My futile attempt to fight The General failed; at first my attack was unexpected so I thought I could take him off his feet but before I knew it he had grabbed hold of my shirt with a tight fists and had flung me against the wall.

I heard the sound of my fragile back slamming against the hard wall and my bones crying and weakened by the impact before I felt the pain that followed. The wind blew out of my lungs and I coughed dryly and melted to the ground. I was in agony my body crippled over I knew I would be immobile for a while but through seeing my pain The General started to laugh stalking towards me. There was a paladin body next to me and I could see the lifelessness in his eyes, I shifted my eyes and saw a knife in the belt around his waist. I looked away sharply not to draw attention to the weapon I just saw and instead looked at The General.

'Jumpers have the power but no skill' The General gripped my shoulder and pulled me up to expose my chest and pounded my chest with his hard fist. My ribs and insides started to ache and weaken as The General continued to click his knuckles against my chest.

Each punch caused Sophie to wince I could just make out the tears in her helpless eyes but after the forth blow to Griffin's chest she let out a cry, 'STOP! You're going to kill him'

A twisted grin scolded The General's face, 'that's what I intend to do. Are you going to stop me, Sophie?' His question sounded rhetorical but he still waited for Sophie's reply; her body stiffened as she willed herself to speak.

'I will stop you' she said, her voice hard but her lips were quivering. The General dropped Griffin as if he was weightless but the thud he made when he landed on the ground suggested otherwise.

'Sophie, don't…' Griffin pleaded with pain and emotion as his façade he presents to everyone faltered. Griffin now had a vulnerability to him which I have only seen once before when he was describing his past.

The General cocked his head to Sophie and then down to Griffin, 'my brother always told me, "to love is to destroy yourself in the name of someone else" and you are a prime example of that' The General's face softened and he looked at Sophie with genuine concern all the evilness disappeared off his face, 'can't you see that Sophie? It's destroying you! Are you really ready to leave us for – for him?'

'Yes' her voice was strong and certain.

The General took her reply like a slap to the face, 'your family have been a part of this organisation for years and you are ready to destroy all of that!?'

'They're not the reason your brother is dead, just let them go and – and I'll stay' Sophie said but her words made the conversation seem private and personal.

'This isn't about my brother' The General paused, 'this is about your loyalty. He left you once, you really think he won't do it again because once you leave not even your mother will want anything to do with you'

Sophie winced. 'They're not the heroes Sophie, they never were. You knew it would come down to this and you even helped plan this… so why are you stopping now when we are so close?'

'What is he talking about?' Griffin asked the question we were both thinking.

Sophie gave The General an almost pleading look as if to say, 'don't tell them' but in response a dark smile returned to his face and he turned around to face Griffin. Sophie in a panic response pulled by The General by his shoulder but her attempt barely moved him; he shrugged her off and continued towards Griffin. Sophie bit her lip as The General knelt next to Griffin patronisingly, 'Sophie has been in on it the whole time; she's helped me track you and she's helped me follow your every move. She wanted – no begged me to kill you and all because you broke her heart. How cute'

'Fuck you' Griffin spat at The General as if his words hadn't hurt him but I could see the flicker of pain in his eyes.

'We were always one step ahead of you, always. The last time you were here we put a tracking device on you and we knew where you were. We were watching you spend time in Italy when Griffin was in the hospital, we heard you scream at night as the dreams tortured you but the tracking device faltered because of the electricity caused by your jumper damaged it. See where my brother thought the best strategy would be to isolate the jumper until they had nothing left like a deadly predator catching its prey. I know that the best strategy is to give the jumper hope and make them feel as if they have succeeded in some way before pulling the table cloth from under their feet and cleared their cloudy vision. Then and only then will they be truly be defeated to point at which they would beg for death' The General's sinister words mixed in the air.

'You're a sick, twisted man' Sophie shuddered, 'I will never work with you again. I would rather die'

The General ignored Sophie's words as if she hadn't spoken, 'That's what I did with you, Jamie'

'What did you do with me?' I asked blood spurting out as I spoke. When I thought of The General I assumed that the scariest thing about him would be his impossible muscles or his authority but the scariest thing about him is the way he speaks. It is as if he is telling a story a thought out and planned story and only he knows how it will end. It is passed belittling; it's as if his calm voice but hard words have glued me to the floor. While The General was distracted with Griffin I had reached for the knife I saw earlier and have it clutched in my hand behind my back. The knife wouldn't be enough to kill The General I contemplated but it would be enough to hold him down hopefully.

'I first showed you that I could take away someone you loved, with ease' The General teased.

'My uncle…' I whispered in shock.

'Good you are keeping up and then I had the opportunity to take away the only other person in your life' The General sounded almost seductive as he purred the words.

'Alice-' I choked with insufficient breath to make the croak heard.

'Yes, dear Alice' The General seemed to have heard me, 'I knew she would be there alone and I sent in an agent with the instruction that he must not kill her but leave her so close to death that it would break you. Unfortunately, he died but that gave you even more hope which was perfect. Don't you see Jamie, I fed you false hope and within one day you've come straight to me?' The General scoffed, 'straight to your death'

Anger and furiousness flushed through my veins at the thought that I was part of a plan – that Alice was ultimately part of a plan. I squeezed the knife in my palm and like a flash in one swift motion stabbed The General right in his heart; I held the knife in his body and watched the colour leave his skin. Out of nowhere Griffin came with an iron bar and swung it around The General's head – I guess I wasn't the only one eyeing a weapon. The relief from Griffin after the impact of the bar had knocked The General straight to his feet; he fell and curled up on the floor.

Swiftly, Griffin turned to the twins with a crazy ire in his eyes they instantly knelt down not wanting to start a lost fight. Sophie routinely laid them on the ground and chained them with the handcuffs in their belts. Griffin remained sturdy with the bar in his hand ready to attack; his wrist flinched towards the twins as he decided whether or not to strike them.

'Don't, Griffin…' Sophie soothed, 'we should just leave them and go'

The madness flickered through Griffin's eyes but slowly he calmed down, 'okay… let's go'

'I need to show you this room, Griffin' I tried to explain suddenly remembering, 'they these pictures of me and Alice and my mum'

Sophie's cheeks flushed and her jaw hardened so I made a mental note to ask her afterwards.

'What are you talking about Jamie?' Griffin questioned.

'Don't worry, let's jump outside this room because we can't jump from inside here' I rambled on.

Griffin holding Sophie headed towards the door before I followed I stopped and looked at the odd couple as the exited through the door. I put my hand in my pocket and felt the picture of my mum that I had taken from the wall of the surveillance room; questions burned my mind but I silenced them and walked towards the door.

'Do you think he's dead?' I asked Griffin looking back at The General.

'Maybe…' Griffin thought, 'but maybe not'.