Welcome to the 2024 Kerth Quiz: Dramatic Story
SPIFFY DISCLAIMER THINGY!: All the stories featured in this quiz qualify for the Best Dramatic Story but this quiz is not a stamp of recommendation for nomination. There are more fantastic stories which qualify for this category, but this quiz only covers 7 randomly chosen ones.
(Instructions are blatantly copied/linked from previous Kerth Quizzes.)RECOMMENDATIONS: Don't forget that recommendations for other eligible stories
in this category are *very* welcome and encouraged! So don't forget to add these in a section after your guesses!
QUIZ RULES: One point each for getting the story and author from the quote. Plus, shiny gold stars for those who recognize their own stories. Please don't forget to mention which number you're answering. Rule recap: Open hard drive and open boards (+AO3!), *don't* forget to snip out the excerpts in your replies, and don't forget the spoiler tag when you post in the replies thread.
CATEGORY: Dramatic stories keep us on the edge of our seats. They’re filled with exciting and suspenseful events and can be similar in tone to the show's episodes or tackle a more serious subject matter. They will generally, though not always, contain a significant A-plot.
The DEADLINE for entries for this quiz is TUESDAY, February 27, 2024, by 11:59 p.m (Eastern Time Zone).
(And don’t worry – you still have until Saturday, Feb. 24, to answer the Comedy Story quiz!)
Here’s the full list of
Eligible Stories.
Here are the full quiz instructions:
Countdown to Kerth Quizzes Extended Instructions and Disclaimers.
Please post your answers
HERE.
Good luck!
Evie
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EXCERPT #1: “I don’t know. But Luthor was willing to do anything to make sure I stayed away from you,” he admitted, frustrated, even a little disgusted at himself for having gone to see Luthor in the first place. “Even offering me twenty thousand dollars to move out of Metropolis and out of your life.”
Clark watched Lois step back, her hand coming up to cover her mouth and her eyes dropping down. Then she looked back up slightly.
“Did you…consider taking the money?” she wondered.
His left hand tightened back into a fist, and his heart rate skyrocketed. His lips pursed into a line, and he took a deep breath in through his nose. How could she?
“I can’t believe you! After everything we’ve gone through, do you think my feelings for you are that fleeting? Twenty thousand or twenty million, there isn’t an amount of money that would make me leave Metropolis or you,” he snapped.
Clark turned his back on her. He couldn’t believe she would ask that.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as he felt the touch of her hand on his shoulder. “It was a stupid question. I’m not even sure why I even asked.”
He faced her again and saw the defeat in her eyes. Reaching up, he cupped her cheek with his hand. Those eyes staring back at him made his heart squeeze, like they always did, and he suddenly had the urge to remind her how he really felt for her.
EXCERPT #2:Would Lois put two and two together if Clark and Superman had disappeared around the same time? Probably, if she wasn’t too occupied grieving over her hero… At some point she would have found out I’m sure maybe my parents would have told her.
There she is, standing in front of the building that used to house the Planet.
She looks absolutely stunning. Has it already been two weeks since we saw each other? I can see the hopeful expression on her beautiful face and I feel myself becoming excited over the thought of being able to work with her again.
We wanted to meet here, Perry told us the globe would be put back in its place today.
It feels like a new beginning.
EXCERPT #3:Laughter filled the corridor, terrifying and cruel. His voice sounded so different when Luthor used it.
"Do you really believe you can hide behind that tiny piece of metal?"
He crossed the hall in long strides, snapping his fingers against one of the frames a few yards from Clark. The bed flew as if it weighed nothing, crushing into the next one with a deafening bang. The beds slid across the floor, though their brakes were probably secured, creaking on the tiled floor. Clark’s eyes widened as he saw SuperLex approach the next bed, the one that was next to the bed he was hiding behind. Frantically, he searched for the stone, aware of the clock ticking down. He had bare seconds, if that.
His heart raced and his breath caught. Damp fingers tried to find the one warm spot in the darkness of the old hospital corridor. He spotted SuperLex’s evil smile, faintly illuminated by the lamps outside. Deliberately slow, the other man moved his hand toward the bed frame, indicating that it would only take another snap of his finger.
SuperLex’s fingers moved, and Clark knew that he was losing this game if he didn’t run away now. He realized that he was going to lose it either way if he couldn’t get hold of that damn stone, too. The kryptonite Lois had might not be enough to get his body back. It certainly wasn’t going to help him if the body he was currently in was smashed under the weight of the hospital bed.
He was no longer in the position to just catch it with his bare hands and throw it back on his attacker.
SuperLex snapped his fingers and Clark’s heart stopped. His own fingers suddenly closed around something warm and he jumped back. But nothing happened. No bed was flying in his direction.
“Boo!”
Clark gasped in shock, realizing too late that the monster was teasing him.
EXCERPT #4:He heard the squeal of brakes and a yelled curse with the blow of a horn before he shot down from the sky. A truck had lost control due to a blown tire and was now careening down the sidewalk.
It ran over a bike just as Kal touched down and blurred in front of it, bringing it to a safe stop right before it would have taken out a street vendor and a couple waiting in line.
The driver was grateful, but soon everyone's attention was taken by the sound of a girl’s cry. She rushed out of the ice cream store nearby.
"My bike!"
There was a twelve or thirteen year old girl on her knees beside the now crushed bike, her hands gripping the bent bars, as if trying to straighten them. She quickly dissolved into tears.
A few people tried to console her as the driver of the truck, seeing what his vehicle had done, quickly hurried over and offered to buy her a replacement bicycle. However, their words seemed to only make her cry harder.
“No, you don’t understand! My grandpa gave me that bike!” she sobbed. “He gave it to me before he got sick!”
Seeing their efforts were not helping, Superman headed to the distraught girl, quickly causing those near to step back.
“Here, maybe I can fix it,” he said.
The girl gasped as she looked up, still on her knees. He knelt down and carefully wrapped his fingers around part of the crumpled frame and straightened the bars as if they were clay. Focusing his heat vision, he softened the metal where he needed and continued down the frame, blowing cold breath here and there, until everything was as good as new, although the bike would need a new paint job.
“Oh, thank you, Superman! Thank you!” she cried, leaping forward and hugging him tightly.
EXCERPT #5:Clark wasn't sure what he'd expected to see in the day's newspaper, but the story about the new Superman memorial being built in Centennial Park surprised him. The article waxed poetic about a noble hero who was tragically killed in action in the depths of outer space. Clark dropped the paper back onto the table, his lungs burning. He took a deep breath, then another. Blessed noise filled his ears as his children played nearby.
A hand covered his, and he opened his eyes to see a beautiful woman looking down at him. His…wife? Yes, she was certainly his wife. Her name came to him briefly but then fluttered away.
"I'm sorry." The words escaped before he could think of why he wanted to say them.
She squeezed his hand. "Don't be. You saved billions of lives."
"You're left with the pieces."
"I'll take having pieces of you over having none of you any day of the week!" She lowered herself into the chair next to his. "I love you."
"I know." He brought their hands to his chest and smiled at her. "I remember it in here, just fine.”
EXCERPT #6:The familiar scent of hot newsroom coffee permeated her senses.
Lois woke to find her palm pressed against the cold floor.
Her gaze flicked in the direction of her favorite morning stimulant and she found Clark leaning against the coffee station on the other side of the room with Jack. He focused on her as soon as her eyes sought his, but his face was tight, unhappiness written in his eyes.
What’s wrong? she thought, letting the thought read on her face.
But their connection from the night before must have evaporated in the light of dawn because his expression only shuttered further.
Had their exchange in the night even been real?
It must have been, because he’d kept his promise to her. He was still angled toward the gunmen, watching them through the doors.
Or maybe he was just being cautious. It seemed like something that Clark would do.
It was then that she realized her head was lying on something soft, and there was a weight on her shoulder.
Her skin crawled there.
She tilted her head to look up and realized that she was resting on a human pillow.
“Lex,” she said neutrally.
EXCERPT #7:“I, on the other hand, am feeling wonderful. She’s beautiful therefore to be wooed, she’s woman, therefore to be won.”
I want to throw up. How had I almost married this man?
“Henry the Fifth. Oh I know, it must be tough. Lying there, seeing me all decked up like this. On my way to marry Lois Lane, while you lie there helplessly and suffer. And tonight, tonight, won’t just be any night. I love Lois. I really do. But she’s just a little too independent don’t you think? Well, I’ll take care of that.”
I’d known for twenty years now what a despicable person Lex had been, but like most things, the years had made the memory fade. Not only am I disgusted, but now I’m terrified. The threat behind his words is cold and cruel.
“Clark Kent knows where I am,” Superman splutters.
Good luck, everyone!
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🏆2024 Kerth Award Posts 🏆.
The Kerth Committee
(KSaraSara, Darth Michael, lovetvfan, and JadedEvie)
