I don't own anything related to Smallville or DC Comics and I make no money from this. The only thing I own is Tyler Queen and some of the bad guys that I use.

This is the 3rd story in the AQD (Another Queen in the Deck) series. You have to have read at least that one to understand this story. Collera Rifatta is second, but is not a required read to understand. Please enjoy.

Chp 1

"Dammit Ollie, will you quit that already?" Tyler was getting mad at his brother. For two hours now, they'd been at work stacking hay in the barn while Clark tossed the bales up from the bottom. It wouldn't have taken so long, but every so often the older Queen would grab a handful of hay and stuff it down Ty's shirt. He didn't even want to think about all the places the small bits of hay currently resided in since they were already itching him.

He'd turned around to face his brother, determined to tackle him this time when a hand landed on his shoulder. Without thinking, he gripped that hand and dropped slightly, delivering an elbow strike to the person's midsection even as he tossed them to the ground without letting them go. His fist was drawn back to strike when Clark wrapped his arms around him and pulled him up off of Chloe, who had stopped by to surprise them.

"Stop it Tyler!" He held onto the younger Queen until he settled while looking over at Ollie. "She okay Ollie?"

Ollie had knelt beside Chloe as soon as Clark grabbed his brother. There hadn't been time for him to warn her and he knew that Tyler had been unaware that she was there. The little blonde had landed hard on her back, the breathe knocked out of her lungs and she appeared to be slightly stunned.

"Think she just got the wind knocked out of her." Looking up at his brother, who Clark was still keeping hold of just not as tightly, he worried about how tightly wound Tyler really was at the moment. A soft groan from the petite form beside him drew his attention again before he could say anything. "Just concentrate on breathing Chloe."

She nodded while laying there, the warning Ollie had given them back at the penthouse to never startle Tyler having found new meaning in her mind. True, she had seen him work a few forms since he'd started getting back into shape, but other than the one day in the penthouse Tyler had never seemed that dangerous compared to his brother. Now, however, a new respect had formed in Chloe's mind for the younger blonde.

"Okay, so the next time someone warns me not to startle someone, think I'm really going to listen." Letting Ollie help her sit up, the pint-sized reporter faced Tyler. "Maybe I should have you teach me a few moves."

Tyler just stared at her for a few moments before jerking out of Clark's hold and making a run for the edge of the platform. The move startled them all enough that by the time they figured out he was going to jump, it was too late to stop him. With the practiced ease of someone that was used to acrobatics, Ty launched himself at the rope that was hanging from the rafters. The gloves he'd been wearing to stack the hay the only things that saved his hands as he slid down the rope and dropped the last 10 feet to the ground.

That was where his flight ended as Clark used his superspeed to get in front of him. "We're going to talk about what just happened Tyler."

"What just happened? I almost took out Chloe, Clark. That's what the hell just happened." Fear over having hurt the little blonde and anger that he'd let himself be startled like that colored his voice as he stood toe-to-toe with the brunette. "Now let me go." He tried to brush past the farmboy, but another hand on his shoulder stopped him. Again, his instincts took over, only this time, the fist that was thrown was caught by his brother. Anger flooded him as he launched an attack on Ollie.

Noticing what was going to happen, Clark went over to Chloe, holding his best friend close. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just a little sore." She watched the two brothers circle each other, one of them occassionally sending out a punch or kick, testing the other. "Someone's going to get hurt."

"I'll stop it before it gets too bad, but they need to do this."

Chloe frowned up at him. "They need to beat the shit out of each other? That doesn't make any sense Clark."

"They both have a lot of issues to work out Chlo. One of those is the fact that Oliver's been treating Tyler like someone he needs to protect. That's part of the reason that Ty spent over a week out here with just mom before Thanksgiving. For Ollie to stop protecting Tyler, he needs to know that his little brother can take care of himself. This is probably the only way he's really going to understand that his Tyler isn't a kid anymore."

Rolling her eyes, Chloe sighed. "This could get messy."

Tyler never took his eyes off his brother as he ditched his jacket, leaving only a short sleeve T-shirt covering his upper body. The jacket hindered his movements slightly and for this he was going to need every bit of flexibility he could muster. Warily, he let Ollie do the same even as deft fingers removed the watch that rested once again on his left wrist. It had been a graduation present from the older Queen, only given to him a few days ago, and he was not going to have it get broken. The first had been laid to waste a few months after Ollie had disappeared. Lost to a wall after a drunken binge that almost ended with a trip to the emergency room. Carefully, putting it in his pocket, Ty launched into a series of kicks and punches.

Ollie knew he was in trouble as soon as Tyler let loose. The comment he'd made about not being able to beat his little brother was completely true and had been for a few years now. Yeah, he might be able to hold his own for a little while, or at least he'd been able to back then. Now, he was seeing a different side of the kid, no the young man, his brother had grown into. The extra years of training had increased the speed of Ty's attacks along with the force that went with them. Still, he could tell that Tyler was holding back and for right now, Oliver was grateful for that. Dropping suddenly, the older blonde attempted a sweep only to have his brother do a standing backtuck out of it.

Grinning at Ollie, Tyler felt himself relax slightly. The anger that had invaded him so rapidly, slowly leaving and allowing him the chance to enjoy the sparring session this was turning into. Only, no one could call the grin inviting. The predatory gleam that remained in his eyes leant it a definite wolfish quality.

"That all you got old man?"

"Just don't want to hurt that pretty face. I mean, what would your lover think if I did."

"He might hurt you, but in the end I think that I could get him to understand."

Without warning, he did a side flip, landing almost directly in front of his brother before grabbing the man and sending him flying in a throw.

Ollie rolled with the throw, coming up on his feet. That was defnitely something new. Now he really was going to have to sit down and look at those videos Bart had gathered for him. Slowly, his respect for his brother's abilities was going up and the idea of him being out on the streets, while still fearful for him, were slowly turning to pride. Then again, it would be the idiots that Tyler faced that had the need to be afraid, especially if the young man ever got truly pissed.

Clark relaxed slightly as he saw the anger fade from both of the Queens and the fight turn into a sparring session. "Well, at least they aren't going to kill each other now."

Chloe could only roll her eyes as she watched, fascinated by the combination of gymnastics and martial arts that Tyler was using to keep Oliver at a distance and off balance.

"Tyler really is good at that, isn't he?"

"Ollie's got a few moves, but yeah, when it comes to straight up knock down drag outs, Tyler's got him beat hands down."

Moving closer, Ollie tried another sweep only to have Tyler flip up into a handstand and start to push upwards with a strike. That was when both of their worlds took a hard turn. The moisture he felt on his face seemed to appear suddenly followed by a scream of pain from his brother before he registered the burning sensation in his own shoulder. A few moments later, the report of gunshot sounded over the area.

No one moved after hitting the dirt for several minutes. When no other shots were fired, they all seemed to come to life once again. Chloe was already digging out her cellphone and calling for an ambulance while Clark went to check on Ollie and Tyler. What he found was surprising considering that only one shot had been fired.

Ollie groaned as Clark pushed down on the wound in his upper left shoulder before looking over at Tyler, who was clutching his leg. "Check on Ty, Clark."

"I will, let me get you taken care of first." He removed his T-shirt and tore it in two before tearing one half of it in two pieces again. One of those Clark used as a pad and tied it into place with the other strip. Looking over at Chloe, he saw that she was done on the phone. "Chloe, hold pressure down on this while I check on Tyler."

Chloe took a seat beside Ollie, putting her hand where Clark showed her. "Ambulance is on its way."

Clark nodded and went over to Tyler, who had yet to say anything. "Tyler? Talk to me, Ty." As gently as he could, Clark pried the blonde's hands away from the back of his right calf. "I need to see it so that I can help you."

"Fuckin hurts, Clark." He forced himself to lay back, but as soon as the brunette put pressure on the wound, he was sitting up and holding tight onto his friend. "Think it went straight through before it hit Ollie."

"Looks like it grooved the back of your calf, took out some of the muscle." Meeting the younger Queen's eyes, Clark put a hand on his shoulder. "Try to relax okay?"

"Easier said than done." Ty tried to look at his brother, but Clark wouldn't let him.

"He's okay Tyler, but I need you to stay with me right now."

Ollie could hear what Clark was saying and gave Chloe a shaky smile before turning his head slightly. "I'm okay Ty, just listen to Clark."

Tyler relaxed a bit at hearing his brother's voice and rested against Clark as the ambulance pulled into the yard.

Eight hours later, Ollie was slowly pushed into his brother's room. When he'd first been treated, they'd kept him and Tyler separate. It had taken the threat of him signing himself out to be put in his brother's room. Looking back at Clark, he nodded towards the bed that Tyler was laying in.

"I want to check on him first." His shoulder was strapped to his chest for the night, but tomorrow he'd be allowed to use a sling. The wound itself hadn't been that deep, but it had been mainly muscle that was affected. It was definitely going to affect his nightly routine for a while.

Bryan had come in after he'd been put in his own room to fill him in on Tyler. While the gunshot to his shoulder had been mild, the bullet had ripped through the back portion of his brother's right calf. It had left a small entrance hole just a quarter of an inch from his shin on one side and surgery had been needed to clean out the wound track before closing it. The fact that he and Ty had been sparring when the shot came was the only thing that had saved his brother's life. If Tyler hadn't been in a handstand when the shot was fired, Oliver would be an only child now.

Tyler looked over as the door opened, then grinned slightly when he saw his brother. "Least I've got company this time."

Ollie snorted. "What makes you think that I'm staying the night?"

"Bryan already told me a few minutes ago that you were being moved up here." He grew serious. "So who do you think was the target?"

"I'm not sure." The older Queen shook his head. "For now, we're going to work off the assumption that we were both targets. I'm halfway tempted to pack you, me, Clark and Chloe up and get us all back to the Hill."

"So basically you want to turn tail and run? Are you stupid Ollie? Sure that bullet didn't hit your head instead of your shoulder? How the hell do you know that's not what they're expecting us to do?"

Clark raised an eyebrow, not saying anything as he watched the two brothers.

"I want you to be safe Tyler. Three weeks from now I want us both to be alive to celebrate Christmas. If that means we have to leave town for a while, then we do it."

"And what are we going to do at Howard Hill that we can't do here, Ollie? The only thing we'll be more there is isolated. The bridge is the only way on or off and the security system hasn't been upgraded lately to cover the rest of the cliffside. Add in that we have a lot of water between us and the mainland there, we'd be sitting ducks if someone decided to come after us. The best chance we have is at the penthouse and sticking to our normal activities. Letting them know that they haven't scared us off is the best way to handle this."

Oliver was silent for a couple of minutes, then sighed. "Somehow I knew that you would say something like that. Guess that's why you're a better tactician than I am."

"It's only because that's the way my mind works Ollie. I hate the boardroom and second guess all my decisions there, you don't. It's why I keep telling you that I won't take over QI again for any length of time."

"Hopefully you won't ever have to until you feel comfortable enough to do it."

Tyler snorted. "No thanks. I'll play the Queen face for the company or the Foundation, but otherwise you can have it. Although, the Foundation wouldn't be as bad to run if you made me pick one."

"Yeah well, for now you can stick with R&D." Ollie sighed. "All right, since we're not going back to Star City, I want you to look over the security at the Tower. See if there's anything we can do to improve it since you won't be very mobile for a couple of weeks."

"Don't remind me. Bryan says it'll be three weeks before I can go back to really doing anything, again. He wants me to use crutches for at least a week to give the muscle a chance to heal."

Clark laughed softly. "Somehow, I don't think you're going to be able to get by without using them, especially considering the fact that Chloe has already threatened to move in with you two to keep you out of trouble."

Tyler rolled his eyes. "Not bad enough my boyfriend is going to freak when he hears this."

"Least he's out of town for his job, right? Means you got a few days."

"That's not a help Ollie. Besides, I seriously doubt Clark's going to let you do a whole lot for a few days either. So don't think that you're in any better off than I am big brother."

Ollie groaned as Clark and Tyler started laughing softly.

"Told ya Ollie, payback can be a bitch." Tyler grinned at his brother as Clark helped him into the other bed.

Clark rolled his eyes. "You two keep this up and I'll gag ya both."

Two pillows went flying at the brunette, who just caught them and laughed. It was definitely going to be an interesting few days.