History Main / GambitPileup

* Marvel's CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/TheInfinityWar'' features Comicbook/AdamWarlock, his even more chessmastery EnemyWithout The Magus, Comicbook/{{Thanos}}, ''another'' Thanos, and Doctor Freakin' Doom, each with their own plans for how to further or stop the cause of universal domination. "Thirty Gambit pileup" is a low estimate.m

* In ComicBook/JudgeDredd, Mega City One ended up in one of these following the events of Chaos Day and Luthor's Insurrection, with various [[ThePlan machinations]] by the likes of Judge Carolyn Bachmann, Carol Smart, Gideon Dallas, Brit-Cit Senior Judge Gulliver Mayhew, Rothman [=MacCallum=], Algol Rey, Shadow King & the Red Prince and wars/conflicts with Texas City, rogue Citi-Def units, elements of Organised Crime, various {{Mega Corp}}s, terrorist groups such as the Sons of Booth & Total War and '''EVEN''' extraterrestrial factions such as the Law Lords, Encheladus & Zhind and that's not even including what's happening on [[HellholePrison Titan]], what the Dark Judges are doing on Dominion, or whatever [[HiddenAgendaVillain Judge Smiley]] is up to.

* "The Immigration of the Body Snatchers" - a parody of ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers'' - in ''[[Comicbook/TheSimpsons Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror Heebie-Jeebie Hullabaloo]]'' climaxes with Homer being hauled into an insane asylum for claiming that "pod people" are taking over the Earth. Everyone makes fun of him until the cops find some alien pods along the highway, which is when Dr. Marvin Monroe admits he knew about the pod-people invasion the whole time....[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_the_Real_Martian_Please_Stand_Up%3F because he is actually a spy from the planet Venus (removing his doctor's headgear to reveal a third "alien" eye) paving the way for a ''Venusian'' takeover of the Earth. Then one of the policemen rips off his disguise to reveal that "he" is actually two]] [[LittleGreenMen Little Green Martians]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_the_Real_Martian_Please_Stand_Up%3F who are way ahead of both the pod-people and the Venusians in preparing for a ''Martian'' conquest of Earth]]. ''Then'' another policeman strips off his disguise, and turns out to be a "robot ghost clone from the future" who is here to shoot everybody - twice. Things get increasingly absurd from that point on, with various conspiracy theorists showing up claiming that they're all in Hell or that they're part of an alien race's scientific experiment, et. al. Finally, Sideshow Bob appears and tells the crowd that [[MediumAwareness they're all characters in a comic book]], which causes everyone present to laugh at him...but of course, they eventually figure out that Bob's right when he points out the FourthWall. All the characters then panic and scream, realizing that when the reader closes the comic, they will all [[CessationOfExistence cease to exist]].

* In ComicBook/JudgeDredd, Mega City One ended up in one of these following the events of Chaos Day and Luthor's Insurrection, with various [[ThePlan machinations]] by the likes of Judge Carolyn Bachmann, Carol Smart, Gideon Dallas, Brit-Cit Senior Judge Gulliver Mayhew, Rothman [=MacCallum=], Algol Rey, Shadow King & the Red Prince and wars/conflicts with Texas City, rogue Citi-Def units, elements of Organised Crime, various {{Mega Corp}}s, terrorist groups such as the Sons of Booth & Total War and '''EVEN''' extraterrestrial factions such as the Law Lords, Encheladus & Zhind and that's not even including what's happening on [[HellholePrison Titan]], what the Dark Judges are during on Dominion, or whatever [[HiddenAgendaVillain Judge Smiley]] is up to.

* In ComicBook/JudgeDredd, Mega City One ended up in this situation following the events of both Chaos Day and Luthor's Insurrection, with various [[ThePlan machinations]] by the likes of Judge Carolyn Bachmann, Carol Smart, Gideon Dallas, Brit-Cit Senior Judge Gulliver Mayhew, Rothman [=MacCallum=], Vampire King & the Red Prince and power struggles with Texas City, Sons of Booth, {{Mega Corp}}s, rogue Citi-Def units & elements of Organised Crime, as well as attacks from a resurgent Total War, [[AlienInvasion invasions]] from the Law Lords[[note]]with help from Gideon Dallas[[/note]], Encheladus & Zhind, a revolt on [[HellholePrison Titan]] and whatever the Dark Judges are doing on Dominion. No wonder suicide cults are on the rise in the city!!

* Creator/ChristopherPriest is a big fan of these.

* Marvel's CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/TheInfinityWar'' features Comicbook/AdamWarlock, his even more chessmastery EnemyWithout The Magus, Comicbook/{{Thanos}}, ''another'' Thanos, and Doctor Freakin' Doom, each with their own plans for how to further or stop the cause of universal domination. "Thirty Gambit pileup" is a low estimate.

* A ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' Sunday strip features a game of football between the namesake characters, for the duration of which they reveal gambit after gambit ad ridiculum, to great comedic effect; Calvin is a double-agent for the opposing team posing as a member of Hobbes's team, however Hobbes knew the whole time and secretly switched the location of their goals, etcetera etcetera. Naturally, it ended up turning into {{Calvinball}}.
* In ''ComicBook/FallOfCthulhu'', each of the elder gods has a gambit running and mankind will be lucky to survive, since we barely qualify as pawns.
* Once in a while, ''Comicbook/{{Diabolik}}'' has a story where the protagonist has a fight with Eva and decides to make an heist alone and Eva decides to one-up him by making that heist before him, resulting in their plans interfering with each other. If the victim is a criminal, there's a good chance that [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Ginko]] or another cop is investigating him, further complicating things (and in at least one occasion causing Eva, who had already stole the loot, to frame Diabolik as TheMole who informed the police. The actual mole was ''Eva's roommate'').

* The 2011 ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery'' series: [[spoiler:Loki goes up against HIMSELF]]. Things get very complicated and nobody wins.
* ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'' turned the Great War and its leadup into this. Ixis Naugus wanted the throne, Warlord Kodos wanted war and Julian Kintobor wanted the world. It took awhile and some double crossing from each other, but all three got what they wanted.
* "The Immigration of the Body Snatchers" - a parody of ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers'' - in ''[[Comicbook/TheSimpsons Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror Heebie-Jeebie Hullabaloo]]'' climaxes with Homer being hauled into an insane asylum for claiming that "pod people" are taking over the Earth. Everyone makes fun of him until the cops find some alien pods along the highway, which is when Dr. Marvin Monroe admits he knew about the pod-people invasion the whole time....[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_the_Real_Martian_Please_Stand_Up%3F because he is actually a spy from the planet Venus (removing his doctor's headgear to reveal a third "alien" eye) paving the way for a ''Venusian'' takeover of the Earth. Then one of the policemen rips off his disguise to reveal that "he" is actually two]] [[LittleGreenMen Little Green Martians]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_the_Real_Martian_Please_Stand_Up%3F who are way ahead of both the pod-people and the Venusians in preparing for a ''Martian'' conquest of Earth]]. ''Then'' another policeman strips off his disguise, and turns out to be a "robot ghost clone from the future" who is here to shoot everybody - twice. Things get increasingly absurd from that point on, with various conspiracy theorists showing up claiming that they're all in Hell or that they're part of an alien race's scientific experiment, et. al. Finally, Sideshow Bob appears and tells the crowd that [[MediumAwareness they're all characters in a comic book]], which causes everyone present to laugh at him...but of course, they eventually figure out that Bob's right when he points out the FourthWall. All the characters then panic and scream, realizing that when the reader closes the comic, they will all [[CessationOfExistence cease to exist]].
* The French comic ''ComicBook/LargoWinch'' has an album devoted to this. First we have a young woman named Saidee join a friend of Largo's and get invited to her art exhibition. Meanwhile an old flame of Largo's secretary shows up, while his daughter says she's Largo's NumberTwo's new SexySecretary. Then it turns out Saidee is part of an Islamist terror cell, sent to make friends with the artist so as to get close to Largo and kill him and his NumberTwo. Then it turns out the imam running the cell is OnlyInItForTheMoney (being both blackmailed by, and promised 40 million dollars from, the CIA), with no intention of sacrificing himself for the cause (but the rest are apparently true believers). ''Then'' it turns out Saidee is actually working for the same CIA agent, who're holding her brother hostage in Guantanamo. The father and daughter team mentioned above were actually industrial spies. And ''then'' it's revealed the CIA agent is actually working for another industrialist (the actual CIA is not involved), with the money the imam's supposed to collect actually intended for him. The album's name? Chassé-croisé, which is close enough to Gambit Pileup.
* Pre-reboot, ''ComicBook/TheBlackbloodAlliance'' had one of these. The saberteeth are trying to conquer the wolves of Inaria, who seek help from the Blackblood wolves, who Blade's faction are plotting against. But only some Blackbloods want to help Inaria, so the Blackblood group quickly splits in two. Also, there is a secret group of malcontents within Inaria's pack who want to usurp the current alpha(s), so they orchestrated the [[PraetorianGuard Blackblood wolves]]' exile years before. Now, the Blackblood wolves actually know about this faction and what it did to them, but the Inarian pack refuses to believe them, [[spoiler:partly because the malcontents are led by one of the alphas' daughters]]. All this is established in one issue.
* In ''ComicBook/RedRobin'' Tim takes the assassin Scarab out of prison in order to interrogate her on the source of her advanced tech since the authorities haven't even been able to uncover her name; in turn she agrees to go with him in order to lead him to a trap so that an organization she belongs to can enter an assassination tournament to find the best assassin of the age in which he's been set as a target. The attack gives him an excuse to look into the long running tournament and her a chance to escape even though the other members are caught. Then he's abducted by the Daughters of Acheron when trying to interfere in their entry into the tournament as they want to use him in their own long planned ceremony while simultaneously winning the tournament, though they're possibly being manipulated by ComicBook/RasAlGhul to his own ends, and the tournament itself was set up by a mysterious ancient figure who wants to kill the most dangerous assassin of each generation rather than reward them and who is also looking for an heir for some of the duties they've created for themselves. Then ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}} prevented everything from playing out.
* In ComicBook/JudgeDredd, Mega City One ended up in this situation following the events of both Chaos Day and Luthor's Insurrection, with various [[ThePlan machinations]] by the likes of their own Black-Ops Division[[note]]under Judge Carolyn Bachmann[[/note]], Sons of Booth[[note]]under Linus Roavey[[/note]], Texas City[[note]]under Chief Judge Pamelina Oswin[[/note]], individuals such as Carol Smart & Gideon Dallas and factions loyal to Brit-Cit Senior Judge Gulliver Mayhew, Rothman [=MacCallum=], Vampire King & the Red Prince '''AND''' that's not even getting started on the later schemes of Judge Smiley, {{Alien Invasion}}s from the Law Lords, Encheladus & Zhind, the power struggle between Justice Department, {{Mega Corp}}s, elements of Organised Crime & rogue Citi-Def units or what the Dark Judges are even up to.

* In ComicBook/JudgeDredd, Mega City One ended up in this state following the events of Chaos Day and Luthor's Insurrection, with attempted coups & power grabs by the likes of Judge Carolyn Bachmann, Texas City, Brit-Cit Senior Judge Gulliver Mayhew, Carol Smart and Rothman [=MacCallum=], as well as schemes from the likes of Gideon Dallas, Sons of Booth, Vampire King, Algol Rey, Vesperal, Judge Smiley and the Red Prince and {{Alien Invasion}}s from the Dark Judges, Law Lords, Encheladus and Zhind

** Then we have Baron Von Strucker, who wants to restore HYDRA to the status it possessed during WWII. He is eliminated in chapter 50 for incompetence and threatening Narcissa by Lucius Malfoy.

*** By ''Ghosts of the Past'', his focus has shifted to dealing with the Red Room.
** His protégé, Agent (later Director) Wisdom [[spoiler: a.k.a. Regulus Black]], is masterminding the defence of Britain and, seemingly, the creation of a British Avengers team in the form of Excalibur, occasionally black mailing Wanda Maximoff into helping out. He's also trying to ensure that [=MI13=] supplants the Ministry of Magic as the prime handler of matters supernatural and superhuman, poaching staff members and seeking to bring it to heel. On top of that, he's implied to be after the Department of Mysteries.

** Odin is mostly operating on a hands off basis, leaving his sons to do what they do best, but has put a number of his servants into play, with Freki and Geri (his wolves) protecting Harry, Huginn and Muninn occasionally advising him and Sif and the Warriors Three taking part in a little monster hunting, while keeping an eye out for an opportunity to get even with Thanos for what he did to Loki (it wasn't mind control, but it wasn't pleasant) and to Krypton. As of ''Ghosts of the Past'', this now involves [[spoiler: trying to manage circumstances to protect his grandson from himself and the power of the Phoenix that resides within him]] and forestalling the return of [[spoiler: Surtur]].

** "The Curse of Fenric" has ArcWelding which reveals events from the past two seasons were orchestrated by [[EldritchAbomination Fenric]], who caused the time storm to transport Ace to Iceworld in the future so she could start travelling with the Doctor and eventually help his plan to defeat the Doctor. Fenric is also trying to perform a StableTimeLoop which will create an alternate timeline. However the 7th Doctor claims he took Ace with him as he recognised Fenric's influence. Ace claims it's like a game where only he knows the rules. Though with the Doctor, as ever, it is debatable how much he is TheChessmaster or whether he is good at XanatosSpeedChess.

* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'': Kurapika is tracking down people who own the bodily remains of his people, which go for very high prices in the black market, and the last target is a corrupt and hedonistic prince of a major world power. Said major world power is in a succession battle as the king is stepping down, so Kurapika becomes a guard for one of the other princes to try to get closer. Meanwhile, this country's three major crime bosses have started a separate war among each other, as one of the bosses is attempting to seize power by targeting the aforementioned princes--all 14 of them, each of whom also have their own agendas and guards, the most notable cases being Benjamin, who has deployed his own superpowered guards to watch the other princes without looking too suspicious; Halkenburg, a pacifist who wanted out of the battle but, finding out he couldn't, [[spoiler:[[EleventhHourSuperpower awakened]] a BodySurf ability]] and has sowed confusion among everyone involved]]; and Fugetsu and Kacho, a pair of twins and best friends who are searching for an opportunity to escape. The Phantom Troupe have also entered the struggle, as they're trying to track down Hisoka, a man who betrayed them, but Hisoka has also been killing various gang members, so the crime bosses have joined them on the manhunt. Hisoka has his own reasons he's in the area, which are unclear. All of this is set in an [[CityOnTheWater absolutely massive ship that functions as a self-contained city]] on its way to an unknown land, and the man who proposed the trip and has been financing it is under investigation by the Hunter Association, one of whom is an associate of Kurapika and has crossed paths with the Phantom Troupe onboard. Unknown to all parties, also onboard is Ging, father of the protagonist, who has created a small team to explore this new land but finds out his rival Pariston inserted himself into this group without him knowing.

* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'': Kurapika is tracking down people who own the bodily remains of his people, which go for very high prices in the black market, and the last target is a corrupt and hedonistic prince of a major world power. Said major world power is in a succession battle as the king is stepping down, so Kurapika becomes a guard for one of the other princes to try to get closer. Meanwhile, this country's three major crime bosses have started a separate war among each other, as one of the bosses is attempting to seize power by targeting the aforementioned princes--all 14 of them, each of whom also have their own agendas and guards. The Phantom Troupe have also entered the struggle, as they're trying to track down Hisoka, a man who betrayed them, but Hisoka has also been killing various gang members, so the crime bosses have joined them on the manhunt. Hisoka has his own reasons he's in the area, which is unclear. All of this is set in an [[CityOnTheWater absolutely massive ship that functions as a self-contained city]] on its way to an unknown land, and the man who proposed the trip and has been financing it is under investigation by the Hunter Association, one of whom is an associate of Kurapika and has run into the Phantom Troupe onboard. Unknown to all parties, also onboard is Ging, father of the protagonist, who has created a small team to explore this new land but finds out his rival Pariston inserted himself into this group without him knowing.

** [[spoiler:Delta]]'s goals are 1) to stop the terrorist who will incite nuclear war, 2), to motivate a bunch of people who all hate and distrust him and each other to do 1 for him, and 3), to [[spoiler:maintain the time paradox that ensures his birth in certain plot-relevant circumstances]].

* Once you understand all the symbolism in ''VideoGame/{{Killer7}}'', it becomes a truly staggering version of this. (Deep breath - and this is only ONE interpretation:) Harman and Kun Lan are friendly but still in a war, and while Harman controls the Smith Syndicate and mostly controls Harman Smith (there are multiple Harmans), Kun Lan controls the Heaven's Smiles, has some degree of influence over the U.N. Party, and [[spoiler:usually controls Iwazaru (the rest of the time, the Smith Syndicate control him)]]. Curtis Blackburn and Pedro are plotting against each other, and Dan Smith (Curtis's apprentice) is part of the Smith Syndicate but is plotting against Harman. The Handsome Men appear to be controlled by Trevor Pearlharbor and sometimes LOVE, but [[spoiler:LOVE gets them to kill Trevor, revealing that she always fully controlled them]]. The Liberal Party and the U.N. Party are at odds, and so the Liberal Party betrays the U.N. Party to the USA; however, [[spoiler:the U.N. Party controls most of the USA through Coburn Elementary, wants to make Japan the ultimate nation, is raising an army of Japanese assassins in the USA, and controls Harman Smith whenever the other Harman doesn't]]. Toru Fukushima, the leader of the U.N. Party, is betrayed by two moles, Jean [=DePaul=] and Julia Kisugi; both of them were waiting for the other to make the first move, let the other one get killed by the Smiths, then take the Yakumo for themselves. [[spoiler:Greg Nightmare seemingly has control over the elections, and works for the U.N. Party and Kun Lan, having some special Heaven's Smiles. Benjamin Keane wants to be President, and so he kills Greg Nightmare when he doesn't get to be President. Harman Smith controls Coburn and gets orders from the U.N. Party (as previously mentioned), and therefore controls Emir Parkreiner, and controls the Smith Syndicate when the other Harman isn't. However, Emir turns against Harman Smith and kills him, absorbing the Smith Syndicate but then being controlled by Harman.]] Andrei Ulmeyda finds the Yakumo and uses it, but not for the intended purpose. And finally, [[spoiler:Iwazaru is a DoubleAgent for the Smiths and Kun Lan]].

** This is pretty much a staple of Creator/Suda51 games, specifically the ones he writes and directs himself, thus giving him complete control over the plots. In ''VideoGame/FlowerSunAndRain'', [[spoiler:ELBOW attempts to breed hyenas on Lospass Island to create Silver Eyes. It places one of their administrators, Edo Macalister, in control of the Hotel Flower, Sun, and Rain, basically as a front for the hyena scheme. Edo decides to betray them and blow up the island, but the artificial Sundance "tribe", defenders of the island, is moving his bombs onto the airplane]]. Edo calls Sumio Mondo to the island to remove the bombs from the plane. Meanwhile, [[spoiler:Tokio Morishima is causing time to loop or... something]], Sundance Ritz defects from the tribe to help Mondo, detectives from Japan are attempting to crack down on [[spoiler:ELBOW]] and [[spoiler:Mondo's original self's partner from his time as Sumio Kodai is wearing a bodysuit and monitoring him]]. This all links back into ''VideoGame/TheSilverCase'' which has a pretty nuts gambit-based plot of its own. It also links ''forward'' to ''killer7'' (described extensively above) in that [[spoiler:ELBOW]] is implied to have had a hand in [[spoiler:Emir]]'s creation in that game. Even though ''killer7'' takes place in an alternate timeline due to the maligning of history as described in ''Hand in killer7'', also above. Suffice to say that Suda's "Kill the Past" universe is so gambit-filled that it has gambit pileups ''across seemingly unrelated games''.

Often overlaps with FlockOfWolves or RightHandVersusLeftHand, and can often be the result of TheBigBadShuffle. XanatosSpeedChess is a defining trait. A PsychologicalThriller is more likely to have one of these. Expect lots of IKnowYouKnowIKnow. Expect a lot of people to be OutGambitted, a lot of {{Unwitting Pawn}}s, a lot of saying "JustAsPlanned!", and ''maybe'' someone to have the LastPlanStanding. Compare GambitRoulette, where one person has an improbable plan that would only make sense if he/she is near omniscient. Also compare MultilayerFacade. Done well, it strongly affirms [[TheHeavy The Villain Makes The Plot]]. Particularly convoluted and fantastical versions of this trope can dip straight into MindScrew.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wIZp_E2CxQ This]] ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'' commercial.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' has slowly fallen into this: from Orochimaru, to Tobi and Danzo, to the villages it seems that backroom scheming is the only [[HighlyVisibleNinja ninja activity]] that the characters are good at. In short, Sasuke was being manipulated by Orochimaru who was being manipulated by Itachi (who himself manipulated Naruto) who used by Danzo who was being manipulated by Tobi, who calls himself Madara. At the same time, Pain, the head of Akatsuki, had different goals to Akatsuki itself, and was in turn taking orders from Tobi without realising his intentions (while making it appear that Tobi was one of his subordinates and too dumb to plan anything). Then Kabuto comes out of nowhere and shows Tobi, [[spoiler:that he has found the body of the real Madara, this means that Tobi was pretending to be Madara and was actually [[FallenHero Obito Uchiha]]. Then, it turns out Obito's [[AssimilationPlot "Moon's Eye Plan"]] was actually the real Madara's plan, and Obito was also supposed to bring Madara back to life to become the jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails. But later we learn that Obito never had any intention of reviving Madara and he himself was using him in order to become the jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails. Nevertheless, when Madara became the jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails and executes the Moon's Eye Plan, Black Zetsu reveals he was manipulating Madara and was exactly the one who led Kabuto to the location of Madara’s corpse as part of his plan to bring back [[PhysicalGod Kaguya Ootsutsuki]]. So, to recap, Pain was ostensibly leader the Akatsuki, but was actually used by Obito and Madara, who were using each other to their advantage, and all of them were used by Black Zetsu.]] Oh, and any number of these characters might be taking advantage of plans made by the Sage of the Six Paths hundreds of years ago. Yikes.

** You also have [[spoiler:Zeke Yeager, who pretended to be working for Marley, but is now claiming he's on the same side as Eren. Zeke is supposedly working with Hizuru's leading family, the Azumabitos, but they have their own agenda. Within the walls on Paradis Island, it's now become the Survey Corps vs. the Yeager faction[[note]]Eren, Zeke and their followers[[/note]] vs. the rest of the military vs. maybe some of the Marleyans that Paradis captured, and that's assuming Zeke isn't part of his own faction... Nobody knows who's working for whom nor what anybody's planning. And that doesn't include the rest of the world outside the walls.]]

** And that exchange came after our heroes learned that [[spoiler:everyone in the krutzing KINGDOM had some sort of plan in the works or in motion.]]

* Marvel's CrisisCrossover ''[[Comicbook/TheInfinityGauntlet The Infinity War]]'' features Comicbook/AdamWarlock, his even more chessmastery EnemyWithout The Magus, Comicbook/{{Thanos}}, ''another'' Thanos, and Doctor Freakin' Doom, each with their own plans for how to further or stop the cause of universal domination. "Thirty Gambit pileup" is a low estimate.

* The 2011 ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery'' series: [[spoiler:Loki goes up against HIMSELF.]] Things get very complicated and nobody wins.

* The French comic ''ComicBook/LargoWinch'' has an album devoted to this. First we have a young woman named Saidee join a friend of Largo's and get invited to her art exhibition. Meanwhile an old flame of Largo's secretary shows up, while his daughter says she's Largo's NumberTwo's new SexySecretary. Then it turns out Saidee is part of an Islamist terror cell, sent to make friends with the artist so as to get close to Largo and kill him and his NumberTwo. Then it turns out the imam running the cell is OnlyInItForTheMoney (being both blackmailed by, and promised 40 million dollars from, the CIA), with no intention of sacrificing himself for the cause (but the rest are apparently true believers). ''Then'' it turns out Saidee is actually working for the same CIA agent, who're holding her brother hostage in Guantanamo. The father and daughter team mentioned above were actually industrial spies. And ''then'' it's revealed the CIA agent is actually working for another industrialist (the actual CIA is not involved), with the money the imam's supposed to collect actually intended for him. The album's name? Chassé-croisé, which is close enough to GambitPileup.

* In ''ComicBook/RedRobin'' Tim takes the assassin Scarab out of prison in order to interrogate her on the source of her advanced tech since the authorities haven't even been able to uncover her name, in turn she agrees to go with him in order to lead him to a trap so that an organization she belongs to can enter an assassination tournament to find the best assassin of the age in which he's been set as a target, the attack gives him an excuse to look into the long running tournament and her a chance to escape even though the other members are caught. Then he's abducted by the Daughters of Acheron when trying to interfere in their entry into the tournament as they want to use him in their own long planned ceremony while simultaneously winning the tournament, though they're possibly being manipulated by ComicBook/RasAlGhul to his own ends, and the tournament itself was set up by a mysterious ancient figure who wants to kill the most dangerous assassin of each generation rather than reward them and who is also looking for an heir for some of the duties they've created for themselves. Then ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}} prevented everything from playing out.

*** By ''Ghosts of the Past'', he's the ManBehindTheMan for muggle Britain, and is gunning for magical Britain too.

** Odin is mostly operating on a hands off basis, leaving his sons to do what they do best, but has put a number of his servants into play, with Freki and Geri (his wolves) protecting Harry, Huginn and Muninn occasionally advising him and Sif and the Warriors Three taking part in a little monster hunting, while keeping an eye out for an opportunity to get even with Thanos for what he did to Loki (it wasn't mind control, but it wasn't pleasant) and to Krypton. As of ''Ghosts of the Past'', this now involves [[spoiler: trying to manage circumstances to protect his grandson from himself and the power of the Phoenix that resides within him]] and forestalling the return of [[spoiler: Surtur]]].

** And, as of Chapter 60, [[spoiler: the Winter Soldier has shaken off his brainwashing, performed a HeelFaceTurn and is now acting as a secret mole inside HYDRA for the good guys]]. Then in chapter 74, he [[spoiler: is caught out and brainwashed again.]] Finally, he makes a full and permanent HeelFaceTurn in chapter 77, joining the Avengers as an associate member and [[BodyguardingABadass bodyguard]] and [[SenseiForScoundrels mentor]] to Harry.

** Also appearing in the sequel is Doctor Doom, who is revealed to be planning to not just strengthen Latveria, but establish himself as the prime supernatural (and probably mundane) power in Eastern Europe, and to that end [[spoiler: helps Harry stop Dracula and save Carol, on the grounds that Dracula is a major regional rival, and if his ritual went to plan, he'd come for Doom first]]. It's also revealed that his Doombots are sent to occasionally attack and draw the attention of the Avengers because [[spoiler: he's using them to take the Avengers' measure, on the grounds that the Avengers are theoretically TheUnfettered and have deposed leaders they took a dislike to before, and he knows that he might well be on their hit-list, so is therefore getting their measure to prepare defences against them.]]

** Then there's [[Creator/MarvelComics Doctor Doom]], who wants to make use of the wish Wolfang has promised him for something, while also making his own plans. That Loki is also involved guarantees he too has plans in this vein.

* Film/MissionImpossibleFallout The plot with the White Widow involves at least ''six'' different factions working with and/or against each other, some in multiple ways (the IMF, CIA, MI6, the Apostles, White Widow's brokers, and the unknown assailants trying to kill John Lark). It's not quite clear in retrospect how each groups' actions were supposed to further their plans.

* The club shootout in ''Film/{{Collateral}}'' devolves into one, in which six different factions are involved, all with wildly varying interests. The Feds think Max is Vincent, and try to arrest him while escorting Lin (Vincent's target) safely out of the building. LAPD Detective Ray Fanning knows something is up and that the Feds are acting prematurely, and tries to help Max. Max just wants to get through the whole thing alive, and also prevent Vincent from killing his mother if he fails. Vincent wants to kill Lin, while using Max as a decoy. Lin's security guards are just trying to protect their boss, are startled by the Feds rushing in with guns, and turn the thing into a shooting spree to start with. Felix's guards also think Max is Vincent, and will kill him if things go wrong. [[spoiler:Vincent comes out on top. The Feds are rendered useless by Lin’s bodyguards, Felix's guards are scared off by Vincent, he kills both Lin and his bodyguards, kills Ray after Ray just escorted Max out of the building, and forces Max to continue driving him to his next target]].

* In ''Literature/ParadiseRot'' [[spoiler:Jackson Farriday's plan to run St. Agrippina's as the Zombie Land Grab and Buffet is put off track by the Woman's and the Dog's continual assassinations of his higher ranking employees. Then Kyle and Cate Join in on it and eventually run into Dory, who has been fermenting a rebellion with the more stupid zombies. Things get worse from there.]]

* Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil: the ending of each book resolves the current arc with one of these. In Book 1, each of the cadet company commanders has a plan to win the wargame; Book 2 ends with a three-way game of [[XanatosSpeedChess Xanatos Speed Chess]] between the [[VillainProtagonist Squire]], [[TheRival Heiress]] and [[HeroAntagonist the Lone Swordsman]].

** Rand is [[BecauseDestinySaysSo prophesied to be]] a DestructiveSavior, so everyone knows that he's important to winning [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt The Last Battle]] but he's proof that the end is nigh and no one is actually happy about being in the same city as him.

* John Grisham's novel ''Literature/RunawayJury'' is an excellent example. In a trial where the widow of a dead smoker is suing the tobacco company, the defence is doing everything it can to bribe/threaten/blackmail the jurors and the plaintiff attempts this on a smaller extent. Enter our protagonists Nicholas and Marlee, who have a cunning plan to [[spoiler:infiltrate the jury and sell the verdict to the defence for ten million dollars. The defence pay up]]. However, it turns out [[spoiler:Marlee's parents both died of lung cancer and they're doing it to get revenge. Nicholas persuades the jury to sent a plaintiff's verdict and they use the money to short-sell tobacco stocks]].

* ''[[Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo 1634: The Bavarian Crisis]]'' is one of these. The author wanted to remind us that history isn't a few great men and a backdrop of grey masses, so every single person has an agenda, and all but a handful of them are hidden. They vary in scope from overthrow fuedalism to get married before the pregnancy shows, but if a shadowy figure is following you, you have no way of knowing which scope is relevant. Once they start interacting, the result is pure chaos.

* The second and third books in Stieg Larsson's ''Literature/MillenniumTrilogy'' probably qualify. The number of government agencies alone that are working against each other is pretty shockingly massive, and then there are all the private investigators and journalists involved in the plot, not to mention Lisbeth herself.
* Brandon Sanderson is also really fond of these. His fans call it the Sanderson Avalanche. [[Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy The Mistborn trilogy]] is probably the most notable example to date, if only because the plot had the longest to develop. The end of ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'' definitely qualifies, as does the end of ''Literature/{{Elantris}}'', and it's no wonder he got picked to ghostwrite the last three books in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series (see above entry).

* In ''Deep Six'' by CliveCussler, three separate villains from three separate countries with three separate agendas[[note]]Antonov, the Bougainvilles, and Moran[[/note]] all end up attempting to gain control of the White House. Four if you count [[spoiler: the [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep President]] [[ManchurianAgent him]][[PresidentEvil self]]]]. And that's not even getting into Pitt and Casio's attempts to get revenge on the Bougainville family or the loose cabal of high ranking government officials just trying to stop the country from falling apart.

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' novel ''Small Favor,'' you have Nicodemus Archleone and the Fallen, working to kidnap Marcone and turn him. Then both Queens of Faerie get involved, leading to the Gruffs trying to kill Harry while Mab recruits him to recover Marcone. Then Harry calls in Ivy, who promptly ''also'' gets captured by the Fallen (who, it's speculated, [[BatmanGambit knew he would do this]], or at the very least [[XanatosSpeedChess took advantage of it]]), leading to Harry pulling a BatmanGambit on the Denarians in return. And ''then'' it all turns out to have been a BatmanGambit by [[spoiler: Uriel, Heaven's spymaster, who is only allowed to get involved when mortal free will is on the line.]]

** ''The Evil of the Daleks'' is largely made up of a series of interlocking plans by the Doctor, Professor Waterfield, and the Dalek Emperor. Upon learning about that last one, a stunned Waterfield summarizes the basic idea in a sentence:

** In ''The Trial of a Time Lord'', [[spoiler:The High Council wanted to cover their tracks, the Valeyard wanted to take over, the Master wanted the Valeyard out of the way, and the Doctor wanted justice to prevail.]]
** Shows up in ''Journey's End'', with several smaller Gambits acting as {{spanner|InTheWorks}}s to Davros' usual Gambit and the Doctor's customary XanatosSpeedChess.
** ''The End Of Time'' seems to be nothing but this, and it works. There are at least half a dozen Gambits running around, not counting the two or three played out in the first ten minutes.
** The overarching story arc of series 6 is an even bigger pileup between the Doctor, River, and the Silence, of which the Pileup of the previous series' finale is implied to be merely the 'first shot'. The history of an entire species gets used as a weapon, religions and empires get caught in the crossfire, there are {{Doppelganger}}s and temporal paradoxes everywhere, time itself shatters, and Hitler gets punched in the face. And two years later, ''The Time of the Doctor'' reveals that Madame Kovarian's Silence were just a splinter group from the ''real'' conspiracy...

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' has the episode "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_the_Real_Martian_Please_Stand_Up%3F Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up]]", with a Martian conducting an invading fleet being outsmarted by a Venusian conducting his own invading fleet.
* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries''

* ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' has Cameron, the reprogrammed Terminator who is more advanced than others [[spoiler:and may have some hidden programming and/or be defective]]; Cromartie, whose mission is the most straightforward, to kill John Connor; Catherine Weaver, CEO of [=ZieraCorp=] and [[spoiler:a liquid metal Terminator who is either the leader of or working for a rebellious Machine faction opposed to [=SkyNet=],]] who recruits Agent Ellison to find ''another'' Terminator; as well as Sarah and John, who simply want to stop [=SkyNet=] from being made, and then you have the running temporal war between future John Connor's human resistance and [=SkyNet's=] time-hopping Terminators as they each try to foil, subvert, or eliminate each other. Each character seems to have their own plans for the future and we don't even know what most of them are. One gambit was in play for most of the second season without anyone knowing about it: [[spoiler:Jessie and Riley's gambit to make John distrust Cameron.]] This gambit in turn ''splits'' into two when [[spoiler:Riley realizes that Jessie was trying to get Cameron to kill Riley to force the division between John and Cameron.]]

* Essentially the driving force of every ''Series/{{Lost}}'' season since [[MagnificentBastard Ben Linus]] showed up. Somehow, it hasn't completely collapsed, mainly because it's more of a 10-Gambit Pileup than a 30. Recently, Locke was [[spoiler:being manipulated by Ben who was being manipulated by Jacob's nemesis who is being manipulated by Charles Widmore, who may be manipulated by Sawyer, ''all'' of which may be intstrumented by the spirit of the island itself]]. Sheesh!!

* ''Series/{{Community}}'' :

** In a less dramatic example, in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E19CriticalFilmStudies Critical Film Studies]]", while the rest of the group tries to turn Abed's birthday into ''Film/PulpFiction'', Abed [[spoiler:tries to turn it into ''Film/MyDinnerWithAndre''.]]

* [[Series/TheMentalist Patrick Jane v. Red John]] at the end of Season 3. Never mind the fact that [[spoiler:the guy who we all thought was Red John was just another member of his network.]]

* ''Series/{{Nikita}}'''s second season becomes this, as Oversight struggles to maintain control of Division, Amanda tries to keep Division under her thumb, Team Nikita tries to take down Division, Percy tries to retake control, and GOGOL has a side war with Division ([[spoiler: despite Amanda working with GOGOL's head]]). On top of that, Alex, Owen, Carla, and Sean all appear as wild cards of somewhat vague loyalties. The resulting bloody mess resolves itself with [[spoiler: Percy and Carla dead, Amanda on the run, and Alex, Owen and Sean are now with Team Nikita, which now runs Division.]]

** One especially condensed example: the fourth season two-part "That Old Corpse" and "One Bad Day," which takes place over a single day, involves Jerome's cult attacking the GCPD [[spoiler: so Jeremiah can lure Jim Gordon out to an explosive death as a show of power to the cult, and then blow up half the city to boot]]. Cobblepot notices the chaos and decides to take advantage by [[spoiler: kidnapping one of the cultists; he learns Jeremiah's scheme, tries to get a piece of the action/sabotage it, and instead inadvertently causes Jeremiah to both move up his time-table and move to the backup detonation system]]. Meanwhile, the cultists get in the way of Nygma's plan to break an ally out of the holding cells, forcing him to improvise, while [[spoiler: his prior instructions for a lackey to keep one eye on Gordon winds up saving the guy from Jeremiah. Nygma and Gordon's combined knowledge is then enough to reveal the location of the bombs and foil the plot entirely]]. And all the while, [[spoiler: Ra's al Ghul is observing...]]

* The various {{Board Game}}s and CollectibleCardGame versions of ''Illuminati'', by Steve Jackson Games, is the Gambit Pileup as beer and pretzels entertainment. It's inspired by the aforementioned trilogy, so that's not surprising.

** Similarily the ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' campaign setting. The ''Grand Conjuction'' series ended up in a three-way Gambit Pileup between Azalin, Strahd and Inajira, all of this possibly orchestrated by the mad seer Hyksosa...

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'': Joshua, Hanekoma, Minamimoto, Konishi, and Kitaniji all have their own respective gambits. The ending [[GainaxEnding doesn't even make it very clear whose gambits succeeded or failed]], though the [[OneHundredPercentCompletion Secret Reports]] clarify some things.
* Many ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' games do this, but ''Seisen no Keifu'''s Chapter 5 turn this UpToEleven. The following chapter's introduction even makes reference to the previous one's Gambit Pileup nature: [[spoiler:The intense battle over control of the capitol sent most of the powerful lords to their grave. Only Lord Alvis' plan went without a hitch as he successfully gained full control of the kingdom.]]

* ''VideoGame/WildArms3'' turns into this. Between [[spoiler:Beatrice who is manipulating almost all the good guys and later some of the bad guys, The Prophets, Janus, Seigfried, Werner and the Schrodingers as the spanner in all the works.]] it gets rather messy.

* The ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series is an example of multiple overlapping gambits. On the one side, you have the AncientConspiracy of the [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar Templars]] who are scheming for control of humanity by manipulating religions, wars, science, and even commerce, with the ultimate objective of [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill abolishing free will]]. Set against them are the Assassins, who are the unwitting tools of a far older scheme set in motion by [[{{Precursors}} Those Who Came Before]] to use GeneticMemory to deliver a message across thousands of years to the modern-day descendants of the Assassins in order to FlingALightIntoTheFuture. [[spoiler:And then there is Juno, who used a similar method to her civilizaion to ensure her release (At the cost of Desmond's life) to conquer Earth back]].

* ''Videogame/SigmaStarSaga'' only has two faction leaders: the Tyrannical Overlord, who wants to conquer everything and everybody for the sake of more power, and Commander Tierney, who wants to [[spoiler:do exactly the same thing.]] However, many of the lower-ranking characters have some plan to either gain power, or try to end the war, with various amounts of knowledge and degrees of competence involved. Ultimately, [[spoiler:humanity as a whole "wins" by surviving, but only Recker really accomplishes what he intends to do, and it's at the expense of an entire species he has grown to respect (and, [[MultipleEndings potentially]], with the deaths of both women he loves.)]]

* Once you understand all the symbolism in ''VideoGame/{{Killer7}}'', it becomes a truly staggering version of this. (Deep breath - and this is only ONE interpretation:) Harman and Kun Lan are friendly but still in a war, and while Harman controls the Smith Syndicate and mostly controls Harman Smith (there are multiple Harmans), Kun Lan controls the Heaven's Smiles, has some degree of influence over the U.N. Party, and [[spoiler:usually controls Iwazaru (the rest of the time, the Smith Syndicate control him)]]. Curtis Blackburn and Pedro are plotting against each other, and Dan Smith (Curtis's apprentice) is part of the Smith Syndicate but is plotting against Harman. The Handsome Men appear to be controlled by Trevor Pearlharbor and sometimes LOVE, but [[spoiler:LOVE gets them to kill Trevor, revealing that she always fully controlled them]]. The Liberal Party and the U.N. Party are at odds, and so the Liberal Party betrays the U.N. Party to the USA; however, [[spoiler:the U.N. Party controls most of the USA through Coburn Elementary, wants to make Japan the ultimate nation, is raising an army of Japanese assassins in the USA, and controls Harman Smith whenever the other Harman doesn't]]. Toru Fukushima, the leader of the U.N. Party, is betrayed by two moles, Jean [=DePaul=] and Julia Kisugi; both of them were waiting for the other to make the first move, let the other one get killed by the Smiths, then take the Yakumo for themselves. [[spoiler:Greg Nightmare seemingly has control over the elections, and works for the U.N. Party and Kun Lan, having some special Heaven's Smiles. Benjamin Keane wants to be President, and so he kills Greg Nightmare when he doesn't get to be President. Harman Smith controls Coburn and gets orders from the U.N. Party (as previously mentioned), and therefore controls Emir Parkreiner, and controls the Smith Syndicate when the other Harman isn't. However, Emir turns against Harman Smith and kills him, absorbing the Smith Syndicate but then being controlled by Harman]]. Andrei Ulmeyda finds the Yakumo and uses it, but not for the intended purpose. And finally, [[spoiler:Iwazaru is a DoubleAgent for the Smiths and Kun Lan]].

** This is pretty much a staple of Creator/Suda51 games, specifically the ones he writes and directs himself, thus giving him complete control over the plots. In ''VideoGame/FlowerSunAndRain'', [[spoiler:ELBOW attempts to breed hyenas on Lospass Island to create Silver Eyes. It places one of their administrators, Edo Macalister, in control of the Hotel Flower, Sun, and Rain, basically as a front for the hyena scheme. Edo decides to betray them and blow up the island, but the artificial Sundance "tribe", defenders of the island, is moving his bombs onto the airplane.]] Edo calls Sumio Mondo to the island to remove the bombs from the plane. Meanwhile, [[spoiler:Tokio Morishima is causing time to loop or... something]], Sundance Ritz defects from the tribe to help Mondo, detectives from Japan are attempting to crack down on [[spoiler:ELBOW]] and [[spoiler:Mondo's original self's partner from his time as Sumio Kodai is wearing a bodysuit and monitoring him.]] This all links back into ''VideoGame/TheSilverCase'' which has a pretty nuts gambit-based plot of its own. It also links ''forward'' to ''killer7'' (described extensively above) in that [[spoiler:ELBOW]] is implied to have had a hand in [[spoiler:Emir]]'s creation in that game. Even though ''killer7'' takes place in an alternate timeline due to the maligning of history as described in ''Hand in killer7'', also above. Suffice to say that Suda's "Kill the Past" universe is so gambit-filled that it has gambit pileups ''across seemingly unrelated games''.

* ''VideoGame/TheInvisibleHours'' begins with a murder. The cast all suspect each other, and their suspicions and plotting lead to [[spoiler: two more murders, one attempted murder, and a StableTimeLoop that results in the first murder.]]

* In ''VisualNovel/ShikkokuNoSharnoth'' we have Mary, the individual Research Group members, M, Society, Sherlock Holmes, Queen Victoria, Baron Munchhausen, [[spoiler:Moriarty and Charlie]] all plotting. Interestingly enough, [[spoiler:over half of them get what they want, including the BigBad.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode 'Cat Orgy', Shelly is baby-sitting Cartman and invites her boyfriend over. This leads to Cartman taking a picture of them making out with the intent to show it to his mother and bust them, and eventually this leads to a—likely on the fly—pileup between the two.
--> Cartmen lets Shelly into his locked room.

** You also have [[spoiler:Zeke Yeager, who pretended to be working for Marley, but is now claiming he's on the same side as Eren. Zeke is supposedly working with Hizuru's leading family, the Azumabitos, but they have their own agenda. Within the walls on Paradis Island, it's now become the Survey Corps vs. the Yeager faction[[note:Eren, Zeke and their followers]] vs. the rest of the military vs. maybe some of the Marleyans that Paradis captured, and that's assuming Zeke isn't part of his own faction... Nobody knows who's working for whom nor what anybody's planning. And that doesn't include the rest of the world outside the walls.]]

* ''Webcomic/GrimTalesFromDownBelow'' has several being pulled at the same time - in the past [[WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy Mandy]] pulled several to cause major disasters and later exploit her immortality. Even if Grim killed her, she had plans to take over hell. Then [[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas Oogie Boogie]] tried to get Junior to come to his lair so he could steal his reaper powers. After a bunch of crap happens, [[SuperpoweredEvilSide the Nergal]] [[TheVirus parasite]] [[BodyHorror demons]] take over Junior's body, leading to [[WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom Clockwerk]] pulling several Gambits at a time (seeing as how he's Clockwerk, this isn't surprising). Even later than that, [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls Him]] pulls one of the [[BrotherSisterIncest most]] [[{{Squick}} disturbing]] [[GirlWithPsychoWeapon Gambits]] [[IfICantHaveYou ever pulled]]. And those are just the major ones - pretty much the only people who don't pull a gambit of some kind throughout the webcomic are the citizens of Halloween Town, [[WesternAnimation/HeyArnold Helga (on account of her never actually appearing)]], the people shown under Mandy's regime, the Raven narrator, Comicbook/{{Spawn}}, the demons Spawn faces, and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Fred Fredburger.]] [[ParanoiaFuel But they just might be planning something...]]

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' is nothing but one very long Gambit Pileup, combining all of the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters main and minor characters]]' various [[ThePlan plans]], [[XanatosSpeedChess playing]] [[IndyPloy styles]] and {{Gambit Roulette}}s within an AnyoneCanDie setting that likes to [[DidntSeeThatComing throw]] [[OutsideContextProblem curve]]-[[HostileWeather balls]] at even the wary. To put it simply, you have three plots going on at the same time:

* The first two ''Franchise/MetalGear'' games were simply cases of [[ThePlan complex plans.]] But starting from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', it's easiest to say that Gambit Pileups are the entire concept of the series. Some things remain completely incomprehensible three games, ten years, and about 100 hours of gameplay later, and then there's also the Portable Ops/Peace Walker spin-offs which just add several more layers and gambits to the whole mess. In several cases, later games manage to connect characters from earlier ones, that were completely unrelated when the games were written ''10 years before'', without even {{retcon}}ning anything. For example [[spoiler:[=MGS4=] reveals that Medic from [=MGS3=] became a member of Patriots, which were introduced in [=MGS2=], and on their behalf created the Cyborg Ninja from [=MGS1=]. The Cyborg Ninja was actually a character that was thought to have died in the even earlier ''VideoGame/MetalGear2'', but that fact was already included when [=MGS=] was written]].

* ''FanFic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'' features at least '''''[[UpToEleven seventy five]]''''' plots during the armies arc's last battle before Christmas, though not all of them are actually depicted. Especially notable is the presence of a quintuple agent who thinks he's a quadruple agent in a game with only three sides. It was even lampshaded [[OneOfUs by name]] in the author's notes. (See quote page) Even outside of the armies, ''everyone'' has a plot, or several: Quirrel, Dumbledore, Harry, Draco, Lucius, Snape, Hat&Cloak, "Santa Claus"... A chapter has Snape commenting "If I have learned anything in my tenure as Head of Slytherin, I have learned what ridiculous messes arise when there is more than one plotter and more than one plan."

* The first third of ''[[Literature/OutboundFlight Survivor's Quest]]'' has more than a few of these. Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker find that the Empire of the Hand sent a message to them, but the message was stolen and the thief, a mechanic, has disappeared. They track down the source, get it told to them, and fly out to a Chiss ship to be taken to Outbound Flight. There are factions among the Chiss. The "New Republic ambassador" is the mechanic who stole the message. Four stormtroopers and an officer from the Empire of the Hand are there, claiming they were sent as the Skywalkers' escort. A group of aliens show up, claiming to want to pay their respects to Outbound Flight. Then things start happening.
** In the ''[[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Corellian Trilogy]]'', [[spoiler:the Sacorrian Triad wants to take over the Corellian Sector, Thrackan Sal-Solo wants to do the same as well as make things unpleasant for Cousin Han]], New Republic Intelligence has its own schemes, the Hunchuzuc Den and the Overden are trying to take advantage of the situation to out-play each other, and Leia Solo simply wants to keep the New Republic together, for kriff's sake. And [[spoiler:keep Bovo Yagen's sun from going supernova]].

** In ''Literature/{{Scoundrels}}'', Han Solo leads a group that is supposed to steal something back from a crime lord, Avrak Villachor. Unbeknownst to him, Villachor is a member of Black Sun, the galaxy's greatest crime syndicate, and one of his superiors is visiting him. An Imperial agent is around for the latter; he eventually allies himself with the protagonists, but has already set a plan of his own in motion by that time, and Villachor becomes slightly paranoid by everything that's going on. And a few of the Scoundrels happen to have ties to the Rebel Alliance, which may or may not affect the plot as well.
*** And of course, Han and co. get through all that just to discover [[spoiler:that the guy who hired them is actually Boba Fett, angling to capture Han ''and'' steal from the Black Sun.]]

** Scapegrace's SuperheroOrigin story involves a [[TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether family of superpowered professional con artists]], a vendetta against said family by three other supervillains, and a magical quest, with little bits of backstabbing and deception thrown in. [[spoiler: in the end, Jesse not only {{Out Gambit}}s everyone - including his parents and siblings - but steals the magic and AppliedPhlebotinum of all three opposing villains, rescues his older brother, and fulfills ''[[GenderBender her]]'' [[{{Transgender}} greatest desire]].]]

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'':

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':

* ''Film/MissionImpossibleFallout The plot with the White Widow involves at least ''six'' different factions working with and/or against each other, some in multiple ways (the IMF, CIA, MI6, the Apostles, White Widow's brokers, and the unknown assailants trying to kill John Lark). It's not quite clear in retrospect how each groups' actions were supposed to further their plans.