Sidekick vs Hunter

  Extending an arm, the Hunter sprayed the net and it dissolved. He reached for Cole, but there came a click as if a little piece of metal had hit the robotic drone. Glancing, Cole saw a silver disk attached to the drone’s hip. A slender wire led from the little disk to a shabby maintenance robot perhaps fifty yards away.

  And then the drone lit up. White electricity crackled along the wire, and suddenly the drone was jerking and sizzling. Seconds later freeze-foam covered the severely damaged drone, and Sidekick shoved it over.

  “Hi, Cole,” the little robot said. “Time to run.”

  Cole raced after Sidekick, who it turned out could extend wheels and zoom along at a rapid pace. It took a moment to leave behind the sharp smell of the drone’s scorched metal. Cole was relieved to find his battle suit still functioned normally. He glanced back at where the drone lay swaddled in freeze-foam.

  “What did you do to him?” Cole asked.

  “I converted a lot of energy into something like electricity,” Sidekick said. “Too much for a bot like pretty boy to handle. I could have blown him apart, but you were too close. It was safer to disable him and lock him up with the foam.”

Chapters 16-17