History Main / DirtyBusiness

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': Lelouch makes no bones about many of the extremes he goes to in his fight against Britannia.

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', [[Characters/GravityFallsGrunkleStan Stan Pines]] runs a tourist trap called the Mystery Shack, which has a variety of cheaply made oddities and souvenirs. [[spoiler: It turns out that the Mystery Shack is actually his missing brother's cabin. Stan had been working hard for weeks in the cabin before going broke, and had been mistaken for his brother by the residents of Gravity Falls. With no alternatives left, he guiltily takes his brother's name and converted the cabin and Ford's research into an attraction— all in order to continue paying the mortgage and work on repairing the portal every night since the fateful incident.]]

* In ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', the Operative admits that what he does is [[NecessarilyEvil evil]], and that he is a monster for doing it. When he kills a man at the beginning of the movie, it's quite evident from his face that he is sorrowful and tells the man as he dies that his is a good death, and that he did fine works for the betterment of all mankind.

* In ''Fanfic/APrizeForThreeEmpires'', ComicBook/CarolDanvers kills a [[Franchise/XMen Shi'ar Guardsman]] during the Shi'ar civil war. When she is interrogated by other Guardsmen, Carol states she didn't enjoy killing him, but they were fighting in opposite sides during a war.

-->'''Misato''':''"I'm the fool. And I've become a monster."''\\
'''Kaji''':''"You made hard choices. And you had your responsibilities."''\\
'''Misato''':''"So much blood, Kaji. I have so much blood on my hands."''\\
'''Kaji''':''"But you knew had to, [...] You had a reason."''

-->'''Drakebert''':''"It's no secret that two of your knights slew Princess Elia and you know how hot-headed the Dornish can be."''\\
'''Tywin''':''"It needed to be done."''\\
'''Drakebert''':''"The children, yes. And I doubt she'd have stood by for it. But dammit, man! But don't brag about it! Dark deeds are done in the dark where no one can see them."''

--> '''Thrawn''': No warrior ever has the full depth of control that he would like. ... But I wish here that it might have been otherwise.

-->'''Dean''': You know that guy I shot? There was a person in there.\\
'''Sam''': You didn't have a choice, Dean.\\
'''Dean''': Yeah, I know, that's not what bothers me.\\
'''Sam''': Then what does?\\
'''Dean''': Killing that guy, killing Meg - I didn't hesitate, I didn't even flinch. For you or Dad, the things I'm willing to do or kill, it scares me sometimes.

%%-->'''Morrie''': Musicians are not your friends. They are products.

-->"Forgive us."

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' has Blackwatch, a sister organization to the eponymous peace-keeping army that handled black ops and tasks that Overwatch could not officially sanction. While most members of Blackwatch had no qualms with the morally ambiguous nature of their work, some, like Jesse [=McCree=], began to develop doubts, particularly after an operation to Venice to abduct a wanted criminal for questioning [[spoiler:that ended in his commanding officer, Gabriel Reyes, killing the target in cold blood.]]

--> Gen. Solomon: And Hassan? If he (Anton Slavik) gains more power, you will become useless to us. And useless things have a way of ''disappearing''.

* Discussed in ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}} 3'', where Psycho says that [[spoiler: Claire]] feeling regret for skinning him in no way absolves her of guilt.
%%* ''[[VideoGame/DawnOfWar Dawn of War: Dark Crusade]]'' it is implied that the Blood Ravens actions in Kronus is to cover up the Chapters dark secrets, and they are willing to kill everyone in the planet(even the loyal Imperial Guard) to keep it secret.

* Litchi Faye-Ling in ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' is set to fulfill her promise to save her friend Lotte Carmine from the fate of being [[EldritchAbomination Arakune]], while having to withstand her ailing health due to the Boundary corruption. While she still remains a kind hearted lady, she is ForcedIntoEvil and had to become an NOL member under both Hazama and Relius Clover to withhold her ailing status so she has more time to save Roy, but she doesn't trust both of them and her will wavers about what she is doing. [[spoiler:This culminates in ''Chronophantasma'' where she finally was convinced to steel her will to save Roy, but the cure cannot be procured in this world and the only way to do so is to go along with Relius to recreate the world to a point where it's still possible to save Roy by preventing him to commit the research that will turn him to Arakune. Litchi accepts it reluctantly, as she was forced to fight her friend Bang Shishigami, she did it with remorse, [[ApologeticAttacker apologizing before having to coldly beat him up]]. To further how this is actually a Dirty Business, when Carl Clover decided to ''do the same'' for his own plans, Litchi warned him that he shouldn't go down the villains' path, showing that she clearly dislikes this position but it's the only way available to fulfill the promise she made, and she doesn't want Carl to suffer the same thing. Though Carl decided to bear with it anyway.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Zuko says IDidWhatIHadToDo in season three to excuse his actions in the previous season. It more or less fails to even convince Zuko himself.
* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Stan Pines runs a tourist trap called the Mystery Shack, which has a variety of cheaply made oddities and souvenirs. [[spoiler: It turns out that the Mystery Shack is actually his missing brother's cabin. Stan had been working hard for weeks in the cabin before going broke, and had been mistaken for his brother by the residents of Gravity Falls. With no alternatives left, he guiltily takes his brother's name and converted the cabin and Ford's research into an attraction— all in order to continue paying the mortgage and work on repairing the portal every night since the fateful incident.]]

-->-- '''Michael Westen,''' ''Series/BurnNotice''

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' the titular ChildSoldiers start out with ideals and principles like not morphing sapient beings without their permission, and not killing defenseless enemies. They break both of those rules multiple times by the end of the war, most notably when [[spoiler:Jake orders Ax to drain the Pool Ship, ejecting 17,000 helpless Yeerks into space]]. For the record, he feels terrible about it (as well as [[spoiler:sending Rachel on a suicide mission to kill his own brother]]), and the Animorphs spend time in almost every book debating the morality of their actions.
** [[spoiler:Alloran]] wasn't the only one to create the [[SyntheticPlague Quantum Virus]] that decimated the Hork-Bajir, but he was the one who ordered its creation and was blamed for it. He comes to regret his decision after [[spoiler:25 or so years as [[AndIMustScream Visser Three's host]]]][[note]]An argument could be made that he regretted it as early as ''The Andalite Chronicles'', but there he seems more resentful at being blamed than truly remorseful.[[/note]]

* In Creator/DorothyLSayers' ''Gaudy Night'', Literature/LordPeterWimsey has Harriet help him draw out information from the senior university members. She tells him that she feels like Judas, he tells her it's part of the job, and she soldiers on.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': The Stark family have a tradition dating back to the days in which they were the Kings in the North; the head of the family, either the King or the incumbent Lord Stark, personally carries out every execution. Lord Eddard Stark executes a deserter from the Night's Watch at the beginning of book one. He explains why to one of his young sons afterwards.
--->"The blood of the First Men still flows in the veins of the Starks, and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die."
** Jorah Mormont is a brave, reasonable, and good hearted knight, who once sold some poachers into slavery so he could provide for his wife's luxurious lifestyle. He also acts as a spy for the Baratheons to keep an eye on Daenerys Targaryen, but later switches loyalties to her.
* Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'':
** In ''Literature/TheVorGame'', Miles Vorkosigan tells people -- even his friends -- so many lies and half-truths that he feels deeply relieved when he can tell Tung that he's trying to rescue Gregor, because that's a whole truth.
** In ''Literature/{{Barrayar}}'' when Drou drops into a bit of a funk after she kills a man in her first real combat experience, Cordelia tells her to treasure her guilt, because society needs people who are capable of doing the necessary evil, without becoming evil themselves.
* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novel ''Traitor General'', when a [[LaResistance resistance]] member freaks out, Gaunt knocks him unconscious and carries him to safety. Landerson, another member, is surprised that being a commissar, he didn't kill him, and Gaunt talks of his duty to protect mankind, even the weak and frightened -- and feels a distaste for it. The truth was, he could not have left the body behind, and he might as well bring him alive, but he was saying that to manipulate Landerson.
** In ''Blood Pact'', Gaunt thinks that he's done a lot of dubious things in his day, but he particularly dislikes having let the prisoner "bleed out" the BloodMagic of the pursuing witch -- out of not only himself but also Wes Maggs.
* In the Creator/SandyMitchell's ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' novels:
** In ''For The Emperor'', Cain and the soldiers under him must wipe out a squad of PDF because any survivor could get out the word that they were escorting the Tau ambassadors. Although the soldiers had fired on them, they were clearly not evilly motivated and they were [[NewMeat obviously young]]. Cain finds himself disgusted by it, and has difficulty working out what to say to his troopers. He finally tells the sergeant to tell them that he appreciated what they did. The sergeant says he will, with obvious sympathy, and Cain realizes it was the right thing.
%%** In the same novel, Cain shoots two of his own people dead in cold blood just as it seems the conflict is over. [[spoiler:They had been infected by Genestealers unknowingly.]]
** In ''Caves of Ice'', Cain must order the destruction of a fallen guardsman's body - to carry it would slow them down too much, there's no time or tools to bury it, and leaving it where it lay would reveal their presence to the enemy. He notes [[DueToTheDead no small amount of dismay on his part]].
** In the short story "Sector 13," he discovers a genestealer cult. At the end of the story, amid general celebration, he's trying (unsuccessfully) to avoid thinking about all the Imperial subjects and guardsmen who're being executed because, despite being loyal, they ''are'' infected and there's no way to save them.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
** In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Literature/{{Ultramarines}}'' novel ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', when [[spoiler:a renegade SpaceMarine]] persuades Uriel to leave behind some [[ColdBloodedTorture hideously tortured]] prisoners to their death, Uriel knows that a rescue would be pointless, and their death [[MercyKill a mercy]], but still feels guilty about leaving them to it.
%%** Later, when [[spoiler:reasoning with the Unfleshed]], Uriel says he spoke with the Emperor, who sent him. A gross oversimplification, but [[spoiler:the Unfleshed's childish minds could not grasp his story, and he needs their help.]]
** Later still, when [[spoiler:Leonid]] persuades Uriel that he must go on without them, as they are dying anyway, Uriel agrees but still feels like it is betrayal. (Uriel got stuck between a rock and a hard place several times in this novel.)
** In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' novel ''Storm of Iron'', Major Tedeski must leave men on walls that are being bombarded, for fear of an escalade.
-->''There was every chance he was consigning these men to die, and the guilt of their deaths tasted like ashes in his mouth.''
** In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' novel ''Horus Rising'', Loken feels guilty about stripping away the consolations of their religions from the conquered, who suffer from their conquest. Horus consoles him with the hope that it will lead to more happiness in the long run. [[DramaticIrony Hoo boy...]]
** In Creator/JamesSwallow's Literature/BloodAngels novel ''Deus Sanguinius'', Solus confesses that firing on [[spoiler: the ''Amareo'' and their battle brothers]] had bothered him. Rafen, finding himself needing to fight and kill [[spoiler: his battle-brothers, though for different reasons from Solus]], doesn't enjoy it either.

** In ''Rynn's World'' The Crimson Fists SpaceMarine Chapter had so many of its members killed during an ork invasion that its leaders issue an order that no space marine is to risk his life to save a civilian since preserving the existence of the Chapter is now the main priority. This does not sit well with the space marines since their duty is to protect imperial citizens. In fact [[spoiler: it is the leaders who issued the order who are first to disobey it and risk themselves to save refugees.]]
*** In the beginning of the book a scout disobeys a direct order and as a result many space marines die. The punishment for this crime is [[FateWorseThanDeath extreme]] and the Chapter Master hates having to order it but he has to enforce obedience and discipline. What makes it worse is that he freely admits that had the scout succeeded in the forbidden action, he would have ended a war and would have been hailed as a hero of the Chapter and his offense quietly forgiven.
* In Simon Spurrier's ''Literature/NightLords'' novel ''Lord of the Night'', Sahaal is found by religious fanatics devoted to the Emperor. He's a traitor Space Marine, but they take him for an Imperial one, and he realizes he can use them, ''if'' -- he finds choking out "''Ave Imperator''" very difficult in indeed.
* ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'': In Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel, it's revealed that Granny Weatherwax feels this way about nearly every decision she's made. But she has to keep making them, so no-one else has to.
** Possibly with old "Stoneface" Vimes, the only one willing to execute a corrupt, depraved king; Ankh-Morpork's last. And then he got lynched for doing it.

* In Creator/JRRTolkien's ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Two Towers]]'', Frodo despises it even as he lures Gollum into the hands of Faramir's men.
* In Creator/JimButcher's ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' Harry has to do this several times.
** In ''Fool Moon'', Harry feels bad about not telling Kim, his apprentice and friend, what the three circles of binding do. Still, he comforts himself with the idea that she shouldn't be messing with things like that, and that by not telling her about it he was keeping her out of trouble. Things only get worse when he realizes that because he withheld this information, [[spoiler: Kim dies at the hands of a werewolf she was trying to bind with the circles. Ouch.]]
** In ''Grave Peril'', killing [[spoiler:the ghost of Kravos]], even though he knew it was not a real person.
** In ''Death Masks'', Harry detests having to flee [[spoiler:Nicodemus, leaving Shiro his prisoner]].
** In ''Turn Coat'', many regard [[spoiler:Morgan]] as an acceptable sacrifice. After [[spoiler:Listens-To-The-Wind]] insists that [[spoiler:Harry and Molly]] will not be scapegoated as well, [[spoiler:Mai]] says [[spoiler:The Merlin]] will not be pleased; [[spoiler:Listen-To-The-Wind]] says no one should be pleased with the results of this.
** In ''Changes'' Harry... does things. [[spoiler: Uses nearly all his contacts, his powers, his options waiting. He calls in his friends, he calls in his friendly enemies, and he's willing to cross the line to save his daughter. He swallows his pride, seeks help from Ivy, Marcone, Uriel even. When not enough, he takes the mantle of Winter Knight, and kills Lloyd State. By the end of it, he even kills Susan to save their daughter. Oh, and lets not forget committing ''genocide'' on an entire vampire species. Granted, they were pretty much all monsters (except all those half-bloods that were too old to survive having the other half killed) but it was still the willful murder of hundreds of thousands.]]
*** [[spoiler: Though he doesn't actually do it, Harry admits that if Mab hadn't made him the Winter Knight, he ''would'' have either called on Nicodemus for help in summoning Lasciel's coin or used Kemmler's Darkhallow, which involves killing a lot of people.]]
* In Creator/WenSpencer's ''Endless Blue'', Mikhail stops an AttemptedRape by shooting the would-be rapist. He knows the Red also killed his foster-brother Turk -- but he is still horrified that he shot a member of his crew.
* In the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse novel ''Literature/OutboundFlight'', this is how Commander Thrawn feels about the deaths of the fifty thousand civilian passengers of the titular ship. (Of course, in his [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy later-set appearances]], he's much more comfortable with acts of villainy; this is almost his StartOfDarkness.) Kinman Doriana isn't exactly happy about it, either, though it's unclear whether he actually cares about the deaths or he simply ends up sympathizing with Thrawn. Likely the latter, since he'd been intending to have everyone on Outbound Flight killed all along, but he says, "I'm content. I wouldn't say I'm happy."

* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/TheGoldenOecumene The Phoenix Exultant]]'', Phaethon thinks that turning in Ironjay to get control of his shop is petty and mean -- but he can't afford to let Ironjay take advantage of his nature.

* "For King and Country" in Creator/BarbaraHambly's ''[[Literature/ThoseWhoHuntTheNight Blood Maidens]]''; Asher really hates working for the government.

* In Creator/TomKratman's ''Literature/{{Caliphate}}'', Hamilton despises having to take on the role of [[spoiler:a child slave trader]] as part of his mission for the CIA's successor agency, but goes through with it anyway in spite of his detestation [[spoiler:of the institution of child slavery]], due to the seriousness of the situation that caused the mission in the first place.
* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''Literature/CountToATrillion'', Menelaus finds driving off blighters this, even though he knows they are a disease-bearing danger.
** Later, he discovers that the spaceship's crew knew that [[spoiler:mining the star would alert aliens to humanity's existence, and they would then come to enslave.]]
* In ''Literature/DebtOfHonor'', the US does some ambiguous things to even the odds against the Japanese, like using a gadget to blind the pilots of two AWACS planes so they crash on landing, but several of the POV characters seen doing so don't enjoy it.
* In Creator/GeneStrattonPorter's ''Literature/{{Freckles}}'', Black Jack is taken in by Angel's ObfuscatingStupidity and flirtation, and says, "When a man's got a chance of catching a fine girl like that, he ought not be mixed up in any dirty business. I wish to God I was out of this!"
* In Creator/JohnHemry's ''Literature/TheLostFleet'' novel ''Invincible'', Geary has to read a letter between two StarCrossedLovers, containing an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove. He knows that both the man who sent it and the woman it was sent to knew it would read by others, indeed large parts were clearly aimed at such readers, but he still doesn't like it.
* In Creator/PoulAnderson's "No Truce With Kings", a newly arrived alien finds the deaths resulting from their manipulations horrible; the old hand explains it's minimizing them in the long run, though nothing will wash the blood off.
* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/OrdealInOtherwhere'', Charis sees Lantee taken prisoner and flees to BringNewsBack. Later, when Thorvald is ennumerating the problems, he says Lantee is probably prisoner, and she thinks he may be dead, and then that he's not mindlocked, and they may have used a MindProbe on him. She turns pale and shaking enough to make him stop, take her hands, and tell her they must face the possibility. She tells him that she had just left him, and he assures her that she did the right thing.
* In ''Literature/RainbowSix'', Clark and Ding may be hardened special forces men no stranger to the ambiguous, but they find the CurbStompBattle against the ecos so one-sided it feels like murder. Even if the ecos were planning on exterminating mankind.
* In Creator/BernardCornwell's ''Literature/{{Sharpe}}'s Triumph'', [=McCandless=] tampers with a warrant and plays the ObstructiveBureaucrat. He is displeased with it, though he is certain that it was needed to prevent a greater injustice; he does demand that Sharpe [[IGaveMyWord give him his word, on the Bible]] of his innocence.
* In Creator/MichaelFlynn's ''Literature/SpiralArm'' novel ''On the Razor's Edge'', when Pyati talks of how much trust Padaborn had put in Eglay, Eglay is ashamed of himself and tells him that he was supposed to maim Padaborn in what should have been a fair fight.
* In Creator/PoulAnderson's ''Literature/TimePatrol'' stories
** "Delenda Est": Everard lies to Deirdre about his presence in her AlternateHistory, and then about their ability to go back -- they will not return her to it, to be blotted out with the rest of it, but he feels guilty about both the lies and the way they are consigning everyone in that history to non-existence.

* Creator/WenSpencer's ''Literature/{{Tinker}}'':

* In ''Literature/{{Triple}}'', the hero repeatedly blackmails, bribes, and occasionally just beats people senseless to achieve his goal- obtaining the uranium Israel needs to build an atomic bomb (it's set in 1968). But he is sickened by his own behavior every time and wishes nothing more than that he could quit and give the job to someone else. The problem is, he is the best qualified and knows it, and his nation's enemies are already developing the bomb- so he has no choice but to go on.
* In Irwin Shaw's UsefulNotes/WorldWarII novel, ''The Young Lions'', one of the protagonists, an American soldier stationed in England listens to a sermon, where the priest says that soldiers should treat the entire war as Dirty Business; they shouldn't be proud about the Germans they killed, they should mourn them. "Kill, if you must, because in our weakness and in our error, we have found no other road to peace, but kill remorsefully, kill with a sense of sorrow, kill with economy for the immortal souls, who leave this life in battle".

* Faldio from ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' justifies his [[spoiler:shooting of Alicia to activate her Valkyria powers]] as needed to save Gallia. He felt guilty after he had a chance to think about his actions [[spoiler:which led to his his HeroicSacrifice at the Marmota]].

* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Sisko has several times done, or tacitly allowed to be done for him, some very [[TitleDrop Dirty Business]].
** In the end of ''"In the Pale Moonlight"'' he sums his actions up himself:
-->''I lied. I cheated. I bribed a man to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing about it all: I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again, I would. Garak was right about one thing: A guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of us all. So I will learn to live with it. Because I can live with it. ... I can live with it.''

* ''Series/TheSopranos'': When Tony Blundetto kills Billy Leotardo as revenge for the murder of Angelo Garepe, Billy's brother Phil swears revenge. Despite Tony Soprano being subject to heavy pressure to deliver his cousin to Johnny Sack (who has taken over the Lupertazzi crime family after Little Carmine's abdication) explicitly so he can be tortured and killed, Tony refuses and protects Blundetto against Phil. But Phil begins stalking New Jersey looking for Blundetto, hounding Christopher's mother, and brutally beating up Benny Fazio. It soon becomes clear that Tony's men refuse to allow themselves to be endangered all for the sake of protecting Blundetto, so Tony is forced to act. He tracks down Blundetto at their uncle Pat Blundetto's farm and kills him with a 12-gauge shotgun point-blank in order to save him from the worse fate he would've received at Phil's hands. Tony then gives Johnny Sack the location. Phil is furious to be deprived of his vengeance, but Tony and Johnny reach an accord over Blundetto's demise.

* [[ChivalrousPervert Cross Marian]] of ''Manga/DGrayMan'' who can convert Akuma — to assist the Exorcists, or help with a mission, but programs them to self-destruct should they attempt to kill anyone, thus destroying their souls forever. Decides to sacrifice a comrade to complete a task, and raises an orphan boy with ulterior motives. However, he loves said boy and asks himself later "Do you always have to sacrifice something to protect something else?" He apparently has done that alot--enough to question it. But he doesn't enjoy it. The author says he has hardships, got saddled with alot of trouble in the war, and hides bitter things. The character seems to be a depressed fellow that deals with his sorrows by drinking, smoking, and enjoying the sex and company of women. But don't misunderstand. He actually appreciates and respects his women, thus ruling him out as TheCasanova. Along with ChivalrousPervert, he fits the EthicalSlut trope as well. One of his dislikes being "Dirty bastards."

* ''Anime/WeissKreuz'': Dirty Business is essentially the ''raison d'etre'' for Weiss, a team of [[ProfessionalKiller assassins]] who kill criminals that escape the justice of the law. All of the members of Weiss consider themselves unforgivable sinners, but do what they do in order to protect innocents.

** In Mass Effect 3, [[spoiler:provided Mordin survived the events of the second game, Mordin goes on to cure the genophage in the third game. Not only that, depending on your dialogue choices, he may angrily confess that he made a poor decision and tell Shepard that the only way to stop him from curing the genophage is to shoot him. He is ''not'' bluffing.]]

* ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar II: Retribution'': twenty years after ''Chaos Rising'', Diomedes is finally convinced (via ExactEavesdropping) that [[spoiler:his Chapter Master]] has fallen to Chaos. He also has at least ''four centuries'' of service to the Chapter, and exactly how much of that service was spent killing innocents and destroying proof of [[spoiler:Kyras']] corruption instead of protecting the Chapter's secrets causes a HeroicBSOD, deciding to hold position on a SpceHulk filled with orks and Tyranids. It takes the Ancient breaking his vow of silence to snap him out of it and get back to fighting the Emperor's enemies, for real this time.