Further Study

> "*Our story today is centered around Atlas. Recently, a terrorist attack was conducted by the White Fang that killed the members of the Council during their meeting. The Kingdom has entered a state of emergency and marshal law has been declared by General James Ironwood.*"—Lisa Lavender beginning a news story on the assassination of the Atlesian Council

## Links

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The Enemy Has Come

Chapter 12, titled "Further Study", is the twelfth chapter of the original published version of *The OMEGA Subject*. It was published on August 5, 2019, on Fanfiction.net. It was the last chapter published before the original story was cancelled.

## Summary

The chapter begins with an introspection by Apollyon. He sees himself in a burning human city, paw embedded in the dead body of Peter Port. He hears fighting nearby and, upon investigating, finds Sia Argent fighting off an ursa. He stalks around and waits for her to lower her guard before pouncing. She notices him at the last second, but just before he can hit her, he blinks and finds himself back in his cell. He declares to Sia what he wants, and she asks if he wishes to continue the interview. He agrees immediately. Sia continues questioning him on his past, with him in turn asking his own questions. When the interview concludes, Sia pats him on the head, to his chagrin, and departs.

Sia returns to her office and looks over the interview. Satisfied with it, she prepares to sends copies of it to the Director of AVALON and the Grimm Control Council after updating Apollyon's file. As he looks over it, she recalls how fluent Apollyon is with speaking. She looks over his medical report and finds that the leading surgeon was Arthur Watts, a person confirmed to be working with Salem. She adds a note to her message to the Council on extracting information from him. Her mind returned to Apollyon once more, and she tries to understand how he was so fluent. As she remembers the only other cooperative Subject she had spoken with, the IOTA, she realizes a possible connection.

She looks over Apollyon's medical report once more and sees that the Geist mask in his chest did in fact belong to the IOTA Subject. She quickly finds disconcerting information, however, that warns of possible mental damage Apollyon might suffer due to the IOTA's several mental disorders possibly transferring over through the mask. She looked through the IOTA's file next, and saw that its mental state had degraded over a period as short as three months, and she realized Apollyon was getting ever closer to possibly suffering that same fate. She decided to close the reports, not wanting to read any more.

The next day, Sia returns to his cell, though she comes alone. Apollyon notices the weapon on her and tenses, though she quickly says that she could only enter the room alone if she had it on her. She explains to Apollyon that he needs to undergo physical therapy in order to heal his leg, and he is averse to the idea at first. Eventually, he concedes to her and lets her perform the check-up. Once she is done examining the limb, she tells him that the therapy is relatively simple due to his lack of an internal skeleton. They both walk laps around the edge of the cell, Sia cheering him on the whole time and encouraging him. By the end of the day's session, he is capable of jogging with little discomfort. She bids him farewell, and Apollyon wrestles with himself over his slowly-growing hesitance to kill her and escape.

The day after, Apollyon decides to start on the therapy on his own. Sia joins him part of the way through, and performs a check-up on his leg. Once she finishes, the two start jogging around the cell, striking up a conversation his future and her past. Once the session ends, Apollyon realizes he is growing attached to her. He berates himself, trying to piece together the how and why while also trying to remind himself of his end goal: killing her and escaping.

The scene cuts to Lisa Lavender giving a news report on the assassination of the Atlesian Council by the White Fang. General James Ironwood joins her and explains that, after a fountain was bombed, the AK-200s guarding the Council Chambers were hacked into and remotely controlled to execute the Councilmembers during a meeting with the Valean Council about the Vytal Festival. When asked about the Vytal Festival and possible delays, Ironwood assures her that the Festival should continue on schedule. Lisa thanks him for his time and tells the viewers that the next story is on growing reports of super-Grimm appearing. Ozpin turns off the broadcast and contacts Peter Port, Bartholomew Oobleck, Glynda Goodwitch, and Qrow Branwen. Qrow joins him in a video call as the teachers walk in. He explains the situation to them all, and before he can go any further with the discussion, Ironwood joins in a call as well.

He clarifies that the situation goes far deeper than the news report. He reveals that a facility once full of super-Grimm was foudn in Atlas, already destroyed, and that records indicated the existence of one in Mistral and one in Vacuo. He explains that he investigated the one in Vacuo personally, and found evidence of even more super-Grimm. He then reveals that the terrorist attack was not, in fact, perpetrated by the White Fang, but by a third party framing them. They all realize that the faction in control of the super-Grimm is very likely the one responsible. Ozpin gives everyone instructions on how to proceed, and they all leave except for Qrow. Qrow asks Ozpin to keep Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose safe, to which Ozpin agrees. After that, the chapter ends.

## Characters

### Major Characters

* Apollyon
* Arthur Watts (Mentioned)
* Bartholomew Oobleck
* Glynda Goodwitch
* Ozpin
* Peter Port
* Salem (Mentioned)
* Sia Argent
* Qrow Branwen (First Appearance)

### Minor Characters

* Aeshma/OMICRON (First Mentioned)
* James Ironwood (First Appearance)
* Lisa Lavender
* Paimon (First Mentioned)
* Pythia/ETA (First Mentioned)
* Seir/ZETA (First Mentioned)

## Trivia

* This is the longest chapter of the original published version of *The OMEGA Subject*, at over five-thousand words.