Jo was born Joni Wilson, Chad Wilson's younger sister. Their family was very religious and very anti-mutant. Their elder brother, Mark, was killed by their uncle when he manifested, though the official fiction was that he ran away. Joni and Chad tried to protect each other, as their father was an alchoholic and getting more and more abusive. Chad was a very good hacker, and one night he manifested as a mutant with power over computers while he was drugged on painkillers, and stopped an attack by the supervillain called the Palm. The Palm responded to this by bombing their house. Both their parents were killed, but Chad was in the hospital due to complications of his mutation and Joni was at a friend's house. Soon after, Chad was found dead as well, and Joni was given into the care of her a