𝑶𝑭 𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑶𝑫 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑩𝑬𝑻𝑹𝑨𝒀𝑨𝑳

Ꮨ ᎠᏘRK RᏋFLᏋᏨTIᎧᏁ

"Yeah. I want to know what you think. All Alec is telling me is that he's a soldier and he needs to be treated like one, but he's also our little brother.

Alec wasn't there the night that Kaelie had him. He wasn't there to see how close Max came to dying, but you were, and you love Max just as much as we do. So I want to know what your take on this is."

"Okay, can I be completely honest?"

Izzy nodded, rolling her eyes. "Your brutal honesty is the reason why I came to you, Lyssa."

"Okay, I kind of agree with Alec." Izzy went to say something but Alyssa held up a hand to stop her. "Let me finish, Izzy. You're right, Alec wasn't there the night Kaelie kidnapped Max. But Izzy, that's exactly why we need to start treating him like a soldier. We need to prepare him so he can be able to handle such situations in the future.

He's not a kid anymore, Iz. You can't coddle him forever or he'll never be ready for the world. He's one of the best amongst his age group, just like you, Jace, and Alec were when you were his age, though Jace is in a league of his own."

The last part made the two of them chuckle. "I've seen his simulation scores and I even took him to Tokyo institute today, after he finished his assignment, of course, for a simulation training. For a preteen, his scores were off the charts at the level it was set."

"That's what Alec said. But wait, why the Tokyo institute?" Izzy asked, a little curious.

"Because their sim program is the best, even better than what they use at the academy in Idris.

They've added a new code to their program that simulates Circle members, due to recent events. I had Max try that one, and though it was challenging, he still did better than anyone his age had done in that institute, I checked.

His only problem is his overconfidence, and he rushes into some things without fully thinking them through."

"And he thinks he's ready for everything, especially the big stuff."

"Yeah, well, we can blame Jace for his overconfidence." Alyssa joked.

"Blame me for whose overconfidence?" Jace asked, walking over to them with Clary.

"Max's." Alyssa said, looking up at him.

"How is it my fault? Izzy's the one training him." Jace said, though Izzy knew he was just joking.

"Uh, hello. Case in point." Alyssa replied, pointing to Clary, who looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Why are you pointing at me? What did I do?" Clary asked, amusement clear in her tone.

"Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we? The first time, when Alec took your portal shard necklace to put it somewhere for safe keeping, what was it that you said, trying to convince Alec not to put it away? Oh yes. 'Alec, I think we should use it. We should use it to get to Valentine.' That's what you said, making Clary think that one can just walk up to Valentine with a small group and grab him with little to no resistance."

"I didn't think...." Clary tried to say.

"Your words were, 'I like Jace's idea. We saved Simon from the vampires that way.' Izzy, what does that say to you?" Alyssa asked, looking at the female Lightwood.

"That she thought we could take on Valentine with just three trained Shadowhunters and one untrained one." Izzy replied, smirking.

"Okay, so yes that's what it would seem like, but that was just one time." Jace said, making Alyssa raise an eyebrow.

"I can name another time; going through an alternate dimension to get to Chernobyl so you can find Valentine. Should I go on or has my point been made?"