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Contract on the Hitman: Difference between revisions
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.ContractOnTheHitman 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.ContractOnTheHitman, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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A professional killer (most likely a [[Hitman With a Heart]]) suddenly finds himself being hunted by the very organization he works for. Cue a plot line involving him taking out other assassins as he works his way through the ranks trying to find out who wants him dead and why.
Sometimes it's because the assassin wants to quit their profession, leading to [[The Syndicate]] (or [[The Government]], or [[Murder, Inc.|whatever other employers he's working for]]) reminding him, in deadly fashion, that [[Resignations Not Accepted|there's only one way to leave]]. Sometimes it's because his employers don't want to pay him for a crucial job or consider him to have [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|outlived his usefulness]] or [[You Have Failed Me|failed them in some manner]], particularly if he refused to do a hit for them that the assassin considered to be [[Even Evil Has Standards|against his principles]] (women and kids are an all time favorite, falling [[In Love With the Mark]] being especially common). Sometimes it's revenge for a past loss or embarrassment at the assassin's hands, or because he or she wants something (or someone) that the assassin has and wants him or her out of the way. But most often, the reason for the [[Contract On the Hitman]] is because the employer doesn't want anything linking the killing that the assassin did back to them, and wants the assassin eliminated because -- say it with us, people -- [[He Knows Too Much]].
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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
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* Non-lethal variant: in the pilot to ''[[Werewolf]]'', a bounty hunter breaks off contact with his boss to [[Stern Chase|track Eric across the country]]. His frustrated employer grouses that he's going to have to hire a bounty hunter to locate his bounty hunter.
* In the ''[[Queen of Swords (TV)|Queen of Swords]]'' episode "Duel With a Stranger", Montoya hires a swordsman to kill the Queen, planning to have Grisham murder the swordsman so he won't have to pay him.
* In ''[[Kidnapped (TV)]]'', the ruthless conspiracy that employs the Accountant gets ticked off and decides to have him killed after he botches a couple of hits. The cops scoop him up first, though, so they only manage to kill his wife instead. [[That Makes Me Feel Angry|This somewhat upsets him.]]
* The beginning of the series ''[[Matrix (TV)|Matrix]]'' (no relation to [[The Matrix]], despite also co-starring Carrie-Anne Moss) has its protagonist, mob hitman Steven Matrix, nearly being killed by another hitperson who had been hired to take him out.
* The episode "Under Covers" of ''[[NCIS (TV)|NCIS]]'' had a twist on this. When two married assassins die in a car wreck, Tony and Ziva take their place to find out who the target was at a Marine event. Later in the episode, we find out it was a set-up to kill the assassins.
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* This is the premise of the game ''[[Bushido Blade]]''; your character is trying to escape from the clan of assassins he or she belongs to, and the rest of the cast wants you dead.
* In ''[[Dead or Alive]]'', Ayane is required to kill her half-sister Kasumi as desertion from a ninja clan is punishable by death.
* The game ''[[Shadow Warrior]]'' has Lo Wang, the title character, being targeted by his former employer Zilla when he quit his corporation after learning of Zilla's plan to rule Japan with creatures summoned from the dark side. Being a martial arts style [[First
* After [[Tsukihime|Kiri Nanaya]], the head of the [[Badass Family|Nanaya clan]] of demon/demon-hybrid assassins, retires and leaves the protection of the organization he belonged to, Makihisa Tohno and Kouma Kishima lead an attack on them. After a prolonged battle, Kiri is killed by Kouma, who goes on to slaughter everyone else except Shiki. Both were motivated by personal vendetta: Kouma was attacked and had one of his eyes blinded by Kiri when he was younger during one of his missions, and Makihisa is implied to have been the client for that hit, who Kiri tried and failed to kill out of impulse.
* Depending on who you ally with at the end, or allying with no one at all, the final missions of ''[[Vampire Bloodlines]]'' turns into this. The Ventrue Prince, after sending you on dirty jobs, will have a Blood Hunt called on you, and you'll be under attack from vampires. Unless you go out of your way to get in his good graces, you'll have to fight your way from ground floor rent-a-mooks all the way up to his [[Big Bad]] lieutenant.
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[Batman Beyond (Animation)|Batman Beyond]]'', Curare is targeted by the League of Assassins for failing to carry out a contract (due to Batman's interference). She then turns the trope around on the League and hunts all of ''them'' down, causing the last surviving member to come to Gotham and blackmail Batman for help by hiding a bomb somewhere in the city and [[Dead
* In ''[[Adventure Time (Animation)|Adventure Time]]'', Ice King sends a hitman, Scorcher, to go after Finn and Jake, without knowing full well what hitman actually means. (He thinks it just means ''hitting'', like punching them on the shoulder or something.) Having realized his mistake, Ice King tries to get Scorcher to stop, and when nothing else works, he hires a second hitman to kill him. Scorcher quickly dispatches the other hitman, leaving Ice King back to square one.
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