There were 2 black buses already waiting at the entrance of the Williams Residence. Cut Throat got out of his Aston Martin, giving his car keys to Clifford

"Good Evening Sir...." Clifford said greeting him briskly in a business like tone, Cut Throat bowed his head to acknowledge his greeting. He walked towards the buses, excited to see what the new stock was like...

Skinner was waiting for him by the buses, dressed in his usual all black, fitted gym clothes. The tight fit showing off his well toned and dominant physique. His Mohawk hair braided, styled to one side. His ears gleaming in the evening sky with small diamonds earrings perfectly blending with the brown husky skin tone. Cut-throat stared at him "We don't have all day" he said impatiently.

Skinner whistled loudly, hitting the side of the bus with 2 swift taps. The bus doors automatically opened.

"In one single file........keep your hands to yourself !" Skinner shouted loudly

A guard came out shouting "LEFT ...RIGHT....LEFT ...RIGHT...LEFT ...RIGHT..." the boys started coming out in a single file out of the bus. All wearing orange overalls, hands tied in cable ties, and all of them with black pillow covers over their faces.

They were guided by Skinner, they got into the huge lift that was clearly designed to handle large volumes of people. Cut Throat got in after them, his hands in his black slim suit, ready for what the night had in store for him.

K.O. was there waiting for them at the entrance of the basement "You're very nearly late .." he said, with a hint of impatience in his voice, he had sleek black training trousers, and no shirt, displaying his impressive body art..some of which was done by Cut Throat himself.

Cut throat didn't reply to him, his mask still on, he started walking to the center of the basement. Along the side of the basement, were several huge monitors, all illuminating the basement with dim light, some desks and chairs also placed on the side, giving it the feeling of some bizarre type of office.

The boys were all rounded up by the guards to stand in a single row, with K.O., Cut Throat and Skinner standing directly in front of them.

The guards proceeded to take the black pillow cases off of their faces, the young men started looking around trying to get adjusted to the sudden bright light.

"Good Evening Gentlemen...!" Cut throat said loudly, staring at the young men in front of him. Some of them tried to move forward towards him, but the guards immediately restricted their movements, others looked around disorientated. Cut throat smiled behind the mask, and continued

"...you are here..Because your country doesn't want you anymore.....in fact you can go as far as to say....You've all become a liability for your Country" he said quietly staring at the boys faces before him.

Some looked confused at his statement, others looked scared, checking each other, trying to look for a familiar face...a familiar environment.... but of course what they didn't know is that there would be none.

"Oh no...but there won't be anyone you recognize here gentlemen..this isn't the place where you were...heck you aren't even in the same country anymore!" Cut throat said, he could see the boys were looking shocked.

"Confused? How about we start with our Introductions....." Cut Throat said quietly, giving a small bow "Gentlemen...my name is Cut Throat...and I will be your host for this evening...along with K.O........which if you haven't already guessed...does stand for Knock Out..for obvious reasons.." he said pointing at K.O.

K.O. gave a small salute gleaming manically at the handcuffed young men in front of them..

"This here to the right is Skinner...he is our Senior......err....Procurement Manager ..." Cut throat said. Skinner, did a small bow of his head, in acknowledgement of his introduction.

"Now it brings us to the real question...why are you here?" He said ...his audience held on to every single word he was saying now "Well Gentlemen...its Quite. Simple. Really....." he said with an emphasis on each word.

"You see........you all have something in common with each other...You were all in your native country's prison system....eating off of tax payers money....and yet still being a complete nuisance to your Country...whatever activities you were involved in...let's just say.... You were becoming a...real disturbance for your Government. See...you're country's Government doesn't want you anymore, but also they don't find you.....completely useless....they think...there's still one last chance for you all....which is what precisely brings you to us...we are your last chance at...retribution...you have been selected to potentially be part of the C40...the Chosen 40........and you're government is going to spend a-lot-of-money to see if this liability can be changed into an asset.......but here's the thing.... only some of you will survive...if you survive ...you will not only be welcomed back to your country with open arms you will be part of a very select elite team....but if you don't make it...well let's just say...this is IT for you...." Cut Throat said grimly.

"You need to take being here very very seriously gents....C40 is either going to make you...or break you...and...we 3 right here..." he said turning around looking to K.O. and Skinner "We want to see the best of the best from you...your specific.....set of skills...does have potential ...if harnessed appropriately" He said, pausing, his audience still hanging on with baited breathes

"Your skills have been misused....in inconsequential crime...you have this one chance in your life...to really make a fundamental difference to the world around you....Now definitely none of you even knows what that means...but you will be molded, bent and broken..till you can truly understand and comprehend the magnitude of what I have just said to you.." Cut Throat finished.

He turned to look at Skinner, Skinner moved to the front of the boys "When I call your name...you need to take a step in front..." he said, he had a rooster in his hands.

"Which continent are we starting with first....?" K. O. asked enthusiastically, trying to look over Skinner's shoulders

"How about Africa?" Skinner replied

"Sounds good to me ...Lets hear it then !"

"First up, from Nigeria, Femi Eze...take a step forward !" Skinner shouted, the young boy called Femi looked scared turning around, looking to the other boys, they also stared at him in fear, not knowing what was going to happen to him. Skinner smiled at him, his dimples on full display, he took something out of his pocket, and pressed it "Urgghhh !" Femi shouted, on his knees now, "Whad was dat..!" he asked, in a deep voice, turning to look at his foot where he had an electrical gadget attached to his ankle.

Skinner walked over to him smiling, bending down till he could whisper in femi's ears "If I ask you to move, you better gets to stepping ...!" he said aggressively.

Femi quickly took a step in front. Skinner walked back to the front of the row, and started reading loudly from the rooster again "South Africa – Jabu Zulu, step forward please, Namibia – Ompito Shilongo, and lastly Egypt – Hussain Ahmed.."

K.O. started clapping "ohh...I don't know about you...but I put 1 million on the Egyptian...he's massive..."

Cut throat looked at him "Mine is on the Namibian..."

Skinner, looked at the row of boys again... "okay next up we have Asia....when I call your name, I want you stand to the left ......"

The boys again started to look scared, "India – Vikram Patel ! South Korea – Park min ho ! Japan – Kaito Tanaka, Philippines – Ricky Garcia and lastly Pakistan – Mohammed Farooqi ...to the left all of you"

"Next up ...the Americas !"

"Brasil – Eduardo dos Santos, Colombia – Xavier Gonzalez, USA – James Smith .."

"That's it....no Mexico?" K.O. asked Skinner, looking disappointed "Nope, we take them as we get them.." Skinner replied.

"Last but not least Europe...stand to the right please !" Skinner said aggressively

"Germany – Andreas Schmidt, Netherlands – Lucas Van der Merwe, France – Samuel Kante – Russia - Mikael Petrov.."

Just as Skinner was about to start directing them, there was a loud screech sound that came from the lift, everybody turned to look at the loud distraction

"wooooohhooooooooo ! Sorry sorry sorry I'm late my ladies !" came a highly pitched voice of a young slim male, who was dressed in pink from head to toe, full with a big pink Sunday school hat "...Have no fear...Princess is here !" he said flamboyantly, walking swiftly and theatrically into the middle of the basement. Skinner made an angry face, glaring at Cut Throat "I just don't see how you couldn't have found someone else other than him!"

"you meant to say 'other than HER..'" Princess corrected Skinner, Skinner gritted his teeth looking displeased at the new comer.

Cut throat smiled behind his mask , "Princess is really good at what he does.." he said

"I sure am.." princess replied , snapping his fingers and rolling his head at Skinner, while K.O. was chuckling

"so what did I miss boss?" Princess asked Cut Throat

"We are done with groupings perhaps you should introduce yourself..?" Cut throat said

Princess beamed up with energy, "Ehem...Ehem....good day ladies...my name is Princess...and I am the appointed GeoPolitical Specialist for C40...We will be seeing more of each other...oh and another thing..I really hope you survive Nigeria !...GRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr you're definitely my fav !" he said, giggling to himself in an overly feminine fashion.

The Nigerian young man looked at Princess with shock, Skinner bit his teeth "Enough of his gibberish now.." he said, dislike echoing in his voice. Walking over to the monitors all set up on the side of the Basement.

"How do you want to do this? " Skinner asked, K.O. and Cut Throat, they both looked at each other, Princess to joined in. They started going through the groups on the huge monitor screen scanning through the different boys.

"Let's play Political chess now..." Princess said clapping his hands in glee "hmm...let's stick to traditional rivalries shall we..? We could make it more interesting that way..." Princess said, sliding through the various portfolios.

"Uhm..how about we pair the Indian against the Pakistani... and then...let's see...the Korean against the Japanese....." Princess said curiously

"And the American..?" K.O. asked

"Definitely against the Russian.." Skinner replied,

"What about the African team...?" K.O. asked

"Let's see..." Princess said, scrolling through the African team's profile, moving their faces on the touch screen... "hmph...let's see ....I say let's put Europe vs Africa" Princess said still swiping the screen " Okay..Let's put Germany vs. Namibia...Did you know quite a big percentage of Namibian's can speak German? It was a German colony after all..." Princess said quietly, as though he were speaking to himself.

"They do?" K.O. asked curiously, "I learn new things from You everyday Mr Princess.." K.O. said

"its Mizz Princess darling.." he corrected K.O. rolling his eyes theatrically

"Okay then..oh obviously ..South Africa vs. Netherlands...did you know..South African's speak a form of dutch? Yep..its called as Afrikaans.." Princess said quietly talking to himself

Skinner stared at Princess giving him the death stare "Enough with the history lessons ! Just get on with it! " he said through gritted teeth...

Princess turned around comically and stared at Skinner, "Men...why are they always so aggressive ! oh my ovaries !" he said , making K.O. burst out laughing.

"Okay okay...I'm almost done, lastly we can have Egypt vs. France, ..." he said again, "That leaves Philippines against Colombia and Nigeria against Brasil...there you have it.." Princess said smiling, staring at the monitor screen, impressed with his own ingenuity.

"Can someone tell me what the fuck is this ? Some kind of mafia recruiting ground?" James Smith, the young teenage American asked angrily, trying to approach Cut Throat "There ain't NO WAY I'm joining whatever you gots going on there son ! I'm a blood for life !" he finished, the other boys murmuring in agreement to his sentiment.

Princess walked over to him, rolling his eyes "Hunay hunay hunay..." he said snapping his fingers "does this ..level of sophistication look like the workings of a mafia to you? Really ? Which mafia recruits GeoPolitical Specialist such as the one and only precious princess darling? And mind you I have a PhD degree ! Does it look like those would be my career aspirations ?! Working for gangsters? Really ? Moi ? Dr Princess?" Princess said flamboyantly.

"And you see Mr Skinner over there? He looks all gangster with that cool hairstyle, and that banging body... Want to know his background ? He has a Doctorate degree in Military Engineering ! At 26 honey ! So with all due respect ..... Can you-get-your-petty-head in the game !" Princess said, while clapping his hands at every word. "This is serious BIZZZ-NEZ bubu!" he snapped his fingers in James Smiths face

"Do you know C40 has a department dedicated to Research and development.........RESEARCH AND FREAKING DEVELOPMENT BUBU !!" He heaved a big sigh, as though trying to calm himself down "okay no..Princess needs to calm down...princess needs to calm down...before Princess has an anxiety attack...okay...you got this princess.....You're sweating..the eyebrows that you have drawn on are going to be destroyed...take a deep breath princess..." he heaved a big theatrical sigh, while fanning himself. "get it together ! mafia is so basic bubu! This is on a GLOBAL LEVEL HUNAAYY....we have levels in this birch...okay? " he finished, and sashayed his way theatrically back to the monitor screens.

Skinner put his hands in his face "why is he always so dramatic !" while K.O. and Cut throat burst out laughing.

Cut throat moved back to the centre of the basement, together with Skinner

"Pair the teams as shown on the Monitors.." Skinner said to the guards at the back, who quickly began to move the young teenagers around so they could match the photos shown on the monitors. The boys showed resistance to being moved around, when one of them started shouting "What the hell is a C40 ! What are we getting into ! I have a right to know !" It was the Filipino teenager Ricky who started shouting wildly.

"oh ...but honey...you better Pray you survive this preliminary round ....C40 will turn you into the best possible version of yourself....." Princess said winking at Ricky

"You see..you tried being the bad guy...and it really hasn't worked out for you so far has it darling?...And now......... let's try being the good guys baby cakes....trust me...it's a lot more fun" Princess finished, winking at him.

Skinner came back to the center of the basement with a whistle in his mouth "Round 1.....we are starting now....."

The teenagers looked around scared, not knowing what exactly was about to happen to them, nor did they have any idea of the severity of the Chosen 40.