“No,” Jötz growled darkly. The firmness of his tone left nothing to the imagination, nor did the strength which suddenly grasped above the elbow of her good arm. He pulled her about to face him. The Jaeger was solemn eyed, his features both purposeful and incredibly sad as he looked down at her to speak.

“Hy don’t know if’n chou ist in da Mad Place right now or not, but der is something chou gots to promise me,” he insisted sadly. “Chou don’t work on me. A leetle patching up or stitching schtuff up ist fine, or giving me da Battle Draught I gots in disk flash.” He thumped a small canteen on his belt with his thumb, but did not break away his gaze from her. “Only a Heterodyne can verk on a Jaeger, Ivy. Der’s a place in Mechanicsburg vere hy can go to get patched up vhen ve ist too banged up to fight no more, Mama Gkika’s. But only der. Und hy gots to sneak in. Oddervise, hy must vait for a Heterodyne to return. Only von of da Heterodynes oder another Jaeger can verk on us.”

Jötz dropped his hand and his eyes away. “If’n someting happens und chou gots to chop someting off, den chou do it. Hy trusts chou to do vhat chou gots to do. But no replacements. No modifications oder adding tings. Ist… ist very important, Ivy. More important den a hat, even… ”

He suddenly felt vulnerable telling her this, exposed. But he had already seen how quickly and easily this young Spark could slip in that mind state that was half insanity and half inspiration, and he feared that if she got too many ideas into her head he might wake up as something other than a true Jaeger. Death, dismemberment, disembowelment, dissection… there was a whole list of such ‘d’ words that he was prepared to accept; disloyalty to the Heterodynes was not on it. 

Rubbing up to rub the cheek she had accidentally stepped on, Jötz closed his eyes and leaned against the ladder. This young woman was making him afraid on so many levels. Fear was not good for one of the Jaegerkin.