Bio-mechanical Suit

Biomimicry is a new field of research. In the near future the ideas and tested design of nature will be implemented into new areas, including body armour. This suit is the direct result of looking to nature for guidance. It's actually a genetically engineered parasitic fish, a cephalopod, with hundreds of other organisms integrated into its DNA. Since it is technically a fish, the "host" is able to breath under water. The outer layers of the suit are similar to a clam shell, light-weight, thin but about one hundred times stronger. In tests the suit was able to withstand 9mm gunfire, often the bullets actually deflected off the suit due to the smooth curved shapes. The rows of spiked protruding from the chest are direct lines to the hosts lungs, these act as the gills while underwater, and also supercharge the hosts own lung capacity. The outer skin can change colour for camouflage, like an octopus. The fish is a parasite, but the engineering has created benefits to the union. The host shares blood with the suit, during this process a chemical cocktail is also produced that mimics the human body's own defenses, this keeps the host in peak form for combat. The suit also feeds off the host, but only dead skin cells and other waste. All the different aspects of the suit leave the host with a flexible, strong and resilient armour solution.

The union of fish and Host is not easy, the host must approach the fish in the water and be "chosen" by the fish. It will swim towards the host and attach itself. Once the union is done the fish will only link with that one host. In early attempts the union was forced, using an array of different methods, but this left the hosts dead or severely disabled. the fish is a fully functioning organism. It breeds naturally and only mature fish are allows to be used for service. The benefits of the suit have caused some problems with addiction to the super-human abilities that come with wearing the suit. With addiction comes dealers. Most black market suits are of poor genetic quality. This is because the lower quality specimens have a lower chance of rejection with a host. Unfortunately these fish don't produce the correct balance of chemicals and usually cause paranoia, rage, dementia and other psychological problems. As a fail-safe in the initial engineering of the fish, these poor genetic specimens are red in pigment, and cannot change colour.