Rumbledrug

Rumbledrugs greatly enhance physical capabilities.

A Waverly-class augmentor, more commonly known as a rumbledrug, is a drug or cocktail of drugs used to vastly increase a subject's physical strength and resistance to injury.

History

Human-Covenant War

Rumbledrugs became notorious for their use during the Insurrection, most notably on Hellas and Fumirole. On both worlds, they were used by rebels in a vainglorious attempt to fight SPARTAN-IIs. The first known incident of rumbledrugs being used against Spartans occurred on Hellas in 2527. During the fighting the Spartans were able to successfully push a company of rebels into a foxhole and whittle away their numbers until they numbered only twenty. At this point, while ostensibly outgunned and cornered, one of the rebels was spotted to get a vial of rumbledrugs and inject it into his arm, beginning to push forwards in a sheer rage—reportedly not stumbling until he'd taken half a magazine of an MA5B assault rifle's 7.62x51mm rounds. When the insurgent's allies moved to cover him, the rebel turned on them too. The Spartans of Omega Team had knowledge of this event, but it is uncertain if they participated in the mission or were simply briefed on it afterwards.

Similar reports soon emerged from Fumirole and a number of other colonies, leading the Office of Naval Intelligence to finally get their hands on the drugs and perform an analysis on them—coming to designate them as "Waverly-class augmentors." Unencumbered by the body's normal safety limits, subjects were capable of feats of enormous strength, but the subsequent lack of control and mental instability together with the immediate physiological damage meant that users often died long before they ever laid hands on an actual Spartan, but not before doing tremendous damage to themselves and anything that got in their way.

During the events aboard the UNSC The Heart of Midlothian the ship's AI Mo Ye instructed ODST Sergeant Michael Baird to take a Waverly-class augmentor. The augmentor was a cocktail containing a derivative of phenylcyclohexylpiperidine, an artificial slow-release synthetic adrenalin and a rapid coagulant. She also had him take a beta-blocker to keep him focused. Mo Ye, who at the time was unable to harm human beings, was only able to tell Baird about the drugs because he had already suffered fatal injuries, thus meaning the drugs were working to extend his life, rather than shortening it.

Based on its description, it is likely that Lieutenant Badia Campbell utilized a rumbledrug when she turned on the bridge crew of the UNSC Midsummer Night in 2535.

Post-war

In 2560, Adam Andrews was involved in a deal to covertly acquire rumbledrugs. Having lived through the Human-Covenant War, the post-war conflicts that followed, the rise of the Banished, and the Created uprising, Andrews felt that it was the duty of his company Optican to assist the military in the defense of humanity—Andrews himself owing his life to the UNSC Marine Corps deployment on Arcadia in 2531 and John Forge in particular. As such, he arranged a deal with the Kig-Yar Nor Fel, offering a trade to illicitly acquire rumbledrugs in exchange for a salvaged focus cannon from a powerful R'awuw-pattern Scarab—one originally deployed to the ruins complex on Arcadia during the initial battle in 2531. The Kig-Yar honored their agreement, though after Andrews' departure from the scene they were assassinated by Omega Team—who boarded the Kig-Yar Phantom and found the rumbledrugs in its cargo manifest. Omega Team then arranged the site such that Nor Fel would assume that the delivery of her focus cannon had been waylaid after the meeting—as to not attract undue suspicion to Adam Andrews.

List of appearances

• Halo: The Cole Protocol (Possible appearance)
• Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
  • Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian (First appearance)
• Halo: Hippocratica
• Halo: Venezian Sonata (Mentioned only)

See also

• Human augmentation
• Drugs