Felix Hammerstrom

"*Felix Frieden is kind of a joke among the kids in town, with his three piece suits, and his shined shoes, and his no-nonsense attitude.*"
—Eli Frieden, *Masterminds*

## Felix Hammerstrom

Felix Hammerstrom in the official Criminal Destiny book trailer

### Aliases

Felix Frieden (in Serenity)Dr. Felix Hammerstrom
Dr. Hammerstrom
Mr. Frieden
Dad (by Eli Frieden, previously)

### Affiliation

Serenity, New MexicoProject Osiris
Eli Frieden (previously)

## Physical description

### Hair

Light

**Felix Hammerstrom** was a social scientist and the main founder of Project Osiris, a cruel experiment designed to test whether someone is born evil or becomes evil through a course of events. Before carrying out Project Osiris in Serenity, New Mexico, Hammerstrom was part of the faculty of the University of Colorado. In Serenity, he was both the mayor and principal of Serenity's only school.

Hammerstrom was Eli Frieden's surrogate father, taking care of him for almost fourteen years. After attempting to shoot Eli in Poseidon Resort and Water Park in *Payback,* he was crushed by a manta ray and instantly killed.

## Biography

Before 1999, Felix Hammerstrom became part of the faculty of the University of Colorado. He met Tamara Dunleavy and they became friends. When Tamara's younger brother, Jonas Dunleavy, was arrested and murdered by another inmate, she and Hammerstrom came up with Project Osiris in order to prove that prisons should provide guidance rather than punishment for its prisoners. Together, they visited several prisons in order to obtain the DNA of eleven of the most notorious criminals.

However, in 1999, Tamara abandoned the project and withdrew the financial backing after realizing how unethical the project was. Despite this, Hammerstrom continued, resigning from his job and dropping out of sight to create Serenity, New Mexico. He also cloned Tamara herself in place of Bartholomew Glen, who had refused, and the money to fund the project was provided by swindler C. J. Rackoff in return for a shipment of brownies twice a week to his cell.

Hammerstrom took care of his surrogate son, Eli Frieden, throughout his childhood, isolating him from almost all negative details about the world for the sake of the project and lying about his supposed mother. Hammerstrom was also the mayor and principal of Serenity and had changed his last name to Frieden.

### *Masterminds*

When Eli was first affected by the town borders, he woke up to see Hammerstrom looking above him, concerned. However, Hammerstrom pretended not to know what caused his condition, lied about his real identity when asked and told Eli to forget about the incident.

Soon afterward, Randy Hardaway was sent away to McNally Academy after figuring out too much about the town. Hammerstrom gave him a speech at the school, despite having been a big part of the decision to send Randy away.

Later, when a storm arrived in Serenity, Hammerstrom went to the Plastics Works, likely for something to do with Project Osiris. He came home to see Eli having discovered the faulty internet, which showed the truth about the Boston Tea Party rather than the fake version that he had been told. After being shown the letter Randy had given him about his suspicions, and he and Henry Bruder worked to make Eli forget about it by giving him pills. However, Eli only feigned taking the pills, becoming suspicious of their intentions.

When Eli was attempting to teach himself how to drive using a video game, Hammerstrom stopped him after a few hours and lectured him, then tearing up a Purple People Eater card of Baron Vladimir von Horseteeth made by Randy that he had found.

During Serenity Day, the town's local celebration, Hammerstrom was seen giving a speech at the ceremony and holding up the Serenity Cup. Shortly afterward, Eli Frieden, Tori Pritel, Malik Bruder, Amber Laska and Hector Amani escaped the town.

### *Criminal Destiny*

After the clones' escape from Serenity, Hammerstrom put his energy into attempting to discover their location and bring them back to the town. To cover up for their escape, the other kids were told that Eli, Tori, Malik, Amber and Hector had come down with an illness than Henry Bruder could not cure and were sent to a hospital in Santa Fe to recover.

When C. J. Rackoff was broken out of Kefauver prison, Hammerstrom and the Surety were alerted to the clones' location by him and Hector Amani. Upon spotting Eli Frieden, Hammerstrom grabbed him by the collar with a strong grip in an attempt to stop him from escaping; however, his target was able to successfully wriggle out of his grasp. Eli then picked up a dropped syringe previously belonging to Henry Bruder, intending to use it to defend himself, and stabbed it into Hammerstrom's thigh, knocking him out cold mid-sentence.

### *Payback*

Either before or after Rackoff's escape, Hammerstrom came up with the idea of moving the remaining Project Osiris clones, along with their surrogate parents and the Surety, to Poseidon Resort and Water Park—a water park located on the remote island of West Cay, Bahamas. That way, they were able to hide out among the regular park visitors and possibly prevent another escape, all while being untouchable by the FBI due to the foreign country they were at. A photograph of Hammerstrom was taken by one of Tamara Dunleavy's private investigators at Poseidon, showing him staring at the camera in front of the gigantic aquariums in Poseidon's lobby.

When Eli, Tori, Amber and Malik successfully arrived at Poseidon and convinced the remaining clones to follow their lead and escape, Hammerstrom blocked their way through the lobby along with two other Surety members. Eli spotted him first and attempted to keep running, but Hammerstrom pulled out a pistol from his pocket and pointed it directly at his former surrogate son, willing to kill if it meant possibly being able to continue the project. As the clones spoke up to defend themselves, Hammerstrom continued to believe that Project Osiris was optimistic and positive.

At the same time that Hammerstrom pulled the trigger, Hector Amani hurled himself at him, jarring his arm and redirecting his aim to the aquarium above, rather than at Eli. Sea creatures and water rained down onto the floor, and a gigantic manta ray came down upon Hammerstrom, which crushed and immediately killed him.

## Personality and traits

Hammerstrom was stubborn, selfish and determined. He was also unforgiving and liked to be in control of things. Although brilliant, his ideas were occasionally carried too far, such as Project Osiris. He was also a very mad scientist.

## Physical description

Felix Hammerstrom had thin lips and steely gray eyes the color of a frozen lake. He often wore crisp three-piece suits and a tie, along with shined shoes. Eli described his serious facial expression as his "Principal Stare".

## Relationships

### Eli Frieden

Felix Hammerstrom was Eli's surrogate father for Project Osiris, using the name "Felix Frieden" as an alias. He used Eli for studying, without ever giving Eli a hint about the truth. Eli was positive that his father was his real father, not aware of the fact that it might be a lie. Felix enforced Serenity values, such as honesty, harmony, and contentment. When Eli accidentally found out too much information, Felix worked together with Henry Bruder in an attempt to brainwash him with pills.

At the end, Eli knew and accepted the fact that his own father was his own enemy, but he believed that a lousy parent is better than none at all. Felix also tried to shoot Eli in *Payback,* believing that Project Osiris could continue if he succeeded in doing so.

### Tamara Dunleavy

Tamara and Felix were good friends until Tamara chose to quit Project Osiris and rejoined the outside world. Dunleavy was unaware of the fact that Project Osiris was executed after she quit, but she still agrees that Felix Hammerstrom was a brilliant scientist.

## Trivia

* Felix Hammerstrom owned a Lexus.
* He was paid one dollar per year as his salary for being mayor of Serenity and principal at the school, yet always claimed that he was overpaid.
* According to Eli, Hammerstrom "sleeps like a baby and snores like a buzz saw".
* When Eli asked about his name (although Eli didn't know that was his true name at the time), Felix froze and lied that one of the Surety goes by that name.
* Hammerstrom is also the WiFi password to the real internet in the Plastics Works.