Disclaimer: I have no ownership or rights over anything related to Jumper unless it is my original creation.

A/N: I will include a quote related to the chapter's events from now on, mainly to see if you can see my POV. Hope you don't hate the idea too much.

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned."—Buddha

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"So, you know where Griffin is, right?"

I awoke to hear a man's voice talking to me coolly. Where am I? I thought. What happened after…that?

Apparently the man was a mind reader as well as a Paladin. "Look, kid, you get points for guts, but a Jumper doesn't just bust in here somehow, beat the hell outta a good 20 or so Paladins and not expect to get captured, am I right?"

"Just kill me now!" I spat at him furiously. I was full of self-loathing right now, not to mention hatred for this guy. But mostly I just couldn't believe how stupid I was. What was I thinking? That I could really get into a building full of Paladins and somehow sneak my way in to get information on them? Jeez, I was stupid!

"Kill you? Why would we do that? Not only do you have valuable information on the legendary Griffin, including his whereabouts, but your mom is waiting for you to tell us so she can do the honors afterwards."

Whoa. If my dear old ma is personally waiting to do the execution, then she really is the definition of twisted.

"Why don't you let my mom and I handle this ourselves, ah? It'll save you quite a bit of trouble." I sneered at him, trying to get out of my wires without jumping (it was obvious and logical to assume that the wires had electricity in them, otherwise I would've jumped first chance I had).

"Don't worry, we will. Your mom said she wants a fair fight between you, not you just there like a stuck pig. All we need is to know where Griffin is hiding…"

To which I replied, "Look, I don't care about Griffin, alright? He dropped me off here in the first place, leaving me to die, so I'd gladly tell you where he is, only it endangers my friends, who I'm never gonna tell you where they are."

The guy looked thoughtful for a second, and then said slowly, "I have an idea, but hold on a sec. I'll be right back."

He left the little room we were in, locking the door from the outside. It wasn't like I could do anything, tied to the chair which was bolted to the floor.

He came back a couple of minutes later, holding what looked like an ankle bracelet. "Look," He said, starting to put it on me, "I'm giving you one shot, something I'd never do to another Jumper. Only because your mom is a head Paladin, I'm putting one of our experimental jump-bracelets on you. It allows us to allow you a certain number of jumps before you get shocked very badly if you try to again."

I took this in angrily, feeling like a framed victim with the criminal putting the ankle bracelet on.

"You get two jumps, kid—one to wherever Griffin is and one back—and trying to escape would work. Yeah, you heard me right, escape would work. You can jump anywhere, but removing this bracelet is gonna be a bit of a problem."

Now I was furious at my sudden trapped freedom. If I got out of this wire…

"Okay, now I'm-a let you out of the wire, then you jump to where Griffin is, get him, and then jump back. Do that and we'll take off the bracelet and let you free."

"Yeah right," I said rudely, but the man shook his head.

"Why would we want anything to do with you if we have Griffin? We'll be spending too much time interrogating that guy for any Jumpers for quite a while."

I pondered these words, and the thought of Griffin only increased my recklessness.

"I'll do it." And I was gone.

Point-of-View Change: Griffin

I have to give that son-of-a-bitch Shadow some credit. He actually made it back. Maybe he's learned his lesson now, the twit, and maybe he'll stop harping about whatever problems I don't give a damn about.

But when he touches me, that's the last straw. When he jumps me and him somewhere without my permission, he crosses the line and spits on the ground.

When I see Roland standing in front of Shadow, unlocking some ankle-bracelet thing, I figure it all out.

Point-of-View Change: Shadow

"I knew I should've told you to fuck off right away." I heard Griffin say as the guy removed my ankle bracelet, as promised.

"Yeah, well, we all should've done things we never did." I shot back, rubbing my wrists instinctively even though it was an ankle bracelet.

"Alright, kid, now get the hell outta here." The guy said, looking at me with no emotion.

I nodded, and jumped.

But back to April and Mandy? No.

Behind the guy, lashing at him with my previously hidden baton? You bet your ass I did.

But the one thing that didn't go according to plan was the guy spinning around with his own baton, causing ours to hit with such force that the electricity blew us back onto opposite walls of the room…hard.

I cried out in pain, and after struggling for a few seconds, managed to stagger to my feet. The guy was out cold, and Griffin was struggling to get out of the wires that held him down to the chair.

"Your welcome, a-hole." Griffin ignored my comment, continuing furiously to break free. I sighed and slashed down with the baton, cutting all the wires in half. Griffin threw them off, stood up, brushed off the dust and dirt from his jacket, and jump-tackled me.

"What…stop…why are you…stop hitting me!" I shouted, doing my best to block Griffin's flurry of punches. All I knew was that I was never going to help Griffin again; what I didn't know was where we were, why he was attacking me, and how to get out of the situation.

Finally, I got an advantage. Griffin's paused for a second to catch his breath, and I punched him in the nose with all my force. He rolled away from me, hopping back up, unfazed, but by then I was already gone.

"Freakin' psycho, that's what he is," I muttered as April cleaned one of the many cuts and abrasions on my face.

"You know he's gonna be back, right?" She said to me witheringly, and I couldn't blame her. Griffin deserved his legendary title, but that didn't mean he deserved to be treated well. He was a complete jerk, and now we had to deal with him.

"Hey, don't get on my case; I just had to deal with around 20 Paladins, okay? That wasn't easy for me, and anyways, I brought back a little something." I said, pulling out the baton from my coat pocket. April's eyes narrowed and she asked in a deadly quiet voice, "Why is that here?"

I said hesitantly, "Look…just hold the baton from any part that isn't the rubber handle, and you'll see."

Glaring at me, she did, but as soon as she did, all emotion left her face. She mumbled, "Whoa…what's going…on…" while I examined her face.

She was void of any emotion, like a robot. It creeped me out, for sure. But what really got me was when she slashed the baton at me, but, like, in slow-mo. It was weird, to say the least.

Oh, but it didn't stop there. April did it again, but this time without the slowness. She slashed at me quickly, without hesitation, too. I barely had time to keep from being mutilated before she attacked again, and again.

"What the hell is wrong with you, April?" I shouted, trying not to die. I jumped behind her, and bear hugged her to keep her from, like, killing me, you know? I expected her to jump, but she didn't, she merely struggled in vain.

I quickly snatched the baton away from her, and as she got better, I got worse. I vaguely heard her say, "Shadow, I'm sorry, I couldn't control myself! It was like…like…" and then it was me who lost control. My arm swung at April, and I saw her jump back, looking scared.

My mind was trying to tell my body STOP! But when you're body is working at twice its normal capacity and your brain is working at half its capacity, it isn't exactly easy to stop yourself.

"Can't…stop…" I muttered, though it was barely audible.

"I know, Shadow, but please, try!"

And I did, but to no avail. The best I could do was hesitate before attacking, and sometimes slowing down my attacks enough so that what would've been a fatal blow to April was a missed attack.

But finally, the moment came when a good friend of mine would intervene…

Point-of-View Change: Griffin

What the bloody hell is happening? That's all I could think when I saw Shadow attacking April. I don't love the girl or anything, but when that moron attacks another Jumper, that's it. I'm not going to drop him off somewhere that he might die; I'm going to kill him myself.

That's the plan until I see he's holding one of those fancy shocker-sticks. Now I'm a bit more careful about stopping him. But then I see his face. What the…there's fear on his face, hesitation. So why is he attacking her?

This stops now!

As I tackle him, the stick goes flying into the air and lands on the ground feet away. I hold the idiot down, assuming he'll try to get it, but after a few seconds he just lays there.

"Thank you," I hear him mutter, and then he shouts, "Get off of me, Griffin!" My eyes narrow and I make sure to give him a good punch in the ribs before leaping up and jumping to get more furniture.

Point-of-View Change: Shadow

Oh, I have to give it to Griffin, he can punch. Like, hard.

While I was standing up, massaging my bruised ribs, April looks at my warily. "Oh, give me a break!" I say irritably, glaring at the baton. "I didn't attack you out of free will, so get off of my case! And you don't have to say anything!" I responded to her unsaid argument.

I jumped to my "room", or what was now designated there, and almost shriek like a girl when I see Mandy there, having completely girl-ified it.

"What the…no! It's…but…pink?! The walls are pink!"

"I know," Mandy said matter-of-factly, "Because I painted them like that. Magical, isn't it?"

I had to hold down a gag at how sickly sweet the colors were. Pinks and purples adorned the place, and I wasn't sure how to react. Yeah, I was angry, but I was more dumbfounded than anything else.

"Um…you know what? Enjoy your new room, I'll find somewhere else to stay." I muttered, trying to think of a place to sleep tonight.

"Oh, no, this is still your room," She giggled, "I just redecorated it for you."

My eyes widened, and I barely got out, "This is…my room?"

"Yep, and it's pretty now too!"

"Oh, hell no."

"Oh, hell yes! You're welcome!" And she left the room, still holding back laughs.

At first, I could only sit down, and stare at the room with my jaw wide open. But slowly, I began to grin and ended up muttering, "Amanda, I owe you one."

Point-of-View Change: Roland

Well, the kid is good. He was able to knock out me, the infamous Roland. Not only that, but he managed to get away with Griffin. Whew, boy, he's gonna pay for that.

But he's not the only one.

In a building full of Paladins, not one bothered to check on the situation when they heard that extremely loud THUMP of me and him slamming against the walls? I'm sure that's what happened.

Don't worry, they'll all get their share of pain, but my focus right now is the kid…Shadow, as his mother told me. Robbie Shadow. Hmm…that seems like a good name to call out before I kill him. "Goodbye, Robert Shadow!"

Won't this be fun.

--

A/N: Bringing Roland into the story may or may not be a good idea, but I'm working on it. Let's hope it turns out better than I hope.

A/N: Okay, I just wanted you all to know that productivity on Betrayal is going to be slowed down a bit because I want to continue working on my other story, and I want to make some new ones. Sorry, but you have a right to know.

A/N: Hope you liked seeing things from Roland's POV!

(Insert Cool End Phrase Here),

ConstantWriter