Mack Mackenzie quotes from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Yo-Yo

[about the kill switches to hers and Lincoln's vests] Would you really use these? [Mack looks away solemnly, but doesn't reply] Good. Because I'd rather die than be anyone's slave.

Mack

I don't know why you're on this damned mission. It's too dangerous. That's why you should have this. [hands her back her cross]

Yo-Yo

What do you think you're doing?

Mack

I'm giving you your cross back. You need it more than I do.

Yo-Yo

This isn't a lucky rabbit's foot. This is a symbol of faith! Who would return such a gift?

Daisy

When Hive takes over a body, he steals that person's memories. That's as close to stealing a soul as you can get.

Mack

Memory is the scribe of the soul.

Daisy

The Bible?

Mack

Aristotle. What? I have dimensions.

Coulson

Now all we have to do is decide who goes and who stays to hold off a wave of primates and Hive the Terrible.

Mack

Well, I'd like to be in the fight. [wields shotgun-axe] Built this damn thing for a reason.

Mack

There shouldn't be any secrets between us.

Yo-Yo

Why not? There's nothing else between us.

Coulson

Where's your power come from?

Robbie

I made a deal with the Devil.

Coulson

Right... okay... just... [walks over to Mack] Okay, ghosts, devils. You believe any of this stuff we're dealing with?

Mack

I believe in God, so I gotta believe in the other thing.

Coulson

In my experience, gods usually turn out to be aliens.

Mack

Alien would definitely explain the things he can do.

Mack

If that thing is that dangerous, then why not tell him? He's the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Coulson

We don't know if we can trust him.

May

[nodding at Robbie] So why the hell is he here?

Coulson

Without him, we wouldn't know the Darkhold had resurfaced. But the fewer people who know about it, the better. Fury had no problem opening Pandora's box from time to time, but even he was afraid of this thing. It's powerful, it's deadly, and now probably in the hands of a pissed off mad scientist ghost. So, thoughts, feelings? This is a safe space.

Robbie

If we're going to get my uncle, I'm going with you.

Coulson

No, you're not.

Mack

If your uncle can lead us to Lucy, then maybe we'll let you out to bust some ghosts, but until then, your ass stays on the plane.

Robbie

I don't take orders.

Coulson

Then this will be a new experience.

Robbie

You can't keep me here.

Coulson

Maybe not. But you take this plane down, you'll be burning up the only people in the world trying to help you.

Mack

Lucy leaves a lot of crazy in her wake. If we're gonna track her down, we're gonna need that antidote. Fitz said that they were close.

Coulson

I don't want it close. I want it here.

Mack

The Chinatown Crew was working with Eli when he was in prison. And now that he's out, they might know his location. Now, I figure if I find their hideouts, I find Eli, and then I can...

Slow down. We're not gonna just go cracking heads.

Mack

It's not cracking heads.

May

Let him go. Someone should.

Mack

Look, my job is to keep people safe.

Mine, too. So first we sharpen the ax, and then we chop the tree.

Mack

My ax is plenty sharp. And a shotgun.

Mack

First of all, that thing is not a she. It's a damn robot. And second of all, what is the matter with you two chuckleheads? Have either one of you seen a movie in the last thirty years? The robots always attack.

Radcliffe

Well, technically speaking AIDA's not a robot, she's an android.

Fitz

That's true.

Mack

Android, robot, it doesn't matter what you call them, the end results always the same. They rise up against their human overlords and go kill-crazy!

Radcliffe

You make a fair, if intense, point.

Mack

Radcliffe built a humanoid robot that's about to attack the base.

Yo-Yo

Why would he do that? Has he watched no American movies from the eighties? Robots always attack.

Mack

I've been saying that all day.

Yo-Yo

Smart people are stupid.

Mack

Alright, gear up. The robot apocalypse is finally here.

S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't leave a man behind.

Mack

You really think this is our best move?

Coulson

You know the saying - if a jet crashes in the woods and there's no one to hear it, stick to the guy with super strength.

Mack

[connects LMD Radcliffe] Just you and me now Tin Man. You don't mess with my buddy and walk away from it.

If you shoot me now, it'll be murder.

Mack

Nice try, wrong guy. You're just a bunch of ones and zeroes, not flesh and blood.

Flesh and blood? That's not life Mack, that's just biology, and biology's just... software, programming you to die.

Mack

Maybe, but I have something you will never have: a soul, that will continue long after I'm gone.

How can you be so sure I don't have one? If a soul doesn't come from your flesh and blood and my ones and zeroes, then it has to come from somewhere else, somewhere unrelated to our physical bodies. If you can have one, so can I.

Mack

My, you are a sly one, aren't you?

If you don't think I'm alive and don't have a soul, then why did you feel the need to switch me on before killing me?

Mack

[cocks his shotgun] I like to hear robots scream.

Coulson

I'd be the first to admit that I followed my worst instincts at times. Last year. Loss will make you do that. Feels good in the moment, but it never ends well. I've lost my temper, I've killed. But lately, I have this voice in my head telling me not to go down that path again. It's telling me to be patient. To stay steady.

Mack

I take it you don't mean me sir.

Coulson

It's Agent May. She'd tell me to stay on mission.

Mack

Listen to the woman, she knows what she's talking about.

Mack

[taking off the virtual reality head set] I like my video games as much as you, but this is too much.

Fitz

Yeah well, it's not like the Oculus Rift is a training exercise.

Mack

Yeah well, I doubt it's helping May run a triathlon.

Simmons

Mack!

Fitz

That's not how I meant it.

Mack

You built The Matrix prison and now May's stuck in it, like a brain scan.

Fitz

The Framework is a tool! That's all that it is, a tool.

Mack

Like AIDA was a tool?

Fitz

What are you trying to say? That all this is my fault?

Mack

What I'm saying is that if you didn't build a killer robot or a virtual world, this year would've been much easier for us. And whether you like it or not, that's the reality.

Fitz

I'm trying to help people, Mack.

Mack

I know you're not a bad person Fitz, but this gear has been used for some really bad things. You've got to think about the implications of what you create.

Fitz

Electricity is used to execute criminals. Does that mean we also shouldn't use it to power our hospitals?

Mack

That's not the same thing and you know it.

Fitz

There's always risk involved in science! That doesn't mean we don't pursue it anyway.