Batman Beyond (TV Series)

Zeta (2000)

Gary Cole: Zeta

Quotes 

• Zeta : I was created for one purpose - to destroy. I do not wish to destroy anymore.

• Zeta : I decide who I want to be.

• Max : [being held hostage]  Help! In here! Somebody help me!

  Zeta : Go ahead. No one can hear you. Now, let's go over everyone you know at school again, and this time, be more thorough.

• Zeta : I was programmed to maintain the secrecy of my own existence. Anyone I replaced saw what I was and could never be set free.

  Max : But you didn't want to kill this terrorist guy?

  Zeta : He was not a terrorist. His associates were terrorists. He was an accountant.

  Max : So, he was innocent.

  Zeta : Yes, but that is not why I spared him. Replacing him required that I live with his family. I watched them experience life. I saw his daughter ride a bicycle for the first time. I could not deprive her father of seeing her grow just because he knew I existed.

  Max : Wow.

  Batman : So, why the high school?

  Zeta : I needed computers and electronic equipment. Compared to a government site, a school has little security.

  Max : And once you saw who's who at the school, I was the natural choice. Who'd look twice at me spending all day at the lab?

• Max : Am I glad you're back. I couldn't live another second without your charming repartee.

  Zeta : I must remember to practice sarcasm.

  [holding out a paper bag] 

  Zeta : Here. You must be hungry. Genoa and Swiss. Your fave.

  Max : [eating]  Why so nice all of a sudden?

  Zeta : It is not all of a sudden. I have taken great care not to injure you.

  Max : Being held hostage isn't exactly five-star treatment.

• Batman : Look, I really hope I'm wrong about this, but he's been programmed to kill. I'm not sure I can just let him go.

  Max : Ter, you heard him. He doesn't want to be violent anymore.

  Batman : No? Did you see him go for those lasers back at the factory? Violence is hard-wired into him. It's what he is.

  Max : He can fight that. I know he can.

  Batman : Max, he held you hostage. You want to let him do that to someone else?

  Zeta : I'm sorry. It was my only choice. It's the only way I know to acquire an identity.

  Max : Well, we're gonna have to come up with another way, aren't we? Does your memory still hold all those people you, uh... replaced before?

  Zeta : Yes.

  Max : Well, then why not mix 'em up? You know, one guy's hair, another guy's eyes. That way, you could decide who you want to be.

  Zeta : Mix 'em up.

  [going to a window to look as his reflection, he adopts the identity of a young man] 

  Zeta : I should go. They'll have followed my last signal to this area.

  Max : [hugging him goodbye]  Good luck, Zeta.

  Batman : [watching him leave]  I still need to keep an eye on him, at least 'til he's out of town.

  Max : Just give him a chance, Ter.