Katherine goes silent for a moment. She then speaks up again: "OK, so it was the shadow people's fault, because they wanted my powers. But, doesn't that mean none of it would have happened without my powers?"
"Well, if it weren't for your rather unusual abilities, Shadow would simply have tried something else. They are a world-spanning conspiracy decades in the making; you cannot yet conceive how many plots they handle at the same time. Additionally, were it not for your powers, hundreds of people at the Megalopolis hospital would still be ill or injured right now."
"So my powers aren't a bad thing?"
"Power in itself is neither good or bad. It is its application - the way in which you use your power - that gives it meaning." You get the impression Checkmate is struggling to adapt his usual speech patterns in an attempt to say things the little girl can understand. "Your powers, quite honestly, are amazing. The power of entropy, the power of creation...You are, dare I say, a living thermodynamic miracle."
"A what?!"
"A thermodynamic miracle. An event theoretically possible, yet so unlikely as to practically be impossible.
You can repair things. Even life itself. You reverse entropy. And that, Katherine, is a miracle of science...For I have little doubt that the source of your abilities is quite advanced a science. Speaking of which, we will absolutely have to discuss the origins of your abilities..."
"I don't really know much. I was at home, when there was this blue lightning or something, and things were fuzzy. I got surprised and fell on my butt. It hurt a bit, and I wanted to stop hurting...and it did. Just like that.
After that, odd things kept happening. Especially when my broken toy fixed itself when I wanted it to. Then I fixed Tommy Ribnut's asthma ((Ha! There's your explanation!)), and made him promise not to tell anyone, because I figured lots of superheroes keep their secret identities.
I told mom, and said that, since I could fix the dead flowers in her garden, maybe I could bring back daddy too. She said no - she says daddy is in Heaven, and we should leave him there. But I thought about helping people, and decided the hospital would be the right place, and then..."
"...And then Shadow came."
"Yeah."
"An interesting tale." You noticed Checkmate slightly twitching at the "daddy is in Heaven" part, but he seems set on ignoring it. "We shall discuss it further...But for now, let's teleport."
The following second, all of you suddenly find yourself inside Checkerboard's base, in front of a door. Serenity is right there to greet you. "Sir, we are maintaining surveillance on our query as requested."
"Good. Back to you in a minute." Checkmate then kneels down to face the little girl. "Katherine...Your mother is in the room on the other side of that door. Your powers can heal her, but, you need to understand...She's badly hurt. Are you ready to face that?"
She hesitates for a couple of seconds. "Yes."
"Good. There you go."
As Checkmate opens the door, Katherine hesitatingly enters. There, you see Mrs Adrian, still comatose, breathing through a medical apparatus.
Katherine pales a bit. Then she raises her hands. "M-mom...Be OK...Please be OK..."
Once again, a soft glow fills the room.
Then Mrs Adrian opens her eyes. "Kathy?"
The child jumps at her, hugging her mother forcefully. The mother, confused, hugs back, looking at her surroundings. "What...what happened?"
"It's a long story, mom...But I guess it was a...a..." Katherine then turns to Checkmate. "What were those words?"
"Thermodynamic Miracle?"
"Yeah, that. You know," she grins shyly, "that might actually be a good name..."
"Shorten it to Miracle."
"Good idea."