Michael Austin
From The Bionic Wiki
Michael Austin is Steve Austin's son, whose existence is revealed in the Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman reunion movie. Although his age is not stated on screen, based on the age of the actor it can be estimated he was born sometime in the early to mid-1960s. Michael's mother's name was Karen who died of pnemonia when Michael was six years old on Christmas Eve in a little town call Placidville, population 104. Austin kept Michael a secret, and while he didn't want to, Steve left Michael in the care of his sister-in-law, Michael's Aunt Mary, after his mother's death as, at the time, it was the only thing he could do. When Steve asked about her upon their reunion, the junior Austin described her as being "fat, fifty, sassy and reads too much Judith Krantz." Michael was 14 years old when he took an interest in meeting his father, but shortly after Steve Austin had the accident that lead to his becoming a bionic man, and the two do not meet at this time. Steve paid for all of Michael's schooling, and Michael has become a second lieutenant at Maffin Air Force Base in Los Angeles, California, when he is reunited with is father. Michael was described by his instructors (Jerry Dreyfuss, Duke Rennecker, et al) as "a hell of a pilot" albeit a little eager. However they thought they could deal with his attitude but concluded that they couldn't and with graduation fast approaching, Michael would soon be out of their control as he was scheduled to proceed to intensive training flying F-16s and while he knew he was technically ready, Dreyfuss felt he wasn't emotionally ready - "It's the Jewish mother in me", he said. They understood that Steve had stayed away for reasons of his own, but they now needed him to speak to his son.
Due to an accident during a demonstration flight on the day of Michael's graduation from basic flight training, Michael undergoes surgery and becomes bionic. Aside from bionic limbs, Michael's right eye (as opposed to his father's left eye) is replaced.
Michael's bionics are of a next-generation technology, making him more powerful than his father and Jaime Sommers. It is Sommers who is assigned the task of training Michael in the use of his bionics (much as Austin had trained her), and Michael is shown speeding ahead of his mentor during a run. Later, Michael's bionics help save the lives of of Jaime and Steve. As Michael blurs into super-speed to pursue the villain, his father remarks, "I can't do that". "I can't do that, either," replies Jaime. Another unique ability demonstrated by Michael is the ability to shoot a powerful laser from his bionic eye (his father was shown using the same ability in an issue of the Six Million Dollar Man comic book, but never in the TV series).
Michael Austin's activities after the events of the reunion movie have not yet been chronicled; he does not appear, though he is mentioned in the subsequent movie, Bionic Showdown.
