Nexus Core

*Not to be confused with the NEXUS Core's Project Nexus initiative*

The **NEXUS Core** is a faction present in the game MADNESS: Project Nexus. They are a paramilitary group consisting of scientists and soldiers attempting to carry Director Phobos' legacy (Project Nexus) within Nexus City's Science Tower and in the depths of the city's Commercial Sector. They've made multiple appearances in fan animations as an antagonistic force, with different fan-made iterations, alternate titles and branches.

## History

### Madness: JAILBREAK

The NEXUS Core's presence in the Supermad Prison prison is very small despite the stablishment being owned by the faction, instead employing their NEXUS Police branch as security staff. The Core is simply represented by a lone NEXUS Soldat under the command of Valmet (who is also in turn a NEXUS Core officer).

The NEXUS Soldat, despite his apparent superior training, gets obliterated by Guglia and Aazan as he makes his way out of Warden Valmet's office armed with a FAMAS assault rifle in an attempt to put a stop to the two unruly escaping prisoners.

### JAILBREAK: Fall of Helios trailer

The NEXUS Core is present as a different iteration named the **NCorps** in this short trailer. They seem to have upgraded most of their soldiers with proper equipment, with new units between the ranks, and are teased as the antagonistic force and security forces within the Helios aircraft.

### Nexus Hank Raid

The NEXUS Core is present in this collab animation as a different iteration named the **NEXUS Prominence**. Much like the NCorps, the NEXUS Prominence employ heavier armed soldiers, alongside some less-armored agents in the mix. In this animation they oppose Hank, who is raiding one of their main structures in Nexus City.

## Units

### Scientist

While not a proper combat unit, the NEXUS Core arms it's scientists with laser pistols to defend themselves if an opposing force were to disturb their line of work. They're often seen building robots, gathering/processing data on terminals or checking experimental weaponry. They are quite weak and could be compared to an AAHW Grunt in terms of combat prowess: almost null.

### Agent

The NEXUS Core, much like the AAHW, posesses agents within it's ranks, although these agents wear bright red shades, red ties, dark grey fingerless gloves, suits with red highlights and an earpiece to contact allies. Their combat prowess is slightly superior to that of the AAHW's agents, being able to go in groups and focusing fire on enemies and contacting other units via their earpieces.

### Scout

The NEXUS Core Scouts are fast and agile recon units that wear an attire similar to NEXUS agents, but also sport black ski masks, gunbelts and a red, wide visor. Their role in combat is to scan rooms and make contact with enemies to report to their superiors. Despite their speed, they don't usually fare much better than an agent, and are even slightly weaker than them physically.

### Support

The NEXUS Core's biggest standard unit, the Supports are hulking agents who sport heavy body armor, pauldrons and a metal mask with a breather which connects to an air tank that they carry on their back. They are usually seen using sledgehammers to attack and are quite resillient, however they are not as resistant as a G03LM and unlike G03LMs, they are often seen in squads, paired with agents.

### Riot Guard

The NEXUS Core Riot Guards brandish a heavy ballistic shield which they use to advance against intruders. Their attire is similar to that of the rest of the NEXUS Core units, but they have a ballistic vest and a pair of goggles with a mouthguard, alongside ammunition pouches on their back. They are seen in squads of 3 or more, most of the time using melee weapons and in other instances, automatic weaponry.

### Engineer

Much like the AAHW, the NEXUS Core employs Engineers within it's ranks, although these Engineers' masks have a red lense, wear a ballistic vest, a beret and have the earpiece other NEXUS Core units brandish. They're often used as shock troopers, storming into the scene via ziplines and armed with shotguns.

### Soldat

One of the NEXUS Core's biggest threats, the NEXUS Soldats are the peak of NEXUS training, being agile and quite resistant. They are often seen wielding rifles or other high caliber weaponry, if not brandishing melee weapons, which they can dual wield with ease. Unlike their AAHW counterpart, the NEXUS Core's Soldats wear ski masks, a beret, pauldrons and ballistic body armor, and their monocle's lenses are red instead of yellow.

### G03LM

The NEXUS Core is known to send out heavy-armed, big clones when the time rises. The Generation-03 Limited Model clones are big, brute-sized frankenstein-like units which are armed with heavy, bulletproof armor and heavy weapons. They come in different variants, some with weaker armor and weaponry, and some of them with bulletproof armor and miniguns. Some of them are in possession of the AAHW and two of them were traded to the MERC.

## Faction Branches and Iterations

### NEXUS Prominence

*Main Article NEXUS Prominence*

NEXUS Prominence a special division of the NEXUS Core, located within Nexus City and featured in NEXUS: Hank Raid.

### Nexus Police

*Main Article Nexus Police*

The NEXUS Police is a regular law enforcement guarding the NEXUS Supermad Prison within Nexus City. They are the main antagonists of the Madness: JAILBREAK collab and show up at the end of Madness Within Me.

## Trivia

* Originally, the NEXUS Core was comprised of simply recolored AAHW units, and eventually as time went on, the Madness: Project Nexus team started adding more distinctions to the faction.
* Due to the introduction of the faction in a later stage of development in the game, many fan animations depict the AAHW as being the ones behind Project Nexus, and also possessing Sleepwalkers and G03LMs in their ranks.
* Many animators depict the AAHW and NEXUS Core as allies, but in canon, the two factions are merely business partners.
	+ During the mission "Climb!", NEXUS Core sends in reinforcements to assist the AAHW in defending the platform in order to hinder Hank and Sanford's progress.