Maximal Ethics

He was a rogue. He was a rebel. He was everything Optimus Primal detested in a Maximal, but then, he didn't like Primal's kind much, either. They mutually despised the other's traits, the other's way of living...but they didn't deny that they were Maximals. They each disapproved of the kind of Maximal the other 'bot was, but they didn't try and say that their way was best. Maximals were like that; diversity was encouraged, because not everyone could be alike. That would be courting stagnation, and that brought down empires. The Maximals had to be prepared for change in any form, and what better way to anticipate something than having someone in the faction who knew how to deal with it when it came up?

Take Primal, for example. When Megatron tried to kill Optimus Prime and change the future, Primal DEALT with it. Depth Charge might only grudgingly admit it--to himself, and even then far away from the Maximal base so no one would accidentally overhear him--but he would have had no idea where to START in that situation. He probably would have given up in despair. It wasn't that he was a coward; he just hadn't had any experience with temporal distortion and a megalomaniac whose plans made his head spin. This Predacon was seriously nuts, in Depth Charge's opinion, but nuts in a dangerously successful kind of way. Let Primal handle the tyrant. That's the kind of Maximal the ape was.

In this situation, however, Primal was NOT the right Maximal for the job. He was going to try negotiating with Megatron, and Depth Charge knew that wasn't the way to go about it. Rampage was barely controlled by the dinosaur to begin with, and adding a hostage to the mix was a recipe for a quick, violent, and probably fatal final product. Megatron had--wisely, for once--apparently left the crab to his own devices, which meant that the tyrant was watching closely and waiting for the choicest opportunity to exploit, but not interfering in Rampage's fun.

Which was why negotiating with Megatron wasn't an option. Megatron wasn't the one in control, no matter how the Predacon saurian deluded himself. Like all hostage situations, the one in control was the one with the hostage in his hands. Even if Megatron ordered Rampage to let Cheetor go, Depth Charge knew that the crab would kill Cheetor. All the torture to his spark wouldn't stop one twitch on the trigger of a rocket launcher, and the same would hold true if the Maximals tried to attack, openly or stealthily. The crab had the power, now, and they all knew it. The Predacons only cared about using the situation to the best of their advantage. The Maximals wanted Cheetor out of there. Rampage was doing who-knew-what to the poor cat, with no sign of caring what Megatron OR Optimus said while he did…whatever…in the cave he'd holed himself up in. One quick strike at the flying cheetah had given him a Maximal to play with, and he had every intention of enjoying himself.

Unfortunately, Depth Charge had a pretty good idea of what Rampage did for fun. When the other Maximals looked at him with questions in their optics, he looked away and changed the subject. Primal thought he was making progress, but the raybot knew Megatron was only bluffing his control. That left him alone as the expert on the psychopath holding Cheetor's life at gunpoint, trying to advise the Maximal leader on what to do, and the only advice he could give made the others turn away in hurt betrayal. It was the only sensible answer, and he hated it, but he gave it anyway:

Give up. The cat wasn't getting out alive. Protoform X wouldn't let him out of his grasp, not after so long without killing or any sort of freedom. Give up hope, and move on.

Shame, wasn't it, that the cat was so young. Able to find laughter, even in the middle of a war for the future, and Depth Charge could feel those accusing optics on his back as he walked from the Ark's command center, reminding him that everyone in that room couldn't give up on the bright young soldier. Silverbolt had seemed more like a wounded puppy than a warrior, and Rhinox had coldly turned his back. Even Blackarachnia, Predacon to the spark, snorted delicately and muttered something about abandoning someone to Rampage being heartless. Rattrap cussed him out, and Primal…it was funny, but Primal had only given him a look of disappointment, like he hadn't expected anything more from the raybot.

He could have justified himself, explained everything that was behind his reasoning, but he'd given up on that the day the Maximal High Council sealed Protoform X into a stasis pod instead of meting out the proper death sentence to the murderer. The other Maximals didn't want to hear the reasons behind the practicality. They didn't want reality. They wanted to keep going against all odds, to find a solution to an impossible situation, and they saw him as not one of them because he didn't believe in their ideals. He could have tried to make them see his way, but he just walked away, back to the quarters someone had given him at some point (Cheetor had led him there, pointing out the technology Autobots had used and would used again, optics wide with excitement) to sit and stare at the wall. How long did the cat have? That depended on how long the crab decided to drag it out. Judging by the panic/anger reaction from the Maximals, it would take Cheetor a very long time to die, unless someone pushed the crab's hand. All it would take was an attack, or Megatron crushing Rampage's spark, and if that happened, the cat would die.

Depth Charge had to fight the urge to go back and tell the other Maximals that he'd reconsidered and advised an attack. It would be a mercy to the cat, but they would never forgive him for forcing Cheetor's early death. Not that it really mattered what they thought of him.

Except…

Except that the raybot WAS a Maximal. A Maximal different than Primal and the ape's crew, yes, but a Maximal all the same, and there were certain things that all Maximals held in common. Certain moral codes that held the difference between a Maximal and a Predacon. Stripped down to the bare ethics, Primal and Depth Charge were really not all that different. Things that Primal could afford, like ideals and hope, however, had been forcibly burned away from Depth Charge. There was no softness in his definition of right and wrong, no bleeding from white or black into ambiguous gray. And after what he had endured, he'd sworn it would never happen to anyone else. That vow was still in effect today, and every day, until Rampage was dead. No one deserved to be that monster's victim, not even a Predacon, not even Primal, and especially not Cheetor.

That meant Depth Charge had to do something, and he knew what. Let Primal try to negotiate with Megatron; he would head straight for Rampage. There was one thing the crab might agree to, one thing he'd give up Cheetor for, and that was another hostage. An exchange, 'bot for 'bot, taking the place of the cat in the crab's hands. Primal wouldn't understand it, why it had to be this way, but Depth Charge knew there was a chance--a small chance, but a chance--that Rampage would accept this swap. Primal would insist on sacrificing himself if anyone at all, but while Megatron would eagerly agree, Depth Charge wouldn't allow it even if Rampage DID agree. There was only one Maximal he was willing to give up to the crab: himself.

Because that was the kind of Maximal he was.

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Behind the attitude, behind the practical advice, there are all the basic beliefs that make up a Maximal. How deeply does Depth Charge believe?