"Bruce" Master
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After being executed by the Dalek Prelature, the Master used a Deathworm Morphant to ensure his survival by possessing the body of San Francisco ambulance driver Bruce Gerhardt.
Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]
A new body[[edit] | [edit source]]
I must find the Doctor. This body won't last long.
When the Master was tried and executed by the Daleks, he made a request for the Seventh Doctor to return his remains to Gallifrey, only to use a Deathworm Morphant to take the Doctor's TARDIS to 1999 San Francisco, where he possessed the body of ambulance driver Bruce Gerhardt after he had gone home and to bed after taking the Doctor to hospital to be healed from a gunshot wound. The next morning, the Master awoke, now inhabiting Bruce's body, but quickly realised that the American's body would not last long before decaying and launched his scheme to steal the Doctor's remaining regenerations, with his first act being the murder of Bruce's wife, (TV: Doctor Who) and then used Bruce's memories to track the Doctor to Walker General Hospital. (PROSE: The Novel of the Film)
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Learning from Bruce's colleagues that the Doctor had died on the operating table and that his body had apparently been stolen, the Master was also informed by Nurse Curtis that the young gang member who had been present when the Doctor was shot, Chang Lee, had also stolen the Doctor's possessions, including the TARDIS key. (TV: Doctor Who) Heading to the TARDIS, the Master found Lee already inside, (PROSE: The Novel of the Film) and regaled him with stories of the Doctor's supposed villainy, claiming that the Doctor had stolen his lives and home, and was also Genghis Khan. With Lee's help, the Master was able to open the Eye of Harmony, and discovered that the Doctor had regenerated into a new body, and that the Doctor was apparently half-human. (TV: Doctor Who)
Stealing Bruce's ambulance by murdering his paramedic partner, the Master and Lee answered Dr. Grace Holloway's request for an ambulance to collect the Doctor, (PROSE: The Novel of the Film) and agreed to take them to Professor Wagg's atomic clock at the Institute for Technological Advancement and Research and repair the timing malfunction the Master caused with the clock's beryllium chip, when he was really planning to bring the Doctor back to the TARDIS. Realising the Master's true identity, the Doctor and Grace escaped, but before they could do so, the Master secretly possessed Grace's mind. When the Doctor got back to the TARDIS to fix the timing malfunction, the Master had Grace knock him out and put him in restraints.
Having donned more traditional Gallifreyan robes, the Master boasted his plans to the restrained Doctor, accidentally letting it slip that he had lost his lives trying to destroy the Doctor, exposing his earlier lies to Lee. After killing Lee for refusing to follow his orders, the Master forcibly opened the Eye using Grace's retina so that he could steal the Doctor's regenerations. Although the Master was able to initiate the transfer process that would give him access to the Doctor's remaining regenerations, Grace was able to prevent this by rerouting the TARDIS' power and sending the ship into a temporal orbit. Grace released the Doctor from his restraints, but the Master threw Grace off of a balcony inside the Cloister Room, killing her. With the Master's body dying as the Doctor's regenerations were returned to him, the two Time Lords fought near the Eye of Harmony, culminating in the Master falling into it when he leapt at the Doctor and misjudged the angle. (TV: Doctor Who)
As the Eye of Harmony tried to break him down into pure energy, the Master managed to ride the energy into a spare room, which the Doctor's TARDIS then ejected into the Time Vortex to protect the Doctor, (AUDIO: The Lifeboat and the Deathboat) though the Master managed to lay a final trap for the Doctor, leaving a crystalline structure on the Eye that would give the Doctor amnesia. However, the Doctor was subconsciously guided by Rassilon to recover his memories by visiting his previous seven incarnations. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors) The Master, meanwhile, would remain stranded in the vortex for hundreds of years, rooting through the Doctor's possessions in search of something to help him escape, (AUDIO: The Lifeboat and the Deathboat) while the energies of the Time Vortex reinvigorated Bruce's body. (AUDIO: Day of the Master)
Trapped in the Time Vortex[[edit] | [edit source]]
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The Master was greeted by Missy, who had developed a plan to form a band to hypnotise viewers of The Battle of the Bands Beyond the Stars. His "Decayed", "Tremas" and "Saxon" incarnations all joined in the plan, and the team spent "decades" practising. (COMIC: The Five Masters) After unveiling their presence to the Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald, (COMIC: The Abominable Showmen) the Masters prepared for their performance. However, the "Tremas" Master began to fight with Missy over the control of her device, believing that he alone could hold the universe in his grasp. The "Decayed" Master joined in the struggle, followed rapidly by the "Bruce" Master, and the group soon became involved in a full on brawl. The five were quickly disqualified, seemingly destroying them. (COMIC: The Five Masters)
Escaping the Time Vortex[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Master managed to capture a child of the Vormatoda. Inspired by a VHS he found in the TARDIS' spare room, the Master brainwashed and disguised it as his daughter “Alison". In the meantime, the Vormatoda began attacking passing timeships in search of its child, leaving components which the Master could salvage. He eventually built a form of ship around the jettisoned TARDIS room, but was still stuck in the Vortex. After her vortex manipulator stalled mid-transit, he rescued River Song via the tractor beam he had acquired. With him posing as "Daniel", River began to help him retrieving bits of wreckage from victims of the Vormatoda, including a piece of a prison ship that had been transporting psychopath Kaliopi Mileska. During Mileska's rampage, the Master'd true identity was revealed and River discovered the truth about Alison. She managed to break Alison's brainwashing, allowing her to return to her natural form and reunite with her parent. With the Vormatoda now attacking his structure, the Master managed to escape the Vortex with Kaliopi in a stasis pod from the prison ship. (AUDIO: The Lifeboat and the Deathboat)
The Master eventually found himself on Kolstan, where he met Artron, and posed as an assistant sent by the Time Lords. When the Eighth Doctor arrived in the "Decaying" Master's TARDIS, the Master inflicted a fatal wound on the Doctor and used this to force Artron to operate a machine that would transfer the energy of the native Kolstani into him. However, Artron was able to adjust the machine so that he would absorb the power of the Kolstani, although this unintentionally turned them into the Ravenous. When Artron absorbed the power of the Kolstani and disappeared with the Doctor, the Master used his future TARDIS to escape to the Time Lord station that all his incarnations used as a base.
Meeting with the "War" Master and Missy, the "Bruce" Master worked with them to stop the Ravenous's alliance with the Eleven, acting as the group's negotiator due to the Ravenous' inability to eat him in his current state. After undoing the Eleven's scheme, the "Bruce" Master had his memory of the events that had occurred wiped and was thrown back into the Vortex by his future selves to preserve their timeline. (AUDIO: Day of the Master)
Transmitting messages to Earth[[edit] | [edit source]]
Having been trapped in the Vortex for what felt like "an eternity", the Master managed to make psychic contact with Earth on Halloweenm (WC: Listen to the voice of your Master!) contacting Lila Kreeg and instructing her on how to complete her work on a wormhole that could free him from the Time Vortex. (AUDIO: Faustian) Teasing Lila about the holiday and his wishes for freedom, he vowed to be free soon. (WC: Listen to the voice of your Master!) He later psychically contacted Lila again near Christmas, which he noted was "halfway out of the dark". He offered Lila a bargain for his freedom. (WC: The Master wants to be your Santa Claus) The Master made contact again on Valentine's Day to claim he could to make Lila "so much more" if she helped him escape. (WC: Will you be the Master's valentine...?)
Taking over Drake Interplanetary[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Master continued tempting Lila from within the vortex, visiting her in her dreams and promising her power. His efforts paid off and she freed him, though he had to kill her colleague Eddi Bhole in the process. He and Lila made an agreement whilst she had him trapped in a containment field, deciding to takeover Drake Interplanetary. The Master killed Magnus Drake, stole his identity and took over his company, appointing Lila as the lead scientist. (AUDIO: Faustian) The Master turned Drake Interplanetary into the most powerful company on Earth, (AUDIO: Prey) and built up an arsenal of weapons at a secret facility. He also confiscated the technology Lila had used to free him. (AUDIO: Vengeance)
While posing as Drake, he was hunted by Vienna Salvatori, who shot down the Master's airship with him and Lila inside during an assassination attempt. The Master and Lila landed in the slums, and after some encounters with the local gangs, managed to escape to the London Underground. The Master and Vienna fought, and he was knocked down by her into the path of a train. She thought him to be dead, however he actually survived and was retrieved by company security. (AUDIO: Prey) At this time, the Daleks invaded London, with the Dalek Litigator intending to carry out his death sentence on the Master. Relishing the chance for vengeance, the Master and Lila formed an alliance with Vienna, and fought off the invasion with his arsenal. He confronted the surviving Daleks alone, torturing and killing the Dalek Supreme and forcing the Litigator to flee by temporal shift. Taking their saucer for himself, he tried to tempt Lila to join him in leaving the planet and devastate it as they left. She refused and used her technology, which had been recreated by a Dalek duplicate of Drake, to send the saucer into the Time Vortex with him aboard. The Master grabbed hold of her, begging her to help him, however Lila gave him a final push to send him away. (AUDIO: Vengeance) Once again in the Vortex, the Master was broken down, lingering only as an essence in a patch of dark time. (AUDIO: Nemesis Express)
Infiltrating the Kairos[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Vortex drive of the Kairos reconstituted the Master as it passed through the patch of dark time and he began feeding on the life force of the crew to stabilise himself. He manipulated the people of the third class compartment, including Passion was a thief in hiding, so he could feed on them and lure Vienna to the ship for his revenge. After fully manifesting he revealed his manipulations to Passion and Vienna and challenged them to follow him as he escaped to a higher class. (AUDIO: Nemesis Express)
In the upper class the Master took over the running of a hunting party and politely greeted Passion and Vienna when they caught up with him, as they'd been stripped of their weaposn so were unable to harm him. He manipulated the hunting to target an infant Chronovore, which he captured to use as a weapon and lure its parent. The parent's arrival threw the ship into chaos, enabling him to reach thr control deck. (AUDIO: Capture the Chronovore!)
When Passion caught up with him the Master hypnotised her and used her to put the Kairos on a collision course with Earth. Passion tricked him however, being aboe to resist his hypnosis, and sent the ship back to the patch of dark time where the Master was pulled apart again. (AUDIO: Passion)
Destruction[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Master was eventually drawn back into the Eye of Harmony, (AUDIO: Planet of Dust) where his essence was left wandering the Time Vortex as Bruce's body was slowly destroyed. Nearing his ultimate destruction, the Master was rescued from the Vortex by a being named Esterath, the controller of the focal point of the Omniverse known as the Glory. After being told that it was time for the Glory to gain another controller, the Master was resurrected into the body of a recently deceased vagrant on the streets of 2001 Brixton. (COMIC: The Glorious Dead)
Alternate timelines[[edit] | [edit source]]
In an aborted timeline, the "Bruce" Master was brought to the ruins of Kiameth with four of his other incarnations, as well as Kamelion and Jo Grant by accident, by the "Saxon" Master, who intended to use the Attornium to take their lives in a desperate bid for his own survival after he had unleashed a sentient entropy wave. When the Masters decided to sacrifice Jo for fun, they were interrupted by Missy, who used the time scoop to scatter the Masters along the timeline of Kiameth, to see if any of them would find a chance of redemption by either stopping the wave or salvaging something from its aftermath.
The "Bruce" Master found himself at a beach house on an isolate planet, where found his "Deathworm" incarnation had formed a relationship with a woman named Kitty, his decaying appearance hidden by a perception filter. After a talk with Kitty, the "Bruce" Master convinced his "Deathworm" incarnation to show Kitty his true appearance, lying that she had grown to love him enough to look past it. As he had predicted, Kitty was horrified by his previous incarnation's decaying body, and the "Bruce" Master left the planet with Kamelion. When he joined forces with his "Young" and "Saxon" incarnations against Missy, the "Bruce" Master was killed when Kamelion, who had been working with Missy, exploded, though the "Saxon" Master managed to escape. However, the actions of the "War" Master caused a paradox that erased the "Saxon" Master's arrival on Kiameth, bringing the universe back to normal. (AUDIO: Masterful)
Psychological profile[[edit] | [edit source]]
Personality[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Bruce Master was generally calm and sinisterly villainous, but was also capable of terrifying rage. After he took possession of Bruce Gerhardt's body, and, after finding out that his new body was not stable, he became determined to steal the remaining lives of the Doctor himself. When his attempt to take the Eighth Doctor's remaining regenerations was thwarted, the Master reverted to a more basic, brutal approach, attempting to smash the Doctor's head in with a staff positioned around the Eye, proclaiming that "life [was] wasted on the living" and rejecting the Doctor's aid when he was being pulled into the Eye.
The Bruce Master was also very petty, snapping Chang Lee's neck when he refused to follow an order, (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) sabotaging the Decayed Master's happiness out of spite, (AUDIO: Masterful) opening fire on creatures in the London Underground to vent frustration, (AUDIO: Prey) and torturing a Dalek Supreme for fun. He also enjoyed taking vengeance on those who had inconvienced him, relishing the opportunity to kill Daleks due to their execution of him. (AUDIO: Vengeance)
Unlike previous incarnations, the Bruce Master was extremely serious when there was work to be done, more focused on getting the task at hand completed than engaging in small talk and humour, (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) though would enjoy the company of a like-minded individual if he was not in an immediate hurry. (AUDIO: The Lifeboat and the Deathboat) As head of Drake Interplanetary, he adopted a blunt approach during negotiations. (AUDIO: Prey)
As with his previous selves, he enjoyed being recognised as "evil", (AUDIO: Masterful) thanking Shelly Curtis for playfully calling him "sick", (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) and calling Jo Grant "too kind" when she called the Master the "absolute worst". (AUDIO: Masterful)
He was critical of people's trust towards the Doctor, (AUDIO: The Lifeboat and the Deathboat) but was quick to betray his own allies when it became convenient, such as Chang Lee, (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) and Lila Kreeg. (AUDIO: Prey)
He found the idea of a peaceful and mundane existence to be "unbearable". (AUDIO: Masterful)
Habits and quirks[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Bruce Master felt a pedantic need to correct people on bad grammar, such as when he corrected Grace Holloway's "kiss as good as me" to "[kiss] as well as [me]". He was also quite literal, not understanding expressions such as killing someone to mean making them laugh. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"])
Skills[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Bruce Master was still capable of manipulating people into following his will, winning Lee's loyalty through deception, (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) and tempting Lila into freeing from the Time Vortex. (AUDIO: Faustian)
Appearance[[edit] | [edit source]]
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While within Bruce's body, the Master looked like a young American man, but his eyes appeared reptilian, forcing him to wear black sunglasses to remain inconspicuous. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) He decided to have his new hair gelled (PROSE: The Novel of the Film) into a slick backcomb style, (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) as opposed to Bruce's messy style. (PROSE: The Novel of the Film) While searching for the Doctor, the Master wore denim jeans and a check shirt with Bruce's duster coat of black leather and light boots. When his plan neared completion, the Master changed into a black high collared tunic with crimson lining, similar to the one he wore during his Dalek extermination, with an extravagant Gallifreyan robes, citing that he "always dress[ed] for the occasion".
While Bruce's body had been breaking down after the possession, (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) it was reinvigorated by the Eye of Harmony when the Master passed through it. (AUDIO: Day of the Master) However, Bruce's body did visibly age during his confinement in the Time Vortex. (WC: Listen to the voice of your Master!) After the Master was forced back into the Vortex again after successfully reaching 23rd century Earth, (AUDIO: Vengeance) Bruce's body finally did disintegrate in a patch of Dark Time, but was later reconstituted as an accidental side-effect of the vortex drive of the Kairos. (AUDIO: Nemesis Express) The Master's molecules, however, remained unstable so long as he was in the Vortex and Bruce's body was pulled apart again when the Kairos flew back through the Dark Time. (AUDIO: Passion)
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