Measure of a Man

By: Sinead

Lyrics transcribed on: 7 January 2004

Finished on: 17 May 2004

Author’s Note: I’ve been so slacking off with this series, and I’m so sorry about it. Hacker, please accept my most humble apologies. I’ve had a particularly hard time at school with two separate teachers who have been mentors, and I’ve been pushed nearly beyond my limits. Not to mention that I’ve been making my own Prom dress . . . whoo! (Prom went awesome, by the way! My thanks to everyone who supported me!) Don’t own Hacker, Depth Charge, Beast Wars, Clay Aiken, or the song “Measure of a Man.”

If one day you discover him

Broken down, he’s lost everything

Hacker rushed into the room, seeing Depth Charge holding his head in his hands. She crawled over his legs and under his arms to kiss his cheek. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s been a bad day.”

“Another one of the Preds get killed by someone?”

“No. Just missing those who have already left.”

No cars, no fancy clothes to make him who he’s not

The woman at his side is all that he has got

Hacker smiled, and said, “Bring me out for a ride? Please?”

“Why?”

“I wanna talk.” She didn’t however, say who she wanted to talk to. And that wasn’t just Depth Charge, nor would it be solely that other person. Her smile coaxed Depth Charge into action.

“All right, all right, just . . . stop looking at me like that.”

Why do you ask him to move heaven and earth

To prove his love has worth?

The door was opened, and Hacker climbed up onto a freshly-transformed Depth Charge. They flew longer than their first flight together, turning south when they reached the shore.

And then there he was. Hacker patted Depth Charge’s back. “There. Please.”

“Rampage is there. What the Pit are you thinking, human?”

“Gee, are we back to that kinda terms already, robot? And I’m gonna ask him something. It should be quick, I promise.”

Would he walk on water?

Would run through fire?

Rampage blinked at Hacker, watching her face carefully once they had landed and walked over to him. “I’d think that he’d keep you as far away from me as he could. Has he finally lost it?”

Hacker chuckled, then looked up at the crab. “I got a question for you, that you have to answer.”

The crab blinked, then thought about it. ‘Have to answer?’ That means that she will not rest until she gets what she wants. Slag, she’s as stubborn as her Cybertronian counter-part! With a cocky look down at her, the crab replied, “Go on.”

“What does Depth Charge mean to you?”

Would he stand before you,

When it’s down to the wire?

Depth Charge could hardly believe what he was hearing. He looked at Rampage, confused, then back at Hacker, whose steady gazed was locked upon Rampage’s. The crab was shifting his considerable weight from one foot to the other on the loose sand. Finally, with a jerking movement, awkward, he sat before the human, still silent. Depth Charge had started forward, but he relaxed when he saw that the other Transmetal meant no harm.

“By what are you getting at, girl? What do you mean, ‘what does Depth Charge mean to you’? What is the purpose of that question?”

Hacker grinned, then said, “That’s all that there is. I just want to know what you think of him as.”

And to Depth Charge, the reason why she was asking this was clear.

Would he give his life up

To be all he can?

Rampage blinked, and then thought about it further. Gulls came back into the area, alighting upon the sand and watching with their curious, beady eyes. Rampage shifted slightly, scaring them back a few feet until he settled again. He tilted his head slightly to one side, and replied, “He had been my only friend when I was a child. He has been my only constant company, even in battle, when there was no-one else.”

“Then why did you spare me on Rugby and Omicron?” Depth Charge asked softly. “I would have died to save any of those innocents you slaughtered.”

Is that, is that, is that

How you measure a man?

Rampage sighed. “But then there would be nobody else. They wouldn’t continue to pursue me as you have over the years. They wouldn’t have been there. You’ve seen me in all my worst moments, playmate. You’ve seen me since we were too young to understand the difference between factions. Why would I break that companionship that we share, as odd as it is?”

Hacker looked back over her shoulder at Depth Charge. He returned her gaze silently, watching her. With a whispery sigh, he replied, “I don’t know why you’d break that.”

“I do regret that, you know.”

If, by chance, all he had to give you

Was three words wrapped around your finger

Depth Charge just looked at Rampage. Hacker touched his knee, but he whispered, “Stay here. I love you.”

Hacker watched as Depth Charge walked forward to the supposedly immortal one, and knelt before him, bringing their faces closer together. She smiled at the back of her chosen, and then looked down at her feet, blushing as what he had said really set in. He loved her. He really loved her, and . . . that’s all that she could ever ask of him.

Would that be deep enough at the end of every day?

And how will you ever know if a man is what he says?

Depth Charge whispered in a quite tone, “Regret what.”

“Everything. I’ve had more time than I care to account for out here, so I’ve been thinking too much for my own good. I’ve been away from the Pred base so that I don’t kill any more Cybertronians. They annoy me so much, and I, as you well know, have never been a fan of holding my temper.”

“You regret what you did at those bases.”

“When have I ever lied to you, Depth Charge?” Rampage asked quietly, emerald optics tracking red ones. “Have I ever intentionally lied to you? Have I?”

Why do you ask him to move heaven and earth

To prove his love has worth?

Hacker picked up the shell by her feet, then found a matching one not too far away. Smiling, she ran up to the two Cybertronians, her strange, child-like quality rising to the surface within her. She laughed, and said, “Here! One for each of you!”

They blinked at her. Rampage took the shell, then looked it over. It was an interesting dark purple color. “Odd . . . Hm. Hacker, who is this ‘Lady Venom’ that you have mentioned?”

“Only one of your biggest fans,” Hacker replied in a matter-of-fact tone, handing Depth Charge the matching shell. She looked over her shoulder at the Predacon. “She’s really cool.”

“Then do me a favor.”

Would he walk on water?

Would run through fire?

“What is it?”

He carefully scratched something onto the smooth, off-white underside of the shell, and then held it out for Hacker to take back. “Give that to her.”

“Uh . . . we live like, really far apart.”

“I know. Most of you and your friends do.”

“Point,” Hacker said, starting to laugh.

Would he stand before you,

When it’s down to the wire?

“Why did you really ask to come here, Hacker?” Depth Charge asked, turning the shell over in his hands, watching it reflect the light back up at his face. “What is the purpose?”

“I saw that the two of you had a fallen friendship. We’ve all had friendships that end awkwardly, but some more so than others.” She looked at Rampage, smiled, and then shifted her eyes back to Depth Charge. “And I didn’t want to see you miserable for any longer.”

Would he give his life up

To be all he can?

Rampage looked at the shell still in his hands, then sighed and said, “There’s something that you don’t know, Hacker. Something that I can’t tell, either. And it’s in his slagging closed-off optics that I can’t read anymore.”

Depth Charge winced mentally, but reached over to dope-slap the back of Rampage’s head. The crab hit his shoulder back in an almost-friendly way, but Depth Charge didn’t dive into the invitation to fight. Instead, he just stood and said, “I have to get her back before it’s dark.”

“Aaw, Depth Charge!” Hacker said.

“Come on, Hacker. You’ll see him again.”

Is that, is that, is that

How you measure a man?

Hacker watched over her shoulder as Rampage disappeared into the distance. Looking back over at the land speeding by them, she asked over the wind, “When will I be able to come back again?”

“Dunno. But you have . . .”

A dream surfaced. One that he had pushed back to his mind, and one that he had tried his very hardest to forget. The memories of the dream were chaotic, but one thing was certain. And that meant that he had to go back to talk to Rampage as soon as Hacker was settled.

“Depth Charge?”

He never gives up, lets go of his dreams

His world goes around of his one true belief

“It’s okay. I just remembered something.”

“Oh, okay. So what do I have?”

“A beautiful soul that I’ll do anything to protect. Now shut up.”

Hacker laughed.

Is that how you know?

Is that what it means?

Hacker was back at her own place, the memory of a hug from her Depth Charge still lingering around her. She quickly got a hold of Lady Venom, then told her what she had.

Nuh-uh! You talked with Rampage?!

Hacker chuckled, then typed back, Yep. And he sent me back with a gift. I’ll need your address so that I can send it to you.

Miss Special was in the chat as well. Is Inferno still kicking?

As far as I know, yes. I haven’t seen him, though.

Would he walk on water?

Would run through fire?

That’s a pity, Sinead typed. Oh, and Miss Special, we’ve figured out signs about when a mirror will activate.

The young woman in charge of the fanart at Beast Wars International was leaning closer to her computer screen, eager to find out. What is it? Other than shadows, that is.

Sinead told her, and Hacker laughed. That’s right! It did look like that!

Miss Special looked at her mirror, sighed, and then typed, Maybe later it’ll appear. Maybe.

Would he stand before you . . .

“You’re back.”

“Yeah. I had a dream a long time ago that you’re a part of.”

“You’re troubled. And you have this annoying, nagging feeling of worry and fear hovering around you. Stop it. It’s not like you. And that’s starting to get to me.”

Depth Charge leaned against a large boulder half-buried in sand. “You know about those human samurai? The fierce Japanese warriors? If their lord was killed, or if their side have been defeated, they killed themselves to keep themselves from being dishonored. I dreamt about that, but it wasn’t a human doing that. It was me. You were there. You delivered the killing blow.”

Will he be your anger

When the dark unfolds?

Thirty minutes hadn’t lessened the crab’s rage. Rampage roared and threw a large rock as far as he could, then felt his upper arms being held by a vise-like grip. He glared at Depth Charge, who merely held onto him. Finally, the Predacon fell to his knees and hid his face in his hands. Depth Charge sat before him, and listened.

“I can’t kill you. That’s why I spared you. If I kill you, I’ll die.”

“You have Lady Venom.”

“She won’t be here fast enough.”

Will he always love you

The best that he knows?

“I’ll die here.”

“Here?”

“Now.”

“No. No, Depth Charge. I won’t let you.”

“I have to.”

“Why?”

Would he give his life up

To be all he can?

Rampage looked up at his friend, the bot who had been with him since the beginning. They had become orphans together. They had grown up together, and when Rampage had become the monster that they had made him into, Depth Charge still stayed with him. It was his . . . his duty.

“Because it is my time. I can’t continue to look after Hacker in this form. You know what happened to the others who this happened to. They became human. It’s what’s been destined for all of us.”

“Not Tarantulus.”

“He must’ve made a good snack.”

“Nah. He was gamy. I had indigestion afterwards.”

They stared at each other for a long moment, then each swallowed, and Rampage held his hand out. Depth Charge clasped it, and whispered, “Thank you. For everything . . . brother.”

Is that, is that, is that

How you measure a man?

“Then . . . are you ready, Depth Charge?”