When the Volgons invaded the West, the United States introduced the newest military creations into the field; expendable robot soldiers designed to wage war across any terrain in any kind of combat, atomic, bacterial or chemical. Robots programmed to kill, but destined to die: The ABC Warriors.

As can only be expected, the early attempts to bring these new soldiers into battle was fraught with disaster. The Mk I robot was programmed to identify and attack enemies of the state, but couldn't recognise civilians. That required moral judgment. As a result the Mk II came programmed with genuine moral values. He became a pacifist and tried converting human soldiers to his cause. And paid the inevitable price.

The Mk III was given artificial values and emotions: patriotism, thrilling to the national anthem, believing the enemy is always evil, war is necessary to protect national interests. Nothing too deep, just enough to stop him slaughtering civilians. Not enough to question why he was fighting in the first place. In other words, the perfect soldier: Hammerstein.

The initial activation of the Mk III proved to be a huge problem for his programmer, Jodi Jones. Hammerstein's master program (or 'soul' as it was called in the trade) refused to accept the secondary programs he needed, and as a result he withdrew into himself. In a bid to cure the problem, Jodi took him to a robot psychiatrist, who surmised they needed to force him to feel a genuine emotion to bring the master program into phase with the secondary programs. A course of intensive therapy was prescribed; his mind was bombarded with emotional stimuli (books, films, music, live action) until he would finally be forced to emote. Contradictory signals were sent back and forth between his master and secondary programs, but unable to find a pattern or logic to human behaviour, the master program simply rejected it all.

The psychiatrist, Justin, made a pass at a reluctant Jodi, while Hammerstein watched. This proved to be just the jolt he needed, and the Mk III was finally provoked into action. In a bid to stop Jodi from being hurt, Hammerstein inadvertently killed her, and proceeded to take his anger out on the good doctor. In the aftermath, Hammerstein made a startling realisation.

The Mk III was the first into the field, and was also the first to be recruited by the mysterious Colonel Lash for the Mars mission. With Joe Pineapples and Happy Shrapnel in tow, Hammerstein was ordered to pluck recruits from the front lines of the war, Hammerstein became more and more jaded as he witnessed the horrors of the war he was fighting. While the human officers remained in safety well behind Allied lines, the robots were sent out into the field as cannon fodder. The humans could tap directly into the robots minds and see and hear everything they did, but each ABC Warrior was fitted with something called a 'pain barrier' which stopped the humans from feeling the pain of their troops. Seeing too many of his colleagues dying in the field, Hammerstein removed the pain barrier from one and put him out of his mercy, killing their human officer in the process. Nothing could be proved regarding Hammerstein's involvement, and no charges were brought against him.

His distrust of humans continued unabated after he was put through his paces by Lash, and consolidated itself when he was ordered to recruit the Volgan butcher Blackblood, and then discovered that his fellow ABC Warriors were being slaughtered by their human masters when he tried to recruit Steelhorn.

Hammerstein and Colonel Lash took the newly formed team to Mars to tame the devil planet and finally bring peace to its red plains. Following their success, the robots returned to Earth and all went their seperate ways. Hammerstein, along with several more ABC Warriors, found himself back in the army, serving under General Blood 'n' Nuts, leader of the robot armies of United States president Robert L. Booth. Following the great Atomic War of 2070, instigated by Booth, Hammerstein fought in The Battle of Armageddon, where a hundred thousand Mega City Judges and Mega-Troopers gave their lives trying to stop the robotic armies.

The Mk III was lost during the battle, and buried under the surface of the vast radioactive wasteland known as The Cursed Earth for the next forty-six years. However, a chance meeting with some scavengers gave him the chance to re-assess his programming, and discover what had happened in the time he had been buried. Realising the war was over and the Judges were no longer his enemy, Hammerstein became unsure of his purpose. He headed off through The Cursed Earth, and into Mega City One where he offered himself for sale to a local merchant. Eventually, he found himself being sold as army surplus to the much feared Ro-Busters Disaster ltd. After helping to save countless human lives with his long time companion Ro-Jaws, Hammerstein helped mount a mass robot escape to Saturn Six, a planet taken over by robots years before. Unfortuneately, Hammerstein himself never made it.

As the centuries passed, Hammerstein realised war was all he knew, and decided to re-join the army. With a number of other ABC War robots, he was brought into service by The Terminators, the armies of Torquemada, in a bid to increase their depleted numbers for the invasion of The Gothic Empire. Hammerstein, even more battle weary, began to question his masters orders, and eventually brought up on charges after showing compassion to a family of aliens. He was to be executed immediately, but received a last minute reprieve. He, and two of his comrades (Mad Ronn and Hitaki) were re-programmed and sent on a suicide mission to assassinate the queen of the Empire, Victoria.

After the assassination attempt was foiled by Nemesis The Warlock, Hammerstein once again became the first to be recruited into the new team of Warriors. The remaining members were pulled from the free robot planet of Mekka, and brought back to The Gothic Empire to stem the tide of the Terminator assault. After saving the Empire, The Warriors stayed behind to assist in the cleanup and help train the Goths in more effective means of combat. They re-joined Nemesis as he ventured into The Time Wastes of Termight to find his son, Thoth. With Mad Ronn lost, their numbers were bolstered by Hammerstein's former Ro-Busters comrade Mek-Quake. The team ventured to the end of the world, and lost a second member when Hitaki was killed during the first encounter with The Monad. Adding Ro-Jaws to the team, The Warlock dispatched The Warriors into the Time Wastes alone to repair the damage done by Thoth, and stop the destruction of the planet.

During the mission, Hammerstein met and became close to a human female, Terri. She had mistaken him for Craig, the father of her baby, and became equally infatuated with the ageing warrior; without the proper modifications, however, Hammerstein had no way to return her affections. The two became fiercely protective of each other, and made plans to find some remote planet and settle down. All good things, as they say, must come to an end, and with Terri's untimely death during the final confrontation with The Monad, the Mk III realised he was doomed to be an eternal soldier, only finding pleasure in war and destruction.

The galaxy safe, Hammerstein led The Warriors to freedom, and, temporarily relinquishing command to Deadlock, on to the planet Gandarva, for a confrontation with Nemesis. After making enemies of The Eternal Soldiers of Agartha, The Warriors had become hunted throughout the galaxy, and elected to join Deadlock in his quest to bring Khaos to the galaxy. They travelled to the Hekate to complete their 'training,' and perform the ritual that would spread Khaos throughout the Terran Empire. Hammerstein, the most reluctant of all The Warriors to embrace Khaos, finally came to the understanding that he didn't have to obey orders any longer, and renounced Deadlock's leadership.

After their victory on Hekate, The Warriors went their own ways. Hammerstein agreed to let Blackblood (now an arms dealer) give him a service, only to find himself welded to a workbench and used for testing new weaponry. With the help of Deadlock, Hammerstein escaped and pulled The Warriors together again to stop the Terran ship Hellbringer.

Having taken command of The Warriors again, Hammerstein led the Mek-nificent Seven back to Mars intially to tackle a group of zombies calling themselves the Jung Cannibals, but remained to help the people of the planet when Medusa, the planetary consciousness, tried to wipe out her human settlers. After striking a deal with Medusa, Hammerstein led the assault on The Red House to kidnap the human Mars President D.W. Cobb, and turn him into a Martian president, thus redressing the balance and appeasing Medusa. For a time.

The ABC Warriors stayed to help increase the peace, but Cobb's 'transformation' sparked a civil war, with the Confederacy of Martian Industries on one side and the Union of Martian Free States on the other. Now, with the aid of mercenary company Conflict Management, the Confederacy are about to unleash seven robots to destroy the Warriors...

Hammerstein | Joe Pineapples | Deadlock | Blackblood | Mongrol | Ro-Jaws

Mek-Quake | Steelhorn | Nemesis the Warlock | Tomas de Torquemada

In Memorium | Supporting Cast | Fields of Battle | The Armoury

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