Niki Sanders

Niki Sanders
Portrayed by	Ali Larter
First appearance	Genesis
In-story stats
Known ability	Enhanced Strength)
Formal name	Nicole Sanders
Alias	Jessica
Gender
Age	33
Home	Las Vegas, NV
Residence	Niki Sanders's home
Occupations	Former, and possibly current, casino worker and online webcam operator
Significant other	D.L. Hawkins
Parent	Hal Sanders
Child	Micah Sanders (son)
Sibling	Jessica (deceased sister)

Niki Sanders is a former casino worker in Las Vegas. She was raising her son, Micah, alone because her husband D.L. is a fugitive. In the absence of D.L. and his regular paycheck from construction work, she earned extra money as a webcam stripper running lasvegasniki.com. She is currently being held in a Las Vegas jail on suspicion of multiple murders. She has an aggressive alter-ego named Jessica.

Character history

Genesis

In Las Vegas, Nevada, after doing some webcam work, Niki Sanders prepares for the day with her young son, Micah, but when thugs break in, she leaves. After Niki visits her son's private school, the principal gives her bad news about Micah’s tuition; she leaves and sees her reflection moving differently than she is. Haunted by what she sees, she yells at the image to leave her alone, much to the confusion of her son.

Later taking her son to her friend Tina's house, Niki talks with the woman about her situation. She explains that Mr. Linderman, who appears to be a loan shark with mafia connections, sent the home invaders seen earlier. Niki borrowed tens of thousands of dollars from him for Micah’s tuition, which has now been lost. Niki also tries to tell her friend about this strange "other" she hears and sees, but her friend fails to understand. Frustrated, Niki simply leaves. Arriving home, Niki finds the pinhole camera Micah made for watching the upcoming solar eclipse (that appears in Isaac Mendez's first painting, and is witnessed by several characters throughout the second episode). While looking through the camera she realizes the thugs are still there, and attempts to escape, but fails. The thugs then propose she perform for them on camera, then force her to do so. When she objects, the thug strikes her.

Niki awakens sometime later to find the mutilated bodies of the thugs. Even more shocking, Niki looks into the mirror to see her reflection covered in blood — even though she isn't — and gesturing for her to keep quiet.

Don't Look Back

Niki grabs her videocamera and leaves to pick up her son. However, when she watches the videotape, the image dissolves into static while the audio records the sounds of the thugs screaming and being killed. She experiences another blackout and awakens four hours later (in a different location and a new change of clothes) when Micah calls her a second time.

When she returns to her house to clean up the bodies, she discovers her garage has already been cleaned (even her webcam setup has been cleared away) and a key is hanging from the ceiling. She catches her reflection, which motions to a classic Cadillac parked across the street. Finding that the key fits, she discovers the registration, some months old, is in her name, and the thugs' bodies are in the trunk, along with a map. She gathers up Micah and sets out into the desert, following the map.

One Giant Leap

Niki follows the map and begins burying the bodies in an unnamed desert in Nevada. To her horror, she discovers the skeletal remains of a man wearing a skull ring, alike to the ones worn by the crew that associated with D.L. Hawkins, Niki's estranged husband and Micah's father.

Niki takes Micah to visit D.L.'s mother's house to confront her about her interference in Micah's life and about the ring she found. D.L.'s mother believes her son was framed for the theft of two million dollars and the murder of his crew and that he is on the lam. Micah then lets slip that he might know how to contact his father. However, before they can get anywhere, Niki is pulled over by a police officer who is working for Linderman and brought to see him.

Collision

Niki and Micah meet with Miss Sakamoto, Linderman's assistant. Mr. Linderman will forgive Niki's debt if she seduces a politician who is courting Linderman's favor as "insurance". Shortly afterward, Niki went back to Tina's with Micah. Tina asked Niki if she's still seeing the other person in the mirror but then Tina just laughed it off and told Niki that it's just old age. Tina left the room and Niki talked with Micah, who revealed that he knows about his mom's webcam business and what Mr. Linderman wants her to do to repay the debt. The scene ends with a limo arriving at the door to bring Niki back to the casino. There, Niki ran into Nathan and had a surprisingly good time with him but did not go through with the deal. She is assaulted by one of Linderman's lackeys in the elevator where she reverts to her alter ego, beats up the lackey, and returns to Nathan's hotel room to sleep with him.

Hiros

Niki is woken up by Nathan's campaign manager who asks her what she did with Nathan. Miss Sakamoto tells the man that they will take care of finding Nathan and he leaves. Miss Sakamoto tells Niki that she is debt-free now that she has seduced Nathan, and shows her the tape of their liaison. Niki leaves and finds police at her home looking for her husband, D.L. Hawkins, who seems to have been seen in the area. After someone attempts to break into Niki's house, they realize it is only Ando Masahashi who wants to meet Niki as he is a big fan. Niki tells them that he should just go home and the cops also leave but stay in the neighborhood to look out for D.L. Once the police are gone, D.L. appears in the house and hides in Niki's bedroom.

Better Halves

Niki finds D.L. in her house. They argue for a while about D.L. having left them but ultimately try to work things out. Niki accompanies D.L. when he tries to find the man suspected of laundering the $2 million he was framed for, but instead they only find a room with several dead men. Later Niki's alternate personality reveals that it was she that stole the $2 million from Mr. Linderman, killed D.L.'s crew, and killed the men D.L. took her to see previously all in order to cover up the theft. Her alternate personality tells her that she needs to take Micah and leave because when D.L. finds out he's going to take Micah, the money, and might even kill Niki. She retrieves a briefcase full of money and a gun from the crawlspace above her room, but it caught by D.L. after she exits. Her alternate personality takes over and they fight with Niki throwing D.L. into a dresser. She appears to be at an advantage until D.L. uses his power to reach into her abdomen, causing her to fall unconscious.

Nothing to Hide

Niki regains consciousness on the floor of her bedroom. She immediately searches for Micah but finds him missing. Tina arrives and Niki tells her what happened. She explains about Jessica and says that she wishes Jessica would take over so she can get Micah back. Tina tries to tell her that Jessica isn't real.

Niki calls Nathan Petrelli and asks for help, explaining that her husband has taken her son, but Nathan refuses to help her. Enraged, Niki breaks a mirror, and Jessica takes over, scaring away Tina.

Homecoming

As Jessica prepares to go after D.L., Niki gazes at her helplessly from a truck's side view mirror.

Six Months Ago

Niki attends an AA meeting. While speaking to the assembled group about her situation, and wearing the clothing and nametag from her Las Vegas casino worker position, she says she is one year sober, but the difficulties in her life are making her want to drink again. She notices her father, Hal Sanders, at the back of the meeting. After the meeting, he tells her he would like to be a bigger part of her life.

Niki visits the grave of her sister Jessica where she tells D.L. that Hal is back. They decide to have him over for dinner. At the dinner, Hal alludes to a bad past between Niki and him, but Niki doesn’t seem to remember what he is talking about. He says he owes her more than an apology. Hal gives Niki a check to "make her life easier". When he leaves Niki looks into a mirror and suddenly changes attitude from upset to determined.

Fallout

After D.L. and Micah manage to evade Jessica, Niki stares at Jessica reproachfully from a reflection in D.L.'s car's window.

When Jessica discovers D.L.'s bloody jacket, Niki attempts to reassert control. Catching Jessica's reflection in a mudpuddle, she argues with her about what she's trying to do to D.L. They hear Micah call out, and take off after him.

At the cabin, Jessica pretends to be Niki, but D.L. is waiting for her. As they struggle, Jessica pushes Micah roughly aside into a pile of rocks. Seeing him hurt, Niki is able to take control, and apologizes to both Micah and D.L.

As they walk away from the cabin, Niki realizes that Jessica is too great of a threat to D.L. and Micah. When Micah slips and D.L. goes to help him, Niki seizes the opportunity. Leaving the money behind, she approaches a police officer across the road and turns herself in for murder.

Godsend

Niki is in jail pending her trial for the murders of D.L.'s crew and the theft of Linderman's money. During the two weeks since she surrendered herself to the police, her alter-ego Jessica has injured at least one of her guards. While speaking with her attorney, Jessica manifests several times, encouraging the lawyer to plan an insanity defense. During a later visit with D.L. and Micah, she asks to be allowed to hug her son. A nervous guard swings his baton at her, but she (or Jessica) catches it and breaks it. The guards quickly take Niki out of the visiting area. She is later placed in a padded cell, wearing a straitjacket, and given an injection.

The Fix

In her padded room, Niki receives a shot. When she awakens, she meets Dr. Witherson, who wants to meet Jessica, but Niki refuses. Dr. Witherson likewise refuses any more injections for Niki. Later, she receives a visit from D.L. in the cell. She tells D.L. that she will be in jail for a long time, and advises him how to raise Micah. When she meets with the doctor again, she considers allowing Jessica to meet the psychiatrist.

Powers

During times of distress, Niki switches to an alternate personality, Jessica, who is much more violent than her normal self. Jessica has demonstrated the power of enhanced strength, the extent of which is not at present known. In Genesis, Jessica tears Linderman's thugs in half, which Tina believes Niki couldn't do. In Better Halves, she throws D.L. across the room and mutilates a room full of armed men in a matter of seconds, and in the Stolen Time graphic novel, she rips the door off a safe at a sports book.

In Godsend, Niki demonstrated enhanced strength without becoming Jessica when she snapped a prison guard's baton in two. According to the cast commentary featured on the Heroes NBC.com website, the cast members themselves stated that it was Niki; they say that it is a big moment for her because Niki, not Jessica, has unleashed her powers for the first time. This was Niki's first demonstration of enhanced strength.

Notes

• While Jessica has a tattoo of The Symbol on her upper right back, Niki does not.
• Niki and Hal use more formal names for each other: Niki calls her father "Hal", and Hal calls his daughter "Nicole".
• Niki is on the list.

Trivia

• The laptop Niki uses for lasvegasniki.com runs Debian Linux.
• Niki never keeps peanut butter in the refrigerator. (Godsend)
• The ABC Soap Opera One Life to Live is famous for being one of the first serialized dramas to tackle the topic of dissociative identity disorder (DID) in a real and serious way with a beloved lead character. That character was Victoria Lord (Viki), whose most active and dominate alter ego was named Niki. She also had a daughter who, through Niki's carelessness, was traumatized as a child and likewise developed DID. Her name was Jessica, and her main alter ego was named Tess.

Fan Theories

Please refer to Theory:Niki Sanders for fan-created theories and other speculation. Template:Linderman