Heroes/Niki Sanders

Nichol "Niki" Sanders /Jessica Sanders
Heroes
Actor	Ali Larter
First Appearance	1x01 - Genesis
Series Billing	Main Star
Episode Count	20 (through season 1)
Notable Episodes	1x06 - Better Halves Cx06 - Stolen Time

Niki Sanders is the wife of D.L. Hawkins, and their son is Micah Sanders. She is played by Ali Larter and has appeared in every episode to date.

Basic Information

Niki is the wife of D.L. Hawkins, and their son is Micah Sanders.

Niki's alternate personality, Jessica, shares Niki's body, usually observing quietly, but she occasionally assumes complete control. This always happens in situations where Niki or her son are threatened, but Jessica can apparently assert dominance at will. Niki typically has no memory of anything that happens during those times. Jessica has an unusual strange helix symbol tattooed on her back. The tattoo is only visible when Jessica is in control, but it isn't when Niki is in control.

Powers and Weaknesses

Powers

• Superhuman Strength — Jessica seems to have the strength to tear a human in half.
• (Possible) Superhuman Reflexes — She may have super-human reflexes, although that is uncertain.

Weaknesses

• She appears to suffer from multiple personality disorder.
• Jessica is the only one that seems to display the power, and her appearances are uncontrolled by Niki, whether she wants assistance or not.
• In moments of compassion she becomes Niki and when she is mad Jessica takes over.

Season One

Niki Sanders and her son Micah quickly leave their house out the back when two thugs come to collect money Niki owes them. Niki and Micah go to the private school Micah attends, where the headmaster informs Niki that he is expelling Micah because Niki’s checks have been bouncing. Niki drops her Micah off at her friend “Texas” Tina's house so she can get retrieve some things from her own house. Niki tells Tina that she borrowed 30 grand from Linderman, a local mobster, and people are looking for her to collect. Niki confides to Tina that she's worried she's starting to hallucinate.

Niki returns to her house, but Linderman's thugs capture her. They offer to let her work off some of her debt by stripping for them. She agrees. One of the thugs films the action, but when she pauses briefly, one hits her and she blacks out. She wakes up in the garage and discovers the room is a shambles and both thugs are lying on the floor rather gruesomely dead. One has been torn in half. She sees her reflection in the mirror. The reflection is covered in blood and raises a finger to its lips in a "shh." motion. Niki gets the video camera and flees.

She goes to pick up her son. At a stoplight, she plays the recording on the camera. After a thug hits her, it goes to static, but the thugs can be heard screaming. Suddenly she fins herself holding a cellphone, and she's in a parking lot. She calls Micah and discovers it's four hours later. Niki tells Tina that two of Linderman's thugs are dead on the floor of her garage. Niki also tells Tina that her mirror image sometimes moves differently then she does. She takes Micah and drives back to her house.

Micah sees their house has been ransacked and asked Niki what’s wrong. She tells him to pack some things. Niki goes into the garage, but the place is clean, with no blood or bodies. There is a set of car keys hanging on a hook. Niki's mirror image indicates a red convertible across the street. The registration in the glove compartment indicates that it was registered to Niki Sanders nearly six months ago. There's also a note in the glove compartment saying "In the trunk. Follow the map". Niki opens the trunk and finds the map and the bodies of the thugs wrapped in garbage bags.

She follows the map to a road dead-ending in the desert. There's a shiny shovel sticking in the sand waiting for her. She starts digging, but finds a body just under the surface. She recognizes a ring on the body and takes it before reburying the body. She starts digging graves to hold the other bodies in her trunk.

Niki and Micah drive to her mother-in-law Paulette Hawkins. They don't particularly like each other. Niki tells Paulette that she thinks D.L. did the robbery and killed his crew. Paulette says D.L. was framed, and if he really did commit the robbery, he would have taken Micah. Niki and Micah are driving when a cop working for Linderman pulls them over and takes them to see him at the Montecito casino.

Niki has Micah wait outside the office. Linderman's aide tells Niki that her debt will be wiped out if she seduces Nathan Petrelli, who is coming to see Mr. Linderman. Linderman wants something on tape to hold against Nathan.

Niki tells Tina that she's been blacking out, and she's worried. Tina asks if she's worried about the two dead thugs in her garage. Tina thinks it couldn't have been her because one of them was torn in half. Niki told Micah that she just has to do one thing that will solve a lot of her problems. Micah warns that it's safer over the Internet then in person - on the Internet it's acting, it's not real. Niki seems somewhat surprised that Micah knows what she does and what she's about to do.

Niki Sanders bumped into Nathan Petrelli at the Montecito and turned on the charm and she and Nathan talk. They went to his room where Niki admires the view. Nathan wonders what it'd be like to fly over the desert. Not in a helicopter, just fly. They tell each other a bit about themselves. Niki tells Peter that her husband is a criminal, but she has a son who is a boy genius. Nathan tells Niki that he has two sons of his own, and is happily married. Niki and Peter kiss, but she can't bring herself to carry through seducing him and leaves. One of Linderman's thugs is waiting for her in the elevator. He gets rough and threatens her, and her son. Jessica came out and kicked the crap out of the thug. When the door opened, Jessica warned him that if he threatened "our" son again, she'll drive her spiked heel through his skull. Jessica went back to Nathan's room and seduces him. They had sex while Linderman's hidden camera recorded it all.

Niki Sanders is awoken by Nathan's assistant. She does not remember anything after leaving Nathan's room last night. Linderman's aide shows Niki the recording of her having sex with Nathan Petrelli and tells her that her debt to has now been erased.

Nathan confronted Niki. She doesn't remember anything after leaving his room the first time, he doesn't know who the people kidnapping him were. Niki tells him that when she met him she was trying to be someone better, someone she's not. She tells Nathan that Linderman blackmailed her into sleeping with him, just like they're going to blackmail him. She regrets her part in it.

Niki returns home to find that her kitchen is filled with police officers. They think her fugitive husband D.L Hawkins will come to see her. Someone approached the house and entered. It was Ando Masahashi, who is immediately arrested by the police. Niki told Ando he shouldn't have come to her house. Ando apologized and said that he hoped she would help him. Niki told him that she's not the same girl in real life as she is online, and has the police let him go.

Niki startled when D.L. eluded the police watching her house and slipped in. She told him that he had to leave, Micah doesn't need this complication in his life. D.L. told her that Micah needs his father, she is still his wife and this is still his home. Niki told him that she's angry on him for pulling the armed robbery tht landed him in prison. D.L. said that he didn't do it, he stepped out of the job, but a woman stepped in, killed his crew and framed him.

Niki let D.L. stay for the night. D.L. told her that in the morning he's going to see some people who laundered two million dollars — the amount stolen in the robbery — for a woman. D.L. wanted to go to their bed, but Niki said he's sleeping on the couch, but a few minutes later, changed her mind. They have sex.

In the morning, Niki woke up in bed with D.L. It was a nice moment, until D.L. told her that he noticed her getting up in the night. She doesn't remember that. Micah came in and is happy to see his father. Later she warns D.L that it's going to crush Micah when he has to leave again, the manhunt for him won't go away. He asks her to help sneak him to a place where the money launderers hang out. She drives him there, but they’re all dead, torn to pieces.

Back at the house D.L. and Niki are shaken. He asks her if she's ever see anything like that before. Niki tells him that she has... in the garage. She says him that after he left, she borrowed $30,000 from Linderman. When she didn't pay him back on time, he sent some thugs after her. They made her strip for them, but they got physical and she was knocked out. When she woke up, they were both dead. One was torn in half. She tells D.L. that she's gone over that a thousand times in her head, and she can't think of any other explanation other then she was the one who did it. She says she left in the middle of the night... D.L. tells her that can't be right, someone must he setting her up, framing her, it must be the same one who's framing him, making sure he can't clear his name. They'll have to do it on their own. Micah comes in looking for his backpack. Niki finds it, then loses a few minutes. She finds Micah in his room packing. He tells her that she brought the backpack in a few minutes ago and told him to pack because they're going to grandma's. Niki is confused and goes to her bedroom.

In her bedroom, which has large mirrors, Niki is losing her grip. She collapsed, back to a mirror and asks what's happening to her. Jessica tells her she needs to pull herself together. Niki says this can't be real, it must be a tumor or a hallucination. Jessica says that she's as real as Niki is, and they're not crazy. Jessica asks what D.L. will do when he finds out what they've done. Jessica was the one who stepped into D.L.'s crew, framed him, killed his crew, stole the two million, killed the thugs in the garage and the "bitches" at the poker game. They've been very busy. Niki is shocked and confused. The people at the poker game were torn apart. Niki asks what the people at the poker game did to her. Jessica says that leaving witnesses would be sloppy. She just took care of Niki, like she always does. Jessica says that this is what they're going to do now: Niki is going to take the money, take Micah and get as far away as possible. D.L. won't understand, he'll think she's crazy. D.L. will figure out who framed him, and once that happens, he'll take Micah away from her, and probably kill her before he leaves. If Niki doesn't do what her alternate says, D.L. will take Micah away from her forever. Niki asks her alternate where the money is. Niki retrieved the stolen two million dollars from her attic, but is spotted by D.L. when she drops down. "All this time?" he asked incredulously. Niki tried to explain that there was this other person that she can't control, but D.L. didn't want to hear it. He said he as taking the money, and Micah. Jessica took control and told him that he's not taking anyone. There was a struggle and she ended up on top of D.L. strangling him. Micah came in and distracted her, phasing his hand into her, which disabled her. She started falling unconscious and D.L. dropped her to the floor. Micah rushed toward her, but D.L. scooped him up and left with Micah as Jessica passed out.

Niki woke up and looked for Micah, by the and D.L. were gone with the money. Tina came over and Niki told her that D.L. took Micah. She also told Tina of her alternate personality that calls herself Jessica. Tina didn’t believe there was a Jessica. Niki told Tina that part of herself that wants Micah back wants to let Jessica come out. Niki eventually called Nathan, but he told her he couldn’t help her and told her not to call again. He hung up. Niki threw the phone at a mirror in frustration, breaking it. Jessica took control. Tina rushed in to see what was wrong. Jessica referred to Niki in the third person and told Tina that “she” didn’t need her help anymore. Tina was alarmed by Jessica and left hurriedly. Micah called the house and knew it was Jessica on the phone, not Niki. Jessica told him that once she gets him, Niki will come back out. Micah told her where he was.

Jessica bought a sniper rifle from an arms dealer. She saw Niki in a mirror trying to tell her not to do this. Jessica just grinned back and told her that they’re going hunting. She got another call from Micah and waited in ambush near the rest stop. When Jessica saw D.L., she aimed carefully and hit him in the shoulder with her first shot, but he and Micah escaped on foot with the money. She tracked them through the woods. When she found D.L.’s bloody jacket, Niki took control. She and Jessica had an argument. Niki told him that if she loved Micah she wouldn’t have shot at D.L. She told Jessica that she’s out of control, and since Jessica is a part of her she should do what Niki says. Jessica told her it doesn’t work like that. They heard Micah calling for Niki. Jessica took control and found Micah. She entered the cabin, but D.L. was waiting for her and hit her, knocking the gun from her hand. Jessica kicked him several feet when he tried to get it. Micah grabbed Jessica, trying to get them to stop fighting. Jessica told him that it’s for his own good and shoved him. Micah flew several feet into a rock pile. Niki took control again, and comforted him. She apologized to Micah and D.L. for everything she put them through. They walked back to D.L.’s vehicle. D.L. tried to tell her that they could get help for her condition, but Niki was worried that Jessica was too strong to be stopped. She told D.L. that Jessica is out of control, which means that she couldn’t be trusted. When D.L. was distracted she left the cash behind and asked police officers investigating the shooting to arrest her for murder. She was taken to jail.

Character History

Six months before "Genesis", Niki Sanders was marking her one-year anniversary of sobriety at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting when she saw her estranged father Hal Sanders. After the meeting they talked. She didn’t remember him being around much when she was young and was resentful for that. Hal wanted to try and reconnect with her and meet his grandson and son-in-law. Niki wasn’t sure if she was ready for that yet. Niki bought a bottle of alcohol, but didn’t open it. She visited the grave of her sister Jessica, who died nine years ago. D.L. found her there, and Niki told him that Hal was back. She knew Hal could help them with their financial situation, but wasn’t sure if she was ready to see him again. D.L. told her that if she wanted Hal over, he could come over. Hal was invited over and brought Micah a laptop computer for ten years worth of missed birthdays. He told Niki and D.L. that he’d be willing to pay to get Micah into private school. Hal was angry when he discovered that Micah had already opened up the computer to look at the inside. D.L. told Hal that he should leave. Hal gave Niki a cheque to make up for everything he’s done wrong. Niki asked him why she couldn’t have her father back – what did he do that was so wrong. Hal realized that Niki honestly didn’t remember. Later, Jessica went to Hal’s hotel room She told him that Niki didn’t remember, but she did. She’s not Niki, she’s Jessica, the daughter that Hal choked to death. She told Hal that someone had to be there to protect Niki. She roughed Hal up a bit, stuffed the cheque in his mouth and told him to go away and never return.

Approximately five months before the events in Genesis, Niki didn't want D.L. to pull an armed robbery. D.L. dropped out of the job, but Jessica jumped in and joined D.L.'s crew. When D.L's crew threatened to kill her, she killed them all and had the two million laundered.

Signifigcant Episodes

• 1x06 - Better Halves: Niki discovers what she fears - she's not alone in her own head.
• Cx06 - Stolen Time: Jessica and crew robs a sports bar before the crew turns on her.
• 1x10 - Six Months Ago: Niki/Jessica confronts her abusive father.
• 1x11 - Fallout Niki makes a decision to protect her family.

Memorable Moments

• Better Halves: Niki has a conversation with Jessica, who tells her that she was the one who framed D.L. and is responsible for the trail of bodies that Niki has found.
• Better Halves: Jessica and D.L. fight.