Henry Bruder

"*Dr. Bruder's humor may be corny, but it's comfortable, like an old shirt you don't want to throw out.*"
—Hector Amani, *Masterminds*

## Henry Bruder

### Aliases

Dr. Bruder
Dad (by Malik Bruder)

### Affiliation

Serenity, New Mexico (previously)
Serenity doctor (previously)
Project Osiris (previously)
Malik Bruder (previously)

## Physical description

### Gender

Male

**Dr. Henry Bruder** was Malik Bruder's surrogate father and the only doctor in Serenity, New Mexico. He was known for his corny jokes and general goofiness throughout the town. Henry Bruder is pro-Project Osiris and helped Felix Hammerstrom, a social scientist, in trying to make Eli Frieden forget everything he suspected about Serenity by feeding him pills to erase memory after reading Randy Hardaway's letter about his suspicions.

He is married to Ellen Bruder, who was said to be an excellent baker and cook.

## Biography

Sometime before the trilogy takes place, Dr. Bruder met and married his wife. He worked as a doctor and was hired by Felix Hammerstrom to work for Project Osiris as well, moving to Serenity along with his wife before Malik and the other clones were born.

### *Masterminds*

Dr. Bruder was first seen when Eli fell ill from the border, talking along with Hammerstrom and the Surety while they readied the stretcher. He wanted to observe Eli for a few days after that and claimed he didn't know what had caused his sudden illness, blaming it on dehydration.

After Malik and Hector Amani skateboarded down the hill on Fellowship Avenue and hit the pavement together to avoid crashing into a traffic cone truck, Hector received a nosebleed from the impact and Malik dragged him to Dr. Bruder's office despite him insisting he was fine.

A few weeks later, Eli showed his surrogate father a letter Randy Hardaway wrote to him about his suspicions of Serenity. Even though it's after one a.m., Dr. Bruder instantly received a telephone call from Hammerstrom and had a whispered debate with his wife, then leaving the house without a bowtie to visit them and only returning in the morning while Malik was preparing for school. He had ordered Eli to take three pills a day, which were meant to help him forget about the letter. However, unbeknownst to him and Hammerstrom, Eli had been spitting the pills into a potted geranium and not been affected. Dr. Bruder checked on Eli daily, asking him questions about his condition.

Later, while Eli, Malik, Hector and Tori Pritel attempted to take aerial photographs of the town using a kite, he appeared behind them and advised that flying a kite on a street could be hazardous, but after Hector gave a convincing lie, he went on his way.

The next Tuesday, a geyser of water exploded from the Bruders' kitchen faucet and knocked over Dr. Bruder, as he received a jet of water straight in the chest. He turned off the water and changed into a dry bow tie to greet Peter Amani, the town's only plumber, when he arrived. It was fixed after eleven and, much to Malik's relief, Dr. and Ellen Bruder were asleep within twenty minutes of crawling into bed.

### *Criminal Destiny*

After Hector (along with C. J. Rackoff) betrayed his friends, Dr. Bruder was one of the people that were sent to capture the clones. He jumped out of an SUV with a syringe containing a powerful tranquilizer in his hand, which he had accidentally dropped only for Eli to pick up and use to his advantage.

### *Payback*

Dr. Bruder was seen at the hotel of Poseidon Resort and Water Park. He was the only to speak up just before Hammerstrom pulled the trigger of the pistol he had pointed at Eli, asking him to stop. After Hammerstrom was killed by a falling manta ray in the chaos that followed, Dr. Bruder spoke gently to his former surrogate son in an attempt to reassure him about the end of Project Osiris.

## Personality and traits

Dr. Bruder is goofy and he loves to tell corny jokes, which he knows a lot of. He was also said to be able to "make total hooey sound like real doctoring", showing that he could be a convincing actor. Dr. Bruder had a deep voice that could be sarcastic.

## Physical description

Dr. Bruder is always seen wearing a bowtie. According to his surrogate son Malik, Dr. Bruder only leaves the house without one about once per millennium, and did so on the night Eli showed Hammerstrom Randy's letter.