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Contract on the Hitman (view source)

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{{trope}}
{{quote|''The first rule of assassination: kill the assassins.''|''[[Star Trek VI: theThe Undiscovered Country (Film)|Star Trek VI the Undiscovered Country]]''}}
 
A professional killer (most likely a [[Hitman Withwith 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 Withwith 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 Onon 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]].
{{examples}}
 
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Noir (Animeanime)|Noir]]'', the titular assassin duo constantly finds themselves targeted by the same people who they are working for, however, it is later revealed that their "employer" only wanted to increase their skills in [[The Spartan Way]].
* Several of the employers of ''[[Golgo 13]]'' have tried this. He's killed every last one of them for it. His first rule: "I will not accept a client's betrayal."
* Train Heartnet in ''[[Black Cat (Mangamanga)|Black Cat]]''.
* Teresa in ''[[Claymore]]''. She isn't quite a hitman per se, since her assignments are only hits on Youma, but that's basically the same thing.
* In ''[[Angel Heart (Mangamanga)|Angel Heart]]'', Glass Heart's final job from the Organization that trained her was to kill a hitman, and once she goes missing, there's a contract out on her. Several cases in later volumes have to do with this theme as well.
* In the ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'' OVA, Ken and Omi refuse to kill a sympathetic target, so their teammates are ordered to kill them. Turns out to be part of a plot, though.
* {{spoiler|During and after the end of the first season, Hei}} in ''[[Darker Than Black]]''.
* [[Lupin the Third]] once pays a hitman to take a contract out on himself, literally. {{spoiler|Turns out the hitman has split personality issues.}}
* Pretty much the premise of ''[[Lone Wolf and Cub]]'' is disgraced government executioner Lone Wolf evading the many, many, many people out to kill him.
* Section 9 in ''[[Ghost in Thethe Shell]]'' is officially a counter terrorism police unit, but the entire country of Japan is in such a currupt state that they are really just one of the countless hit squads employed by the many rival political factions. As one of the few units who take their job of protecting the population seriously, they frequently make themselves targets of other teams that want them dead for interfering with their superiors illegal activities. Actually, they end up fighting against other government eployes almost as often as against actual terrorists or criminals {{spoiler|who usually end up to revealed to be goons of some politican or another as well}}.
 
 
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* [[The Bourne Series]]
* The titular character of John Woo's ''[[The Killer]]'' has to deal with his syndicate trying to kill him after pulling off the hit that he hoped would earn him the money to have a singer he accidentally blinded be able to see again, due to the boss, Johnny Weng, wanting to keep the money for himself and clear the table for his ambitions. {{spoiler|[[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|He doesn't survive]], though to his credit, it takes the [[Big Bad]] himself to finally end him}}.
** Chow Yun-Fat's character in ''[[The Replacement Killers]]'' also has to deal with a syndicate who wants him dead after he refuses to kill a cop's eight-year-old son for a Triad boss with a [[Revenge Byby Proxy|fucked up sense of revenge]].
* The Sylvester Stallone movie ''[[Assassins (Filmfilm)|Assassins]]'', where Antonio Banderas is contracted to kill the [[Hitman Withwith a Heart]].
* ''[[Fulltime Killer]]'' apes the film ''Assassins'', in that the wild hitman Tok has modeled himself after action films and intentionally imitates the Stallone film in his rivalry with number one assassin O.
* In ''[[Ghost Dog]]'' the titular character gets marked for cleanup by the bosses.
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* In ''[[Kill Bill]]'', the Bride's [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] begins when the other members of her hit squad try to take her out at her wedding rehearsal.
* ''[[Machete]]'', uses this as it's premise, deleted scenes also show the [[Carnival of Killers]].
* Handled more subtly in ''[[Mr. and Mrs. Smith]]''; the two assassin organizations found out their best employees were married to someone on the other side, decided this was bad for business, and set them on a collision course so that they'd have to kill each other. The result is alternatively tense (as a straight up action thriller) and wryly amusing (as a metaphor for a troubled marriage).
** After they end up refusing due to a mutual [[In Love Withwith the Mark]] (only after much drama, naturally), both organizations try a more traditional way of getting rid of them. {{spoiler|[[Battle Couple|They fail.]] }}
* In ''[[Crank (Film)|Crank]]'', Jason Statham's hitman character is targeted after {{spoiler|his Columbian employers hire him to assassinate a Chinese mob boss, and they want to use him as the scapegoat. The twist is that he didn't kill the Chinese guy, who is [[Big Damn Heroes|appropriately grateful.]]}}
** At least until the sequel.
* The Grammaton cleric John Preston in the movie ''[[Equilibrium]]'' is a highly-trained police officer/executioner for the Fascist theocratic government of a mid-21st century police state. Once he [[Hitman Withwith a Heart|recovers his own emotions]] and realizes what monstrous society has been created in the name of peace and transquility, he [[Heel Face Turn|becomes a rebel himself]] and turns the tables on his former employers, {{spoiler|killing the people send out to kill him and executing the head of the State Church.}}
{{quote| "In the first years of the 21st century, a third World War broke out. Those of us who survived knew mankind could never survive a fourth; that our own volatile natures could simply no longer be risked. So we have created a new arm of the law: The Grammaton Cleric, whose sole task it is to seek out and eradicate the true source of [[Humans Are Bastards|man's inhumanity to man]] - his ability to feel."}}
* Belgian [[Film]] ''[[The Alzheimers Case]],'' also known as ''De Zaak Alzheimer'' and ''Memory of a Killer'' features this after the main character refuses to kill a child prostitute.
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* Jeff Costello from ''[[Le Samourai]]'', the French movie that inspired ''[[The Killer]]''. He is seen leaving the scene of his latest hit, picked up by the police and questioned. His clients decide to kill him before he can implicate them.
* Partially subverted in the 1969 film ''The Assassination Bureau'' in that the head of the titular agency willingly accepts a contract on his own head as a challenge to weed out the unworthy elements within his organization.
* ''[[The International]]'' features a [[Mega Corp]] that's rather [[Bad Boss|too fond]] of [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]. The fact that their [[Contract Onon the Hitman]] shows its hand before "[[Deadly Euphemism|The Consultant]]" manages to kill the protagonist saves the target's life, resulting in a fairly awesome [[Enemy Mine]] [[Blast Out]] ''in [[Monumental Battle|the Guggenheim]]''.
* George Clooney's character in ''[[The American (Film)|The American]]'' ends up with one of these after deciding he'll quit the business after his last job which is simply to build a gun for another female assassin. {{spoiler|The employer of both him and the woman decides to have him be the first person terminated by the woman after the gun is completed, but she can't find a safe time to do so. He rigs the gun to misfire in a moment of conscience, thus killing the other assassin after her attempt on his life. He is then wounded in a shootout with his former employer and his fate is left ambiguous.}}
 
 
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Done memorably on ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'', much to the frustration of the contractors:
{{quote| This is getting ridiculous. The first assassin kills the second assassin, sent to kill the first assassin, who didn't assassinate anyone until we hired the second assassin to assassinate the first assassin. }}
** Specifically, Wolfram and Hart hired Faith to kill Angel. She then made a [[Heel Face Turn]] and Angel gave her sanctuary in his apartment. Wolfram and Hart then hire a demon to kill Faith, but Faith kills it instead.
* Parodied in a ''[[Kids in The Hall]]'' sketch, where a hitman is contracted to take himself out.
* 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 series)|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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* Outerlight's games ''[[The Ship]]'' and ''[[Bloody Good Time]]'' are based around this trope. Kill a specific target while avoiding your killer...which is harder than it sounds for a game without very many NPCs that share player appearance, because of the needs system. Don't fulfill your character's needs? You lose control and present your killer with a very vulnerable target.
* The Wanted mode of ''[[Assassin's Creed]]: Brotherhood'' Multiplayer is all about this. Each player is given the goal of assassinating specific players within an area filled with similar-looking NPCs. The player then must find and kill their target while avoiding assassination themselves.
* In ''[[Dragon Age (Video Game)|Dragon Age]]'' Zevran will be targeted by the Crows if he the Warden spares him. While Master Ignatio doesn't act against Zevran, declaring him to be dead in his eyes, Zevran's old comrade Talesin will track him down and make him a final offer: rejoin the Crows or die. If Zevran's loyalty is high enough, he will fight against Talesin at your side. How Zevran's battle with the Crows is resolved depends on whether or not the Warden sacrifices himself/herself. If the Warden lives, Zevran will continue to fight and evade the Crows as best he can while living his life {{spoiler|which is apparently canon in ''[[Dragon Age II (Video Game)|Dragon Age II]]''}}. If the Warden dies, {{spoiler|Zevran will return to Antiva and singlehandedly take over the Crows and become their new Grand Master. His epilogue questions whether this counts as a victory or a defeat.}}
 
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Occurred in one story arc of ''[[Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)|Schlock Mercenary]]'', with Bongo's squad of [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20021201.html bounty hunters] being employed to capture their previous coworker, Doyt/Haban, {{spoiler|due to the highly classified gear that D/H was equipped with, which the UNS didn't want out of its control.}}
* Though Serge doesn't exactly have a heart of gold, this is the plot of Fracture, the first story from ''[[Zokusho Comics]]''.
 
 
== [[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-Man Switch|rigging it to explode if he fails to regularly input a code remotely]].
* 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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