King: 179 chapters of me just on my bullshit. I'm so grateful to you guys for sticking with me and enjoying the story.

Knox: And a big thanks to everyone who stops by Ao3 as well. We're moving up in the world. Especially since this site seems so broken right now...

King: Yeah. For now, we'll finish this part and give them a rest for a while. Meet new faces, see new scenarios on Remnant, and see how things play out. I hope you enjoy as always.

Inspiration: Hunters the Parenting by Bruva Alfabusa

Note: For everyone who asked, no I will not be doing the other videos. They're minimum 40 minutes of dialog and up over an hour. I may add moments from them to other stories (Kevin's parable is too good not to use), but I can't do the full thing with my limited patience and time.

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One more part to go, so they just got into it.

The scene opened to show the family huddled in fear in the office. There was a silence in the room as they all knew they were in immense danger. A vampire had busted through one of Jaune's reinforced doors, which was no small feat. If they weren't careful, this could be the end of them all. The camera pulled along to convey the sheer horror of their situation, how isolated they were and unprepared.

Neptune went to the computer and changed the feed to show the hall with a door blown open, "Shit…"

"Neptune," Gira's low tone conveyed his sheer disappointment and anger all at the same time, "We do not let vampires Diablerise each other unless you know exactly what you're doing!"

"How was I supposed to know that?" Neptune challenged back, a reminder that his father hadn't told him anything about this.

"This is at least partially my counterpart's fault," Gira grumbled, "Not at least telling them to avoid doing things like that could only result in situations like this eventually."

Gira growled low, "How many times do I have to tell you?" He got into Neptune's face and forced him off balance and to be caught by Ren, "Playing god is a sometimes thing!"

That line made Nora start to giggle before blowing into a full laugh. "What kind of line is that?!"

"It could be a good character moment." Ren observed, "He doesn't see them as godlike, but still holds to the idea that they can act in similar ways sometimes."

They all heard something out the door and froze.

Ren looked around, slowly starting to panic, "He could be anywhere."

"This is very bad." Jaune observed.

"Understatement of the year." Mercury snarked.

Neptune turned on his heel and opened the window next to him, hoisting himself up onto the sill.

"W-what are you doing?!" Ren whisper-yelled.

"If he's strong enough to make dad sweat, then it's silly to fight him in here! He's an ambush predator. If we get outside, he'll have to fight us in the open."

The Neptune in the audience disagreed, "What?! Can't he turn invisible or something?! That would be the worst decision right now! Hole up and make sure he only has one entry!"

All the team leaders agreed with his plan.

"Neptune! It's the second story!"

Neptune jumped down, landing with a thud and a pained groan. He'd landed poorly and injured his legs.

Neptune facepalmed.

On screen, Neptune let out a cry of pain, "Fuck! My ankles!" He immediately realized what just happened and started to freak out. His ankles were out of commission and he just shouted. Mercury definitely heard him.

Jaune poked his head out from the window, "Neptune. I am going to give you a gun to protect yourself. In case he attacks you."

"Oh! Yeah. Give me a gun!"

Jaune lowered a gun, safety in place, and lightly tossed it to his brother. It landed in the exact wrong way, misfiring and blowing a hole into both of Neptune's legs. It was a one in a million chance, but it hit that particular jackpot.

Ruby groaned, "Don't… don't throw guns! Even with cases like that."

Jaune sighed, "Neptune, try to get yourself to the road. It will be safer there." Jaune brought his head back into the room and turned to Ren, "You, close the office door. We will know if he gets in that way."

Jaune nodded, but couldn't help noticing they forgot something. A few things, actually. First would be a way out.

Ren turned to the door, freaking out at the possibility that the vampire could already be there and ready to kill him. He crept forward before finally reaching the door, closing it slowly and locking it. It wouldn't do much to stop Mercury, but it made them feel better and gave them a barrier he'd have to get through first, that they would notice if it breaks.

"Good. We cannot remain here." Jaune moved to the side and picked up a circular saw from a toolset in the corner. "I will saw open this wall and gain access to the carport roof. We can jump down from there. It is far safer."

"Excellent thinking, Jaune." Gira grinned, "Just like the old mining days! I will join you!" He pulled a sword from a hidden sheath he kept under his shirt.

Ren watched as Jaune approached the wall, "Can you really do it fast enough?"

"Yes." Jaune looked over the wall before turning slightly, "Father, can…"

But he stopped seeing a hand wrapped over Gira's head from outside and reaching in from the open window. The large man was pulled out and thrown to the ground, hitting his head against a rock beneath them. All of them were freaking out far more than they had before.

"Oh my gosh!" Blake burst out seeing her father's counterpart get violently pulled from the moment and onto the ground. She guessed he was okay, but that had to hurt.

Jaune picked his son up and slammed his shoulder against the door and forced it open. He turned to Ren, who was following him. "Get to the carport! Help father and Neptune. I have some old mining equipment that will aid us."

"Got it!" Ren ran through his house and toward the door. Once he opened it, however, he immediately jumped back as the car flew in sideways and impacted against the wall, getting stuck against the door.

"He can still get out through the car doors!" Nora suggested.

Ren turned, the quiet of the house getting to him. "Oh, I do not like that you're so clever." He picked up a boot and threw it forward. The boot was caught before the invisible vampire dropped it.

"Why did he catch it?" Coco asked. "What's the point?"

Jaune nodded, "The smart idea would've been to avoid it. Unless…" He thought for a moment, "He might not be strictly trying to kill them."

"What? Why?" Velvet was confused at his statement.

"He might still be trying to recruit them. Maybe?"

"OH SHIT!" Ren spun around and opened the door of the car and quickly shuffled his way through the vehicle and out the other side.

Nora grinned, knowing her idea worked.

Only for him to fall into a pit dug into the floor. "A… a bloody trap hole?!"

"Aw…" Nora was a little disappointed.

As Ren spun around, Mercury stomped a foot onto the top of the car, a shovel swung over his shoulder. "You should've taken my offer. Now you're dead and buried. Well, almost anyway~" Mercury gave an evil laugh, clearly enjoying lording himself over them.

Ren used his physical prowess to jump up to pull himself over the side of the hole and onto the ground proper. He quickly scrambled away, as Mercury watched. Mercury chuckled as he jumped forward, the hunt was on.

Ren ran through the yard and to a shed he kept nearby. He jumped in and started to rummage off screen, "Where is it? Where is it…? THERE!" The camera was low as a pair of wooden stilts stepped into view as Ren stood taller. "I knew these would come in handy!"

Nora tapped her chair before remarking, "No offense, Ren, but that seems more like something I'd do. Not you."

Ren shook his head, "It's fine, Nora. I'm sure the plan is sound. We just don't know how yet."

The scene changed to show as Ren walked over to his fiance and future father-in-law. He looked down from his stilts toward Neptune, "What are you still doing here? Why didn't you try to get to the road?"

"I couldn't just leave father here! And… what's with the stilts?"

"Fucking hell." Ren facepalmed.

"Where's Jaune? And again, the stilts, very distracting."

"He's in the workshop. Hold on!" Ren then began to traverse their front yard on the stilts, moving toward the bus.

"Is he running away?" Harriet raised an eyebrow.

"It's the smart thing to do." Raven remarked. "Everyone else is dead weight. Better to escape while he can."

Qrow just sighed, growing more disappointed Raven was his twin.

"What are you doing?!" Neptune called after him. "Stop!" When he kept moving, Neptune tried again, "Wait! You're gonna-" He was cut off as a vampiric foot slammed onto his head.

"Let me get this straight," Mercury dug his heel against Neptune's head, "You're leaving your family behind to escape on… fuckin' stilts?"

Ren just gave a side glance, "Maybe."

Mercury raised an eyebrow. "I can run faster than a car and leap buildings like its nothing. The stilts are cute, though."

"Fuck you!" Ren then proceeded with his escape.

Nora chuckled, "It's kind of funny to see Ren so… animated."

Ren nodded, very aware that his usual state was subdued and didn't lend itself to emotional outbursts.

Mercury narrowed his eyes, slamming the shovelhead down next to Neptune's own head. "An angry vampire is a predictable vampire," he recalled Ren's quote to him from the forest base. "If I attack without thinking…" He looked back down toward Neptune and had an idea. "Today is just not your lucky day."

Neptune shouted back at him, "Fuck you!"

"WRONG ANSWER!" Mercury proceeded to stomp his foot down on Neptune over and over, digging his head into the dirt more and more with each.

Ren realized what was happening and called back, "Wait, stop!"

Mercury smirked to himself, deliberately mishearing, "'wait, stomp?' I was gonna ease up, but if you insist!" He slammed his foot down harder. "Oh, parting is such sweet sorrow. But don't worry, I'll take my time, just for you."

Neptune rubbed the side of his head, feeling the residual sympathy pain for his counterpart. "Fucking hell."

Ren grit his teeth getting angrier.

Nora gave a glance to Ren. He rarely got angry and she couldn't remember the last time he had.

"You are truly pathetic." Ren called out.

Mercury chuckled, "Thanks, I try."

"NO! Truly pathetic! You talk a big game, but you're nothing and you know it! Back in the tunnels your first target was a child! And while you were getting your shit pushed in, your friends did all the hard work! How did you repay them?"

Mercury had to call that out, "Moralizing over that death gauntlet?!"

But Ren didn't give up, "You were their leader! If you gave a shit, you could've stopped them! But what did you do?! You hid away and watched as they tore each other apart!"

"It was survival of the fittest."

Raven made a motion like she understood, but chose not to vocalize it.

"Bullshit!" Ren challenged. "They were your comrades! And you smiled you bastard! You smiled while you slaughtered the only people on this planet DUMB ENOUGH TO ACCEPT YOU!"

There was a small silence, broken once Sun said, "Damn. Note to self, don't piss off the quiet one." He joked.

Ren blinked, not used to seeing himself raise his voice so much.

Mercury looked to the side a moment, "I bet you think, that really pissed me off." He raised his foot and kicked Neptune forward and into Ren, breaking the stilts and sending them both into the side of the bus.

"Certainly seems like it!" Emerald winced at the moment of impact. "Holy shit."

Mercury just shrugged. "Agree to disagree."

Mercury jumped slightly and placed the shovel over his shoulder again. "Gentlemen!" He called out, making a show of the situation. "You seem to have difficulty understanding that I'm the goddamn Sabat. "Mercy? Shame? Human weaknesses. I am beyond human! I see what I want, and I take it. If I can take it, it belongs to me!" He reared the shovel back, ready to finish them off, "I AM THE SWORD OF CAINE YOU WRETCH! AND I FALL WHERE I PLEASE!" His foot fell onto the ground for the leverage of his attack and there was a small clicking sound. He stopped, confused, and summarily exploded.

"What the hell was that?!" Yang shouted at the sudden explosion.

Ironwood's eyes narrowed before he brought it hand to his face, "Mining days…"

"What?" Winter turned to him, confused.

As the dust fell and Mercury could be seen again, it showed Mercury now missing a leg. "Fuck! Not my favorite leg!"

Mercury grumbled at the fact that he lost a leg. He remembered losing his own legs and it was painful.

"Shit." Neptune groaned.

"He's alive?!" Ren was lightheaded and this was definitely making it worse.

Mercury growled, "You set a… fucking minefield… in your own front lawn?!"

"Are you serious?!" Yang seemed to think a moment before it hit her, "That's what the stilts were for!"

Ren turned slightly to Nora, "See?"

Nora chuckled.

Mercury was seeing red. "I am beyond human! But not beyond rage. You will all DIE SCREAMING!"

"BLANKBODY!" Jaune's voice rang out from the side.

Mercury turned to face this new figure, his neck making a cracking sound that echoed, like bone scraping against bone and every joint cracking in his spine.

Everyone in the room felt a chill run up their spines as the sound just hurt to hear.

Jaune was revealed to be standing there in an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) suit. In his hand was a heavy caliber revolver pointed toward Mercury. "How does it feel… being prey again?"

Now Tai started to laugh. "Mining days! EOD! That's pretty funny."

"Prey?!" Mercury started to laugh. "You think now's the time to crack jokes?"

Jaune made a show of adjusting his aim, "Does it look like I'm joking?"

Mercury let out a huff as he swung the shovel in front of him to better balance him now that he was down a leg, "Hunter bravado! You're dime-a-dozen trash! This shit'll heal in a heartbeat!"

"Too bad you don't have a heartbeat."

Mercury groaned, "There you go again. Stick up the ass Ventrue material!"

Ruby chuckled, "We don't X we vampire-word," she said, mocking the statement before.

Mercury laughed, "You're even the last man standing! You and the kid. That's rich. But that jacket won't save you!"

"It doesn't have to save me." The camera hung in a way to show the gun pointed forward, Jaune's face obscured by light. His left eye looked like it was glowing from the darkness on site. "Just slow you down."

"Such a good line!" Yang cheered, "Now shoot him and finish him off!"

Mercury started to lower his stance and prepare to jump, "We'll see about that!"

"Halt!"

"You… interrupting our moment."

"I know what you're thinking. You know you can't reach me with that busted leg. But you think that maybe, just maybe, you can jump for it. Jump over these mines. Get to me before I pull the trigger. Maybe you can. But maybe you can't. Maybe my gun finds you. And maybe the force of a .45 caliber bullet sends you plummeting straight to hell."

"What is he doing?!" Weiss called out, "Shoot already!"

"That wouldn't be a good idea." Jaune replied. "Right now, Mercury is strong and fast enough that he can probably dodge the bullet and get to him before he can do real damage. Maybe deflecting it with the shovel. The smart idea is to force him to make a mistake. If he loses the shovel or is forced into the air, it might work…"

Jaune continued, "Me? I like those odds. But you? You've got an eternity to lose. So the question is, you wanna live forever, son?"

The tension filled the area. Mercury's grip tightened on his shovel. Jaune's eyes narrowed. Everything was building, building to a big moment. Mercury started to laugh a bit, almost as if he was going to back down. Then he exploded out, "I'D RATHER MEASURE THE DENT IN YOUR SKULL, SHOVELHEAD!" He dug the shovel into the ground and swung up, filling the air with dirt and dust.

Within the cloud, an explosion rang out. Jaune took this as a signal to fire his gun four times into the cloud and around the explosion area. As the fourth hole in the cloud was formed, the shovel came flying through the dust. The metal head impacted Jaune's faceplate and sent him flying backward from the force, losing his gun in the process.

"Oh no!" Ruby called out, worried about what was about to happen.

Mercury laughed, muscles tense as he took off. "DIE HUNTER!" He shouted, arm back and ready to kill.

Jaune looked up slightly and just said, "No."

A gunshot rang out and Mercury's chest was torn open by a .45 caliber bullet from the side. The camera tracked to the side to reveal Boy with a gun and ear protectors. "It'll all be over soon."

"Oh hey!" Saphron shouted, "That's what that vampire jerk said to him in the first one. Full circle~" She was happy her theoretical nephew got back at that jerk for scaring him like that.

Mercury fell onto the ground and clicked a mine underneath him. The explosion ripped his body in half. As he twitched and tried to move, all he could say in a weak weeze-like voice was, "I don't… want to… die…" He fell unconscious immediately after.

The following moments showed Jaune gush over his son's shot, the family gathered by the bus, and the sun slowly rising in the sky. Mercury's body disintegrated in the light, finally putting the vampire down for good. And, despite the fact that Gira would've preferred it otherwise, the police did arrive eventually. But that's a different story altogether.

"And scene!" Knox swung his body up from his seat and shut off the screen. "How about a break? Enjoy some time back home for a while. We've got to do a thing."

"You sure?" Yang asked the two.

"Totally. We'll give you guys a week. Same deal as last time. For now, we'll see you around."

King snapped his fingers, and the theater went dark.