AN: Well, as there is a moment of peace, there will be a big conflict in the future. Also, a first date of some sorts between Brooke and Matthew. As with other things, when things are going well, something always happens, not good things of course.

Chapter Eight: Dates and STAG Part I

Matthew took it all in. He had to, if you think about it. After Brooke laid a beating on STAG, and kept them busy while the rest of the Saints moved into his house, Matthew found himself with some new, and well armed, purple clad roommates. The Saints literally made themselves at home in his house, and why wouldn't they? Brooke told them that she wanted them to move all of their weapons to Matthew's house. Matthew watched as they put their guns and ammunition around the place, as if their was nothing wrong with what they were doing. Matthew wondered where they got all of those guns, then he remembered when they first arrived here that Brooke robbed the Steelport Armory. Of course she did, what else would she do, as bold as she was.

"Got enough guns?" Matthew asked Brooke as she sat across from him.

"Dear Matthew, you can never have too many guns, especially in Steelport." Brooke answered.

"I was kidding, you know that right?" Matthew said, back at Brooke.

"Oh, well, anyway, thanks for letting us use your home for a base of operations." Brooke said, giving him a smile as she did so.

"It's not as if I had a choice." Matthew said. "You all but demanded that I let you use my place for an HQ. It's not as if I mind helping you and the Saints, but that kind of was thrown on me last minute."

"We will work on that in the near future." Brooke said.

"Yeah, no worries." Matthew said. Brooke stood up, and walked around the corner. Matthew really wanted to ask her, but he chickened out by not saying anything. With STAG around, is a relationship or even a date possible, Matthew wondered as he sat there, pondering his thoughts.

This was the rare occasion, since the Third Street Saints moved into his home, that there was no one there, with the exception of Matthew and Brooke. Brooke was sitting on the couch, watching his big screen TV. Matthew, being as nervous around women as he was, he just stood there, watching her, trying to work up whatever courage that he had to ask her out. Whenever he felt the tiniest bit of courage to ask her out, he would chicken out, and have to retreat back to a corner of the home.

Of course, Brooke took note of what he was doing, and she knew that Matthew wanted to ask her out. She picked up on this soon after they moved into this base of operations. She was having some fun driving him up the wall, but she knew that enough was enough.

"Matthew, was there something that you want to ask me?" Brooke asked him, once he came back into the common area of the home.

Matthew contemplated bailing on asking her out, but his mind wasn't having it. To his dismay and utter horror, he heard with his own ears what his own mouth said.

"I want to formally ask you out on a date." Matthew blurted out. The minute the words left his mouth, his eyes went wide as he soon realized what he had just did.

Brooke stood up, walked to her friend, and placed both hands on his shoulder. She gently placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Sure." Brooke said.

Matthew couldn't speak, nor did he choose to, because why risk messing things up? Matthew just shook his head yes, knowing one hard part is over. Then a question popped up in his mind.

What in the blue hell was he going to do on a date with Brooke?

He dated really casually, as to not try and mess things up. He only dressed in a pair of black slacks, a black button down shirt, and a purple tie, of course. Brooke? Simply a purple dress, but damn did she look good in it. Matthew kept his, to a certain extent, urges, under control as they went out. Now, what would a leader of a notorious street gang want to do on a date? Now, first of all, the question should be why would a gang leader be on a date? To Matthew's surprise, Brooke settled for a movie at the nearby theater.

Matthew and Brooke sat in the front row of the theater, and it was all too obvious that the movie gowers knew who Brooke was, and as the two of them were sitting there, camera flashes began to go off. For a while, Brooke and Matthew tolerated it, but after a few minutes, they could not tolerate it anymore. Brooke grabbed one of Matthew's wrists, and headed for the exit. Of course, some of the more rabid Saints fans followed, and as Brooke and Matthew got into the purple Influego that they both came in, and left, there were a few fans that thought it would be a good idea to follow.

As an expert driver Brooke is, she was able to quickly shake them, as one of the cars that were chasing them got lost, and the other car, crashed into a police car.

"Stupid cunts." Brooke said, as she quietly drove to the Saints HQ. Matthew was glad that she was angry at the people that ruined their date, rather than taking out the anger that she had on Matthew himself. Of course, even though they did not say anything, Matthew and Brooke still had to make this end right.

Brooke and Matthew returned from their "date", and once they went back to the clubhouse/Matthew's home, Brooke went to the bedroom, and changed into her regular clothes, which was sneakers, blue jeans, and a black and purple Saints hoodie. Brooke was going around the apartment, doing various things, while Matthew sat there, watching Pierce and Oleg playing chess again.

"So, how did your date go?" Pierce asked.

"It went as well as expected." Matthew said. "We were sitting there, watching the movie, and then all of these camera flashes went off. We sat there, trying to ignore it, but of course, it got to be too much, so we left, and raced back here, all in the while causing those who were chasing us to crash.

"Damn. That well, huh?" Pierce said.

"Yes, Pierce. That well." Matthew said, sitting on the edge of the couch while Pierce and Oleg continue to play chess.

"Alright, so who's winning?" Brooke asked, returning to the common area of the home.

Before anyone could answer, there was an explosion in the distance, and a VTOL came crashing into the pool area of the house, coming just short of crashing into the house.

"What the hell is happening out there?" Matthew asked them.

"I don't know, but we have to get out there." Brooke said.

Matthew knew, mostly due to the VTOL almost destroying his house, that Steelport was damn near falling apart. From what he could gather, there was fights breaking out all over the place. Luchadors were busy fighting STAG, and they weren't just fighting in one place, it was all over the damn city. Matthew felt helpless, knowing that Brooke was out there in the frey, risking her life trying to keep Steelport together.

Then it happened. Matthew was about to take a seat on a couch, when he felt a sharp pain, and his body went limp. He fell to the ground with a thud, as a STAG uniform came into view.

Kia, of course... Matthew thought as he blacked out.

AN: Okay, a note. I wanted to include the Murderbrawl 31 event in this story, but I figured now it did not really matter at this point. Also, I promise that I will include the Daedulus in the next chapter, mostly because the story is going to conclude soon enough.