History NightmareFuel / Empowered

* The hypermembrane's "Angel Mode". Not only does it take over when it's at its limits to save Emp's life, it erases Emp's memories of those times, and apparently the near-death experience that comes before it (based on the fact that Emp's "buried alive" flashback in Deathmonger's lair seems to have come as a surprise to her). It also has no reservations about killing those who threaten to kill Emp (and probably the hypermembrane by extension), even when Emp would rather die. [[spoiler: This resulted in the Angel Mode getting ready to kill the neuro-puppeted Thugboy and Ninjette, ignoring the wishes of Emp, when (ex-)Sista Spooky had her BigDamnHeroes moment.]]

** As an aside concerning her fate. There is something fundamentally, viscerally horrifying about [[PeoplePuppets someone's limbs being hijacked]] and made to walk into a hole in the floor while they are fully aware and able to vocally protest. The fact that said pit was a single-use portal which was the only escape from a crippled space station (which was ''why'' Emp was screaming and begging. She thought she had a chance of surviving reentry and knew Mindf██k [[MoreExpendableThanYou had none]])? Does. Not. Help.

* Mindf██k's backstory has a fair bit of this. It seems her rather psychotic brother had similar mental powers and used them to [[PeoplePuppets take over her motor functions]] in order to induce the whole DisabilitySuperpower thing by forcing her to carve out her own eyes and tongue with a rusty pair of kitchen shears. Please note that Mindfuck was both conscious the whole time and well aware her brother thought he was doing her a favor.

*** It gets better. See, [[spoiler: Mindf██k's brother manifested his powers pretty early, so much so that the constant assault from the people around him traumatized him. He got over it when he discovered that he could edit ''himself'', meaning his personality, thought patterns, etc. But, he kept on editing and tweaking himself until he was a teenage boy with no fear, no doubt and thus, as Mindf██k puts it, "no consideration as to what he may be doing is wrong." That's nightmarish in and of itself. Now consider that he believed that making Mindf██k cut out her eyes and tongue were the ''absolutely right things to do'', because it would make her a better telepath, and doesn't help that his pre-editing self perceived her sister to be a monster. It doesn't stop there, either: Mindf██k, partly in retaliation, edited herself after the event to be who she was when we saw her - she outright says that she doesn't know if the end result is her at all, and spent her life wondering if she was a monster like her brother thought before she edited herself.]]
** As an aside concerning her fate. There is something fundamentally, viscerally horrifying about [[PeoplePuppets someone's limbs being hijacked]] and made to walk into a hole in the floor while they are fully aware and able to vocally protest. The fact that said pit was a single-use portal which was the only escape from a crippled space station (which was ''why'' the Emp was screaming and begging, she thought she had a chance of surviving reentry and knew Mindf██k [[MoreExpendableThanYou had none]])? Does. Not. Help.

* The special "Internal Medicine" is mostly a [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs really weird]] humorous story set in the temporally asynchronous (that is, [[BiggerOnTheInside having more floor than it appears on the outside]] due most of them being shunted in another time and space) suprahuman treatment wing of the hospital drawn by a guest artist, but the two sequences at the start and the end drawn by Warren... The one at the start is the wounded and smouldering Emp of a possible future wandering through one of the hospital floors in shell shock while the hospital personnel deals with a mass casualty event, and that at the end is the elevator containing present day!Emp and Ninjette opening and meeting Future!Emp, who is shocked by the presence of Ninjette (who she calls Kozue in public) before realizing it's the one of her past and start crying, while we hear the shouts of the hospital's personnel describing the injuries they're trying to deal with and [[CrossesTheLineTwice wondering if the guy with a powerful regenerating factor can regenerate from a pelvis and a pair of legs]].

*** The Ayakami's ultimate fate: [[spoiler: Ninjette ''[[KillEmAll killed every single one of them]]''. It started with a bomb, it continued with much bladework aimed mainly at vital point, and when the last three, an engaged couple and their best friend, had managed to capture her with a chain, she revealed that the girl was cheating on her boyfriend and provided convincing evidence, then, while they were distracted trying to convince the boyfriend it was only lies, she ''[[KillItWithFire made the girl explode in flame]]'', and then brutally dispatched the other two while they were looking in horror at the burning corpse]].

* The discovery that Willy Pete [[spoiler: was created by Mindf**k's brother ''on the order of the supers,'' only to go out of control. Between that and the Vorpal Sword, it's looking more and more like people feared the Capes taking over ''with good reason''.]]

* Volume 10 ends on the horrible cliffhanger of [[spoiler: Thugboy suddenly, with no warning, being possessed by Mindf██k's psi-psychopath brother and viciously beating her with a club with a creepy blank stare on his face, quickly followed by Emp having a vision of Mindf██k telling her that her brother will torture and destroy her if she doesn't do exactly as Mindf██k says.]

* Volume 10 ends on the horrible cliffhanger of [[spoiler: Thugboy suddenly, with no warning, being possessed by Mindf██k's psi-psychopath brother and viciously beating her with a club with a creepy blank stare on his face, quickly followed by Emp having a vision of Mindf██k telling her that her brother will torture and destroy her if she doesn't do exactly as Mindf██k says.]]

* The reason that F██king Oyuki-chan hates Ninjette so much is compounded layers of NightmareFuel: [[spoiler: Ninjette's father was raping Oyuki on a nightly basis, as the Kaburagi clan primarily uses women as broodmares. Ninjette decided to help Oyuki by using a jutsu to render her permanently infertile, so she'd only be valued as a warrior from then on. Oyuki agreed to this at the time, but is implied to have regretted this decision later.]]

* Book 8 has, among other things, [[spoiler:Spooky being embraced and dragged down by dozens of burning Mind***s, and the terrifying flashback of Mind***'s mutilations.]] It's NOPE on an entirely new level.

*** It gets better. See, [[spoiler: Mindf██k's brother manifested his powers pretty early, so much so that the constant assault from the people around him traumatized him. He got over it when he discovered that he could edit ''himself'', meaning his personality, thought patterns, etc.]] But, [[spoiler: he kept on editing and tweaking himself until he was a teenage boy with no fear, no doubt and thus, as Mindf██k puts it, "no consideration as to what he may be doing is wrong."]] That's nightmarish in and of itself. Now consider that he [[spoiler: believed that making Mindf██k cut out her eyes and tongue were the ''absolutely right things to do'', because it would make her a better telepath,]] and doesn't help that [[spoiler: his pre-editing self perceived her sister to be a monster.]] It doesn't stop there, either (oh God, I wish it did.) [[spoiler: Mindf██k, partly in retaliation, edited herself after the event to be who she was when we saw her - she outright says that she doesn't know if the end result is her at all, and spent her life wondering if she was a monster like her brother thought before she edited herself.]]

* Volume 9 sees Emp have a rematch with [[spoiler: Fleshmaster]], and not only is the torturous BodyHorror he has inflicted on [[spoiler: Manny]] horrifying and tragic, but when he restrains her it's ''very'' clear she's not facing the humiliation she normally does... she's facing death, torture, mutilation, possibly rape (given the interest he showed in her during their first battle and his [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty current behaviour]]). For all that he remains a pathetic figure, him saying "I've had weeks to plan each and every grotesque f**king atrocity I'm gonna inflict on you" is deadly serious.

* The Super Dead ([[InsistentTerminology don't-call-them-zombies]]), which are kept secret from the world at large, and from most of the superheroes as well. For people who have been reading superhero comics for a long time, a recurring theme tends to be the hero getting his powers from someone else, such as a [[CaptainMarvel wizard]], [[KidEternity God]], [[GreenLantern an alien police corps]] or [[EmperorJoker a reality warper]]. Well, Empowered has a twist on that - the varied superpower-bestowing entities are all the ''same person'', most likely the same kind of demon who gave Sistag Spooky her powers, and have been tricking hundreds of superheroes into bargaining themselves for powers, to the point where around half of all existing metahumans got their powers that way. However, what they dont know is, the bargain they make means that while THEY are still mortal, their POWERS arent, and keeps them alive and sentient even after death, to the point where they're forced to live through their own decomposition as long as they have any brain matter left.

* The Super Dead ([[InsistentTerminology don't-call-them-zombies]]), especially when you consider that this could potentially be the fate of half the characters. Most of them are fully conscious, and their bodies are rotting in front of them.

* KnightOfCerebus Willy Pete wants revenge on Thug Boy for ripping him off. How? Well, the rest of the ''Witless Minions'' were used to satisfy the [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil physical lusts]] of a man who is walking flame. And because the normal orifices don't last long enough to finish the job because they burn too quickly... [[EyeScream he has a thing for eyes.]] There's a reason Willy Pete has pride of place in Thug Boy's nightmares. He's since added [[ImAHumanitarian eating bits]] of [[EatenAlive living people]] to his repertoire, and frequently alternates between eating and sodomizing his victims in order to prolong their suffering for as long as possible.

** As an aside concerning her fate. There is something fundamentally, viscerally horrifying about [[PeoplePuppets someone's limbs being hijacked]] and made to walk into a hole in the floor while they are fully aware and able to vocally protest. The fact that said pit was a single-use portal which was the only escape from a crippled space station (which was ''why'' the Emp was screaming and begging, she thought she had a chance of surviving reentry and knew Mindf██k [[MoreExpendibleThanYou had none]])? Does. Not. Help.

* Willy Pete, as mentioned above, is highest-order nightmare fuel already, but consider this for a moment: A normally vague divination gives Spooky not a general idea of where Willy Pete can be found, but a precise where-when, down to and including GPS coordinates. Spooky's mystical powers are of entirely infernal origin, meaning that the ''very powers of '''Hell itself''''' want him destroyed!

** Mayfly. Spooky spells out that hundreds of people have died horrible deaths as a result of the mutagenic substance, and it's likely we're talking people's entire body exploding with cancer.

* Volume 9 sees Emp have a rematch with [[spoiler: Fleshmaster]], and not only is the torturous BodyHorror he has inflicted on [[spoiler: Manny]] horrifying and tragic, but when he restrains her it's ''very'' clear she's not facing the humiliation she normally does... she's facing death, torture, mutilation, possibly rape (given the interest he showed in her during their first battle and his [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty current behaviour]]). For all that he remains a pathetic figure, him saying "I've had had weeks to plan each and every grotesque f**king atrocity I'm gonna inflict on you" is deadly serious.

* Emp's meta-awareness - which she employs during chapter introductions - means she is also aware that her comic's artist-writer has a history of DarkerAndEdgier plot twists where he wipes out [[AnyoneCanDie entire rosters of heroes]] on a regular basis. Emp is pretty much aware that ''she and her friends can die gruesomely as a plot point at any given moment''.

* Emp's meta-awareness - which she employs during chapter introductions - means she is also aware that her comic's artist-writer has a history of DarkierAndEdgier plot twists where he wipes out [[AnyoneCanDie entire rosters of heroes]] on a regular basis. Emp is pretty much aware that ''she and her friends can die gruesomely as a plot point at any given moment''.