Chapter 120: The Last Straw

The Architect's Temporary Base. Unknown Location.

"Denied?" Zero stared at the screen. "What do you mean 'Access Denied'?"

"The bank accounts are frozen, Sir," his subordinate stammered. "Sterling bought the banks. He bought the holding companies. He even bought the electric grid supplying this building."

PZZZT.

The lights in Zero's office flickered and died. The emergency red lights turned on.

"He cut our power," Zero whispered, trembling with rage.

In one hour, Jackson Sterling had dismantled an empire that took fifty years to build. No supply chain. No weapons. No money to pay the mercenaries.

"He thinks he can starve us out?" Zero smashed his desk lamp. "He thinks we are businessmen? We are gods!"

He turned to his lieutenant.

"Assemble the Legion. Every remaining soldier. Every working Drone."

"Sir? What is the target?"

"His heart," Zero pointed to a map of Long Island, New York. "The Sterling Manor. We go there tonight. We burn it to the ground. If we can't rule the world, we will make sure Jackson Sterling has no world left to rule."

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Two Hours Later. The Skies over New York.

"They took the bait," Alex announced from the jet’s cockpit.

On the screen, a convoy of fifty unauthorized vehicles was swarming towards the Sterling estate. It was an invasion force.

"Are they evacuated?" Serenity asked, looking at the thermal feed.

"The staff is safe in the panic room," Jackson said calmlym drinking an espresso. "But the house is not empty."

"Dad?" Alex asked. "Grandpa Liam is still down there. Alone."

"He insisted," Jackson smiled faintly. "He said he wanted to do some... gardening."

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Sterling Manor.

It was midnight. The massive gates of the estate were blasted open by a rocket launcher.

BOOM!

Debris flew everywhere. Zero’s army stormed in—cyborgs, enhanced soldiers, and heavy weapons trucks. They trampled the roses and surrounded the main house.

"Come out, Sterling!" Zero shouted through a megaphone, standing on top of a jeep. "Your empire ends tonight!"

There was no answer. The house was dark.

Then, the front porch light flickered on.

A single wooden rocking chair sat on the porch. Sitting in it was a man with grey hair, calmly whittling a piece of wood with a knife. He wasn't wearing armor. Just a flannel shirt and jeans.

Liam Sterling.

"Get off my lawn," Liam said. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried over the roar of the engines.

"Kill him!" Zero ordered. "Waste the old man!"

Ten soldiers opened fire.

Rat-a-tat-tat!

Hundreds of bullets shredded the porch. Wood splinters filled the air.

When the smoke cleared, Zero smiled.

But the smile froze.

Liam was still sitting there. Unharmed.

In front of him, the air shimmered like heat haze. The bullets were suspended in mid-air, frozen by a telekinetic shield.

Liam stood up. He brushed sawdust off his pants.

"My turn," Liam dropped the wood.

He raised his right hand. The temperature dropped fifty degrees in a second.

"Winter has come early," Liam whispered.

WHOOSH.

A blast of pure Zero-Point Energy (ice element) erupted from Liam. It swept across the front lawn like a tidal wave.

The trucks froze instantly, tires shattering. The guns in the soldiers' hands turned into icicles. The cyborgs’ batteries died in the extreme cold.

Zero watched in horror as his "invincible" army was turned into ice sculptures in under ten seconds.

"What... what are you?" Zero gasped, his breath misting in the air.

Liam walked down the steps. The grass crunched under his boots.

"I am the man who survived the void," Liam grabbed Zero by the throat and lifted him up. "And you made a mess of my garden."

Just then, the roar of a jet engine filled the sky.

Jackson’s private jet did a low flyby. Ropes dropped down.

Jackson, Serenity, and Alex rappelled down onto the frozen lawn.

"Hey Dad," Jackson walked up, admiring the frozen statues. "I see you kept the pest control under control."

"They were noisy," Liam dropped Zero onto the ice.

Jackson looked down at the shivering, defeated mastermind.

"You wanted my home?" Jackson smirked. "Welcome to the Sterling Family reunion."

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