Batman Beyond (TV Series)

Zeta (2000)

Will Friedle: Terry McGinnis, Batman

Quotes 

• Terry McGinnis : Is being Batman just giving me a suspicious nature?

  Max : Yes.

• 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?

• Bennet : You're not cleared for this information.

  Barbara Gordon : But since it's loose on my streets, you're going to be smart enough to tell me what I'm dealing with.

  Bennet : It's an advanced tactical synthoid, infiltration unit Zeta. Designed for deep-cover ops; replace, interrogate, dispose. You're not supposed to like it. High endurance endo-frame equipped with a full array of weapons and tools. A holographic emitter onboard conceals the rig while enabling Zeta to mimic its targets.

  Barbara Gordon : And this you people release into a school.

  Bennet : We didn't release it anywhere. It stopped following orders. Ours, anyway. Zeta was on a long-term assignment infiltrating a terrorist group. Six days ago, it went renegade.

  Barbara Gordon : Why? How?

  Bennet : We don't know. We think the terrorists got to its programming. We have to assume it's obeying them now. And that means we take it out. In a school, on a street corner, wherever we get the shot.

  Barbara Gordon : We'll cooperate however we can.

  [Bennett leaves] 

  Barbara Gordon : You get all that?

  Batman : [surprised, he turns off his invisibility dial]  Guess I'm losing my touch.

  Barbara Gordon : I don't like this Bennett waging his war on my streets. I trust if you find the synthoid first, you'll show more concern about who else gets hurt.

  Batman : At least we know it's out of the high school.

  Barbara Gordon : Don't be so sure. If this thing was at your school for a reason... it might come back.

• Terry McGinnis : Hey, workaholic, let's get some chow. Genoa and Swiss. Your fave.

  Max : Thanks, Terry, but I have a lot to do. Maybe see you after school?

  Terry McGinnis : You kidding? With what's been going on, the night job's been full-time lately. In fact, I could use your help covering with Dana.

  Max : Sure. What does she need?

  Terry McGinnis : [suspicious, then dropping it]  Know what? I just remembered I'm free. I will see you after school.

• 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.