The Agency Against Hank Wimbleton is the main antagonistic faction of the Madness Combat series. It is an organization of soldiers founded and led by the Auditor whose immediate goal is to eliminate Hank J. Wimbleton, and later on, anyone else who the Auditor saw as a threat, such as Sanford, Deimos, Jesus, and 2BDamned.
The A.A.H.W. began as mere Grunts, pathetically unprepared troops who also serve as the basic designs for almost every other character. Grunts were eventually outclassed by other troops that were introduced over the course of the series, most notably the 1337 Agents, who replaced Grunts as the primary cannon fodder by Madness Combat 5: Depredation. Even more variations were developed by the Accelerated Training Program, which birthed the A.T.P. Engineers and A.T.P. Soldats.
The series has repeatedly shown that the working conditions of the A.A.H.W. are extremely poor. The Auditor has murdered his own men simply out of frustration, and has "enhanced" several of them, which seems to completely eliminate their already limited free wills. Dissenters are brutalized and strung about their facilities to threaten members into subservience, and every unnamed member of the A.A.H.W. is little more than a martyr. It's also been shown that members are also stationed within the Other Place, though it's ambiguous if they simply occupy it or are actually deceased themselves, as several of them appear to be losing their skin, which might be their S-3LF's being assimilated into the Other Place.
Two of the series' main characters, Jesus and Tricky, had been associated with the A.A.H.W. for many of the early episodes. Jesus served as the Sheriff's personal bodyguard in Madness Combat 2 Redeemer and Madness Combat 3: Avenger, and was frequently seen resurrecting troops killed by Hank. At the end of Madness Combat 7: Consternation, Jesus defected from the Agency, seeking to "end the madness" by killing the Auditor and destroying the Improbability Drives. Tricky betrayed the A.A.H.W. in Madness Combat 6.5 after he grew tired of taking orders, although Jesus killed him before the A.A.H.W. could.
In Madness: Project Nexus (Classic), the A.A.H.W. were supposedly hostile to the titular Project Nexus. Despite this, their units repeatedly attempted to stop Sanford and Deimos from shutting down the project. MADNESS: Project Nexus remedied this, with the A.A.H.W. and Nexus Core being indifferent to one another. Late in the game, the Nexus Core alert the A.A.H.W. to Hank's position in the hopes that the Agency can stop him from destroying them, although this proves futile.
Units
The Nexus Core has access to an array of soldiers, ranging from the disposable to the specialized.
- MADNESS: Project Nexus Kickstarter
Grunt
A.A.H.W. Grunts are plain characters wearing grey shirts, and serve as the base appearance for most Nevadeans. These are usually either newly signed-up agents who have lackluster fighting skills, or what newly-made clones look like before they can be given a more specialized purpose. Since Madness Combat 5: Depredation, their presence in the series began to greatly decrease, and they were eventually replaced by Agents as the series main canon-fodder units.
Agent
1337 Agents, also known as l33t Agents, are soldiers dressed in business suits and shades, and are one rank higher than Grunts, as in Madness Combat 4: Apotheosis, one is seen given orders to grunts. In their first appearances, they were often armed with Desert Eagles; however, since Madness Combat 7: Consternation they began using a larger variety of firearms and melee weapons. They don't fare much better than grunts in combat against the series main characters, but they are shown to be generally much braver, rarely cowarding out. One peculiar characteristic of agents is that, once zombified, they seem to maintain a higher degree of self-control than zombified grunts, being able to utilize weaponry and being commanded by Jesus; however the reason for this is unknown.
A.T.P. Engineer
A.T.P. Engineers are one of the two types of units created by the Accelerated Training Program. Unlike their sister units, the Soldats, Engineers are not specialized for combat, instead being designed with superior intellect and knowledge about technological repair and invention. This does allow them more creativity during combat however, attempting more advanced tactics than common agents, such as ambushes, taking cover and even deceiving tactics. They wear asymmetrical removeable masks with yellow-visors and suits and have yellow blood as a result of undergoing the A.T.P.
A.T.P. Soldat
A.T.P. Soldats are one of the two types of units created by the Accelerated Training Program. They specialize in combat, being much more agile and acrobatic than agents or A.T.P. engineers, as well as possessing quicker reflexes, which make them more durable foes against even extremely combat prowessed individuals like Hank. The A.T.P. gave them singular eyepieces surgically attached to the right side of their heads and yellow blood, and wear heavy overcoats. Supposedly they have ceased production after Madness Combat 7.5, when Sanford and Deimos destroyed a Soldat production facility; though this was likely only one of many, since Soldats have appeared in other episodes past Madness 7.5.
Retainer
Larger than average units who patrol Hell itself to keep the deceased trapped inside, Retainers are one of the most deadly units in the A.A.H.W.'s arsenal. They appear to be located specifically within the Other Place, attempting to keep the souls of the A.A.H.W.'s enemies trapped within so they cannot be resurrected. They have wires surgically inserted into their heads, which attach to the metal masks one their faces. They have a variety of psychic powers, and are able to fly, teleport, and possess telekinesis.
Half Mag
Introduced in MADNESS: Project Nexus, Half Mags are Agents who have been only partially magnified, and stand roughly the same height as a G03LM. They resemble Agents, wearing suits and glasses, but they have defined facial scarring. They behave similarly to G03LMs, lumbering around and becoming stunned after doing a frenzied attack. They will occasionally charge up a punch that launches them forward and ragdolls and does massive damage to anyone it hits, also potentially sending them airborne.
Mag Agent
The largest units the A.A.H.W. have, Mag Agents are Generation-04 Nevadeans that stand roughly four times as tall as a normal character. Their gargantuan size gives them very high damage resistance and a physicality that trumps even G03LMs. Their appearances vary greatly because of the fact that they need to be individually built rather than cloned, but they consistently have long, claw-like fingernails and weapons that are scaled to fit their size.
The canon animation series has only shown four variations of Mag Agents: One in Madness Combat 7: Consternation, who resembles a 1337 Agent with stakes impaled into his head in an X pattern; two identical ones in Madness Combat 8: Inundation, who are the Auditor's bodyguards and wear masks with a single row of fang-like teeth; one in Madness Combat 9: Aggregation who was supposedly a beta type and wore a duck-like rebreater and distinctly lacked a facial cross; and two more identical ones in Madness Combat 10: Abrogation who wear red visors.
A fifth A.A.H.W. Mag Agent appears in the non-canon animation Incident: 110A who wore a full suit of bulletproof armor and a pair of goggles, and MADNESS: Project Nexus featured several Mag Agents that seem to be mass-produced, each wearing an identical mask with tubing and a black visor.
Trivia
- If the A.A.H.W. were to permanently terminate Hank, they would probably throw a pizza party, as told by Krinkels.
- A.A.H.W. agents lack the ability to feign death because, as stated by Krinkels, "that requires both a strong survival instinct as well as cleverness they just don't have."
- Krinkels does have plans to add more units to A.A.H.W., as the main line up only has four.
- This eventually happened in Madness Combat 9.5 and MADNESS: Project Nexus with the Retainers and Half Mags, respectively.