by Vanessa
Author's note: I don't think that Bennet is trying to be the bad guy of the series. He's just doing what he thinks is right, even if he doesn't understand that Zee changed. He's not really "evil." He's just doing his job.
Also, this is one of my older fics, but after seeing that it helped inspire Joelle's fic "Deletion," I had to post it. Read "Deletion!"
Disclaimer: I don't own The Zeta Project, but my evil plans to take it over are well underway! O_o! I've said too much.
Zeta got away from us again today.
I hate reporting that to the NSA. I hate telling them that I, James Bennet, who has never let the enemy get away from the National Security Agency, let Infiltration Unit Zeta escape again. Even with all our weapons and our agents and our high-tech equipment, we can't bring down one renegade synthoid.
Then there's that girl, the one that Zeta calls Ro. She's another one of the people that it's managed to convince of its innocence. It already has Batman on its side, and I suspect that even Agent Lee is beginning to believe it. I'm not so easily convinced.
True, it would be nice to believe that Zeta is no longer capable of destruction, but I wonder what my orders would be under that situation. Would the government tell me to let it go, or would I have to bring it in for reprogramming? Wouldn't it be easier to build another less advanced synthoid like Infiltration Unit 7 than it would be to find out what went wrong with Zeta's programming and try to fix it? It would certainly be less expensive. IU7 was far less advanced and expensive than Zeta, so wouldn't it be easier to let Zeta go?
Maybe it would, but I can't afford to believe it. Robots don't just develop a conscience overnight and evolve beyond their programming. Things like that only happen on television. I have to keep believing that Zeta is part of an elaborate plot, because if I allow myself to think otherwise, people could be hurt. No matter what Zeta or any of its "friends" do or say to convince me, I have to do what's right and follow the orders that the government has given me.
I have to be the bad guy.
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