The Zeta Project/Characters

Infiltration Unit Zeta aka Zee Smith

The main character, Zee's origins are explained within the opening paragraph of the main page. He is the de facto hero of the series.

• Actual Pacifist
• Amnesiac Dissonance: Zeta - Memories = Murderous Kill-Bot.
• Badass Longcoat
• Badass Pacifist
• Berserk Button: Threatening Ro, civilians, or even his enemies is a bad idea. Zeta does not react well to physical violence.
• Children Are Innocent
• Diedrich Bader
• Does Not Like Guns: Or any kind of violence, really.
• Friend to All Living Things: Even cockroaches. Ro was squicked; squick is a human concept Zeta didn't conprehend.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Trusts everyone inherently and believes everyone is good deep down. He also can't seem to gauge when people are lying to him, no matter how obvious it is.
• I Am Not a Gun
• Innocent Innuendo: Anything that he says that sounds even remotely suggestive is this. He really, really doesn't get it. Special mention goes to kissing a complete stranger and not knowing why Ro was upset.
• The Messiah
• Naive Everygirl: A male version
• Love Redeems: The creator has admitted it comes across as ambiguously psuedo-romantic, but it was intended as platonic. It's more his love for the child of the man he's impersonating than the wife that makes him begin to change anyway.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules: Literally has no reason whatsoever to be as moral and kind as he is other than free will. His morality and heroism are self-enforced standards and as such he cannot be bought off, bribed or threatened.
• Turned Against Their Masters: A peaceful example.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist

Rosalie "Ro" Rowen

• Action Girl
• Alliterative Name
• Blue Eyes
• Closer to Earth: Though the implication is more humans versus robots than women versus men.
• Deadpan Snarker: Constantly.
• Forgotten Childhood Friend: Her brother.
• Hair of Gold
• Hidden Depths
• Genre Savvy
• Parental Abandonment
• Properly Paranoid: In contrast to Zeta's blind trust of everyone, she trusts no one until they prove themselves.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Chocolate and the disgusting mixed drink Zeta gives her early on become regular staples; the first is played for humor, the second is less often mentioned.:

Agent Bennett

• Deadpan Snarker
• Depending on the Writer: Sometimes he's willing to let a known terrorist (Mad Stan from Batman Beyond) run around without diverting his considerable resources to stopping him and saving lives simply because it's Somebody Else's Problem. Other times he berates West for opening fire in a crowded place, seems genuinely concerned for those around him and goes out of his way to keep people safe. He also varies from being all business to somewhat friendly towards Lee.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Sometimes. See Depending on the Writer above for details.
  • He seems to dislike firing in public or on civilians. This cannot be said of all Agents.
• Generation Xerox: His son is a visually identical but highly different personality-wise. Refreshingly, this isn't an issue.
• Kurtwood Smith
• Perpetual Frowner: The only time he smiles in the series is at his son.
• Sanity Slippage: Over the course of the series, he begins becoming more confrontational, emotional and callous, leading to more questionable actions. Highlighted by the Mad Stan incident.
• Somebody Else's Problem: His response to Batman's plea for help.
• The Stoic
  • Not So Stoic: He begins to grow increasingly frustrated as the series goes on.

Agent Lee

• Action Girl: In contrast to her wimpy partner, Lee was able to hold off a mercenary with her hands tied together.
• All Asians Know Martial Arts: Averted. Her fighting style is identical to every other Agent we see in the series. Agent Rush actually has the most kung fu esque moves out of all the Agents, and he's black.
• Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: With West. As much as she mocks him, she fights fiercely to rescue him twice in season one alone.

Agent Lee: I gotta go save my partner.

• Deadpan Snarker: Usually involving West.
• Equal Opportunity Evil: The she's Chinese, a woman, and not trained in a stereotypical branch of Hollywood kung fu. Positive Discrimination may be at work as she's the Only Sane Man.
• Heel Face Turn: Gradually comes to realize Zeta isn't evil. This leads to her turning Bennett in during the second season after his Sanity Slippage becomes too extreme.
• Lampshade Hanging: Frequently.
• Last-Name Basis: It's apparently just Lee, even to her friends.
• Lauren Tom
• Odd Friendship: Goofy, cocky West and calm, snarky Lee.
• Only Sane Man: Woman, but still valid.
• Reasonable Authority Figure
• Vague Age: As per usual with the NSA Agents, we have no clue how old she is.
• Word of God: On her ethnicity; she's Chinese.

Agent West

• Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: He and Agent Lee have this dynamic. "I have to go save my partner," "Don't touch her!" etc.
• Berserk Button: Don't threaten Agent Lee.
• Embarrassing First Name: According to the credit, it's Orin. No one ever mentions this due to the Agents being on a Last-Name Basis with each other
• Fanon/Word of Dante/Wild Mass Guessing: Because his last name is West and he's in the DCAU, fanfic likes to make him related to the Flash.
  • Having both characters have the same voice actor doesn't help matters.
  • He also has red hair.
  • Wally's wife has brown eyes. Orin has brown eyes.
• Let's Get Dangerous: He can be serious and competent, in a pinch.
• The Load: Seen as this by his comrades.
• Plucky Comic Relief
• Reckless Sidekick: To Lee and Bennett.
• Redheaded Hero: He tries.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Most notably in "Westbound".
• Ted Baxter

Bucky

• Ambiguously Brown
• Dark-Skinned Redhead: Voiced with a vaguely Hispanic accent, too. No one's clear on what this means.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: The only reason Bucky's first episode ever got greenlit was because Zeta's a robot.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Manipulative Bastard
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Doesn't think of Zeta as a person at first.