Tamal Kundu
The very first sequence of the fourth season of ‘Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ is a flashback from Dr. Martin Brenner’s perspective. We are taken back to Hawkins Lab in September 1979. Brenner interacts with 010 or Ten and takes him to a separate room for lessons. He asks Ten to reach out with his powers. However, after Ten does so, he tells Brenner that he can hear screams. Suddenly, the alarm goes off, and a security guard informs Brenner that they have a situation. The door to the room flies inward, knocking Brenner out and presumably killing Ten. When Brenner regains consciousness and steps outside, he finds a gruesome scene waiting for him. Nurses, doctors, security guards, and test subjects are dead or dying.
As he walks into the Rainbow Room, he discovers more horrors. In the midst of it all, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) stands, facing away from him. When she turns, Brenner finds out that her hospital gown is blood-stained and that blood has leaked down from her eyes and nose, indicating that she has used her powers. After Brennan numbly asks Eleven what she has done, the scene shifts, and opening credits begin rolling. If you are wondering who committed the massacre at Hawkins Lab, we got you covered. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Who Killed the Other Test Subjects at Hawkins Lab?
In 1986, following the arrival of Vecna, the residents of Hawkins are faced with yet another battle for survival. Dr. Owens subsequently approaches Eleven and tells her that he knows how she can regain her powers. Wanting to help her friends in Hawkins, Eleven agrees and travels to a secret location in Nevada. There, she sees Brenner again. Although she initially panics, she regains some of her powers only after one session. Brenner explains to Eleven that her powers are still inside her. She needs to remember how to use it. Brenner and his associates use tapes from Hawkins Lab to make her experience her past. And she gradually remembers what really happened in 1979.
Eleven was heavily bullied by other test subjects, especially Two. But she developed a close bond with a friendly orderly. He told her that Brenner was planning to have her killed because she frightened him and urged her to run away. When Eleven asked why he was helping her, the orderly told her that he believed in her. Later, he showed her a device that Brenner had embedded under his skin. It apparently called Soteria, which was supposed to track him and keep him weakened.
After he was freed from Soteria’s control, the orderly revealed his true self. He was 001 or One, the very first test subject at Hawkins Lab. He then went on a rampage, killing everyone that he encountered. While Eleven is remembering all this, in the Upside Down’s version of Hawkins, Nancy learns that Vecna is actually Henry Creel, the son of Victor Creel. He had psychotic tendencies since he was a child. When he discovered his powers, he began tormenting his family, killing his mother and sister and ensuring his father went to jail for those deaths. However, he still had no idea about the extent of his powers. After using them against his family, he went into a coma. When he woke up, he found himself in the custody of Brenner.
That was 1959. Henry became One, and Brenner began his project. However, Brenner eventually learned something was definitely wrong with the boy and presumably used Soteria to suppress his powers. In 1979, Eleven fought One/Henry and defeated him. She opened a Gate and sent One into the Upside Down, where contact with the Mind Flayer transformed him into Vecna.
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