Try Unite~!

'One Month Ago...

"HAHAHA!" Haggar yelled as the small, five story tall-mecha Wolf Chaos ripped into the atmosphere. The enemies, or rather, the abominations hovering in Earth's atmosphere began to retreat. "I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT HAGGAR CAN DO!" he spoke in the third person, which wasn't all that rare. All of the rocket launchers, machine guns, every projectile weapon at the mech's disposal tore out of its body and took aim.

Crack crack crack, the guns sounded. The rockets burst forth in a veil of smoke. They ripped through the space, coming closer to their targeet.

Boom

The explosion wasn't red, it was a solid blue. A combination of science and magic, something to be reckoned with. The abomination closed its many eyes and fell back. It wanted to retreat. It wanted to run but there was no escape. "HA Aaa!" Haggar pushed Metal Wolf Chaos forward and forward still. "I'll GET YA!" he grabbed it by the head, or what could be identified as a head, and initiated a pile driver.

...

Down through the atmosphere. Down they go. The Mecha heat up upon reentry and caught on fire shortly after. The two of them accelerate and fall faster, further than before.

Crack...

They impact in the middle of the Grand Canyon. The great cut in the Earth only expanded further and faltered little. A large plume of smoke rose up, high into the sky before dispersing.

This was the beginning of something bigger.

One Month Later - White House — President's Office

"Huh," Haggar slammed a document down on the table. What was it? He really didn't read it, he already had a GOOD idea about what it contained. More monsters from the ocean? MOST LIKELY.

The man sent out requests for help from every nation during a UN conference, asking for the best in the world to help.

Now, when they got here and how was ... something he didn't know.

He was the President of the United States and a Hero of the World, and he didn't have arrival times.

Well, he was busy saving the world so that could be an excuse.

~Two Days Ago~

Lilith lay face up on a chair by a beach, basking in the African sun. She was in a small town just east of Tripoli on business, and enjoying every minute of it. This was the life.

Then there was a vibration in her swimsuit. The mercenary let the cellphone ring twice, enjoying the sensation, before grabbing the device and clicking it. "Talk to me."

"Lilith. We have a job for you."

Lilith smiled. "Ah, Agent Maya. How are you?" She'd worked with the enigmatic agent before, and found her to be her kind of people. The kind who enjoyed Plan B way more then Plan A.

"Under stress. My boss is being pressured by his boss, and so forth. The President is going to be declaring a state of emergency soon, and we need a response team at the ready when he does. We have a plane waiting for you in Cairo, I'll brief you there."

Chuckling, Lilith rose to a sitting position, cooing slightly into the phone. "I'll finish tonight. Tell Lauren I said hi." She then clicked the end key on her smartphone. The CIA, always trying to anticipate what the president would do before he knew himself. She found it slightly ironic that they would name her as part of their response team. She supposed it was because she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty.

Afterall, the only thing that seperated her from a regular agency member was plausible deniability.

Lilith sighed, before putting her phone back into her bikini string and reaching down. A massive orange sniper rifle found it's way into her hands as she layed prone, tanning her back as she waited for her target. A boat came into view, the one she had been waiting for all day.

"Ah. There you are." Lilith said as she aimed down the sights. There were two cracks. One for the driver, who burst like a water balloon from the force of impact, sending red everywhere on the deck. The second for the ship's engines, which set the entire ship ablaze.

There was the most wonderful screaming for a moment, and then silence. Lilith put the sniper rifle down, burying it in the sand, before nodding off in the noonday sun, a smile on her face. They weren't expecting her till tomorrow after all.

~Present~

Lilith stepped off of the airplane, an unmarked black van waiting for her, a pair of CIA agents flanking her. Stepping inside, she scooted over to allow her agency contact to sit next to her. The red haired woman was dressed in business casual, although her figure slightly ruined the effect. The two women met eyes.

"So you're clear on the details of this assignment?" the agent asked. With Lilith, one had to be sure she knew what limits were in place, to prevent her from doing something which compromised the mission.

Lilith nodded. "Scary monsters threatening the planet. Make them feel sorry for being... naughty. The Succubus should be ideal." She put a finger to her lips. "Still, somehow I think I wouldn't mind a little alien action."

The agent groaned. Lilith was one of the best private contractors out there, and the only one who was just as dangerous out of a mecha as in one. However, sometimes dealing with her was a chore. One which Agent Sunee wished she could hand off to someone else. However, she had her orders. "Just get the job done. The President is giving an official statement today in front of the UN. You'll have to work with other agents and contractors who were tapped by our competitors in the intelligence community." The agent snorted at the joke. Intelligence from those morons. "Of course, you'll have the full backing of the CIA for this mission. Try not to screw it up."

Lilith was used to her contact's rather blaise manner of speaking. She pressed on. "And my mechanic?"

"We'll look the other way if any destroyed mechs go missing. No aliens bits though. Any non-human corpses are the property of the UN, and I can't help you if she steals it."

"Sounds perfect."

And the games shall begin.

China

Outside of a fortress obscured by fog, two assassins in blue stood guard. They were looking for any sign of movement. If they saw movement, they had one order: kill whatever's moving by any means. One had a claw equipped for this purpose, while the other had his knives available to him.

There was a small rustle only the man with the claw heard. He turned in its direction, and before he knew what was coming, a blur ran by. The man fell to the ground, blood flying out in one splash before his face crashed to the cold ground and the blood pooled. His comrade looked down in shock and wildly threw a knife in the direction where the blur had come from. However, he soon joined his comrade in death when he was struck down by a purple ball of energy to the back, shattering his ribcage and rupturing one of his lungs. He fell to the ground, slain without releasing a drop of blood. Their killer walked by nonchalantly. The man was about six foot two, with mostly brown clothes save for black shoulder pads, black gloves, and a sleeveless black duster. He wore a cybernetic mask and a life-support system on his back over the duster. Long black hair flowed from behind the mask down past his shoulders. In his hands were a pair of hookswords, one of which had a newly blood-soaked tip. He pushed the door open.

He found himself surrounded by more Lin Kuei warriors. Some had swords, others spears, and still others arrows ready to be fired. A rain of arrows hailed down. Combined with the crowd of swordsmen and spearmen, it was difficult for the archers to tell if they had hit their mark. So they waited. When the arrows had all landed, the archers saw many things. They saw arrows stuck in the wall. They saw arrows stuck in the door. They saw arrows that had gone out the door entirely. They saw arrows in swordsmen's backs, on the floor, some that had even been sliced in half. But they did not see a single arrow in the man with the hookswords. They saw Lin Kuei warriors who had been slain from sword wounds, from being collided into too fast, from having sawblades thrown at their legs and bleeding out. But they did not see the masked man dead. About half the warriors below were dead. One of the remaining warriors had just been hit by a blur. The assassin was now spinning at a dizzying rate. Suddenly, the blur stopped, crouched, and fired a purple Energy Ball from the eyes of his mask, which hit the spinning assassin and sent him flying into the wall. The archers all went to get another arrow, but every single one was now gone. They would wait to see what this man did.

The masked man sped up again and slid at one warrior, snapping his ankles. The victim fell to the floor and passed out from the pain. His assailant moved to another man, hookswords out, and hit him in both shoulder blades. Then, the man was thrown into one of his comrades. It went on like this until every man was slain. The archers, possessed by a suicidal new bravery, all leapt down to challenge the masked man. One backflipped down and pulled out a shield. He threw the shield at a wall and it bounced back. Another did not leap, but flew down, shooting rays of energy from his palms. Another slammed a massive hammer to the ground, causing a small shockwave. Three more archers jumped down, one revealing he could unleash fiery breath, another throwing down a blue ball of chi, and the third pulled out a massive sword from seemingly nowhere.

They all gave a war cry and charged at once. The masked man, unintimidated, took a step back while slashing with one sword, slaying every man with a weapon. The one who threw energy balls tried using the technique, but the masked man fired two blasts, one to cancel out the blue blast and the other one to slaughter the man. Next, the flying man tried getting out of range and firing rays from above. Not only did the masked adversary dodge every one, but after a few seconds the flying man fell, and the masked man flew by him in a blur. The Lin Kuei warrior was dead before he hit the floor. That left the fire breather, who charged in and tried immediately using his power. When the masked man stepped back to avoid it, he did something very simple and yet very disorienting for the Lin Kuei.

The masked man did not counterattack. He just stood there and let the fire breather run out of breath.

This disoriented the fire breather just long enough for his foe to step forward and grab him by the neck. The fire breather sputtered and gasped for air as his foe lifted him up.

"Who are you?" he finally managed to sputter out.

"My name..." said the masked man, "...is Kabal! And I do not tolerate delays from an assassin and thief like yourself! I have a job to do, and you interrupted it. I'm afraid I can't show you mercy here."

Kabal kicked the fire breather high in the air, drew one of his hookswords, and sliced the man through the waist, leaving him Half the Man He Used to Be. A few seconds later, the masked man was heading towards the center of the fortress.

"It's amazing!" An American scientist was standing in front of his creation, talking to a robed man with a mysterious medallion around his neck. The creation appeared to be a giant robot about ten feet tall with a black and white paintjob. "This mech is more advanced than even the Cyber Initiative. The way it works is, you stick your hand inside the mech like this..." He demonstrated by poking his hand into the chest compartment of the mech, and its cavity opened to reveal a pilot's cockpit. "...and once you get in, it can calibrate itself to the wearer's abilities! Anything you can do, Grand Master, sir, it can do. And this is only the prototype!"

"I see," said the Grand Master. "Is there a reason why its aesthetics are based on Cyber Initiative subjects◊?"

"Only for a sense of continuity, sir. Now, why don't you step inside?"

But before he could do that, a blur flew by and sent both the scientist and the Grand Master spinning like tops. Kabal had burst in to take the mech. By the time the two had stopped spinning and collapsed to the floor, Kabal was inside and the chest cavity was closing. Inside, the mecha was calibrating itself to Kabal, analyzing all his abilities. As soon as he heard a sound byte saying Synchronization complete, he guided the mech to take off. It sprinted at Mach 3 out of the fortress, leaving holes in every wall it came across.

The scientist and Grand Master were both struggling to their feet by the time the mech was gone. The Grand Master was filled with rage.

"You fool!" he yelled. "You let a man steal it right before I could test it!" He stomped on the scientist to hold him down, grabbed his neck, and ripped the head and spine out. But it was a futile fatality.

USA

The black van came to a stop, and Kabal got on board. He had put on a dress shirt and a loose-fitting tie over his usual brown shirt, but it didn't do much to make him seem more professional. He took a seat where he could find one.

"Name's Kabal," said the masked man. "I'm by no means a government man, as you can probably tell, but I used to be with the NYPD before my...injury...and I have contacts within the Special Forces. They directed me to come here. Not like I had much else to do anyway." He looked at Agent Sunee. "I don't believe we've met before. You are...?"

edited 27th May '12 9:18:02 PM by TestYourMight

Several days ago: NOL-controlled Europe.

"As I'm sure you've already been told, your primary objective in this mission is simply going to be assisting the president, and the rest of the team he assembles, in locating the source of, and defeating, the creatures."

Noel's first thought about the man was that he was the exact opposite of how she had imagined the NOL's intelligence officers. He had started the briefing with a long sigh, and seemed perpetually bored- almost annoyed. And while his jet-black uniform should have lent him some credibility, combined with his lime-green hair it made him look like he had just walked out of a fancy nightclub. Nevertheless, Noel wasn't about to question an officer from Intelligence.

"However, Intelligence has taken an... interest in your little excursion. As such, you have two secondary objectives. First: you are to demonstrate the superiority of NOL mech technology. ...shouldn't really be an issue, considering you've been issued the most advanced one in the fleet, so I suppose you can just chalk that one up to 'don't screw it up.'"

The man gave a look at Noel that she didn't quite understand. Was he... was he making fun of her? Did he think she would mess up or something? Why would-

"Second: We have reason to believe that the other parties involved in the team's formation will also likely send their best, as we have. This may be a cooperative effort up front, but this is the chance everyone's been waiting for to prove their technology is best. Take advantage of this, and learn as much as you can about the technology used by the other pilots in the team. At the same time, you are to keep the specifics of the Murakumo's technologies under wraps as much as possible. ...which, looking at the Engineering scores you got at the academy, shouldn't be much of a problem for you. That's all. Is everything understood?"

That... that time he was definitely making fun of her. ...Not that she could do anything about it.

"Yes, sir."

Present day: United States, White House gates.

Noel fidgeted, adjusting her cap, before walking up to the guards. I hope I'm not too late, but I just couldn't leave that cat stranded in the tree...

"Lieutenant Noel Vermillion, NOL Praetorian Guard, 4th division, reporting as requested. I believe the president is expecting me?"

edited 29th May '12 2:56:33 PM by SilverFayte

Kasamino City, Japan

The Witch screamed as the spear was slammed into it one final time, before every inch of its body bubbled up and exploded. The spear's wielder, a red-haired girl in a maroon dress, reached down into the ash pile and removed an object from it. It was a small round crystal in a black metal cage. A Grief Seed. She blew the ash off of it, as her dress vanished in a flash of light to reveal a turquoise hooded jacket, a short black tank top and a pair of cut-off shorts, along with a pair of brown boots that came up to her knees. She looked at the crystal for a few seconds before summoning one of her own; an egg in a similar shade of red to her hair, held in a golden cage. She touched the two together, and something black was sucked from her crystal into the Witch's.

And suddenly she was vaguely aware of the two people behind her. She turned to see the slightly cliché image of two men in black suits and black sunglasses, even though it was the early hours of the morning and the city was cloaked in darkness.

"Miss Sakura?" One of the strangers asked. He had a distinct American accent, even though he was speaking Japanese.

"What's it to you?"

The other stranger stepped forward.

"It doesn't matter. We need you to come with us."

"Why, and what's in it for me?"

The stranger sighed.

"I'm not at liberty to say."

Kyoko's eyes seemed to catch fire, and she transformed again, her spear splitting into segments as she stared the pair down.

"Then I don't need to come, do I?"

And with that, she lunged, the chain-linked segments trailing behind her like a whip. One of the strangers sighed, and drew something from his jacket. It looked like a pistol, except the majority of it was yellow aside from a few decals and the end of the barrel. A Taser. He fired it, the two wires latching on to Kyoko's clothing and delivering an electrical shock, driving her to the floor and knocking her back out of her transformed state. As she lay there unconscious, the two picked her up and bundled her into a waiting black van.

Undisclosed Location

Kyoko had spent the whole flight handcuffed to a metal bar to stop her from attacking her escorts again. As soon as the plane had landed, wherever it was, even before the engines had stopped turning she'd had a black sack thrown over her head and been man-handled out. When the sack came off, she was in a white room, with only a metal table and two chairs in it. One wall seemed to be a mirror. Eventually, a door hidden in one wall opened, and another generic figure in a black suit walked in. She didn't bother looking at them in any sort of detail; she didn't need to. The figure dropped a folder on the table and sat across from her. It opened the file, and glared at her.

"So are you going to tell me why I'm here?"

"You're here, because we have a need for you."

"And if I refuse?"

The figure chuckled quietly.

"Then you disappear. In as much as someone who doesn't exist can; the whole incident with your father makes that... simple."

"OK, so what's in it for me?"

"Mostly the fact that once we're done you get to go back to whatever life you had, rather than spending the rest of your days rotting in a cell with no natural light."

Kyoko thought about it for a few seconds.

"All right, what do you need me to do?"

edited 30th May '12 2:18:33 PM by Deadbeatloser22

Neo Arcadia Shrine, ???

President Haggard's call had been heard across the ocean, in the mighty fortress city state of Neo Arcadia. Behind the protective barrier of Eden's Dome, thanks to which every citizen could enjoy carefully processed weather because of its' weather control system, the metropolitan sprawl seemed to go on forever, becoming a sea of glittering lights at night and spires of steel and electricity during the day. The Neo Arcadia Tower dominated the skyline, its' body scraping at the void of space, while the distrustful populace kept a wary gaze outwith their borders and a formidable military force cruised the skies, crawled through the sea, and marched on land.

Some say that the Tower used to be an orbital elevator, used for transporting people and goods to the moon; however, such glory days had long since passed since its' partial destruction. Now it provided access to Area X, the geostationary satellite that governed Neo Arcadia's unmanned space stations. In High Earth Orbit at 36,000 kilometres high, it was also known as the Neo Arcadia Core and Neo Arcadia Headquarters. This was because it was often used as a base of operations by the government's elite generals, the Four Guardians, and the supreme ruler of Neo Arcadia, Master X.

But we will arrive at that in just a moment; 36,000km below, a shadow lurked in the facility simply known as the Neo Arcadia Shrine. The shadow's name was Hidden Phantom, leader of the Cutting Shadow Squadron, the intelligence and special operations branch of the Neo Arcadian military. He had no mission worthy of his importance. Rather, he was simply observing the day to day bustle of Neo Arcadia's existence. A clanking sound signalled the arrival of a Pantheon Hunter◊, one of countless mass produced cyclopian mechaniloids used as cannon fodder in the army. Turning to face the machine, Phantom noticed that it held a small holographic device in one hand.

I see there is something requiring my attention after all... he mused, taking the device and waving away the eerily silent machine. Activating it, he saw his master, X, appear. Of course, he knew it was nothing more than a false, empty copy, but he still felt obligated to serve the creature that had seemingly inherited Master X's shell. On the surface, Copy X◊ looked much the same as his original counterpart; the main difference was that his eyes were clearly the wrong shade, as distorted as they were on the blue tinted display. Similar to the Four Guardians (including Phantom) that shared his ancestry, his jacket had a large "X" emblazoned on the front, though in his case it was lined in red while the "solid" sections were blue. He appeared to be sitting on his throne, one leg bent over the other in his customary manner.

"G-greetings, Phantom..." began the ruler, his voice giving Phantom an uncomfortable feeling despite its' lack of malice, or... well, anything, really, aside from a thick veneer of politeness. For whatever reason, Copy X stuttered a lot, Phantom noticed. He needed to get that repaired. "I-I have a m-mission of the utmost i-importance for you. Meet me in Area X."

"Right away, Master X." Phantom bowed, and the transmission abruptly cut off.

Area X, Neo Arcadia

Hidden Phantom stepped into the sterile environment of Master X's throneroom, ignoring the Earthrise that could be seen through the slots in the back wall that flanked Copy X's grandiose throne. The trip up through Neo Arcadia Tower had been uneventful, and the whole time Phantom had been stewing on what his master had in store for him. Standing beside their lord was Sage Harpuia◊ - master of the air force, Fairy Leviathan◊ - commander of the navy, and Fighting Fefnir◊, who was in overall charge of the army.

Copy X gazed at the new arrival with eyes the colour of freshly spilt blood, their inner glow contrasting sharply with the light blue pallor cast by the Earth. Phantom resisted the almost primal squirming he felt as his look met Master X's. "S-so you have arrived... good."

"Master X, I am reporting for duty." Phantom snapped into a perfect military salute.

"D-do not worry, Phantom," said the fake, obviously attempting familiarity with the general. "I-It is nothing serious. I assume you have heard of the President's request?"

"Indeed, Master X," said Phantom, going through the motions.

"And have you heard of our latest military program?" It was a formality, of course. Everyone knew about that program.

"Yes, Master X." It was becoming easier now, he was settling into a rhythm.

"I would like to request that you pilot one of our first generation bipedal mechanised units." The statement floored Phantom and the other Generals, at least if their looks of barely restrained shock were any indication. "W-we need to s-secure our political p-prestige, and this is a perfect opportunity."

"Pardon my impudence, Master X," began Hidden Phantom. "But why choose me? I am honoured, of course, but would such a task not be better suited to the Army of Ash Flames? Or better still, our highly qualified testing corps."

Fefnir grinned slightly at Phantom's admission, though he said nothing.

"Phantom, our program is of the h-highest security level; I cannot allow just a-anybody to unveil it to the world. T-there is t-too much risk inherent in that," replied Copy X, his tone becoming steadily more reproachful. "Y-you have always been best placed to a-adapt to such changes, and our v-very first combat ready unit - the Vidar - h-has been tailored to your s-specifications. Regardless, you would not disobey a direct order from m-me, correct?"

"Of course not, Master X," said Phantom, bowing and drawing back slightly.

"E-excellent. We shall dispatch you within the hour."

Washington D.C., USA

A hovercar adorned with a flag proudly displaying Neo Arcadia's symbol◊ drew up near to the White House's gates. A pair of Pantheon Hunters exited the coal black vehicle first and stood to attention in front of one of the doors. One of the pair opened the door and allowed out Hidden Phantom, who seemed rather unimpressed with the pomp and ceremony that had been accorded to him throughout his journey to the White House by his master back in Neo Arcadia. His place was in the shadows, not here!

Marching briskly up to join the others, he rattled off a brisk introduction. "Shadow General Hidden Phantom of the Shadow Cutting Squadron branch of the Neo Arcadian armed forces, reporting."

He snapped off a perfect salute and kept his eyes focused straight ahead. If the others wished to learn about him, they would need to learn in their own time.

Present Day, Washington D.C., USA

The plane from Japan landed without any difficulty, and slowly came to a complete stop. Kanji Tatsumi, having been stuck in one vehicle or another since he left his hometown of Inaba, hopped up from his seat in first class and stretched his legs when given the chance. The teenager put away the textbook he'd been reading, having crammed for the past week on his English skills, and followed the other passengers off of the plane. Walking into the main lobby of the airport, he let out an anguished moan as he noticed two average-looking dudes in black suits holding a sign with the word 'Shirogane' on it; clearly, they hadn't gotten the right message yet, and Kanji never looked forward to attempting to talk to lawmen or bureaucrats.

"Uh...are you the famous Detective Shirogane?" one of the men asked, when he realized that the silver-haired kid walking up to them didn't appear lost or confused in the slightest. "It's just that we were expecting someone taller...and, well, not dressed like a punk."

"Well, tough [BLEEP], but I'm as good as you're gonna get. America ain't the only place with problems, y'know. Japan's goin' through some tough times as well, 'specially since that Gensokyo place started acting up again, so Detective Shirogane decided that my talents would be good enough for this country," Kanji told the men. He then cast his eyes across the lobby, observing people of all shapes and sizes from all across the world trying to get where they need to go. At least one schmuck was trying to explain that he forgot his belt buckle was made out of metal and that there's no reason why the scary security officer with large hands should take him to a private room for 'questioning'. "Man, this place is freakin' nuts. I mean, Naoto did try an' tell me how different this'd be from home, but this is still a lot to take in. You know, it's like I can still taste the animal crackers I was eating during that fateful meeting where I was given this task..."

The two suited men, their curiosity piqued, looked at the boy expectantly. However, all they recieved were angry glares. "...The hell you lookin' at me for? Can't a guy reminisce without everyone and their freakin' granny wanting to hop on the flashback wagon?! You know what? Forget this [BLEEP]! Just point me to the exit and tell me which direction the president's at!"

Kanji then pushed past the two men, grabbed his suitcase as he passed the luggage carousel, and headed for the door. After a moment of stunned silence, the two men realized that nothing good could come from letting that punk walk unattended through D.C. in such a bad mood, and quickly caught up to him. "Terribly sorry for our earlier behaviour," one of them attempted to apologize. "We guarentee that your satisfaction is our highest priority while we escort you to the White House. There's just one more question that needs to be asked...what should we call you, sir?"

Never halting his stride or turning to look at the mooks, Kanji reached into a pocket of his jacket and pull out a card of strange origin. "I'm Kanji Tatsumi, pilot of the Take-Mikazuchi! And I'm sure as hell ready to knock the [BLEEP] out of something!"

edited 30th May '12 6:44:34 PM by EndarkCuli

White House Gates

"Alright, boys, I'm going to do my best for this great nation and my daughter!" Haggar looked at the past portraits of the other presidents.

The 50th president, Douglas Jay Falcon AKA Captain Falcon, a man of great honor.

The 49th President, Jecht, the man who single handily pulled the country out of the recession by punching the stock market.

The 48th President of the United States, Skeletor, no one ever talks about him. At all, no one knows why though. They said he was scamming to conquer the neighboring country of Eternia, but he was impeached on those charges.

Haggar saluted each portrait as he went on his way. Soon, he exitted the building and made his way to the White House Gates to meet those who showed up. "Mr.President, you aren't supposed to leave. You're supposed to-" the attendant attempted to stop the large, shirtless man from exiting the building but he, without a doubt, failed to do so. Haggar merely brought up an open palm as to say talk to the hand.

"I have a duty to protect this nation!" cried Haggar as he smiled wide.

"Hello!" he now stood there, his hands at his hips, as he examined the two new arrivals. One was a girl and the other looked like a machine, no doubt from Neo Arcadia. "Hmmm.. Noel Vermillion, eh? Let's see that you don't disappoint, girly!" he said as he affectionately patted the young girl on the back. "And you." his attention turned from Noel to the machine. "You're from Neo Arcadia, right? Who are ya?" Haggar got right to the point.