Hank is Nevada's immune system incarnate
I don't know how much evidence there is to support this idea, but I firmly believe that Hank is like a form of sentient immune system working for either the realm of Nevada itself, or The Machine.
We see at the end of An Experiment that multiple lines of the Occurrent are converging, as has been stated multiple times throughout the events of Contravention. But below that, the following text can be seen:
ENGAGING REVANANT PROTOCOL
SITE VECTOR (x2,y-1), SWAP(MIX)
LANE DIVERGENCE DETECTED - RE ESTABLISHING OCCURRENT G2(HANK)SETPRIMARY().
Which I'm 90% sure indicates that Hank is being deployed as a response to Nevada's fraying integrity, further reinforced by the fact that An Experiment likely takes place directly before the events of Project Nexus Classic and its sequel. Two games that resulted in Phobos' eventual defeat and the Nexus Core finally shutting down - preventing the supposed 'God-Emperor' from wounding Nevada with an overload of S-3LFs.
Additionally, every character Hank has directly gone after in the entirety of Madness Combat was a direct threat to Nevada / the Occurrent at the time, with one consistent theme running between them; The Improbability Drives. Hank targeted the Sheriff because he had access to a form of the ImproDrive, even if it was fairly uncontrollable; Hank targeted Tricky because the clown has a Portal ImproDrive attuned to his every whim; Hank goes after the Auditor because they have an ImproDrive built into their body - though this might have simply been a case of the circumstances Hank was met with upon revival. Regardless, Hank actively targets threats to Nevada. When he has his brawl with Jeb, it's clear that Hank does not consider them a priority kill - Hank never seeks out Christoff; instead, Jeb is always the one seeking him.
Every target Hank has had throughout MadCom is sought with the singular purpose of fixing Nevada, which might be why at the end of Contravention we're told that he was REVIVED BY NEVADA ITSELF! Hank is a natural defense mechanism that removes threats before the Occurrent decides it needs to go nuclear and start using Normality Restoration beams, which only start appearing after Hank dies at the end of Convesternation. Nevada's last-ditch effort to save itself had failed, and so it resorted to drastic measures to survive and restore.
This is also why Hank is the protagonist - he's the guy that Nevada itself relies on to keep its realm stable when in crisis. Which has ought to be some of the most main character-coded circumstances I've ever seen in fiction. Then there's Doc, who I think might also be an avatar for the Machine, openly guiding Hank, Sanford, and Deimos to fix Nevada.
