The Overcomer, Stranger Things

She saved the day, again

"Well, who should we be worried about then?" Johnathan asked, exchanging a look with Nancy.

"You'll see," Gwen smiled before feeling a familiar chill run down her spine. Her eyes grew wide in excitement as she looked back down at her family. "I hope you don't mind," she looked up at the glass ceiling, everyone else doing the same, "I brought a friend."

The group's eyes widened in horror when they looked up to see the flesh monster in all its glory. It was terrifying for them, but Gwen didn't seem scared at all as the mind flayer towered above them. And that's when the group came to a realization. Joyce slowly turned to her daughter, her lip trembling, as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Gwen, baby," she started slowly, "are you- are you--"

"Flayed?" Gwen finished for her, a malicious smirk painted on her lips. "Yes, I am."

Gwen grinned as she heard the screams of the group from below her as the ceiling shattered and the Mind Flayer landed in the middle of the mall. The flesh monster roared, causing Joyce to hug Hopper as all the kids huddled together behind Johnathan and Nancy who were also wrapped together. Steve looked over at Gwen, his eyebrows furrowing when he realized that she actually seemed to be enjoying this.

"Gwen!" he yelled, causing the girl's head to snap toward him. "What are you doing? Help us!"

"Why would I do that?" Gwen asked as her eyes glowed red, and she floated down in front of the monster, a crimson aura surrounding her small form. "Being the villain is much more fun."

"Gwen, stop this!" El yelled as she put her hands out, trying to block the monster from getting to them.

"Gwen," Joyce cried as she looked at her daughter, "this isn't you!"

"Oh you see, that's where you're wrong," Gwen stated, her voice going slightly deeper with a sinister twist to it. "There's a saying," The girl tapped her chin like she was trying to come up with it before raising her finger in the air, "with great power comes great responsibility." She simply waved her hand in the air and the flesh monster wrapped its tentacle around El and lifted her off the ground. Gwen turned to face her as the monster brought the superhero closer to her.

"Gwen, this is crazy!" Hopper yelled as he shot at the monster before one of its arms slithered up and threw the gun right out of his hands. "Why are you doing this?"

"I'm not crazy, Hopper," Gwen turned towards him as her voice grew even darker before shrugging. "My reality is just different from yours. That's often the downfall of the heroes." She turned back to Eleven, who was struggling to get free. "When you can do the things that you and I can do but you don't and then bad things happen..." She lowered her voice to a whisper as she leaned forward and locked eyes with the girl. "They happen because of you."

Gwen thrust her hand out again, causing 10 more vines to sprout out of the flesh monster and pick up the rest of the group. The kids screamed as the slimy tentacles wrapped around them and lifted them off the ground, while the teenagers were trying to get loose by kicking their legs at the monster and the adults were trying to find a weapon. Hopper somehow managed to grab his gun, loading it up before firing straight at the beast. As the monster let out a pained roar, Gwen let out a grunt as she lost her stance momentarily. She quickly regained herself and stood up straight before talking again. Everyone listened to the girl, even the monster seemed to pause slightly as she continued.

"Heros and monsters is just a game of pretending based on kid's TV shows. Everyone's free to choose what role they play. But for me, I was alone. Always with a dark cloud above my head. Everyone knew who the hero was going to be," she glanced at El who was looking back at her with tear-filled eyes. "I didn't stand a chance. Naturally, there was no scenario where the monster would ever win. I was always the loser. The popular kids always beat up the little guy that no one likes. That's just the way the world works."