Character history

Niki grew up with an abusive, alcoholic father named Hal Sanders.Hal would often beat Niki and her sister, Jessica, during his drunk enrages. Eventually, Hal choked Jessica to death and left his remaining daughter. As an adult, Niki had no memory of her father's actions and simply believed he ran out on her. At some point in her life, Niki herself became an alcoholic and a problem gambler, but managed to overcome her problems. On her first anniversary of sobriety (April 24, 2006), Niki attended an Alcoholics Anonymousmeeting. There she was reunited with her father, Hal, who wanted to make amends for his mistakes. Niki introduced Hal to her husband, D.L.,and her son, Micah. Hal gave the boy a computer, but when he became angry at his grandson for taking the expensive gift apart, Niki demanded that he leave. After her father's departure, Niki's alternate personality surfaced and she went to confront him. Jessica told her father that she remembers everything he did to her, including his responsibility in "[her] death," even though Niki doesn't remember any of it. After assaulting him, she forced the check Hal gave Niki into his mouth and ordered him never to contact her again.^[3]

As of October 2006, Niki was living in Las Vegas, Nevada and struggling to raise her ten-year-old son, Micah. She had been working as an internee stripper to pay the bills. Her husband, small-time criminal D.L. Hawkins, was in jail, accused of stealing two million dollars from a sports booker and murdering his own gang. To help pay Micah's tuition at a very expensive school that Niki believed would encourage his gifts, Niki borrowed money from a Mr. Linderman,a reputed mobster who used to employ her husband. Not having enough money to continue paying tuition or repay the loan, she withdrew Micah from the school.^[4] The two went on the run,as they attempted to elude thugs and police that Linderman sent after her. As Niki attempted to deal with her predicament, she occasionally left Micah with her friend Tina.Niki ran an online porn site to pay off the debt, but eventually finished the payments to Linderman after she seduced and slept with congressional candidate Nathan Petrelli, producing blackmail material Linderman could use against Petrelli later.^[5]

During times of stress, Niki began seeing her reflection in mirrors and other reflective surfaces moving differently than herself, leading her to be concerned about her sanity. After Linderman sent two thugs to her house to collect the money she owed him, an altercation occurred,with Niki apparently blacking out after being hit by one of the thugs.When Niki recovered consciousness some time later, she was shocked to find the dead, bloody bodies of the two thugs.^[6]Niki would have other blackout spells over the following days, one time losing four hours, always with no recollection of what has transpired.Niki eventually realized that she possessed a split personality, the other being far more sinister and amoral than her usual self, and which had superhuman strength.

Niki was reunited with her husband D.L. for a time. He had escaped from jail to return home and clear his name, maintaining that he was framed. Later, Niki's alter-ego revealed that she was the one who stole the money, killed D.L.'s crew, and framed him, planning to use the money to give her son a better life and keep him out of D.L.'s influence. After a short but violent fight, when D.L. revealed the phasing powers that he had used to escape from jail, Niki was defeated and lay unmoving on the floor while D.L. took Micah away.^[7]

The next day, Niki recovered from her injuries and confided in her friend Tina about her dreams and her alternate personality. When she called Nathan for assistance, he simply pretended he did not know who she was. Jessica then resurfaced and told Tina that Niki would no longer need Tina's help. That night Jessica answered a telephone call from Micah. She persuaded Micah, who knows that she is not his mother,to tell her where he and D.L. were staying.Soon after that, Jessica purchased a sniper rifle, and went in search of D.L. and Micah. When she finally found them, she took aim at D.L.from a hidden location across the street and attempted to kill him.Her first shot hit D.L in the shoulder, but he phased through the one meant for his head and successfully escaped with Micah by the time she reached their car. After a short chase through the woods, during which Niki fought Jessica for dominance, Jessica attempted to kill D.L.again. She inadvertently threw Micah against some rocks when he tried to restrain her, which allowed Niki to regain control. Concerned that Jessica would eventually take over and put her family in danger, Niki turned herself in for murder.

Powers and abilities

Niki Sanders has a split personality-type power in the form of an alter-ego who identifies herself as Niki's late sister, Jessica. Jessica surfaces during times of great stress.^[10]When the Jessica personality surfaces, the transformation is instantaneous and almost unnoticeable; Niki becomes violent and strong-willed with seemingly no warning almost like She-Hulk.When she undergoes the drastic personality change, she gains superhuman strength, being able to pull out the door of a safe box with her own hands,^[11] throw her husband across their bedroom with a single hit, or tear men to pieces with her bare hands. She also gains a peculiar tattoo resembling an RNA helix on her right shoulder, a symbol which has appeared often throughout the Heroes series.

Jessica seems to have been aware that she is sharing Niki's body for longer than Niki, leaving notes, gifts, and instructions for Niki, and telling a thug not to "threaten our son". When Niki reasserts control of her body, she can't remember anything that has happened while the Jessica persona was dominant, feeling as if she had blacked out. Eventually, Niki became aware of Jessica with the aid of reflective surfaces such as mirrors and has begun communicating wither.