Double Vision
They saw a hero; she saw a would-be murderer.
They saw a confident, slightly mischievous smile. She saw the maliciousness just below the surface.
They saw a handsome protector, someone who was always there time and again to rid the city of ghosts. Somehow they missed the obvious; that he was a ghost too.
He was just as harmful, just as dangerous as the rest of them. More so because people trusted him, and were even comfortable around him, in some cases.
But when she looked at him, she only saw her arch nemesis, the one who would someday turn on them all and show his true, dark nature. And she knew she would be the first line of protection.
Valerie growled in her throat as she continued her kicking routine in her tiny bedroom. It wasn't right! She was sick of waiting, of worrying when the attack would come, when the pretense would fall. She knew it was just a guise he held up; knew there were battles they would fight, people she would protect, a city to save…
Sometimes she felt like it should already have happened. It was confusing, and frustrating. Today the feeling was particularly strong. It was almost like she'd blinked…and missed something really, really important.
Valerie shook her head, clearing it, and moved over to the pull-up bar.
She'd be ready; he wouldn't catch her off guard. You don't have me fooled, Phantom…
She would be prepared, even if everyone else wasn't. Especially since everyone else wasn't.
Author's Note: Valerie is awfully vengeful, and awfully good at ghost hunting right off the bat. Maybe she is helped along by an echo of an alternate future memory? Not a literal memory, almost like a soul imprint…from TUE. :)