Maya Herrera
Maya
Portrayed By Dania Ramirez
Sex Female
Status Unregistered Evolved
Ability Poison Emission
Date of Birth 11/11/1979
Date of Death N/A
Occupation Fugitive
Family Alejandro Herrera (twin brother)
Significant Other(s) N/A
First Appearance God Touch
Last Appearance N/A

When she cries, at night
And she doesn't think that I can hear her
She tries, to hide all the fear she feels inside
So I pray this time
I can be the man that she deserves
'Cause I die a little each time
When she cries

When She Cries, Restless Heart


Character History

Maya Herrera was born November 11th, 1979 in Santo Domingo de Guzman, the capital of the Dominican Republic. She was the younger child…by a matter of minutes, having been born just a few minutes after her fraternal twin brother Alejandro. Her childhood was normal and happy; she grew up secure if not well-off, and loved by her family and her brother. Indeed, had it not been for fate deciding to throw her a genetic wild-card, it would be likely that she would never left her home country, content simply to live out her life there.

The events of the Bomb really had no impact on Maya, at least not beyond being a terrible news story. Santo Domingo is a long way from New York, and she had no friends that were in New York at the time of the explosion. While it was on all the news programs for the first week or two afterwards, it soon faded from coverage in Santo Domingo, and it was back to life as usual.

It would be several months later…just before the public revelation of the Evolved, in fact…before Maya's life took a jarring trip off the rails from her normal, happy existence. It was during the wedding of her brother Alejandro. Maya was troubled enough by the wedding; she felt that four months was far too short a courtship for her brother. It had caused some arguments and tensions between the twins, but in the end, Maya was still there for the wedding, to support her brother. The only problem was that it wasn't that simple.

After the ceremony, Maya stumbled upon her sister-in-law, Gloria, kissing and making out with her ex-boyfriend in secret. The outraged Maya began a tirade against Gloria that was cut off all too quickly by the violent response of Gloria's ex, Gilberto. He pinned Maya up to the door and threatened her, and when she refused to cower before his threats, he began to throttle her. It was in that moment that Maya's Evolved talent manifested. Her eyes went black, black tears flowing from them, and both Gilberto and Gloria collapse. Confused, Maya catches sight of herself in a mirror, shocked and surprised by her black eyes. She fled the scene, only to find a horror scene outside; all the wedding guests lying on the ground dead, with the same black eyes. The only other survivor is Alejandro. Panicked and feeling cursed by God, Maya flees. She leaves Santo Domingo, going to Venezuela and joining a convent there, hoping that a life in service to God might be salvation for her sin.

Once again, the story doesn't end there. Alejandro is persistent, and manages to track his sister down, though it takes several months to do so. He's mistakenly convinced that Maya is behind the killings at the wedding (well, she is…just not in the way he thinks), and he turns her over to the police. Unfortunately, the stress causes Maya's power to activate again, and nearly kills the police officer. It's only while the officer is dying (and Maya is, understandably, freaking out), that Alejandro embraces his sister and proves to have the ability to in some way negate her lethal power. The policeman begins to recover, and realizing that what happened was not Maya's fault, Alejandro flees with her…but now both twins are wanted by the police.

Don't make me cry.

At a loss for what to do, Alejandro thinks they should relocate and lie low. But Maya, having heard about the revelation of the Evolved in New York, thinks that may be their answer. A little research turns up Chandra Suresh's book, and she decides that if she can get to New York, she might be able to be cured by Dr. Suresh, to remove her lethal power and let her return to a normal life. After some argument with Alejandro, they agree to try and make their way to the United States…a task that will be made more difficult by the fact they are both wanted criminals now.

The trip is not a smooth one. The twins manage to negotiate with a man who drives people near to the American border. Unfortunately, the drivers decide that Maya is pretty enough to be worth some "special attention". Alejandro tries to defend his sister, and ends up pistol-whipped and unconscious for his trouble. When he wakes and catches up to them, everyone in the truck except Maya is dead, the result of her power activating again.

Though it's difficult, the twins manage to make it to the border. But crossing it is another story; difficult and dangerous. They feel out in the area, looking for people who handle border crossings, and discover someone willing to bring them across, in exchange for the very last of their money. Unfortunately, the people in question have an arrangement with John Logan, an American-based criminal and pimp, who had a business arrangement with them, and who pays them handsome commissions to find and separate attractive women so that he can continue to fill his stable for the brothel. When the arrangement is made for the crossing, both Maya and Alejandro are drugged and rendered unconscious. Both are put on a plane, and when they wake up, it's in New York, already in the hands of Logan and his men.

Logan decides to ship Alejandro off to James Muldoon for his fighting ring, and use Maya for his brothel. His own ability of biochemical manipulation helps him to both shut down Maya's power before she can use it, and to manipulate her mood to make her pliable enough to do it. She spends several months there, during which time she meets several people, though perhaps none as relevant as the few who help to save her life with the facility is burned to the ground. Maya is rescued, but in the confusion, has no clues to find Alejandro.

Now, she is in the United States. She's discovered that Chandra Suresh is dead. She has no idea where her brother is…or even if he survived the conflagration. Her power remains a threat to anyone around her should she become agitated. She has no legal paperwork, no identity, no job, and remains a fugitive from justice, wanted for murder in her home country.

Not a good time to be Maya Herrera. She can only hope and pray that God will see fit to lighten his punishment for her sins, though she fears she may be damned forever.


Evolved Human Ability

Maya's Evolved ability is the ability to biologically generate a powerful airborne toxin. The toxin is carried through the air, and is 100% lethal to those exposed, though it breaks down quickly; once Maya is no longer actively producing the poison, the area is safe within seconds. The toxin has immediate effects on the nervous system of those affected. They lose muscular control, collapsing and helpless almost instantly. Within moments more, their heart ceases to beat and their nervous system begins to shut down.

Weeping woman.

Maya's ability is one of the most potentially lethal Evolved abilities yet seen. It kills very quickly, to anyone exposed, and can affect a large area; Maya's initial manifestation killed every living thing within the area of a long street. She is in many ways a walking, talking weapon of mass destruction.

The manifestation of Maya's power is marked by the fluids of her eyes turning black. This makes her entire eye (pupil, iris, white) appear a uniform, liquidy black, and the tears she sheds are just as black, looking like droplets of ink running down her face. Those affected by the poison display similar symptoms…their eyes go black as well.

Maya's power thus far has affected everyone except herself and her brother Alejandro, once it is activated. However, any character who had an innate immunity to poison would probably be safe as well. A regenerator (like Claire Bennet or Adam Monroe) would die from the exposure, but revive once Maya was no longer actively producing poison in their area. The toxin is airborne, but not necessarily respiratory; it can affect people by permeating the skin just as well. It would take fully airtight protection, like an NBC/Hazmat suit, to remain unaffected by the poison.

Maya is also capable of producing an antidote to this toxin in the same fashion. Her eyes return to normal color, and the antidote is released around her in the same way the toxin is. Anyone affected who has not yet perished will recover within moments. Those dead will of course remain dead, though it is possible they could be revived medically if in the presence of the antidote (this would obviously have to happen before brain-death from oxygen deprivation).

The problem is, Maya has very poor control over her power at this time. Her power will activate in times of extreme emotional agitation…basically, anything that would cause an adrenaline surge in a normal person is likely to trigger her power. As for the antidote, THAT requires intense focus, and at this point, Maya isn't even sure she can do it. (She CAN, she just doesn't know she can.) But even if she were aware, the fact remains that her power is on a hair-trigger…very easy to turn on and very hard to turn off. Not a good situation.


Personality

Maya is a woman who wants more than anything to get back to her normal life. Nothing would make her happier than waking up tomorrow to find her Evolved power gone. Preferably with a side of "not being wanted for murder anymore." If that were to happen, she'd almost certainly move back to Santo Domingo, get a job, and go back to being Jane Everywoman again.

Unfortunately, that's not likely to happen, and it's more of a problem because one of the cornerstones of her personality is her passion. Maya does almost nothing halfway, and she's very emotional. When she's happy, she's ecstatic. When she's angry, she's furious. The result, unfortunately, tends to mean that her moods trip her powers; her fight-or-flight reaction tends to be strong, and nastily lethal for the people around her. It's part of what has her in such an overall miserable state; she feels grief and sadness just as strongly as she does any other emotion.

If passion is one cornerstone of her psyche, faith is another. Maya is devoutly religious, Roman Catholic. Unfortunately, she feels that she's cursed by God, and damned for it. She's killed…not just once, but many, many times over. She's lain in sin due to the events at Logan's. She's lied. She's stolen. She knows that the Bible says that God will forgive any sin, but she doesn't know if she believes it in her heart. She prays every day that He will take mercy on her and lift her curse, and let her make penance for her many sins.

Faith, Passion, Normality…and now it's over to the fourth corner, which is Devotion. A little different from faith, though she has that, but this is to her friends and family. They occupy a place right alongside God…she'd be hard-pressed to choose between her faith and her brother. Even when she disagrees with him, there's nothing she wouldn't do for Alejandro, and she feels responsible for everything that's happened to him. He'd be married if not for her. He'd still be at home, living a normal legal life if not for her. Now he's missing, maybe dead, and it's still all because of her. (Why, yes, she is good at self-recrimination, why do you ask?). Friends are one step down from that, though it's not a very long step. Only the fact that she doesn't HAVE many friends here keeps it from being a bigger factor.


Skills

Bilingual: Maya speaks Spanish natively, being born and raised in the Dominican Republic. However, she's also fluent with English. She retains a fairly strong accent, but she has no problem making herself understood or understanding others. She learned her English in the school system, but her time at Logan's has filled out her understanding of…less formal vocabulary as well.

Office Professional: Before her Evolved talent manifested, Maya worked in an office, as an administrative assistant. She's organized, professional, good with a computer, and skilled with office equipment. It would be easy for her to get a job in this field…well, if it weren't for the whole "wanted for murder and illegal immigrant" thing.

Cooking: Maya's a skilled cook, most especially in the cuisine of her homeland. Mofongo, chulitos, mondongo and more. It's not so spicy as what most people are familiar with as "Mexican cuisine" (since it ISN'T), though it would still be seen as somewhat exotic to most American palates.

Street Survival: Ever since her talent manifested, Maya has more or less had to live under the radar. While she'd rather NOT have this skill, she's getting pretty good at finding criminal elements, unofficial ways of getting things done, and the seemier underside of society. The lack of official means to get a job and her time on Staten Island have only helped to emphasize this.

Athletics: One thing about living on the run. You either get good or you get caught. Maya hasn't gotten caught yet. She's good at running, climbing/jumping over fences, dodging between crowds, and generally not getting caught by the police. This doesn't equate to a skill in fighting; she's pretty useless in hand-to-hand combat. But she's good at not getting caught.


Timeline:

When Where What Who
1st Interesting Night The Dagger burns to the ground, and Maya is saved by Bebe. Abby, Bebe, Cardinal, Deckard, Ghost, Eloni, Logan, Megan, Mu-Qian, Pearl
25th Never Going Back Meredith offers Maya information, and hope of finding her brother. Meredith
26th No Guarantees Maya follows up on the lead Meredith gave. Hope is found, and people met. Brian, Cat, Claire, Elisabeth

Relationships:

Do anything for your family. Anything at all.

alejandro_icon.gif Her brother, her twin, her sole link to her prior life, and the one person who can pull the fuse and disarm the walking, talking, Maya-WMD. He came for her when she was in the convent, and even when he found out that she's been cursed by God, he's been there at her side. To Maya, her brother is all things good. They don't always agree, of course…they are siblings and they have their squabbles. But ultimately she would do anything for him. She feels a guilt here that she's not sure she'll ever be able to get past…it's her fault that her brother's wife is dead, and it's her fault that he's a fugitive. All the bad things that have happened to him since they left home can be laid at her door. He forgives her, but she hasn't forgiven herself.

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