atomic_legacy:

Jacob's actions, or inaction as he saw it, during the incident with the Titans still ate away at him. The old fears hadn't really faded, at least not in his mind. He still felt sick to his stomach at the idea of fighting, particularly with metahumans involved.  Still, even with potentially the world at stake, what had he done? He quietly moved into the JSA's training room and eyed the equipment present. It wasn't as if he never tried to learn what it meant to be a superhero..but there was a difference between learning physical skills and learning a whole other mindset. He sat on a workout bench, wondering just what it was he was willing to do.

semievilgenius:

 The incident with Ty had exposed a lot of glaring facts that Max couldn't ignore anymore. The fact of the matter was outside of a scientific capacity, Max was pretty much useless to the team. Scurrying around, avoiding the Fearsome Five  for fear of his life to save Cait had been a terrifying experience. Yeah he got the job done, but if even one of the Five had noticed him... Something had to be done.

And doing something had been the center of Max's thoughts as of late, making him even more of a shut-in then he usually was since the Titans and Jsa successfully stopped Hammond.