Zev

Zev reaches out to Carl and Donut after they get off the Yellow Line to talk about Katia Grim. She says that Katia is boring and people don't like her. Carl is pissed about the comment, but Donut says she will help her be more interesting. Zev says if people don't like it, they will stop watching and if they stop watching then the team will get less prizes from sponsors. ^[12]

After the fight on the Dismemberment Limited against Dismember, Zev reaches out to tell the team that Carl and Donut are going on a documentary show Planet Beautiful. Carl refuses to do it if it's anti-Earth propaganda, but Donut is excited to go on the show and talk about Pet Shows. ^[13]

Driving down the line in the Nightmare Express Zev reminds the team about their commitment and asks them to find a Safe Room. ^[14] She delays them attending the program for a couple hours after their Desperado Club visit tops the stream view counters. ^[15]

During the Vermillion Line Rescue, Hekla explains how the plan is to strap Katia Grim to the front of the Vermillion Line subway car. Carl immediately objects, talking to Katia in a private chat. Zev mentions that Carl needs to be having these moments out loud and Carl says to the ceiling, "Go fuck yourself, Zev". Zev warns Carl that half his conversations are not availible to the viewers, and asks what Carl thinks is going to happen.^[16]

Within 36 hours, Zev is sent to "a temporary re-education retreat so she may reflect upon her life and her personal philosophies" following a "personal tragedy." Loita becomes the team's primary PR agent, but says Zev will be their social media manager when she returns. Loita further implies that Zev will return shortly, as the reeducation camps don't take long for the "weak minded."^[18]

The Bloom was particularly invested in "converting" Zev due to her age and skills, but she refused to join the ultranationalist political party until after the Bloom did "unspeakable things to her mother and her aunts."^[19] Zev takes the pin and returns only a few days after she left.

As the Royal Court's social media manager, she can comment on their social numbers and how they're perceived by audiences, but Loita supervises every conversation she has with the crawlers. Donut tries to confirm that Zev is okay, but Zev's responses are wooden and canned. Zev explains that Donut can no longer message her directly, and signs off by telling them to "get back out there and kill, kill, kill!"^[20]

Her apparent obedience begins to slip when Carl and Donut complain about the Veriluxx RealPet Companions. While Loita tries to put the crawlers in their place, Zev chimes in with remarks like, "You're not wrong, crawler. There are memes." Donut seizes the opportunity to ask which name Zev would give to the toy: Charlie, or Ivy (who, to briefly summarize a convoluted Gossip Girls plot, pretends to be Charlie). Although Zev initially avoids answering, she finally says, "If you must choose a name, I would go with Ivy."^[21] Donut gasps as she understands that Zev's un-Zev-like behavior is an act.^[22]

When Donut accidentally replaces Zev by purchasing the Social Media Board, Zev says goodbye to the crawlers. In the same conversation, Loita seals her fate by threatening to have Mongo killed in front of Donut.^[23] Carl assassinates Loita, he and Donut are pulled from the Dungeon for five days, and Zev is assigned as the Royal Court's "temporary PR agent until everything gets sorted out." Zev asks Katia Grim to wait for Carl and Donut to return before taking out the land quadrant.^[24] Carl notes that Zev continues to speak in her "robotic, Stepford Wife voice, but Donut had greeted her cheerfully and no longer seemed concerned about her condition. There was more going on there, but I couldn’t ask her about it."^[25]

Carl uses the Gate of the Feral Gods to flood Larracos, and Zev is so excited that she drops her "good little citizen of the Party persona"; in a series of seemingly outraged messages, she provides valuable information and insight into how much damage Carl has done to the Ninth Floor.^[26]

While Miriam Dom and Prepotente ferry Carl and Donut out of Zockau, Zev chimes in to let them know about an upcoming appearance on Odette's show and that Vengeance of the Daughter is still active. After Carl's stunt on the previous level, additional security protocols have been implemented for all crawlers.^[27]

At the end of their time with Odette, Donut reveals that she "smuggled all those Valtay secret agent guys to Zev and the Borant Emancipation Front."^[28] Zev's exact role in the Borant System revolution/civil war is unknown but apparently central.

Zev stops just short of warning Carl about Lucia Mar's ambush in Alucarda, possibly saving Donut's life. After Carl is transferred to CrawlCon, she arranges for him to stay and train instead of being transferred back into danger after judging the art show.^[29] Carl is able to prepare for the combined hunter/Lucia ambush.

Zev finds herself caught between the liaison Harbinger and Quasar. She and the attorney have a tense relationship, though they seem to share a world view.^[30]

Zev has also developed a soft spot for Mordecai. She knew that he was hiding the Changeling children with Compression Sickness and was working with the System AI to show him interacting with the kids. She also advised Carl and Donut not to pick Odette as their adjutant for Faction Wars in deference to Mordecai's history with the woman (though she is also worried that Mordecai will attack her like he did Chaco and get permanently removed).^[31]

Zev covers for Carl when he follows the directions from the Open Intellect Pacifist Action Network to see Paulie in Florida. She assures everyone else at the Christmas party that Carl is fine. She warns Carl about his sponsor's disappearance and asks him to be careful at the meeting but allows him to go off on his own anyway.^[32] However, she can't tell Carl what a Residual is.

When Carl gets the Have You Goddamned Figured Out How To Use This In Conjunction With the Fucking Voodoo Book Yet? Jesus Christ I Can Only Help You So Much box, Zev comments that she has never heard of such blatant hand-holding by the AI. ^[33]