Chapter 992: Leviathan Killer Parade

The parade was... Surprisingly not too casual but also not too formal either.

Well... I was honestly hoping it would just be a simple thing where they just announce to the station that I was the one who dealt with the Leviathan and then everyone could just go back to their daily lives.

Well... I should have known they were going to make a spectacle out of it instead... That’s why they had this entire parade and everything...

The good thing was that they were fine with just parading me around and not shining any spotlight on my girls, which they were completely fine with.

After all... One of them is an escaped military experiment, one is a runaway noble, one is an ex-military and former Pirate Lord, one is an eldritch entity, one has had her fair share of attention to the point of finding it exhausting and then there’s Ries and Lea who didn’t really care about being known.

As for me, I was glad to keep them out of the spotlight not because of jealousy but because I know the added attention would be incredibly annoying for them and would hinder their movements and freedom if they were recognised wherever they go.

I’m happy to bear the brunt of it in their stead, especially after what they had told me will eventually happen with my Psionic abilities.

The parade... If you could even call it that... Involved me sitting on top of some hover car which drove around the main streets of the city.

I noted that the route of the parade only moved through the more... Affluent... Part of the station before it would end in front of the administration tower where I would be honoured by the Chief of Security and a representative from the Mercenary Guild.

Apparently, the role to honour me was supposed to fall on the Station’s overseer but the guy was still on his way back here after having ran away at the first sign of the Leviathan so Justin took over in his stead.

Ironically, this would be a big insult to the station overseer because anyone who didn’t know the station overseer ran away would see it as the overseer disrespecting me and the station residents for not even bothering to take the time to thank me himself for saving the station.

And those who knew that he ran away would also know that his subordinates do not respect him either since they have deliberately chosen to hold this parade while he was still absent.

Because if the overseer had taken the effort to organise the evacuation of the station and was away because of that, I’m sure they would have gone ahead to wait for him to return before holding this parade instead of organising it without him.

I wholeheartedly support this message so I played along with their plan.

It was still embarrassing to sit on top of the car and wave at the crowd as it rolled down the street, however... But at least I knew my girls were still accompanying me in the cars as part of the convoy, just that they were not in view of the crowd.

Honestly, I wasn’t really expecting anyone to show up since I’ve learnt that this station was also full of crime and people shooting and fighting each other everyday but... Apparently saving them from a giant space monster was enough for them to put aside their differences and hostility just to come and witness the parade.

Although I later learned that part of the reason was because several of them wanted to figure out who they shouldn’t screw with from now on since the person who could kill a Leviathan would probably be able to fold them in half pretty easily as well.

I did also figure out on my own through seeing how the crowd was reacting that some of them were probably thinking that I could be someone to rob later since I must be getting a reward from the station or something.

Too bad for them, I’m not getting much Credits from this though I suspect Vier would be able to make arrangements for the Leviathan’s corpse which would net us quite a lot of money anyway. Not that those robbers would be able to get anything out of me to begin with of course.

The parade continued through the streets, most of the residents cheering and whistling at me, though a number were just watching the procession silently.

Most of them I recognised were Mercs who were simply visiting this station for the bug nest hustle and amongst them were a few Mercs who were giving me looks of grudging respect as they were there at the emergency meeting but chose not to participate in the Leviathan hunt.

The convoy finally turned into the administration district and the crowd seemed to be bigger here though the security was also tighter because of it.

The administration tower was right in the centre and it looked like they had a stage set up ready to receive me which was quite impressive considering they only had about a day or two to prepare for this after I had told them about our success in dealing with the Leviathan.

The car came to a stop in front of the stage and I was allowed to step off the car before being led up to the stage where Justing, the Chief of Security of this station, and a representative of the Mercenary Guild, a rather professional looking woman, was waiting for me.

I ascended the steps and shook both of their hands, accepting their congratulations and thanks for helping the station deal with the Leviathan threat.

I was then made to sit on the stage as both of them gave a small speech about my contributions and my apparent bravery for dealing with the Leviathan. They even made sure to embellish my heroics a little just to butter me up.

Then it was my turn to give a short speech about myself and my Mercenary group, something I had already prepared ahead of time where I would just claim that it was a group effort and we had to endure a hard fought battle just to defeat the creature.

I took a moment to look at where my girls had positioned themselves where they had discreetly joined the security team, acting like they were one of them instead.

As I opened my mouth to speak however, I suddenly saw my personal shield flare to life before it shattered, completely unable to stop the kinetic round from piercing through it.

My instincts kicked into overdrive and I exerted my will over the bullet that was inches away from piercing through the centre of my face right between my eyes.

I could just stop it there but... That would give away my Psionic abilities... I could let Renata eat the bullet but that would also reveal her to everyone around here...

So I did the next best thing I could think of.

I moved my head to the side, using my Psionic powers to shift myself out of the way.

I know that there were cyware mods that make people move faster than normal so this shouldn’t be too suspicious at first glance.

At least... I hope so...

The bullet whizzed past the side of my head, travelling between the strands of my hair that just so happened to part at the right area to let the bullet pass through without hindering it.

The bullet pierced the floor of the stage, which had been constructed out of some kind of metal and buried itself deep into the metal several inches inside the frame with an ear piercing ring of metal scraping against metal.

There was no doubt what had just happened and, to their credit, the security personnel were quick to move.

One of them who was wearing Power Armour immediately leapt up onto the stage and used his body to shield me, putting himself in between me and where the bullet came from.

Two more of them jumped up on the stage as well and formed a circle around me, using their Power Armour frame to act as a shield before they lifted me off the ground to start carrying me off the stage.

Justin and the Mercenary Guild representative had already been escorted off the stage and when the realisation hit the crowd that they just witnessed an attempted assassination, panic descended upon them as they tried to run off in different directions.

My girls were also escorted away with their own security detail, though they were following me to further sell the disguise of them being just a part of the security assigned to me and not my party members.

Honestly, everything was happening so quickly that I didn’t even have time to be surprised at this but...

Who the heck would try to assassinate me and why would they even do that?!