As much as Cordira wanted to charge forward at Horatio's side as they searched for Wil, something...sinister held her back behind him, keeping her on high alert. She felt like they could be springing a trap at any moment, barreling head first into a wild situation for which they were ill-prepared, and blindly pressing ahead as Horatio was left them completely vulnerable to anything from any direction. The Coruscant Underlevels they were traversing through were unkind to all beings, not just a pair of visiting trespassers.
"Horatio," she called ahead to him, her eyes continuing to dart all about them, "we should be cautious as we proceed. We don't have any idea what we're walking into."
But he ignored her and retained his pace, hardly looking up from the beeping scanner in one hand as he climbed through another broken, half-open door gripping his blaster with the other. They'd stolen their way through entire buildings and dark, ancient alleys for hours, each as dilapidated and decrepit as the last. How they hadn't yet found a floor that disintegrated beneath their feet, she didn't know.
"I'll tell you what I'm walking into," he finally answered her gruffly as she pulled herself through the doorway behind him. "I'll be walking my fist through Baxer's eye socket when we find him."
Though not surprised, she managed to withhold a heavier sigh. "Revenge is not what that man needs."
"I don't care what he needs," he continued, still with his back toward her. "He hurt Wil."
"We don't know that," she pleaded for his reason. "We won't know exactly what happened until we find them. But even if he did, I will not allow you to hurt him in retaliation."
Stopped for the first time by her declaration, he turned to face her, meeting her gaze with an intense one of his own. "I didn't ask you to come with me. I don't need your help to find my son. Stay out of my way."
She closed the gap between them without hesitation, refusing to show him any signs of backing down. He didn't intimidate her at all, for she had stared down far worse than an old, reformed bounty hunter in her past, but she willed compassion into her voice to once again appeal to his conscience.
"Horatio, if what you've told me is true, that Baxer thinks that Wil is his best friend, your father, who has been gone for decades, then his mind is completely splintered right now. He doesn't have any kind of grasp on reality. He doesn't need an assault, he needs our help. You, of all people, know exactly what someone needing a second chance looks like."
Locked in a stalemate for a long, tense moment, she held the elder Sheridan's gaze firmly, even refusing to blink to emphasize her point. Though she was shorter in stature and twenty-six years his junior, she still commanded his respect, as evidenced by his inability to overtly disagree with her; he knew he couldn't bring himself to truly challenge her. His nostrils flared and his eyes slowly narrowed in the silence, and he eventually broke it with a low voice.
"...you really are a clone of your mother."
"I take it she's put you in your place before, too."
He scoffed with a dark glare. "She's gotten in my way plenty of times. And she has the scars to prove it."
"I will not fold," she answered him with strength, stressing her every word. "It does not matter how much you threaten me, I will protect that man at any cost. Do not force my hand."
Before he could agree to or further protest her resolution, the scanner in his hand began beeping a new pattern, indicating that Wil, or at least his Rys'tihn Crest, was on the move, and he wasted no time following its direction. Despite his age, he took up a swift sprint through the darkness, and she struggled to keep up as they crossed a foggy walkway into another skeletal structure. They climbed an untold number of stairs, passing a handful of oblivious residents and native vermin that frantically skittered away from the sudden activity. After what felt like an eternity of continuous running and climbing and dashing through narrow passageways, they finally arrived at the top of a landing...where across the distance they could barely see a young, brown-haired man on the floor, facing away from them and halfway rolled onto his right side as he coughed painfully.
"Wil!"
But beside her, Horatio shook his head breathlessly. "...that's not Wil."
The man could barely breathe, drawing rough and ragged gasps in between rounds of coughing. Horatio was at his side within moments, but Cordira hesitated until Horatio identified him while kneeling just beside the younger man with alarm.
"Max! Max, where's Wil? Was he here? Where is he?"
Looking up at his uncle, Max leaned back from him and nearly fell back to the floor just as Cordira knelt behind him at his other side, wrapping her arm around his shoulders to support him and keep him half upright. It wasn't until Max coughed again and his jacket fell open to his side that they could see the deep blaster bolt burn through his shirt to the already scarred skin of his left upper chest, making obvious the reason for his pain and struggle.
"He was here," Max managed with a nod before another coughing fit took hold of him. "They left through there," he weakly lifted his right hand to point to the dark doorway opposite them, "...I think."
Though she was no Master Healer and was still in slight shock at finding her husband's cousin when he hadn't been heard from in weeks, Cordira gently placed her free hand atop his wound, calling on the Force to heal him. He winced briefly at the pressure of her hand then slowly relaxed with her care, but only focused on finding Wil, Horatio pressed Max further without mercy.
"Baxer did this? He shot you?"
Max nodded again, desperately willing his breathing to calm. "He was...enraged. Thought I had hurt Wil."
"How badly is Wil hurt?"
Max held his uncle's gaze for a long, tense moment, seemingly afraid to answer, which angered Horatio further.
"Max! How bad!"
Hesitating a second longer, Max shook his head. "His concussion is...bad." Looking to Cordira directly, he heavily placed his hand atop hers on his chest. "He needs your help."
Horatio shot up onto his feet in an instant, already searching the scanner in his hand as he disappeared through the open doorway and quickly left the two of them behind without a word.
"Horatio! Horatio, wait!"
But he continued on out of sight, unwilling to heed her request as she expected. Though frustrated and worried for him confronting such an irrational man alone, she remained in place, returning her attention to Max and to continuing to heal his wound. She closed her eyes, concentrating on soothing his pain and mending the burned tissue -
"Go, Cordira," Max interrupted her, tightly gripping her hand and lifting it from his chest. "Go with him."
Surprised that he would refuse her healing when he clearly still struggled on every draw, she stared at him blankly. "Max, you can hardly breathe."
He shook his head, even cracking a small smile for her sake. "I'll be okay. I've been...way worse before, trust me."
Without meaning to, her gaze tracked up the left side of his neck to his ear that had been recently scarred by burns so severely, his reddened, mottled skin still looked like it had been melted despite some healing. He noticed her attention on his scars, quickly dismissing her pitying expression.
"Go, Cordira," he repeated more insistently. "They need you. All three of them."
Though she didn't want to admit it, he was right; if Wil was incapacitated, there would be nothing standing between Horatio and Baxer for a potentially deadly confrontation. But could she force herself to leave her husband's cousin, Horatio's last surviving nephew and Wil's only Sheridan cousin, without ensuring his proper healing? She let go of a shaky breath as she lifted Max's upper body into a more proper sitting position, watching him briefly to be sure he would remain conscious and breathing well. When he smiled at her again and nodded to send her away, she gripped his shoulder firmly, meeting his gaze once more.
"We'll come back for you, I promise."
Max nodded again to accept her pledge, lifting his chin in the direction Horatio had left to usher her on her way. She stood and gave his shoulder one more brief squeeze before she, too, sprinted for the doorway, rushing to catch up to Horatio who had a hefty lead ahead of her.