26.4

Summary of Parahumans: Worm, Chapter 26.4:

Ellisburg loomed, a walled-off town, a monument to the day the wrong person gained too much power. Weaver approached in the Dragonfly, uneasy. Dragon was silent, her systems seemingly malfunctioning, and the Azazels, Dragon’s advanced drones, were dormant nearby.

Weaver’s message to Dragon went unanswered, lost in a growing queue. She contacted Defiant, learning that Jack had entered Ellisburg. Defiant urged her to wait for backup, revealing that the Azazels were compromised. He hinted at a grave situation with Dragon, suggesting she’d pushed herself too far and was now incapacitated.

Ignoring Defiant’s warning, Weaver decided to enter Ellisburg alone. She found the quarantine control building’s vault doors torn open by the Siberian. Inside, the emergency lights cast a red glow. Her bugs found no members of the Nine, but sensed something within Ellisburg snatching them out of the air.

Ellisburg was a twisted wonderland, clearly remodeled by Nilbog over the years. Buildings were adorned with floorboards, trees were sculpted into bizarre shapes, and the walls were painted with surreal landscapes. The meticulous care contrasted with the unsettling absence of insect life and the presence of a scarecrow with a skeletal dog’s head and a child’s hand.

Weaver encountered Nilbog’s creations – small, monstrous, yet strangely childlike. They silently took her weapons, and she tried to warn them about Jack’s threat to Nilbog. One massive, sensory-deprived creature was summoned, and it tore off her flight pack’s arm, throwing her.

As more creatures gathered, Weaver gambled, claiming to have a gift for Nilbog. She walked through the town, noticing the increasingly extreme alterations, and arrived at the town center, where Nilbog held court with Jack, the Siberian, and Bonesaw.

Nilbog, obese and masked, sat on a makeshift throne. Jack played the subservient guest, while Weaver declared herself Nilbog’s equal, a queen. She offered a gift of protein – her swarm – to feed his creations. Her bugs also searched for Siberian’s controller, finding a hidden Nilbog beneath the throne, connected by an umbilical cord.

Jack began to manipulate Nilbog, suggesting he go to war to protect his kingdom. Weaver countered, revealing that Jack had destroyed her own realm and intended to do the same to Nilbog’s after using him as a distraction. She told a “fairy tale,” playing on Nilbog’s likely childhood obsessions, claiming Jack had promised to destroy all kingdoms.

Nilbog, swayed by both sides, created an “angel” and a “devil” from his own flesh to represent the arguments. Jack took the angel, Weaver the devil. As they ate a disgusting meal that tasted like cupcakes, Jack subtly threatened Weaver with a knife.

The tense meal was interrupted by Golem’s arrival. He claimed to represent the innocents and urged Nilbog to do nothing, to return to his utopia after they left. Jack countered, exposing the harsh reality that Nilbog’s creations were slowly starving and had short lifespans. He offered Bonesaw’s help to grant them immortality, playing on Nilbog’s love for his first creation, Polka.

Weaver argued that a king or god couldn’t be selfish, that Nilbog’s responsibility was to his creations. Jack twisted this, saying stepping out of his comfort zone was for their betterment. Nilbog, enraged by the difficult choice, ordered the creatures to attack.

Weaver, as a last-ditch effort, revealed that Jack had hidden an assassin among Nilbog’s creations, hoping it was Siberian’s controller in disguise. Nilbog found the “assassin,” actually one of Bonesaw’s homages. As Siberian moved to attack, Golem intervened, throwing the controller into the air.

Nilbog, enraged, ordered the death of Weaver and Golem. Golem created a platform to escape, but creatures attacked. Weaver commanded her remaining bugs to suffocate the buried Nilbog, hoping to slow down the inevitable war.

Jack caught Weaver with his knife, severing her flight pack’s straps. She crashed onto a rooftop, injured and vulnerable. She tried to turn the creatures against the Nine, claiming Jack had killed their king, but her voice was weak. Golem amplified her message, creating a temporary reprieve.

Siberian pulled the dying Nilbog to the surface, and Bonesaw embraced him. The Nine created a portal and escaped with Nilbog, leaving the monsters to riot. Weaver, rescued by arriving heroes, despaired, knowing the damage was done.