This story is my ode to Spaghetti Westerns, specifically those made by the master Sergio Leone, (The Dollars Trilogy and Duck, You Sucker!). There are plenty of other influences as well, with many references to works by Akira Kurosawa for example, (Seven Samurai, Yojimbo).

With the story being set in the 1860s in northern Mexico I decided to take a couple liberties with some of the character names. For example Heero's name in the story is Hero, and is referred to as Zero, Quatre's name is Raberba-Winner. This is both a contextual and an artistic decision to change some of their names. I'll be sure to note when other characters pop up with alternative names so nobody gets confused.

The plan of this story is to be about six chapters long or so. I'm trying to make each chapter unique enough to keep myself interested in writing the whole story and for you the readers to keep interested as well.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Gundam Wing, they belong to their respected owners.

Chapter 1 – The Assassin

Western border region of Texas and Mexico: Mexican side.

1867.

The dust was everywhere, deep within the Chihuahua desert. Sand and dirt were blowing in his face, trekking along the loose sand on the ground. His body was completely covered, a heavy wool blanket wrapped around him, a pair of goggles covering his eyes protecting them from dust. His blond hair was scruffy, filled with dirt and sand. His whole body was covered with dirt and sand. The dirt crusted on his fingers as he held the blanket wrapped around him so for it not to blow away. The wind blew immensely picking up all the loose sand from the ground.

The heat was scorching but he continued to walk. The multiple layers he worn made the heat that much more unbearable but they were a necessity for the other elements the desert threw at him. It was clear God never wanted nor intended for anyone to have to transverse these parts, especially on foot. He could feel his strength slowly drain with every step but knew he must press on. Though the thick cloud of sand made it almost impossible to see a few feet ahead of him if his calculations were accurate, and they always were, his destination was not far.

Only a few more miles and his long journey would come to an end. He was headed for a border town called Topacobne. His feet ached as he took each step. His mouth was dry and begging for water, but he had run out a couple miles back. Most men would count themselves out at this point and consider them self dead. No food or water on them, not able to see what was ahead of them. No way to tell if they were even headed in the right direction. But not him, he was a betting man. This meant he would not cut his loses too soon. His name was Raberba-Winner, the Winner was because he never lost.

***

Topacobne, Mexico-Texas Border. Mexican Side.

In the distance the sound of galloping could be heard. Not just one horse though but a dozen. Quickly the streets began to clear out; everyone ran inside. It was not long before the entire main street of the town was empty. First there was a calm as the streets lie empty. Soon the galloping began to get loader and loader. It would not be long before in the distance figures could be seen riding on horses. There were about six men on horseback all dressed as respectable cowboys. They were guarding a stagecoach each riding on opposite sides of it. The group rode to the end of the street where they finally came to a stop outside of the Inn.

Slowly those who had run for shelter began to immerge to get a glimpse at the travelers. The sound of a group of galloping horses in these parts meant bandits so most were surprised to see such a clear bunch. Out from the Inn came a young man dressed in black, he walked over to the side of the porch, he watched closely as the men descended down off of their horses. He had medium brown hair mostly covered by his hat. As the guards approached the stagecoach the man in black took out his pipe, he began to smoke as he watched with intrigue. His name was Hero, but most knew him by reputation as Zero.

The first man to the stagecoach opened the door wide. Slowly an attractive young woman descended down onto the rigid ground. She was dressed nicely with a clean flowing red dress. Not the prettiest girl in the world but in these parts a girl with her looks was a dime a dozen. She was followed by a much older man in formal dress as well. He had this smile on his face, something that stood out for Zero, he had never seen someone that happy this side of the Mississippi.

The mood in town was cautious. They all kept their distance as the guards began to unpack the stagecoach. A short old fellow dressed in a tarnished suit quickly rushed to the travelers' side. "Foreign Minister Darlian!" the short man called out. "Welcome to our humble town. I hope your visit with the Yankees was a success."

"As close to a success as you can manage with them," Darlian was happy to report.

"Good, excellent!" the short old man proclaimed. "Come, come, let's get you and your boys settled in at our Inn here." He motioned them towards the Inn. Darlian nodded and so they headed towards the Inn. The young female was the last in the group to enter in the Inn. She spent much of her time walking admiring the dirty landscape. This was obviously a new environment for her. As she walked up the steps her gaze shifted for a moment to the young man smoking a pipe standing on the porch. The others did not even give him a glance, but she gave him a complete look over. Zero was an aware of this and gave her a good look over himself.

***

The bottom level of the Inn was a saloon. By night the saloon had become packed after word spread of the Foreign Minister being present there. He positioned himself at the bar as to allow access for the local population to ask him any questions. There at the bar he was joined by the young lady. The closest table was occupied by his guards who were enjoying a game of cards.

"Minister, when can we expect to have Texas back under our control?" A local townsman asked him.

"I'd like to say soon but there is no telling when. Those stubborn Yanks really don't want to let it go but we're not able to let them have it." He tried to assure the man.

At the back of the bar in the farthest of corners sat Zero watching all the proceedings. His pipe rested firmly between his lips and a glass of whiskey in his hand. With such a large crowd it would be easy not to notice he was there at all.

"Minister, do you mind me asking who that lovely senorita you have with you is?" Another man asked.

Darlian just shrugged and let off a smile. "This beautiful young lady is my daughter, Relena Darlian. It's her first time up north. I figured she could handle the journey now that the government's been relocated to Chihuahua." He looked over at his daughter who gave a slight grin in return. Darlian was then nearly knocked to the ground as a man pushed him over to the side to get to the bar. The bar went completely silent. Darlian's guards immediately stood up from their seats but Darlian signed them not to act. Darlian then tapped the man on the shoulder. "Excuse me?" He asked.

The man turned around to look at Darlian. The man was obviously a local, not very intimidating, his clothes were ripped and he was missing a couple front teeth. "What do you want?" the man barked back at Darlian.

"You pushed me and I almost fell. I believe you owe me an apology." Darlian told the man in a calm and cool manner. In the back Zero finished smoking his pipe and downed his what was left of his drink looking on at the confrontation just like everyone else.

The man stuck his finger right at Darlian's chest. "I don't owe you shit! You come in here prancing around like some king. Well let me tell you that nothing or nobody gets in the way of Rico and his drink! No exception!" Rico then turned and faced the bartender. "Bartender! Get me a beer!" he hollered. The barman though just stood at the far side of the bar with his arms crossed and did not move. "What is this?" Rico yelled. He then turned and looked at Darlian who had that same smirk on his face. "Wipe that grin off your face!" Rico yelled as he threw a punch at Darlian.

Darlian was able to dodge the punch with ease. Then he swung his right fist and punched Rico right in the face. Rico lost his footing from the punch but was able to catch himself by grabbing onto the bar. From there he was quick to react grabbing a bottle from the bar and smashing overtop of Darlian's head. Darlian grabbed at his head in pain as Darlian's guards intervened, grabbed Rico and dragged him out of the bar. Relena knelt down to her father's side. "Father! Are you okay?"

"Yes sweetie, I'm fine, I can't feel any bleeding." Darlian said running his hand through his hair. He slowly stood up but wobbled a little getting to his feet needing Relena to help him. "Though I think I'm going to retire to my room for the night." Darlian turned and looked at all the townspeople. "Thank you all for this wonderful night." He said before releasing himself from his daughter's grip. He slowly made his way up the stairs and down the long corridor with doors on either side before coming to his room. He opened the door to a room that was in complete darkness. He closed the door behind him and reached to light a lamp. The match was lit but before he could light it he heard a voice.

"Playing this good guy act might have fooled everyone else in town. But you and me both know, you're a bad man Darlian." The voice said.

Darlian lit the lamp and the room filled with light to reveal Zero sitting on a chair on the far side of the room. Darlian looked him over quickly; something noticeable was that Zero was not holding a revolver. "I have no idea what you are talking about." He replied. Darlian then slowly stepped over to the dresser. There he opened the top drawer with his back to Zero. "I have been an upstanding citizen my whole life." Darlian then swung around quickly holding a revolver he had stashed in the drawer. Quickly he began to fire his revolver at Zero but nothing was happening.

This made Zero chuckle a little. "Honestly? The top drawer of your dresser? That's the most obvious place to stash a gun. Oh and don't bother trying to get at your other one inside your spare boot, I took all the bullets out of that one too."

Back downstairs Relena was having a laugh with some of the locals. While she appeared to be having a good time she was nevertheless worried about her father. Deciding to ease her worries she told the others "I'm going to go check up on my father and make sure he's okay. He seemed a little wobbly getting up." She then ascended from her chair. Looking around the bar the place had really emptied out. One notable absentee for Relena was the man in black who she could not recall if he was even at the saloon that night.

"So are you just going to sit there and talk or are you actually going to shoot me?" Darlian asked facing off against Zero trying to keep his cool. Zero on the other hand was very relaxed.

Zero reached behind his back and pulled out a revolver. "Don't worry; I'm not going to bore you to death." Darlian took a step back in fear as Zero slowly pointed the revolver right at his chest.

The was a creak sound each time Relena placed her foot down on one of the steps as she ascended to the second floor. The creaks disturbed Relena, she began to have a bad feeling. Once on top she looked down the long dark hallway, with doors on either side. She began to walk towards her father's room. The only sound that could be heard was one of the doors behind her opening with a rusted creak. At her father's door she reached down for the door handle.

"Do you have any personal stake in this?" Darlian asked Zero.

"No," Zero replied, "Just business."

Frustration began to fill Darlian, "killed by a petty assassin. This was not the way I had expected to go."

Zero stood up from his seat. "Here," he said as he tossed a bullet to Darlian. "Put that in your gun. So that when they find your body it will not seem like you were completely outsmarted by a petty assassin. A little dignity as you go to your grave." Darlian was taken aback, he looked down at the bullet now resting in the palm of his hand. Slowly he opened the cylinder and placed the bullet in a chamber. He took a deep breath before closing the cylinder.

A hand grabbed Relena's arm preventing her from reaching the doorknob. She looked to her left to see a dirty, scruffy man, with blond hair and goggles standing next to her keeping a firm grip on her arm. "Do you believe in the afterlife? Are you a good Catholic girl?" the man asked her.

Relena was surprised by the stranger and did not know how to react. "Who are you? What do you want?" she asked him. The bang of a single gunshot resonated out of Darlian's room. "Father!" Relena screamed as she broke from the man's grip and ran into the room.

"I sure hope so," Raberba-Winner said as he turned back.

Relena ran into the room. The room was black with the exception of the light that came from the open door to the hallway and the window at the far side. The first thing she saw was the outline of a figure in the back of the room, then down at the ground by her feet where the lifeless body of her father lied. "Daddy!" She screamed. She knelt down but was to afraid to touch his body. Looking up she saw the figure was still there. "Why? Why did you do this?" She cried as tears began to flow down her face.

"I know how you feel, a bad man came and killed my father too, all I can say is I'm sorry." The dark figure spoke.

Breathing heavily Relena looked down at her father's open hand where a sat a revolver. She quickly grabbed the gun and pointed it up at the figure, but he was gone. At this moment some of the guards reached the doorway, having come running since hearing the gunshot.

Outside Zero dropped to the ground. With a quick glance back at the window he had jumped out of he began to run into the thick darkness of night. "There he goes!" he heard someone yell from the window.

Inside there was much rumbling about as all of Darlian's guards ran out to the front of the Inn. There they were met by a number of locals. "We want to help find this bastard too," one of the locals said.

The guards did not seem to mind. "Okay, you guys there check the stables, you guys over there head to the chapel," the head guard barked orders. Everyone began scrambling running off in different directions. "Miguel and Pedro, you two go and search the storehouses." The head guy told two of the other guards.

"I'll come along," A voice said. They all turned to see a blond man with goggles exit the Inn. "I know those storehouses like the back of my palm."

"Okay, lead the way." Miguel told him. Raberba-Winner nodded, he ran from his spot past the guards and towards a set of buildings at the far side of the town. The other two stumbled for a second but was able to catch up and follow closely behind Winner. The storehouses were at the very outreaches of the town. They were rather tall buildings almost looked like miniature warehouses. Once they approached the first building Winner stopped, the others did too. They each pulled out their pistol as they approached the first of three.

It was quieter here, all the yelling and shouting, people firing their pistols into the air, it was all in the distance back towards the Inn. What they heard sounded more like echoes of all the commotion. Winner slowly reached his hand over to the door. Both Miguel and Pedro were standing directly behind Winner on either side. They raised their pistols and aimed for the door. Winner threw open the door. Inside was empty though, as all three looked it over. "Guess he's not in here." Pedro said.

Winner swung around and shot Miguel then Pedro both in the stomach with an impressive amount of haste. Their bodies flew backwards and landed onto the ground almost simultaneously. Winner stood there for a second trying to hear if anyone was alerted by the gunshots. Luckily no one seemed to have noticed or cared. Winner reached down and dragged both bodies into the storehouse and closed the door behind him. He then gave the place a quick look over before saying "Zero, you can come down now, the coast is clear."

Winner stood there for a couple seconds before he saw Zero drop down from the rafters of the building onto the ground. "How did you know I was here?"

"I just wagered this was the best hiding spot in town. No one is going to think to look up at the rafters in one of the buildings, probably just give it a quick glance over. The morning comes, someone delivers a shipment, and you're able to drop down, stow away and make a clean getaway." Winner explained his logic. "But come I've got two horses waiting out back, we can leave tonight."

"Not so fast," a voice said. They both turned to see that same short old man who had greeted Darlian when he first arrived. "Zero still needs to get paid for a job well done, though our secure hiding spot looks like it wasn't as secure as we had thought."

The old man walked to Zero and handed him a bag of coins. "Thank you, Doctor J." Zero said to him.

"Alright now come on," Winner said as he began to jog towards the exit. Zero turned and followed closely behind him leaving Doctor J standing in the middle of the room. Winner opened the door slightly and looked out. There did not seem to be anyone around. Winner was nevertheless cautious as he exited, sticking to the side of the building with Zero following right behind him. They got to the other side of the storehouse where just as Winner had said were two houses tied to a pole and waiting. Winner quickly untied them then grabbed the first one and began to mount it.

Zero grabbed the second one and looked over at Winner. "Who are you anyway?"

"My name is Raberba-Winner, and I'm your next client."