Ivan met a rather unhappy looking Hunter at their usual meeting place.
"Why so glum?" he asked curiously.
Hunter was quiet for a moment.
"My mom died."
Ivan didn't know what to say, so was quiet for a time.
"I... uhh... I thought she was already dead... Sorry. Uhh, you never talked about her."
"Yeah... well... Stuff happened. She and my step-father, they were... they weren't exactly the most honest of people."
"Ahh."
"I kinda grew up in this little community in Conneticut... and pretty much everyone, well, all the adults anyway, were involve in some..."
"Less than honest activity," Ivan interjected.
"Yeah. I mean, at the time, I didn't think anything of it. Growing up in that environment. But I mean, in hindsight..." Hunter sighed. "And I was always interested in the YIRAAS, and I don't think I ever completely understood that my... my family considered YIRAAS, well... the enemy, y'know? And then... then Leroy, Tanya, Oliver and Tate came. And I found out who they really were -"
"Snooping in the secured databases again, huh?"
"No technokinetic can design a security system that can block another technokinetic, bar through experience," Hunter smiled wryly, "and they always made sure I had plenty of experience, even though they never knew I hacked into the YIRAAS databases."
Ivan nodded.
"I joined, y'know. Had to hide everything, but I guess... didn't hide it at all that well. My step-father found out in the end, and well, I ran away and the rest is history. I kinda lost contact with Mom after that. I did send a couple of letters, but..." Hunter shrugged. "They found her body dumped in a river."
"Dumped in a river?" Ivan's eyebrows went up.
Hunter nodded solomnly.
"It was murder. Stab wounds to the chest and stomach. But hey that's what you risk when you live on the dark side of the force, right?" Hunter said with a false cheerfulness, thick with distraught.
"Can happen to either side, and either way it sucks. No matter who it is," Ivan said firmly.
"Yeah, well... I can't... I just..." Hunter broke off.
Hunter felt tears welling in his eyes. Damn it, he hadn't even spoken to her in over a year! Why, why, why was he crying?
Ivan sat there awkwardly. He didn't know what to say, knowing that any words of comfort he offered would be hollow - how would he know what it felt like to loose a parent?