Ch. 11

Laurie looked down at herself and fumed.

Things had been looking up for her. For months she and Rorschach had been trailing Moloch, tidying up the messes he made. They even took down a crime syndicate. Unrelated, but a great victory, nonetheless. They had started to make a name for themselves. Rorschach seemed to have accepted the fact that he was going to be in the papers whether he liked it or not. He seemed to be getting increasingly receptive to any suggestions she made to him. Laurie, who had been curious about why uncle Nelly -- Captain Metropolis -- had contacted Ozymandias first and not her had finally run into him. He had been incredibly excited about his upcoming plans to gather up the "Crimebusters" for his proposal. Her mother, who had taken a keen interest in all of Laurie's exploits, had jumped at the chance.

"But mother, I would look ridiculous going in there dressed like that," Laurie had told her mother.

"Honey, it's just for one day. I think it would be quaint if you could put on this costume," had been her reply.

"Quaint" was not the word Laurie had for what her mother had made for her. It was an updated version of Sally's old Silk Spectre dress. What she gave Laurie made the original outfit look modest in comparison. Laurie was disgusted to say the least.

"Why would I dress up as Silk Spectre II if I'm not Silk Spectre II?" asked Laurie, exasperated.

"It's for old time's sake, Laurie, honestly what's gotten into you?"

That little disagreement had quickly turned into a full blown argument. At first, her mother had turned on the waterworks, making Laurie feel guilty for not being a good daughter and putting on what was practically lingerie. Then her mother had become angry and forceful. She threatened to ground her daughter so she would miss the meeting if she didn't go in the suit. Laurie almost decided to stay inside, but the meeting was too important to her. She knew Rorschach wanted to go, just for curiosity's sake, and he wasn't going to be happy in there by himself with Ozymandias and Nite Owl II chumming it up in the room. Finally, Laurie had agreed to her mother's demands, figuring that she would somehow sneak her normal costume on when she was outside.

Her mother had made sure that did not happen. She had hired a limousine just to drive Laurie to the meeting personally. Another insult to this whole situation. Not only was Laurie going to wear these skimpy clothes, her mother was driving her to the meeting as if she was a kid on her first day of school.

Laurie was quite upset by now. How was anybody going to take her seriously in this outfit? She kept trying to pull down what she could to cover her lower half but found nothing to pull down and sighed, embarrassed. She could just imagine Mr. Perfect and Mr. Brilliant (Ozymandias and Nite Owl II) staring at her in incomprehension. Oh God, Rorschach -- he was going to have a seizure, probably. She had already been given an earful by her mother and she wasn't dying for another from Rorschach, either. She just couldn't imagine things getting worse.

"All right Laurie, here we are," said her mother, looking nearly deranged in her chipper mood, especially compared to that morning's dramatics. "Go break a leg, sweetie."

Laurie got out of the car and wished she would break her legs -- then nobody would be paying attention to what she was wearing. Her mother drove away. Laurie didn't even bother to double check if she was going into the right building. She just started walking up the steps that happened to be in front of her. Suddenly, there was a blur and she almost toppled backwards as Rorschach hung over her like some sort of twisted scarecrow.

"What are you wearing?" he asked. The way he said it sounded as if he had found her eating human remains and was asking her what she was eating.

"Underwear!" she shouted at him, face turning scarlet. Usually he would have been taken aback by an outburst like this; she knew him well enough to expect that. But no, he was angry, she could tell. His mask was darker than it normally was. Well, she was angry too.

"I cannot believe it," he said, voice turning low, shifting in tone as if to match the patterns on his mask. "Do you even realize..."

"How much like a prostitute I look?"

There, she had said it for him. Laurie wanted to cry. This was humiliating.

"No," he flinched, as if stung. Then he added, "But it is utterly inappropriate."

"Yes, I know." She looked away. "I'm sorry."

He cocked his head, obviously surprised.

"My mother made me wear it," she told him bitterly. "But I'm not going to wear it again, you hear me? So stop looking at me like I'm something rotten and give me a break!"

Laurie gestured wildly with her arm in her anger. Her arm swung out behind her and connected with something, hard.

"Fuck!"

Laurie turned, startled. The Comedian was behind her. He had been, in mid-climb, standing on a lower step and her on a higher one. At this height she had managed to hit him in the face. The Comedian looked impossibly angry, his eyes smoldering with an unfathomable rage that frightened Laurie. For a moment she was afraid that he would kill her. Rorschach came down the steps and was suddenly between them as if to shield her. The Comedian moved his attention to him and his anger melted away only to be replaced by a bright smile.

"Why, if it isn't the fourteen year olds!" he laughed. Then he turned to Laurie. "I didn't recognize you in that thing you're wearing."

"I'm really sorry about that," said Laurie. She was relieved that he no longer looked like he was emanating murder and felt silly for thinking he would be angry enough to hurt her.

"Nah, it's all right." He lit up a cigar and began to puff away. "Say, whatever happened to--"

"Laurie!"

Laurie jumped at the unexpected sound of her mother's voice. She was even more startled by the expression on her mother's face.

"Hi, Sal," said the Comedian, looking just as startled as she felt. "Long time no see."

"Not long enough in my book, Eddie," said Sally. "Laurel Jane, you come over here right now."

Laurie held out her hands to first the Comedian, then to Rorschach. Flabbergasted, she couldn't even apologize to them for her mother's strange behavior. Sally didn't seem to like how long she was taking -- she grabbed Laurie by the arm and practically pulled her down the stairs.

"Are there no depths you won't sink to?" Sally said, turning to the Comedian. Her finger was in his face and he looked at it, making his eyes go cross-eyed in the process.

"What the hell are you talking about, Sally?" he asked.

"You know what I'm talking about, Edward." Sally wiped at her eyes. "Stop acting like you don't know."

The Comedian looked at Sally, then at Laurie. A look of disbelief passed over his features and suddenly he was staring at Laurie with eyes that were glimmering with a recognition she didn't understand.

"You stay away from her," said her mother in a voice she had never heard her use. Then she was grabbed roughly away from the building, into the street, then to the limousine.

"Mom, what--" Laurie was shoved inside, her mother slamming the door behind her. Sally got into the driver's seat and began to drive very quickly away from the building.

Laurie looked back. The Comedian was still standing there, cigar forgotten in the corner of his mouth. Rorschach looked like he hadn't moved since he had first stepped between her and the Comedian.

"Mother, what was that about?" asked Laurie. Suddenly she felt very angry. First this costume, then her mother was acting crazy in front of the people she needed to work with. Her mother had caused an unbelievable spectacle before she had taken her away from them.

Laurie's mother broke down and started to sob, frightening Laurie. She had never cried like that in front of her before, not even when Laurence had left her. Sally pulled the limousine to the side of the road and continued to wail bitterly, as if someone dear to her had just died. Laurie was in shock.

"Mom, I..."

"Oh Laurie, if only you knew..."

Her mother began to tell her things between her sobs and Laurie felt compelled to listen. Her mother told her of her life. She had had a bad life. Laurie always thought her mother was hard on her, but it seemed her grandmother was worse to her mother. Sally spoke of poverty, how difficult it was at the beginning, how she found solace in her one dream: to become famous for something she thought was all she had -- her looks. She spoke of the Minutemen, the scandals, the hardships, and above all of Edward Blake, the Comedian. Laurie didn't understand the things her mother was telling her. Sally told her in jumbled words of his brutality, of the sick things he was capable of, but she didn't actually go into detail, only painting images in Laurie's mind that seemed too outlandish to be true. She told her how he had done something terrible. One last bad thing -- something so bad he had to be kicked out of the Minutemen.

Laurie felt awful.

"But mother, why didn't you ever tell me?" she asked, finally. "I've talked to him before. I never knew."

"Oh, Laurie -- it'd been so long, I just... I didn't think you would ever meet him."

Laurie nodded. She looked ahead of her, unable to look her mother in her blurry eyes. She looked at street and the people walking by. They made no notice of the limousine parked at an angle with the young girl and her mother with the tear-stained face. Laurie felt that familiar old feeling creeping up on her again -- the one that made her want to run away and far.

"Mom..." said Laurie slowly, afraid she would upset her mother. "If the Comedian is so bad... why did uncle Nelly invite him to this meeting?"

Sally wiped her eyes and sniffed.

"Well, Nelson can have... strange opinions. His judgment can be a little off at times."

Laurie nodded again.

"I'm sorry mom. I really am."

"Oh, I'm sorry too, darling. I'm sorry for putting you through this. Heavens knows what made me think it was a good idea to make you wear that outfit."

"It's okay."

"No, I'm really sorry, Laurie." Sally leaned in and kissed her forehead. Then she hugged her. "You can wear whatever you want and do whatever you want. I just want you to be safe, that's all."

Laurie nodded, hugging her mother close to her.

"I love you sweetheart," her mother whispered.

"I love you too, mom," said Laurie. She felt like crying herself.

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To be continued...