Over the next few months, Alyssa resumed her identity of Nightshade and was updated with everything she'd missed. Dick told her all about the inevitable alien invasion they had to deal with and Alyssa was more than ready to help. She'd been introduced to the rest of the Team members, and had grown especially close to Artemis, Barbara, Wally, Tim, Jaime, and Bart.

Dick would take Alyssa on double dates with Artemis and Wally, and they all became like family. And everything seemed good.

And then the invasion began. Aqualad suddenly disappeared and word spread that he had betrayed the Team after finding out that Black Manta was his father. Then came the worst news.

Alyssa and Tim were in the Cave training. Nightwing had taken a squad made up of Superboy, Miss Martian, Lagoon Boy, and Artemis to protect a rocket scheduled to launch to Mars. They'd been gone most of night. Tim was about to lose to Alyssa when the Zeta tubes lit up. They turned to look and saw Miss Martian and Superboy. Alyssa went to greet them.

"Hey Connor. Hey M'gann." She looked behind them. "Where's everyone else?"

M'gann's eyes filled up with tears. Alyssa's smile vanished. "What happened?"

"Aqualad was there," Connor began. "He kidnapped Lagaan...and he killed Artemis."

Alyssa felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. All the air left her body. "Wha-what? That can't be true."

M'gann started crying and walked into the Cave's kick-it (a room full of couches) room and sits down. Alyssa, Connor, and Tim followed her.

"Where's Nightwing?" Alyssa asked with worry.

Connor sighed. "He went to tell Wally."

This hurt Alyssa even more. She dropped to her knees and let her own tears flow from her eyes. Her best friend, no, her sister, was dead. Tim put his arm around her to comfort her. Alyssa gets up and heads for the Zeta tube.

"Alyssa? Where are you going?" Connor asked.

"I need to go home. I'll see you all later." The Zeta tube lit up and seconds later, Alyssa was back in Bludhaven. She shoved her hands in her pockets and walked home to her apartment. Since she'd come back, the universe had been fair to her. Right now, it looked like it would no longer play fair.

She made her way up to the apartment and plopped down on her bed. She buried her face in the pillow. About an hour later, she heard the front door open and close.

"Alyssa?" Dick called out. She lifted her head and saw him poke his head in through her doorway. Dick walked in and sat down next to her. He put his hand on her back. "Babe, are you ok?"

Alyssa put her head back on her pillow. "Connor told us what happened," she said quietly.

Dick sighed. He bowed his head. "It's my fault. If I hadn't been so clumsy, Artemis would still be alive."

"How did Wally take it?"

"Not well. He's not happy with me. And I can understand why. It's my fault he lost the girl he loved."

Alyssa sat up and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her back. "I'm so sorry I didn't do more," he said.

"Dick, you don't have to blame yourself."

Dick's voice dropped to a whisper. "Except I do."