Maya Herrera
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| Maya Herrera | |
|---|---|
 Dania Ramírez as Maya Herrera |
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| First appearance | "Four Months Later..." |
| Portrayed by | Dania Ramírez |
| Information | |
| Ability | Generates deadly disease under stress |
Maya Herrera is a fictional character in the NBC drama Heroes, portrayed by Dania Ramírez. Her first on-screen appearance was in the episode "Four Months Later...", though the character was featured earlier in the graphic novel Maya y Alejandro.
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[edit] Character overview
Maya and her twin brother Alejandro are fugitives wanted for murder. In "Four Months Later...", it is revealed she killed all the people who attended her brother's wedding (except Alejandro) with her power. This happened when Maya discovered the bride was having an affair with a former lover, and the man threatened her, causing enough stress to activate her powers. She then went in a convent in Venezuela to pray to God to help her. However, her brother found her and brought the police. Again stressed at the possibility of imprisonment, her power activated, but Alejandro, using his own power, reversed the damage and fled with her.
After discovering Chandra Suresh's book, they decided to go to New York to find him, not knowing of his death. When Alejandro was kicked out of one transport they found, it results in the death of the occupants.
In "Lizards", Maya and Alejandro make it to the Guatemala-Mexico border where they meet with Nidia, a woman who they knew in their childhood and who arranged for them to sneak across the border. While resting at Nidia's, an unnamed curandera, with the ability to sense and heal illnesses, tells Maya that she is cursed with a horrible, incurable darkness, which she says could even kill the Devil; the healer then runs away in fear. While crossing the border, Alejandro gets separated from Nidia and Maya, who both make it across. Maya accidentally uses her power on Nidia, but Alejandro comes back in time to reverse the effect. Nidia then runs away, saying that the twins are cursed, leaving the pair alone in Mexico.
In "Kindred", the twins are still on the run. Alejandro winds up arrested and imprisoned in a jail cell during an attempted car theft. Maya comes to his rescue by initiating her power and infecting everyone in the building (confirmed in Beeman's Blog[citation needed] to be the first voluntary activation of her power). Once freed, Alejandro revives those who were infected, and an American prisoner named Derek offers them a ride in exchange for helping him escape.
In "The Kindness of Strangers", Maya and Alejandro continue to travel with Derek to the United States. While traveling along a barren road they meet up with Sylar, who has collapsed from exhaustion. Sylar tells them his real name, Gabriel, and offers to help them find Chandra Suresh. After reaching a town Derek discovers Maya and Alejandro are wanted criminals and tells it to Sylar. Sylar kills him and drives off with Maya and Alejandro in the car, telling them that Derek is calling the police.
In "The Line", Sylar tries to convince Maya that her power is a gift. They discover an apparently unguarded crossing on the border and drive though. However, they are immediately surrounded by armed men demanding they exit the vehicle. Against Alejandro's protests, Sylar convinces Maya to use her ability to kill the men and escape. Maya is later excoriated by Alejandro, who says Sylar can't be trusted and that because of what she did back at the border, she really is a murderer now.
In "Truth and Consequences", Sylar provokes Maya into using her power in order to learn to control it. For the first time, Maya is able to control her ability and prevent Sylar from dying. Alejandro again warns Maya, showing her an article off the internet that says Sylar killed his mother. When confronted, Sylar skillfully plays on Maya's guilt and the pleasure she took from killing Alejandro's wife, turning her against Alejandro, successfully driving a wedge between the siblings. Alejandro privately confronts Sylar in his hotel room, determined not to let him take Maya, so Sylar kills him. When Maya knocks on the door, Sylar pretends to have gotten out of the shower and answers the door, blocking Maya's view of the room. As they talk, the two draw closer, and slowly kiss. While Maya is distracted, Sylar closes the door behind him.
In "Powerless", Maya and Sylar successfully reach Mohinder Suresh in New York. Sylar shoots Maya after she finds out the truth about him and that he killed Alejandro. She is brought back to life by Mohinder by one of the two blood samples meant for Niki Sanders. The other vial is then taken by Sylar, who uses it to regain his own powers and cure the virus.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Maya's ability creates a fast-acting and deadly illness in anyone nearby. The ability is triggered when she is stressed, but she can willingly activate her power if she wishes. Impediments such as walls or sealed vehicles don't affect the range or speed of infection.
When Maya's ability activates, her eyes turn completely black and she cries "black tears". Anyone within a certain distance of her (the range varies considerably, from an entire street full of people to the area of a small building) quickly exhibits similar symptoms and lose consciousness almost immediately, followed shortly by death. The graphic novel Maya y Alejandro shows that her victims' blood turns black.
Initially, Maya needs the help of her brother Alejandro to deactivate her power. His power also acts as a cure to the sickness she creates, as well as making him immune to its effects. However, with Sylar's help, Maya learns to accomplish this of her own accord, eliminating her dependency on Alejandro.
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