After being warned of a future threat named Victor Mancha, Nico and the runaways find and abduct Victor to question him. The second volume of Runaways finds Nico taking the leadership position with ease, proving that she has the intelligence and courage to make difficult decisions. Laveau takes it and flees, while Nico accepts her place as an outcast and with the runaways. Nico attempts to bring back Alex Wilder using the Mirror, however the spell fails, the Mirror shatters and the last page of the Darkhold is revealed behind the glass. After Laveau explains that she needs Nico's blood to activate the Black Mirror, the two fight, and Nico easily wins. She is soon talked into going to a nightclub with her friends, where she meets her parents' old rival Marie Laveau Laveau seeks revenge on Nico's parents for stealing the Black Mirror, one of the four Cornerstones of Creation. The story begins with Nico dressed in plain clothing, stating that it's perhaps time to let go of the goth trend. 1 #17 and #18, during Nico's brief time at Father Flanagan's Home for Unwanted Goth Kids. The 2007 magic-related crossover event Mystic Arcana fills the gap between Runaways vol. However, the group organizes a mass escape from their homes to begin life as full-time vigilantes Nico is generally accepted as de facto team leader. She refuses Alex's offer and helps usher her friends to safety as the Gibborim slaughter Alex and the Pride soon afterwards, the gang is apprehended by Captain America and split among different foster homes Nico is sent to Father Flanagan's Home for Unwanted Goth Kids. However, Nico proves her loyalty to the runaways when Alex betrays the group and offers her a seat in the new world promised by the Pride's Biblical benefactors, the Gibborim.

This pattern of clinging to people during stressful and/or intense situations follows Nico throughout the entire first volume and continues into the second volume.

She impulsively agrees to date Alex after he saves her from a vampire attack some time later. She expresses feelings for Alex Wilder during their original getaway, but is hesitant to start a romance. She runs away from home with the other five kids and begins a life in hiding at Chase’s dilapidated mansion hideout called “the Hostel.” In an altercation with her parents, Nico accidentally acquires her mother’s Staff of One and quickly begins to tap her abilities as a sorceress.

During their parents' annual 'fundraiser,' Nico and her friends Alex Wilder, Chase Stein, Karolina Dean, Gertrude Yorkes, and Molly Hayes discover that their parents are members of an archetypal supervillain cabal called The Pride Nico's parents are the dark magicians of the crime ring.

Runaways volume one