Micah Sanders

Template:Heroes character box Micah Sanders, portrayed by Noah Gray-Cabey, is a fictional character on the NBC science fiction drama series Heroes. He is the son of Niki Sanders and D.L. Hawkins. He is a child prodigy and a technopath.

Character history

Beginnings

About six months before most of the series' events, Micah meets his maternal grandfather Hal. Hal seems like a nice man at first, giving Micah an expensive laptop computer as a gift. However, Hal becomes enraged when he finds Micah taking the laptop apart. Micah's parents promptly kick Hal out for the outburst.

During the next six months, Micah's father is arrested on charges of theft and murder. Micah is enrolled in a very expensive school to encourage his gifts, but is forced to leave the school because his mother can't afford the tuition.

Micah and Niki later have to go on the run because Niki couldn't repay a debt borrowed from a loan shark named Mr. Linderman. As Niki attempts to deal with her predicament, she occasionally leaves Micah with her friend Tina. Although aware that his mother earned money as a webcam stripper, Micah expresses concerns about Niki aiding Linderman in the episode "Collision." Niki was to meet a client in person, and Micah knows it could potentially be dangerous for Niki to have physical contact with customers.

After Niki's business with Linderman concludes, the fact that Micah's father had recently escaped becomes an issue. Micah believes D.L. to be innocent of the charges leveled against him, but Niki isn't so sure. Eventually, the police place Niki's home on heavy guard, but D.L. still manages to find a way in. In "Better Halves," D.L. revealed his presence to Niki and Micah, and Micah's parents reconcile for a time. During a conversation the next day, Micah asks his father how he escaped from jail. His father said that he had a secret, and Micah tells his father that Niki has a secret as well. Sometime later, Micah runs into his parents' bedroom to find them fighting fiercely, with his father's hand phased into Niki's abdomen. As Niki collapses, D.L. picks up Micah and runs out of the room.

On the road with D.L.

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Micah uses his powers.

As they drive away from Niki, Micah grows angry with his father for running away, feeling that the good guys always stay to help and that only bad guys run away. D.L. insists that he is not a bad guy. On the road, they find a woman trapped in a burning car. While Micah stays behind with Ando Masahashi, D.L. and Ando's friend, Hiro Nakamura, free the woman before the car explodes. Micah is proud of his father's heroism, though they left just as police were about to arrive.

That night, Micah and D.L. stop at a motel. Micah sneaks out to call his mother, and finds a nearby pay phone that is broken. By touching it and concentrating, Micah makes the phone temporarily work and calls Niki. His mother's alternate personality, Jessica, answers, and although Micah realizes this quickly, he still tells her where he and his father are staying. He hangs up just as D.L. arrives. When D.L. asks him what he's doing, Micah insists that he was just messing around. The out of order sign on the phone and D.L.'s own inspection of it seem to satisfy him.

Eventually, Micah tells his dad that his mom is "sick," and that she seems oblivious to having an alternate personality. He urges his father to go back to Niki and help her. After admitting that he told Jessica where they are, his father rushes him into the car. However, he's not quite fast enough, and Jessica, having purchased a sniper rifle in the hopes of catching D.L. off-guard, puts a bullet through his shoulder. D.L. manages to avoid being shot again, then runs into a nearby forest with Micah while Jessica comes to assess the damage she caused. They stop and D.L. takes off his jacket, then they begin to walk backwards so their footprints will be misleading. They find an abandoned house, and Micah watches as his father phases his hand through the door and unlocks it. Micah helps his father bandage the wound, but D.L. passes out, worrying Micah. It is implied that either Micah pulled his father into the house or D.L. eventually awoke.

While Jessica searches the woods for the two, Micah begins to call out for his mom. Jessica arrives a few moments later, a gun in the waistband of her pants, happy to see Micah. As Jessica enter the house, a fight ensues between D.L. and her. Micah tries to stop Jessica, but is inadvertently pushed into a rock wall by her. As Micah cries in pain, the fighting ceases and Niki regains control of her body. The family then reconciles and walks back to the diner where D.L. was shot. Micah sits down to check his leg, which had been hurt when he was pushed into the wall. D.L. goes to check on him and tells him they were heading for a hotel. Meanwhile, Niki realizes she, or rather, Jessica, is too dangerous. When D.L. and Micah look back up, Niki is across the street, asking a police officer to arrest her for murder.

Back at home

Two weeks later, Niki is in prison awaiting trial and Micah is being raised by his father. D.L. has "[his] own style" of living which Micah finds unusual, including putting peanut butter in the refrigerator. Overall, Micah just misses his mother dearly. However, due to her imprisonment and Jessica's attempted escape, Niki isn't even allowed to hug him. Tensions between Micah and D.L. worsen as D.L. is unable to find work. Micah leaves home upset with his father and is seen in "The Fix" stealing money from automated teller machines by using his power. Micah comes home late to find D.L. worried severely. The two then agree to "try harder" at making their new arrangement work. Micah then opens his backpack and pours the money he stole onto their coffee table, saying "this should help." then D.L. asked how did you get this, and Micah's response was "You know how you and mom have a secret? Well, I have a secret too."

Niki is released in "Distractions". After she comes home, Micah proposes a game of Scrabble, not realizing that he is speaking to Jessica instead of Niki. Bully, one of the Heroes graphic novels, reveals that a boy named Frank also pestered him at school. Micah asks Frank to stop, but Frank believes both Micah and his "psycho killer mom" should be in jail. Micah uses neon lights at a junkyard to scare Frank, and comes home. D.L. asks about the fight and gives Micah a sandwich as Micah admits his victory.

Taken by Linderman

In the nineteenth episode, ".07%", Mr. Linderman meets with Jessica and requests the opportunity to "borrow" Micah for unspecified reasons. Jessica denies him, not wanting Micah to get caught up in their business arrangmenent, and then leaves. Shortly after, Candice Wilmer impersonates Niki, and hands Micah over to Linderman, with whom he drives away. Micah is then taken to a hotel room where Candice Wilmer, disguised as Niki is made to watch over him. Eventually Micah discovers that Niki is actually Candice and tries to escape. He is thwarted, however, by Candice's illusion-casting ability. He is later met by Mr. Linderman, who promises to make sure Micah's family need never worry about money again, provided that Micah cooperates. Micah agrees, and is asked to reprogram the voting machines so Nathan Petrelli wins by a landslide. From one terminal, Micah is able to reprogram every voting machine in the district, as they are all networked together, although doing so appears to take a toll on him. He is later trapped in a closet by Candice, who fights Niki in the form of Jessica. Niki uses her new superhuman strength to knock Candice out and Micah escapes with Mohinder, D.L., Molly, and Niki, using his power one more time to repair a broken elevator.

Four Months Later

In "Kindred", after the death of his father, Micah leaves Nevada with his mother, Niki, and is brought to New Orleans, Louisiana to stay with Nana Dawson. From there, Micah has been in contact with Hana Gitelman through the Corinthian Hotel network. He quickly bonds with his cousin Monica and after she discovers her powers and he helps her figuring it out. He has a harder time with his other cousin who bullies him but manage to get in his good graces by using his powers to get pay-per-view.

In "Truth and Consequences", Damon gets Micah's backpack stolen. Micah is extremely upset because inside the backpack was a medal his father received during his time as a fireman. The medal reminded Micah of his father's heroism. Niki tells Micah that they are going to call the police, but that is not enough for him. Later that night, Monica wakes up Micah and says she knows where the robbers live. Micah watches as Monica scales their house and grabs the backpack. The robbers arrive home and hold Monica at gunpoint as she tries to hide. Micah watches in horror as the robbers force Monica into their car and drive off.

In "Powerless", Nikki dies, leaving Micah yearning to create a super powered team of Heroes, "like the Fantastic Four" and without either parent in the way to stop him.

Alternate Future

Note - The following information reveals an alternate reality in which Claire is not present to assist in stopping the bomb.

In "Five Years Gone", Micah appears to have died in the explosion that destroyed New York.

Powers and abilities

Micah is a technopath, which enables him to "communicate with machines and electronics." His power seems to require physical contact with the device and a certain level of concentration, after which the changes he wishes to make are almost instantaneous. Using a cell phone, Micah can bypass the need for physical contact, at least in cases where the target device is controlled by a networked computer. When asked to rig an election, for example, Micah is able to reprogram the entire voting computer network, which covers the entire city, in roughly a minute, though doing so seems to exhaust him.

He first displays his power in "Nothing to Hide," where he repairs an out of order pay phone simply by touching it. When his contact was lost and his concentration was broken, the phone no longer worked. In "The Fix," he uses his power to manipulate an automated teller machine, causing it to repeatedly eject cash in $500 increments. In "How To Stop An Exploding Man", he is able override the security lockdown on an elevator, much impressing his new friend Molly Walker. In Powerless, it is seen that Micah also can tell any electronic devices to do whatever he wants, even at a distance, as he and Niki go and try to save Monica.

Micah is also abnormally intelligent, though this has not been linked to his power. He is shown dismantling a new computer recently given to him in "Six Months Ago" and later repairing its motherboard in "Genesis." It is also stated in "Genesis" that public schools did not know how to nurture his gifts, so he was temporarily placed in a private school until his mother's lack of funds forced him to leave.

In many ways, Micah's powers are similar to those of Darth Vader and his grandson (Han and Leia's third child), Anikan, from the Star Wars Universe.