Micah Sanders

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Micah Sanders
Micah Sanders, as seen in a promotional image.
Portrayed by	Noah Gray-Cabey
First appearance	Genesis
Information
Ability	Technopathy
Gender	Male
Age	10
Parents	Niki Sanders (mother), D.L. Hawkins (father)
Relatives	Jessica Sanders (maternal aunt, deceased), Hal Sanders (maternal grandfather), Paulette Hawkins (paternal grandmother)

Micah Sanders is a fictional character on the NBC television series Heroes, portrayed by Noah Gray-Cabey. Micah is the son of Niki Sanders and D.L. Hawkins. He is a ten-year-old child prodigy, capable of rebuilding the motherboard of a disassembled computer.

Contents 1 Character history 1.1 Beginnings 1.2 On the road with D.L. 1.3 Back at home 2 Powers and abilities 3 Interests 4 References

[edit] Character history

[edit] Beginnings

About six months before most of the series' events, or around April 24, 2006, 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.

[edit] On the road with D.L.

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 in 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.

[edit] 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." It's unclear how D.L. responded to this.

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.

A preview for the upcoming nineteenth episode, "0.7%", briefly shows Jessica happily introducing Micah to Linderman himself.

[edit] Powers and abilities

Micah's power is a technopathic ability enabling him to "communicate with machines and electronics."^[1] His power seems to require physical contact with the device and a certain level of concentration.

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. Also, in the graphic novel "Bully", Micah uses his powers to trace a picture making fun of his mother to a bully. Micah then gets chased to a junkyard by the bully and another kid. Using his powers yet again, Micah makes a giant electric devil talk to the bullies and scares them away.

Also Micah has an advanced intellect beyond most children his age. 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.

[edit] Interests

In "Parasite", Micah can be see playing a game on the Playstation 3 with his mother. The game they were playing was Heavenly Sword, in which a powerful heroine must hack her way through waves of enemies.

[edit] References

Heroes characters v • d • e
Main characters
Mr. Bennet • Claire Bennet • Simone Deveaux • D.L. Hawkins • Isaac Mendez • Hiro Nakamura • Matt Parkman • Nathan Petrelli • Peter Petrelli • Micah Sanders • Niki Sanders • Mohinder Suresh
Other characters
Claude • Hana Gitelman • The Haitian • Ando Masahashi  • Eden McCain • Ted Sprague • Sylar