The first sound the group heard was a stomp of the foot with a thunderous rumble. Following it was a booming and yet familiar voice to the Kiryūin sisters. "STAND AT ATTENTION BEFORE LADY SATSUKI!" it said, and immediately after the door burst open, revealing none other than the largest member of what was once the Elite Four: Gamagoori Ira. Satsuki smirked. "Ah, Gamagoori," she spoke with a little laugh, "just in case you didn't know, we're not the ones in charge here. He is!" Here she pointed to a startled Hiro. "W-w-what?" he stuttered. "Nobody told me I was leading this thing. The doctor was." Dr. FranXX chuckled. "Well, code 016, you soon will be leading everyone here in battle eventually," he whispered into Hiro's ear. "I'll be briefing you more on that later." Hiro nodded. "Very well." During this time, the others in the newly arrived party now entered the briefing room also. In came Jakuzure Nonon, Inumuta Hōka, and, of course, Sanageyama Uzu. At the latter's heels was Shiro Iori, the former Sewing Club President at Honnouji Academy. But, as Satsuki had correctly guessed, her former core squad weren't the only ones who would follow her to APE. After all, she had sent a message to Inumuta to analyze the exact location where she and Ryūko followed Goro into the time-space portal created by the warp receptacle, instructing him to summon the former members of the Elite Four and the leaders of Nudist Beach, along with anyone else they considered necessary in completing this mission. Indeed, Mikisugi Aikurō and his DTR copilot, (yes, he still was very insistent on calling his mech by that abbreviation alone) Kinagase Tsumugu, were the next to enter, followed by Iori's uncle and Satsuki's butler, Soroi Mitsuzo. Satsuki beamed at the latter's appearance. "So you Elite Four never forgot about Soroi's delectable blend of tea, did you?" she said. "Good to see all of you again, friends." "Hmm, I wouldn't say it's exactly 'all of them,' per se, Satsuki," Ryūko butted in. "I'm assuming you brought her also, Inumuta?" He opened his mouth to reply, when a high-pitched voice sounded through the room. "RYUUUUUUUKO-CHANNNN!" it said, and, without being the least surprised, Ryūko turned her head in the direction of the voice, and there, in her typical No-Star outfit of old, stood Mako. "RYUUUUUUUKO-CHANNNN!!" she said again, running forward to give her bestie a hug. "You forgot about me?!" "No, not at all," Ryūko smiled. "In fact, I was worrying you hadn't joined the others in coming here when you cried my name with that squeal of yours." "They forgot Mankanshoku," Gamagoori interfered. "I made sure she would provide the verbal and moral support she consistently does, particularly to you, Matoi." "I figured," Ryūko replied. "Oh, and by the way, I wonder if the top dog here would allow so many of us to join in on this experiment." "Oh, certainly not," Dr. FranXX replied with a laugh. "Not one of you is permitted here, but for my undercover allowance, actually. In fact, the top parasite in APE's special forces squad would strongly disapprove of what we are all doing. We'll talk about him in just a moment." "Understood," Satsuki replied. She already had an inkling about Alpha's villainous intents at these words, but began to connect the dots, trying to correlate if perhaps the Life Fibers were somehow related to APE's totalitarian regime, as she had already guessed it was. Nonon spoke up in her typical reedy voice. "Oh, Monkey Boy," she said to Sanageyama, "looks like our fighting days side by side are far from over." "Oh, boy, here we go again," sighed Inumuta. He certainly knew what was coming. "Well," Sanageyama smirked, "you didn't pin me to North Kanto, for once. For goodness' sakes, Jakuzure, you never did drop those derogatory names of yours, did you?"