This is kinda inspired by a drugs trial in the UK where the drug they were giving to people started attacking their healthy cells. I thought the concept of people going in to do good only to be awarded with something negative would be good for a fanfic and I don't mean any harm to those affected by the drugs trial, it's just an interesting concept that I can work with.

"Dick, where are you going so early in the morning?" Bruce asked, noticing his ward adorning a jacket. The rest of the family had been eating breakfast and it was unlike Dick to miss breakfast. With his hyperactivity, he had to eat breakfast or he would be passed out by lunch. "Didn't I tell you? I've got that drugs trial today," he answered. An uneasy feeling emerged in Bruce's stomach alarmingly quickly when he heard that.

For the last few months, they had been getting reports of false drug trails being used as a cover for Scarecrow. He'd been putting the people under a strain of injectable fear solution but they couldn't see the pattern of facilities where Scarecrow would appear at. So for Dick to say he was going to be involved with a trial, Bruce couldn't let him leave without investigating. Dick must've noticed his distress as he paused for a moment. "B, it's fine. Tim did a run on the place months ago. It's just a trial for a new painkiller," Dick insisted. Tim glanced up from his coffee at the mention of his name. "That place checked out," he confirmed. 

"I don't know about this," Bruce continued. He had that worried look on his face that meant he wouldn't let this go for days. "Trust me on this one, I read the terms and conditions. It's the first human trial and it's for a good cause."

"That doesn't ease my worry," Bruce answered. He was stubborn, Dick gave him that.

 "Father, Grayson is an adult. If he wishes to help someone outside of hero duties let him. If or when he is wrong he will know not to go against your instincts again." Damian reasoned. Dick chuckled lightly at him, appreciating the sentiment of the sentence. "Thanks, Damian. Look, I'm going to be gone for a few hours so don't spend the whole day worrying about me. This isn't going to be like the photographer." They both shuddered at the thought. Boy was he glad when she got a lawsuit. He jumped on that court case as a witness as soon as he could even when the press made him look awful in the papers. 

Before Bruce could express his concern further, Dick raised a hand. "Even if it is Scarecrow, I know how to deal with that stuff and none of the victims were injured too seriously."

"One guy spent two months in the intensive care unit," Jason deadpanned. He wasn't at all worried for Dick. His "brother" knew how to handle himself at the best of times and he'd been hit with enough fear gas to traumatise a small city. "And he was just a normal guy. If anything, I'll just have a small nightmare." He checked the time, his eyes widening. "I better get going or I'm gonna be late. See you in two hours!"

More than two hours had passed and Bruce was getting antsy. Very antsy. He couldn't get the idea of something going terribly wrong out of his head. "Tim, are you sure this place checked out?" Bruce questioned. Tim looked up from his paperwork. 

"I can check it again if that'll help. It's not like I'm making any headway on this case," Tim replied. Bruce nodded and watched him carefully as he did a quick rerun of the place. "See, nothing to worry-" he paused, brows furrowing. He began typing on the keyboard again, this time hitting each key with a bit more vigour. "What's wrong?" Bruce asked. God, why hadn't he made Dick stay? Why didn't he run the check himself? Tim was probably sleep deprived when he checked the system and missed a warning sign. "They received a large unplanned shipment this morning," Tim began. He zoomed in one picture of the shipment. 

"Pull up the shipments connected to Scarecrow," Bruce ordered. 

"On it." In a matter of seconds, another picture popped up of the same container being used. "Same details, large unplanned shipment the morning of the trial of a new drug," he explained. Their faces paled at the same time. "Sup pussies, what you up to?" Jason announced, making Damian cringe. He was simply insufferable yet he was still in his Top 5 people he liked. "We need to suit up now and get the coordinates sent to everyone's vehicle. I want an ambulance crew and police sent there after we get Dick. We can't risk him going to the hospital and leaking something," Bruce announced. Jason groaned as his family rushed around him to get ready. "Can we not have one uneventful day?" he complained. 

They got to the hospital quickly, parking away from the prying eyes of the public. They split up in order to cover more space in less time. "Help people if you can but our priority is finding Dick," Batman announced through the coms. He got hums in response and tried to concentrate on the matter at hand. He definitely wasn't thinking about his ward cowering fear and he most certainly wasn't thinking about Dick screaming at the nightmare-inducing solution. Yup, totally not thinking about that. "This place is a dump. How did this not ring his alarm bells?" Red Hood thought aloud. The eldest wasn't dumb. There was no way he would've lived this long if he was. So why did he go through with this? One look at the hospital and anyone could guess something sinister was going on behind its walls. "Grayson seems to have a great inability to say no," Robin answered. "It's more that he sees the best in people," Red Robin corrected. 

"He must've looked really hard to see the best in this place," Red Hood commented. Their brother would get himself killed one day. They hoped it wasn't too soon.

The layout of the hospital seemed intentionally confusing and medical equipment was scattered around the halls. They noticed the distinct lack of staff members walking the halls and patients waiting in their beds for news. It looked like it had been abandoned for at least a couple of months. There was no way they were up to code. What there was plenty of, however, were screams. The sound came from everywhere yet they couldn't see any patients who were emitting them. "I don't like this one bit," Red Robin complained. Nothing seemed to add up. He couldn't believe that he'd missed warning signs. Dick would've never been put in danger if he'd just put a little more effort into investigating. "This isn't your fault. We all miss things," Batman told him as if he could read his thoughts. "I never miss things. Dick trusted me to not miss anything." If anything bad happened to the eldest, the family would be ruined. It wasn't like they were too amazing usually but without Dick there to force them to work together, who knows what would happen to them all. Nothing good that's for sure. "He won't blame you."

"I know. I could pour coffee all over him and he'd be the one to say sorry," he joked grimly. 

The unit in his hair made a static noise before he could hear Robin, "Found where the patients are being kept. East wing, furthest corridor. No sign of Grayson yet." Sometimes Robin's abruptness came in handy. There wasn't much emotion to him when they were out on the job. Well, emotions other than disgust and anger. "Can you see any nurses or doctors?" Batman asked as they all made their way over to him. "No. All there is are patients tied to beds." They grimaced at the description. Imagine going to do something that could benefit people only to be given endless nightmares and benefitting a deranged criminal's research. "I wonder if they still got paid for this gig," Red Hood pondered. "I can hear B glaring at me," he added moments later. "Your hearing is impeccable," Batman confirmed. 

Once they were all on the same ward, they began to search the small closed off rooms the victims were being kept in. Each door had a small window to look through and each sight was horrifying as the last. The rooms were more or less the same with the only exception being the screaming person inside, writhing in unadulterated fear. "How could doctors let Scarecrow do this?" Red Robin asked no one in particular. Surely this violated the Hippocratic oath they'd taken. "I wouldn't be surprised if some of these are the doctors," Red Hood replied. "If I was a villain, I wouldn't stop at using just the volunteers." He had a point. Traumatised doctors wouldn't be able to recognise the people who gave them the dodgy drugs soon enough to prevent another attack. 

"Grayson?" Robin asked, opening a door to one of the far rooms. He felt sick to his stomach at the sight of Dick pulling at the leather straps that held him down with a feverish look in his eyes. His reaction to the horrid visions were screams followed by an uncomfortable amount of silence. Robin crept further into the room, unsure of what to do. For a normal nightmare, it would take a few good shakes and Dick would be freed from his gruesome dreams but this wasn't a normal nightmare. It was chemically induced. Who knows what it was doing to his insides? It could be burning him from the inside out or rotting his brain. They would be helpless to do a thing. Dick must've felt a presence in the room with him as he snapped his head to look at Robin. Although, his eyes weren't taking in what was in front of him. Or, at least, that's what Robin thought thanks to them darting around the room. Dick's face turned to one of pure anger and he snarled out, "You're sick you know that? I hope you burn in hell!" Yep, he had no idea who was in the room with him. "That's rather rude, Grayson," Robin replied. He was almost pleased that Dick still had a spark of life in him that wasn't being completely traumatised. Dick's face softened and he squeezed his eyes shut, reopening them in an attempt to clear away the images flashing before them. It barely worked, only allowing him to make out Robin's shadowy figure. "Dam- Robin?" Dick stopped himself just in case someone overheard them. He blinked again. He was desperate to see his brother's face. He needed something other than the leather straps to tie him to reality. "What're you seeing?" Robin asked cautiously. Dick whimpered at the question, only now realising he was crying. "Awful things," he croaked out. He heard Robin run to the door and shout for the others. Saving each other seemed to be the typical family outing. Normal families would go out for bowling. He heard more feet, assuming them to be the rest of his family coming to get him out of this place. He tried to focus on that but he was soon drawn back into a nightmare reality only he could witness. Everything would pulsate from black to blinding white with the only thing to break it up being dead and bloodied bodies. All he could do was scream at the top of his lungs.

As everybody caught up, Dick had begun screaming again. It was awful to hear. "Dick, can you hear me?" Batman asked, putting a hand on his ward's shoulder. He didn't get a response and frowned. How long would this last before Dick would finally be able to hear him? "He could hear me before," Robin commented. There was an undertone of worry laced within his voice. 

"Whether he can hear us or not we're gonna have to get him out of here soon," Red Hood announced. "Why's that?" Batman asked. 

"We have company."