Chapter 1

The Rebirth

Dr. Nathan Bennett his wife Laura and their daughter Dana sat in a room of the Intensive Care Unit of Stokes Memorial Hospital staring at the bed where their son Michael had been laying for the last Day and a half. Dr. Bennett shuddered at the memory of the phone that had come on that night.

He and Dana had been in the living room playing cards and Mrs. Bennett was just coming into the room to join them when the phone rang. Mrs. Bennett answered the phone expecting it to be their some Michael letting them know that he and his friends were on their way home from the baseball game that they had been to that evening, but instead of her son's voice she heard the voice of a police officer telling her that their had been an accident a drunk driver in a large pick-up truck had plowed into Michael and his friends as they were pulling onto the main road. Michael's two friends had been killed instantly and Michael himself was barely alive. Dana and her father immediately stopped their game when they say Mrs. Bennett turn pale and sink onto the couch. As soon as she hung up they all piled into the car and rushed too the hospital and that's where they had been for the last 36 hours.

"The doctor said that the anatomical damage is so severe that even if he survives he'll just be a vegetable for the rest of his life," Said Mr. Bennett as he came back from talking to the doctor, "but at least he's stable for now." He added as he sank into a chair and buried his head in his hands.

"How can this be happening," he said to himself as he hovered on the edge of despair. Dr. Bennett was a groundbreaking physician and expert in Cybernetics and Bio-technology. But none of that mattered to him now as he rose from his chair and began to pace the room again. He ran his fingers through his hair then he stuck his hands in his pockets, felt something, and pulled it out it was the little note book where he kept notes from his research at the lab. Sitting down again he began to leaf through the notebook absent- mindedly. When he came to the page that contained the information on his most secret project, Project Fusionhe stopped short.

"That's it," he said to himself hope shining his eyes again, "I can save my son, there is a way!"

Two years later…

Michael Bennett sat at the breakfast table stuffing a forkful of scrambled eggs into his mouth. To look at him now one would see a handsome five foot eleven inch 16 year-old boy with thick brown hair and brown eyes and would never think that he and the boy who two years ago had laid at death's door were one and the same. But if you looked inside this normal looking boy you would see that his body was not fancy prosthetics here and flesh there but a perfect fusion of man and Cybernetics. He was a bionic man with an indestructible skeleton as well as superhuman strength, speed, agility, and senses. Of course his mother said that he had a bionic Appetite to start with. Michael finished his eggs and grabbed another piece of toast as he headed for the door. Today was his first official day back at school. His mother had tutored him during his two year recovery from the accident, and Michael was grateful that thanks to his mother he wouldn't fall behind.

"Michael," said his mother as he moved toward the door, "Remember, you need to come straight home from school this afternoon. Your father has that party this evening at the Alvarian Consulate and he wants us to go along."

"I won't forget, Mom," Michael said turning back toward the door. Giving his sister Dana a kiss on the top of head as he went by he slipped out the door just in time to catch the bus. Ever since Dana had come with in a hairs-breadth of losing her brother, she had fought with him a lot less.

Michael stepped on to the bus and walked down the aisle to meet the grinning face of his best friend Chris Mathers, The only one of his friends that he hadn't lost in the crash. Chris jumped to his feet and gave Michael a manly hug.

"It's good to see you, man," He said earnestly, "you really had me worried there for a while." Chris looked at Michael,

"Boy, Michael," he said, "your dad is Miracle worker, you don't even have a scar."

"Chris," said Michael "Lets just forget the whole thing and get back to normal, Okay?"

"Right," said Chris, "sorry I didn't mean to bring back bad memories, but for what it's worth the judge threw the book at the guy that hit you. He's now serving ten years in the state penitentiary."

"Good," said Michael, "I'm glad he's not on the street anymore."

The two friends sat there and rode the rest of the way in companionable silence. They had just stepped off the bus when someone bumped squarely into Michael. Michael's hands shot out and caught the person before they fell. It was Anna Macmillan who was the prettiest girl in the school both two years ago and now. She smiled at Michael who started to blush. He pulled her up straight on her feet, then pulled his hands away and stuffed them in his pockets.

"Thanks," she said smoothing back one of her unruly blonde bangs, "You have great reflexes, Michael," she touched his arm, "Have you been working out?" before Michael could say anything she hurried off to join her own friends.

"Wow," said Chris, "things sure are going your way today! She was practically asking you out with that little have you been working out routine."

"Are you kidding?" Michael asked, "If her boyfriend Alex saw that I'd be back in the ICU again!"

They started walking toward the building again when all of a sudden a long black stretch limo pulled up at the curb. The chauffer jumped out as soon as the car was stopped and open the back door. Every boy in the schoolyard stopped and stared as a beautiful blue-eyed brunette stepped out of the car. She was wearing a red dress with a black leather jacket on top and black boots. Her hair was done up in a long braid that ran down her back clear to her waist. She picked up her books and walked gracefully across the schoolyard toward the door.

"Who is that?" whispered Michael as he and Chris watched the girl from the front steps as she walked toward them."

"That must be Alethea (uh-Lee-the-uh) the Alvarian prime ministers niece," Chris whispered back, "we found out two days ago at orientation that he was sending her to school here, didn't know she was such a babe though." Alethea breezed passed the staring boys and into the building as several of said boys got elbow shots to the ribs from their girlfriends.

As luck would have it the first class that Michael had that day was Chemistry. He and Chris walked into the science classroom and slid into their seats at one of the work tables near the front as the other students filed in.

"Class," said Mr. Forbes the teacher when they had all more or less quieted down, "this is Alethea our newest student." He motioned to the mysterious new girl who now stood there in front with him.

"Alethea," said Mr. Forbes, "you may take the empty seat next to Mr. Bennett and Mr. Mathers," he turned to Michael, "and incidentally, Welcome back Mr. Bennett, I'm glad to see that you've made a full recovery."

Alethea slid into the seat next to Michael.

"Hi Alethea," said Michael shyly, "I'm Michael," he motioned to his friend, "this is Chris."

"Hi," she said, "it's nice to meet you, and call me, Alli." Suddenly Michael's super hearing zoomed in on something in the back row. It was Alex Sutton snickering,

"Watch me put this one right into the back of Bennett's head!" he snickered to his friends. Then there was the sound of a sharp breath of air being blown through a straw. Michael's hand flashed behind his head and he caught the spit wad between his fingers a split second before it hit the back of his neck.

"Mr. Sutton," thundered Mr. Forbes who had seen the whole thing, "Can't you lay off the tomfoolery for five minutes!" he strode down the aisle grabbed Sutton by the scruff of the neck and hauled him out to the principal's office.

Michael stood in the middle of the swank Consulate party tugging on the collar of his tuxedo for the hundredth time.

"Will you stop that," said Dana his sister as she came up and adjusted his bowtie again.

"I can't help it," said Michael, "I hate tuxedos! If dad wants me to go to these parties with him tell him to invent a tuxedo that is comfortable!"

"I'm a Doctor and a scientist," said his father with a grin, "not a miracle worker!" Suddenly an official looking man stepped to the top of the staircase.

"Ladies, Gentleman and honor guests," he said in a deep booming voice, "Presenting the Honorable Josef Lamar Prime Minister of Alvaria and his niece, Her Royal Highness Princess Alethea Clarisse Malay!"

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