Cuckoo and Sparrow (Young Justice)

Eli meets Batman and Robin

At this point Myra and Eli were ten, Tibs was twelve, and Seb was thirteen. They had all been friends for nearly three years, and Seb had his company for almost one. Selena mentioned doing a fundraiser and toy drive for homeless kids in honor of Seb's first anniversary and Eli's past.

Seb decided he wanted to do that, but also wanted to see what it was like for those kids and where the money would be the most useful, so after much bargaining with the three women, he asked Eli to show him his old haunts and what life was like on the streets, so Eli took Seb 'undercover' for a month.

Myra and Tibs were left at the penthouse for a few different reasons. Tibs hated the idea of his fur getting dirty and the thought of someone finding out about his ears and tail and being targeted for them sent shivers down his spine. Myra couldn't risk Joker finding her out in the open like that, without her Mom, Mama, or Auntie around, and they didn't want Tibs to be alone.

Once the experiment was over they were dirty and hungry and missed their friends so they gathered up the change they had accumulated and used a payphone to call home. The three women dearly missed the two but agreed to let Tibs and Myra meet them at the waffle house around where Eli and Seb were, which was across the city. They had been giving the children more freedom as they got older.

They got a few looks, but they didn't care. Eli couldn't stop himself from eating too fast this time and made himself sick. He excused himself from the table and went to the bathrooms, only to find it out of order. The manager saw him and told him he could use the backdoor into the alleyway and puke in the dumpsters.

After he got done emptying his stomach, he heard noises. Fighting noises. It was just around the corner, he was about to go back inside and say something to the manager until he heard them say something about 'Robin being a lost little bird' and started moving on instinct.

To be fair, his instinct had reverted back to street kid instinct during the experiment, and street kid instinct doesn't allow for asking strangers for help. Yet, his natural instinct tells him to help people, so therein lies the dilemma. He rounded the corner and saw Robin half-laying on the ground, trying to stand using a bo staff, with 4 guys surrounding him, and 2 more on the ground unconscious. He was bleeding from several places and had a busted lip, and no doubt a black eye underneath that mask. He also looked like his ankle was giving him pain.

Eli saw the glint of a knife and before he knew it he tackled the guy holding it as he stepped toward Robin, throwing all his little body weight at the man. He had lost some of it again from being on the streets. This was enough to stun everyone else into stillness, what broke them out of it was the knife guy flipping Eli off of him and Eli twisting into a landing, grabbing a stray pipe and laying it into the man's temple, knocking him to the ground instantly.

Two went after him and one towards Robin. Eli used the first one as a springboard and kicked the second one in the teeth, knocking a few out. He leaped forwards as Robin blocked an attack from his assailant, but he had to use both hands due to his injuries which left him wide open for the man's knife, which Eli jumped in front of. He tried to deflect it, but the man was much bigger and stronger than he was, so as he felt the knife split his flesh he laid the butt of his palm into the man's nose.

The man stumbled back, tears filling his eyes, and Eli and Robin both punched him in the chest knocking him all the way down. Robin swung up his bo staff and Eli turned around and ran towards the other two before he heard the staff make contact with the man's head.

He leaped up using the dumpster as leverage and wrapped his thighs around the first man's neck and squeezed, just hard enough to make him cut off his air so he would fall unconscious. Despite his desperate attempt to wrangle Eli off of him by trying to ram him into the alley wall. Eli held on tight, and then he started falling like a sack of potatoes, and Eli leaped off of him to see Robin shoving the second guy back, he got behind him on his hands and knees and tripped the man. Once he hit the pavement Eli stood up and watched for a second, to make sure he wouldn't get back up.