Jötz grimaced when she mentioned clanks, forcing himself to close his eyes and count to ten mentally before sighing and sauntering over to the door. Almost casually, he pushed it open to stare down the corridor back towards the engine room. His green lips pursed around his fangs. Nodding judiciously, he closed the door and leaned against it to look at Ivy.

“Vell, vetter der ist s’posed ta be clanks or not, der’s some der,” he calmly announced. Jötz decided to skip that they were on all fours and vaguely doglike but with much bigger fangs. He doubted they actually needed to eat, which meant the huge teeth had some other purpose than dining. Ripping and tearing meat probably still come into play somewhere along the line. The three clanks he had seen looked old, their brass and bronze heavily coated in a green patina and their joints moving stiffly. Water was still dripping off of them; they must have pulled themselves up from the bottom of the canal, he reasoned. Jötz couldn’t recall seeing anything quite like them before, which was slightly concerning. Still, they had joints! Joints were weaknesses to be exploited, or so he had been taught by both fellow Jaegers and by experience. If there were only three, he was pretty sure he could take them.

Pulling out his four barreled gun, he checked the magazine. Jötz clicked his tongue in disappointment. “Not too many rounds left,” he mused professionally, “Might have ta go hand ta hand mit dem, und stretch da old muskles.” The Jaeger flexed his biceps unconsciously, a wicked grin playing about his fangs at just the thought of it. It had been a while since he had truly cut loose. He had avoided taking on the toads head to head for Ivy’s sake, a good decision in hindsight now that they knew what one of those poison teeth could do to someone! Wrestling clanks was dangerous, but it was also a challenge! 

Jötz glanced at the young Ivy. Would she be impressed? That was the real concern. Because if there was anything better than a death-defying challenge, it was a death-defying challenge to impress a pretty young maiden!

“Chou stay here und get some read-ink done, hokay?” He set the gun on the desk besides her with a smirk. Flexing his talons, the smirk became an outright evil grin. “I go handle dis, den ve get on mit stuff. Shouldn’t take too long, Hy tink.”

“No. No, it won’t, actually.” The voice was thin and reedy, more a whisper than anything else. A skeletal hand reached across and neatly plucked the pistol off the desk to cover both Ivy and the Jaeger. The mummified corpse in the chair moved as stiffly as the clank-hounds outside, but move it did. Hollow eye sockets seemed to still see them both clearly, a faint orange glow showing in their depths now. “I might just be skin and bones, but my mother always said that looks aren’t everything.”

Turning slightly in the chair to face Ivy, a ghastly chuckle hissed passed the rotted teeth. “I’m glad you’re able to read my code, my dear. I’ve been waiting for someone who could for an awfully long time!”

The door swung open slowly to reveal the three large clank-hounds. They had crept up closer to the room as the corpse of the pirate captain leaved the Jaeger’s pistol at his new captives. Jötz slowly backed up until he was right in front of Ivy, half shielding her from any attack that might come from either corner. He felt like a right chump. 

The dead pirate continued chatting pleasantly to Ivy, ignoring the Jaeger. “That you’re young and comely is a plus,” he was commenting. “Shame about the arm, but, well, there’s a precedent for pirates having hooks for hands.”