The city was in ruins.

It wasn't the only one. Years of constant abuse, the massive destruction of a one-sided war, had decimated anything over a foot off the ground. Broken towers rose as uneven black structures silhouetted by the deceptively peaceful glow of the rosy horizon. The rising sun cast its faint light across the serrated edges of collapsed roofs on abandoned shopping malls, fought through the grime-covered windows of silent restaurants, peered around the corners of desolate houses, as though searching for fleeting images of the cowering life forms that lurked in the basements and alleyways of the wreckage. For a fleeting image was all it could expect to find; these beings, the youngest of whom knew safety as only a concept, something found only in the captivating tales of days past, had long since learned that the only worthwhile venture was one that of the briefest and most dire sort. Why risk exposure for an extra morsel of food unless starvation was a real and imminent threat?

And the cause of this destruction? There were two. Opposites in everything but a pair of icy eyes, poorly reflecting the senseless rage that burned within them. A rage so fierce it scorched everything around them. It rose as a nameless fury at the sight of any living being that remotely resembled their own humanoid forms. For these resemblances brought forth only the most unpleasant memories: a vague recollection of happiness, simple childhood contentment, then a blurred, indistinct fear, the image of bright lights shining down from a metal ceiling, the solid cold of a metal table under bare flesh…and then pain. A very real, searing pain coursing throughout their entire being. The pain of feeling their memories burned away, their will bent back and smothered until all they knew was a pair of icy blue eyes hovering above.

So once they were released, once the crippling restraints were removed from their limbs and the protective sedative gas filtered out of the chamber, the first thing that met their eyes was the cause of all their torment. He even imposed himself upon their freedom, still muttering his incessant plans for revenge, cursing the incompetent humans eking out their meaningless existence, ignorant of all his scientific genius. No other thought ever crossed their minds. Slowly and deliberately, they tore him limb from limb, reveling in each shriek and crack of bone as payment for their suffering. Once he was gone, or at least in enough pieces not to amuse them anymore, they turned their fury on their "home", blasting away the gas-filled compartments that served as living coffins, blowing away the forever icy metal tables, scattering and then disintegrating the various instruments that had time and time again cut their way into their skin, working aside flesh and bone to carefully place wiring and other enhancements to better their efficiency as the doctor's tools.

For a time they simply drifted, listlessly looking down upon the crumbling remains of the mountain they had emerged from. Until they remembered, there were humans in this world. People living just as they once had, all gathered together in cities nearby, waiting for them to return. Of course they were expecting them. They must be.

The two set off, seeking a heavily populated island nearby. They were almost relieved to see the familiar shapes of business towers and townhouses, the comforting symmetry of city streets and street 

vendors. They touched down easily on the street, looking about eagerly, almost overwhelmed by the vastness of the place after the confines of the laboratory. For a moment they simply stood, waiting.

Until they realized.

No one noticed.

At first they were dumbfounded, almost paralyzed in disbelief. They had just escaped from the most hellish torture imaginable, their minds and bodies warped and twisted to suit some insane lust for power and vengeance…and no one even had the decency to look at them. How dare they? These people…these humans…how dare they continue on with their lives as though nothing had happened? What right did they have to store bought happiness, when these two had their entire life ripped out of their minds with scalpels and careful injections?

None. None at all.

They had earned their hate, after all. They had paid for their anger with their own blood and torment. They had more right to life than any of these trifling creatures.

With not so much as a glance between them, the two each lifted an arm, gathering their rage into a bright, glowing orb in the middle of each of their palms. A few passerby stopped to look in curiosity at the unnatural light.

So this was enough to warrant their attention, the two noted darkly. So be it. If this power fascinated them, let them have it. Let it rain down upon them for all eternity.

They had been forgotten once.

They would not be forgotten again.