Joy had suspected there was something wrong for years. Daddy would come into town bringing gifts, paying all the back bills, and spoiling the two little girls. Then he'd disappear for a month or so. Joy was sure that regular fathers were around more often then that, even if they did have to travel for a living. When she was about 15 though, Daddy stopped coming home at all.

Joy and her little sister Mercy did a little growing up, the hard way, dealing with life in the Rogue Isles as best they could. They never talked about Daddy, but they were both looking for him, in their own way. It was in the process of looking for him that they found out about the other two daughters. Daddy had always promised Momma that one of these days they'd get married, when he could settle down and stop working so hard. It turned out he was already married and had a family in Texas. Joy didn't know much about them except that the oldest daughter had come to Paragon City with her new husband shortly after the first Rikti Invasion. She also found out that Daddy was sick.

After a little while her careful system of bribes and payouts began to bring in more news. Daddy was dying of cancer and the doctors figured he'd have only a few more weeks of life left. Joy and Mercy talked it over and found a small-time pilot who was willing to fly them down to Texas. Between Joy's money and Mercy's threats, the pilot was convinced to leave in the middle of the night, touching down at the Sugar Land Municipal Airport just after sunrise. Mercy had thought to cover her skintight fighting gear in a baggy green nylon tracksuit, but Joy was in too much of a hurry to think about clothes and was still in a dress for the Pocket D. They stumbled from the plane and stole a truck to drive into Houston to the hospital.

When they got there and asked for Mr. Wilson, they were escorted to a plain, shabby room in the terminal ward. Their father was sleeping and the nurses didn't want to wake him. Joy looked down on the frail, yellowing man in the bed and agreed to wait down the hall in the family waiting room. "We're surprised to see ya'll so early," the nurse commented "The doctors had only just called the family an hour ago."  Joy cocked an eyebrow at Mercy who nodded back, then she turned to the nurse and pressed a fifty dollar bill into his already sweaty hands. "Listen, we're not going to cause any trouble or anything, but when he wakes up, could you let him know all of his daughters are here?" She nodded to the man and he nodded back, confused but willing to take the money.

Soon the rest of the extended Wilson family and friends began to pour into the hospital. Joy and Mercy compared their notes, placing each person into the web of information they'd been able to gather. When Grace and Patience came in, they were able to compare copies of hero id's to faces. Getting copies of Gamer's Widow's and Gentleness' id's had been worth it. Joy and Mercy retired to the family waiting room and talked it all over in low tones. Everything depended now on if Daddy would acknowledge them or not.

A commotion in the hallway told them that the efficient nurse was herding everyone out of Daddy's room. Joy quickly dropped into a pose of steadied laziness, one leg draped over the arm of the uncomfortable chair. Mercy cleared the years old magazines from the coffee table and settled herself into a full lotus. It was important to look like they didn't have any sort of interest in the family yet. Absently Joy pulled a knife from the sheath under her skirt and started clean her nails. Grace, Patience and their mother came into the room to begin their own deathwatch.

Out of the corner of her eye Joy watched Grace pace. She'd heard about Gamer's Widow, a hero who had some sort of powers over luck. She didn't look very lucky right then as she stomped around the room and fretted at her wings. Small bits of black and red down floated in the morning sunlight as the girl turned away from the window for the fourth time. Joy smirked to herself at all that wasted energy and started flipping her knife, running through all the fancy tricks she could remember to settle herself. Mercy was asleep sitting up, a trick Joy had always envied. Lucky for her, she didn't snore or everyone would have known. Over in the corner Gentleness, an extremely tall girl rumored to have ice powers, was calmly putting tiny stitches into a cross-stitch project. Joy thought that was almost as soothing as Mercy's nap. Eventually, Grace's pacing annoyed her mother and Patience forced her to sit down.

The male nurse that Joy had paid off stuck his head into the room and told them all that Daddy was looking for them. Mercy and Joy hung back as the others filed out, then went down the hallway behind them. Joy made sure to pull her gloves back on and stow the knife away. The nurse waved their mother away and took all the girls into Daddy's room. Joy made sure to stand on the far side of the bed from Grace who was demanding answers. ""Daddy?" Grace said "What's going on? Who are they?" Joy shook her head slightly and turned her attention to the man in the bed. He looked mostly dead already and she couldn't help but compare his withered frame to the laughing giant in her memories. As he struggled to sit up, I knew he would be gone soon.

"Grace, you were first," he rasped and his fingers closed around her wrist. She shuddered at the chill of his hands and looked sick. "Joy was next though, my second daughter." He held onto Joy as well and she looked at Grace in sympathy. "Then Patience and finally little Mercy." He nodded to the large girl and to Mercy, then rested back against his pillows. " All my lovely red haired daughters…be good to your mommas…don't tell them." His hands loosened and he fell away from them. Joy heard Mercy's breath catch in her throat, as close as she ever heard to a sob anymore. She took a step back from the bed and laced her fingers together to still the trembling.

Grace moved convulsively towards the door, but Patience stood there, looking at us carefully. "Maybe we should talk some" she offered quietly. Joy thought about it and shook her head. This was going to be hard enough on them without forcing a whole set of sisters in as well. "Not much to say I don't think." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear "We're just here for the will, then we'll get out of the way." A little simple closure and they could walk away and forget they knew each other. Joy and Mercy had agreed this would be best. Grace started like someone had run a hot pin into her and turned threateningly. It was obvious on her face that there was no way she'd accept them staying. As she opened her mouth to make some comment, Patience laid a heavy hand on her wings and steered her towards the door "Outside, Grace."

Joy held on to her temper with both hands, following Grace out to the parking lot. Wasn't it enough that they were the legitimate daughters? Couldn't they let Mercy and herself say goodbye too? She almost ran over Grace who had suddenly stopped and whirled around. She felt a tremor run over her skin and shook it off, too angry to be afraid of this well-known hero. "He was our Daddy too," She forced herself to speak calmly "Only you got to keep him for most of your life. We didn't even know where he was when he got sick. He just didn't come home." She stopped and shrugged, hugging her arms tight  across her chest.

"He came home!" Grace snapped back "He came back to his wife and his real family and we took care of him." She pushed her face forward into Joy's.

Joy's eyes narrowed. So that was how it was going to play out. Mentally, she shrugged and settled herself for a fight. "Real good care I can see," She examined her fingernails again, pretending to ignore Grace as she pushed into her space. "Well doesn't matter. We'll take what's ours and go."

"I don't think so," Grace returned coldly "You'd have to prove you were actually some sort of relative and not just some back-street whore's spawn. Which you can't prove."

Joy's first punch knocked Grace clear across the parking lot. For a moment she lay there on the hot tar, stunned. Gentleness summoned a sword of ice, already melting in the hot humid air. Joy took a single step and kicked her square in the face, the swing of her leg knocking the girl backwards. Grace muttered and twisted her hands, somehow forcing Joy to miss the next punch she threw. There was the faintest rustle as Mercy dropped her track suit on the ground and turned on the device that allowed her to deflect light for a short amount of time. The air in the parking lot shimmered as she suddenly appeared from nowhere, bringing the hilt of a katana down on Patience's head. Suddenly Joy and Mercy started bog down in the melted tar of the parking lot. Mercy tried to go invisible again but Grace raised her hands and summoned up a dozen possible futures that confused and distracted Joy and her sister. Joy's eyes narrowed again and she fought her way out of the tangle of luck. Reaching back in, she pulled her sister out and spit at Grace in disgust. There was no way they could get to Grace and Patience in a head on fight. It made more sense to leave now and come back when the others weren't ready for them.

Joy sat and brooded on the long bus ride back, her sister dozing beside her. If she couldn't get to them directly, she'd have to find another way. She played with her gloves as she thought, turning them over and counting the business cards she kept in the special holder in the wrist of the left glove. Idly, she counted them, then counted again. "Mercy," Joy smiled grimly to herself "We may be expecting company at some point soon."
Instantly awake, her sister raised an eyebrow. In response Joy held out the four business cards from her glove. "One card is missing, probably from when I hit Grace."
Mercy bared her teeth in a grin "Since when do we wait for the heros to come to us and fight fair?"