A/N: Here it is, at long last. Sorry it took so long, life has been crazy lately!

In 1966, when Laurie was just about to turn seventeen, she and her father received an invitation from a man named Nelson Gardner. According to her father and Hollis, this was the same man as Captain Metropolis, and, from the looks of his invitation, he was still very passionate about crime fighting.

So passionate, in fact, that he was trying to start a group called the Crimebusters, and had invited Laurie and her father to the first meeting. Of course, this excited her. To be in a real super hero group, just like her mother and father and Hollis had would mean that she had made it, that she was more than just a sidekick. Perhaps with someone else in charge, she would get the chance to patrol on her own.

Hollis was less than enthusiastic about the whole ordeal, and tried to talk her father out of taking her a few times. He had never really approved of her being a hero for whatever reason, and he must have sensed the independence that might come with her becoming a part of the group.

"Is that brat of yours going?" Eddie asked.

"Dan?" replied Hollis. "Well, yes, he got an invitation too, but I never encouraged him-"

"Sure, ya never encouraged him, but ya let him have your name and ya taught him some of your fightin' secrets." Laurie's father smirked at him then. "Ya say ya want this hero thing to die out, but ya never stopped Dan and ya never really tried to stop Laurie either. Can't ya let her have this?"

"We both know you don't want to go any more than I want her to go."

At that point, Laurie had interrupted. "What's he talking about, Dad? Why don't you want to?"

Her father glared at Hollis and said, "Don't listen to him. I definitely wanna go, it's just, I get busy sometimes and-"

"But we have to go!" she said, feeling her chances slip away.

"No, no, I didn't mean we wouldn't," he said. "I'm just saying, that's why he thinks I don't want to, is all. But we're goin', and that's all there is to it." Hollis sighed and Eddie smirked at him again.

Laurie had no doubt that this had more to do with her father wanting to be defiant, but she didn't care. She was going to the meeting, and that was all that really mattered.

~X~

The night of the meeting arrived and Laurie could barely contain her excitement as she and her father arrived at the mansion of Nelson Gardner. They were shown in by the older man, though Laurie had to hold back giggles. It seemed he had put on a little weight over the years and was far from the handsome Captain Metropolis she had seen in her parents' old photos.

When they entered the room where the meeting was being held, she felt her heart leap into her throat at the sight of a familiar blue glow. It had been five years since she had last seen Dr. Manhattan in person, but even still, the sight of him didn't fail to take her breath away. Sadly, she also greeted by the sight of his old girlfriend, still clinging to his arm as always.

Other than him, their was the pretty blonde man she had also seen five years ago, the one she now knew was called Ozymandias. There was Hollis' successor, the new Nite Owl, who looked so dorky in his costume that again, Laurie had to stifle a laugh. Finally, there was a man in an unusual mask, Rorschach. He had been appearing on the news more and more lately, and was allegedly seen partnering with Nite Owl on more than one occasion. Something about him creeped her out.

She and her father settled in, sitting side by side as she tried to subtly look at Dr. Manhattan. But then he turned to look at her and it was suddenly obvious that she had been staring as they made eye contact. She blushed, smiling at him to cover her embarrassment, and he smiled back, the same tranquil smile that she remembered from the benefit when she was eleven.

His girlfriend looked up then and noticed their eye contact before they could break it. She gave Laurie a glare cold enough to freeze hell over before squeezing his arm a little tighter, as if to show her dominance. His attention was turned back to her then, and Laurie rolled her eyes. Jealously never looked good on anyone.

Captain Metropolis looked around the room before clearing his throat. "Well, firstly, let me say I'm pleased to see so many of you here, very pleased. Secondly, for those who only know me as Captain Metropolis, the name's Nelson Gardner. Call me Nelson." He smiled warmly at everyone, before continuing.

"Third, uh...I guess I should welcome everybody to the first ever meeting of of the Crimebusters! Why the Crimbusters? Well, as you know, this country hasn't had an organization of masked adventurers since the Minutemen disbanded in '47. Specialized law enforcement is standing still, but crime isn't.

"New social evils emerge every day: promiscuity, drugs, campus subversion, you name it! Now, by banding together as the Crimebusters, we have the chance to do something more. Separately, we're all strong and no one would argue with that, but it just isn't enough. If we were a team, we could cover so much more ground, just as the Minutemen did!" He finished his speech then, looking proud.

"I agree," spoke up Nite Owl after a moment. "Me and Rorschach have made a lot of headway into the gang problem by pooling our efforts."

"Obviously, I agree," his partner said, "but a group this size seems more like a publicity exercise somehow. It's too big and unwieldy."

"Surely that's just an organizational problem," Ozymandias replied. "With the right person coordinating the group, I think it could be just as beneficial as Mr. Gardner says it will be."

Nelson smiled at that and said, "Well, I appreciate the compliment. I promise that I'll do my best to lead you guys."

"Well, I wasn't necessarily saying..." The younger blonde paused. "That is...I'm not sure if we should assume you're going to be the leader without putting it to a vote." An awkward silence hung in the air with that implication and Nelson looked stunned that anyone would suggest such a thing.

"Well, uh, yes, but...I just assumed that...what with me getting you all together and all..." he stammered. "I'm not sure if this group can really function to the best of its ability if I'm not the one..." He trailed off awkwardly.

"Oh, for the love of Christ," Laurie's father said and everyone, herself included, turned to look at them. "Would you two listen at yourselves? Ya sound fuckin' ridiculous. Ozy, it's no goddamn secret thatcha think you're better than the rest of us. Smartest man in the world an' all that, right?"

Laurie shrank into her seat, humiliated, as he continued. "And as for you, Nelly, you're just gettin' old and wanna go on playin' cowboys and Indians. All of ya look like idiots, alright? This whole Crimebuster shtick, it stinks."

Nelson mumbled something, looking almost as humiliated as Laurie felt, while Ozymandias said, "You're being a bit unfair, don't you think? It doesn't take a genius to see that America has problems that need tackling-"

"Damn straight, an' it takes a moron to think they're small enough for clowns like you guys to handle." He shook his head. "What's going down in the world, you got no idea. Believe me."

"I think I'm as well-informed as anyone," the younger man replied icily. "Given correct handling, none of the world's problems are insurmountable. All it takes is a little intelligence." Laurie did not miss the sarcastic emphasis on his final word.

"Which you got in spades, right?" Her father didn't miss it either, but he wasn't ready to back down at the insult. "You people are a joke. You hear Moloch's back in town and you think, 'oh boy! Let's gang up and bust him!' You think that matters? You think that solves anything?"

"Well, of course it matters," said Rorschach, attempting to join the argument.

"It don't matter squat," he said. "It don't matter because...because..." His eyes fell on his humiliated daughter then and he stopped, as if it was something he didn't want to say in front of her. "Look, it just don't matter, alright?"

No one spoke up to argue with him because he hadn't really said anything worth arguing with. Seeming satisfied, he said, "Now, if you'll excuse me, my daughter and I have more important places to be. Come on, Silk Spectre!" Cringing as all eyes turned to her, Laurie rose.

As she did, she couldn't help glancing at Dr. Manhattan again. It was hard to read his expression, but he almost seemed to look sympathetic. She gave him another smile, this one sheepish, before following her dad out of the room.

"See ya in the funny papers," he called as they left.

~X~

Laurie made it a point to not say a single word to her father the entire way home, and he seemed to be making a point not to acknowledge that. So they sat in silence and he acted like he hadn't just humiliated her and ruined everything for her, and she fantasized about how differently the meeting would have gone if she had leaped up and laid into him before he had a chance to finish a single sentence. Of course, she wasn't really strong enough to hurt him, but when she got mad enough, she was tempted to try.

When they arrived home, Hollis was waiting for them and somehow did not notice the incredibly obvious tension when they walked in the door. He smiled and said, "How was it? How's Nelson doing?"

"Probably a nervous wreck after the shit Dad pulled," Laurie snapped.

"Watch your damn mouth," was all her father said, but it was more than he would usually say- he never really minded her cursing- which meant he had to still be in a bad mood.

"What do you mean?" asked Hollis.

"Well, Dad decided to go on some big spiel about how stupid the whole idea was and insult Captain Metropolis and pick a fight with Ozymandias and embarrass me in front of everyone and ruin everything!" she shouted.

"Eddie, is all of that true?"

"More or less," he said with a shrug. "Couldn't help it, Hollis. I tried to keep it cool, I really did, but I couldn't handle hearin' their bullshit anymore. I mean, you understand how pointless it is, right?"

Before Hollis could respond, Laurie had turned on him, "You did this, didn't you? You didn't want me and Dad doing this so much that you convinced him! You guys planned to ruin everything for me!" Both started to protest, but she cut them off. "Of course you'd choose now to start getting along. Gotta say, it's low for both of you."

She stormed out of the room then, but stopped and turned back to tell them one more thing. "Oh, and by the way. I don't care how much you guys don't want me to be a hero or whatever, I'm not stopping. In fact, I'm going to be working on my own from now on, so good luck stopping me! Sorry, Dad, but you just lost yourself a sidekick."

Neither of them tried to say anything more to her.

A/N: Next chapter is the last, but not forever, I hope. It'll round out this story, but I hope to revisit this universe, because I feel like there's more to touch on, like Dan's feelings for her, how her relationship with Jon might be different, how she might eventually find out the true nature of Eddie and Sally's relationship...but for now, I'm ending it next chapter!