Synth-Muscle

Synth-muscle is a product of Flagg's technology department "Maricopa". In essence, they are synthetic muscle fibers designed to be surgically implanted into the user, or woven into clothing and armor. They are much more compact than most powered exoskeletons with cost to match.

As cybernetics
As mentioned, synth-muscle is primarily designed to be surgically implanted into the user's body. Once grafted into previously existing muscle tissue as well as the corresponding nerves, a Standard size sheet (25 mm x 200 mm) can provide enough power to easily move 100 kg with no hassle. The surgery can be expensive as additional nerve cells, unique to the user, must be grown so the sheet can actually function. Once done though, it is by far the most reliable method of use.

As armor
Synth-muscle itself has no ballistic resistance, but when woven with ballistic mesh and kevlar, it provides an easy way to create powered armor for relatively cheap. The muscle fibers, and mesh by extension must be woven like actual muscles and the entire system must be connected to a control unit. Otherwise, the entire armor could tear the user apart. Once completed though, a suit of only synth-muscle and mesh can multiply the user's strength and speed by a factor of five with the only real additional weight coming from the power supply. When integrated with extra armor plating (E.G. an Eliminator's tactical suit), the user can move as if the armor was not even there.

Civilian uses mostly come from strength enhancers for construction or rescue workers. The type-3 light strength enhancement unit (a set of sleeves with the control unit being the user's Scroll with the included software) is extremely popular with the Anozira Fire Department.

Drawbacks
While most of the functional bugs and glitches were worked out in prototyping, synth-muscle is still considerably expensive as opposed to traditional power armor systems. Costing almost 3 times as much, maintenance can also be difficult due to how compact the fibers are.