Mega London, England.

Romeo and the other slaves arrived in Mega London's International Airport via a cargo plane. Their hands and legs were cuffed with large chains while metal collars engulfed their necks.

"Move!" Dion exclaimed, shoving the slower ones forward.  

Romeo, who was leading the line, stopped when he saw a skinny Caucasian man with a thick, dark mustache above his lip. The white suit the man wore seemed expensive, having a thin line encrusted with diamonds on its sleeves. There were two cyborgs at his sides. But unlike Dion, who had a Tanzanian flag painted on his armor's torso, the two had an England flag.

"Mr. Wallace," Dion said, his voice full of joy as he approached him. "Nice to see you again." He shook the man's hand.

"Nice to see you too," Mr. Wallace replied before he took out his handkerchief and wiped his hand.  "Here." Mr. Wallace handed Dion the briefcase he held in his hand. His eyes watched the dirty looking slaves as Dion counted the money. "You've seen it's all there, right?" he asked Dion, who nodded. "Good." He looked at his bodyguards. "Take them."

Romeo and his fellow Tanzanians were placed at the back of another truck, but it was much cleaner than the last. They heard the engine roar to life, then the truck rose from the ground and flew away. Some of these people never experienced such a feat, so a couple of loud gasps escaped their lips. 

The truck hovered past the beautiful city and the slaves couldn't help but awe at such a scenery. The lights from the skyscrapers shined upon them like a sold out one man Broadway show. People in the streets stared at them--sinister looks on their faces, but the Africans didn't care at the time. The city's scene was so captivating, it captured their minds and set it free into a world of fiction and wonder. 

Romeo imagined what his life would have been if he was born in such a place. Would he have been a douche to the minorities too? What about his parents? Would he have lived a happier life? He shook off the thoughts and believed in destiny. There was a reason he was born in Tanzania and given the life he experienced. Fate never made mistakes, everyone was born to play a part in life, whether small or large it still affected someone in either a positive or negative way. 

"Look." A small kid, about five years old, shook Romeo's arm and showed him the elevated restaurants in the bright blue sky. "Beautiful, eh?"

"Indeed." Even though he only saw Mega Dar from afar, he imagined this was how it looked like behind the large metal wall that separated it from the slums.

Slowly the city disappeared from their sight as the truck flew down a dark tunnel, its head and tail lights providing the only source of light. After fifteen minutes, the vehicle slowed down and descended to the ground. 

The two cyborgs opened the back door of the truck. "Hurry up!" they heard a man's voice say. "Faster Negroes, faster." 

The other slaves quickly got out, but Romeo took his time. Without knowing whom it was that had used profanity, he said, "You're being disrespectful." Then he came face to face with a large man, almost the same size as Dran, standing in front of him with his hands behind his back. On the top right side of his bionic chest, it was written: Capt. Davis.

"What did you say to me, boy?" Capt. Davis got close to him, their faces a few inches apart. "This is my territory, I can call you whatever name I feel like it. Understand, Negro?" 

Romeo didn't want to believe it, but deep inside he knew this was only the beginning of the constant racism he was about to face. He glanced at the two cyborgs he had met at the airport before noticing Capt. Davis' hand holding an electric baton tightly. He remained quiet.

"That's what I thought." Capt. Davis glanced at the other slaves. "Follow me." He walked towards the large metal door in front of them and exhaled on the scanner besides the door. A click followed, then the door unlocked itself. 

By the year 2041, scientists had been able to detect someone's DNA through the molecules found in the air people breathed out on a daily basis, thus enabling them to invent machines that could operate via one's breath. But the air people breathed out only lasted five seconds before decomposing. 

There was a reception inside, and a woman sat behind a medium sized mahogany desk with stationary objects scattered on top of it. She was chewing gum while her eyes were focused on her holographic smartphone. 

She looked up. "Capt. Davis." She stood up quickly and saluted before turning to look at the slaves behind the large man. Dressed in a military uniform, she did not seem like any other cyborgs Romeo had seen so far.

"I'll take it from here," she told Capt. Davis before he went back outside. When the woman got away from her desk and took off her gloves and hat, that's when it became clear to the Tanzanians that she was a cyborg as the rest of them.

Both her hands were robotic, hidden behind the long sleeves of her green uniform. She had no skin on her left temple, revealing a metallic skull--making her seem more robotic than human, unlike her fellows. "This way, ladies and gentleman," she said, nicely.

They were taken into a room where they got their hair shaved, before being stripped butt naked and cleaned with a fire-hose. After each slave was done, they were photographed--Romeo being the last one as he wanted to have a better observation of everything. He got the final number, 122.

That was the number of Tanzanian slaves in the facility.

Looking around, he saw no sign of his fellow countrymen and women. So he stood there like a lost child. His mind screamed for him to look for a way out, but his eyes had already seen the cameras recording him. 

That's what they want me to do, he thought.

The receptionist came back and led him to an elevator nearby. "Where are the others?" he asked, watching the floor numbers go from 1 to 30, while the lift descended. 

"Don't worry, you'll see them," she replied. A ding followed, then the doors opened. "We are here."

Romeo's eyes widened as he stared at the huge room in front of him. The ceiling was almost seventy feet away from him. "What is this place?"

"Your new home."

Romeo turned around to get a better view of the place, awing at how ancient it looked. "This looks like a football stadium," he said.

"It was," she replied. "Arsenic Football Stadium, or what's left of it anyway. It used to be home to Arsenal Football Club."

"What happened?" At a far he could see a crowd of people dressed in different colored clothes, standing in lines.

"World War 3 happened. Fucking Japanese," she remarked, almost reliving the memories. "But it's all bygones now. We are all in a better place." Her tone did not sound like she believed that.

"You fought in World War 3?" 

She did not reply.

Romeo arrived where his fellow Tanzanians were. They were also dressed in black uniforms. He looked at his sides and saw lines extending in each direction, with the names of the countries they came from written on their backs. He stood between an Indian and Mexican line. 

Everyone was listening to the announcer in front. Taking a closer look at the man talking on the podium, he recognized Capt. Davis. He caught him mid speech:

"... you're not here on vacation. You may not know this, but above us there is an arena. What is it for? That's where the fights will be taking place." He smiled. "You see, you bunch are the only slaves in London, not in England. This country has been blessed with many benefactors. So from time to time they will be arranging fights throughout the nation. Luckily enough, this year the fights will be held here... in my home."

The people started booing him, before cyborgs intervened and smacked the heads of those booing.

Capt. Davis continued, "It's not a must for you to participate, but if you do, and win, then you will earn your freedom." 

At the sound of that, the slaves cheered. Everyone smiled at the possibility of them leaving, some even licking their lips thinking about it. 

"But," he raised his finger, "the competition is more about the benefactors than you lot--there will be sponsors too. If the crowd gets behind you to win, then a sponsor might back you up by providing you with weapons and armor." He was about to leave, then remembered something and said, "You might make friends in here, heck, even lovers. But beware, when the time for fighting comes, only one will win."

<+>

Mega California, USA.

Nipp was mixed with fellow age mates after they were dropped at Mega Cali International Airport. Their benefactor, Michael, came to fetch them. He was a sixty year old man with a round face and large gray eyes, who depended on Botox to tighten his face. He had requested for slaves around the age of thirteen to seventeen, and he got fifteen of them from different countries.

When he arrived at his mansion, he locked them up in a cell in his basement, and his security guards were told to make sure none of the kids made any attempt at escape.

Nipp had fallen asleep the moment he arrived, but after the guards kept banging on the metal bars with their bionic arms, he woke up. "Stupid robots," he mumbled, scowling at the two smirking cyborgs. The other slaves were cursing too--in their respective mother tongue.

He looked around and saw a boy with his hands crossed on his chest, trying to fall asleep, unsuccessfully. "Psst!" Nipp called. "Psssssst!"

The boy opened one eye. "What?"

"What's your name?"

The boy glanced sideways, making sure he was the one being asked.

"Yes, you." Nipp pointed at him. "What's your name?"

"Does it matter? We're probably going to be referred to by numbers." The boy then closed his eyes.

Nipp wanted to call him again, but he was right, what was the point in knowing each other's names when there was a possibility he would be called seven or eight, probably sixteen because of his age. He leaned his head on the wall and frowned.

He felt a nudge on his shoulder. Turning, he saw a girl who had hazel eyes with thick eye lashes. "Hi," she said with a warm smile.

"Hey." He smiled at her. "My name's Nipp, but ladies call me Handsome." He extended an arm and the girl shook it.  

"Gina," she replied.

"And I'm Robert," the boy from earlier intervened, taking a seat in front of them. He looked at Gina. "Nipp's a weird name, right?"

Gina shrugged. "It's alright." She then turned to Nipp. "What does your name mean?"

"In my country they name a child a few weeks after they are born. They would wait and see how he/she reacts to the environment and people around them, then give them a name. And when I was young, only the sight of a nipple would calm me down, so that's how I became Nipp."

"So your full name is Nipple?" Robert arched a brow.

"No, it's Nipp. Nipple? That would be weird."

"Right," Robert said.

Nipp continued, "Imagine if I was called Nipple. When I meet a girl and I introduce myself like, 'Hey, I'm Nipple', and she is like, 'Oh my gosh, I have Nipples too.' And then when we get together she ends up having three Nipples. Nobody wants three nipples. Do you want three nipples, Gina?"

Gina was busy laughing. "No, two are enough." 

"That's what I thought." Nipp smiled. He stared at Gina for a few moments before Robert intervened, again:

"Where are you from?"

"Tanzania," Nipp answered.

"Where's that?" Gina asked.

"In East Africa."

"Cool. I'm from Germany," she said.

"And I'm from France," Robert said. "And just like our two countries, you and I are going to be real close." He winked at Gina.

"You're from France? How is it like being led by a priest and not an actual Mayor?" Nipp asked.

"You mean Father James? It was cool and all before this slavery shit. I mean we're his people, we were supposed to not be involved."

"Maybe he had a change of heart."

"Maybe."

There was a few minutes of silence before Gina asked, "Why do you think this old man wants with us?"

"The better question is: Why did he only want people our age?" He looked at both Robert and Gina and they were silent. "I'll tell you why, he wants us to breed."

"What?" Robert was shocked.

"It's the truth." Nipp nodded. "I remember watching the movie Black Santa Saves The Next Generation, where there was a scene the villain was explaining his plan to the captured teenagers. He told them about how he wanted them to breed before he forced the girls to have abortions, and then used the dead fetuses-"

"To feed his hungry mutant plants," Gina finished the sentence.

Nipp gasped. "You've seen the movie?"

Gina nodded. "Yes."

Happy tears lingered in Nipp's eyes. "You get my jokes. You've seen my favorite movie. Where have you been all my life?"

"In Germany," she replied, smiling.

Robert watched the two have a moment before he said, "I think I know why we are here." 

Nipp and Gina looked at him. 

"If the rumors I heard back in France are true, then we're here to die."