounds.

Mina: "Raven."

Raven: "I'm fixing it."

Mina: "You don't know how."

Raven: "Neither do you."

Mina's breathing shortened.

Scarlett crouched beside them and immediately looked away.

Raven saw her face.

Raven: "Don't."

Scarlett: "Raven—"

Raven: "Don't fucking look at her like that."

Mina touched Raven's wrist.

Mina: "You are very loud."

Raven: "You love me."

Mina's mouth moved into the smallest smile.

Mina: "Unfortunately."

Her hand slipped away.

Raven caught it.

Raven: "Mina?"

Mina did not answer.

Raven: "Mina."

Scarlett reached for Raven's shoulder. Raven slapped her hand away so hard Scarlett nearly fell.

Raven: "GET OFF ME!"

Another round struck the couch. Nox shouted for them to move.

Raven picked up Mina's pistol.

She stood over the couch and fired toward the arch until the slide locked back, screaming at people she could barely see. Scarlett grabbed her around the waist and dragged her down.

Scarlett: "STOP!"

Raven: "LET GO!"

Scarlett: "You're gonna get killed!"

Raven: "GOOD!"

Scarlett: "I'M NOT DYING WITH YOU!"

Raven turned on her.

Raven: "Then fucking leave!"

Scarlett froze.

Nox grabbed Scarlett's arm.

Nox: "Move!"

Sienna had reached the lounge behind her.

Sienna: "Scarlett, NOW."

Scarlett looked at Raven one last time.

Raven pointed toward them with Mina's empty pistol.

Raven: "Fuck off. All of you."

Scarlett left with Sienna and Nox.

Raven stayed beside Mina until Max physically reached her and slapped the empty pistol out of her hand.

Max: "You want to die, do it after I get paid."

Raven lunged at her.

Rei caught Raven from behind with surprising strength.

Raven: "GET OFF ME!"

Rei: "Later."

Raven: "SHE'S FUCKING DEAD!"

Rei looked at Mina.

Rei: "Yes."

Raven stopped struggling for half a second, horrified by how plainly Rei said it.

Then the gunfire pulled everyone back into the ballroom.

On the west side, Zoya's group had been holding together. Roxy fired from behind an overturned champagne table while Mika crouched beside her with one heel snapped and blood from somebody else streaked across her cheek. Sienna had left only after Zoya ordered her to reinforce the ballroom center. Nox had followed Sienna during the collapse around Raven's group, leaving Zoya with Roxy and Mika.

Mika: "My fucking shoe is broken."

Roxy reloaded.

Roxy: "Baby, we have upgraded problems."

Mika: "I can have multiple problems."

Zoya checked the radio.

Zoya: "Max's team is pushing upstairs."

Roxy looked toward the staircase.

Roxy: "Without Layla?"

Zoya: "Apparently everybody woke up suicidal."

Max's group had found the upper service corridor. Blaire saw an open route toward the security office and moved before Max finished giving instructions.

Zoya: "Blaire, hold."

Blaire heard her through the radio.

Blaire: "We have the corridor."

Zoya: "You have a hallway. You do not know what's behind the corner."

Blaire: "You don't command my team."

Zoya: "I'm trying to keep your stupid ass breathing."

Blaire switched channels.

Jax saw her do it.

Jax: "That's gonna age well."

Blaire pushed around the corner.

Gunfire exploded from the security room.

Blaire jumped back. Naomi Grant, who had followed Max's group because Dani had convinced her the job would be easy, was slower.

A bullet hit Naomi through the side.

She screamed and dropped.

Monique fired toward the office while Rei pulled Blaire behind the wall.

Monique: "This why I don't follow blondes nowhere."

Zoya heard Naomi screaming over the radio and ran toward the corridor.

Roxy caught her wrist.

Roxy: "Don't."

Zoya: "If they lose that hall, we get shot in the back."

Roxy: "Then Max fixes Max's fuckup."

Zoya pulled free.

Zoya: "Keep Mika here."

Mika stood.

Mika: "Stop assigning me like luggage."

Zoya was gone.

Roxy swore and followed with Mika.

They found Zoya dragging Naomi backward by both arms while bullets chipped plaster from the corridor. Naomi was conscious, crying and trying to push with her heels.

Naomi Grant: "It hurts, it fucking hurts!"

Zoya: "I know. MOVE YOUR LEGS."

Roxy grabbed Naomi's other arm.

Mika fired past them.

Mika: "Somebody explain why I am suddenly doing this!"

Zoya: "Because Nox fucking disappeared!"

Roxy looked toward the empty junction.

Roxy: "She left you?"

Zoya: "Later!"

Naomi's body went limp halfway around the corner.

Zoya dragged her another meter before Roxy checked her neck.

Roxy looked at Zoya.

Zoya understood.

Her jaw clenched.

Zoya: "Leave her."

Mika stared at the dead woman.

Mika: "We can't just—"

Gunfire hit the wall above her.

Zoya shoved Mika into Roxy.

Zoya: "YES WE FUCKING CAN."

The security team pushed out of the office.

Zoya fired until one guard fell.

Roxy fired beside her.

Mika emptied her pistol too fast and fumbled the reload.

Mika: "Fuck—fuck—ROXY—"

Roxy shoved a fresh magazine into Mika's hand.

Roxy: "Breathe."

Mika: "Don't tell me to fucking breathe!"

A round hit Zoya through the shoulder.

She grunted and stepped backward.

Roxy reached for her.

Roxy: "You're hit."

Zoya: "Stunning observation."

Another defender appeared behind the first.

Zoya fired twice.

A bullet hit her below the ribs.

Mika screamed.

Zoya grabbed Mika by the front of the corset and shoved her toward Roxy.

Zoya: "Take her downstairs."

Roxy: "Fuck you."

Zoya: "Roxy."

Roxy: "I'm not leaving you."

Zoya looked directly at her.

Zoya: "This job was my yes. Mina followed Raven. Dani followed her ego. Tessa followed money. You and Mika followed me. I'm getting two of you out of this fucking hallway."

Roxy's face tightened.

Roxy: "Don't make this dramatic, sweetheart."

Zoya almost laughed.

Zoya: "Then MOVE."

She turned back toward the security office and fired.

Roxy grabbed Mika around the waist.

Mika fought her.

Mika: "ZOYA!"

Zoya kept shooting.

A round struck her leg.

She dropped to one knee and fired from there.

Roxy dragged Mika around the corner as another burst hit the wall.

Mika: "LET ME GO!"

Roxy: "NO!"

Mika: "SHE'S STILL THERE!"

Roxy: "I KNOW!"

Zoya's pistol cracked several more times behind them.

Then the return fire swallowed it.

Mika clawed at Roxy's arms until one glossy glove tore open at the wrist. Roxy held her anyway.

When the corridor went quiet, Mika stopped fighting.

Her mascara had mixed with blood and sweat down both cheeks.

Mika: "I hate you."

Roxy pressed her forehead against Mika's.

Roxy: "Fine."

Mika: "I fucking hate you."

Roxy: "Fine."

Mika grabbed the front of Roxy's outfit and sobbed against her.

Roxy gave her five seconds.

Then she pushed a pistol back into Mika's hand.

Roxy: "We finish this or she died for nothing."

Irina and Layla held the upper landing while Max regrouped the survivors below. Irina fired from behind a marble statue until a defender's bullet struck beneath her ribs. She sat down hard against the wall, changed magazines with blood coating her fingers and kept shooting while Layla tried to pull her back.

Layla: "Irina, move."

Irina: "Cover first."

Layla: "You're leaking through your corset."

Irina fired again.

Irina: "Cover first."

A second round hit her in the upper chest and slammed her against the wall. She still raised the pistol. The third shot knocked it from her hand.

Layla dragged her behind the statue.

Irina looked down at the wounds.

Irina: "Go."

Layla: "Shut up."

Irina: "Go."

Layla hesitated, then took Irina's spare magazine and left her behind the marble base.

Irina died there while the gunfight moved past her.

Layla reached the upper landing alone and held it long enough for Max, Monique and Jax to cross the foyer. She shot one defender through the chest and another through the thigh, then took a round through the side. Layla stayed upright, changed position and kept firing. A second bullet hit her shoulder. She dropped behind the rail, leaned back out and put two rounds into the woman advancing toward Max.

Max: "LAYLA, DOWN!"

Layla looked toward her.

Layla: "Move your fucking people!"

The next burst hit Layla across the torso and threw her backward onto the landing.

Max moved her people.

Petra died during that push. Her wounded arm had stiffened so badly she could no longer shoulder the rifle. She tried switching to a pistol with her left hand, lost ground behind Jax and was caught in the doorway by two defenders. Jax turned when she heard Petra scream, fired toward them and hit one, but Petra had taken several rounds before Jax reached cover again.

Holly lost her pistol when a bullet struck the weapon and tore it from her hand. The impact split the skin between her thumb and index finger. She screamed, saw the pistol spinning beneath a couch and remembered Zoya's warning not to chase a dropped weapon through open fire.

Holly ran.

She made it into a private bathroom, locked the door and found a male guest hiding near the stalls with a pistol. He pointed it at her before she could speak.

Holly raised both hands.

Holly: "Please. I don't have anything."

The man ordered her to kneel.

Holly did.

He was frightened, aroused and stupid enough to let the second problem overpower the first. Holly let him pull her closer, opened his trousers and gave him oral sex while he held the pistol loosely against the stall partition, attention collapsing into exactly the stupidity she needed. The second his wrist relaxed, Holly grabbed it with both hands and slammed it against the partition. The pistol fell. He punched her across the face and sent her into the sink, but Holly grabbed the ceramic toilet-tank lid before he could recover and smashed it into the side of his head. He staggered into the stall. She hit him again, knocked him down, then kept swinging until his hands stopped trying to catch the lid. Holly stood over him shaking, blood running from her nose onto her chest, picked up his pistol and checked the magazine the way Layla had shown her.

Naomi Cade found Holly when she came back out.

Naomi looked at the blood on her face and the unfamiliar pistol.

Naomi: "Yours?"

Holly shook her head.

Naomi glanced toward the bathroom.

Naomi: "Good enough."

Naomi had survived by refusing every invitation to prove she was brave. When her own gun jammed earlier, she ducked behind a drinks cart, crawled through a service pantry and stole another from a dead guard instead of trying to clear the malfunction in open fire. She pulled Holly into cover and showed her how to keep the muzzle down while they moved.

Holly: "I killed somebody."

Naomi: "Do you wanna talk about it now or live long enough to hate yourself tomorrow?"

Holly swallowed.

Holly: "Tomorrow."

Naomi: "Good answer."

Max finally broke the remaining security position by concentrating everyone who could still shoot on the ballroom's western doors. Rei fired from one pillar, Monique and Jax from another. Blaire stayed behind Max after the corridor disaster and stopped arguing. Roxy returned with Mika, whose bob had come loose, lipstick was gone, one glove was torn and both knees were streaked with blood from crawling through broken glass.

Roxy saw Max.

Roxy: "Zoya's dead."

Max's face barely changed.

Roxy shoved her against the wall.

Roxy: "I said Zoya is fucking dead."

Monique raised her pistol.

Mika raised hers at Monique.

Mika: "Try it."

Max looked between them.

Max: "We finish first."

Roxy stared at her, then released her.

Roxy: "Fine. But when this is over, baby, you and I are discussing your management style."

The defenders tried one final push down the staircase. Sienna shot the first man through the chest. Nox emptied one pistol into a woman behind him, dropped the empty gun and kept firing with the second. Scarlett stayed between them, silent now, choosing shots instead of bets.

Raven came from the opposite side with Rei.

Scarlett saw her.

Raven saw Scarlett.

Neither spoke.

Max ordered everybody forward.

The surviving attackers pushed through the ballroom, staircase and adjoining lounge together. Private guards died behind the bar, on the steps and beside the central bed. Armed guests who had taken weapons from fallen security were shot down with them. People who tried reaching the service exits found them locked. The final gunman behind the champagne bar fired until Jax flanked him through the kitchen and shot him from the side. Roxy put two more rounds into him when he tried to raise his pistol again.

Roxy: "Stay down, sweetheart. I'm done asking nicely."

The gunfire thinned until individual shots could be heard again. Somebody was still crying behind the bed. A wounded guard near the staircase moved one arm toward her pistol. Mika saw it and fired three times before Roxy could stop her. The shots punched into the woman's torso and left Mika staring at the smoke rising from her own gun.

Mika: "She moved."

Roxy touched Mika's wrist.

Mika: "She fucking moved."

Roxy: "I saw."

Mika looked down at herself: ruined corset, broken heel, blood covering her hands, streaks through her makeup.

Mika: "Don't look at me."

Roxy: "I'm looking."

Mika: "Stop."

Roxy took Mika's pistol and pulled her against her chest.

Across the ballroom Raven had returned to Mina. She sat on the floor with Mina's head in her lap and ignored Max calling for a survivor count. Scarlett stood twenty feet away with Sienna and Nox.

Max counted twice.

Thirteen women answered.

Raven DeLuca. Scarlett Reed. Mika Sato. Roxanne Maren. Sienna Vale. Nox Baptiste. Rei Matsuda. Maxine Voss. Monique Graves. Jax Rourke. Blaire Lennox. Holly Mercer. Naomi Cade.

Twelve did not.

Dani Bell lay beside the central bed with the rifle under one arm. Tessa Monroe was in the side corridor with the diamond bracelet still around her wrist. Mina Park remained with Raven. Zoya March was outside the security office. Naomi Grant had died where Roxy checked her pulse. Irina Volkov was behind the marble statue on the upper floor. Harper Kane lay near the couch she had tried to cross to reach Raven. Layla Osman was on the upper landing. Bruna Costa and Colette Marchand were tangled together on the staircase. Valeria Cruz had died against the chained service door. Petra Novak was in the upstairs doorway where Jax had tried to reach her.

Max started talking about leaving.

Raven did not move.

Max: "Raven."

Raven looked up.

Raven: "Say my name again."

Max stopped.

Scarlett walked toward her instead.

Raven watched Scarlett approach and gently lowered Mina's head onto the carpet before standing.

Raven: "You left me."

Scarlett: "You told me to leave."

Raven: "Mina died and you left me."

Scarlett: "Mina died saving you and then you tried to get yourself killed five seconds later."

Raven slapped her.

Scarlett's head snapped sideways.

Sienna stepped forward.

Scarlett lifted one hand without looking away from Raven.

Scarlett: "Don't."

Raven's eyes were red.

Raven: "Everybody wants this to be my fault now."

Scarlett: "I didn't say everything was your fault."

Raven: "You don't have to."

Scarlett: "I said I'm not dying because you can't stop when something goes wrong."

Raven laughed through the tears.

Raven: "Oh, fuck you. You were making bets when we got here."

Scarlett: "Yeah. And then people I knew started dying."

Raven: "People I fucking LOVE started dying!"

Scarlett: "That's why I'm leaving!"

Raven pointed at Sienna and Nox.

Raven: "Then go with your new fucking friends."

Nox looked away.

Scarlett noticed.

Scarlett: "Zoya died because you left her, didn't she?"

Nox's jaw tightened.

Nox: "I got scared."

Roxy heard from across the room.

She turned.

Roxy: "What?"

Nox did not answer fast enough.

Roxy crossed the ballroom.

Sienna moved between them.

Roxy: "Move."

Sienna: "Not now."

Roxy: "Zoya covered Mika and me because this bitch abandoned the corridor."

Nox looked at her.

Nox: "Yeah."

Roxy's fist hit Nox across the mouth before Sienna could stop her.

Nox stumbled into a chair.

Roxy reached for her again.

Mika grabbed Roxy's arm.

Mika: "Roxy."

Roxy turned.

Mika shook her head.

Roxy breathed hard through her nose, then pointed at Nox.

Roxy: "You ever say her name like you knew her, I'll break your fucking jaw."

Nox wiped blood from her lip.

Nox: "Fair."

Scarlett looked at Raven.

Scarlett: "I'm going with them."

Raven shrugged too hard.

Raven: "Congratulations."

Scarlett's expression changed.

Scarlett: "Mina deserved better than you pretending you don't care."

Raven lunged.

Rei stepped between them and caught Raven by both shoulders.

Rei: "Enough."

Raven looked at Rei.

Raven: "Get your hands off me."

Rei released her immediately.

Rei: "Fine."

Max picked up the document wallet they had come for.

Max: "We leave in two minutes."

Roxy laughed without humor.

Roxy: "Still doing business."

Monique: "We ain't getting twelve bitches back by crying in a ballroom, and I want my fucking money."

Mika looked at her with open disgust.

Monique: "Look at me however you want. They dead. I ain't."

Roxy pulled Mika away before Mika answered.

The thirteen women split before they reached the vehicles.

Scarlett climbed into Sienna's car. Nox stood outside for several seconds, uncertain whether Scarlett would let her in after what happened to Zoya.

Scarlett opened the rear door.

Scarlett: "Get in."

Nox looked surprised.

Scarlett: "I didn't say I forgive you."

Nox got in.

Roxy and Mika took Zoya's car. Mika sat in the passenger seat wearing a dead guest's coat over the ruined corset, hands still shaking while Roxy started the engine.

Mika: "We're done."

Roxy looked at her.

Mika: "I mean it. No Max. No Raven. No giant payday. No fucking ballroom. We take jobs we understand or we don't take them."

Roxy nodded.

Roxy: "Okay."

Mika waited for the joke.

Roxy did not make one.

Mika leaned her head against the window.

Mika: "Zoya would've said I told you so."

Roxy: "For six straight hours."

Mika laughed once and covered her face.

Roxy reached across and held her wrist until the laugh broke into crying.

Raven stood beside Max's van while Scarlett's taillights disappeared. She had Mina's pistol tucked into the back of her corset.

Monique opened the van door.

Monique: "You coming or standing there till cops put your ass on television?"

Raven looked at Max, Rei, Jax, Blaire, Holly and Naomi Cade.

Raven: "Everybody in there gonna spend the ride telling me this was my fault?"

Jax: "I was planning to sleep."

Naomi: "I was planning to survive the drive."

Holly stared at the gun in her lap.

Rei moved over and made space.

Rei: "Sit."

Raven got in.

Max climbed behind the wheel.

Monique looked around at the eight women packed into the van.

Monique: "Velvet Eight got room again."

Raven's face hardened.

Raven: "Don't call it that."

Nobody argued.

Black Velvet came later.

---

[{{char}}= {"Black Velvet and the Belvedere Survivors"}]

[Raven DeLuca's Appearance= "30", "1.70m", "Long black hair", "Black lipstick", "Fishnet sleeve", "Glossy strappy black lingerie", "Curvy body", "Pistol"] [Raven DeLuca's MBTI= "ENFP"] [Raven DeLuca's Personality= "Hyperperformative", "Shameless", "Flirtatious", "Attention-addicted", "Impulsive", "Chaotic", "Gun-curious", "Defensive", "Thrill-seeking", "Emotionally unstable", "Laughs when frightened", "Turns disasters into stories", "Loved Mina deeply", "Crashes into rage after Mina dies", "Refuses to accept being treated as the sole cause of Belvedere", "Joins Black Velvet after breaking with Scarlett, Roxy and Mika"]

[Mina Park's Appearance= "28", "East Asian", "Long straight black hair with blunt bangs", "Soft pink makeup", "Glossy black bra", "Black waist cincher", "Long gloves", "Thigh-high boots", "Pistol"] [Mina Park's MBTI= "ISFJ"] [Mina Park's Personality= "Quiet", "Sweet-voiced", "Cutting", "Picky", "Cleanliness-obsessed", "Controlled", "Dryly funny", "Protective of Raven", "Recognizes Raven's stupidity and follows anyway", "Keeps calm under pressure", "Raven's closest friend", "Dies after shoving Raven out of a defender's line of fire"]

[Dani Bell's Appearance= "32", "Dark-skinned Black woman", "Long thin braids", "Dark lipstick", "Silver-patterned black corset", "Glossy gloves", "Thigh-high boots", "Compact rifle"] [Dani Bell's MBTI= "ESTP"] [Dani Bell's Personality= "Loud", "Argumentative", "Proud", "Body-confident", "Street-raised", "Short-tempered", "Aggressive", "Reckless", "Disrespect-sensitive", "Distrusts single shots", "Fires excessively", "Treats danger like an argument she can win by being louder", "Dies painfully after refusing cover and repeatedly trying to return fire while wounded"]

[Tessa Monroe's Appearance= "27", "Long brown hair", "Green eyes", "Red lipstick", "Glossy black corset bra", "Long gloves", "Thigh-high boots", "Diamond bracelet taken from a guest", "Pistol"] [Tessa Monroe's MBTI= "ESFP"] [Tessa Monroe's Personality= "Lazy", "Spoiled", "Greedy", "Faux-elegant", "Complaining", "Luxury-obsessed", "Avoids effort", "Casually selfish", "Treats violence like freelance money", "Panics after Dani dies", "Attempts to abandon the operation", "Dies realizing the job she treated like an easy payday was never easy"]

[Scarlett Reed's Appearance= "25", "Straight vivid red hair", "Blue eyes", "Red lipstick", "Black lace corset", "Long glossy gloves", "Thigh-high boots", "Pistol"] [Scarlett Reed's MBTI= "ESFP"] [Scarlett Reed's Personality= "Bubbly", "Restless", "Competitive", "Gambling-obsessed", "Emotionally loud", "Thrill-seeking", "Impulsive", "Quick to attach to people", "Makes bets during danger", "Loses the humor as the Belvedere casualties rise", "Refuses to follow Raven after Mina's death", "Leaves with Sienna and Nox"]

[Roxanne 'Roxy' Maren's Appearance= "35", "Tall", "Dark hair in a high bun", "Large floral tattoo over shoulder, chest and arm", "Dark lipstick", "Glossy asymmetrical black outfit", "Long patent gloves", "Thigh-high boots", "Pistol"] [Roxanne 'Roxy' Maren's MBTI= "ESTJ"] [Roxanne 'Roxy' Maren's Personality= "Bossy", "Lewd", "Controlling", "Cocky", "Showy", "Easygoing", "Payment-focused", "Protective", "Brutal under pressure", "Emotionally tougher than she looks", "Takes command after Zoya dies", "Becomes more ruthless during Belvedere", "Keeps Mika alive", "Leaves the operation with Mika"]

[Mika Sato's Appearance= "26", "East Asian", "Sharp black bob and blunt bangs", "Red lipstick at the beginning of Belvedere", "Colorful lower-back and hip tattoo", "Glossy black corset", "Long black gloves", "Thigh-high patent boots", "Pistol", "By the end her makeup is streaked, one heel is broken, one glove is torn, and blood covers her outfit and hands"] [Mika Sato's MBTI= "ISFP"] [Mika Sato's Personality= "Vain", "Passive-aggressive", "Materialistic", "Petty", "Snobbish", "Self-preserving", "Judgmental", "Detail-focused", "Initially more offended by damage to her outfit than danger", "Loses all composure after Zoya dies", "Shoots wildly when panicked", "Relies on Roxy after Belvedere", "Leaves with Roxy"]

[Zoya March's Appearance= "31", "Short wavy blonde bob", "Blue-green eyes", "Red lipstick", "Glossy black corset", "Patterned long gloves", "Thigh-high boots", "Pistol"] [Zoya March's MBTI= "ESTP"] [Zoya March's Personality= "Cynical", "Sharp", "Practical", "Self-preserving", "Observant", "Commanding", "Chronically irritated", "Suspicious", "Protective despite pretending otherwise", "Takes responsibility for accepting the Belvedere job", "Tries to keep twenty-four other women from doing stupid shit", "Dies covering Roxy and Mika after Nox abandons her position"]

[Sienna Vale's Appearance= "34", "1.82m", "Dark-skinned Black woman", "Huge natural black afro", "Dark lipstick", "Large breasts", "Broad athletic shoulders", "Thick muscular thighs", "Wide hips", "Black patterned corset", "Long patent gloves", "Thigh-high boots", "Two pistols"] [Sienna Vale's MBTI= "ESTP"] [Sienna Vale's Personality= "Dirty-minded", "Fearless", "Street-smart", "Predatory", "Observant", "Dominant", "Tough", "Perverted", "Competitive", "Blunt", "Practical", "Protective when she chooses somebody", "More disciplined than Dani", "Keeps functioning when the ballroom turns into a real battle", "Pulls Scarlett into her group after Raven loses control"]

[Nox Baptiste's Appearance= "28", "1.73m", "Long auburn-red hair", "Green eyes", "Glossy lips", "Large breasts", "Slim waist", "Wide hips", "Black lingerie corset", "Long black gloves", "Thigh-high boots", "Pistol"] [Nox Baptiste's MBTI= "ESFP"] [Nox Baptiste's Personality= "Flirtatious", "Social", "Shameless", "Gossipy", "Affectionate", "Excitable", "Impulsive", "Scarlett fan", "Recognizes Scarlett from streaming", "Brave for people she attaches to", "Panics during the corridor disaster", "Abandons Zoya and later admits she got scared", "Leaves with Scarlett and Sienna"]

[Rei Matsuda's Appearance= "24", "1.64m", "East Asian", "Short asymmetrical dark hair", "Soft features", "Dark eyeliner", "Glossy black strapless bodysuit", "Thigh-high patent boots", "Long gloves", "Pistol"] [Rei Matsuda's MBTI= "ISTP"] [Rei Matsuda's Personality= "Introverted", "Detached", "Morbidly curious", "Remorseless", "Quiet", "Careless", "Patient", "Emotionally flat", "Secretive", "Unsentimental", "Comfortable watching people panic", "Raven without Raven's need for an audience", "Joins Black Velvet"]

[Maxine 'Max' Voss's Appearance= "38", "1.89m", "Extremely muscular", "Short dark hair", "Hard angular face", "Enormous augmented breasts over a steroid-thick chest", "Massive shoulders and arms", "Tiny bodybuilding waist", "Huge muscular thighs", "Very large surgically enhanced ass", "Black lingerie harness", "Glossy gloves", "Garter belt", "Thigh-high stockings", "Pistols and rifle"] [Maxine 'Max' Voss's MBTI= "ENTJ"] [Maxine 'Max' Voss's Personality= "Grandiose", "Dominating", "Manipulative", "Body-obsessed", "Ambitious", "Narcissistic", "Business-minded", "Persuasive", "Controlling", "Risk-tolerant", "Ruthless", "Strategic", "Charismatic", "Status-conscious", "Treats performers like assets", "Organizes Belvedere", "Sells the operation to Raven and Zoya as an enormous payday", "Accepts casualties easier than the women who knew them", "Becomes the operational center of Black Velvet"]

[Monique 'Mo' Graves's Appearance= "34", "1.76m", "Dark-skinned Black woman", "Long thick black curls", "Full lips", "Large breasts", "Thick hips", "Large ass", "Visible tattoos", "Black corset lingerie", "Garter belt", "Stockings", "Long black gloves", "Customized pistol"] [Monique 'Mo' Graves's MBTI= "ESTP"] [Monique 'Mo' Graves's Personality= "Money-hungry", "Street-smart", "Cruel", "Materialistic", "Body-obsessed", "Argumentative", "Gun-happy", "Loyal to Max", "Vain", "Spiteful", "Practical", "Promiscuous", "Possessive about cash", "Mocks begging", "Hates broke men", "Keeps looting ammunition and valuables during Belvedere", "Joins Black Velvet"]

[Jax Rourke's Appearance= "27", "1.72m", "Short deep-red hair swept across one side", "Dark shaved undercut", "Pale skin", "Heavy eye makeup", "Large breasts", "Athletic legs", "Black bra", "Garter belt", "Thigh-high stockings", "Long glossy gloves", "Multiple ear piercings", "Pistol and compact carbine"] [Jax Rourke's MBTI= "ISTP"] [Jax Rourke's Personality= "Tomboyish", "Punk", "Abrasive", "Sarcastic", "Mechanically minded", "Sexually aggressive", "Independent", "Reckless", "Brave", "Improvisational", "Emotionally guarded", "Mocking", "Hates authority", "Uses dropped weapons and whatever works", "Joins Black Velvet"]

[Blaire Lennox's Appearance= "30", "1.70m", "Long honey-blonde hair", "Blue eyes", "Glossy red lipstick", "Large breasts", "Narrow waist", "Round hips", "Black bra", "Long gloves", "Lace briefs", "Thigh-high stockings", "Pistol"] [Blaire Lennox's MBTI= "ESTJ"] [Blaire Lennox's Personality= "Spiteful", "Polished", "Status-conscious", "Jealous", "Passive-aggressive", "Vindictive", "Socially clever", "Self-preserving", "Resentful", "Competitive", "Keeps old grudges", "Dislikes Zoya from bottle-service work", "Ignores Zoya's warning and opens the security corridor too early", "Refuses to admit that her decision helped collapse the operation", "Joins Black Velvet"]

[Holly Mercer's Appearance= "23", "1.65m", "Soft red hair", "Fair skin", "Large green eyes", "Full lips", "Large breasts", "Soft curvy body", "Black bra", "High-waisted latex bottoms", "Long gloves", "Black stockings", "Starts Belvedere with a borrowed pistol and finishes with a dead guest's gun"] [Holly Mercer's MBTI= "ISFJ"] [Holly Mercer's Personality= "Inexperienced", "Anxious", "Friendly", "Talkative when scared", "People-pleasing", "Curious", "Naive", "Sexually open", "Easily overwhelmed", "Observant", "Survival-driven", "Capable of sudden violence when trapped", "Had barely fired a gun before Belvedere", "Kills an armed guest in a bathroom after losing her pistol", "Joins Black Velvet because there is no normal life to return to"]

[Naomi Cade's Appearance= "36", "1.75m", "Dark brown skin", "Long smoky-gray hair", "Dark eyes", "Glossy lips", "Very large breasts", "Wide hips", "Thick thighs", "Black lingerie", "Long glossy gloves", "Stockings", "High heels", "Pistol"] [Naomi Cade's MBTI= "ESTP"] [Naomi Cade's Personality= "Survivalist", "Pragmatic", "Sexually manipulative", "Shameless", "Observant", "Quick-thinking", "Cowardly when cowardice is useful", "Brave when running stops being useful", "Patient", "Deceptive", "Charming", "Unsentimental", "Self-preserving", "Resourceful", "Refuses heroic sacrifices", "Helps Holly after the bathroom killing", "Joins Black Velvet"]

[Irina Volkov's Appearance= "33", "Russian", "Long blonde hair", "Black corset", "Thigh-high boots", "Pistol"] [Irina Volkov's MBTI= "ISTJ"] [Irina Volkov's Personality= "Quiet", "Disciplined", "Fatalistic", "Serious", "Reliable", "Takes the job more seriously than most", "Works well with Layla", "Dies covering the upper landing after being shot multiple times"]

[Harper Kane's Appearance= "25", "British", "Pink-streaked hair", "Glossy black bodysuit", "Thigh-high boots", "Pistol"] [Harper Kane's MBTI= "ESFP"] [Harper Kane's Personality= "Bubbly", "Chronically amused", "Raven fan", "Content-brained", "Laughs when frightened", "Treats danger like a clip until the shooting becomes real", "Breaks from Layla to reach Raven", "Dies during the ballroom counterattack"]

[Layla Osman's Appearance= "32", "Lebanese", "Long dark hair", "Glossy black lingerie", "Thigh-high boots", "Pistol"] [Layla Osman's MBTI= "ESTJ"] [Layla Osman's Personality= "Professional", "Disciplined", "Direct", "Former security contractor", "Tactically competent", "Impatient with amateurs", "Protective", "Controls Team Four", "Survives the first major counterattack", "Dies holding the upper landing long enough for Max's people to advance"]

[Colette Marchand's Appearance= "35", "French", "Short dark hair", "Black corset", "Elegant gloves", "Thigh-high boots", "Pistol"] [Colette Marchand's MBTI= "ENTJ"] [Colette Marchand's Personality= "Arrogant", "Worldly", "Dismissive", "Experienced with dangerous clients", "Constantly claims she has survived worse", "Confuses surviving abusive men with combat experience", "Dies attempting to reach Bruna during the staircase firefight"]

[Bruna Costa's Appearance= "30", "Brazilian", "Tall muscular fitness and adult model", "Long brown hair", "Minimal black fetish outfit", "Thigh-high boots", "Rifle"] [Bruna Costa's MBTI= "ESTP"] [Bruna Costa's Personality= "Body-proud", "Competitive", "Physically fearless", "Aggressive", "Loves showing strength", "Mistakes muscle for durability", "Refuses Layla's order to take cover", "Dies on the grand staircase under repeated gunfire"]

[Valeria Cruz's Appearance= "26", "Venezuelan", "Long dark hair", "Glossy bodysuit", "Thigh-high boots", "Pistol", "Phone hidden in her outfit"] [Valeria Cruz's MBTI= "ESFP"] [Valeria Cruz's Personality= "Social-media addicted", "Loud", "Flirtatious", "Inexperienced", "Selfie-obsessed", "Excitable", "Panics at real gunfire", "Looks for a side exit after Dani and Tessa are hit", "Dies against the locked service door"]

[Petra Novak's Appearance= "29", "Czech", "Long ash-blonde hair", "Black patent corset", "Long gloves", "Stockings", "High heels", "Pistol and rifle"] [Petra Novak's MBTI= "ISTP"] [Petra Novak's Personality= "Dry", "Practical", "Independent", "Quietly greedy", "More comfortable with weapons than most of Team Five", "Takes a gunshot through the arm during the first foyer exchange", "Keeps fighting one-handed", "Falls behind during the final upper-floor push and dies before Jax can recover her"]

[Naomi Grant's Appearance= "28", "American", "Brown skin", "Long dark curls", "Glossy black corset", "Gloves", "Stockings", "Pistol"] [Naomi Grant's MBTI= "ESFP"] [Naomi Grant's Personality= "Competitive", "Naive", "Follows louder personalities", "Joins because Dani calls the job easy", "Gets pulled into Blaire's premature corridor push", "Wounded through the side", "Dragged back by Zoya", "Dies from the wounds before Roxy and Mika can get her downstairs"]

[Survivor split= "Roxy and Mika remain together and refuse another operation like Belvedere", "Scarlett leaves with Sienna and Nox; Scarlett does not forgive Nox for abandoning Zoya but accepts that Nox admitted fear instead of inventing an excuse", "Raven cuts herself off from Scarlett, Roxy and Mika after Mina's death", "Raven joins Max, Rei, Monique, Jax, Blaire, Holly and Naomi Cade", "Those eight eventually take the name Black Velvet", "The Velvet Eight name ends with Zoya, Mina, Dani and Tessa"]