"A one… two… one two three four…" Rose started to play, singing into the microphone. "My momma loves me and she made me to Rock and Roll…" It was their third time playing this song. In the studio, unlike a live performance, they had the luxury of trying to get a perfect performance.

Rose smiled, closing his eyes and just enjoying the playing. Music was a joy to him, it was always a joy. A lot of work, yes, but also his passion, and the others felt the same way. To lesser degrees, but they were all dedicated to getting the sound.

Pamela pulled off a stunning arpeggio, so it sounded like her flute was laughing. Rose grinned. That wasn't technically part of the song, but it had come at the right spot to sound just wonderful. This would be the one!

They concluded the song with a flourish, and the director's voice came through over the intercom.

"Excellent, excellent! Perfect! Now, could you come out for a moment? There's some Hunters here to see you." The band exchanged wide-eyed, surprised looks, and Pamela blew a questioning thrill on her flute.

"What could Hunters want with us?" June said, caught off guard… then she grinned wickedly. "Thing, have you not been telling us something?"

"Hey!" He protested, and everyone laughed. "Stop making fun of me." Rose smiled, slinging his guitar over his back and stepping out of the recording studio.

And he stopped, his thoughts and expression congealing as he saw who was standing there.

"Hi, I'm Axl," The Hunter said cheerfully, offering one hand to shake. Rose just stared at it, then back up at Axl's face.

…Smoke, dust, terrible smells… explosions…

"Mama? Mama!" A hard hand, grabbing his arm and lifting him up. "No, let me go!"

"Axl! Hahaha, Red's going to love this!"

"No! MAMA!"

…Red blood on red hair, blood on his fingers, dirt dust smoke…

"You…" Rose said softly, the pupils of his eyes contracting to pinpoints. "They killed mama because of you… They were looking for YOU!" Rose suddenly shrieked, and launched himself at a startled Axl.

"Rose, NO!" June shouted, but he was trying too hard to strangle Axl to care. "Thing, get him off!" The larger Reploid pushed past Pamela and Patrick, who were staring, frozen. Zero had also been briefly frozen, but then started forward to help pry away the hysterical Reploid. "Thing, get him out of here!" Thing nodded to June, and pulled Rose back into the recording room. Axl stared after him, coughing and rubbing his throat.

"What… why did he…?" Axl said, shaken, as Zero stood over him protectively. June glanced around, seeing everyone staring at her… and swore sulfurously.

"Patrick, Pamela, Gerrick, go with Thing and try to calm Rose down. You two come with me! Amy, is there a private room around here?" One of the sound technicians bobbed her head.

"Uh, should I phone the cops?" The director asked nervously. He wanted to get the record cut, but assaulting a Hunter had dire consequences.

"No!" June snapped, and the director glanced at Zero, who made a 'forget about it' gesture with one hand. "Come on, and I'll explain. I've known Rose all his life." That made Axl look at her with wide-eyes.

Soon, the three of them were in a private room. It was an office, cluttered with papers and equipment, but they all managed to find seats.

"You knew him? What can you tell me about my creator?" Axl started to question her as soon as they sat down. June took a deep breath, and her lips tightened into a sour line.

"Everything you want to know, and a lot you didn't. I was her lab assistant." A slightly wicked grin crossed her face, and she pulled a gold necklace out of her shirt… with what looked like a plastic memory card hanging off it. "I still have the key."

"Key to what?" Axl's eyes went wider, if it was possible. June's smile softened a bit, and Zero hid a smirk. Even this tough young woman wasn't proof against Axl's cuteness. She only shrugged, though, and tucked the key back into her shirt.

"Everything. Look, why don't I just tell you why Rose tried to choke you to death?"

"Uh, sure." Axl and Zero listened, interested, as the story unfolded…

"June, go fetch me a cup of coffee, would you?" June sighed, but stopped playing with her keyboard. She was Dr. Kristina's gopher as well as part of her chief project. Fortunately, it paid very, very well.

"Right away, Doctor." She said obediently, and listened for a moment, hearing the strains of a guitar. Rose was sitting on the front doorsteps, playing the guitar. He liked having fresh audiences, and while most people didn't stop to listen, there was usually at least one who did… and to Rose, that made it all worthwhile. June smiled, and walked to the kitchenette at the back of the lab. Rose was part of what made her job worthwhile.

As she was pouring the coffee, the music abruptly cut off. That didn't bother her. A million and one things could have caught Rose's attention. He was still new, and the world was a wonder to him. Then the front door slammed shut, and she looked up with a frown. Peeking through the doorway, she saw Dr. Kristina look up from her work, startled. The doctor was a heavy set, middle-aged woman with orange-red hair. For all the differences in their builds, though, anyone looking at them would have thought she and Rose were related. They had similar facial features, and the doctor had a very similar, impish smile when she was amused.

"Mama, there are Mavericks down the street! They're tearing it up!" Rose had both his guns out, June noticed with alarm. She gasped, and began to back away. June had no real illusions about Rose protecting them. He was a very intelligent boy, and he had a great deal of combat programming and native ability. He had also been activated three months ago. Even X and Zero couldn't have learned it all that fast, and Rose had been learning to play as well as shoot.

Then the front wall exploded inward, and June fled. There were stairs… she dove down into the basement as the roof collapsed…

"Rose dug me out, maybe four hours later." June said with a sigh. "He was a mess. His left arm was almost severed, and it looked like someone had beaten him with a lamppost. All the poor kid could say was that they were looking for Axl, and they killed mama." She gave Axl a sharp glance. "The Mavericks were Red Alert's goons. I'm sure you can guess what they thought when they saw Rose." Axl flinched, dropping his eyes.

"I… I'm sorry." He whispered softly, feeling horribly guilty. He hadn't meant to cause this pain for his duplicate… but in a way, he had been responsible for the tragedy that had befallen Rose and their creator. Zero touched his back.

"It's not your fault, Axl. You had no idea there was a double of yourself running around, and what could you have done if you had?" Zero suddenly frowned, and looked at June. "How did Axl end up in that warehouse? Do you know?" June smiled, and nodded.

"Oddly enough, I do. Sheer, suck ass bad luck." June tapped her fingers against the arm of her chair, remembering. "She had just gotten evicted from her place on the west coast… some idiocy about zoning… and decided it was time for a change of scene. She packed up you, Rose, me and everything else and we started on a cross-country trip. You and Rose being baggage in tubes at the time. You were supposed to be the primary, Rose the backup… if things had gone according to plan, she would only have activated Rose after you died. Anyway, you and Rose were in separate moving vans. Yours broke down, so it was left behind while the driver tried to get it fixed." She grimaced. "And then… A Maverick attack hit that area. The van was found, later, but it was a gutted ruin. We assumed you were dead."

"Oh…" Axl blinked, remembering. "The warehouse I was found in was in a ruined city." He couldn't remember the name, but that had to be the place the van had broken down. June nodded.

"You were probably moved there when the van bust. We didn't dare go look, though. So anyway, Rose went from secondary to primary. You weren't ready to be activated anyway… I mean, physically you were fine, but she was trying to make you LOVE music. That's not easy to program in. Rose is the finished version."

"Music?" Axl was bemused by that revelation. He'd never touched an instrument in his life, and he didn't want to. "Why would she be so interested in that?" It seemed like such a useless skill, compared to fighting as a Maverick Hunter. And his creator had obviously been a pure genius with combat designs. Why bother with music? June hesitated.

"Um… this is a little Frankensteinish." Zero and Axl exchanged a glance, wondering what that could mean. "I mean, creation in a slightly creepy way. I mentioned that you and Rose both look related to her. Well, that was deliberate and it's more than skin deep. The DNA for your quasi-organic components, and the default setting on your DNA copying centres, is Dr. Kristina's son's DNA."

"Wh-what?" Axl blinked, startled. "Her son? What happened to him?" June shrugged.

"Damnfino. That was before my time. I just know she was obsessed with getting him back, so she was trying to make a Reploid substitute. Pretty much worked, too, with Rose. He even sounds the same… you don't. Your voice is too sweet." Axl was missing the rough burr that made Rose's voice sound adult despite it's tenor height. Axl sounded far too childlike. "Everything about you, your looks, your hair, your personality, is all modeled off of him."

"A human had hair like that?" Zero asked the ceiling, making Axl blush and June grin.

"Apparently. He was in a punk rock band before he died, and adored music more than life, if you believe Dr. Kristina." June hesitated, then looked at Axl. "Rose… didn't want to see you. That was probably healthy, to tell you the truth. You popping up like this was one hell of a shock." Axl winced, and nodded.

"We can go… I don't want to hurt him." That hurt, though, the thought of never getting to know his sibling. June pursed her lips, then made an uncertain gesture.

"Why don't I go talk to him and see what he wants? He might-" June looked up, startled, as the door opened and Rose stepped inside.

Rose looked like crap. It was a dramatic change from the happy, energetic youngster playing his guitar. Now, he looked damp as a used Kleenex and unhappy as a wet kitten. Rose hesitantly stepped forward, looking at Axl.

"I'm sorry…" He said wretchedly. "I shouldn't have… I just… remembered…" June stood, and touched his shoulder.

"It's alright, Rose. I already told them why. You want to take a seat?" Rose nodded, and sat down heavily beside her. June kept her hand on his shoulder, looking at him carefully. "Rose… what do you want with this?" He would know what she meant. He hadn't wanted to hunt down Axl, but Axl had looked him up, so now they both had a choice to make. To go their separate ways… or to really become brothers. Rose hugged his knees to his chest, looking more like a child than ever.

"I don't know June… I'm not sure how I feel about it." He said softly, and June pursed her lips. Axl looked ready to say something, then bit his lip. Zero finally broke the silence, and surprisingly, he took the practical approach.

"Well, you guys have to cut a record and we've got a vacation to enjoy. So why don't you think about it and we'll look you up before we leave?" Rose looked at Zero, surprised, then grateful.

"I'd appreciate that." He really didn't know what his decision would be.

"So, how was your vacation?" X asked his two friends, sipping his coffee. They'd both just made it back from Vegas, and Zero was looking smug while Axl seemed a little… stunned.

"Oh, it was great X! You really should have come. No strippers, no cherries, a few X rated videos and Axl here lost his virginity but besides that-"

"Zero!" Axl protested, blushing bright red as Zero slapped him on the back with a grin.

"Hey, don't worry! It's a rite of passage. Now, at this point, you're supposed to tell X all about it and gloat that he didn't get any because he was too chicken to come." Zero said with a laugh as Axl blushed even more. His face was almost as red as his hair.

"I think I'll go drink my coffee somewhere else." X said to the room at large. But Zero snagged his arm, shaking his head.

"Not so fast… we also found out the dark secrets of Axl's creation." That stopped X, who blinked in surprise.

"Really?"

"Yeah, he was created by Martians and sent to take over the planet." X sighed, reaching for his coffee again. "Okay, okay, I'm joking. He was created by a Dr. Kristina to take the place of her dead son. And he was lost in a Maverick attack, so she made a total duplicate of him." X glanced at Axl, who nodded solemnly.

"Really? Is that duplicate here?" X was quite curious to see him. But Zero shook his head.

"No, he's the lead in a really hot, up and coming rock band. They got a gig, and couldn't really turn it down, but he should be showing up sometime this month. He tried to kill Axl at first, but he seems to be over it." Zero paused for a moment, frowning. "Oh yeah. The girl with him, June, was Dr. Kristina's lab assistant. Maybe Gate, Dr. Cain and all the other science weenies should talk to her." Gate had finally been roused from his coma, and had joined Hunter HQ as a researcher. And all the scientists would be interested in speaking to someone who had worked deeply on the DNA copying system. Even though Reploids were being built with it, it was only partially understood. Much like X's design. The new DNA copying Reploids worked, but often in unexpected ways.

"They'll certainly enjoy that. I'll mention it to them." X tilted his head. "She wouldn't have Axl's program key, would she?" Axl's eyes widened, and Zero looked a little puzzled.

"How'd you know? Until she mentioned it, I'd never heard of keys like that." Zero frowned. "Are you holding out on me?" X snorted at the thought.

"Hardly! You just don't listen to the science weenies. Axl's systems are seriously protected from scans and encrypted as well. There's a slot where some sort of key should go, but we've never been able to really crack the protections… the researchers will be very interested in seeing that key." X knew that was a bit of an understatement. Once they found out about it, they'd want to kidnap the woman to get here there immediately. Especially after all the troubles with Lumine.

Some people were beginning to suspect the DNA copying centres they'd managed to create from examining Axl were drastically flawed. This would give them the answer.

"Well, she'll be here with Rose in a week or two. So what's been happening around HQ while we were gone?" Zero asked. X went with the change of subject, giving them both the latest news.

No matter how much the scientists wanted June, they would have to wait for a while.