/*
EPISODE 163 — "THE 9TH FLOOR"
Standalone Crime Mystery / Procedural Thriller
Setting: South Mumbai — Siddharth Commerce Tower / Black Squad HQ / Medical Archive Wing
Timeline: 2 Days — Begins Thursday 7:32 AM
*/
// --- Scene 1 — Discovery ---
INT. SIDDHARTH COMMERCE TOWER – ELEVATOR – MORNING
Elevator doors slide open. The body of a man stands propped in the corner—eyes wide open, a faint unnatural smile on his face.
DR. AVNI (examining pupils)
There's no trauma, no cardiac failure. But his pupils... a violet halo reaction.
ARJUN (looking at the lift panel)
The lift logs say he never crossed the 6th floor.
Dr. Avni holds up a small neuro-stim patch, peeled from behind the man's ear.
DR. AVNI
This was used for psychiatric hypnosis. But weaponized.
Arjun scans the elevator buttons — faint, smeared prints. Then fresher ones, perfectly placed.
ARJUN
Wiped. Then re-pressed. Someone staged this.
// --- Scene 2 — Victim's Apartment ---
INT. VICTIM'S APARTMENT – EVENING
A minimalist apartment. IMRAN and KAJAL scour the bedroom. Kajal lifts the mattress.
KAJAL
Got something. Flash drive.
Shreya decrypts the flash drive on a laptop.
SHREYA
"TP.6C — Final Draft." First page... list of building consultants. Half of them disappeared from payroll six months ago.
IMRAN
He knew something that made people vanish.
// --- Scene 3 — Dead Consultant's Past ---
INT. CYBERSECURITY CAFE – INTERVIEW – NIGHT
VIVEK interviews a retired cybersecurity expert.
EXPERT
Ashvault. That's what he was onto. A pilot program. Designed to simulate digital death. Clean wipe — no existence, no trace.
VIVEK (absorbs this)
So, someone could be alive... and legally dead?
EXPERT (nods)
Exactly. Perfect tool for espionage.
// --- Scene 4 — Building Revisit at Night ---
INT. SIDDHARTH TOWER – JANITOR'S CLOSET – NIGHT
Arjun pushes the back wall. It creaks open—revealing a hidden room: one chair, a mirror, a projector.
The projector activates automatically—looped footage.
ON SCREEN:
The victim is seated, calm, facing the mirror. A female voice speaks.
VOICE (V.O.)
What is Ashvault? Who else did you tell?
ARJUN
This isn't torture. It's psychological extraction.
// --- Scene 5 — Forensic Breakdown ---
INT. BLACK SQUAD HQ – LAB – MORNING
Dr. GUPTA plays high-frequency tones. The neurochemical reacts visibly.
DR. GUPTA
His brain was manipulated using sound. You can weaponize cognition this way.
SACHIN (reading from report)
He had paranoia about being "digitally silenced."
SACHIN (to team)
He feared being alive in the body—but erased in the record.
// --- Scene 6 — Janitor Interrogation ---
INT. INTERROGATION ROOM – DAY
The JANITOR sits across from ARJUN and SHREYA.
JANITOR
A woman told me to ignore Room 9-C. Said she was municipal IT. Paid me well.
SHREYA shows him a sketch.
JANITOR (points)
That's her.
SHREYA (checking database)
There's no record of this woman. No Aadhaar, no ID.
ARJUN (grave)
Because Ashvault erased her.
// --- Scene 7 — Case Closed? ---
INT. BLACK SQUAD HQ – NIGHT
Files are closed. Final report submitted. On a nearby monitor, something flickers.
"TP.6C — Revision Uploaded"
Author: Unknown
File Signed: 'Ghost Logic Active'
SHREYA (confused)
This wasn't supposed to exist...
She opens a trace command. Screen flashes red.
"ERROR: Identity Conflict — Duplicate Active"
Just then, she pauses. Her reflection in the black screen smiles.
The same unnatural smile the victim had.
SMASH TO BLACK.
// --- Final Tagline ---
ON SCREEN:
"Some deaths are quiet. But some... rewrite the system."