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BLACK SQUAD – EPISODE 97
Title: "Echoes of the Asylum"
Genre: Psychological Crime Drama / Epilogue Thriller
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PROLOGUE:
INT. NIGHT – ZOYA KHAN'S APARTMENT
It's 3:11 a.m.
Zoya jolts awake, drenched in sweat. The faint tick-tick of a surgical timer echoes in her room — or maybe it's just in her mind.
She walks to the mirror. Her neck bears the faint injection mark from Dr. Aarti Rao's failed attempt.
She picks up her phone, staring at the still-unnamed number that sent her the whisper message:
> "I helped you because you were next…"
She texts Imran:
> "Are you awake? Something's not right."
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ACT 1 – CLOSURE OR COVER-UP?
INT. BLACK SQUAD HQ – MORNING
Qazi meets senior officials from the Ministry of Defence and Home Affairs. The asylum case has become a media sensation, but they're trying to hush up the more horrific elements — especially the revelation that Aarti Rao's license was never formally revoked, suggesting someone protected her.
> OFFICIAL: "We don't need a scandal linking the ministry to a serial killer psychiatrist."
Qazi, furious, tells Arjun and Imran:
> "They want us to bury it. But this isn't just about bodies in a basement… This was systemic neglect."
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INT. INTERROGATION ROOM – ST. THERESA HOSPITAL
Dr. Aarti Rao is strapped to a psychiatric bed, sedated, but lucid.
Qazi visits her.
> RAO (calmly): "You're here to thank me. I stopped her… from being taken. That girl? Zoya?"
> QAZI (coldly): "You drugged, tortured, and murdered innocent girls."
> RAO: "No. I purified them. But she — the one in the walls — she would've taken Zoya."
She begins whispering:
> "Ask her. Zoya knows."
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ACT 2 – ZOYA'S FRAGMENTED TRUTH
Zoya confesses to Imran and Arjun:
The voice she heard that night in the asylum basement wasn't Rao's. It was a child's voice. Repeating her name.
She didn't want to mention it — fearing PTSD. But the message on her phone confirmed it. The voice said:
> "Ritika is still there."
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INT. SHANTI MANOR – FINAL RETURN
The Squad returns with a forensic team and audio technicians. Qazi orders one last sweep — to put everything to rest.
They find a sealed vent panel in the western wing. It had gone unnoticed.
Inside: a mummified girl's body, clutching a metal shard — her name tag reads: Ritika Joshi.
Autopsy confirms: she bled out from self-inflicted wounds, locked inside decades ago.
The forensic sound team recovers audio imprints: old cries for help, scratched pleas on concrete.
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ACT 3 – PEACE AND PURPOSE
Zoya visits the spot where Ritika's body was found. She places a small white flower and whispers:
> "You weren't a ghost. You were a prisoner. I heard you… and I'll make sure no one forgets."
Meanwhile, Qazi ensures the full asylum report is leaked anonymously to the press — forcing the Ministry to acknowledge the cover-up.
The case is officially closed. Dr. Aarti Rao is transferred to a high-security psychiatric facility in Pune.
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EPILOGUE
INT. BLACK SQUAD HQ – NIGHT
The team sits quietly, files closed.
Arjun:
> "We fight criminals. We've fought terrorists. But this… this was something else."
Imran nods:
> "It was evil. Human. But evil."
Qazi looks at them:
> "That's why we exist. Because darkness wears many faces — and we'll face all of them."
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FADE OUT. CASE 97 – CLOSED.
NEXT: Standalone Episode 98 returns to a new case.
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