Child in Time

**Child in Time** is the final episode of Sol 101 season one. It is the second half of the episode Strife.

## Bookmark

Last time on Sol 101, shit got real.

Sol, Laika, and Gadsio confront Edgelord in the library. Breaking all rules of civility, a clash ensues.

Meanwhile,

## Plot

JULES TIME:

Laika was the first to begin shooting at Direheart.

Now is not the time to be insulting your comrades, but fuck it, you're mad. "I thought you were the one who told me *not* to waste an opportunity striking Direhart down!"

The swordsman turns to you, glares at you for a second, and slaps you across the face. It hurts on multiple levels.

(null runs at Direhart, enraged, and Direheart takes advantage of this to ntentacle-barnacle-EMP his armor and then slash at his leg. Direheart approaches, and Null only holds his fist off with his arms)

The bullets continued to splash into Direheart's flesh like raindrops into puddles of mud. They did nothing, any immediate harm rendered inert. You could tell that Laika was using some sort of incendiary rounds based on their labels, but it seems Direheart wasn't about to let them go off.

(Jules shoots a shot with the Velvet Revolver that ignites the rounds in Direheart's back (setting off an explosion within Direheart's body), and continues through Direheart's chest cavity to destroy the barnacle-EMP and part of Null's armor. Null's armor powers back up and he uses a power surge to force Direheart back)

(Direheart launches projectiles back at Laika, disabling his armor. Later in the fight, a werewolf-like Mercurial Laika leaps out of the suit and charges down Direheart)

SOL TIME:

Edgelord gets the heart

Edgelord kills Gadsio

Sol uses Omnitrix Prime

Omnitrix Prime isn't enough to resist Heart of Darkness Edgelord

Edgelord's hand wrapped around his throat. It burned, on the inside and out. His neurons were buzzing about, trying to find some way to respond, but the only sensory input they received was the burning hand of death that snuggled up so close and was almost comforting in its pain.

Wispy black smoke began to emerge from Sol's tortured neck, from where the hand had grasped him.

All of this was not enough for Edgelord. No, he needed to go further with his depravaties. Not only did he want to, but the Heart of Darkness commanded him to.

He grabbed one of his Mirror Blades; whichever one it was, it did not matter. It morphed its shape into that of a dirk or a trowel, and rammed it into the slight crevice between Sol's chest and the Omnitrix's underbelly.

Whether it was Sol or the Omnitrix that cried out in pain, it did not matter to Edgelord. He reveled in the sound of it, and the feeling of the blade slipping further under the machine that had so long stopped him became the absolute definition of euphoria. He could not stop. The piece of metal slipped further, inching deeper every second, his grip tightening around it, it was what he needed, and then, it was gone.

The Omnitrix popped off.
A brilliant flash of white light enveloped the two - now three - of them.

(Sol grips onto Edgelord and sends time back)

MORE JULES + CO FIGHT

MORE SOL FIGHT

The Omnitrix still lay dejected on the ground, rejecting this old reality where it had still been attached to Sol. It beeped almost fervently, hoping that some figure would pick it up, though it did not really cary who did.

Edgelord looked around, utterly confused and disoriented. He had nearly killed Sol seconds ago, yet here he was, back minutes ago and farther from appeasing his master.

JULES + CO DEFEAT

(Nameless grabs Direheart in a full-nelson sword-grab from behind, freezing him in time)

"Core detached," the Nameless's suit announced.

Moments later, a great steel sarcophagus birthed itself out of the Nameless's back. His exoskeleton clung to the body of Direheart like a locust's to a tree. The pod then took off, rocketing into the sky towards a portal.

You were caught up in one of these portals yourself. It began to wrap around you before you could

(Nova Kidd's reality warping reaches full potential, as she prepares to go supernova)

In your last moments of time in that dimension, you were witness to the downfall of Crimelord Direheart. Rings and portals wrapped around his body and turned and choked his very existence like each part of his body was trapped in its own whirlpool. With the detachment of the Nameless's body, he was no longer as restrained as he was before, yet it was already too late for him to possibly escape. Parts of metal and battle suit were strewn about helplessly, but it was all for naught. Direheart's fabric of existence was being torn apart, packaged up, and shipped careening through the universe.

"We're Mully and Sculder. Pray you don't have to see much of us."

It took Sol's young mind a few moments to get the dated reference corruption, but it finally clicked. He scoffed a little. "Mully and Sculder? Like... The X-Files?"

"W Files, actually. You know - documenting the Whos, Whats, Whens, Wheres, Whys, and Wows of crime," one of them spoke up. Sol wasn't really sure which one was which.

"And, if you think we have bad names now... Just know, we were almost Werlock and Shatson."

## Trivia

* The next episode will be Bulls on Parade and will introduce an entirely new PoV character. If anyone can accurately predict who it is, down to which timeline of them it is, they win a cookie.
* Yes, the scene where Crimelord Direheart is defeated by portals was heavily inspired by Doctor Strange's combat techniques in Infinity War and Endgame.