OVERVIEW

Nico is the unofficial leader of the Runaways. She's definitely not afraid to speak her mind and is rarely afraid. Her unofficial motto is "Try not to die". She took over leadership after Alex Wilder betrayed the group and was killed by the Gibborim. In vol. 2, She convinced the team to fight crime to make up for their parents misdeeds. Despite her Goth apearance and use of black magic, she is somewhat religious (a "former altar girl"), quotes the Bible and has high morals.

When Gert's future self arrived in their time to warn the Runaways about Victor Mancha, she agreed with Gert that he shouldn't be killed. Nico was devastated when Karolina left to be wed to Xavin in order to unite their warring planets. Just when she thought her life couldn't get more complicated, a new version of the Pride appeared, led by a version of Geoffrey Wilder summoned from the 1980's. Wilder attempted to resurrect his dead family by using Molly as bait in order to lure Nico to the Gibborim to be sacrificed. Although they are able to defeat Wilder and the new Pride with the return of Karolina and Xavin, Gert is killed while attempting to save Chase from being sacrificed instead of Nico. This event greatly distresses her and she begins a physical relationship with with Victor Mancha in order to help her cope with Gert's death.

During the Civil War, she and Patriot got their teams to work together because both teams' teammates had been captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. She also showed a romantic interest in Patriot during this arc. She, along with her team are currently stuck in 1905 New York City thanks to a faulty time-machine, and have been thrust into the middle of a superhuman gang war. During this time, Nico has been kidnapped and tortured by a woman known as the "Witchbreaker", in truth Nico's great-grandmother. Despising her descendant for her supposed frailities, the Witchbreaker has inflicted increasingly painful tortures upon the Runaway in order to strengthen her, and allow her to wield the Staff of One to greater effect.

Nico will also appear alongside the other Runaways in the upcoming Secret Invasion: Young Avengers/Runaways arc, as the two teams work together to resist the ongoing Skrull onslaught, and in the upcoming third volume of Runaways.

POWERS and ABILITIES

She possesses the Staff of One, a mystical artifact that allows her to cast amazing spells. However, a specific spell effect or manifestation can only be invoked once. Attempting to evoke the same effect results in random, often useless, effects. Being untrained in magic, Nico must verbalize the desired effect (directly or indirectly) using normal language. Nico mentioned wanting to expand her vocabulary to increase her versatility with the Staff. The potential power of the Staff is such that it could make even Dormammu afraid (according to Nico's parents), which implies that Nico is only scratching the surface of what the Staff is truly capable of.

Nico must shed her own blood, in ways such as cutting herself, in order to manifest the Staff of One, which emerges from her chest after invoking the words "When blood is shed, let the Staff of One emerge." Once she forced Old Lace to bite her in order to conjure up the Staff. When Nico has her period, she does not have to cut herself. The Staff Of One is reabsorbed into Nico's body after prolonged use.

She has occasionally used minor magic, such as conjuring a small image, without using the staff.