Heroes Episode 1.06 Better Halves

Over the phone, Peter instructs Hiro to "save the cheerleader, save the world" and to meet with him and Isaac in New York. Hanging up, Peter turns his attention to a missing painting and insists that he and Isaac contact Simone to track it down as it may contain a clue to the cheerleader's whereabouts.

Claire's father brings his daughter the news that he's found her birth parents. Though in shock, Claire says she's ready to meet them.

Niki snaps awake in a state of confusion. She looks around her house to discover her husband D.L. standing behind her. D.L. explains what happened: with the $2 million he stole from Linderman, he planned on leaving Vegas with his family, but an unknown woman killed his crew, framed him for the murders, and made off with the money.

While preparing to leave Las Vegas, Hiro and Ando are stopped by the high roller they cheated. The gambler feels that Hiro owes him a little favor.

Claire's birth parents arrive at her house, but it's not the moment that Claire expected it to be. Claire stares at them in awkward, uncomfortable silence, and when they do talk, their answers to her questions are stilted and halting. More disconcerting, Claire's questions about anything "weird" or "out of the ordinary" that she should know about herself are met with nothing beyond the natural realm.

An angry Niki tells D.L. that he can stay on the couch for the night but has to leave in the morning. It doesn't take long for Niki to go back on this and she soon invites her husband into her bed. In the morning, D.L. comments that he heard Niki get up in the middle of the night, but she doesn't remember. And as she looks at her reflection in the mirror, a different person looks back at her. She is interrupted when Micah comes bounding in, surprised to find his dad has come home.

At a private poker game, Ando plays cards for the high roller while Hiro stops time and switches cards for better hands. When Ando notices that the other players have guns, he excuses himself to the bathroom. From the bathroom, Ando and Hiro hear screams and shots fired — someone is dead on the other side of the door. Hiro and Ando make a bid for safety from the bathroom window.

Eden watches as Suresh packs a bag to take home with him to India. Eden tries to call Suresh's bluff by giving him a heated kiss, but he finishes packing and leaves, anyway.

D.L. asks Niki for a ride into town because he wants her by his side when he tracks down the woman who set him up. D.L. takes Niki to the lair of some men who used to do work for Linderman. When they get there, they step into the scene of a bloody slaughter — they're the same men whom Hiro and Ando played cards with.

Claire's father spies on Claire with her birth parents, but he is interrupted by a call from Eden, who tells him that Suresh has made up his mind and is returning to India. Eden informs him that there is no evidence that Peter can fly, but that a man who can stop time says to "save the cheerleader." Their conversation ends with him ordering to bring in the "precog."

Niki tells D.L. that she has seen a similar slaughter scene... in her garage. As she breaks into tears, she tells D.L. what happened with Linderman's goons on that terrible day. D.L. assures her that someone must be setting her up to make sure that he can never clear his name.

Niki feels that she's going insane. She loses whole stretches of time and can't remember where they've gone. Alone in her bedroom, her alter ego finally speaks to her, revealing that she is the one who killed D.L.'s crew, took the $2 million, and murdered the thugs in the poker game. She tells Niki that they need to retrieve the money and take Micah away before D.L. gets him first.

Isaac discovers a strange symbol in one of his paintings when there's a knock at his door. It's Eden claiming to be an admirer of his work.

Hiro tortures himself for not saving the men at the poker game. "Maybe I'm not the hero I thought I was," he tells Ando. Ando suggests that if he masters his powers, then maybe he can go back in time one day and fix what happened.

Claire admits to her mom that meeting her "bio parents" wasn't what she was hoping for. Sandra compliments her husband for tracking them down, explaining that when Claire was a baby, they thought she had some kind of disease and they wanted to screen her birth parents, but could never find them.

In the rafters of her own house, Niki discovers a briefcase filled with cash. She jumps down into her bedroom to come face to face with D.L., who immediately realizes that Niki was the one who set him up. She explains about her alter ego, but he doesn't believe her. When he threatens to take Micah and leave, she punches him hard, sending him flying across the room and smashing into a wall.

When Niki turns around after shooing Micah away, D.L. seems to be gone, but then he steps through the wall to attack her. He thrusts his hand through her body, reaching out and up to choke her to death as Micah stumbles onto the scene. Niki falls over, apparently dead, as D.L. bundles up his son and takes off once more to a fugitive's life.