The Overcomer, Stranger Things

A Visit to Pennyhurst

"Are you sure you want to do this darling?" Joyce questioned, caressing the back of her daughter's head as she, Gwen, and Hopper stood outside the door of Pennyhurst Mental Hospital.

"Yes," Gwen nodded, causing the two adults to exchange a glance before Hopper stepped up to knock on the double doors, only for them to swing open on their own.

"Huh," he started, at a loss for words as he looked down the hallway. The corridor was filled with guards in every corner. There was one positioned in front of each cell and they were all armed, clad in black police decor. Hopper glanced back at Gwen, "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes!" the blond rolled her eyes before her mother squatted down in front of her.

"Gwen listen to me," Joyce said as she put her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "I am gonna be with you the entire time so if you ever get scared or you wanna leave just let me know, okay? You promise?"

"I promise," Gwen nodded as she grabbed her mom's hand and squeezed it.

"Good girl," Joyce smiled at her before getting up and walking through the threshold, still not letting go of the girl's hand as they made their way to where Brenner was being incarcerated.

~:~

Hopper, Gwen, and Joyce stood in front of a black wall, watching as it slowly lifted up to reveal a smirking scientist behind a barrier of plexiglass. Martin Brenner is a devious man full of lies and deceit. After Gwen had tried to appease the man by letting him keep his lab, he continued to try and capture Eleven and the blond. This resulted in Hopper stepping in and having him transferred to Pennyhurst Mental Hospital. Ironic isn't it? Brenner has spent decades treating innocent children like science experiments, keeping them locked away from the world, and now he is the one imprisoned.

The trio watched, their anxiety growing by the second as the smirk on Brenner's face grew wider and wider until it was a full-on maniacal grin. Joyce wrapped a protective arm around her daughter as the white-haired man slowly raised his hands, showing off his chained handcuffs. The normally classy businessman was now dressed in an orange and white striped jumpsuit that covered his entire body. It seemed that being behind bars so long had actually made the scientist go mad.

"Oh," Brenner chuckled as his eyes flicked from Hopper to Joyce, and finally landed on Gwen, causing his smile to grow even larger if that was possible. "If only you knew how long I'd been waiting for this day, for this moment."

Hopper and Joyce exchanged a panicked glance when they realized his eyes were solely trained on the 9-year-old. "Gwen," he started slowly, drawing out the word in a way that made her shink back slightly, "Byers."

"Gwen Byers."

"Gwen Byers."

"Okay, that's enough," Hopper put his arm around Joyce and Gwen before pulling them toward the door, only for Brenner to shout after them.

"Yes ignore me," he beat on the plexiglass, "just like you ignore your visions!"

Gwen stopped in her tracks, causing a kooky grin to spread across the older man's face. "That's right," he started as the blond slowly turned around. "I know about the scene replaying in your mind's eye."

"Gwen, what's he talking about?" Joyce put a hand on her daughter's shoulder but the girl didn't even seem to hear her as she walked back toward Brenner.

"What do you know?" she stopped right in front of the glass, laying her hands on the table.

"Oh," Brenner sucked in a breath as he shook his head. "You see, in order for you to gain my information you must do something for me," he glanced at Joyce and Hopper who were watching the interaction with worried eyes. "You have to send your little escorts outside."