Sitting in his recliner and reading a book by the fireplace, Damian gets a sense that someone is there and when he opens the front door, he finds Mark standing there.
Mark Nelson: Hello, Damian. Long time?
Damian Northstar: What are you doing here?
Mark Nelson: Is that a proper way to speak to your old friend, Damian?
Damian Northstar: We were never friends, Mark. You know that.
Mark smirks at his answer and walks into his house, uninvited, impressed with how kept up it is.
Mark Nelson: Love what you have done with the place. Given how old and fragile it is, you're doing well out here on your own.
Damian Northstar: Cut the chatter, Mark. Why are you here?
Mark Nelson: I understand you had someone here that you harbored for two years, Damian. A someone that I had taken care of only to discover she actually survived and you were training her in secret.
Damian Northstar: How the hell can you possibly know what goes on here with the forcefield? I set that up to block you and anyone else allied with you from even seeing inside.
Mark Nelson: I can see everything, Damian, even through your little bubble. I have been on this Earth for a millennium and still you are in denial that I see all and hear all.
Damian Northstar: Well, clearly you can see that there is nobody here but me. You sure you are not drawing up these illusions in your head? You do that quite often than you think.
Mark Nelson: I know the things I see and what I have seen is not a delusion, Damian. Watch your tongue when you speak that bullshit to me.
Damian Northstar: Or what? You going to kill me like the rest?
Mark Nelson: No, not at all. See, I need you, Damian. More than you need me, in fact, I need you so badly that you are going to find your little pupil, tell me where she is and then I will kill you.
Damian Northstar: Then, I guess you are going to have to delay those plans, because I'm not giving you anything on her.
Mark Nelson: Oh, you are and I did not want to do this to you, but -
Mark grabs Damian by his arms and as the man struggles to break free, Mark's face begins to transform into a demonic face, his eyes going black as night, his teeth becoming razor sharp and right as he goes to bite him, he instead bites into fire and Damian throws him off.
Damian Northstar: I've still got a lot left in me.
Mark screeches in anger and the two begin fighting one another, causing a lot of damage to the house when Mark throws Damian out the door. Regaining his composure, Mark leaps from the house only to get met with a fireball by Damian.
Mark Nelson: Still using your little magic. All that does is just piss me off!
Mark lunges at him again as Damian hurls another fireball, but it's knocked away and he is sent flying through the air then slammed into then grabbed and smashed into the ground at full force. Standing over him, Damian struggles to move and can no longer fight.
Mark Nelson: Give it up, old man. Your powers are nothing anymore but little magic tricks. I am more superior. I am the taker of souls. I am forever and you are nothing more but yesterday.
Using his black magic, Mark sucks the life force out of Damian, balls it up and vanquishes it forever. Mark returns back to his normal state as he looks down as Damian's decomposed corpse and sits on it as he walks away.
Walking in silence, Amber walks ahead of Switchblade until he starts to groan softly.
Switchblade: Something is wrong.
Amber Strong: You're just not realizing I have pulled a play from your book?
Switchblade: It's Damian.
Amber Strong: What about him?
Switchblade: I have to get back. He's in trouble.
Amber Strong: I'm going with you.
The two arrive back to the farmhouse and find that the house is pitch black and all the lights are out. They enter inside to find it in disarray and destroyed. Switchblade, armed with his katana swords, motions he is going to check the left side of the house and Amber searches the other side, but they find nothing. Both look out the front door and walk outside where they find a hole in the ground and when they approach it, Switchblade falls to his knees as Amber gasps in horror. They find Damian's corpse and Switchblade is distraught at his master's demise. Late into the night, Amber struggles to sleep as she sits up in her bed and checks the clock on her nightstand to see it is a little past three in the morning. Walking into the living room, she calls out for Switchblade but does not get any sort of reply. She walks around the house and can't find him anywhere and that is when she finds a piece of paper on the dining room table. It's a note from Switchblade that tells her he is gone and to not look for him. Rushing out of the house, she yells for him but it's too late as he is long gone.
Dawn breaks and Switchblade has not returned, so Amber leaves on her own and goes back the same way from the night before. She ends up leaving Crystal City and returns back to Oceancreek. Things have changed as she last remembered it, the city itself seems to have undergone many changes. She continues walking when she spots a missing poster of herself. Her family, her best friend, they do not even know that she is alive. She's alone now and wonders how she can even show herself to them. Going to the local diner that she knows very well she takes a seat and orders a coffee. Noticing Lloyd sitting a few seats from her and that he keeps looking over at her and making her uncomfortable, the waitress brings her coffee as she sips it. Looking around the diner the one place that remained as it is but notices a board behind the counter - a board that contains missing persons posters. Fifteen of them. Amber gets up to get a better look at them. The victims consist of mostly women and wonders who is responsible for this. It surely is not Charlie Cooper since he is locked up at Blacksmith.
Lloyd Price: His name is Mark Nathan and he is a monster.
Amber turns around to find Lloyd there, also looking at the posters.
Lloyd Price: He murdered my sister four years ago. Nearly had him last night, but he got away before I could make a move.
Amber Strong: Why are you telling me this?
Lloyd Price: It's not very often someone can survive an attack, let alone one that he sets up.
Amber Strong: The hell are you talking about?
Amber storms off, paying her bill and leaves the diner as Lloyd follows her.
Lloyd Price: I know this sounds crazy but just hear me out. This guy, Mark Nelson, he is behind these disappearances. The authorities won't speak up on it because he is a very rich and wealthy person. He has the police, even the courts in his pocket. He pays for better equipment for them and if anyone tries to expose his secrets, they end up dead.
Amber Strong: How do you know so much about this guy?
Lloyd Price: I told you. Because of my sister. They call him the Soul Taker. I don't know why, I guess something to do with his victims, I don't know, but you and I have a common enemy.
Amber Strong: Common enemy? I don't even know the guy.
Lloyd Price: He's the one that had you attacked and left you for dead.
Amber Strong: How do you know this?
Lloyd Price: A guy I work with. He goes by Switchblade and told me what happened and-.
Amber Strong: Wait, wait, did you say Switchblade? Masked man, kind of short but can kick major ass?
Lloyd Price: Yeah? How-?
Amber Strong: I met him a few days ago and he walked out in the middle of the night. Which, now it makes sense why.
The two come to the conclusion that Switchblade is going after Mark.
Lloyd Price: So, you know him?
Amber Strong: We both were trained by the same mentor - Damian Northstar.
Lloyd Price: Damian Northstar? You mean THE Damian Northstar? Shatterproof?
Amber Strong: The same?
Lloyd Price: Okay, our meeting was not by accident.
At Lloyd's apartment, he lays out a map of the city and has circled Mark's mansion as well as roads that lead to it and the ones that are heavily guarded by his men.
Lloyd Price: These two roads are the most challenging, but nothing is easy. This guy, I've seen so many try and never come close. It's like he knows.
Amber Strong: Look, I understand your vendetta against him and why you want him dead, but this beyond me. I barely even remember what the hell happened that night I was attacked? Other than the fact I survived and was nursed back to health by Damian.
Lloyd Price: Damian saved you because he saw potential in you. Your strong will to survive.
Amber Strong: Potential? I'm just a reporter from here. I'm a nobody.
Lloyd Price: Not to him, you weren't. You were somebody. Somebody he saw and was proud of. I need your help, Amber. I can't take this guy alone.
Amber Strong: I'm sorry. You have the wrong person. I just want to see my family and let them know I'm alive.
Lloyd Price: Then, maybe you were not the person he thought you were.
Amber Strong: I guess not.
Amber leaves the apartment, much to the disappointment to Lloyd as he takes his bow and arrow to set off on his own.